why the purple?Thanks you made me realize I don't hate flying, I hate people…
why the purple?Thanks you made me realize I don't hate flying, I hate people…
I think there's a bit of a difference between military and civilian... anything.
I put up with a LOT of stuff in the military, that I don't want to put up with now.
It is cool that you have shown many ways to get the perks of the “haves”.Planning my next death tube trip.
I will say this remains one of my favorite INGO threads. The problem with air travel is it got too cheap so "they" could travel as well but simultaneously the issue with air travel is the gap between the experience of the "haves" vs the "have nots".
People either love them or hate them usually. Not much in between. the cruise line you choose and the ship you use can have a massive impact on your outcome. Wife and I are RCL people. We've been on a couple others and they're not the same. We love their mega ships. There's so much to do and see, their shows are really top notch and they have activities all day every day, and not just drinking by the pool or a dance party (although there are some of those as well). The MCS cruise we did in March was.... ok. It's been several years since we'd gone, it was quite a bit cheaper and we were going with friends who are used to Carnival. Their experience was different than ours.My biggest concern with cruises is I think I'll be bored and I don't like that you take your own crowd with you everywhere you go. We're very active on vacations, if I just want to sit in a chair and drink I can do that pretty easily anywhere. Maybe unfairly, but I see cruises as very similar to casinos. Not really my kind of fun and always looking to get in your pocket besides. I *may* end up trying an Alaska one, but we'll see.
Alaskan cruises are amazing. It's such a different experience from the Med or Caribbean. Feels much more laid back and the scenery is a completely different kind of beautiful, especially up the inside passage.I thought the same thing about a cruise but really ended up enjoying it. The one we took was “given” to us, (free seed cornjars(edit: hats) have come a long way), but we would do it again. She’d love to go to Alaska.
When I was younger, I thought I'd like one of those "Barefoot Cruises" where you're actually a part of the crew on a sailing ship. The only way I think I'd like a cruise these days would be if they'd let me drive the boat, stop where I wanted for as long as I wanted, etc.. I don't have any interest in casinos or shows or midnight buffets. I kind of look at them as the "mass transit" of vacations.People either love them or hate them usually. Not much in between. the cruise line you choose and the ship you use can have a massive impact on your outcome. Wife and I are RCL people. We've been on a couple others and they're not the same. We love their mega ships. There's so much to do and see, their shows are really top notch and they have activities all day every day, and not just drinking by the pool or a dance party (although there are some of those as well). The MCS cruise we did in March was.... ok. It's been several years since we'd gone, it was quite a bit cheaper and we were going with friends who are used to Carnival. Their experience was different than ours.
This ^^^ We are active also and are photographers, too, so we want to wander around without a handler. The big disadvantage to cruising is the itinerary is set. Find an interesting place you'd like an extra day in? Too bad. Bored with the next stop immediately, dittoMy biggest concern with cruises is I think I'll be bored and I don't like that you take your own crowd with you everywhere you go. We're very active on vacations, if I just want to sit in a chair and drink I can do that pretty easily anywhere. Maybe unfairly, but I see cruises as very similar to casinos. Not really my kind of fun and always looking to get in your pocket besides. I *may* end up trying an Alaska one, but we'll see.
It is cool that you have shown many ways to get the perks of the “haves”.
One other factor for me, and I suspect other as well is that the older I have gotten the less tolerance I have for crowds and tight situations. I used to love night clubs with hundreds of people, concerts with thousands, but today I would trade tickets to a mega-act for a good local act with a comfortable seat and a good drink.
On a travel note, on a trip to the Alps for Christmas I was disappointed, I had always wanted to ride in what I now understand are little gondolas like in old Bond movies, they now are, dare I say it, “cattle cars” that hold a hundred or more standing so close you are touching and can smell the breath of five people.
I love nomadic trips as I call them, pack the car and head out without a single reservation just wander from place to place, decide where to go next when you are done where you are. Two weeks word best for nomadic trips.
I really didn't realize this thread was still going.
Huh.
I couldn't do my job without air travel.
"Don't distract me with statistics" = "I gave in to appeal-to-emotion logical fallacy."
I'm biting back "cruise" comments...
A long time ago, I used to be one of those people. Now (I am an aisle-seater), I stand up, get my carry-on out of the overhead bin, put it in the aisle, put my laptop briefcase on the handle - and then sit back down until the deplaning reaches my row.I just love it when THE WHOLE PLANE* jumps up when stopping at the arrival gate. Then they all stand there hunched over to clear the overhead bins until they can get into the aisle to retrieve their bloated carry-on bags.
*Except me. I stay comfortably seated until it’s my turn to get up and deplane. What’s so hard about that?
Like Butt-Head says, “some people are dumb”.
Too true. Delta prides themselves on their percentage of first class seats that are revenue (purchased fare class, cash/miles upgrades) rather than complimentary upgrade. I think it's something like 80% revenue now, when ten years ago it was more like 20%? Combined with how full the planes are now, consistently, and status upgrades to first class are fewer and farther between.Not quite, there are much fewer perks airlines have available to award their highest status FFs, so 10 different boarding groups makes something out of nothing to give to status pax. In the era of targeted 85% or greater load factors, upgrades are pretty few and far between even if you have the miles/legs/points/whatever so those are out. You might be offered an 'upgrade' to a slightly larger seat, but it will almost certainly be a middle seat, sometimes an exit row middle seat
If boarding was the only concern and every passenger was considered a party of one, this would be the way to go. But, families can't board this way, and the people sitting in the aisles (the preferred seats, so likely to be the people with airline status) would get screwed out of overhead bin space. Plus, it would create a much worse experience for the highest-status and highest fare-class paying passengers.As far as boarding times, research has shown several times that boarding back to front all window seats then all middles and finally all aisles is fastest but you have to build that method in from the ground up. Southwest has the closest thing to that but not really that close. We call it the 'fall of Saigon boarding method'
This is a very good point, and one I hadn't really considered much. I wonder if airlines could use gate checking as a loophole here? All carry-ons get gate-checked, unless you want to pay to carry it on board (or have status).They could drastically speed up boarding by just outlawing most carry ons and making checked bags included in the ticket price again, because people standing in the aisle to load the overhead or wandering the aisle to find overhead space really slow things down. There are two reasons that isn't going to happen:
1) Bag fees are a significant source of revenue for most airlines
2) A weight of a carry on bag is considered to be part of the standard passenger weight for weight and balance purposes. That means they only have to count 190 lbs summer/195 lbs winter for you AND your carry on, whereas they would have to count that same 190/195 lbs for you PLUS
23kg for your checked bag and both count against the aircraft's take-off weight restrictions
This legal fiction often results in the aircraft being 4 - 5000 lbs over calculated weight (the crew can ballpark this given the variance between calculated and actual trim settings once in cruise flight), which affects calculation of such things as accelerate-stop distance, runway length required and go/no go speed for engine failure during take-off. Most airline aircraft have a greater than 50% safety factor but some of that is being used just about every take-off
We may have the very same Eddie Bauer backpack - mine is self-packable, and goes with me on many trips, primarily as a day bag.I'm using a Cotopaxi backpack for a bin bag and what I want while seated just goes in my sport coat pockets. I also pack a collapsible Eddie Bauer backpack which I can then use as a 'personal item' if we buy stuff at duty free or whatnot. The only thing I'm still kind of struggling with is cord management/organization with the laptop, cell phone, euro adapter, and watch cable.
I've heard many people express similar concerns - but only before they've actually taken a cruise. There is plenty to do to stay active on a cruise. It's one of the reasons I love cruising. I can lounge all day if I want, or I can stay busy with wall-to-wall activities. As for getting nickeled-and-dimed: yeah, all the mainstream cruise lines do it to some extent. But you can avoid all of it. And you travel enough that you could probably quite confidently plan your own excursions at ports of call. Sometimes it's as simple as hailing a taxi to a local beach, or renting a car and exploring on your own.My biggest concern with cruises is I think I'll be bored and I don't like that you take your own crowd with you everywhere you go. We're very active on vacations, if I just want to sit in a chair and drink I can do that pretty easily anywhere. Maybe unfairly, but I see cruises as very similar to casinos. Not really my kind of fun and always looking to get in your pocket besides. I *may* end up trying an Alaska one, but we'll see.
Disney Cruise Line is fantastic, but it's a luxury cruise line. I am a fan of NCL. It strikes the right balance for me - and I prefer the smaller ships (2,000 - 2,500 passengers), mainly because I hate crowds and on the smaller ships, it seems to be easier to interact with/get to know the staff.People either love them or hate them usually. Not much in between. the cruise line you choose and the ship you use can have a massive impact on your outcome. Wife and I are RCL people. We've been on a couple others and they're not the same. We love their mega ships. There's so much to do and see, their shows are really top notch and they have activities all day every day, and not just drinking by the pool or a dance party (although there are some of those as well). The MCS cruise we did in March was.... ok. It's been several years since we'd gone, it was quite a bit cheaper and we were going with friends who are used to Carnival. Their experience was different than ours.
I've been in that very line at JFK, many times.