I won the Southwest "Solarbration" Sweepstakes!

[MaineSkiLady]

Yeah, that's the odd thing about them. At least in my market, they are nowhere near the cheapest option for most routes.

This market as well. : (
Times change...

 

[Jilly]

I just bought 5 pairs of the glasses for my staff. We are in the path. So I just need to walk out the door.

But good for you @Amie H . Have fun.

 

[altagirl]

I don't fly much at all these days but honestly I've had better experiences on Southwest than most airlines. Set an alarm to check in for your flight and usually the boarding group isn't too bad.

I honestly get way more annoyed with companies wanting me to pay for a(ny) seat selection. So many discount flights look cheaper until you they nickel and dime you for the basics. I hate that.

 

[MaineSkiLady]

I just bought 5 pairs of the glasses for my staff. We are in the path. So I just need to walk out the door.

But good for you @Amie H . Have fun.

@Jilly- !! Easy-peasy! I'm worried about driving 40 miles to friends' house. Could be big traffic issues.

 

[MaineSkiLady]

I don't fly much at all these days but honestly I've had better experiences on Southwest than most airlines. Set an alarm to check in for your flight and usually the boarding group isn't too bad.

I honestly get way more annoyed with companies wanting me to pay for a(ny) seat selection. So many discount flights look cheaper until you they nickel and dime you for the basics. I hate that.

Well, they're starting to nickel and dime with "Early Bird" -- seems to cost more every year? Then the constant upgrade offers. They're kind of "on" now to what other carriers are doing.

And now, a lot of routes seem to have been "dashed" (pandemic?) - and ones we regularly used in the past. ???

 

[Jenny]

I think here they're roughly in line with other carriers for ticketing, but we still tend to look at them first for ski trips because of the included bags. I can’t tell you how irritated I get by the other airlines referring to even the first suitcase as “excess baggage.” Who goes somewhere without anything?!

 

[MaineSkiLady]

Yes to the bags inclusion. I always thought that might eventually vanish. As to routes, it's perplexing. My son is the frequent traveler in my family, and he was always able to get from west coast to approximately here (if sometimes 160 miles distant) - and back. Then last fall, he could get here from there, couldn't get there FROM here. Now it's neither. And he has points for a free trip, too - might have to use on a business trip?

 

[Jenny]

Then last fall, he could get here from there, couldn't get there FROM here

Well, THAT'S odd!

 

[MaineSkiLady]

Well, THAT'S odd!

Indeed - and infuriating. A route he regularly flew on SWA for almost 10 years. American Airlines for the win....<sigh> (pricier, but....AVAILABLE)

 

[Amie H]

Living less than 20 minutes from ORD, I have status w AA (platinum) & UA (gold premier) that gets me 2 free checked bags and when booking an economy seat, I can choose what I like to call "First Lite" which is 1st row behind 1st class, 2nd boarding group, premier bag check-in, etc. I also almost ALWAYS book only one-way tickets. I've talked about this before. I look at schedules, pricing, and how many miles needed, etc. Then choose each way from which ever airline works the best for me in that situation.

United has a cool feature for MileagePlus members that I really like. In the app or when logged into your account online, you put in your trip info, then above the flight time and pricing listings, there are two columns: MONEY and MONEY+MILES
That means you can "buy" yourself a significantly discounted ticket with miles even if you don't have enough to book the entire ticket. For example, I recently booked a return flight from Philadelphia with this method.

If you travel a lot, it may be worth looking at sites like NerdWallet, ThePointsGuy, etc. to switch your main credit card(s) to one that gives you travel benefits. For the most part, that is how I have airlines status: combo of frequent flying and CC points.

I should also note that my two "main" airlines have the most nonstops to Philadelphia (where my entire extended family is) so that is in part, how I got hooked into sticking with them.

Edit: Just checked into tomorrow's flight on UA to Reno. I'm in boarding group 1. Interesting.

 

[Amie H]

I don't fly much at all these days but honestly I've had better experiences on Southwest than most airlines. Set an alarm to check in for your flight and usually the boarding group isn't too bad.

I honestly get way more annoyed with companies wanting me to pay for a(ny) seat selection. So many discount flights look cheaper until you they nickel and dime you for the basics. I hate that.

Are you talking about Allegiant, Frontier, Spirit? Yeah, I avoid those. I don't like that most of them only have one flight per day going to where you're headed, so if that get's cancelled, there is no backup plan.

 

[Pequenita]

Wow!

Do you need a hotel room in Austin (unclear from quickly reading to where you are actually flying)?? I will likely give mine up because (1) none of my friends got their acts together to coordinate anything and (2) it took so long that now a round trip flight to Austin is about $1000.

 

[Amie H]

@Pequenita stays at The Omnis in Austin & Indy are part of the prize package.

Sorry you won't be able to make it.

 

[Amie H]

To circle back to my original concerns about "interviews" I'm leaning toward going full Delco (where I'm from.)

"We greatly appreciate the hospitality of Dallas-based Southwest and Omni but...Go Eagles!"

 

[Amie H]

(KIDDING!)

 

[altagirl]

Are you talking about Allegiant, Frontier, Spirit? Yeah, I avoid those. I don't like that most of them only have one flight per day going to where you're headed, so if that get's cancelled, there is no backup plan.

Yes. But inexplicably all my worst airline experiences (getting stranded at airports, redirected flights, ticketing issues, etc.) have all been on Delta. DH is a platinum Delta guy so when we travel together that is what it is.

 

[Amie H]

@altagirl Ah, yes, I think you are at a Delta hub, right?

I've gotten stranded, too, but thankfully not often!

There are so many quirks with air travel these days, I set low expectations and just make sure I have water & snacks with me for stranding/delay situations. It's funny to think that not long ago, air travel was considered "glamorous."

My parents just got back from a trip through France. At their departure, my mom wore an overnight bladder control pad (Poise) for the long travel day (PHL-Toronto-Frankfurt.) My folks don't have TSA precheck/global entry, so they have to do the full body X-ray. The pad set off security and she needed a full pat down because they thought she was smuggling something in her panties!!! Thankfully she had a good sense of humor about it. I told her this is a key example of why she needs TSA Precheck.

 

[altagirl]

Yeah seriously, what a pain!

 

[MaineSkiLady]

United has a cool feature for MileagePlus members that I really like. In the app or when logged into your account online, you put in your trip info, then above the flight time and pricing listings, there are two columns: MONEY and MONEY+MILES
That means you can "buy" yourself a significantly discounted ticket with miles even if you don't have enough to book the entire ticket. For example, I recently booked a return flight from Philadelphia with this method.

If you travel a lot, it may be worth looking at sites like NerdWallet, ThePointsGuy, etc. to switch your main credit card(s) to one that gives you travel benefits. For the most part, that is how I have airlines status: combo of frequent flying and CC points.

DH’s (incessant) frequent travel years (10 of them overseas) are long behind us now (happily). The Mileage Plus Money + Miles option has been around since his travel days, I believe.

He traveled so much (out of ORD) that he was Mileage Plus Premier Executive 1K, which tripled every traveled mile. One round trip to Australia (he made many) resulted in enough miles for 3 r/t domestic tickets.

He moved east in 2000 - to a non-traveling job.
The remaining family moved in 2001, and we had enough miles with UA, Delta Sky Miles, Aadvantage to not have to buy tickets for over 10 years. (That part was nice.)

But yes to the airline-linked credit cards, which is how we preserved all his accumulated miles (otherwise, they expire).

SWA also offers (or>>did) the money + miles option.

DS is the frequent traveler now. I’m not sure how he manages his stuff? (He’s probably not quite as frequent as you are, averages 15-20 trips/yr.)

 

[Amie H]

@MaineSkiLady Your son probably is out more than I am. I'm usually off somewhere once a month on average, and for short duration due to obligations at home.

And, yes, it's funny how just like you "need money to make money," you "need status to keep status" because you can then accrue at a higher rate. A lot of loyalty programs work that way because once you're there, they want to keep you there.

I've talked about this elsewhere but in my case, it was combo of the credit cards, plus status matching to my casino status (!) then more matches, yadda yadda yadda. I'm a big fan of "maximize comps/maximize points" mostly because I get a kick out of it - it's like extreme couponing but with points, lol. One of my kooky little hobbies. As always, my public service announcement: don't take up gambling for travel perks!