Airline Service/Good/Bad or Ugly

[jumbopackage]

Again, you fly from DSM, I can't help that I left there 11 years ago.
DEN $39, Portland $89.00, SMF $89, ONT $59, Tampa $99, KCI $79, SEA $89, LAX $79, PHX $39.00 all one wayof course and direct. Point is OMA isn't the best SWA outpost. But when I have to go to IOWA I fly to OMA. I won't fly UA! First Class? who the hell fly's first class on CRJ? Oh legacies that are merging................

I couldn't even find a flight from OMA to DEN. There's no reason to expect that SW would be any cheaper out of Des Moines than it is out of OMA. People thinking that SW is going to show up and everyone's fares are going to drop through the floor are simply mistaken.
You can find fares in the 190 dollar range roundtrip to Orlando from Des Moines on NW from time to time, for instance. That's as cheap as most SW flights.

At any rate it doesn't matter where you are, but where you're wanting to go. The closest SW service to MSP, for instance, is Chicago or Omaha. That's a LONG drive once you get there. There are 17 whole STATES that SW doesn't service, and only 6 states that have more than one city that has SW service. NW services 6 cities in Iowa alone. I'm not ragging on SW, really, just that it's not a great solution for frequent travelers that have to go to a lot of smallish towns, and even big cities, that SW doesn't service. I know I can go to NW and get pretty much anywhere I need to go, or at least as close as I'm going to get flying (with a few odd exceptions here and there). On top of that, their rates are competitive with SW, for much better service, IMO.

CRJ-900s have a 16 seat FC cabin, and it's quite comfy. DM is getting more and more of those flights. UA has 737 service, as well as ERJ-175s which both have FC cabins.

 

[CYCLONE STATE]

I had a layover in Chicago for a few hours. While I was waiting Chizik and his family walked up and sat down in our section. They were on our plane. Our flight was delayed for about an hour which wasn't a big deal. When we finally boarded the plane goes to the runway and then stops. The pilot the tells us that we can't take off due to thunderstorms in the area. So we sit in this tiny plane for 2-3 hours while waiting for a 1 hour flight. It wouldn't have been that bad if they just would have left us at the terminal so we could walk around. Seems like they could have seen the storm coming. Chizik and family seemed to be in better spirits than my group.

 

[clones_jer]

My last 3 flights have been the lowest price I could find out of Des Moines on United .... every freakin one was delayed or cancelled for one reason or another and to spite us on our honeymoon they lost our bags for three days...

I'm paying more to fly "anybody but United"

 

[Iastfan112]

Since we are talking about flights I thought I'd talk up a service I really like

Cheap Flights, Airline Tickets, Cheap Airfare & Discount Travel Deals - Kayak.com I've found that site does a much better job than orbitz or any of that ilk with the added bonus it doesn't have the background of trying to make money off of you!

 

[Phaedrus]

Re: I fly a ton

My biggest pet peave has to be the over sized American. More than weather. More than crying babies. More than delays and bad airports.

Last week, small plane from Detroit to Green Bay, there were 4 guys in the first two rows that were over 300 lbs easy. The flight attendent was trying to shuffle people all around the aircraft to find a configuration that would work.

I am 6'3" 220 lbs, but I don't spill over into others paid for area. When someone spills into your seat it is just flat disgusting. I don't see how someone can not walk out of that situation and right on to a treadmill. Sorry for what some will say are insensative comments. I personnally would purchase 1st class every flight..buy two coach seats (can you do that?) or not fly at all if I had to ask for a seat belt extender.

No doubt, overweight people should be required to upgrade to FC, or to buy two coach tickets. I mean, cripes, they take up two seats.

I do a bit of flying, and my favorite airline is flying in my wife's Tri-Pacer or Piper Cub. We're currently between airplanes, but we're looking at a Cessna single or something like that, next.

I really don't care about amenities, or even comfort; I am *technically* a "standard person". I'm 5'9", 175 pounds, so I fit in coach just fine. Airlines beat the crap out of riding on the sling seats in a UH-60, CH-47 or C-130.

What I DON'T like is not being kept informed. I'm a cert. airplane mechanic, so don't b.s. me, I've worked for the airlines, and know what's what.

When I was actively doing on-call contract maintenance, I had in my possession one of those airport passes with the letters on them; you could use that to get "comp" flights from participating airlines. Well, I worked for nearly all the airlines, so I was able to "comp" all over the country. You could also use the "employee" side of TSA checks, which tended not to have lines.

 

[Cyclone_Grav]

Im going to Europe this summer and I am intentionally oging to wait to be the last one on. I would love to get bumped, raise some hell (which im good at) and get a free flight

 

[Iastfan112]

Im going to Europe this summer and I am intentionally oging to wait to be the last one on. I would love to get bumped, raise some hell (which im good at) and get a free flight

Where you headed?

 

[jdoggivjc]

I guess my travel experience is different from everyone else's, as I work for the government and I'm basically told which airline I will be flying on. The government works on what is called "city pairs," so my final destination determines which hub I'll be flying into, which determines which airline I'll be taking. If I have to go to New Jersey for work, Newark is paired with Chicago/O'Hare, so I'd be flying United. Baltimore is paired with Detroit, so I'd be flying Northwest. Syracuse (at the time) was paired with Cincinnati, so I'd be flying Delta. Huntsville, AL is paired with Atlanta, so, depending on what happens to be cheaper at the time, I'd be flying either Delta or AirTran. Virtually anything on the west coast is paired with Denver, so I'd be flying United. I really don't get the choice as to which airline I want to fly as city pairs is 95% of the time going to be the cheapest flight, so that's the one I'll be flying.

I love flying Northwest/KLM (especially now that they no longer fly the turbo props out of the Quad Cities), but I'm mostly indifferent towards other airlines. I've never actually flown AirTran, but I've heard lots of good things about them. Never had any problems with Delta (must be an exception to the rule). Now that I think about it, the only delays/mechanical failures I've ever had to deal with (for an airline that still is in existence - take that, ATA...) was with United, and their customer service seems less willing to work with passengers when something goes wrong.

I don't seem to have the "hate" of O'Hare that most people here seem to have, but I guess the only problem I've ever had was having to make the 2-mile run from terminal E to terminal B in 15 minutes to catch my connecting flight. That was not a whole lot of fun.

The airport I absolutely hate the most is Newark Liberty. That place is an absolute dump and poorly configured. None of the buildings are connected so you are forced to take an air train between terminals and rental cars. Plus virtually every single flight is delayed either due to poor runway configuration (it shares airspace with LaGuardia and Kennedy) or because the equipment there has managed to break down. And trust me - Newark is not a place you want to spend the night if you are a fan of warm fuzzy feelings. I'm also not a fan of DTW, but I'm not sure whether that has to do with a hatred of the airport or up until recently the planes that flew between Detroit and Moline were turboprops. Also not a fan of Cincinnati, but fortunately Delta has dropped the Moline-Cincinnati connection. Favorite airport has to be MSP, but unfortunately it's just never paired with any other city.

 

[balken]

I guess my travel experience is different from everyone else's, as I work for the government and I'm basically told which airline I will be flying on. The government works on what is called "city pairs," so my final destination determines which hub I'll be flying into, which determines which airline I'll be taking.

The airport I absolutely hate the most is Newark Liberty.

Dare I ask about the logic behind "pairs?"

Amen to Liberty. Total dump.

 

[jdoggivjc]

Dare I ask about the logic behind "pairs?"

Amen to Liberty. Total dump.

I think it's government contracts to get the best rate possible. That's why 95% of the time, when we set up our travel, a city pair tends to be cheaper than anything else out there.

 

[balken]

I think it's government contracts to get the best rate possible. That's why 95% of the time, when we set up our travel, a city pair tends to be cheaper than anything else out there.

I only ask because those type of government contracts usually are cumbersome and end up saving nothing. Corporations are sometimes only slightly better. My old employer limited our list of hotels to preferred providers. While I am sure they used the number of lodging nights as negotiating leverage and got some kickbacks on the back end of these contracts, I can't tell you how many nights I stayed in hotels that were as much as $100+ a night higher than a comparable (or at least acceptable) hotel because of that list.

 

[jumbopackage]

Im going to Europe this summer and I am intentionally oging to wait to be the last one on. I would love to get bumped, raise some hell (which im good at) and get a free flight

Generally, you'll get bumped before they start boarding the plane. If they haven't asked for volunteers before the boarding process begins, they likely won't be pull people off a plane once they've boarded (and their luggage is likely on the plane).

I guess my travel experience is different from everyone else's, as I work for the government and I'm basically told which airline I will be flying on. The government works on what is called "city pairs," so my final destination determines which hub I'll be flying into, which determines which airline I'll be taking. If I have to go to New Jersey for work, Newark is paired with Chicago/O'Hare, so I'd be flying United. Baltimore is paired with Detroit, so I'd be flying Northwest. Syracuse (at the time) was paired with Cincinnati, so I'd be flying Delta. Huntsville, AL is paired with Atlanta, so, depending on what happens to be cheaper at the time, I'd be flying either Delta or AirTran. Virtually anything on the west coast is paired with Denver, so I'd be flying United. I really don't get the choice as to which airline I want to fly as city pairs is 95% of the time going to be the cheapest flight, so that's the one I'll be flying.

I love flying Northwest/KLM (especially now that they no longer fly the turbo props out of the Quad Cities), but I'm mostly indifferent towards other airlines. I've never actually flown AirTran, but I've heard lots of good things about them. Never had any problems with Delta (must be an exception to the rule). Now that I think about it, the only delays/mechanical failures I've ever had to deal with (for an airline that still is in existence - take that, ATA...) was with United, and their customer service seems less willing to work with passengers when something goes wrong.

I don't seem to have the "hate" of O'Hare that most people here seem to have, but I guess the only problem I've ever had was having to make the 2-mile run from terminal E to terminal B in 15 minutes to catch my connecting flight. That was not a whole lot of fun.

The airport I absolutely hate the most is Newark Liberty. That place is an absolute dump and poorly configured. None of the buildings are connected so you are forced to take an air train between terminals and rental cars. Plus virtually every single flight is delayed either due to poor runway configuration (it shares airspace with LaGuardia and Kennedy) or because the equipment there has managed to break down. And trust me - Newark is not a place you want to spend the night if you are a fan of warm fuzzy feelings. I'm also not a fan of DTW, but I'm not sure whether that has to do with a hatred of the airport or up until recently the planes that flew between Detroit and Moline were turboprops. Also not a fan of Cincinnati, but fortunately Delta has dropped the Moline-Cincinnati connection. Favorite airport has to be MSP, but unfortunately it's just never paired with any other city.

That's strange. In the military they have a booking system kinda similar to Orbitz now, where you can pick your flights (to some degree), and the airlines have a "government rate" just like hotels do. Generally the gov't rate for hotels is quite reasonable.

DTW is actually a pretty nice airport, especially now that they've finished the B and C concourses. It's still a bit of a haul between those concourses and the A concourse, but nothing so bad you can't make a 40 min connection. I spent the night there a month or so back and it was quite tolerable (though everything shuts down at around 1 AM)

MSP is probably my favorite hub, but I also like MEM. MEM seems a little more laid back.

I don't really hate ORD like I do ATL, I just prefer not to fly through it because it tends to be so busy, and it's a hub for two major airlines (UA and AA) instead of a "Fortress hub" that's quiet except for the airline that has it as a hub.

CVG has gotten better recently, but it's still a weird airport and I'm not a huge fan. I like flying through Reagan though, just because I love the old school feel of the airport. It reminds me of the "golden age" of travel instead of the 1984esque world we live in today.

 

[jdoggivjc]

That's strange. In the military they have a booking system kinda similar to Orbitz now, where you can pick your flights (to some degree), and the airlines have a "government rate" just like hotels do. Generally the gov't rate for hotels is quite reasonable.

Yes, DTS is a system very similar to Orbitz, however the majority of the flights on DTS is based on city pairs. For instance, if I were to travel from Moline to Newark (which I've done many times), the majority of the time I will get 5-6 different options for United flights, because the pair city flight for Moline-Newark is any combination of flights that include Moline to O'Hare and O'Hare to Newark. More often than not no other airline will even show up as an option to fly to Newark because it's not a city pair, however, say a Northwest flight combo Moline-Detroit-Newark shows up. I can choose that only if I have a very good reason in doing so (the reason being that it's cheaper - I can't just say "I choose Northwest over United because the service with NWA is better than United and they treat me better" - that won't fly with our accountants).

Now say I had to fly to Ft Drum, NY for work. Moline-Syracuse does not have a city pair associated with it, so I am freer to choose my flights. What we ended up choosing was Moline-Cincinnati-Syracuse on Delta on our way to and then Syracuse-Detroit-Moline on Northwest on our way home.

The really interesting thing about city pairs is flying to a particular location isn't always the same when you fly back. I went to Schofield Barracks in Hawaii for a work trip once. Flying there we went Moline-Denver-Los Angeles-Honolulu, but on the way back we went Honolulu-Los Angeles-Chicago-Moline.

 

[jumbopackage]

Yes, DTS is a system very similar to Orbitz, however the majority of the flights on DTS is based on city pairs. For instance, if I were to travel from Moline to Newark (which I've done many times), the majority of the time I will get 5-6 different options for United flights, because the pair city flight for Moline-Newark is any combination of flights that include Moline to O'Hare and O'Hare to Newark. More often than not no other airline will even show up as an option to fly to Newark because it's not a city pair, however, say a Northwest flight combo Moline-Detroit-Newark shows up. I can choose that only if I have a very good reason in doing so (the reason being that it's cheaper - I can't just say "I choose Northwest over United because the service with NWA is better than United and they treat me better" - that won't fly with our accountants).

Now say I had to fly to Ft Drum, NY for work. Moline-Syracuse does not have a city pair associated with it, so I am freer to choose my flights. What we ended up choosing was Moline-Cincinnati-Syracuse on Delta on our way to and then Syracuse-Detroit-Moline on Northwest on our way home.

The really interesting thing about city pairs is flying to a particular location isn't always the same when you fly back. I went to Schofield Barracks in Hawaii for a work trip once. Flying there we went Moline-Denver-Los Angeles-Honolulu, but on the way back we went Honolulu-Los Angeles-Chicago-Moline.

That stinks. I hate traveling commercial with the military. It's such a major pain. I've done both, and I MUCH prefer booking it myself (and it's generally quite a bit cheaper as well).

 

[cybsball20]

The two best flights I have ever taken were on ExpressJet, out of Kansas City. I was flying to Jacksonville, FL a flight that is normally pretty pricey from Des Moines. Did some research and found they had direct flights from KC to Jax. The flight was VERY cheap, around $200 round trip, had tons of leg room and shoulder room (I'm 6'5" 250, broad shoulders) and also had free full meals and get this, $1 Beers! I made sure to stock up on singles for the ride home...

 

[jumbopackage]

The two best flights I have ever taken were on ExpressJet, out of Kansas City. I was flying to Jacksonville, FL a flight that is normally pretty pricey from Des Moines. Did some research and found they had direct flights from KC to Jax. The flight was VERY cheap, around $200 round trip, had tons of leg room and shoulder room (I'm 6'5" 250, broad shoulders) and also had free full meals and get this, $1 Beers! I made sure to stock up on singles for the ride home...

You can get to Orlando from Des Moines pretty much anytime during March for under 300 bucks. You have a couple of hour drive from there to JAX, but I'd rather have 4 hours of driving in Florida in March than 6-8 hours of driving in Iowa/Missouri in March.

 

[cybsball20]

You can get to Orlando from Des Moines pretty much anytime during March for under 300 bucks. You have a couple of hour drive from there to JAX, but I'd rather have 4 hours of driving in Florida in March than 6-8 hours of driving in Iowa/Missouri in March.

Yeah, but that would include renting a car. Didn't have to do that flying into Jax.

 

[jdoggivjc]

That stinks. I hate traveling commercial with the military. It's such a major pain. I've done both, and I MUCH prefer booking it myself (and it's generally quite a bit cheaper as well).

Not allowed to do that as nowadays everything must go through our Government travel credit card. People used to book things on their personal credit cards (probably for points and such), but they've now mandated that flights, rental cars, and hotels must be charged on the government card (probably easier for the bean counters to keep track of certain things).

 

[jumbopackage]

Not allowed to do that as nowadays everything must go through our Government travel credit card. People used to book things on their personal credit cards (probably for points and such), but they've now mandated that flights, rental cars, and hotels must be charged on the government card (probably easier for the bean counters to keep track of certain things).

Actually, I think it's partly because the gov't gets a kickback from the card provider, from what I understand.

The gov't used to keep your frequent flier miles as well.

 

[jumbopackage]

Yeah, but that would include renting a car. Didn't have to do that flying into Jax.

Ah. I just assumed a car rental as part of the trip.

It certainly does make some sense to travel to other cities sometimes, I won't deny that. However, I think a lot of people overestimate how much they are actually saving in terms of travel headaches and whatnot. Sometimes it's worth the extra hundred bucks to not have to leave home at 3 AM to be at the airport by 7.