Flying and airlines

#1
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Go aeiou

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#1
Flying has continued to go downhill (except for safety) since my first commercial flight in 1968. Standard seats were almost as big as first class these days.
We flew from Seattle to Dallas to Nashville in June, and it was a nightmare. We landed in Dallas with 8 minutes to connect at a different terminal. Their rail is nice, but no way. Those of us without much time to connect were allowed off the plane first but "8 minutes". When we got to our gate the flight time had change by a hour so we were ok.
Turns out there was no plane and no pilot. At 10 p.m. we were told that they had a plane, but the cabin air was not working, and they did not have a pilot who would meet the requirements to fly. At 11 pm a pilot arrived and we were quickly boarded and flew to Nashville. Fast flight.

So now I'm booking a flight in Sept. to NYC to board a ship for a cruise to New England and Canada that ends in Montreal. I would normally book a day early and stay in a hotel. That typically takes care of any problems. But since the ship doesn't sail until 6 pm I decided to book a 9:30 a.m. same day Delta flight that arrives at 12:50 (LGA). Several hours to board the ship. They say "all aboard" at 4 pm, but I doubt they will turn away people before 5.
Now the Delta problems have made me concerned so I have booked a 11 a.m. United flight that arrives at 2:18(EWR). I booked with miles so If the Delta flight boards I will cancel the United flight.
OTOH, I worry and consider flying a day earlier.
If we miss the ship we will need to fly to Boston to board 2 days later.
Thoughts?
 
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#2
#2
I've seen too many people miss the boat trying to fly in the same day the cruise leaves. Happened to my MIL (I wasn't disappointed) but she at least booked her flight through the cruise line so she got a refund.
 
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#3
#3
Go aeiou said:
Flying has continued to go downhill (except for safety) since my first commercial flight in 1968. Standard seats were almost as big as first class these days.
We flew from Seattle to Dallas to Nashville in June, and it was a nightmare. We landed in Dallas with 8 minutes to connect at a different terminal. Their rail is nice, but no way. Those of us without much time to connect were allowed off the plane first but "8 minutes". When we got to our gate the flight time had change by a hour so we were ok.
Turns out there was no plane and no pilot. At 10 p.m. we were told that they had a plane, but the cabin air was not working, and they did not have a pilot who would meet the requirements to fly. At 11 pm a pilot arrived and we were quickly boarded and flew to Nashville. Fast flight.

So now I'm booking a flight in Sept. to NYC to board a ship for a cruise to New England and Canada that ends in Montreal. I would normally book a day early and stay in a hotel. That typically takes care of any problems. But since the ship doesn't sail until 6 pm I decided to book a 9:30 a.m. same day Delta flight that arrives at 12:50 (LGA). Several hours to board the ship. They say "all aboard" at 4 pm, but I doubt they will turn away people before 5.
Now the Delta problems have made me concerned so I have booked a 11 a.m. United flight that arrives at 2:18(EWR). I booked with miles so If the Delta flight boards I will cancel the United flight.
OTOH, I worry and consider flying a day earlier.
If we miss the ship we will need to fly to Boston to board 2 days later.
Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I'd go the night before, personally. Airline reliability not good enough for me to risk the cost of a cruise.
 
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#4
#4
Airline reliability is getting worse, including due to weather, which is also getting worse, or at least more unpredictable.

Go the night before and play tourist in NYC on sailing day. One off-the-beaten-path spot: The Cloisters, housing the Met’s collection of medieval art. The Cloisters - Wikipedia

It might sound like a yawner, but the collection is amazing, and the setting is wonderful for killing some time - wander in and out of the buildings and gardens and along the shady cloistered walkways.
 
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#5
#5
hog88 said:
I've seen too many people miss the boat trying to fly in the same day the cruise leaves. Happened to my MIL (I wasn't disappointed) but she at least booked her flight through the cruise line so she got a refund.
Click to expand...
Ha, did your MIL catch up. How many days? The cruise lines have a rep for getting their customers to the ship.
 
#6
#6
VolNExile said:
Airline reliability is getting worse, including due to weather, which is also getting worse, or at least more unpredictable.

Go the night before and play tourist in NYC on sailing day. One off-the-beaten-path spot: The Cloisters, housing the Met’s collection of medieval art. The Cloisters - Wikipedia

It might sound like a yawner, but the collection is amazing, and the setting is wonderful for killing some time - wander in and out of the buildings and gardens and along the shady cloistered walkways.
Click to expand...
Yep, we try to see art wherever we go. We are saying this will likely be our last big vacation so that looks good.
 
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#7
#7
95 Vol Alum said:
I'd go the night before, personally. Airline reliability not good enough for me to risk the cost of a cruise.
Click to expand...
We have travel insurance, but I'm not sure if there are any requirements to cover the flights and resulting loss of days on the cruise. The policies are typically written for the insurance company, not the policy holder.
 
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#8
#8
I was flying a few years ago from Austin TX to Springfield, MO. We had to de-board due to weather issues in Dallas. Re-board, wait, de-board again, same excuse. Re-board, wait, de-board because they couldn't get the engines started. By this time my connector in Dallas was long gone. Had to scramble to find a flight m, but there were none to Springfield. Closest was to St Louis the next day at 6 AM. Spent he night in the terminal. No possibility of sleep because they were doing a lot of remodel work and it was incredibly noisy. So I then had to get an Uber to the car rental place because it is not in The St. Louis airport, drive several hours to just west of Branson, then turn around and drive the 6 hours home. I went about 30 hours without sleep, probably 9 of those were behind the wheel.
 
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#9
#9
I went on a cruise last summer. I had to fly to NY, because we boarded the boat up there. I booked a flight 2 days early just in case. My flight wasn’t delayed or anything, so I just did tourtisty stuff the next day in NY before boarding the boat. It was great. A good amount of people did miss the boat because of delayed flights. That would really suck, so yeah, I’d definitely book a day or two early.
 
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#10
#10
Go aeiou said:
Ha, did your MIL catch up. How many days? The cruise lines have a rep for getting their customers to the ship.
Click to expand...

She didn't catch up. IDK about the rep, they did refund her cruise fare because she booked the flight through the cruise line.
 
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#12
#12
BigOrangeMojo said:
Southwest is finally ending open seating. I'll bet the number of "disabled" flying SW will decrease by 90%.....
Click to expand...
It seems like everyone I know flys SW. We flew SW once, and I felt like I was treated like a 2nd grader. I don't even look at it now.
Our daughter and granddaughter fly from PCB to Nashville on SW because it is the only nonstop flight.
 
#13
#13
Do not fly American.

You can walk up to board your plane, on time, boarding pass in hand, only to have them tell you they thought you wouldn't make it to here due to weather so they sold/gave away your seat. Their mistake, not mine. It's a wonder someone did not get punched in the face.
 
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#14
#14
I find air travel to be pretty reliable. Timing is a issue, but personally I’ve never missed any event in my life and I’ve got about half a million miles. I don’t think Delta is likely to have a second occurrence of what happened last week. That was a unique event.
 
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#15
#15
orangebloodgmc said:
Do not fly American.

You can walk up to board your plane, on time, boarding pass in hand, only to have them tell you they thought you wouldn't make it to here due to weather so they sold/gave away your seat. Their mistake, not mine. It's a wonder someone did not get punched in the face.
Click to expand...
We fly American more often than not and have never had any abnormal issues.
 
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#16
#16
I’d much rather get there the night before if you can. Obviously plenty to do in NYC. LGA and EWR are always going to be susceptible to delays as well.

Generally I never have issues, but I’ve had 5 flights cancelled on me the past 4 years or so. All of them Southwest & Delta.
 
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#17
#17
Allegiant canceled all their flights in & out of Orlando this morning due to hurricane Debbie - does that make them a bad airline also? Hate it because my grandkids were supposed to visit starting today.
 
#18
#18
ATC_VOL said:
I’d much rather get there the night before if you can. Obviously plenty to do in NYC. LGA and EWR are always going to be susceptible to delays as well.

Generally I never have issues, but I’ve had 5 flights cancelled on me the past 4 years or so. All of them Southwest & Delta.
Click to expand...
Yeah we'll leave the day before.
Had a nightmare flying Sea-DAL-BNA in June.
Little things like no plane, no pilot, etc.
 
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#20
#20
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#21
#21
Wireless1 said:
What could possibly go wrong?
Click to expand...
State of TN uses Kiosk to issue new Drivers License. You go to this stand somewhere somewhat near you, and look into a camera. It takes a picture of you. You pay and in a few weeks you get your new license.
I did that, and got a message that I did not look enough like my old picture on my DL(16 years old) so I needed to go to the Drivers license center. I went to the drivers license center on Hart Ln in Nashville. Was given a number, and waited 3 hours. I watched person after person who came in after me be called. I gave up and went home.
I found out you can make an appointment so I did. I went to Hart Ln, and there were at least 150 people in line. I asked 2 people if they had an appointment, and they both said no. I went to the front of the line, and asked the lady who was handing out numbers if I had to wait in line. She said "no". 😁 o_O:) Huh? She said wait right here. She the gave me ticket number A2. That moved me from #150+ in line to #2 in line.:)😁👍👍 . One person in front of me.
I went to the window, and a lady asked why I was there. I told here about the kiosk fiasco. She said the kiosk are very sensitive, and only work for a few people.
That kiosk should have told me to make an appointment at a license center.
Point is everything has it's problems these days.
As far as flying we usually fly to our destination a day before we need to. Especially if it's for something like a cruise where being late can cause you to literally "miss the boat/ship".
 
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#24
#24
Just got in from Amsterdam. KLM FAs are tough to beat. Delta used to be that way and some continue to be excellent, but they are not as consistent as they used to be.
 
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#25
#25
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