Booking Strategy

[ldubs]

8 minutes ago, Nebr.cruiser said:

We mostly fly American (ff miles) and their so-called Premium Economy just isn't that great.  A big help for me would be a footrest that extends out.  I know some other airlines have better premium economy.

 

I know it sounds odd, but I never use the footrests because my legs are too long.  haha.   Our recent "premium select" seats on Delta had the foot rests.    If you are thinking heading west over the Pacific, I thought Singapore Air premium seats were roomy.  I can't remember about foot rests. 

 

Sadly, our favorite international carrier for legroom and price, Norwegian Air, was a victim of COVID.  

Edited May 3, 2022 by ldubs

[Nebr.cruiser]

Just now, ldubs said:

 

I know it sounds odd, but I never use the footrests because my legs are too long.  haha.   Our recent "premium select" seats on Delta had the foot rests.    If you are thinking heading west over the Pacific, I thought Singapore Air premium seats were roomy.  I can't remember about foot rests. 

 

Sadly, our favorite international carrier for legroom and price, Norwegian Air, was a victim of COVID.  

Well, I'm short, but I get how long legs would be a problem for flying period!  We are working hard at trying to find a trip to NZ/Australia this year that is doable and at least a little affordable. 

 

We have gotten spoiled with using ff miles for business class seats to Europe, etc.  But the amount of miles needed now is unbelievable!  Over 900,000 K pp for most flights to Oz on American.

[capriccio]

On 4/25/2022 at 11:53 AM, sparks1093 said:

That makes sense and actually works well with this method since we'd be looking to cruise sometime between February and April to escape the cold for a little bit (and this is another drawback of sailing out of the Northeast, the weather doesn't get nice for a couple of days heading down).

Some considerations for Florida ports:

• You will pay more for the cruise and hotel (if needed) if you book for Presidents Day week.  Lots of northern schools are on winter break.  Those kids and their folks want to escape the cold too!
• College spring breaks can occur anytime in March but the two weeks in mid-March are the busiest.  The impact will depend on whether your cruise line attracts spring breakers.
• The week before Easter and, to a lesser extent, the week after is spring break for public schools throughout the country.  Cruises and hotels will be more expensive.
• Specific to Fort Lauderdale - the 3 day Tortuga Music Festival occurs in April.  Hotels will be expensive if needed.  It is always good to check out any local happenings that might impact the price and availability of your cruise and/or hotel before making reservations.

[sparks1093]

7 hours ago, capriccio said:

Some considerations for Florida ports:

• You will pay more for the cruise and hotel (if needed) if you book for Presidents Day week.  Lots of northern schools are on winter break.  Those kids and their folks want to escape the cold too!
• College spring breaks can occur anytime in March but the two weeks in mid-March are the busiest.  The impact will depend on whether your cruise line attracts spring breakers.
• The week before Easter and, to a lesser extent, the week after is spring break for public schools throughout the country.  Cruises and hotels will be more expensive.
• Specific to Fort Lauderdale - the 3 day Tortuga Music Festival occurs in April.  Hotels will be expensive if needed.  It is always good to check out any local happenings that might impact the price and availability of your cruise and/or hotel before making reservations.

Thanks for the 411!

[rkacruiser]

16 hours ago, ldubs said:

 

I know it sounds odd, but I never use the footrests because my legs are too long.  haha.

 

Just curious and if you choose not to answer, that's OK.  Have you flown Business Class and used the lie flat bed that the seat becomes?  I have short legs and I usually find my feet are touching the end of where my legs are supposed to be.  What would a person experience with long legs?  

[ldubs]

57 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Just curious and if you choose not to answer, that's OK.  Have you flown Business Class and used the lie flat bed that the seat becomes?  I have short legs and I usually find my feet are touching the end of where my legs are supposed to be.  What would a person experience with long legs?  

 

Never had a lie down flat seat in Bus Class.  But I like Bus class a lot.    I've enjoyed the first class "tubs" that lay flat for a bed on a few occasions.  Those were plenty long enough for me.   Because all nonstops to Europe from the west coast are red-eyes, being able to sleep during the flight is petty significant.  

 

In general I'm pretty happy if I can sit with some space between my knees and the seat in front of me.  Haha.    

[iancal]

I can fall asleep between leaving the gate and take off.   Lots of lots of business travel.

 

We have not seen the lie down cubies on NA flights.  Only on flights to Europe, SA, and SE Asia/Australia.    We have done standard economy to SE Asia and Australia multiple times.   We can do two  10 or 12 hour flights with a stop in between.  After that it becomes somewhat tedious.

[navybankerteacher]

4 hours ago, iancal said:

I can fall asleep between leaving the gate and take off.   Lots of lots of business travel.

 

…

I developed the ability to sleep fairly well on overnight flights to London from NY - two of those little bottles of Drambouie immediately after take off helped.

[ldubs]

6 hours ago, iancal said:

I can fall asleep between leaving the gate and take off.   Lots of lots of business travel.

 

We have not seen the lie down cubies on NA flights.  Only on flights to Europe, SA, and SE Asia/Australia.    We have done standard economy to SE Asia and Australia multiple times.   We can do two  10 or 12 hour flights with a stop in between.  After that it becomes somewhat tedious.

 

2 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

I developed the ability to sleep fairly well on overnight flights to London from NY - two of those little bottles of Drambouie immediately after take off helped.

 

I'm amazed at the number of times I've dozed off before we were wheels up.   Because a lot of my business travel was same day round trips, it is likely the early morning flights contributed to that.  

 

Drambuie -- I can see how that would help as a sleeping aid!  

[rkacruiser]

On 5/3/2022 at 5:29 PM, iancal said:

We have not seen the lie down cubies on NA flights. 

 

They are rare in my experience.  I was very surprised when I boarded a Delta 767 that was configured into a Delta One interior for a SFO to DTW flight.  Daytime flight, so I didn't use the lie down bed feature.  But, the service was Delta One quality service.  

[Nebr.cruiser]

We got the lay flat seats on a Charlotte to Omaha flight a few years ago.  I have no idea why, moving a plane around?  I didn't need to sleep for the 3 hour or less flight  but did have fun moving the seat up and down and out flat and playing with all the other gadgets.

 

Love them on long haul flights though!

Edited May 6, 2022 by Nebr.cruiser

[rkacruiser]

16 hours ago, Nebr.cruiser said:

but did have fun moving the seat up and down and out flat and playing with all the other gadgets.

 

😀     I was seated in the middle section (1-2-1 configuration).  My seat mate seemed to be business woman who was intent on doing some work during our flight.  I did get the feeling that I was a distraction at times for her when trying out all of the features of that seat.  

[iancal]

There is another part of airline booking strategy that is seldom mentioned.  From time to time we have found airline prices less expensive on third party sites that we have on the airline site.

 

We have found this on domestic flights in Turkey, Greece, and Mexico.   Our last Westjet flight from Canada to Dublin was about 20 percent less expensive on Expedia that it was on the Westjet site.

We have purchased (pre covid)  domestic fares on Olympic/Aegean that were prices as much as 25 percent less than the airline web site.   For Argentina, we saved about 25 percent on domestic fares by calling down to their BA call center and booking vs. on their international web sites.

 

Ditto for one of  our flights to Bangkok several years ago.   Matrixit listed the flight (and the fare codes) of our preferred routing for $1019 CAD.  I immediately called the carrier, Air Canada, with the details.  Their lowest price was $1500 same for same.  Several on line booking sites (Expedia, etc) were the same as AC direct.

 

Finally we found the fare and the fare codes on Orbitz at $1019 and immediately  booked it.