<p>To all current/former CMU students or parents from the West coast:</p>
<p>I am looking to book flights home for my freshman daughter. We live in the northwest and there are no direct flights to Pittsburgh. A couple questions:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>What layover airports should I avoid to minimize delay due to weather? I will try to book SW via warmer cities like Las Vegas, Phoenix, etc but not always possible.</p></li>
<li><p>Can she leave the afternoon before the start of break? How understanding are professors if she has to miss a late class? When they say, dorm is closed during breaks, does that mean she has to depart before then? </p></li>
</ol>
<p>I guess all these can be answered in a couple of weeks when schools start but I get a bit antsy seeing airline pricing swing wildly and wonder if I can book now...</p>
<p>I’d recommend booking through something like DFW (Dallas) or Houston. If you live in the Oregon/Washington area usually there are connecting flights through those cities. They rarely have snow or weather issues and I’ve never had a flight detained when I was connecting through there.</p>
<p>Honestly, the usual delay you’re going to see in flying from PIT to the northwest is when your daughter is trying to fly back to PIT - a lot of the time flights are delayed due to snow on PIT’s end, in my experience. In that respect, there’s not a lot you can do to avoid delays there.</p>
<p>Yes, she can probably leave the afternoon before break, provided she doesn’t have a midterm or something at that time. In my experience usually people just leave the weekend before that wednesday and skip their mon/tues classes, so mon/tues classes are usually half empty. Then again, it depends on her major - I’m in HSS, but in CIT or SCS I would imagine there are assignments due that tuesday that cannot be turned in remotely.</p>
<p>Avoid Chicago airports. Winter weather always seems to slam O’Hare and Midway, which then backs up all the other flights. Unfortunately, Southwest flights to PIT usually connect via Midway. If you can make connections through Houston, that would be better.</p>
<p>By the way, PIT is actually one of the best airports at keeping the runways clear. The delays at PIT are generally because of the messes at Chicago or New York area airports causing inbound and outbound delays.</p>
<p>I am from San Francisco - I’ve been lucky enough in that I’ve often been able to go through cities like Phoenix, Las Vegas, etc. However, a lot of times my only or best option is to go through LAX, which is, yes, a busier/more crowded airport, but I’d rather be there than snowed in at O’Hare or something! I haven’t had any weather delays. </p>
<p>In my experience, professors are <em>not</em> very understanding about leaving early (I’m in CIT, for reference). They are very clear (and will mention this months/weeks in advance, so it’s not like they spring it to you) that they will NOT move exams or otherwise make special arrangements - their philosophy has been that the academic calendar is put out there years in advance, so plan around that. Of course, this varies from professor to professor, and I don’t mean to make it sound like they’re totally mean and inflexible, but I think they get frustrated with so many people asking for exceptions when the rules were laid out clearly in advance. </p>
<p>And book flights now! I didn’t go home for Thanksgiving (though I flew to a relative’s house on the east coast), and I had that flight booked back in May, before I even had a flight to get to CMU! Thanksgiving flights, in particular, need to be booked really early. It’s not the worst thing in the world to wait around an extra day or two before going home; sometimes having time to pack is helpful, too.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the quick replies! More questions:</p>
<p>How late can she come back to Pittsburgh and still be safe? How convenient are the buses early morning or late evening? Can she take a shuttle or taxi directly from and to CMU? We are from Washington and the time difference makes for a long day and unusual depart/landing times!</p>
<p>The buses in the early morning are good; the first one leaves CMU at 4:25, and gets to the airport maybe 45 minutes later, and then goes back to CMU from there. The 28X is part of the public bus system, so your daughter’s student ID card will get her on for free (well, bus fee is included in tuition, so already paid for, at least ;)) </p>
<p>One can also take a taxi, but it is fairly expensive - around $40 (including tip). The downside to the 28X is that i gets <em>really</em> crowded, and on peak days (e.g. Thanksgiving time, where there is a mass exodus from campus to the airport), one definitely needs to allow extra time. But in general, I prefer to just suck it up and take the bus, because I find it worth the savings. Oh, and it can also be hard to carry suitcases, but hey, pack light! (Or just struggle with all your luggage…that’s what I usually end up doing… :p)</p>
<p>I am also from the west coast, so I know how tough the travel can be. I wouldn’t want to get back too late at night - early evening would be my cutoff time. I know it’s hard when you lose three hours - I usually take early morning flights back, and find that works best.</p>
<p>There certainly are taxis at the airport; I don’t know how much they would cost. There is a shuttle van service that requires reservations, again, I don’t know the cost.</p>
<p>Cross Posted with CA Dancer - I would second the comment about how crowded the 28X gets at holiday times!</p>
<p>My D normally catches the bus to/from the airport without any problem.</p>
<p>If she is flying with two suitcases and handcarry items, I arrange for a Super Shuttle just to have her avoid the inconvenience of loading/unloading/transporting all of the luggage. Super Shuttle will pick/drop at her dorm for about $28 plus tip one way. They normally pick her up two hours before her flight time. </p>
<p>We were told that the lines on the 28x are really bad wednesday morning if you have an early flight – so arranging a cab in advance with a few friends is worth $10 a piece.</p>
<p>On the way back-- same deal - bus is reliable but my D used to just have cash in her pocket and always spotted 3-4 familiar faces in the airport to split a cab. Once S started-- cost became prohibitive for two to fly and we drove the 7 hours to get them both (sigh).</p>
<p>Both S and D have had classes cancelled on Tuesday afternoon and evening. But there was often a project to finish up – so they always left no earlier than Wednesday morning.</p>
<p>I fly west for business often and i avoid Ohare like the plague any season- it’s congested with many missed flights.
You can also fly through Atlanta.</p>
<p>^But with Atlanta, the way the layovers generally work from Pittsburgh, you’re looking at a 9 or 10 hour trip, I find, which is even longer than it needs to be!</p>
<p>The Tuesday afternoon before Thanksgiving break is also pretty bad, from my experience. I would leave an hour or 2 more than usual if taking the 28X.</p>
<p>If you have a good southwest air/airtran/other connection to Baltimore…it seems nuts but this is a great strategy since there are relatively frequent and cheap flights (SWA) between Baltimore and Pittsburgh. A couple of times we were able to get flights for $49 each way --worked for winter and spring break (odd dates) but THanksgiving was expensive…I have heard of a rather extreme approach of getting a ride to Philly with friends on Tuesday night, spending the night and flying out west very early the next morning. But getting back means doing a redeye on Saturday night. Hard the first year when they are starting out…a LOT of kids stayed at CMU for Thanksgiving and S may end up staying if he is overwhelmed with work this year. It wasn’t very restful and he was stressed trying to get some work done during such a short time span. It depends a bit on how important this holiday is to your family.</p>
<p>I think most students that go away for Thanksgiving are within a car ride or a fairly short plane ride. Personally, unless Thanksgiving is a really huge family holiday, I’d just stay in Pittsburgh and try to find a few friends doing the same.</p>
<p>^Yes, I definitely agree. I went to a relative’s house in NJ rather than going all the way back to CA, and all my other West Coast friends did something similar. It’s just not enough time to go all the way back. I did miss my family, and some of my friends who did go home for Thanksgiving, but trust me - I’m so, so glad I didn’t go all the way back to CA just for those few days!</p>
<p>Thank you all, I am impressed how helpful the CMU community is!</p>
<p>I am inclined to agree that Thanksgiving is such a short time that it’s not worthwhile for my daughter to go home. She probably will spend more time in the airports and the transit than at home. Perhaps once she sees how many of her friends stay at school, she’ll change her mind.</p>
<p>Can I assume that dorms are open during Thanksgiving and she can stay at her room?</p>
<p>Dorms are open, though I think dining services closes down Wednesday through Friday. It’s a perfect chance to go out and explore some other options for dining in Pittsburgh when you’re a freshman, though!</p>
<p>I’ve heard of some professors doing meals/activities for students that couldn’t go home to visit family for Thanksgiving, so that’s another thing to look into. Another option is seeing if a group of students stuck at CMU for the break want to take a roadtrip somewhere for a few days. I imagine Niagara Falls won’t have much of a crowd then, and it’s a pretty easy drive to get there, so that might be something fun to do. Likewise, you could make a trip to Washington DC, Philly, Baltimore, Cleveland, and NYC since they’re all about a half day’s drive away.</p>
<p>^Yup, that’s definitely true. Professor Young, who is a physics professor (and co-author of the gigantic physics book used by CIT students…) and his wife invite students who can’t/don’t go home for Thanksgiving to his house for Thanksgiving dinner. There may be other professors who do the same.</p>
<p>Also, as RacinReaver said, people will go to other places - your daughter might try to connect with some international students, because they are more likely to stay at CMU, or go somewhere more local (example - I know a group of students from China went to NYC together for Thanksgiving break). </p>
<p>And also, as RacinReaver said, she will have to get food on her own - but it’s just a few days, and as long as she works around holiday hours of restaurants/stores, it should be fine!</p>
<p>If it were my D and she were uncertain about thanksgiving I would book through Southwest because you will get full credit back and no penalities as long as you use it within a year and you can cancel right up to the last minute. So buy the ticket, she knows she has the option if she is desperate to go home and you probably wont end up using it. I can imagine that my daughter would like to know she COULD go home rather than worrying from day one that she is in Pittsburgh until December. It is a little mental health trick and no harm done. When she calls you in early november to say that she plans to stay or go with friends to Philly, you can feel sad that she adapted so soon but happy she is happy. Then, apply the credit for a spring break flight. This comes from a Mom with a D who likes to keep her options open…</p>
<p>To offer a contrary opinion: my freshman Thanksgiving, I was dying to go home and was severely homesick. Most of my friends went home, the only ones of my friends who stayed on campus were people who lived close to home already or didn’t really miss their parents much. It’s a lot harder moving across the country than people give you credit for. I’m glad I went home for Thanksgiving and got to see all of my family members. Weds through Sun is pretty close to a week and I had a great time.</p>
<p>Kate…good to see someone who will admit to the homesick blues…in general we tend to forget or gloss over the tricky patches in our undergrad days. At my recent HS reunion everyone was laughing over how we sent each other letters first semester about how homesick we were…I didn’t even remember but two friends confirmed that I had sent letters throughout the semester moaning about making the biggest mistake of my life going to college in NC instead of staying home at State U like so many of my hs friends. Back in the day before email and no phones (just a payphone down the hall that everyone could hear you talk) it was really shocking to be a long way from home and friends and family. I don’t think email does much to help but skype seems to be a big improvement…nevertheless, nothing can replace mom’s cooking and sleeping in your own bed with the cat or dog on your feet…
So…I stick to my advice…if possible book a flight with Southwest (or other carrier with the no penalty applies attitude) and give the kid the option of coming home for thanksgiving.</p>
<p>Sniff sniff… you two really know how to pull on a mom’s heartstrings…</p>
<p>Southwest suggestion is great, gives her an option to go home or uses it for another time. There will be mutiple trips home for the next 4 years.</p>
<p>Heading to move in day this weekend. Hopefully once school starts she will have a clearer picture of her schedule then we can firm up the travelling plan. Thanks everyone. My daughter is so looking forward to be on CMU campus. Well, everything but the weather… We in the NW are heat wimps!</p>
I’m glad I went home for Thanksgiving and got to see all of my family members. Weds through Sun is pretty close to a week and I had a great time.</p>