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Philosophy on airline choice, vouchers, rewards etc

closetohumping

By closetohumping
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Sbbruin

Sbbruin 21690

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11 hours ago, mdleast said:


The traffic is the reason I avoid LAX like the plague. I recently opted for Burbank in lieu of LAX, and which Burbank reminds me (for the Dallas folks) of Love Field before they did the previous upgrades. That is incredibly small and basic but also incredibly convenient.

I fly out of Burbank, and even Ontario, whenever possible, even if I need to add a stop on the flight.  Traffic at LAX is catastrophic.

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Gil Bang

Gil Bang 25831

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4 hours ago, Sbbruin said:

I fly out of Burbank, and even Ontario, whenever possible, even if I need to add a stop on the flight.  Traffic at LAX is catastrophic.

Ontario is an interesting story.  It was a very solid independent airport.  Then, for some fucking stupid, unknown reason, they gave themselves to LAX.  LAX ran the place into the ground, and passenger counts were way down. 

The City of Ontario got it back a few years ago, and it's been on the upswing since. 

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Sbbruin

Sbbruin 21690

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1 hour ago, Gil Bang said:

Ontario is an interesting story.  It was a very solid independent airport.  Then, for some fucking stupid, unknown reason, they gave themselves to LAX.  LAX ran the place into the ground, and passenger counts were way down. 

The City of Ontario got it back a few years ago, and it's been on the upswing since. 

Picking my son up there tonight.  Flying from Boston, with a stop in Phoenix.

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mchookem

mchookem 15827

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anybody have experience with Icelandair and/or airport? 🤔

i hate flying with a passion but we're planning a family trip to Germany and France late spring, first time, so no choice there. due to my general airline hate and tendency to have claustrophobic reactions on any flight longer than about 5 hours, i've been banking Chase points for a while to be able to splurge on business class. Icelandair keeps coming up with multiple options, Denver>Frankfurt.

i'm not a surly 1%er 😋 and our international travel has been limited to Mexico, Canada, and the Caribbean, so European travel is all new ground.

really...i just don't want to get served surstromming or be trapped with any other kind of fermented fish during food service 😝 😜

should i just stick with United? 🤔

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Chewbacca

Chewbacca 7665

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Posted
anybody have experience with Icelandair and/or airport?
i hate flying with a passion but we're planning a family trip to Germany and France late spring, first time, so no choice there. due to my general airline hate and tendency to have claustrophobic reactions on any flight longer than about 5 hours, i've been banking Chase points for a while to be able to splurge on business class. Icelandair keeps coming up with multiple options, Denver>Frankfurt.
i'm not a surly 1%er and our international travel has been limited to Mexico, Canada, and the Caribbean, so European travel is all new ground.
really...i just don't want to get served surstromming or be trapped with any other kind of fermented fish during food service
should i just stick with United?
I don't think Icelandair does business class, do they? I think it's the equivalent of domestic first.
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mchookem

mchookem 15827

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hmmm...well i'm not really sure, i've just been looking via Chase Travel, selecting Business Class in my searches, and Icelandair is usually in the top two or three choices 🤔 there are others but their prices do seem to be lower (which isn't always a good thing, i know) and since it always seems to be at the top i thought i'd ask 😊

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Chewbacca

Chewbacca 7665

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hmmm...well i'm not really sure, i've just been looking via Chase Travel, selecting Business Class in my searches, and Icelandair is usually in the top two or three choices there are others but their prices do seem to be lower (which isn't always a good thing, i know) and since it always seems to be at the top i thought i'd ask
I'm almost certain they don't. Not lie flat seats, anyway. Doesn't make them bad. I know they will let you have an extended layover so you can spend time there. Just don't want you to spend all your points and be disappointed.

Youtube is great for reviews where you can see the product.
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lemonlime

lemonlime 5503

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, mchookem said:

anybody have experience with Icelandair and/or airport? 🤔

i hate flying with a passion but we're planning a family trip to Germany and France late spring, first time, so no choice there. due to my general airline hate and tendency to have claustrophobic reactions on any flight longer than about 5 hours, i've been banking Chase points for a while to be able to splurge on business class. Icelandair keeps coming up with multiple options, Denver>Frankfurt.

i'm not a surly 1%er 😋 and our international travel has been limited to Mexico, Canada, and the Caribbean, so European travel is all new ground.

really...i just don't want to get served surstromming or be trapped with any other kind of fermented fish during food service 😝 😜

should i just stick with United? 🤔

I flew IcelandAir on a couple trips a few years ago, once connecting to Geneva, and the other time a trip to Iceland.  I think they only have 757's in their fleet, so the plane is a little small for such a long flight since you mention being claustrophobic, but I don't recall it being uncomfortable.  I was in coach so not sure what business is like, but in coach at least the only food was for sale.  I don't remember much about it, so it couldn't have been too bad.

KEF is a nice airport.  Although on the Geneva trip in summer had to walk outside in 40 degree weather to make the connection--was not dressed for that.

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PenelopeWitherspoon

PenelopeWitherspoon 19016

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, Chewbacca said:
7 hours ago, mchookem said:
anybody have experience with Icelandair and/or airport? emoji848.png
i hate flying with a passion but we're planning a family trip to Germany and France late spring, first time, so no choice there. due to my general airline hate and tendency to have claustrophobic reactions on any flight longer than about 5 hours, i've been banking Chase points for a while to be able to splurge on business class. Icelandair keeps coming up with multiple options, Denver>Frankfurt.
i'm not a surly 1%er emoji39.png and our international travel has been limited to Mexico, Canada, and the Caribbean, so European travel is all new ground.
really...i just don't want to get served surstromming or be trapped with any other kind of fermented fish during food service emoji13.png emoji12.png
should i just stick with United? emoji848.png

I don't think Icelandair does business class, do they? I think it's the equivalent of domestic first.

This.  It’s not the lay flats.  I don’t like long flights myself.  I can do NYC to Europe direct, but anything longer than 10-12 hours, I have to break it up.  

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Js1

Js1 84939

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On 12/13/2023 at 7:01 AM, High Plains Drifter said:

 

Last time I flew to the LA area, I flew into Long Beach. Smallest American commercial airport I've ever flown into/out of. 

Wilmington, NC was the smallest airport I think I've done, domestically. 

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gmr548

gmr548 16392

Posted
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On 12/13/2023 at 8:01 AM, High Plains Drifter said:

 

Last time I flew to the LA area, I flew into Long Beach. Smallest American commercial airport I've ever flown into/out of. 

 

6 hours ago, Js1 said:

Wilmington, NC was the smallest airport I think I've done, domestically. 

Laurel, MS what up

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Gil Bang

Gil Bang 25831

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On 12/14/2023 at 7:42 AM, closetohumping said:

Ontario is quite far from the happenings.  The other airports are money.  Love them, though I'm flying out of LAX next month

There are a shitload of people in the IE. About 4.7 million.  ONT may be far from your "happenings", but there are a lot of folks in that neck of the woods.

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52-80

52-80 19041

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It was a brilliant marketing move for southwest. 

they lose absolutely nothing from the policy, but gain good PR. 

the seat is not free. if you want a reserved companion seat ahead of time, you must book and pay for it. if you ask for one at check-in or at the gate, the seat is not guaranteed. they **may** grant you one, if you qualify, and space is available. that space would have gone unsold anyway, so its not a lost of potential revenue. 

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PilotsError

PilotsError 2272

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19 minutes ago, 52-80 said:

It was a brilliant marketing move for southwest. 

they lose absolutely nothing from the policy, but gain good PR. 

the seat is not free. if you want a reserved companion seat ahead of time, you must book and pay for it. if you ask for one at check-in or at the gate, the seat is not guaranteed. they **may** grant you one, if you qualify, and space is available. that space would have gone unsold anyway, so its not a lost of potential revenue. 

 

Good PR????  This adds to their already budget/lower class image.  

 

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Newdoc

Newdoc 3425

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Posted
11 hours ago, 52-80 said:

the seat is not free. if you want a reserved companion seat ahead of time, you must book and pay for it.

The policy has changed to where you get refunded for the extea seat(s) after the trip even if the flight is full. So yea, it ends up being free.

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MonkeyDoughnut

MonkeyDoughnut 10068

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Posted
13 hours ago, 52-80 said:

It was a brilliant marketing move for southwest. 

they lose absolutely nothing from the policy, but gain good PR. 

the seat is not free. if you want a reserved companion seat ahead of time, you must book and pay for it. if you ask for one at check-in or at the gate, the seat is not guaranteed. they **may** grant you one, if you qualify, and space is available. that space would have gone unsold anyway, so its not a lost of potential revenue. 

according to SWA website the extra seats are refunded always, even on oversell

image.thumb.png.82e273853d0b223c27327b4fd2016a77.png

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Ghost of LL

Ghost of LL 15321

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On 12/12/2023 at 11:44 PM, mdleast said:


The traffic is the reason I avoid LAX like the plague. I recently opted for Burbank in lieu of LAX, and which Burbank reminds me (for the Dallas folks) of Love Field before they did the previous upgrades. That is incredibly small and basic but also incredibly convenient.

I love BUR.  My favorite BUR story was from the 2005 NCG.  We spent all week in LA, going to the Tournament of Roses Parade and everything before the game.  So since we were going to be in LA for nearly a week, we decided to take one light and fly to Vegas, have dinner, make a few bets on the Longhorns, and gamble all night.

So around 8:00, we head over to BUR for the Southwest flight to LAS.  We're not even getting a hotel room, so we had no luggage.  And so Mrs.LL (back when she was just LL's Girlfriend) is dressed to go out in Vegas.  Very short tight black dress with lots of cleavage.  Cool.  I mean, it's maybe a bit of an outfit for a weekend night at the airport, but there's a flight to Vegas leaving, so it's not completely out of the realm.

We gamble all night.  Amazingly, we hit "10" on the roulette wheel.  That was fun.  Thanks, Vince.

And around 5:00 AM we head to the airport to catch the 6:15 flight back to BUR.  We land at Burbank at around 7:15 at BUR in the same clothes we went out in last night, and . . . well, Mrs.LL didn't feel terribly comfortable walking through early-morning weekday travelers at BUR in her going-out-in-Vegas attire.

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Zepol87

Zepol87 9139

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On 12/14/2023 at 7:42 AM, closetohumping said:

Ontario is quite far from the happenings.  The other airports are money.  Love them, though I'm flying out of LAX next month

I used tO fly in/out quite a bit years ago when my company had an office in Riverside. It was always fine the only thing I remember was the tsa line was on stairs and that was weird.
You guys have terrible fucking luck with LAX or maybe I’m just used to it now and it doesn’t bother me but I haven’t had much issues in the past few months and I’ve been using every 2 weeks. Burbank is easier but I only use AA and the schedules don’t always work

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Guest

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Posted
On 12/18/2023 at 1:20 PM, closetohumping said:

 Israel/ palestine Protest at LAX on the reg.  

Nice to know.

I get weekly notifications of possible protests on our corporate travel site and I have not  seen shit.  Thankfully.

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52-80

52-80 19041

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On 12/22/2023 at 2:06 PM, royiv said:

Pretty much everyone. Go read any bio of a famous chef like Robuchon, Ducasse, Ramsay, etc and it will refer to the total number of Michelin stars they've earned.

Look at this complete lie

(sh3 doesnt have the most)

 

IMG_4282.jpeg

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closetohumping

closetohumping 17339

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On 12/22/2023 at 5:06 AM, royiv said:

Pretty much everyone. Go read any bio of a famous chef like Robuchon, Ducasse, Ramsay, etc and it will refer to the total number of Michelin stars they've earned.

Yea but only three states are eligible for Michelins 

 

 

 

digressing. lax security makes you take off your hoody

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Ghost of LL

Ghost of LL 15321

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So with AA massively cutting its schedule out of AUS and DL saying that it is going to (slowly) increase its flights, I'm wondering if I ought to switch from AAdvantage to SkyMiles.  I've not flown DL in about 25 years after a really bad experience.  But maybe it's time to end that embargo.

But the thing is, switching primary airline rewards programs seems like such a pain in the ass.  It's not just starting from scratch on the program, it's getting all new credit cards and all that shit.

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royiv

royiv 9123

Posted
Posted (edited)
34 minutes ago, Ghost of LL said:

So with AA massively cutting its schedule out of AUS and DL saying that it is going to (slowly) increase its flights, I'm wondering if I ought to switch from AAdvantage to SkyMiles.  I've not flown DL in about 25 years after a really bad experience.  But maybe it's time to end that embargo.

But the thing is, switching primary airline rewards programs seems like such a pain in the ass.  It's not just starting from scratch on the program, it's getting all new credit cards and all that shit.

Even with the cuts to secondary markets, AA is still going to offer a ton more flight options than DL out of Austin. Unless you're doing a lot of travel where ATL makes sense for a connection or you fly a ton to MFE or MAF, Delta doesn't make sense yet. I would hold off and see what DL's plans are for AUS. Starting MFE and MAF is a strange place to start, especially when AUS is the only destination. Those stations still won't touch a hub. It's a weird strategy, IMO.

Edited by royiv
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kevwun

kevwun 15540

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Posted (edited)

Delta doesn't fly direct to many places you will want to go to.  If you wanted to fly from Austin to New Orleans, you would have to change planes in Atlanta.  They have 1 direct flight a day to Vegas and it's in the afternoon.  It's like that for a whole lot of destinations.  Unless you are flying to one of their hubs or it's an international flight where you have to connect somewhere regardless of airline, their flight options are shitty.  I do like using them for international flights though.

Edited by kevwun
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SimonBolivar

SimonBolivar 10887

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Am I the only one that can't stand MEX? Terminal 1 is usually way too crowded and gate changes there are awful. If you're flying to Austin they'll put you way over in gates 29-36 where they have someone standing there and making sure traffic is only going one way to get to those gates as there isn enough space. So if a plane just arrived you're going to stand there while they let a whole plane full of people go by you. Also they don't have any services out there so you have to walk all the way back (and wait at the one way two more times) if you need a water or anything else at all.

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