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Ramrod Hotshot posted:Thanks. God willing it's possible to do this without leaving the airport in Santiago. Yeah, no need to leave the airport but they built a new (and rather nice) international terminal so the old airport that was a mix of international and domestic is now all domestic and there is a walk of around 1000ft between the two but there are moving walkways that help. Torres del Paine is one of the most beautiful areas I've ever been to, and Puerto Natales is a good jumping off point if they don't want to stay at one of the lodges in the park. If they do want to be in the park, Hosteria Pehoe is a great location and is surrounded by staggering views. Everything in this part of Chile is remote and difficult to get to with dirt roads so plan accordingly. If they're not set on flying into Punta Arenas or are interested in other locations, the bottom part of the Lake District in Chile is amazing. Puerto Montt is the city with the airport and nearby Puerto Varas is probably my favorite location in Chile; get a place with a view of the volcanoes on Lago Llanquihue. In the middle of those two are places like Villa Cerro Castillo where you fly into Balmaceda and the nearest decent sized town is Coyhaique. We stayed at this stupid place which requires a 4x4 truck to get to and has solar powered batteries for electricity and a wood stove for cooking and heating water but comes with one of the most beautiful views I've ever seen in real life. Again, nothing in this part of Chile is easy to get to so your parents should plan ahead. English is also not widely spoken in these areas so functional Spanish will be required. There are lots of other options and places (penguins in Ancud, geothermal hot springs outside of Pucon, etc.) so happy to share some of our past experiences as needed.
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Aug 10, 2023 00:25
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Ramrod Hotshot posted:Huge thanks! This is all really helpful. Yeah realistically myself and my sister (who speaks fluent Spanish) would be going along if this happens, but it sounds awesome so we’re down. Yes, you want a 4x4 as pavement ends north of Puerto Natales and everything else will be dirt roads (with somewhere between 8 and 9 billion potholes, get the full insurance). The open ocean is....not nearby Puerto Natales. I'm not aware of any boat tours in the area other than the 3 day ferry to Puerto Montt, but I also haven't been to Puerto Natales in a couple years (pre-covid) so it could be different now. The big draw down there is Torres del Paine and the glaciers so I don't know that much is focused on water tourism in the area. The notable exception to that is inside the park at one of the fancy ecolodges where they have a boat tour out to the Grey Glacier; details can be found here: https://www.lagogrey.com/en/navigation/
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Aug 10, 2023 14:26
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BizarroAzrael posted:Felt like posting this somewhere, but maybe doesn't warrent it's own thread and it's more making a vacation appreciably cheaper rather than just flights, but if you have free cancellation bookings on your hotels make sure to check for better prices closer to your leaving. I've saved maybe £150 rebooking for a slightly better location and access to a fridge in Chicago, and for effectively the same room in Philadelphia Tis true, I do it for flights regularly.
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Aug 10, 2023 14:26
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Ramrod Hotshot posted:Again, I really appreciate it. I may come back to you with more questions later if that's cool. It's what we're here for. 
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Aug 10, 2023 18:21
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actionjackson posted:what's the lowest you think you can get from MSP-CDG in March? This would be Delta One. Cheapest I've found is 3600. No issue with which day of the week we leave and come back. How long do you plan to be in Paris? Also are you willing to explore other airports in the region or is a non-stop the most important thing? Edit: Also does it have to be D1 or will other airlines be ok? Beef Of Ages fucked around with this message at 00:48 on Aug 16, 2023 |
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Aug 16, 2023 00:43
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WaryWarren posted:That's how I planned my vacation in a few months. One weird trick that Beef of Ages hates. Haha, I've become a meme. In any event, finding those fares using a search engine is great. The key is how you book them to ensure you're not opening up undue potential for larger issues during travel if something goes tits up.
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Aug 23, 2023 19:58
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It is certainly a strategy that can pay off, but for those in the domestic US market (which is not mobby_6kl or Saladman) where load factors tend to be a lot higher, you can also get a middle seat by the toilets really easily.
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Aug 25, 2023 13:54
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Xander77 posted:Am I missing something about Kayak? Is there a way to sort flights according to their cost with trolley \ carry-on? Kiwi has that as an option, but Kayak just gives you all the luggage-free 50$ flights you want, only to hit you with a 200-400$ added fee when you review the flight info. It's less of a Kayak issue and more of an issue of whether or not the carrier in question publishes those fares with the add-ons included. Some do, some don't. It's also possible that Kwik is doing their own research and adding that to the results of carriers that don't publish the information themselves. Ultimately, the rule of thumb is to find the fare you want on the search engine and then book directly with the carrier. Either way, you're going to have to re-verify pricing with all of the things you need on a ticket by ticket basis.
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Sep 7, 2023 14:24
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Larry Cum Free posted:Is anyone aware of a consistently cheap route from North America to Athens? There is no such thing as "tends to be cheap" when it comes to airfare anymore; airlines are constantly repricing fares to maximize their yields using data. The most you can really do is adapt to market forces like looking at major cities for a departure point because places with more flights are more likely to have lower prices due to competition than otherwise. The Edmonton to Athens market is unlikely to be something that has a lot of travelers so there aren't a lot of options which makes for higher prices. As WithoutTheFezOn notes, Toronto and New York are likely to be your best bet; play around with departure days and trip length and see what you can find.
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Sep 18, 2023 22:48
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) with flexible dates. My wife isn't a great flier, so I'm trying to avoid the 15+ hour travel day. My thinking is to find a flight from Edmonton to Montreal or New York at a good price, maybe spend a couple of days, and head out from there. I've seen a couple decent prices on flights from those cities through Lisbon or Paris (cities I am also down to spend some time in) to Athens, but direct would be preferable. I was just wondering if anyone happens to know of a regular route along those lines that tends to be cheap. Thanks!
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mobby_6kl posted:What are the cheapest routes between Korea and Japan? I want to visit both on one trip and thought there'd be something on a short flight like between like Busan and let's say Hiroshima but I'm not seeing anything. Are there some secret lowcost airlines that aren't available to the dirty foreigners or something? Of the five LCCs in Japan, the only ones with service to Korea that I know of are JetStar Japan and Zipair. Not sure if they publish to normal GDS engines or if you have to search them directly.
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Sep 18, 2023 22:52
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mobby_6kl posted:Hey, I have this flight coming up and I was checking the cabin luggage situation. K is a discounted economy fare on United, not Basic Economy (which is N) so you can bring a normal carry on for all segments. No need to call.
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Nov 30, 2023 03:23
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mobby_6kl posted:I was kind of looking forward to the layover as I've never been to Chicago before but yeah not ideal especially in the winter when it's going to be cold and dark early. Also if the immigration takes forever. Oh well. Book a room at the hideously lovely Hilton ORD (ask for an allergen free room as they're slightly less lovely) and then take the Blue Line into town, go get dinner and beers (I can recommend several places), then take the Blue Line back out and sleep before your flight the next morning. If you're having to deal with the poo poo sandwich that is transiting the US, at least you can treat yo self.
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Nov 30, 2023 17:13
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Saladman posted:I’m not sure what nationality you are Mobby (Ukraine + something more internationally usable?) but if you or anyone else reading this thread transit in the US more often than every five years, you can get global entry, which makes transiting in the US honestly easier than how flying was pre 9/11. It also lets you go to through the "wave you through in two seconds" special security line at most airports. Solid advice. Global Entry is the truth.
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Nov 30, 2023 18:19
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mobby_6kl posted:Whelp there was an hour delay due to lovely weather and now apparently they discovered that the spoiler on the left wing isn't responding correctly so we're taxiing back for maintenance to check it out. At this rate I'm not going to see poo poo in Chicago lol. Welcome to travel! 
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Dec 1, 2023 14:52
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mobby_6kl posted:Not my first rodeo but I've never had more than 40-60 minute delay, somehow. We're almost 6 hours past the departure time and still parked in the maintenance area. Although the fix is supposedly done now so any minute... That sucks man, I'm sorry. Get you some of that EU261 compensation.
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Dec 1, 2023 18:18
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ReidRansom posted:Hey, offchance do any of you know what BA's deal is with their upgrade fare codes? I was looking on ExpertFlyer to see about my chances upgrading a PE to Business with an AA SWU, looking at U specifially, but it says all the upgrade fare classes (P, U, X, and Z) are unavailable. Not just for that flight, but like, in general. There are still ~13 seats available in business across all business fares, so I'm hoping some will be released to upgrade, but what's with the fare class thing? Welcome to upgrading with instruments in TYOOL 2023. Upgrade space is regularly sparse so it's not surprising that you're not seeing any U space available when you search for things, even over consecutive days. They'd much rather sell those seats for revenue rather than give them away. Also keep in mind that using an AA SWU on BA means you need a mixture of both AA and BA segments on the PNR.
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Dec 1, 2023 22:03
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mobby_6kl posted:so doing some research it seems... crap? Welcome to United. Take the cash and run.
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Dec 12, 2023 16:27
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Qubee posted:What are our options as passengers if this happens and you're flying economy? Or is it a moot point considering the fact no one ever really knows how long a delay will last. But if I hit the two hour mark, I'd want to get off the plane and just go on a following flight or something because I absolutely cannot stand being cramped in economy whilst not even going anywhere and then having to deal with the 5+ hour flight afterwards. Or is this one of those situations where it's better to just suck it up and eat the mind-numbing experience of being stuck on a plane that isn't getting you any closer to your destination? Unless they go back to the gate, you have no options. This, I believe, is a big part of why people justifiably hate long tarmac delays and why the US outlawed them a few years back (though they do still happen occasionally). If they do go back to the gate, for me, it's very much a gametime decision based off the information I have. One immutable truth in travel is that advocating for and taking care of yourself is always going to net you a better outcome than expecting the airline (or hotel or car rental agency or really anyone else) to take care of you. If it's a mechanical issue then you're reliant upon what the crew tells you, but for weather issues and things like that, you have access to the same data the airlines use (for the most part) on your phone. Making the choice to give yourself more options is always the best plan in my experience.
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Dec 29, 2023 20:19
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WithoutTheFezOn posted:Just a guess but I’d think since the flight isn’t cancelled and you’ve got a seat on it, the airline isn’t going to refund your fare. If you demand to be let off I would imagine they’d have to oblige but at that point your transaction with the airline is most likely completed. Usually (and this is highly dependent on the gate agent or customer service agent you interact with) they'll rebook you on a later flight.
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Dec 29, 2023 20:20
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mobby_6kl posted:I don't know the real answer but while we were stuck there after a few hours they said that you can request to be let off the plane. But it'd be sooo complicated, involve removing your luggage, etc, so you should realllly think hard about it, because of the implication. This is true and also why I don't check bags unless absolutely necessary, especially for international trips. Again, I try to set myself up for success with maximum flexibility and options so checking bags is a big dent in that effort.
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Dec 29, 2023 20:21
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Also helpful when your two hour connection between airlines at CDG, AMS, or wherever winds up being more like 50 minutes because of a deicing delay or whatever. Not having to claim and recheck can make the difference.
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Dec 29, 2023 20:28
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Konstantin posted:It's my understanding that a lot of airlines don't give you the option. If you don't take off after a predetermined amount of time, you go back to the gate and the flight is cancelled. This is usually a function of slot controlled airports and ATC, less about the airline. The airline has numerous incentives to get the flight in the air (financial, operational, reputational, etc.) and will generally do what they can to make it happen. But there are some airports that have tight departure and arrival slot controls and if you miss your window, you're poo poo out of luck. The exception rather than the rule, though.
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Dec 30, 2023 18:41
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WithoutTheFezOn posted:Out of curiosity, are there any/many widely used passenger aircraft that can’t use the roll-up stairways? I know we had to use one earlier this year when things went squirrelly on a A320. Yeah, pretty sure the answer here is none.
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Dec 30, 2023 19:02
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spoof posted:I’ve always looked at the Wikipedia page for the airport (ex: MAD). I’ve found it to be pretty complete, but it doesn’t show any schedules. This is what I've always done as well.  WithoutTheFezOn posted:If you’d like a more graphical representation, look at https://www.direct-flights.com Their data looks suspect; MAD-DFW definitely has more than 1x flight per week (it has daily service from both American and Iberia).
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Jan 1, 2024 02:29
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Badger of Basra posted:I have a bunch of United miles and am planning to fly to Helsinki from Chicago on 6/19. Based off what you posted, I think you're perhaps not aware of the disconnect between revenue seat availability and award seat availability. As a rule, the airlines want to sell seats for revenue rather than give them away on awards so award seats are always going to be far, far less available than what you see when you search for revenue availability. With that principle in mind, what you're seeing in the award search reflects the awards that are available right now. It is common for business class seats to not be available on awards, especially for the busy summer travel season to Europe, because the airline would rather sell them for a profit. You can continue to watch the flights and see if award availability opens up (which can happen at any time or never) and also look at alternatives like leaving out of EWR or IAD. Flexibility is often the key to finding award seats that will work for your trip. Only leaving on 6/19 and only out of ORD is going to significantly limit your options, up to the point of not ever finding anything. Similar to award availability, upgrade space is also controlled. The likelihood of a mileage award clearing the wait list or being available in the first place is fairly remote. This, again, is exacerbated by having one flight one one day to choose from. The comedy option is to pay the exorbitant rates UA will charge for an anytime award to book into business anyway. Wildly fantastic waste of miles in that case.
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Jan 2, 2024 23:43
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Badger of Basra posted:Thank you! That's good to know. I only started traveling much recently so a lot of this stuff is new to me. It depends heavily on where and when. Let's address checked baggage issues first and then I'll comment further. peanut posted:Domestic→domestic your bags should be checked through if you're on the same carrier. These things apply if you consider the US to be domestic, which is some but not all of us. If you're transiting internationally in the Schengen area, as an example, your checked bag will be transferred without the need to claim and recheck even though you'll process through immigration at the transit gateway. It's a nuance, but one that is important to the timing of international connections. More completely and without respect to checked baggage, international connections vary widely depending on where you're connecting and what level of immigration and security formalities you'll have to deal with. Some are incredibly easy (ZRH) and some are a vaguely Sisyphean endeavor (CDG, FRA when it's busy), and others yet have some effort required but usually aren't that bad (MUC, MAD, and NRT come to mind). If you're connecting internationally in the US, first why would you do that to yourself, and second the experience is going to be very different. All of which is a long way of saying: please post what your plans are and we can comment further with specifics.
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Jan 3, 2024 17:27
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Badger of Basra posted:Looking at my options right now it’s looking like the options are going to be ORD to either FRA or MUC and then HEL. Most of the connection times seem reasonable but there’s one with a 1hr 10 min connection in MUC which is what prompted me to ask the question - I’d think that was kind of short even for a domestic flight depending on the airport. 1:10 at MUC would be no problem for me; you'll have to clear immigration and security but neither are usually a problem at MUC. It's a nice airport.
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Jan 3, 2024 19:31
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mobby_6kl posted:E: seems like Saudia's new schedule is out and I'd now have a 30h layover instead of 4 or whatever if I accept it I can't imagine the airline provided hotel is going to be anything all that special and I personally wouldn't relish spending extra time in the Kingdom. A buddy of mine who lived there for a few years a while back reported the same, though he did say Riyadh was better than Jeddah.
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Jan 4, 2024 19:12
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Always appreciate good woof pics. So, from an airline perspective, I'm sorry to report that you're hosed within the current parameters you've defined. The likelihood of AA flying a widebody out of PHL to anywhere that isn't Europe is very remote. Alaska is a solid option in terms of taking Pavlov without a bunch of extra horseshit (on top of the regular horseshit of flying with a pet, that is) but they do not offer non-stop flights out of PHL. You must transit SEA and I don't see that changing anytime soon due to the capacity impacts Alaska is dealing with thanks to Boeing's lovely manufacturing quality as of late. So the easy button is to deal with the connection in Seattle and roll with it. Alaska has all the details and requirements on this helpful page: https://www.alaskaair.com/content/travel-info/policies/pets-traveling-with-pets/pets-in-baggage-compartment
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Jan 17, 2024 04:37
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:To be clear: I'm traveling from SFO (or nearby airports) to PHL (or nearby airports). gently caress, that's my bad, I misread what you wrote. Yes, absolutely grab SFO-EWR on AS and drive down to Philly. United has ps service on SFO-EWR so that's also an option with several widebody choices usually.
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Jan 17, 2024 04:56
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:I would much prefer a direct flight, assuming I go with flying. This is, uh, how it works. You're undertaking a fairly niche activity with very specific variables that are outliers (Pavlov the Great); it is unreasonable to expect to not have to jump through some hoops. The Marriott at SFO doesn't have a weight restriction on pets that I can see so that may be a better option for staying near SFO. I would also ensure that you fill up the rental the night before, use short term parking to get Pavlov checked in, then go return the car and take the AirTrain back to the terminal.
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Jan 18, 2024 04:06
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Yeah, you're suffering from a timing issue with regard to the reservation. Alaska is still dealing with the loss of nearly 30% of their daily capacity with the grounding of the 737 MAX 9. Lots of folks in the phone trying to get where they need to go. I think your plan for a car rental is solid and the only reasonable way to do this with a guarantee of success.
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Jan 20, 2024 11:21
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runawayturtles posted:I'm planning a ~10 day trip to the Netherlands & Belgium in May, looking to fly NYC -> AMS and BRU -> NYC (or the other way around). I've accumulated a whole lot of Chase UR points that I'd like to start using, but I don't think I've ever successfully used points by transferring them to an airline, only in the Chase portal. What you're seeing is the difference between revenue and award tickets. Airline award tickets have dramatically smaller availability than revenue tickets do for obvious reasons, and booking via the Chase portal is actually booking a revenue ticket from the airline's point of view, but Chase takes points from your account to pay itself back for buying you a revenue ticket via its travel agency (Expedia). So the key is exactly what you're experiencing: find an award flight available on a Chase partner airline, then transfer the points. In almost all cases this is a better value for the points you have, but it's much more difficult to find award space. That's the nature of the game. Much further in advance or much closer in are two potential strategies, but award availability will vary widely between markets, routes, and seasons. Successful award ticket redemption often involves a lot of flexibility on your part so I'd also be checking BOS, IAD, PHL, and possibily even ORD, ATL, IAH, and other big international gateways that are relatively easy to get to from NYC. Additionally, check LHR, FRA, MUC, CDG, and other big international gateways in Europe. Paying for a comparatively inexpensive domestic ticket and the extra connection (either in the US or in Europe) may be worth the time and effort if you find a good award redemption for the over-water segment.
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Feb 6, 2024 14:11
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priznat posted:I’m flying for business in a couple weeks (YVR<-> YYZ, about a 4-5 hour flight depending on direction) and I’m eyeing the Air Canada seat upgrade bids. Are these a worthwhile deal on points for business or premium economy? It depends on what the cost is and how much you value the premium seat for a longer flight like that. 27k for PE seems like a decent deal to me, though if you have no other use for those miles and don't travel often, business is not the worst use. I use my Delta miles for upgrades because redeeming them for award flights is a laughable goal in most cases. I usually value premium seats at around $50 an hour, but that's a personal valuation and not any sort of widely applied metric.
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Feb 7, 2024 18:50
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runawayturtles posted:I know the Chase portal is for revenue tickets, but are you saying that the tickets on airline websites when searching to pay with points may also be revenue tickets, and that's why the points costs are so high? If so, is the only way to find award tickets just to experiment with different days and airports until something reasonable shows up? Sort of, but not quite. Super helpful, I know.  For most airlines, including the majors in the US, they have moved to revenue-based pricing for awards. So when you search for an award ticket, it comes from an award bucket but there are (usually) multiple award fare buckets just as their are multiple revenue fare buckets. The non-discount awards have variable pricing that tends to move up and down with the equivalent revenue cost of that particular seat at that time. Thus, the example you provided of the KL seat is indeed a poo poo redemption value. If you can use Chase points for a lower point value on a revenue ticket instead of transfering them 1:1 to FlyingPoo for a redemption, then you got good value from your Chase points. As you noted, other dates/times/destinations will have different point values for redemption so, as always, flexibility is key in finding a good fare, be it an award or a revenue ticket.
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Feb 11, 2024 16:36
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goodness posted:Is French Bee from NYC to Paris worth the risk of them being a budget airline? Its under $250 one way. It depends on what you're looking for. Is it a risk in terms of them operating as an airline? Probably not? They have to pass the same quality and maintenance procedures as any other airline that flies in Europe and the US so I wouldn't worry about it from that standpoint. It is a risk to your sanity from being crammed into tiny seats for many hours? Yeah, probably. Their standard Y seat is only 16 inches which is ludicrously tiny. Most airlines offer Y seats that are between 17 and 18 inches wide and that inch makes a really big difference, especially for a transatlantic flight. But that's all personal comfort issues; if all you care about is getting to Paris and you're not a large person, go for it.
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Mar 20, 2024 23:34
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goodness posted:I wish, coming back from Oslo on Norse Atlantic. I see you've embraced the new "Glutton For Punishment" fares.
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Mar 26, 2024 02:49
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goodness posted:At least until they gently caress me over once. But yeah its worth saving hundreds of dollars. That is a lot of food in a fun place. This is the way. poo poo, I'll do that in business class sometimes, but only after we climb above 10,000 feet. Ain't nobody need to try evacuating while stoned off your tits.
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Apr 6, 2024 17:09
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What kind of credits are these? If they're attached to a ticket number, then I don't believe you can use them for someone else as the names have to match on the credit and the new ticket. In any event, if the value is about to expire, book something else with it now the cancel it once it tickets. Boom, new credit with an extended expiration date.
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Apr 8, 2024 21:11
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Ham Equity posted:Credit is for $707, which is likely gonna be a little less than my airfare alone after taxes/fees. I really don't want to risk losing this if there's some weird edge policy regarding credits on cancellations that you spend credits on. I don't see a risk here at all. Your credit is stored value against a previously canceled ticket. When you use that credit toward a new ticket, the new ticket number now holds the flight coupon that represents the value of the ticket. If you then cancel that new ticket, the process starts over again with the value being associated to the new ticket number with a new expiration date. While it is a slightly different application, I did this recently to prevent some orphaned AA miles from expiring. I booked a cheap award, waited for it to ticket, then canceled and redeposited the miles. The expiration date reset to whatever their current window for non-elites is and we all move on. No big deal.
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Apr 8, 2024 22:29
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