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Why does finding flights have to be such a pain?


NoLifeDGenerate
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We have so many airlines and so many flights, but somehow there's nothing to accommodate a 7 day cruise from Seattle on July 28th. Like nobody does direct flights from Pittsburgh area to Seattle. Flights are never anywhere close to the right time of day for arriving/leaving on cruises. Last time I went on a cruise was in Miami. Took the shuttle from the cruise line back to Ft Lauderdale and ended up sitting in front of the check-in counters for like 3 hours because it was too early to even check our luggage, and what else were we going to do with it? Haul it around town and look for a restaurant to chill in? that sucked. Was using my suitcase for a seat.

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As with most things in life, attitude and flexibility have a huge influence on how one copes with such situations. Take your Miami-FLL example: the situation was largely created because you took the cruise line transfer. However, you could have instead rented a car in Miami and gone somewhere (beach, shopping) for a few hours before your flight.

 

So what to do for your Alaska cruise? Well, choosing flights is all about balancing price and schedule. The flights are what they are - even in Florida, cruisers make up a small percentage of total air passengers, so you can't expect their schedules to align. I personally like to both arrive at least 1 day before and stay 1 day after, so that increases your flexibility re: arrival and departure times. It is then a question of seeing what is available and at what price, and seeing what combo works best for you.

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The closing of the US Airways hub at PIT impacted flights from Western Pennsylvania. Where once there were non-stops (I assume that's what you meant when you wrote "direct"), now you mostly have to fly to a hub and connect. But to say that there aren't the flights you can use is poppycock. Lots of alternatives to get from PIT to SEA. Could it be that the "best" flights are more expensive, and so you don't want them? Or that you are insisting on a non-stop, even if they don't exist. Because when you say "nothing", I find that hard to believe. Tons of one-stop connections on several airlines. As for your FLL flight, why do I suspect you bought a flight later in the day because it was cheaper? As noted, taking the ship transfer limits your flexibility.

 

So, other than cheap nonstops are exactly the time that YOU want, what would you like from your airline experience?

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The closing of the US Airways hub at PIT impacted flights from Western Pennsylvania. Where once there were non-stops (I assume that's what you meant when you wrote "direct"), now you mostly have to fly to a hub and connect. But to say that there aren't the flights you can use is poppycock. Lots of alternatives to get from PIT to SEA. Could it be that the "best" flights are more expensive, and so you don't want them? Or that you are insisting on a non-stop, even if they don't exist. Because when you say "nothing", I find that hard to believe. Tons of one-stop connections on several airlines. As for your FLL flight, why do I suspect you bought a flight later in the day because it was cheaper? As noted, taking the ship transfer limits your flexibility.

 

So, other than cheap nonstops are exactly the time that YOU want, what would you like from your airline experience?

 

I didn't look for a cheaper flight. I took what I could get the day I needed to fly.

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Frontier, right? Never heard of them, and they don't sound very good from reviews.

 

Yes Frontier. Just say that there are no non-stops (or direct, as you wrote it) on an airline that you would fly, because this one is there.

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I just want to get there and get back without having to piss around switching planes. I have no interest in spending extra nights either.

 

Hmmm ... you may have no interest but you may find a night in a hotel is in your future if you intend to fly to your embarkation city as close to embarkation time as you think is convenient for you.

 

Many of us seasoned cruisers know that you'll probably get away with it but any delay in your flight could mean you'll miss the ship and, for Alaska, that will usually mean missing the whole cruise because of the PVSA. That's why we fly in ahead of time.

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Flights are never anywhere close to the right time of day for arriving/leaving on cruises.

 

I kind of doubt that the airlines much care when any given cruise is scheduled, nor would they plan flight times around it. People fly in from all around the country, and world, for the cruise so any one particular flight probably has very few, if any, cruisers on it. Certainly not enough to prompt the airlines to schedule multiple flights from multiple cities around it.

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We are considering driving because the air fare coming home from our cruise is ridiculously priced. And we would have to stay in Fort Lauderdale one more night to even make it in the budget anyway. It’s a 17 hour drive so that will suck. [emoji44]

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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We have so many airlines and so many flights, but somehow there's nothing to accommodate a 7 day cruise from Seattle on July 28th. Like nobody does direct flights from Pittsburgh area to Seattle. Flights are never anywhere close to the right time of day for arriving/leaving on cruises. Last time I went on a cruise was in Miami. Took the shuttle from the cruise line back to Ft Lauderdale and ended up sitting in front of the check-in counters for like 3 hours because it was too early to even check our luggage, and what else were we going to do with it? Haul it around town and look for a restaurant to chill in? that sucked. Was using my suitcase for a seat.

 

Nothing to accommodate a cruise? Wow, that's a little harsh, don't you think? Are you seriously saying you have no options whatsoever to get to SEA from PIT? There are no direct flights because neither city is an airline hub, and no airlines have found that there is enough demand to efficiently sustain a nonstop flight between the two. As for flights never being timed right for a cruise, I suspect it is because you are putting too many parameters on your search. I've cruised over 30 times, flown for most of them, and have no trouble finding flights to/from (And I almost always have to connect, because like you, I don't live in an airline hub city.)

 

 

Why the hell would I want to rent a car and screw around Miami or Seattle? I just want to get there and get back without having to piss around switching planes. I have no interest in spending extra nights either. I'd rather drive to Cleveland etc to get on a nonstop flight, but there's nothing there either.

 

So you demand that that there always be a nonstop flight for wherever you want to go? Good luck with that. :rolleyes:

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I kind of doubt that the airlines much care when any given cruise is scheduled, nor would they plan flight times around it. People fly in from all around the country, and world, for the cruise so any one particular flight probably has very few, if any, cruisers on it. Certainly not enough to prompt the airlines to schedule multiple flights from multiple cities around it.
Actually, they do.

 

They're called charters, and they can make sure that everyone on board is heading for the same cruise.

 

I just want to get there and get back without having to piss around switching planes.
So you demand that that there always be a nonstop flight for wherever you want to go? Good luck with that. :rolleyes:
And it sounds like a charter is exactly what NoLifeDGenerate is really looking for.

 

But I see that some links have already been posted above.

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We are considering driving because the air fare coming home from our cruise is ridiculously priced. And we would have to stay in Fort Lauderdale one more night to even make it in the budget anyway. It’s a 17 hour drive so that will suck. [emoji44]

 

I hope that you are taking into consideration the full expense of driving, including the wear and tear and depreciation.

 

If you want to eliminate that factor, how about renting a nice new car at your home city, driving it to/from Florida, and letting the rental car company worry about the wear? Easy to get a weekly rental that should be less, given the distance you are talking about.

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I'll throw out the opposite argument - I once had to find a vacation that was specific to the dates for which I could get a free flight (using miles). It was a pain in the butt. Point is - cruise lines and airlines operate independently and have no reason to work with each other on routes and times. Just gotta find the right combo of both...sometimes it's easy, sometimes it's not.

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And for those with long memories, there was Carnival Airlines. Even with the ownership tie-in with the cruiseline, it couldn't make a go of it.

 

c5929a8660a17dde7f475eac0a735a66.jpg

 

Wow, I barely remember that! Remember seeing one once or twice as a kid at O'Hare and thinking it was so cool...and how luxurious Carnival must have been to have their own airline! :')

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I kind of laughed when I read the title of the thread and OP’s original comments.

 

The simple answer is 95+% of domestic US flyers only do so once per year and that vast majority of flyers only care about one thing. It’s neither schedule, convienence , or service. It’s COST.

 

Being an old fart, I wonderfully remember pre deregulation days when we had a multitude of now extinct airlines that carried passengers non stop to and from a long list of even medium size airports. Those days disappeared 30 years ago. Bankruptcies and consolidations brought in a new era. The good part is , a lot lower fares. Many fares today are lower than they were pre deregulation even before considering the huge devaluation of the dollar over the past 30 years.

 

What we’ve lost isn’t always pretty. Take St. Louis, MO as an easy example. Pan Am ran non stop service from there all over the US including Hawaii plus internationally. Today, after the full AA take over of Pan AM, STL is a shell of its former self!

 

New world, different rules; but you can maybe buy a cheap ticket by God! Maybe!

 

Allegheny Airlines flew nonstop across the US from their home base of Pittsburgh. Old enough to remember them?

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Wow, I barely remember that! Remember seeing one once or twice as a kid at O'Hare and thinking it was so cool...and how luxurious Carnival must have been to have their own airline! :')

 

Wow 727, I loved that airplane, the bank angle was steep so great views on turns!!

And you can still charter it to get to SEA https://www.stratosjets.com/aircraft/boeing-727-vip/

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Actually, they do.

 

They're called charters, and they can make sure that everyone on board is heading for the same cruise.

 

And it sounds like a charter is exactly what NoLifeDGenerate is really looking for.

 

But I see that some links have already been posted above.

 

This isn't the UK, charters are few and far between here in the US and the OP is obviously talking about commercial airlines, particularly domestic US airlines. Try to find a charter flight from any specific city in the US to a cruise. Not very common at all so good luck with that.

 

The link is for private jets, quite different from your UK charter flights and very expensive to boot.

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I kind of laughed when I read the title of the thread and OP’s original comments.

 

The simple answer is 95+% of domestic US flyers only do so once per year and that vast majority of flyers only care about one thing. It’s neither schedule, convienence , or service. It’s COST.

 

Being an old fart, I wonderfully remember pre deregulation days when we had a multitude of now extinct airlines that carried passengers non stop to and from a long list of even medium size airports. Those days disappeared 30 years ago. Bankruptcies and consolidations brought in a new era. The good part is , a lot lower fares. Many fares today are lower than they were pre deregulation even before considering the huge devaluation of the dollar over the past 30 years.

 

What we’ve lost isn’t always pretty. Take St. Louis, MO as an easy example. Pan Am ran non stop service from there all over the US including Hawaii plus internationally. Today, after the full AA take over of Pan AM, STL is a shell of its former self!

 

New world, different rules; but you can maybe buy a cheap ticket by God! Maybe!

 

Allegheny Airlines flew nonstop across the US from their home base of Pittsburgh. Old enough to remember them?

It was TWA that was based in St Louis and was folded in to American Airlines.

 

The bombing of Pan Am flt 103 led to Pan Am's demise ... not an AA takeover.

 

Allegheny did NOT fly all over the country as Allegheny. It was indeed based in Pittsburg and flew only as a regional airline. When Allegheny wanted to expand their route structure and fly all over the country, Allegheny personnel recognized the airline name was tko regional. They bought the US Air name from an air freight forwarder ... and the Allegheny name was replaced. At that time, same airline with a new name and a coast-to-coast presence.

This isn't the UK, charters are few and far between here in the US and the OP is obviously talking about commercial airlines, particularly domestic US airlines. Try to find a charter flight from any specific city in the US to a cruise. Not very common at all so good luck with that.

 

The link is for private jets, quite different from your UK charter flights and very expensive to boot.

 

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-J320A using Forums mobile app

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The bombing of Pan Am flt 103 led to Pan Am's demise ... not an AA takeover.
Getting a bit OT here, but I don't think you can blame that incident for Pan Am's demise. It certainly didn't help the airline, but Pan Am was pretty much moribund already by then for a much larger number of reasons. With the usual health warning about Wikipedia (although this should be pretty good given that most of it is uncontroversial history with little interpretation needed), there is a useful potted summary of the airline's long decline here. Even if Lockerbie had not occurred, I would have been surprised if Pan Am had survived for much longer than it actually did.
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