I was going to fly to Miami for a vacation…until Southwest Airlines decided to cancel flights because of a pilot strike. It seems like that’s going on everywhere. It’s almost getting to the point where Elon Musk is going to have to design android pilots to fly airplanes.
Curious what level airfare choices the CC community typical purchase. Different titles for different airlines, but in general: Super Economy (the cheapest with no seat assignments and no changes), Economy or Main (with seat assignments and changes allowed up to a year by paying the difference), Business/First Class – and everything in-between.
We’re typically “cheap” (ahem/ frugal), but have been gravitating toward Main in order to pick our seats, and have a little flexibility regarding changes. But on a number of occasions, we’ve chosen the super-cheap fairs, and were assigned better seats! That happened twice when flying abroad.
If you have enough points (we don’t), does that allow you to choose the super-cheap seats, and bank them if you decide to cancel a flight? Then there seems little reason, other than seat-choice to choose the next level up.
I tend to purchase the cheapest option. We don’t cancel trips and I don’t need to sit by my husband. We don’t need to board first and we usually only take carry-ons.
For instance, I’m pricing out a trip to Munich and I notice Lufthansa had a $577 super economy flight (no luggage). With a little research, I find I can check a bag for $75. That same flight is listed for $1100 with luggage and seat assignment.
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We always have taken the cheapest option but on our last trip (international) H sprung for next class up. Not that the seats were so much better but having that class got us into special lines at the airport which saved us probably hours in lines (that we weren’t expecting).
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Southwest pilot strike? Do you mean off duty pilots picketing?
I pick the cheapest seat and as long my husband is nearby, I’m ok. In fact, I have to use Virgin Airways voucher soon(from my daughter), it’s no seat assignment.
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I’ll almost always choose regular Economy/Main because I want to choose a window seat. I rarely fly Southwest for that reason! I think it’s been 20 years since I last flew with them. On rare occasions, if I am flying by myself I might upgrade to First Class, but that hardly ever happens. For me, the First Class seating isn’t really even as much of a draw — it’s the check-in and security process that you usually get to breeze through that makes it such a perk!
I always buy airfare that comes with seat selection options.
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We don’t fly much (about once/year), but we usually take the cheapest option that allows at least a carry-on. Some of the super economy only allow a personal item. I do tend to look for either non-stop, or the least number of stops.
For our xmas trip overseas this is a big deal for us. A milestone bday celebration plus retirement (though H now is working 6 more months) plus we are taking the two GFs. I want everything to be as smooth as possible. So, I want non-stop which also involves us driving 5 hours, and we have one flight option each way. Our closest airport is 75-90 minutes where nothing is non-stop and much more $$$. The plane’s seat map looks like it’s 2/3 full of business and premier something that we could never afford. That leaves us a few seats in our price point with three options - pay for checked bags/seat assignments or free checked bag/seat assignment or fully refundable/free checked bag/seat. The difference in the super cheap and mid tier is basically one checked bag each way, so I’d get at least the middle.
But then the kicker is yesterday, there was another level of seat - for $75 more per person, you’d get a roomier seat. For an 8 hour trip, I would definitely spring for that, especially since we have $75 vouchers for most of us from our trip to Maine last year. But yesterday, the website went down when I tried to book. This morning, it’s up but that seat option is gone even though the seat map still shows almost all of those seats on the plane as being available.
I have the Delta Amex card so I sometimes can get those free, but not in this case. I also just got the VentureX with the 100K miles, but the Capital One portal doesn’t do multi-city flights like this one. I used a lot of them on the hotel rooms in two of our cities, and I can apply any remaining points to the airfare bill though, so that will help some.
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Funny, I prefer Southwest because I like a window seat. I pay the Earlybird option and always get a window seat.
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I used to purchased business tickets with points, the buy one and get one free, but I still have to pay high fees and can only go every other year, so after this trip where all the points are used, I’m switching to a new way of traveling because I want to go more frequently, we’re definitely not getting any younger, can’t just wait every 2 years. We want to do about every 6 months for international traveling.
I’m still debating which credit cards to open. I like to stagger them out because I still have free points from JetBlue.
I only pay for myself now, so I either fly premium economy or business for longer flights (2+ hours), especially international flights.
I also prefer Southwest and never pay for early birds. I check in as soon as allowed exactly 24 hours before the trip and always get in group A.
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I’ve paid for early bird and gotten high Bs (meaning B50, not B1).
The way it works is they give you the number based on when you pay for early bird.
When we lived in Chicago and flew out of Midway, I started buying Early Bird when I bought the tickets. There were so many people connecting that (1) their Early Bird started at their originating airport so was assigned earlier and (2) often there were a number of people already on the aircraft connecting through. So even with a decent A group, between everyone already boarded and all of the priority and assisted boarding, plenty of seats were full. Not to mention the people ahead of me who were trying to reserve entire rows of seats.
My first class experience on my Alaska flight to Seattle encouraged me to splurge in the future. But we seldom travel now.
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The advantage of flying with my mother (age 86) or my brother (only has one leg)? First boarding! Before the A group! The absolute worst? Flying out of Orlando and getting a B boarding group! The A’s board, you think you are close, and then ALL THOSE FAMILIES (and military) board! Lucky for me, they all want to sit in the first few rows and I head right to the back! Once I was there and I swear there were 6 adults boarding with ONE kid who was about 5 years old. Really, can’t ONE parent get on with ONE kid, and then save a seat for the other parent?
This has been bouncing around social media, so you may have see it before. I thought some was sound advice.
A gentle reminder for air travelers -
FYI. FROM A FLIGHT ATTENDANT
Flying this summer is ROUGH!!! I feel like as a Flight Attendant I should attempt to share some tips to get you through airline travel for the foreseeable future. 
- Things are not good… if its less than 7 hours - DRIVE! I’m not kidding. There is nothing enjoyable about flying right now. On any airline. If you must fly, keep reading.
- Download and use the app of the airline you are flying. You can do everything on it - get your boarding pass, track your bags, see your incoming plane, and change a flight. It sure beats waiting in the long line to talk to an agent! Trust me - Usually these apps will tell you a flight is cancelled before the crew even knows!
- Fly MUCH earlier than you need to - a whole day early if its important!! This week I saw many people miss important things like weddings, funerals, cruises, international connections, and graduations. The tears were very real, for very real reasons, and there was nothing I could do! If you have to be somewhere, spend the extra money, go a day early. Have a glass of wine and stay in a hotel, enjoy your night not being stressed while everyone else misses their events.
- ALWAYS fly the first flight in the morning so you have all day to be rebooked if the ■■■■ hits the fan. Yes, that means it might be a 3:00 alarm, but morning flights don’t cancel nearly as often.
- This is not unique to this year, but keep in mind summer is thunderstorm season. A single storm can shut down a whole airport. We can’t fly through them. Storms usually build as the day gets later. Book early flights!
- Schedule long layovers - Your 1 hour layover is NOT enough anymore. 30 minutes, not a chance. 3 hours minimum.
- What you see on the news is an understatement. We are short staffed and overworked. Not just pilots and flight attendants, but also ground crews. Without ground crews there is no one to park the planes, drive jet-ways, get your bags on/off planes, or scan boarding passes. This causes many delays that snowball throughout the day. Sometimes HOURS.(Another reason morning flights are best!)
- When flight crews get delayed we time out. We can NOT fly longer than 16 hours. Its illegal. So it doesn’t matter if you have a wedding to get to, when we are done we are done. The way things are now, there are no back up crews, so when this happens your flight cancels. (Now you are starting to see why those morning flights are best!)
- Avoid connecting in Newark (Or any New York airport for that matter). It is literal hell. You have a 50/50 chance your flight will cancel or missing your connection. They have been cancelling flights at their starting points just to keep the planes out, because there just aren’t enough people to manage the planes, so the gates stay full. Also the restaurants are expensive, it is not a great place to be stuck.
- Be nice. As stated above, we are overworked and tired. We will not help you if you are mean. No one cares that you are going to miss your cruise if you are an ■■■■■■■. So even if we can help, we will save our help for someone nice. Tensions are high. Our patience is gone. If you make us mad - you will not be flying on our planes. We will leave you behind without a second thought, and laugh about you later.
- Being drunk on an airplane is a federal offense, so don’t overdo it. If you drink too much at the bar waiting for your delayed flight you risk not being allowed to fly at all. We are too tired to deal with your drunk ass when we have legitimate issues to deal with.
- Get trip insurance if you have a lot of money invested. I hate the whole idea of this, but I also hate the idea of losing money. Example: I was working a flight yesterday that waited over an hour for a gate. A family of 8 missed their flight to Rome. The only flight of the day. They were going to a cruise which they would now miss. They were all crying, there was nothing I could do. (Also a reason to fly a day early!)
- Flights are FULL. If you buy the cheap seats you will not be able to sit with your family. It says so when you purchase your ticket!! Flight Attendants aren’t there to rearrange the whole plane just so you can sit with your family because you tried to save $100 on a third party website.
- Speaking of third party websites and saving money… Like I said flights are FULL. If a flight is oversold, and no one volunteers to give up their seats, who do you think is the first to be bumped? You guessed it, the family that saved a few $$ by using sites like Expedia, Kayak, Hotwire etc.
- Pack smart. Don’t be “That guy” Don’t hold up boarding because you have your extenders open till they are busting and you can’t figure out how to make it fit in the overhead. (Passengers are stressed too, they can be aggressive when boarding a delayed flight)
- Take showers, brush your teeth, leave the perfume off, don’t eat stinky food (caesar salad and tuna fish I’m talking to you!), and bring headphones. Trust me. These things sound basic, but add to stress on crowded planes. If you are stuck on the tarmac for 3 hours after a 4 hour flight, you will thank me for this.
- Bring a sweater if you tend to be cold. So tired of half naked girls asking me to turn the heat up. NO. Wear clothes!! Side note: If you dress like this and ask for heat, there’s a chance I will turn the AC up.
- That is not water on the bathroom floor. For the love of God wear shoes to the bathroom!!!
- Don’t tell a Flight Attendant they look tired. We are and we know. You may cause us to ugly cry right there in galley.
- Happy Travels!
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OTOH…don’t sell tickets for trips you can’t deliver. I do a lot of planning and the plane trip shouldn’t be the biggest problem in the travel equation. It’s not a bus trip across town where I can just wait 15 min for the next ride.
If I pay money knowing I’ll get cheaper seats so be it. I can live with less leg room. I know that upfront. I don’t pay money and make vacation plans thinking I won’t get on the plane. That’s what I pay for no matter how cheap I got it. You sold it.
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It’s very likely they want to provide all of those services but cannot due to a lack of staffing. We’ve been to some nice hotels where things are closed. Things like towel service or the bar being opened late, or late brunch. Everywhere we’ve seen ( US and Europe) there are staffing shortages.
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I always choose the combo of cheapest and fastest. I pay more for the things I value and I don’t value business or first class enough to pay the premium. And always Southwest for domestic flights if available because of the flexibility.
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