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Philosophy on airline choice, vouchers, rewards etc

closetohumping

By closetohumping
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BearSchlong

BearSchlong 8098

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Omg so during normal times DFW to BPT (Beaumont) on AA is dependable. But SE TX gets really foggy this time of the year. Thursday night’s 10:35 pm flight gets boarded, pre-flight Diet Coke, captain says pushback imminent. Then “folks there’s a weather hold due to fog” so I fire up Concur and grab a bed at the Westin. Sure enough, 11:30 the flight is delayed til 6:30 am and we deplane. Uber, crash for 5 hours, Uber, go home.

This has now happened twice in 18 months, out of around 25 commutes to DFW. I think I’m going to just start driving to IAH which is an additional hour as a hedge, plus there are more flights. It's all on the company dime but I was exhausted Friday.

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Gil Bang

Gil Bang 25975

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On 1/20/2024 at 3:53 PM, Liquor and Poker said:

No weather issues at DFW.  Clear skies both times and she watched other planes take off.  She was paying attention-she asked a ton of times and got different stories, sometimes from the same person.  
 

But that’s not really what I’m asking.  I get that they might just say whatever if they don’t know to get people off their backs.  But I’m really asking if it’s some AA thing because other people related similar experiences flying AA out of DFW specifically.  

Weather at DFW is irrelevant.  What was the weather at the destination?   Along the route?  

They can blame a lot of shit on weather. 

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Sundodger

Sundodger 66

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On 12/17/2023 at 4:00 PM, 52-80 said:

It was a brilliant marketing move for southwest. 

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

 

They lost me!  And a Surly poster above.  I guess they want to cater to Spirit Airline trash, I mean customers.

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elfenix

elfenix 34307

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Been reading all the hand-wringing about AA switching to a cardboard box from a piece of forever trash to hold the amenity kit full of other pieces of forever trash from the frequent flyer blogs. Jesus Christ these people are entitled and out of touch.

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kevwun

kevwun 15797

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Delta cancelled a flight on us in the summer because they were out of pilots.  I guess we could have gotten a room out of them if we had wanted to stand in a line the entire night.  I stood in it for close to 3 hours while me and the wife found alternate flights home and a hotel room for the night.  She left to try to get our bags back while I stayed in the line.  Eventually she found out they would not give us them back so we went to the hotel.  Delta had 2 people working the counter and had cancelled several other flights for the same issue so the line was really fucking long.  One passenger took up one of the Delta workers most of the time I was in line so it was moving so slowly that I bet I still would have been waiting in it the next morning at 6:00 am when the flight we found left.

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Updawg

Updawg 2268

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I like delta the best nowadays but that means dealing with Atlanta sometimes. And usually when I do there are storms or something that completely screws you

I just go with cheapest direct that isn’t spirit or the likes

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closetohumping

closetohumping 17446

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On 1/21/2024 at 4:42 PM, Gil Bang said:

Weather at DFW is irrelevant.  What was the weather at the destination?   Along the route?  

They can blame a lot of shit on weather. 

I was on the tarmac at John Wayne a few months ago. Perfect weather here but NYC was not cooperating.  Waited an hour or so and finally we get the green light.  Engine starts and about twenty seconds later a "check engine" light comes on.  Waited another hour before they pushed the flight till the next morning.  Next morning, not enough snacks on the plane so there was a delay until a group of us said "fuck the snacks get us to NYC."  Free drinks for everyone at least.

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Ghost of LL

Ghost of LL 15539

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On 1/19/2024 at 3:13 PM, royiv said:

Wife and I had a trip to Europe back in November. BA Club World on the way over and UA Polaris on the way back. Polaris was 1000% better than what BA trots out as a premium product. BA is an embarrassment of an airline.

Much like Jules Winnfield, BA is in what you might call a "transition period."  It was the very first to introduce lie-flat seats in its Business cabin, but those seats are now way out of date.  They're now replacing those seats with the new Collins Aerospace Super Diamond reverse herringbone seats in a 1-2-1 configuration.  That seat is pretty common across a lot of airlines.  BA's innovation is that they have a door on those seats to create a private pod, which is very nice.  Currently, those seats are on all of BA's A350-1000s, which is the equipment BA flies to AUS.  So for those of us in the Austin market, the BA product is really very nice.

Now, I will say that for those of us in AUS, the BA club situation at Bergstrom sucks because they use the AAdmirals Club, which is small, dark, and shitty.  But that's not BA's fault; it's AA's.

At LHR, I think the Galleries Lounges are above-average business class lounges.  They're busy, yes.  But they're also big enough to meet the demand.  And they have a great view of the runway at LHR.  So that's nice.

On 1/20/2024 at 9:37 AM, Liquor and Poker said:

Question for those who know a lot about American.  
 

My wife has had two trips on American in the last 5 months. Picked American mostly for the schedule.  Both trips were Houston to Dallas then change planes at DFW.  
 

Both times (Asheville and NYC) she got to DFW fine, but both trips the second plane did a thing where it would taxi away, sit on the tarmac for hours, come back to the gate, sit in the departure area for hours, then cancel and AA gave her a voucher to a shit hotel and said try again tomorrow.  Various inconsistent explanations for why the plane didn’t go depending on who you asked.   No known weather issues on either end, though.  
 

I fly a lot on everything from Spirit to Emirates, but not much on AA since we moved to Houston.   When we lived in Dallas AA was my go-to, partly because hub and partly because I had a company AA visa so expensing was easy.  For a lot of people I know and work with in Dallas that’s still pretty true.  

But anyway I have never had anything like that happen to me unless there was some raging storm or clearly explained mechanical difficulties.  And never have I sat on the tarmac for hours and not eventually taken off  

So I have asked a bunch of Dallas friends an colleagues and quite a few of them say AA pulls this kind of shit all the time.  Since they fly AA nearly exclusively, they just assumed all airlines did it. 

Have I just been unreasonably lucky and people like to bitch, or is this actually some AA DFW thing? Asking because wife right now refuses to ever set foot on an AA plane again. 

That doesn't make any sense to me.  I never really had that happen at DFW outside of weather, and I've flown through DFW a lot.

Weird luck, I guess.

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PenelopeWitherspoon

PenelopeWitherspoon 19103

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On 1/24/2024 at 1:31 AM, Ghost of LL said:

Much like Jules Winnfield, BA is in what you might call a "transition period."  It was the very first to introduce lie-flat seats in its Business cabin, but those seats are now way out of date.  They're now replacing those seats with the new Collins Aerospace Super Diamond reverse herringbone seats in a 1-2-1 configuration.  That seat is pretty common across a lot of airlines.  BA's innovation is that they have a door on those seats to create a private pod, which is very nice.  Currently, those seats are on all of BA's A350-1000s, which is the equipment BA flies to AUS.  So for those of us in the Austin market, the BA product is really very nice.

Now, I will say that for those of us in AUS, the BA club situation at Bergstrom sucks because they use the AAdmirals Club, which is small, dark, and shitty.  But that's not BA's fault; it's AA's.

At LHR, I think the Galleries Lounges are above-average business class lounges.  They're busy, yes.  But they're also big enough to meet the demand.  And they have a great view of the runway at LHR.  So that's nice.

That doesn't make any sense to me.  I never really had that happen at DFW outside of weather, and I've flown through DFW a lot.

Weird luck, I guess.

BA 777 between NYC and LHR have that same seat, and they were the first to get them.  They are really nice.  There is a LGW flight that is still on the old seat (2-4-2 with full lay flats), but I have not been on one since before COVID.  @royiv I think you just got unlucky.

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royiv

royiv 9324

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8 minutes ago, PenelopeWitherspoon said:

BA 777 between NYC and LHR have that same seat, and they were the first to get them.  They are really nice.  There is a LGW flight that is still on the old seat (2-4-2 with full lay flats), but I have not been on one since before COVID.  @royiv I think you just got unlucky.

We were on the 777-300 IAH-LHR and it was terrible in a 2-4-2. I can't believe that BA is flying that plane on that route given that Shell is driving more of its folks to fly BA to London these days. The seats are cramped, the food is gruel and the bedding in Club World is scratchy. I've also noticed on multiple BA flights that they keep the cabin as warm as a nursing home. Other than that, the play was great.

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PenelopeWitherspoon

PenelopeWitherspoon 19103

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1 minute ago, royiv said:

We were on the 777-300 IAH-LHR and it was terrible in a 2-4-2. I can't believe that BA is flying that plane on that route given that Shell is driving more of its folks to fly BA to London these days. The seats are cramped, the food is gruel and the bedding in Club World is scratchy. I've also noticed on multiple BA flights that they keep the cabin as warm as a nursing home. Other than that, the play was great.

Yeah, those planes suck.  The Club Suite is a good product, and I am lucky enough that it is on every plane going out of JFK, except the one going to LGW.  At one point, there were 3-4 BA flights out of Houston a day.  I wonder if COVID means that they are flying less so they put the manky old planes on that route to get more seats and $$.

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royiv

royiv 9324

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Just now, PenelopeWitherspoon said:

Yeah, those planes suck.  The Club Suite is a good product, and I am lucky enough that it is on every plane going out of JFK, except the one going to LGW.  At one point, there were 3-4 BA flights out of Houston a day.  I wonder if COVID means that they are flying less so they put the manky old planes on that route to get more seats and $$.

There's only two flights per day on BA these days. The 777-300s are all supposed to be in the Club Suite configuration later this year, but I won't be flying them again until I see it in the schedule. Until then, Polaris out of IAH is superior especially since BA no longer has a dedicated lounge.

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gyroprotagonist

gyroprotagonist 2594

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On 1/22/2024 at 10:27 PM, closetohumping said:

I was on the tarmac at John Wayne a few months ago. Perfect weather here but NYC was not cooperating.  Waited an hour or so and finally we get the green light.  Engine starts and about twenty seconds later a "check engine" light comes on.  Waited another hour before they pushed the flight till the next morning.  Next morning, not enough snacks on the plane so there was a delay until a group of us said "fuck the snacks get us to NYC."  Free drinks for everyone at least.

yep, our flight to Bham for the UT/AL game was scrapped due to mech issue.  we get another plane ~1.5 hours later and AA just said fuck it and told everyone we were taking off without drinks/food or it would be another hour delay.  

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  • closetohumping changed the title to Philosophy on airline choice, vouchers, rewards etc
Sbbruin

Sbbruin 21861

Posted
Posted

OK, serious question regarding Spirit.  I am flying to NYC in mid/later Oct.  Flying solo.  If I fly Jet Blue out there, which I have flown before and it's fine, not terrible, and fly Spirit back, I literally save like $300.  I've never flown it before.  Is it as bad as everyone makes it out to be?  If I'm solo I figure I can just strap in and ignore my surroundings.

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kevwun

kevwun 15797

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Quote

Today, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) launched an inquiry into the four largest U.S. airlines’ rewards programs that is aimed at protecting rewards customers from potential unfair, deceptive, or anticompetitive practices. As part of the probe, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg sent letters to American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines ordering them to provide records and submit reports with detailed information about their rewards programs, practices, and policies. DOT’s probe is focused on the ways consumers participating in airline rewards programs are impacted by the devaluation of earned rewards, hidden or dynamic pricing, extra fees, and reduced competition and choice. 

https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/usdot-seeks-protect-consumers-airline-rewards-probe-four-largest-us-airlines-rewards

I think Delta may have triggered this with the changes they made to their rewards program a few months ago.  They fucked people real hard.

Edited by kevwun
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CoTex

CoTex 1160

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1 hour ago, Sbbruin said:

OK, serious question regarding Spirit.  I am flying to NYC in mid/later Oct.  Flying solo.  If I fly Jet Blue out there, which I have flown before and it's fine, not terrible, and fly Spirit back, I literally save like $300.  I've never flown it before.  Is it as bad as everyone makes it out to be?  If I'm solo I figure I can just strap in and ignore my surroundings.

I don't prefer Spirit - avoid it when possible - but put in airpods and turn on a movie, and you'll be fine.

Just like any other airline, you could be sitting next to almost anyone, and that could affect your experience.  The odds of you sitting next to a poor are higher, but if you have the right attitude a poor can be a good neighbor.

I, like you, consider the economics.  If the difference is $1, I'm not taking the budget airline.  $1,000,000?  I'll wear a 70's stewardess outfit and push the drink cart.

southwest.jpg

 

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royiv

royiv 9324

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1 hour ago, kevwun said:

https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/usdot-seeks-protect-consumers-airline-rewards-probe-four-largest-us-airlines-rewards

I think Delta may have triggered this with the changes they made to their rewards program a few months ago.  They fucked people real hard.

I love this. Airlines finally getting held accountable for continuing to fuck over loyal customers.

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royiv

royiv 9324

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3 hours ago, Sbbruin said:

OK, serious question regarding Spirit.  I am flying to NYC in mid/later Oct.  Flying solo.  If I fly Jet Blue out there, which I have flown before and it's fine, not terrible, and fly Spirit back, I literally save like $300.  I've never flown it before.  Is it as bad as everyone makes it out to be?  If I'm solo I figure I can just strap in and ignore my surroundings.

The number 2 & 3 worst airlines for on time performance and cancellations based on DOT stats. Why don’t you mix in a segment on Frontier and go for the trifecta?

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Sbbruin

Sbbruin 21861

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57 minutes ago, royiv said:

The number 2 & 3 worst airlines for on time performance and cancellations based on DOT stats. Why don’t you mix in a segment on Frontier and go for the trifecta?

I'm not really worried about the Jet Blue flight out.  LAX to NYC is typically pretty reliable, and I've found JetBlue to be on par with most other domestics.  It's the Spirit return that I worry about.

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royiv

royiv 9324

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4 minutes ago, Sbbruin said:

I'm not really worried about the Jet Blue flight out.  LAX to NYC is typically pretty reliable, and I've found JetBlue to be on par with most other domestics.  It's the Spirit return that I worry about.

The DOT disagrees with you about JetBlue being reliable. I’m not making this shit up. The only worse airline for OTP and cancellations other than B6 and NK is Frontier.

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Updawg

Updawg 2268

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Surprised to hear that about jet blue. I’ve never had a problem with them and actually prefer them for cheap domestic travel. Maybe depends on the routes?

Granted it’s been a year or two since I’ve flown on them.

And now that I think about it I think last time I was delayed but it wasn’t their fault for the most part

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royiv

royiv 9324

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5 minutes ago, Updawg said:

Surprised to hear that about jet blue. I’ve never had a problem with them and actually prefer them for cheap domestic travel. Maybe depends on the routes?

Granted it’s been a year or two since I’ve flown on them.

And now that I think about it I think last time I was delayed but it wasn’t their fault for the most part

Their operations have been in shambles for the last 18 months or so. Basically they took their eye off the ball while trying complete the merger with Spirit. Since then, they’ve been unable to right the ship, they’ve been struggling to make a profit and they recently announced they are cutting 15 cities and 50 routes permanently.

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