All-Purpose Airline/Aviation Thread

[Scrabbleship]

Here's a way to use my (second) 777th post: to create a placeholder thread for transit in the skies. After the massive now-deleted tangent on the BWI/Logan wars, the lack of nonstop flights from Dulles to Tel Aviv/Hawaii, and resorting the terminals at DCA in the August Observations thread, it's only fair.

Post away guys! I know I'll have stuff to eventually say  

[WMATAGMOAGH]

At least in the case of Hawaii, the number of airports with a direct east coast link is two.  There are no direct flights from Miami, Charlotte, Philadelphia, Boston, or Washington.  According to Wikipedia, over half of the flights to/from Honolulu operate between Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Vancouver.  It isn't like there is service from Hawaii to practically every major east coast airport except Washington, which is the case for Tel Aviv (and Boston, I don't think there would be much demand for a Charlotte-Tel Aviv route).

[WayneNYC]

When we went to Hawaii, both my wife and I didn't want a direct flight.  Nothing against direct flights, but our feeling is that if we have to fly that long... we'd like a stopover somewhere just to break up the monotony.  Ideally, we would've connected at LAX, but since we flew on Continental we went through IAH.  That's where we got to fly CO's flight 001 & 002.

[Scrabbleship]

At least in the case of Hawaii, the number of airports with a direct east coast link is two.  There are no direct flights from Miami, Charlotte, Philadelphia, Boston, or Washington.  According to Wikipedia, over half of the flights to/from Honolulu operate between Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Vancouver.  It isn't like there is service from Hawaii to practically every major east coast airport except Washington, which is the case for Tel Aviv (and Boston, I don't think there would be much demand for a Charlotte-Tel Aviv route).

I thought USAir still had a seasonal route from CLT-HNL.

There have been rumblings that when Hawaiian Airlines gets their Airbus A330's (purchased to add capacity to Hawaii-Asia routes and to make it past the Rockies) up and running that they'd look at serving some East Coast airports with JFK, Logan, and either Dulles or BWI on the short list. One idea would have the current long haul 767's sent to the mainland and a "scissor hub" out west to allow a one-stop transfer to Honolulu, Hilo, or Maui. Might be a good idea to do.

[WMATAGMOAGH]

I didn't know USAirways ever had CLT-HNL, but now that they have a hub in Phoenix, I'm not surprised they no longer go from CLT (or so says Wikipedia).  I did read in the flight magazine that USAirways is starting seasonal service between Philadelphia and Anchorage, though.

Wayne, I generally prefer direct flights (in the case of flying to Tel Aviv, you either wind up with a 1 hour puddle jumper on the east coast or a 2-5 hour long flight between some European airport and Tel Aviv), but you are right, there are advantages to having a break.  How long would a direct flight from here to Honolulu be?  10 hours?

[btconet]

After a "simple" LAX-BWI WN non-stop flight in the Spring of '07 in which I arrived sore and hungry, I've grown to elect a mid point rest on any transcon.  I can do DEN without much problem, but I even like a rest on a trip to PHX.

With that in mind, I would NEVER want to do a non-stop to HNL if I didn't have to.  Like Wayne, I'd prefer a west coast stopover to minimize that last leg, but I'm pretty partial to CO so I'd do that IAH-HNL assuming the plane has the usual cool entertainment that many CO planes have.

Tangentializing this general purpose thread, I've never really flown in anything exciting such as a 747, just the usual assortment of 737's, 757's, 320's, and MD style planes ranging from the DC94 to the 717.

Adding further general chatter, here's my general impression of the carriers I've flown:

Southwest: Increasingly not the cheapest in my searches, but the free baggage and no-stress credit cancels are great pros in my book.  Open seating and check in tires me.  Same-old-same fleet bores the buff in me.
Airtran: Best airline to find last minute flights on, though the seat selection surcharge is a bit tacky.  Pushy Credit Card sellers at airport and little ads on the seat backs are irritating as well.  I do like the 2-3 seating in the 717s.
United: Never a bad flight so far, and the 757s are a nice ride.  Some of their grey planes look a tired hot mess though.
Delta: Most comprehensive legacy carrier at BWI, but I've only used them twice.  Nothing memorable, nothing horrible.
Continental: Best of what's left for now in my book.  Clean, sharp fleet, good entertainment options on a lot of the planes, and for the moment, free meals still served in domestic coach.  Love how the FF program transfers to AMTK.  Every transcon almost earns me an NEC round trip!
American, US Airways, Jet Blue, and Virgin America are still unknowns to me.

[Scrabbleship]

Adding further general chatter, here's my general impression of the carriers I've flown:

Southwest: Increasingly not the cheapest in my searches, but the free baggage and no-stress credit cancels are great pros in my book.  Open seating and check in tires me.  Same-old-same fleet bores the buff in me.
Airtran: Best airline to find last minute flights on, though the seat selection surcharge is a bit tacky.  Pushy Credit Card sellers at airport and little ads on the seat backs are irritating as well.  I do like the 2-3 seating in the 717s.
United: Never a bad flight so far, and the 757s are a nice ride.  Some of their grey planes look a tired hot mess though.
Delta: Most comprehensive legacy carrier at BWI, but I've only used them twice.  Nothing memorable, nothing horrible.
Continental: Best of what's left for now in my book.  Clean, sharp fleet, good entertainment options on a lot of the planes, and for the moment, free meals still served in domestic coach.  Love how the FF program transfers to AMTK.  Every transcon almost earns me an NEC round trip!
American, US Airways, Jet Blue, and Virgin America are still unknowns to me.

I'll toss mine in:

Delta: Cut my flying teeth on them as I have relatives outside Atlanta. Service is okay but being the pioneers of change fees,  first/second checked bag fees, and using regional partners to cover long trips lowers them in my book. Their large MD-88 fleet also can also feel quite cramped.
American: Flew them on one round trip. Save for charging for snacks, not that bad. At least they give you the entire can of soda and even economy has the fancy winged headrests (and DC power ports too).
Southwest: I've only taken them on short trips (from BWI to Albany, Buffalo, Boston, and Pittsburgh) but their service is good and the lack of change/checked bag fees is really nice. Don't know if I'd want to do them for a longer haul if a second option with IFE and such existed. I have a free roundtrip burning a hole, anyone have a good transit city idea for a man and his girlfriend to go on?
Airtran: If they're cheapest, I'll fly them and I like the XM radio and wifi. I don't like their begging people to get credit cards, the seat selection fees, and that they totally gypped me of a bonus frequent flyer credit for rebooking that I shouldn't have lost. Some of their terminals can be a hike (DCA) or a hovel (Boston Logan).
JetBlue: I've only flown them to/from Boston, but the unlimited snacks/drinks, DirecTV, and XM radio are big pluses and would matter if I had to book a longer flight going against Southwest or a legacy.
Pre-Delta takeover Northwest: Outside of the flying museum called the DC-9, nothing much to write home about. Those planes have already seen upgrades after Delta came in.

[btconet]

Southwest: I've only taken them on short trips (from BWI to Albany, Buffalo, Boston, and Pittsburgh) but their service is good and the lack of change/checked bag fees is really nice. Don't know if I'd want to do them for a longer haul if a second option with IFE and such existed. I have a free roundtrip burning a hole, anyone have a good transit city idea for a man and his girlfriend to go on?

Without a doubt, San Francisco.  Try to make your change at DEN or MDW if you can.  San Francisco would get the most bang for your round trip buck, plenty of enjoyable transit, splendid vistas, and lots of good "bonding" things to do in town.  Where else can you ride the streetcar from the center of town out to the lovely Pacific Ocean coast in about 40 minutes!?!?

And if you like watching planes, SFO has lots of variety coming through!

[aznboy4305]

Thanks to me going to school in Indiana, I fly back and forth between the midwest and the northeast pretty frequency over the past 5 years. Here is my pitch about the airlines...


AirTran: Often the cheapest option, especially at the last second. Their 737s have comfortable Recaro seats but I cannot stand their 717 interior. Their xm radio is a nice plus, but I hate their fee for picking your own seat. I usually just chance it and let them assign a seat for me, then try to change it at the counter if possible.

American Airlines: I've only flown them one roundtrip between IND and SAN, I had some sort of MD80. It was nothing exciting about them, no frills whatsoever.

Asiana: I flew them back in 1995 from JFK to HKJ (I believe we did the checkerboard landing into Kai Tak) via ICN and Anchorage. I was 7 at the time so I don't remember much. The flight attendants seemed to be very nice, one of them gave me a lego set, and they constantly warmed up milk and put it into a bottle for my infant brother at the time. I flew on a 747 for both main legs, and something smaller from ICN to HKG.


ATA: I believe I flew them once before they stopped doing scheduled passenger flights, I had an ex-United 737. I think I booked the flight through a codeshare with Southwest. I don't remember much about the service itself except that they gave me the entire can without me asking.

Continental: They are supposedly the "upscale luxury" of all domestic carriers, however my experience with them had been average. No more frills than American Airlines or ATA. I did fly them using a buddy pass, but even paying just the fees and taxes was still pretty pricey.

Delta: They always seem to be the midrange option as far as price. I flew them roundtrip between IND and LAS earlier this year. I love their IFE, with on demand video and audio and all that. The audio feature was pretty neat since it allowed me to create my own playlist out of all the songs they offered. The downside is that a lot of the premium features such as movies and games cost $5 to use. On my way back from Vegas, my flight was overbooked so I gave up my seat in exchange for a $400 voucher, they also gave me a $7 meal voucher and put me up in a hotel which was even farther from the airport than the hotel I had originally stayed at on the strip. I still have yet to use my $400 voucher.

Independence Air: I loved this airline. I flew from BOS to IAD for $39. They had an interesting selection of drinks including Arizona Teas, which they served by cups out of a tray. The "hot towel" service seemed like wet wipes that were thrown in the microwave, but it was still a nice touch.

Jetblue: The live DirectTV service is nice, however I wish there was more to their IFE like an audio selection. They are VERY generous with drinks and snacks, the blue chips are surprisingly good. Their prices have always been on the higher end, which is why I haven't flown them as much as I would like.

Northwest (pre-Delta): Always one of the cheapest options. The service isn't all that to rave about but I love their fleet of Dc-9s. As old as those planes are, they have a very modern interior. I even got to experience the powerback at DTW on a Dc-9, something I don't think they do very often nowadays.

Southwest: I have NEVER been found to find "cheap" flights on Southwest, they are always seem to be more expensive than many of the legacy carriers. Their boarding process is kinda to pick up on, I don't really care much for it, nor do I care for their unassigned seating. I do like the casual atmosphere of their employees though, none of that "chopstick in the hair" flight attendants with the fake attitudes.

United: This is probably my favorite domestic airline. On flights between IAD and ORD, I often get 757s, 767s, and 777s. Whenever I fly on the widebodies, they always have blankets and pillows placed on every seat. Their IFE is very limited, it has about 7 or 8 channels of selection, which seem to be running off of tapes. Channel 9 audio is an awesome feature though, it lets you listen to a live audio feed of ATC.

[WMAveteran]

 Thank you very much.  I sincerely welcome the addition of this topic to our blog!  If any of you actually collect commercial aircraft memorabilia you might wish to know that the annual Airliners Magazine collectors show takes place next weekend in Newark NJ at the Robert Treat Hotel.  I attended the show a few years ago when it was in Tysons Corner and found some interesting collecible items.

[WMAveteran]

       

The 2010 Airliners International - New York The World's largest gathering of airline enthusiasts will meet in the greater New York City area, between August 12, 13, 14, 2010 (Thursday, Friday and Saturday) at the newly remodeled Robert Treat Hotel in downtown Newark, New Jersey. You don't need to be a member of WAHS or any particular organization to participate in Airliners International 2010 or attend the trade show - you only need to have an interest in commercial aviation! Trade Show Hours - Open To The Public Friday, August 13th 3:00pm to 10:00pm Saturday, August 14th 9:00am to 5:00pm One Day Pass- $10 per person Two Day Pass $15 per person Children Under 12 Free For more information visit www.ai2010nyc.com [/t]

[WMATAGMOAGH]

Jason:  If you go to San Francisco, my suggestion would be to look into flights to OAK.  It is cheaper and less prone to delays due to better weather on that side of the bay and fewer movements overall.  I flew JetBlue IAD-OAK nonstop, and back in 2007, I got a fare on UAL that was only 20 dollars more than JetBlue (though the pricing on that may have been a bit quirky since either I booked UAL codeshare to fly YVR-SFO and then JetBlue one way from OAK to IAD, or I had the "one way" YVR-SFO/OAK-IAD ticket on United, never mind that my "one way" ticket included a 30something hour layover and change of airports in the San Francisco area.  Don't you love airline pricing?  The BART air link shuttle bus or whatever it is called works fine, though the area by the BART station isn't the greatest place to just hang out.

[WMATAGMOAGH]

Like I said elsewhere in this thread, I try to fly Star Alliance as much as possible since that is where my mlies are and they have so much service in the DC area.  But here are my opinions:

USAirways:  I vowed not to fly them after a few too many hours long delays flying DCA-ITH my first few years at Cornell, and eventually started driving the route because at least then, I knew it would take 6 hours or less.  Never knew what might happen in the air.  I find they are decent on international flights because need to compete against other airlines, including European carriers with much better service, but they managed to screw up my kosher meal on my CLT-GIG flight last month.  Fortunately, good service on the return saved them yet another letter of complaint.  I might also not dislike them so much if they made it next to impossible to redeem travel vouchers.  I got at least 200 dollars in vouchers from them that I could never use for all my various troubles because they only seem to be valid on days of the week not ending in "y", among other restrictions.

United:  Definitely my airline of choice, and the first airline I look at to see if they go where I want to go.  Unfortunately, they don't have service to TLV until the merger goes through, and even then, it will be from EWR, otherwise they would be practically perfect in my book.  Their various codeshares make itinerary planning to nearly everywhere I've wanted to go very easy (I avoid puddle jumpers and dislike changing planes) and their service on international flights is quite good.  (Notice I don't fly domestically if I don't have to...)

Delta:  Was my airline of choice once upon a time, I've flew them SYR-ATL-MSY back in 2006 and they had to reactivate my FF mile account it had been so long since I had flown with them, flew again TLV-JFK-BOS/JFK-TLV on a dirt cheap open jaw ticket last year, service on both the international and domestic legs was fine, though the Israeli woman next to me started to complain from before we took off that the airline sucked and she would never fly them again.  Go figure.

Southwest:  Flew them last year for the first time in ages to get from BOS to DC last year as part of the aforementioned open jaw trip made on Delta (AMTK got me from WAS to NYC for the return to TLV if anyone is curious).  I also find they aren't always the cheapest, and I'm often willing to pay more (up until a point) for direct flights.  I also don't like the open seating and need to check in super early, get to the airport super early, stand on line to board, hurry up and wait deal that they put you through.

JetBlue:  Flew them once out to OAK and back.  Found the service to be fine.  Got sick of watching TV after awhile though.  Would certainly consider them again, but they rarely seem to go where I want to.

Independence Air:  Flew them twice from SYR to IAD, no complaints, but not surprised they went under.  How much money can you make when you charge 10 cents per flight?

Haven't flown many other US based airlines much in recent memory.  Flew ATA once, don't really remember it.  Never flew American.  Last flew Continental in 2005 because we got rebooked due to a delay by some British or Scottish carrier.

I've flown a fair number of international airlines lately.

El Al is my favorite.  Good service (the FAs look great, too, if you are into Israelis), only airline where I don't need to order special meals and feel that their security measures are actually effective and not just security theater.  Love the fact that the passengers are generally relaxed and look forward to traveling and getting to where they are going.

Swiss:  The only airline I know of that had a refund voucher ready for me at the airport when I was denied boarding (though other European airlines should do the same) and had my meal requests made for the substitute airline.  Can you imagine that in the US?  Also, a huge selection on the personal entertainment system when I did actually get to fly them as planned.

EasyJet:  The SWA of Europe, though I find them to be OK.  I could do without the cattle call boarding we had at Gatwick in a room with practically no air conditioning, but overall it was fine.  Unlike their competitor, RyanAir, they actually fly to major airports, which is good.  (I don't think I'd fly RyanAir, I've heard too many horror stories.)  But like SWA, their prices aren't necessarily the cheapest, and if there is no direct flight available, they don't book connecting flights (you can book multiple one ways, but if you miss your flight, that is your problem, not theirs).

Vueling:  A Spanish based low cost carrier, also quite good though they have endless, pointless announcements.  I don't care who is flying the plane, and don't need to hear it in both Spanish and English. 

British Airways:  Lots of people like them for some reason, I'm not a fan.  I think it might be because the supposedly super comfortable seats are not designed for someone my height, forcing me into a straight jacket almost.  Then imagine sitting in it for a flight across the Atlantic.

[WMATAGMOAGH]

Tangentializing this general purpose thread, I've never really flown in anything exciting such as a 747, just the usual assortment of 737's, 757's, 320's, and MD style planes ranging from the DC94 to the 717.

You aren't missing much by never having been on the 747.  I often find the 3-4-3 seating to be overly cramped and the boarding/deplaning takes a long time with all those people.  I prefer the 777 and 767 for long haul flights, and also prefer Boeings over Airbuses.  I'm no aviation expert, but the former seem to have a much more solid construction than the latter.

[btconet]

Ray,

When you next fly Airtran, you can simply visit their site at T-24 hours and choose your seat at that point prior to it being "assigned."  Tends to make for the easiest, cheapest option.  One other seeming plus to Airtran to me is that BC is pretty cheap and can actually be had for 4 FF Points. 

Speaking of upgrades, CO tends to rank high in my book in that they'll offer segment upgrades to First Class on check in for between $59 and $99.  I took up an offer of a $79 FC upgrade on a IAH-PHX leg of a trip this spring, and it was the best flight experience I've ever had.  I don't know what you rode when you flew CO, but the 752's have a great IFE system that shows you exactly where you are with a satellite map, a great plus when I took an LAX-IAH flight.

I've enjoyed the Channel 9 audio on United as well, though I find the droning often lulls me to sleep!

The one airline I'm still interested in flying is Virgin America.  It definitely looks a tad more inviting than the pedestrian interiors of a SWA 737. 

Oren, some day I'll fly a wide body AC.  Every so often they'll pop up as itinerary options when I'm looking up flights, but it seems they're always either red-eyes, or siginicantly pricier than regular body itineraries.