Let’s talk airline travel: What pisses you off?

[Quint]

I'm convinced someone in Atlanta gets a big kick out of this everyday.

It’s similar at DFW, except you can get anywhere in 20 mintues or less with the train. Atlanta doesn’t always work like that.

 

[2010sarenevercomingback]

We gonna talk about how Southwest is getting rid of free bags?

 

[Cornicator]

I thought it would interesting to read comments about which airports you thought were surprisingly nice and which ones you felt were a total dump.

For instance, Detroit's airport is much nicer than anything else in or around Detroit. On the contrary, Miami's Airport was surprisingly shitty.

 

[Quint]

I thought it would interesting to read comments about which airports you thought were surprisingly nice and which ones you felt were a total dump.

For instance, Detroit's airport is much nicer than anything else in or around Detroit. On the contrary, Miami's Airport was surprisingly shitty.

Detroit’s was a surprise, especially since I’d flown through prior to the expansion/remodel…when it was a dump.

Charlotte Douglas is a shit hole. There are decent sections of it, but they’ve been working on the damned thing since the Wright Brothers first flight and it’s still jacked up.

 

[SlumpBuster]

I thought it would interesting to read comments about which airports you thought were surprisingly nice and which ones you felt were a total dump.

For instance, Detroit's airport is much nicer than anything else in or around Detroit. On the contrary, Miami's Airport was surprisingly shitty.

Agree on both. Miami is AWFUL. Detroit is one of the best in the country.

 

[Ext. 55]

We gonna talk about how Southwest is getting rid of free bags?

Nobody cares about the poors and their problems.

 

[huskermack]

It's bad enough when you have to take a shit on a plane, but I really hate it when I sit on those little toilets and accidentally sit on my nuts.

 

[TampaBaySkers]

It’s hard to compile enough points for upgrades, preferred boarding etc when all your miles aren’t in one basket. I fly every week, hit 260k miles last year on American and still don’t get upgraded on every flight.

You can flip to delta where Diamond doesn’t mean shit anymore. I’ve been upgrade to first just once out of my last 16 flights.

 

[Quint]

You can flip to delta where Diamond doesn’t mean shit anymore. I’ve been upgrade to first just once out of my last 16 flights.

I'm guessing Delta is a lot like American where if you're flying into Atlanta, you better have a shit ton of miles in addition or you're not getting upgraded. When I don't get upgraded, it's pretty much always flying from Charlotte to Dallas on the way to somewhere else.

Just got back from DC and got upgraded on the way up and back. Doesn't mean much for a 55 minute flight, but I'll still take it.

 

[Seaofred92]

As an AA Exec Platinum living in Charlotte, the upgrade flow typically is as follows:

Monday morning/early afternoon outbound from CLT: Nonexistent (< 25%)

Monday evening outbound from CLT: Decent (~25-33%)

Tuesday outbound/inbound: High likelihood - 75%+

Wednesday inbound/outbound: Moderate likelihood - 40%+

Thursday outbound/inbound: Nonexistent

Friday outbound/inbound: Moderate likelihood

Saturday outbound/inbound: High likelihood

Sunday outbound/inbound: Moderate likelihood

Also a lot of this just depends on the aircraft type and your destination. When I was flying to Westchester, NY Monday evenings for work, I was getting upgraded pretty regularly. But I never got upgraded on my Thursday flight from HPN back to CLT. We wind up in J more often than not flying on the 8:30pm from CLT to Omaha (typically leave Wednesday night) whenever we go to NE for football games or whatever.

If you’re going hub to hub from CLT to DFW or something your upgrade likelihood is small.

In conclusion, a lot of this comes down to expectation setting. If you’re expecting to get a free upgrade every single flight you’re on regardless of departure date and destination, you’re in for a rude awakening.

The benefits of status now are really the priority boarding, free Main Cabin Extra seating (on AA) which includes free alcohol, and free checked bags. Given this, I personally would never really chase status beyond Platinum Pro if I didn’t travel for work as much as I do.

 

[TampaBaySkers]

I'm guessing Delta is a lot like American where if you're flying into Atlanta, you better have a shit ton of miles in addition or you're not getting upgraded. When I don't get upgraded, it's pretty much always flying from Charlotte to Dallas on the way to somewhere else.

Just got back from DC and got upgraded on the way up and back. Doesn't mean much for a 55 minute flight, but I'll still take it.

Used to be, but now I don’t even get upgraded TPA to LAX. I’m 0 for 10 so far. 0 for 2 TPA to SEA. These are direct flights ( no atl) which I used to get upgraded 50% +

I fly a lot to Chicago and Dallas which is a huge pain in the ass on delta. Not worth spending $28k + to rarely get upgraded.

AA just matched me to ExP. I’ll see if they are better. It’s nice being able to use status on Alaska Airlines as well .

 

[Seaofred92]

Used to be, but now I don’t even get upgraded TPA to LAX. I’m 0 for 10 so far. 0 for 2 TPA to SEA. These are direct flights ( no atl) which I used to get upgraded 50% +

I fly a lot to Chicago and Dallas which is a huge pain in the ass on delta. Not worth spending $28k + to rarely get upgraded.

AA just matched me to ExP. I’ll see if they are better. It’s nice being able to use status on Alaska Airlines as well .

Quick spoiler on AA - not better than Delta for anything operationally. May be better for you from an upgrade competition standpoint from TPA but AA truly sucks. No free WiFi btw which is a huge PITA (thankfully my company expenses it for us).

The airlines have gotten smart about offering in-app post purchase upgrade options which kills a ton of the potential upgrade inventory. AA will offer upgrades as low as $49 depending on the aircraft type and availability. It’s pretty ridiculous.

 

[TampaBaySkers]

Quick spoiler on AA - not better than Delta for anything operationally. May be better for you from an upgrade competition standpoint from TPA but AA truly sucks. No free WiFi btw which is a huge PITA (thankfully my company expenses it for us).

The airlines have gotten smart about offering in-app post purchase upgrade options which kills a ton of the potential upgrade inventory. AA will offer upgrades as low as $49 depending on the aircraft type and availability. It’s pretty ridiculous.

Thanks. I’m aware that delta is better than aa. admirals clubs are no sky clubs from what I hear - how bad are admiral clubs?

I can expense wifi so no big deal.

To me status is all about the upgrades. Those trump everything else. If AA sucks then I’ll just stick will delta platinum and use a secondary airline for chi/dallas

How successful have you been using systemwide upgrades for international travel?. Delta’s global upgrades are pretty good