Frequent Flyer Question
 

I used my United MileagePlus Gold Class Visa Signature Card to book airfare on Continental.com for thanksgiving weekend...


Am I going to go to hell now?





Oh yes, I am also crediting my miles towards Northwest WorldPerks, Continental's SkyTeam Partner.

And just so y'all can get another laugh, I'm flying San Antonio-Raleigh via Houston; and Raleigh-San Antonio via Newark....

(and y'all thought this was a serious question..... :D :D :D )

Re: Frequent Flyer Question
 

If you do, you'll have to go through Houston, Cleveland or Newark (or another Continental hub).

To go to Hell on Delta, you have to go through Atlanta.

On United, it's Chicago or Denver (or one of the smaller hubs).

On American, I hope you like Dallas.

Etc. Etc.

Re: Re: Frequent Flyer Question
 

You will also have to pay more to get to Hell from Austin than you would from Houston or Dallas. In case you were wondering. :p

DeltAlum:

My routing is SAT-IAH-RDU-EWR-SAT...does that last connection make any sense at all...I have to fly north to go southwest!




Lindz:

You actually pay less....hub cities are more expensive, Austin has the competition so it's cheaper...recent example: AUS-SEA (with a IAH connection) was $188, IAH-SEA (same flight, minus the AUS leg) was $488. Plus, AUS gets Jetblue in January...meaning $79 fares each-way to JFK and BOS.....

All of the times I have looked at going to major cities (like Vegas or New York) it was going to cost me more to fly out of Austin. Dallas was the cheapest everytime I looked. *Shrug*

Let me look for you next time, i'm an expert ;)

BTW, if it makes you feel better, AUS is traditionally cheaper than SAT.....though i've always made the fares close enough it doesn't matter.

Hey man, I used to get paid to do that!

As far as redeeming 25K/35K (from Hawaii) miles on United, you wouldn't believe how creative I had to get. Since Saver seats are often very limited and inventory control usually doesn't replenish the supply right away, many of the favorable routes tend to be sold out.

I once had to route a lady from HNL-LAX-PDX-DEN-DRO for her outbound, then for her return she went DRO-DEN-ORD-LAX-HNL...just so she could use her 35K.

Haha, that does make me feel better. Strange thing, the airport here is international, but it seems SO small. I guess I am just used to DFW. :p

Oh, that's nothing...you should go to www.flyertalk.com and look in the Mileage Run forum...there's guys there that do routings even crazier than that just to maximise the miles!

BTW, it's common knowledge that domestic coach awards are some of the worst value around...while Hawaii is probably the exception, you always get more $/mile if you do International First or Business class tickets.

International just means that there is a customs agent at the airport...and there's maybe one or two daily flights to Mexico from Austin, hence international.

Dallas is big because it is/was a major hub for two major airlines, AA and Delta. Delta recently moved out leaving an entire terminal empty.

I think one trip to either Canada or Mexico can make an airport "International."

I won't use the international letter designations, so nobody has to look them up, but I was once routed from Paris DeGaulle - Pittsburgh -- Charlotte -- Denver. That was a real long day of flying.

You guessed it -- US Scarelines -- I mean US Air.

You mean the Airline formerly known as US Air, which merged/was bought out by America West Airlines, which took on the name US Air for the new expanded operation :-D

That's the one. A later permutation of the former Agony (Allegheny) Airlines.

As for OTW's routing, I can understand having to fly thru Denver to get to Durango, but the DEN/ORD/LAX routing is ugly.

Although I've often flown Denver/Columbus (CMH) via Atlanta.

A few years ago, nobody really knew the airport codes -- with the possible exception of JFK and LAX. Now, more and more TV stations are using their local airport designator as part of their call letters.

Cases in point, WCMH, Columbus; WDTN, Dayton -- the ones that come immediately to mind, but I have heard of others.

Air Lines Suck! Business accum is non esential! Fly My Air Line, it is Old and costs more! DA!

Cheaper to do Hubs, pay more to fly DI instead of Hubs.:(

Okay, Gas is up so I am going to fly Y0ou waqy the hell out of the way and charge more going direct where You land and take off again!

They want to be in every market but who do is cost? You and Me!

We have already lost TWA, Eastern, Pan Am, Braniff ect.

Why, EGO. Ego there and Ego go there!:rolleyes:

SWA had the right idea from the get go. One Plane, interchangeable parts.

Oh, I am going to buy all of these different planes that have different parts. OOPs!:rolleyes:

Hell ATA is and has been in trouble and they are somewhat regional.

Airlines are their own worst enemies or inamias(SIC

So, go out of business or until you all figure out how to make it work! Times change and You had better too!

So JetBlue is now going to fail because they are introducing a second type of airframe? The Embraer 190 Regional Jet, with the standard Airbus A320?

I'll also remind you that Southwest has also flown for short periods of time other airframes than the 737...i'll post pictures to prove it, too. Of course, this was just when they couldn't get their hands on 737s quick enough for their rapid growth. I'll also remind you that Southwest still flies to very limited destinations, so good luck if you want to get to New York City proper (Islip barely cuts it...), Atlanta, Denver, Hawaii, London, Cancun, Barbados, etc... (not including codeshares)
or for you Dallas residents out there, anywhere further away than Tulsa! :-D

I've never flown Southwest because obviously they don't fly here, so y'all have it easy when it comes to cheap airfare. It costs at least $300-$400 to just get out of Hawaii during the off season.

Oh, and DeltAlum -- Charles DeGaulle is CDG. During our second week we were all tested on airport and city codes. I probably won't have a need to know them unless I decide to work in the airline industry again, but it was fun learning them!

At least I got to milk them for all they got! Yay for one day trips to Narita!

The Old Adage is The Kiss Rule!

And it works. JetBlue may be making a mistake? Time will tell wont it?

LOL...one of my best friends from college just got hired on at the SFO United office. He says that one of these days, we're going to have a day trip to Hawaii! :D

Nonstop flights from SFO-HNL 5 times daily!

Yeah, I remember. I didn't want everyone else running to Google or whatever to figure out what I was talking about.

The other thing about Midwest is that even though they fly aircraft (Boeing 717 I think) that are sized between the regional jets and the standards, roughly the size of the old DC-9, they only put two rows of seats per side. So, besides being leather, they're wider than the normal seat. Not as wide as First Class, but still very nice.

While the United First International is nice, it still doesn't compare to Cathay or Singapore...not to mention those Singapore Girls are a lot better for your eyes than Grandma Flight Attendent on United's pacific flights....

Actually, ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) airline codes in the continental U.S. have their designations begin with K; example: KDFW, KMIA, KLAX, KORD, KLAS, etc.

Airports in Alaska and Hawaii have their designations beginning with P - PANC, PHNL, POGG. (Anchorage, Honolulu and Kahului, Maui, respectively)

Airports in Europe begin with E - EDDF (Frankfurt-Main) and ETAD (Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany) except for the Froggies, which begin with L - LFPG (Paris-Charles de Gaulle)

More info: http://www.airlinecodes.co.uk/aptcodesearch.asp and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICAO_airport_code .

Unfortunately, not 100% accurate anymore...Midwest flies both 717s and MD-80's...while all used to be configured to Midwest's "Signature Service" with 2x2 leather seats, all of the larger MD-80s have been configured to "Saver Service" with standard 2x3 seating in order to maximize profit to the more leisure destinations, such as San Francisco, Orlando, until recently New Orleans (Midwest has indefinitely pulled out), etc...

They've also unfortunately taken away the very nice meals during mealtime and gone to a Buy-On-Board system like everyone else (from what i've heard, it's quite good though). Atleast they still have the freshly baked Chocolate Chip cookies on every flight :)

I fly on a Signature Service route all the time, but you are right. The on-board food is from Mader's (a German restaurant in Milwaukee), which is DELICIOUS, and it's actually better priced than airport food.

I've only flown the signature service as well.

Mader's is great.

Of course Cathay and Singapore are preferred...but I'm sure those "massages" they give on board have nothing to do with it. :rolleyes:

I believe you have Cathay and Singapore mistaken with Virgin Atlantic.............

I'm not talking about those kinds of massages, toots.

;) ;)

Hey, if the customer enjoys the flight........

That makes it seem much more reasonable. Good to know!

As for connecting flights.... I think they suck. I'm not really crazy about flying to begin with, so the last thing I want to do is have to take longer to get where I'm going, or change planes somewhere.

If possible, I will almost always be willing to pay more money just so that I can go straight to where I need to be. :)

Heading for Homecoming at Ohio U. next week on United Frequent Flyer Miles.

Not bad: DEN/CMH outbound, CMH/ORD/DEN coming back. Maybe I'll get to ride "the moving sidewalk through the neon tunnel" at O'Hare as my kids used to say when they were younger.

I still say that at 26 years old! :p

Score!!!! www.flybmi.com was acting up yesterday, and I was able to grab this, Europe here I come!!! BMI is also a Star Alliance Partner, and everyone on www.flyertalk.com is debating whether or not this fare is mileage earning, putting thousands of miles into my United MileagePlus Account...even without the miles though, great deal!!!! FYI, it appears that "Premium Economy" means 38" instead of 32" of legroom, and extra recline in the seat. (and normally, the difference between a $900 and $2000 fare....hehehehe :D :D)

Economy Plus is a great thing, and those extra inches of legroom does make a difference.

I know that Mileage Plus members can purchase a year's subscription to Economy Plus. Meaning, even if you purchase a seat in Q,V,W,S, or T class (the deeply discounted ones), you'd be eligible to select a seat in Economy Plus. I forget how much it is (I don't think it's too much), but if you fly a lot I'm sure it's a good deal.

It's $299, though Elite members of the MileagePlus and Star Alliance Programs gain complimentary access on any fare... so the $299 is really only good until you gain 25,000 miles during the year, in which case it becomes useless.

BTW, this isn't Economy Plus, as that is a United Product, and i'm flying bmi...slightly different product...but regardless, still great.

Did you check out the fare??????!

Damn you, docetboy because you've got me hooked on flyertalk.com now!

If I hadn't taken that job and flown space available all that time, I could have finally achieved Premier status (it's easy to gain miles just flying in and out of here) as I've flown a lot within this past year. :(

Premier Status (2P in flyertalk, basically useless as you have 1P, 1K, and UGS above you) on United

or

NRSA (Non-Revenue Space Available) Travel on UA, in any available class of service.

Hmmmm....hard choice.........

One of the things I'll miss most about UA. NRSA. :(

Re: Frequent Flyer Question
 

Heh. At a company I used to work for, I had to fly from Boston to Newark on a weekly basis to go to a client site in Secaucus. On one occasion, I called the travel office and told them I needed to fly BOS-EWR on Continental. They told me they could get me on a cheaper flight - the US Air shuttle into LGA. (US Air was the company's preferred airline.) I had to explain in very little words that between LGA and Secaucus there's a little thing called Manhattan. I would have saved a few bucks on the airfare only to burn it on car fare. :rolleyes:

But, my husband's company's travel office is far worse. The travel office's mandate is, book the cheapest airfare, regardless of other expenses. A couple of weeks ago, he had to go down to DC for a two-day meeting. The logical itinerary: Take a morning shuttle from LGA-DCA, have the meeting, stay overnight somewhere in DC or VA, and fly back on the shuttle the next day. The actual itinerary: Stay in some fleabag motel near JFK (complete with hookers :rolleyes: ), fly JFK-IAD (!) on a 6am (!) flight, take a taxi to DC, have the meeting, stay overnight somewhere in NOVA, take a taxi back to DC for day 2, then go back to IAD and fly back to JFK. So, two nights' hotel stay and several large taxi fares, all because the early-morning JFK-IAD flight was just slightly cheaper than the LGA-DCA shuttle. :rolleyes: