> As far as I can tell, the major booking portals for tickets are all basically the same. I’ve been using Orbitz for a long time
This is really bad advice. You should search using a flight search engine like Google Flights, not a single OTA, and book directly with the airline unless an OTA has a much, much better deal. The $10 that Orbitz might sometimes save you comes at the cost of having to talk to their customer service, not the airline’s, if you want to change your trip.
I have heard it also puts you in a better position when an airline is bumping passengers or carry-on luggage, though the soft rules are always changing, so I don't know if this is still the case (or ever was.)
This is also true of hotels. If the hotel is overbooked they will “walk” the third party booked people first and keep their reward members / first party booked people happy
They're all pretty much the same? Going from somewhere, to somewhere, at a date and time. Passenger info, payment info, book.
Every airline wants tech-incompetent grannies to buy their tickets, therefore the UI is simple enough that any HN reader should be able to trivially navigate it.
The airline websites that I've used are remarkably bad with their UI/UX. Far from any grandma being able to use it, definitely. I can rarely get through the process without some inexplicable error or missing field that I can't find or misbehaving custom date picker.
Google Flights search is irredeemably broken for long international business-class flights, and I've tried a few times over the years to get someone there to give a shit, and they will not.
Example: You search for a flight from YWG to BKK in business, and it wants to route you YWG-YVR-KIX-BKK, which is basically fine. The flight time from YWG-YVR is under 3 hours, so it'll show you fares where that leg is in Economy, but YVR-KIX is in business, which is also, fundamentally, fine, although it would be nice to filter that. A short hop being Economy to get you on to the long leg in Business is usually acceptable. HOWEVER, it will ALSO show you fares where KIX-BKK (a 6 hour flight) are in Economy, and it won't allow you to filter this, so this messes up any ability to sensibly filter flights by price. If I am searching for a flight in Business, please allow me to filter out ones where *9 hours* of that flight is actually in Economy.</rant>
I imagine you could quickly build your own browser extension that parses all visible segments and hides cards where any individual leg exceeds your economy/business threshold. I successfully vibe coded a solution to a different Google flights problem in about 10 minutes.
> I almost always book the minimum flight, basic economy, whether or not I am paying. There is so little to be gained from moving up compared to the price.
I recently had a five month period where I took a plane ride every single week for work. A “frequent traveler” so to speak.
To me, the big difference between basic economy and regular is the ability to cancel (for a credit) up until the flight takes off. When you travel once in a while, this isn’t worth that much. When you travel every week, it’s huge. For example, when I travel (round trip) 3-5 times a year (which is my normal cadence), I’m not gonna really care if I booked an 8pm flight but last minute decided that I have time to get on a 6pm. An extra two hours not-at-home is no big deal, maybe even a good thing. When you travel every week, the ability to change later minute is huge (and contrary to popular belief, I found that it is often the case that last minute flights are the same price or cheaper, depending on the route, though it can also be wildly more expensive).
In addition to changing my mind about when to leave, don’t get me started on delays. If I saw my flight was delayed two hours (which often means that it’ll end up cancelling or taking off 6 hours late), I’d immediately book an alternative (if I could find one at a decent price) and then cancel one of them right before departure.
Aside from this, seat selection is important, especially if you travel a lot (the lifestyle is hard enough to begin with). You can usually buy seats in basic economy and the whole thing will be cheaper, but assuming you are going to do that, then the difference is gonna be $25-30 which is basically the “right to cancel” fee.
If you travel every week for work, I would be booking full fare (refundable), not non-basic restricted fares. Especially since if you are booking inside a week of departure the difference is not that great anyway.
>If you travel every week for work, I would be booking full fare (refundable), not non-basic restricted fares.
Why? I don’t fly that much, especially for work, and I’ve never had a problem getting to use my credits from cancelling flights. The price difference between credit-refundable and full refundable is usually significant and doesn’t offer me anything.
If the price difference is significant then sure. My experience booking 3-5 days ahead of time is there isn't much difference. In addition to no credits to keep track of, which don't seem to be your concern,
- simplifies expense filing
- if paying with a personal card (vs a corporate card), i'm not floating extra cash that is now converted to a credit
- full fare is less likely to get bumped on overbooking
If something is happening in my life where I can’t use my airline credit within a year, I’ve got bigger issues. Even then at least with Delta, you just have to book a flight using the credit before it expires - and the flight can be after the credit would have expired - wait 24 hours cancel the ticket and then receive a new credit that resets the timer.
Economists call this type of pricing strategy price discrimination. Basically you have a different marginal willingness to pay than others because of your frequency.
Isn’t the biggest difference the ability to bring a carry-on suitcase? I’ve always found that immediately and categorically disqualifying for basic economy. There’s never been a situation where I could fly somewhere with just the clothes on my back.
Only the budget carriers like Frontier and Spirit charge extra for carry on. Even the second tier airlines like JetBlue and Southwest don’t charge for carry ons.
The issue is boarding priority and you may not have overhead space and still be forced to gate check your carry on (for free).
In the case of Delta, it’s a combination of not being able to choose your seat, no refunds or airline credit for canceling or changing your flight and no miles earned toward future flights.
I encountered this for the first time this year. Bought the cheapest ticket, didn't think they'd exclude carry-on. Ended up having to WhatsApp (in Spanish) then to add it on for $250 round trip. Insane.
Until 3 years ago, we flew out of ATL and only occasionally and only domestically. So our default choice was of course - just fly Delta.
After all of the stars aligned around mid 2021, we moved to Orlando and started flying more.
Our default choice is still to fly Delta domestically because of familiarity, status, lounge access and we don’t mind a layover in ATL since it is our former home, familiarity and lounge access - Delta has nine lounges in ATL.
If we really just want to get somewhere without layover. I will look on flights from -
And see what airline has a non stop flight. The only airline I refuse to fly domestically is Southwest because of non reserve seating until next year.
But it’s rare that we will choose an airline that’s not Delta.
Internationally, we prefer Delta or SkyTeam airlines like Virgin or AirFrance.
We don’t shop based on price, the only time we compare flights is for convenience, we don’t fly first class or anything. But we just don’t like the hassle of flying airlines besides Delta.
Of course if we lived in an AA or United hub, it would be different. So substitute Delta for airline where you have status and/or a cobranded credit card that gives you some minor convenience.
are flight delays common in the US?
ive been flying very regularly primarily around Asia for around a decade. (every 2 months or so) and ive never had a flight delayed more than hour (last minute at the gate always) anything longer.. i could only imagine it happening if there was a typhoon or something
Mechanical difficulties, weather esp. snow, air traffic control hold on incoming flights, etc. I wouldn't say >1 hr. delays were necessarily common but they're not rare either.
In my experience it depends on the route. I use SFO a lot and delays are quite common there because the they get a lot of fog and their runways are too close together for regulation to allow use of adjacent runways under bad visibility.
"The food at the airport is not ideal, and it is more expensive than usual"
This one really bothers me. The Portland airport mandates all food prices to be the same as at the businesses off-airport locations. As a passenger that makes it really great. As a free-market worshipper I have some concerns about this but it seems to work really well in practice and we get excellent options. Unfortunately, other airports don't rely on free-market competition to result in great offerings either but instead usually have most vendors operated by the same concession company like HMSHost, SSP Group. This gives a captive audience to a quasi-monopolist. It's the easiest situation to avoid a monopoly or cartel situation and foster competition, yet most airports seem to either be operated by people who don't care, crooks or idiots.
Free market in a location owned by the government where the government gets to control who the vendors are and what the customers are allowed to bring in? Thats not a free market to begin with.
Just because the venue is owned by one entity doesn't mean you cannot have competition between tenants. In fact venue owner could take competition in consideration when choosing a new tenant. This would be what the Chinese government does with their catfish effect philosophy (https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S02184958960...).
> As a free-market worshipper I have some concerns about this
But it's the government (via the TSA) that gates not only customers, but also the employees (as they must at least be able to pass through the TSA, though admittedly the bar isn't tremendously high), and at government-owned airports, they control the tenants / shops as well
To call it a free market misses all kinds of behind the scenes details
My local Canadian international airport mandates food vendors and restaurants all be staffed by one food service company. So even though past security we have one of our good local coffee shops, the price is inflated AND also they make terrible coffee from automated machines made by untrained staff.
My recent revelation as a frequent flyer is that it's really nice to have a tablet. I had long shunned them as an awkward step between laptop and phone, but using laptops is forbidden during taxi,takeoff, and landing.
Unlike the in-seat entertainment, the movie on a personal tablet won't be interrupted by announcements which I almost never want to hear.
Traveling is mostly what I find the tablet use case to be. I find it useful relatively rarely at home. I try and then I just end up grabbing an older laptop from the dining room.
If you want to spend most of your time reading, a Kindle may have advantages but I'm more inclined to travel with a tablet. The newer magnetic keyboards are actually pretty good but I'm at fewer conferences and the like these days where I'm taking notes and I actually have found that I've adapted to just using a phone for many purposes.
> The newer magnetic keyboards are actually pretty good
What I think I would really like is a detachable keyboard with laptop-style hinges (and maybe a secondary battery). There seem to be a few devices from about a decade ago with that kind of design but they died out in favor of flexible connectors and kickstands.
The newish Apple magnetic keyboards seem pretty good for using on your lap at a conference which was one of my showstoppers for a lot of earlier tablet designs. Though I haven't had a lot of opportunity to try it in practice. And I'm just so used to laptop multi-window that I probably would need to just spend some time adapting.
A more hybrid design seems to make a lot of sense but it just seems to involve compromises on both the laptop and tablet ends. Even the Apple tablets with keyboards probably don't have a lot of advantages over the Air unless you're watching a movie or reading a book on a flight or train.
I'm not imagining much compromise on the tablet side - at least not more than Microsoft's Surface keyboard connector. I'm thinking of thin tabs attached to the hinges slotting into the tablet body.
It would still be pretty compromised as a laptop, but better in that role than current tablet keyboard solutions.
As I say, software differences aside, my experience with the current magnetic Apple keyboard and the touchpad seem pretty good. I'm not sure a probably relatively weak mechanical coupling would be better.
Having a kitchen tablet is also amazing - I have a ten year old iPad Pro with the keyboard, it's great for looking up recipes and following along, and also messaging while cooking.
I've tried it and even built a stand for one at one point. Again, I usually have an old laptop on my dining room table. Maybe as I reconfigure my house after a kitchen fire and revert my dining room table from a work surface, I'll give it another try.
You actually give me an idea that I have an old iPad and a laptop stand I never use (probably a work thing I didn't think to return) and I may give it a try especially given I mostly use just a few sites.
As a laptop user, the thing that grinds my gears is how early they will force me to stow it away. Sometimes 20+ minutes before we are obviously descending.
I remember sitting, as I did so often at the time, in an airport lounge. This was Rotterdam on a dark evening, in the single story building on the edge of an airfield. I looked around and there were 5 or 6 men, all sitting alone in disheveled suits looking lost and miserable. I thought "poor sods". Then I looked at myself.
As someone who is 6' 3" paying more for economy premium absolutely makes sense. I get that others might not see the value but I enjoy not having my knees smashed. You also get off the plane faster which can matter for connections.
Get an airline credit card for one based in your city and checked bags are no longer a cost. Aside from a few minutes to drop and pick up. Usually there are other perks like food and beverage discounts on the plane, etc. I fly to the Caribbean once a year on the miles we accumulate.
“I almost always book the minimum flight, basic economy, whether or not I am paying. There is so little to be gained from moving up compared to the price.”
Perhaps I’m too precious but economy class is awful compared to business class. Lie-flat seats are a significant improvement over economy. If you are spending your own money, sure, stick to economy so you can spend your money on other things that are more important to you… but someone else’s money? What conceivable reason is there to choose economy if someone else is paying.
> What conceivable reason is there to choose economy if someone else is paying.
Not taking advantage of someone else's generosity.
If that's not good enough, don't think the someone else doesn't notice being taken advantage of. They won't say anything, but in the future you may be "overlooked" for other opportunities.
It's like asking for less than you need or could get when negotiating pay for a job or position.
One would think that the employer would recognize or remember this kind of “sacrifice.” Or that, somehow, asking for less money will lead to a more sympathetic judgment of what was accomplished. But my experience and that of many others I have observed tells me that this rarely happens.
Those who pay, pay what they can and always ask for the best that can be done.
My advice is to accept business class when it is offered and to negotiate with vigor in every aspect of your professional life.
The smart way to handle this if you really want to fly business class is to pay the upgrade cost difference yourself. Mark it on your expense report when you turn in the receipts.
Your sponsor then may say "no worries, we'll take care of the upgrade cost!" then you're golden. In any case they'll respect your integrity.
Companies usually have certain travel policies including who can fly business and under what circumstances. If you're within policy I don't see the issue.
I have worked for similar consulting companies, though not AWS. We had to always book an initial ticket that was policy compliant (economy, or higher only if it was similarly priced), and then optionally upgrade the seat. That causes the upgrade to come through as a separate charge.
Later, when submitting expenses, the upgrade had to be marked as a personal expense, to be netted against per diem or paid back directly.
Early in my career managers did a very poor job of explaining that this was allowed.
Of course, I overlooked the scenario that the parent mentioned about paying for themselves.
I frequently took my wife with me on work trips and we would stay a few extra days. I would buy her ticket separately, have separate receipts when we ate out so I could have mine reimbursed and put the extra days as personal in Concur.
Our favorite chain hotel is Embassy Suites where you got a good free breakfast and an afternoon happy hour with free alcoholic drinks so she would benefit without it costing the company.
Funny enough, since expenses reimbursement approval was done by a department outside of the US, they consistently disallowed my hotel expenses because it showed two people in the room even though it didn’t cost more and was within policy. I just had to tell the hotel only to put 1 guest.
I know the hotel check in thought I was having an affair with someone even though my wife was standing right there with me.
Never allow the employee to pay for the upgrade himself? Wow.
Companies also tend to overlook excessive travel expenses if the employee is bringing home the bacon. But don't put hooker expenses on it! (Yes, I've seen this happen.)
The three companies have travel policies that apply to everyone. It also depends on who is paying I guess. I am a post sales consultant where for the most part, my company gets reimbursed by the client and in the contract, they have the guard rails as far as allowed travel expenses.
Then on the other hand, you don’t have to choose the cheapest airline possible, so you can choose the one where you have status and get automatic upgrades (Delta Platinum Medallion in my case) and a higher chance for upgrades.
Of course you can pay for the upgrade yourself. But why would I spend my own money to do so. They are so strict though that every time my receipt after flying showed I was in an upgraded seat, I had to also send in the email as proof that my upgrade was free because of status.
When available trans-Pacific, I did sometimes use miles to upgrade to business (and generally paid the co-pay myself). Pretty much always flew my usual carrier (United) when that was an option.
A big advantage in business to me is that it's usually only two seats next to each other. That also no risk of middle seat. I've yet to experience lie-flat seats in business class. Even first class on many planes doesn't have that.
What risk is there of a middle seat if you are choosing your seat?
While I do enjoy my automatic C+ upgrades at time of ticketing because of status on Delta, I’m short and average size so main cabin doesn’t really bother me especially if I can get an exit row seat. It wasn’t bad flying nine hours to London two months ago.
Best airport mental hack for last-minute types: Get lounge access beyond Priorty Pass
Even though most domestric lounges are hit-or-miss, it's a way to trick myself into getting to the airport 30 to 45 minutes earlier than I would. That way, if I'm running late, worst case I miss the lounge or cut short the time.
For those complaining that lounges are overcrowded with mediocre food, it's true and getting worse. However, it's buffet style - select a healthy salad option with a reasonable protein. Non Priority Pass options are somewhat worthwhile -- United Clubs have gone through a massive upgrade post Covid and so far haven't been too crowded. They also allow access upon arrival, if you really need to fire off some emails and hydrate upon landing.
As for in-flight, for former gaming geeks, try classic emulators. They won't require internet and drain very minimal battery life on your latop.
The adjacent hack is to bring an empty water bottle in your carry-on, which you fill once you clear security. Then, you have a full bottle of water and can decline everything from the "beverage cart" on your flight, meaning you never need to worry about managing a precarious open cup of liquid and ice sitting on your in-flight tray.
I’d struggle to ever pay for lounge access. Even when I’ve flown international first class the lounge is still usually quite disappointing in food, comfort and ambience. It’s better than sitting at the gate but maybe only $10 better. The one exception would be if I had a long layover.
The best part of the lounge for me is that you don't have to shlep your luggage into the restroom. I don't care about the food, just the seating, chargers and ability to leave your luggage safely while you use the facilities.
My home airport is MCO - Orlando - where most travelers are either infrequent fliers, flying with families and international vacationers. I use every hack that’s available not to be caught up in that and we fly a lot.
This includes - Clear, TSA, status for priority check in, lounge access and status for earlier boarding so I can already be situated in my seat with my luggage if I just have carry on.
In ATL, my former home airport it’s not as bad because you have more business travel.
> The one exception would be if I had a long layover.
That's what I did for a day-long layover in Istanbul. I took a short self-guided tour of the city via tram, then returned to the airport in the evening and paid for the lounge until my 1 am flight. It was like 20 Euros, absolutely worth it (this lounge had a shower).
I've taken the freebie lounge access on those rare occasions I have a business class ticket, but only if there is no line. If it's a zoo, what's the point? I can sit in one of the empty gate areas with no one around me until it's time to get on the plane.
When you are overseas you realize how mediocre things are here. You can make claims about excess and such, but even business class lounges like Qatar in Doha - chef made meals done restaurant style, with a wide menu, beautiful shower suites you can book a 45 minute slot (for free), etc, and very comfortable chairs and a huge amount of space…
Lounges of U.S. carriers in U.S. airports serving international flights that are about as busy as overseas counterparts have a nearly universally poor showing when compared to those overseas lounges. I’ve read this comes down to the financialization of those U.S. carriers who dilute lounge exclusivity chasing those sweet credit card profit centers while overseas carriers are not under those dynamics; U.S. carriers don’t usually get to have a hand in the design and layout of airports so their lounges are less spacious and amenity-filled; overseas international hubs tend to cater more to long-haul multi-hour layover itineraries than the short turnaround domestic traffic that is more common in U.S. airports; and U.S. cost structures against wage stagnation trends are more prohibitive to the more lavish splash outs in overseas lounges.
I don't pay for lounges but I find that arriving at the airport affords a peace of mind that is priceless (iv'e seen how flustered the hurried get in security or baggage desks) . If I'm working or hanging out at the airport - I'd just be doing the same thing at home.
Concur. Amex plat or equiv is a good option. Important caveat that their lounges tend to fill up, so you may not get in. If you do, it's step up from Delta lounges etc; food's good, relatively.
That’s just the opposite from what I have found. Given the choice between the Delta lounge and the Amex lounge, I always choose Delta lounges. They also seem to be less conveniently located.
That’s especially true in ATL with a lounge at each gate for delta more or less. I still don’t know where the Centurion lounge is in LAX as often as I’ve been there.
Yea def at Atl. The centurion there is full 50% of the time I go, is in a weird spot, and it's crowded a good portion of that. (But it's beautiful) And the Delta at each term is nice. May be a bit of an exception as its a Delta hub.
I had Priority Pass for a few years when I had a premium credit card for other reasons. I think I used a club a few times when Star Alliance/United wasn't available. Nothing special. And the meaningful meal discounts were few and far between.
Agree completely, between myself and my wife as an authorized user, I gladly pay the almost $2000 a year in annual fees for the Delta Reserve and the Amex Platinum for lounge access in almost every scenario.
The Reserve easily pays for itself with the once a year round trip companion pass good for anywhere in the US, Caribbeans, Mexico or Central America and the hotel credit and the Platinum the same with the credits.
My wife and I have averaged around a flight per month since Covid. With a lot of random trips back home to ATL where Delta has nine lounges
> My heuristic is to book a little over two weeks in advance, but not to book much more in advance of that in case plans change or want to change, since in expectation price changes are pretty small and maybe you decide to stay an extra day for some reason even if you are confident you won’t cancel.
N00b here - is that actually where the optimal prices emerge, rather than many months prior? I used to wonder why the optimal prices didn't emerge the day before the flight, because I'd assume airlines would rather fill a seat with lower profits than waste the space, but I guess that could cause forecasting issues if everyone waited until the last second.
Lot of last minute(day) demand is very price insensitive. Say a company needs to get engineer on certain site. Or in general business travel where someone else is paying. In such cases you can get a few times the lowest price. So not fire selling seats makes sense.
On other hand if someone like travel agency has pre-paid for seats in block, selling them at any price will lower the losses. So different actors have ways to act differently.
My understanding is that (at least for long haul), seats are divided up with a bunch of lower cost tickets, then medium cost, then a few high cost tickets, and sold in that order. So waiting until the last 2 weeks would be a bad idea. But also perhaps my understanding is wrong / naive?
As you say it depends but in my case when I was booking a ticket for my last vacation I noticed prices getting much cheaper every day nearer to the flight itself (500 -> 200).
I waited till the second to last day and the price was 240, one day later it hit 200. (definitely a gamble, the flight seemed maxed out when I was boarding).
Since most of my time at airports are spent through work, I long since learned that fast track + getting access to the lounges makes a world of difference.
Free food, drinks, booze, superior in every way. If I know I have access, I’m not too bothered with spending extra time, or minimizing my airport time. The absolute minimum should be fast track tho.
Edit: Also, the real benefit of upgraded class when boarding is guaranteed overhead luggage space, if you only have carry-on luggage.
People's preferences really do vary widely, don't they?
There's nowhere I feel less safe than a security checkpoint, and nowhere I feel less relaxed than a high-pressure commerce zone clamoring for attention I don't want to give and trying to squeeze me out of money I don't want to spend.
But there are people who voluntarily go to Las Vegas, on purpose, because they think they will enjoy it: so, we are clearly not all alike.
> a high-pressure commerce zone clamoring for attention I don't want to give and trying to squeeze me
I find air travel mostly unpleasant, but if it's a given that I have to go through the ordeal of security and the flight, I find extra time sitting in the airport quite pleasant. Everybody regards you as in transit and unreachable. Nobody around you knows you or wants to talk to you, and it's easy to find a spot where the only sound intrusions are announcements and nearby conversations. It's so easy to sink into focus on work, or even a book.
Many times I have exaggerated my concern about making a flight so I could catch an extra hour of solitude in the airport.
Novelty is often a thing of course. I don't think anyone who travels a lot really enjoys airports even if distractions like butterfly gardens and nice airport clubs can make them more tolerable. Some people are probably into the duty free shopping though it's mostly not a bargain.
The longer time you spend there the more $$ you leave there: shops pays a huge rent, and I have no doubt one statistic Airport use to raise rents is the average time we spend inside the airport (by the number of passengers, of course).
maybe this is different for americans, but isnt google flights quite better than your typical orbitz/kayak? especially so if you're a little flexible on dates with their graphs?
Google flights (or matrix.itasoftware.com, same thing) is ok but they don't have every airline. There used to be a website (which is now a shoddy browser extension) called Flight Penguin, I think there are some similar extensions now but haven't used them.
> This is the tricky part. You need to know the worst-case scenario for the trip to the airport. This is why I love taking trains to the airport, even when they are on average slower than a taxi. You have a safe upper bound of how long it takes.
This is reasonable advice going to the source airport or NYC where subways run 24/7.
Be mindful at the destination though, when trains may not be running etc. I've had a number of close misses at SFO when the last BART out was just past midnight and a slight delay would leave me spending 4 hours there or $100+ in cab fare.
I've always wanted to schedule enough time to get a drink and some food before my flight at one of those airport restaurants designed to look like a pub or cafe. Even if the food might be overpriced, they always struck me as having a neat "liminal vibe" to them; sort of like what I feel when I see the painting Nighthawks.
It’s pretty awful imo. Going to a late night cafe or diner where you live will be a much better experience, and closer to nighthawks. But try it for yourself I guess.
OTOH, I have had pretty good, though expensive, food at some airports. Certainly not all of them have that option.
It's all reasonable advice, but the fact this this blog post exists also demonstrates how terrible flying has become. This is why I fly as little as possible.
I cannot relate to your experience at least in US. I did a lot of flying this summer and have been flying both nationally and internationally over the years but outside the occasional delays due to weather, my experience has been quite pleasant. Even when traveling with luggage, I can generally check them in right outside the airport where I'm dropped off by Uber. Security checks have been straightforward with just the right amount of annoyance in the mix and mobile apps mean that any last minute changes to gates are well communicated in advance. I have found it all really streamlined to be honest.
I suspect people who look for annoyances in travel readily find them, while people who look for the positives readily find those.
I used to hate business travel, then took a role that required a fair bit of it. Getting used to the routine, finding ways to be efficient, and realizing that even the occasional irregularities aren’t so bad gave me a perspective that while I don’t love it, it’s far more tolerable than how I used to view it.
You have your system/routine, TSA-Pre/etc., probably a club membership. At some point, I also largely said to hell with driving into the airport in most cases and just got a car service; no one pushed back. Whereas in a long ago job I'd sometimes use a shared van service which was... less good.
Still, as you say, some bad travel stories with delays and missed connections but you're better prepared to roll with those punches.
You have to compare it to taking a train (assuming you live in a country with good trains), or driving. I wish one day everyone had access to a system as good as the Shinkansen.
While the 1 hour rule is mostly true be careful with discount airlines. Frontier Airlines does do a 1 hour boarding. I've heard of cases that if you are late to boarding, even if half hour ahead of departure, they will not let you board the plane. I'm sure it depends on specific airport agents protocols. My point is I'm not sure you can always use the 1 hour buffer.
> It saves you a bunch of money and time and also trouble and worry if you can move from checking bags to not checking bags
This has been my experience, too. Some airports have a half-assed process where it's partially self-service and partially done by a human. In Denver, they have booths outside to check bags. You scan the QR code, pay in the app, and it prints your tag at that booth for the worker to take. Convenient right? Wrong.
I'm second in line, so I scan and do the whole process, then the worker leaves to help a disabled woman. No problem I thought: I'll just go to another booth to have it re-printed. Nope, apparently once you print the tag, employees can't do anything about it and you're forced to buy another checked bag or hope that the original worker comes back (I'm not taking that chance if I have a flight to catch)
That one-hour timeframe from door to plane is usually my default now, as long as the airport isn't one the nightmares like LAX or DFW.
That said, I'll sometimes intentionally show up early just to wander around if the airport is interesting or interestingly weird, like how LHR funnels you from security straight into an upscale mall before you can get to any of the terminals.
As a frequent hobbyist travel there is so much bad advice in this article.
First, I never ever ever use a third party portal. If things go wrong, now you have to deal with customer service from two places. I know American charges fees if you make changes to your flight that you book through a third party portal.
Second, flights are more expensive two weeks out, and this isn’t pre 2020, as far as I know, unless you buy the cheapest ticket, all airlines let you make changes or cancel flights for an airline credit, If you book directly.
I’m not sure what he is referring to specifically as “basic economy”. But on Delta it means - no refunds not even airline credit, no seat selection, and you don’t earn miles for flying. Economy is the lowest I will go.
I do care about frequent flyer programs. My home airport until 3 years ago was ATL so of course we flew Delta. It’s still our preferred airline because we end up in ATL a few times a year and the only airline that flies into my parents city in south ga is Delta.
With Delta with status (and lounge access via credit card especially in Atlanta) makes everything better.
The issue also is not the variability of time at the airport especially with digital ID, Clear, TSA pre check and even with a check bag either using curb side check in (again Delta in our case) or Sky Priority check in (thanks to status), it’s the time to get to the airport and not worrying about traffic. Being at the airport killing time with my computer, tablet or phone - even if I didn’t have lounge access - is better than worrying about Atlanta traffic when I lived on the other side of the metro area.
> You have a safe upper bound of how long it takes. I agree that adding 30% is mostly safe enough for taxis
That’s true for the most part.
He also mentions not checking bags. I agree with the sentiment. But that is diametrically opposed to buying the cheapest seats where you are last to board and not worrying about status which would get you earlier boarding.
> If you have an overhead bag, you have to worry about them forcing you to check it. That means you have to aggressively board the plane, and sometimes that will not be enough, and you have to worry and argue about this. Also they make you pay for it.
If you are talking about gate checking, I am yet to meet an airline that forcibly gate checks you AND charges you for doing so.
> As far as I can tell, the major booking portals for tickets are all basically the same. I’ve been using Orbitz for a long time
This is really bad advice. You should search using a flight search engine like Google Flights, not a single OTA, and book directly with the airline unless an OTA has a much, much better deal. The $10 that Orbitz might sometimes save you comes at the cost of having to talk to their customer service, not the airline’s, if you want to change your trip.
100% this. Having a party in between is a real PITA that one time you need to change something in a hurry.
I have heard it also puts you in a better position when an airline is bumping passengers or carry-on luggage, though the soft rules are always changing, so I don't know if this is still the case (or ever was.)
This is also true of hotels. If the hotel is overbooked they will “walk” the third party booked people first and keep their reward members / first party booked people happy
If I were operating an airline, I would have a list of the passengers sorted by revenue or profit and use that to figure out who to bump first.
I imagine the “basic economy” tickets are basically first in line for being bumped.
That's true, but on the other hand it is also a pain to have to figure out a different UI every time you book a flight with a different airline.
They're all pretty much the same? Going from somewhere, to somewhere, at a date and time. Passenger info, payment info, book.
Every airline wants tech-incompetent grannies to buy their tickets, therefore the UI is simple enough that any HN reader should be able to trivially navigate it.
The airline websites that I've used are remarkably bad with their UI/UX. Far from any grandma being able to use it, definitely. I can rarely get through the process without some inexplicable error or missing field that I can't find or misbehaving custom date picker.
Are you asking? No they are not the same. Sure they take in the same input, but boy they can figure it how to do it differently
They are not the same because the obnoxious ads and promotions are in a different place. Navigating around them requires mental gymnastics.
Less of a pain that the airline itself not being authorized to make any changes to your flight because the OTA does.
I agree and do that but a lot of the time its not possible to recreate the stated fare at airline websites or the fares are aggregator only fares.
sometimes the airlines customer service is worse and less convenient than the airlines
Google Flights search is irredeemably broken for long international business-class flights, and I've tried a few times over the years to get someone there to give a shit, and they will not.
Example: You search for a flight from YWG to BKK in business, and it wants to route you YWG-YVR-KIX-BKK, which is basically fine. The flight time from YWG-YVR is under 3 hours, so it'll show you fares where that leg is in Economy, but YVR-KIX is in business, which is also, fundamentally, fine, although it would be nice to filter that. A short hop being Economy to get you on to the long leg in Business is usually acceptable. HOWEVER, it will ALSO show you fares where KIX-BKK (a 6 hour flight) are in Economy, and it won't allow you to filter this, so this messes up any ability to sensibly filter flights by price. If I am searching for a flight in Business, please allow me to filter out ones where *9 hours* of that flight is actually in Economy.</rant>
I imagine you could quickly build your own browser extension that parses all visible segments and hides cards where any individual leg exceeds your economy/business threshold. I successfully vibe coded a solution to a different Google flights problem in about 10 minutes.
> I almost always book the minimum flight, basic economy, whether or not I am paying. There is so little to be gained from moving up compared to the price.
I recently had a five month period where I took a plane ride every single week for work. A “frequent traveler” so to speak.
To me, the big difference between basic economy and regular is the ability to cancel (for a credit) up until the flight takes off. When you travel once in a while, this isn’t worth that much. When you travel every week, it’s huge. For example, when I travel (round trip) 3-5 times a year (which is my normal cadence), I’m not gonna really care if I booked an 8pm flight but last minute decided that I have time to get on a 6pm. An extra two hours not-at-home is no big deal, maybe even a good thing. When you travel every week, the ability to change later minute is huge (and contrary to popular belief, I found that it is often the case that last minute flights are the same price or cheaper, depending on the route, though it can also be wildly more expensive).
In addition to changing my mind about when to leave, don’t get me started on delays. If I saw my flight was delayed two hours (which often means that it’ll end up cancelling or taking off 6 hours late), I’d immediately book an alternative (if I could find one at a decent price) and then cancel one of them right before departure.
Aside from this, seat selection is important, especially if you travel a lot (the lifestyle is hard enough to begin with). You can usually buy seats in basic economy and the whole thing will be cheaper, but assuming you are going to do that, then the difference is gonna be $25-30 which is basically the “right to cancel” fee.
If you travel every week for work, I would be booking full fare (refundable), not non-basic restricted fares. Especially since if you are booking inside a week of departure the difference is not that great anyway.
>If you travel every week for work, I would be booking full fare (refundable), not non-basic restricted fares.
Why? I don’t fly that much, especially for work, and I’ve never had a problem getting to use my credits from cancelling flights. The price difference between credit-refundable and full refundable is usually significant and doesn’t offer me anything.
If the price difference is significant then sure. My experience booking 3-5 days ahead of time is there isn't much difference. In addition to no credits to keep track of, which don't seem to be your concern,
- simplifies expense filing
- if paying with a personal card (vs a corporate card), i'm not floating extra cash that is now converted to a credit
- full fare is less likely to get bumped on overbooking
- more miles / credits towards status
this. And since I was traveling every week, it was even easier to know that i'd use the credit. Not worth paying extra for a cash refund.
If something is happening in my life where I can’t use my airline credit within a year, I’ve got bigger issues. Even then at least with Delta, you just have to book a flight using the credit before it expires - and the flight can be after the credit would have expired - wait 24 hours cancel the ticket and then receive a new credit that resets the timer.
Or ask customer service to extend the validity period. YMMV, but this worked for me the few times I tried.
Economists call this type of pricing strategy price discrimination. Basically you have a different marginal willingness to pay than others because of your frequency.
Isn’t the biggest difference the ability to bring a carry-on suitcase? I’ve always found that immediately and categorically disqualifying for basic economy. There’s never been a situation where I could fly somewhere with just the clothes on my back.
Only the budget carriers like Frontier and Spirit charge extra for carry on. Even the second tier airlines like JetBlue and Southwest don’t charge for carry ons.
The issue is boarding priority and you may not have overhead space and still be forced to gate check your carry on (for free).
In the case of Delta, it’s a combination of not being able to choose your seat, no refunds or airline credit for canceling or changing your flight and no miles earned toward future flights.
I can’t speak for the other airlines.
Basic economy tickets do not always include a carry on.
https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/travel/inflight/basic-econo...
> Carry-on bags are only free on flights* to South America, across the Atlantic or to international destinations across the Pacific.
> On all other flights, you must pay to check your bags in the airport lobby. The bag fee starts at $35.
I encountered this for the first time this year. Bought the cheapest ticket, didn't think they'd exclude carry-on. Ended up having to WhatsApp (in Spanish) then to add it on for $250 round trip. Insane.
Until 3 years ago, we flew out of ATL and only occasionally and only domestically. So our default choice was of course - just fly Delta.
After all of the stars aligned around mid 2021, we moved to Orlando and started flying more.
Our default choice is still to fly Delta domestically because of familiarity, status, lounge access and we don’t mind a layover in ATL since it is our former home, familiarity and lounge access - Delta has nine lounges in ATL.
If we really just want to get somewhere without layover. I will look on flights from -
https://flightsfrom.com/{Airport code}
And see what airline has a non stop flight. The only airline I refuse to fly domestically is Southwest because of non reserve seating until next year.
But it’s rare that we will choose an airline that’s not Delta.
Internationally, we prefer Delta or SkyTeam airlines like Virgin or AirFrance.
We don’t shop based on price, the only time we compare flights is for convenience, we don’t fly first class or anything. But we just don’t like the hassle of flying airlines besides Delta.
Of course if we lived in an AA or United hub, it would be different. So substitute Delta for airline where you have status and/or a cobranded credit card that gives you some minor convenience.
United forbids full-size carry-ons in basic economy; American and Delta do not. The inconsistency could be a big issue for people comparison shopping.
are flight delays common in the US? ive been flying very regularly primarily around Asia for around a decade. (every 2 months or so) and ive never had a flight delayed more than hour (last minute at the gate always) anything longer.. i could only imagine it happening if there was a typhoon or something
Mechanical difficulties, weather esp. snow, air traffic control hold on incoming flights, etc. I wouldn't say >1 hr. delays were necessarily common but they're not rare either.
In my experience it depends on the route. I use SFO a lot and delays are quite common there because the they get a lot of fog and their runways are too close together for regulation to allow use of adjacent runways under bad visibility.
"The food at the airport is not ideal, and it is more expensive than usual"
This one really bothers me. The Portland airport mandates all food prices to be the same as at the businesses off-airport locations. As a passenger that makes it really great. As a free-market worshipper I have some concerns about this but it seems to work really well in practice and we get excellent options. Unfortunately, other airports don't rely on free-market competition to result in great offerings either but instead usually have most vendors operated by the same concession company like HMSHost, SSP Group. This gives a captive audience to a quasi-monopolist. It's the easiest situation to avoid a monopoly or cartel situation and foster competition, yet most airports seem to either be operated by people who don't care, crooks or idiots.
> As a free-market worshipper
Free market in a location owned by the government where the government gets to control who the vendors are and what the customers are allowed to bring in? Thats not a free market to begin with.
Just because the venue is owned by one entity doesn't mean you cannot have competition between tenants. In fact venue owner could take competition in consideration when choosing a new tenant. This would be what the Chinese government does with their catfish effect philosophy (https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S02184958960...).
Airports usually are privately owned I think?
Which major airports in the United States are not owned at least partially by a government body?
> As a free-market worshipper I have some concerns about this
But it's the government (via the TSA) that gates not only customers, but also the employees (as they must at least be able to pass through the TSA, though admittedly the bar isn't tremendously high), and at government-owned airports, they control the tenants / shops as well
To call it a free market misses all kinds of behind the scenes details
My local Canadian international airport mandates food vendors and restaurants all be staffed by one food service company. So even though past security we have one of our good local coffee shops, the price is inflated AND also they make terrible coffee from automated machines made by untrained staff.
BER has a regular supermarket before security. It's amazing to grab a regular-priced pastry or snack before or after flying.
My recent revelation as a frequent flyer is that it's really nice to have a tablet. I had long shunned them as an awkward step between laptop and phone, but using laptops is forbidden during taxi,takeoff, and landing.
Unlike the in-seat entertainment, the movie on a personal tablet won't be interrupted by announcements which I almost never want to hear.
Traveling is mostly what I find the tablet use case to be. I find it useful relatively rarely at home. I try and then I just end up grabbing an older laptop from the dining room.
If you want to spend most of your time reading, a Kindle may have advantages but I'm more inclined to travel with a tablet. The newer magnetic keyboards are actually pretty good but I'm at fewer conferences and the like these days where I'm taking notes and I actually have found that I've adapted to just using a phone for many purposes.
> The newer magnetic keyboards are actually pretty good
What I think I would really like is a detachable keyboard with laptop-style hinges (and maybe a secondary battery). There seem to be a few devices from about a decade ago with that kind of design but they died out in favor of flexible connectors and kickstands.
The newish Apple magnetic keyboards seem pretty good for using on your lap at a conference which was one of my showstoppers for a lot of earlier tablet designs. Though I haven't had a lot of opportunity to try it in practice. And I'm just so used to laptop multi-window that I probably would need to just spend some time adapting.
A more hybrid design seems to make a lot of sense but it just seems to involve compromises on both the laptop and tablet ends. Even the Apple tablets with keyboards probably don't have a lot of advantages over the Air unless you're watching a movie or reading a book on a flight or train.
I'm not imagining much compromise on the tablet side - at least not more than Microsoft's Surface keyboard connector. I'm thinking of thin tabs attached to the hinges slotting into the tablet body.
It would still be pretty compromised as a laptop, but better in that role than current tablet keyboard solutions.
As I say, software differences aside, my experience with the current magnetic Apple keyboard and the touchpad seem pretty good. I'm not sure a probably relatively weak mechanical coupling would be better.
Having a kitchen tablet is also amazing - I have a ten year old iPad Pro with the keyboard, it's great for looking up recipes and following along, and also messaging while cooking.
I've tried it and even built a stand for one at one point. Again, I usually have an old laptop on my dining room table. Maybe as I reconfigure my house after a kitchen fire and revert my dining room table from a work surface, I'll give it another try.
You actually give me an idea that I have an old iPad and a laptop stand I never use (probably a work thing I didn't think to return) and I may give it a try especially given I mostly use just a few sites.
As a laptop user, the thing that grinds my gears is how early they will force me to stow it away. Sometimes 20+ minutes before we are obviously descending.
I remember sitting, as I did so often at the time, in an airport lounge. This was Rotterdam on a dark evening, in the single story building on the edge of an airfield. I looked around and there were 5 or 6 men, all sitting alone in disheveled suits looking lost and miserable. I thought "poor sods". Then I looked at myself.
A dark evening at the edge of the airfield? Write the rest of this short story please.
I did want to be writer but my school made me choose between arts and science. I think science saved me from poverty.
As someone who is 6' 3" paying more for economy premium absolutely makes sense. I get that others might not see the value but I enjoy not having my knees smashed. You also get off the plane faster which can matter for connections.
Get an airline credit card for one based in your city and checked bags are no longer a cost. Aside from a few minutes to drop and pick up. Usually there are other perks like food and beverage discounts on the plane, etc. I fly to the Caribbean once a year on the miles we accumulate.
Yep, I'm also 6' 3" and on the heavy side. I don't fly often so I find the knee room tax to be very worth it.
“I almost always book the minimum flight, basic economy, whether or not I am paying. There is so little to be gained from moving up compared to the price.”
Perhaps I’m too precious but economy class is awful compared to business class. Lie-flat seats are a significant improvement over economy. If you are spending your own money, sure, stick to economy so you can spend your money on other things that are more important to you… but someone else’s money? What conceivable reason is there to choose economy if someone else is paying.
> What conceivable reason is there to choose economy if someone else is paying.
Not taking advantage of someone else's generosity.
If that's not good enough, don't think the someone else doesn't notice being taken advantage of. They won't say anything, but in the future you may be "overlooked" for other opportunities.
It's like asking for less than you need or could get when negotiating pay for a job or position.
One would think that the employer would recognize or remember this kind of “sacrifice.” Or that, somehow, asking for less money will lead to a more sympathetic judgment of what was accomplished. But my experience and that of many others I have observed tells me that this rarely happens.
Those who pay, pay what they can and always ask for the best that can be done. My advice is to accept business class when it is offered and to negotiate with vigor in every aspect of your professional life.
> It's like asking for less than you need or could get when negotiating pay for a job or position.
I disagree. It's chiseling.
If you don't like the deal you're getting, negotiate with your employer. If an agreement cannot be reached, it's time to part ways.
Disagreement does not make chiseling justifiable.
If you tell your friends and coworkers about the chiseling, they'll smile and nod, but they won't trust you any more.
The smart way to handle this if you really want to fly business class is to pay the upgrade cost difference yourself. Mark it on your expense report when you turn in the receipts.
Your sponsor then may say "no worries, we'll take care of the upgrade cost!" then you're golden. In any case they'll respect your integrity.
Companies usually have certain travel policies including who can fly business and under what circumstances. If you're within policy I don't see the issue.
Yes, if it is written policy, then there is no issue. Also if you get agreement in advance then it is not an issue.
I’ve worked for three cloud consulting shops, they would never allow this. One of those consulting shops is AWS’s internal shop.
I have worked for similar consulting companies, though not AWS. We had to always book an initial ticket that was policy compliant (economy, or higher only if it was similarly priced), and then optionally upgrade the seat. That causes the upgrade to come through as a separate charge.
Later, when submitting expenses, the upgrade had to be marked as a personal expense, to be netted against per diem or paid back directly.
Early in my career managers did a very poor job of explaining that this was allowed.
Of course, I overlooked the scenario that the parent mentioned about paying for themselves.
I frequently took my wife with me on work trips and we would stay a few extra days. I would buy her ticket separately, have separate receipts when we ate out so I could have mine reimbursed and put the extra days as personal in Concur.
Our favorite chain hotel is Embassy Suites where you got a good free breakfast and an afternoon happy hour with free alcoholic drinks so she would benefit without it costing the company.
Funny enough, since expenses reimbursement approval was done by a department outside of the US, they consistently disallowed my hotel expenses because it showed two people in the room even though it didn’t cost more and was within policy. I just had to tell the hotel only to put 1 guest.
I know the hotel check in thought I was having an affair with someone even though my wife was standing right there with me.
Never allow the employee to pay for the upgrade himself? Wow.
Companies also tend to overlook excessive travel expenses if the employee is bringing home the bacon. But don't put hooker expenses on it! (Yes, I've seen this happen.)
The three companies have travel policies that apply to everyone. It also depends on who is paying I guess. I am a post sales consultant where for the most part, my company gets reimbursed by the client and in the contract, they have the guard rails as far as allowed travel expenses.
Then on the other hand, you don’t have to choose the cheapest airline possible, so you can choose the one where you have status and get automatic upgrades (Delta Platinum Medallion in my case) and a higher chance for upgrades.
Of course you can pay for the upgrade yourself. But why would I spend my own money to do so. They are so strict though that every time my receipt after flying showed I was in an upgraded seat, I had to also send in the email as proof that my upgrade was free because of status.
> They are so strict though
Most likely because they were tired of being defrauded. As usual, it only takes a few bad apples to sour things for everyone.
When available trans-Pacific, I did sometimes use miles to upgrade to business (and generally paid the co-pay myself). Pretty much always flew my usual carrier (United) when that was an option.
Business is much better for long flights. For flights under 5 hours it almost does not make any difference.
BOS to SFO, domestic business is more comfortable but not to the degree I'd likely pay out of my pocket for.
A big advantage in business to me is that it's usually only two seats next to each other. That also no risk of middle seat. I've yet to experience lie-flat seats in business class. Even first class on many planes doesn't have that.
What risk is there of a middle seat if you are choosing your seat?
While I do enjoy my automatic C+ upgrades at time of ticketing because of status on Delta, I’m short and average size so main cabin doesn’t really bother me especially if I can get an exit row seat. It wasn’t bad flying nine hours to London two months ago.
If someone else is paying it's very likely they have restrictions on business class seats on long haul, given the typical large fare difference.
> What conceivable reason is there to choose economy if someone else is paying.
Thanks for the unpleasant reminder that people like you exist.
Best airport mental hack for last-minute types: Get lounge access beyond Priorty Pass
Even though most domestric lounges are hit-or-miss, it's a way to trick myself into getting to the airport 30 to 45 minutes earlier than I would. That way, if I'm running late, worst case I miss the lounge or cut short the time.
For those complaining that lounges are overcrowded with mediocre food, it's true and getting worse. However, it's buffet style - select a healthy salad option with a reasonable protein. Non Priority Pass options are somewhat worthwhile -- United Clubs have gone through a massive upgrade post Covid and so far haven't been too crowded. They also allow access upon arrival, if you really need to fire off some emails and hydrate upon landing.
As for in-flight, for former gaming geeks, try classic emulators. They won't require internet and drain very minimal battery life on your latop.
The adjacent hack is to bring an empty water bottle in your carry-on, which you fill once you clear security. Then, you have a full bottle of water and can decline everything from the "beverage cart" on your flight, meaning you never need to worry about managing a precarious open cup of liquid and ice sitting on your in-flight tray.
I’d struggle to ever pay for lounge access. Even when I’ve flown international first class the lounge is still usually quite disappointing in food, comfort and ambience. It’s better than sitting at the gate but maybe only $10 better. The one exception would be if I had a long layover.
The best part of the lounge for me is that you don't have to shlep your luggage into the restroom. I don't care about the food, just the seating, chargers and ability to leave your luggage safely while you use the facilities.
My home airport is MCO - Orlando - where most travelers are either infrequent fliers, flying with families and international vacationers. I use every hack that’s available not to be caught up in that and we fly a lot.
This includes - Clear, TSA, status for priority check in, lounge access and status for earlier boarding so I can already be situated in my seat with my luggage if I just have carry on.
In ATL, my former home airport it’s not as bad because you have more business travel.
> The one exception would be if I had a long layover.
That's what I did for a day-long layover in Istanbul. I took a short self-guided tour of the city via tram, then returned to the airport in the evening and paid for the lounge until my 1 am flight. It was like 20 Euros, absolutely worth it (this lounge had a shower).
I've taken the freebie lounge access on those rare occasions I have a business class ticket, but only if there is no line. If it's a zoo, what's the point? I can sit in one of the empty gate areas with no one around me until it's time to get on the plane.
When you are overseas you realize how mediocre things are here. You can make claims about excess and such, but even business class lounges like Qatar in Doha - chef made meals done restaurant style, with a wide menu, beautiful shower suites you can book a 45 minute slot (for free), etc, and very comfortable chairs and a huge amount of space…
Lounges of U.S. carriers in U.S. airports serving international flights that are about as busy as overseas counterparts have a nearly universally poor showing when compared to those overseas lounges. I’ve read this comes down to the financialization of those U.S. carriers who dilute lounge exclusivity chasing those sweet credit card profit centers while overseas carriers are not under those dynamics; U.S. carriers don’t usually get to have a hand in the design and layout of airports so their lounges are less spacious and amenity-filled; overseas international hubs tend to cater more to long-haul multi-hour layover itineraries than the short turnaround domestic traffic that is more common in U.S. airports; and U.S. cost structures against wage stagnation trends are more prohibitive to the more lavish splash outs in overseas lounges.
I don't pay for lounges but I find that arriving at the airport affords a peace of mind that is priceless (iv'e seen how flustered the hurried get in security or baggage desks) . If I'm working or hanging out at the airport - I'd just be doing the same thing at home.
Concur. Amex plat or equiv is a good option. Important caveat that their lounges tend to fill up, so you may not get in. If you do, it's step up from Delta lounges etc; food's good, relatively.
That’s just the opposite from what I have found. Given the choice between the Delta lounge and the Amex lounge, I always choose Delta lounges. They also seem to be less conveniently located.
That’s especially true in ATL with a lounge at each gate for delta more or less. I still don’t know where the Centurion lounge is in LAX as often as I’ve been there.
Yea def at Atl. The centurion there is full 50% of the time I go, is in a weird spot, and it's crowded a good portion of that. (But it's beautiful) And the Delta at each term is nice. May be a bit of an exception as its a Delta hub.
I had Priority Pass for a few years when I had a premium credit card for other reasons. I think I used a club a few times when Star Alliance/United wasn't available. Nothing special. And the meaningful meal discounts were few and far between.
> bring an empty water bottle in your carry-on
I find it handy to include a carabiner on the water bottle lid for hanging off the back of the seat.
Also beware metal water bottles, as they will sometimes deform if sealed during elevation change.
Agree completely, between myself and my wife as an authorized user, I gladly pay the almost $2000 a year in annual fees for the Delta Reserve and the Amex Platinum for lounge access in almost every scenario.
The Reserve easily pays for itself with the once a year round trip companion pass good for anywhere in the US, Caribbeans, Mexico or Central America and the hotel credit and the Platinum the same with the credits.
My wife and I have averaged around a flight per month since Covid. With a lot of random trips back home to ATL where Delta has nine lounges
[dead]
> My heuristic is to book a little over two weeks in advance, but not to book much more in advance of that in case plans change or want to change, since in expectation price changes are pretty small and maybe you decide to stay an extra day for some reason even if you are confident you won’t cancel.
N00b here - is that actually where the optimal prices emerge, rather than many months prior? I used to wonder why the optimal prices didn't emerge the day before the flight, because I'd assume airlines would rather fill a seat with lower profits than waste the space, but I guess that could cause forecasting issues if everyone waited until the last second.
Lot of last minute(day) demand is very price insensitive. Say a company needs to get engineer on certain site. Or in general business travel where someone else is paying. In such cases you can get a few times the lowest price. So not fire selling seats makes sense.
On other hand if someone like travel agency has pre-paid for seats in block, selling them at any price will lower the losses. So different actors have ways to act differently.
Optimal prices don’t appear just before the flight because they probably overbooked it
My understanding is that (at least for long haul), seats are divided up with a bunch of lower cost tickets, then medium cost, then a few high cost tickets, and sold in that order. So waiting until the last 2 weeks would be a bad idea. But also perhaps my understanding is wrong / naive?
Timing is not the only differentiator used.
It depends but often cheapest prices IME are;
1) as the flight is released (e.g a year in advance or more)
or
2) about 5 weeks out.
As you say it depends but in my case when I was booking a ticket for my last vacation I noticed prices getting much cheaper every day nearer to the flight itself (500 -> 200).
I waited till the second to last day and the price was 240, one day later it hit 200. (definitely a gamble, the flight seemed maxed out when I was boarding).
Sometimes, the day before or the day of the flight too.
If they haven’t been able to sell the seat yet, the airline is in a big hurry.
If they have sold almost all the seats, the last 1-2 will often be crazy expensive though.
High risk.
Since most of my time at airports are spent through work, I long since learned that fast track + getting access to the lounges makes a world of difference.
Free food, drinks, booze, superior in every way. If I know I have access, I’m not too bothered with spending extra time, or minimizing my airport time. The absolute minimum should be fast track tho.
Edit: Also, the real benefit of upgraded class when boarding is guaranteed overhead luggage space, if you only have carry-on luggage.
> spending time at the airport is fun
People's preferences really do vary widely, don't they?
There's nowhere I feel less safe than a security checkpoint, and nowhere I feel less relaxed than a high-pressure commerce zone clamoring for attention I don't want to give and trying to squeeze me out of money I don't want to spend.
But there are people who voluntarily go to Las Vegas, on purpose, because they think they will enjoy it: so, we are clearly not all alike.
> a high-pressure commerce zone clamoring for attention I don't want to give and trying to squeeze me
I find air travel mostly unpleasant, but if it's a given that I have to go through the ordeal of security and the flight, I find extra time sitting in the airport quite pleasant. Everybody regards you as in transit and unreachable. Nobody around you knows you or wants to talk to you, and it's easy to find a spot where the only sound intrusions are announcements and nearby conversations. It's so easy to sink into focus on work, or even a book.
Many times I have exaggerated my concern about making a flight so I could catch an extra hour of solitude in the airport.
Novelty is often a thing of course. I don't think anyone who travels a lot really enjoys airports even if distractions like butterfly gardens and nice airport clubs can make them more tolerable. Some people are probably into the duty free shopping though it's mostly not a bargain.
It is a bit by design.
The longer time you spend there the more $$ you leave there: shops pays a huge rent, and I have no doubt one statistic Airport use to raise rents is the average time we spend inside the airport (by the number of passengers, of course).
Security, and supposed security, is part of it.
It’s even worse, airlines removed the automated walkways in the terminals to increase foot traffic to stores.
https://www.themirror.com/travel/american-airlines-removes-m...
maybe this is different for americans, but isnt google flights quite better than your typical orbitz/kayak? especially so if you're a little flexible on dates with their graphs?
Google flights (or matrix.itasoftware.com, same thing) is ok but they don't have every airline. There used to be a website (which is now a shoddy browser extension) called Flight Penguin, I think there are some similar extensions now but haven't used them.
Interesting. I am American, not a frequent flyer, but haven't found Google flights to find any deal that I can't find elsewhere.
> This is the tricky part. You need to know the worst-case scenario for the trip to the airport. This is why I love taking trains to the airport, even when they are on average slower than a taxi. You have a safe upper bound of how long it takes.
This is reasonable advice going to the source airport or NYC where subways run 24/7.
Be mindful at the destination though, when trains may not be running etc. I've had a number of close misses at SFO when the last BART out was just past midnight and a slight delay would leave me spending 4 hours there or $100+ in cab fare.
I've always wanted to schedule enough time to get a drink and some food before my flight at one of those airport restaurants designed to look like a pub or cafe. Even if the food might be overpriced, they always struck me as having a neat "liminal vibe" to them; sort of like what I feel when I see the painting Nighthawks.
It’s pretty awful imo. Going to a late night cafe or diner where you live will be a much better experience, and closer to nighthawks. But try it for yourself I guess.
OTOH, I have had pretty good, though expensive, food at some airports. Certainly not all of them have that option.
It's all reasonable advice, but the fact this this blog post exists also demonstrates how terrible flying has become. This is why I fly as little as possible.
I cannot relate to your experience at least in US. I did a lot of flying this summer and have been flying both nationally and internationally over the years but outside the occasional delays due to weather, my experience has been quite pleasant. Even when traveling with luggage, I can generally check them in right outside the airport where I'm dropped off by Uber. Security checks have been straightforward with just the right amount of annoyance in the mix and mobile apps mean that any last minute changes to gates are well communicated in advance. I have found it all really streamlined to be honest.
I suspect people who look for annoyances in travel readily find them, while people who look for the positives readily find those.
I used to hate business travel, then took a role that required a fair bit of it. Getting used to the routine, finding ways to be efficient, and realizing that even the occasional irregularities aren’t so bad gave me a perspective that while I don’t love it, it’s far more tolerable than how I used to view it.
You have your system/routine, TSA-Pre/etc., probably a club membership. At some point, I also largely said to hell with driving into the airport in most cases and just got a car service; no one pushed back. Whereas in a long ago job I'd sometimes use a shared van service which was... less good.
Still, as you say, some bad travel stories with delays and missed connections but you're better prepared to roll with those punches.
You have to compare it to taking a train (assuming you live in a country with good trains), or driving. I wish one day everyone had access to a system as good as the Shinkansen.
While the 1 hour rule is mostly true be careful with discount airlines. Frontier Airlines does do a 1 hour boarding. I've heard of cases that if you are late to boarding, even if half hour ahead of departure, they will not let you board the plane. I'm sure it depends on specific airport agents protocols. My point is I'm not sure you can always use the 1 hour buffer.
I was definitely stopped from boarding when I arrived to the airport 45 minutes before departure when on Spirit. That was the last time I used Spirit.
> It saves you a bunch of money and time and also trouble and worry if you can move from checking bags to not checking bags
This has been my experience, too. Some airports have a half-assed process where it's partially self-service and partially done by a human. In Denver, they have booths outside to check bags. You scan the QR code, pay in the app, and it prints your tag at that booth for the worker to take. Convenient right? Wrong.
I'm second in line, so I scan and do the whole process, then the worker leaves to help a disabled woman. No problem I thought: I'll just go to another booth to have it re-printed. Nope, apparently once you print the tag, employees can't do anything about it and you're forced to buy another checked bag or hope that the original worker comes back (I'm not taking that chance if I have a flight to catch)
That one-hour timeframe from door to plane is usually my default now, as long as the airport isn't one the nightmares like LAX or DFW.
That said, I'll sometimes intentionally show up early just to wander around if the airport is interesting or interestingly weird, like how LHR funnels you from security straight into an upscale mall before you can get to any of the terminals.
I am frequent traveller. Typically 30-50 flights per year. To have a fast and pleasant flight, the following two criteria must be met
1 - bypass queues - if possible, get fast track. Generally not that expensive.
2 Place to sit - Lounge access. If you have a long layover, 50 bucks will buy you decent food and a place to chill.
I had a trip from Boston to Calgary last week. Was leaving from an hour outside of Boston. Went through Montreal for the connection.
I could have slept in an hour longer and drove 4.5 hours directly to Montreal instead of going to Boston first with the connection.
As a frequent hobbyist travel there is so much bad advice in this article.
First, I never ever ever use a third party portal. If things go wrong, now you have to deal with customer service from two places. I know American charges fees if you make changes to your flight that you book through a third party portal.
Second, flights are more expensive two weeks out, and this isn’t pre 2020, as far as I know, unless you buy the cheapest ticket, all airlines let you make changes or cancel flights for an airline credit, If you book directly.
I’m not sure what he is referring to specifically as “basic economy”. But on Delta it means - no refunds not even airline credit, no seat selection, and you don’t earn miles for flying. Economy is the lowest I will go.
I do care about frequent flyer programs. My home airport until 3 years ago was ATL so of course we flew Delta. It’s still our preferred airline because we end up in ATL a few times a year and the only airline that flies into my parents city in south ga is Delta.
With Delta with status (and lounge access via credit card especially in Atlanta) makes everything better.
The issue also is not the variability of time at the airport especially with digital ID, Clear, TSA pre check and even with a check bag either using curb side check in (again Delta in our case) or Sky Priority check in (thanks to status), it’s the time to get to the airport and not worrying about traffic. Being at the airport killing time with my computer, tablet or phone - even if I didn’t have lounge access - is better than worrying about Atlanta traffic when I lived on the other side of the metro area.
> You have a safe upper bound of how long it takes. I agree that adding 30% is mostly safe enough for taxis
That’s true for the most part.
He also mentions not checking bags. I agree with the sentiment. But that is diametrically opposed to buying the cheapest seats where you are last to board and not worrying about status which would get you earlier boarding.
this article is absolutely brutal to read, was it written by ai? how did this even get upvoted enough to have comments on the first page?
> If you have an overhead bag, you have to worry about them forcing you to check it. That means you have to aggressively board the plane, and sometimes that will not be enough, and you have to worry and argue about this. Also they make you pay for it.
If you are talking about gate checking, I am yet to meet an airline that forcibly gate checks you AND charges you for doing so.
[flagged]
people, like me, who cannot invoice that wasted time