Flying for Thanksgiving You Gotta Be Insane

pharmer

pharmer

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The wife booked us to South bend Indiana on a "budget" airline for Thanksgiving. My stepdaughter lives close by with her future husband and family. Before we leave I get voted to cook the bird, scheduled to land 15 hours before dinner. Except said airline changed departure time from 4:45 pm to 6:05 am Wed morning. No email, phonecall, nada. At least the pressure would be off. Takes me 4 minutes to pack, wife a bit longer. Since they only have 1 flight per day (at a time randomly chosen by Coneheads playing a game of "Ring Toss") we made it along with 100 squallering kids disappointed by the Mouse House, cranky old gourds and a host of clueless bots who never look up from their phones. "Airbus" is the perfect name for that plane, if'n you are over 5'6" tall your knees are against your chest. I guess 32 rows in a 30 row plane really pays off with an extra dozen cattle. Oh yeah, $40 to carry on a bag, more to get it in the hold. Nobody smiled, ever, guess they don't pay well. The wife and I (who don't drink) started a drinking game over the little seat kicker behind me-"Drink every time mom says 'Chill!!' to the little angel." If'n it was for real they'd need a wheelbarrow to get us off the plane. Anyways who could afford a $9 wine, $7beer, $4 Chee-zits.
Indiana is great, small-town, down homey. Sat out on the back deck in mid 50's sun on Wednesday, thought "This ain't too bad." Never saw the sun again. Gray, rainy mid 40's and lower for the "parade" (a fire truck, 28 Grinches, 1 Santa and wife). I had on all the clothes I packed. Everybody turned out for it though.
Family time is special but getting on that plane late last night filled me with gratitude. The TSA lady commented about my heavy Corcoran insulated boots to which I replied "I never gotta wear 'em in Florida."
Lots of empty seats so I moved the wife over to the empty row I got and out she went. Sitting here typing this in shorts and a T shirt with the A/C cranking is what Thanksgiving is truly about for me. Joe
 
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The only time I intend to get on an airliner is if it has to cross an ocean to get me somewhere. Flying to see domestic places or to meet family ain't happening anymore. I got tired of the TSA blank stares and not-so-subtle escort to the gate.
 
We just returned from a visit with my son & DIL yesterday and had very uneventful flights both ways. Aside from the super long TSA check point line on the way home, everything was good. When we were about 15 minutes away from boarding time and still way too far away, I got ahold of a TSA supervisor, told her we were going to miss our flight and she put us on the First Class line which only had 2 people in front if us. That worked out well and we got on the plane.

Yup - flying today is stressful but we had a great Thanksgiving visit and the hassle was worth it. Sure beats driving!
 
You flew with Frontier or Spirit, didn't you. I've flown with Spirit twice, the first and last time. Work put me on Frontier complete with their 28" seat pitch. I'm sure the people I worked with at my destination pleaded with my travel folks to make damn sure that didn't happen again. Mr Steve boarded, and Mr Mega-Grumpy disembarked. The Mexican airlines I've flown with are better than those two.

Then there's Allegiant. I've flown with them, too. Planes were not too bad when I did it. But since then they have been called out for a couple of major safety issues. Top of the list was when they arrived late at an airport that was closed for a Blue Angels practice. They had cut the fuel load fine then got held on the ground with the motors running for over 30 minutes. They were so short of fuel they declared an emergency and totally hosed the Blue Angels practice. Hilarity followed when the FAA got involved.
 
Last time i flew got called out in Portland , Maine for excepting myself from passing through scanner, or being wanded. Lady made a loud point about yelling out "here's another one", but can't remember the other name she used. Guy that patted me down got shown the pacemaker scar, and informed him to call my cardiologist or pm manufacturer if he wanted to. Never liked flying, and strenuously try to avoid it.
 
[QUOTE.... the little seat kicker behind me-"Drink every time mom says 'Chill!!' to the little angel." .Joe[/QUOTE]
Glad you survived.
Way back in 1972, I left Cleveland for a project in Johannesburg, South Africa. I went Cleveland to LaGuardia, taxi downtown Manhattan to South African Consulate for a work visa, back to JFK, boarded a DC-8 for Madrid. Woman with three screaming brats in front of me, woman with two whining brats behind me. The fat kid with the bowl haircut, about ten years old, was directly behind me and kicked the back of my seat all the way to Madrid, in spite of my admonishments, pleading and flight attendant attention. Full plane, so nobody could relocate.
With relief, I changed planes and airlines in Madrid, boarded another DC-8 for Kinshasa, then Joburg.
Just call me Joe Btfsplk; the same woman with same bowl cut little monster sat behind me again. She and the monsters got off in Kinshasa, so I finally slept a little on the last leg of my 36 hour journey.
Flight attendants should have a good supply of duct tape and be authorized to use it, on the mother and the monster.
 
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I've flown more this past year than at any other time in my life, and it ain't over yet, although the next one, in 12 days, is for vacation, not business. The key to less-stressful air travel is to pick a good airline and follow the rules.

I shake my head at some folks' foolishness. At my hometown airport on Thanksgiving Day, a passenger on a discount, everything-is-extra, airline lost her cool when she tried to board with a bag she hadn't paid for. She assaulted the gate agent...which got her denied boarding AND banned for life from that airline. I wonder how she explained that to the family she didn't get to see?
 
We flew Delta for Thanksgiving, left the Monday before, returned the morning after. Two regional airports CHO and SHV with Atlanta in the middle. All went well, still hate Atlanta lol.
I left the very nice lady gate attendant (5:30 am) in tears of laughter and almost doubling over in Shreveport.
Rollons were checked at gate, scanned my ticket, tagged bag, and she said "you have to do it again" I replied "that's what my wife tells me".
 
chief38 said:
We just returned from a visit with my son & DIL yesterday and had very uneventful flights both ways. Aside from the super long TSA check point line on the way home, everything was good. When we were about 15 minutes away from boarding time and still way too far away, I got ahold of a TSA supervisor, told her we were going to miss our flight and she put us on the First Class line which only had 2 people in front if us. That worked out well and we got on the plane.

Yup - flying today is stressful but we had a great Thanksgiving visit and the hassle was worth it. Sure beats driving!
Click to expand...

You did good!:) Congratulations!

We did a Alaska cruise years back and just as we were ready to get off the ship found out that the airline he moved our flight time up a few hours. We lost all the time we thought we had to get our return flight. We got lucky going through the customs check and the buss dropped us off at the airport. Got in the TSA line and it was hardly moving. Told the TSA supervisor what happened even showed our flight schedules and said we are late here only because the airline without our knowing changed the time it was leaving. Gave us a attitude and walked away said he would not move us along faster.

Made it thought and I took off at a run with my shoes in my one hand and my carry on in the other leaving my wife to follow as fast as she could as I headed for the fortunately nearby departure point.(we know how to pack and only had carry on)

Got there just as the girl was closing the gate told her what happened as it was her company's fault we were late. Got basically a TS from here and was told to get my foot out of door way so she could close it. My wife then arrive and fortunately she had a change of heart and she let us board after calling the pilot. So we flew home instead of me getting arrested which I though might happen.

I never say never but with that and other incidents I seriously doubt I will ever fly again. If I cannot drive it I aint going!
 
The only way I'd fly for Thanksgiving:

7915d9ac8dd1e4034e3bb8e1396f7395c9b4f3e5.jpeg
 
I used to have to fly a few times a year for work meetings. In the old days flying was easy. In the TSA era it became increasingly unpleasant. Thankfully I no longer need to fly for work, and I'm not doing so voluntarily.
 
Neighbors daughter, SIL, and 4 grandkids aged from 2-7 yo were in Orlando getting ready to board a Spirit flight to Raleigh a week or two ago.

Spirit cancelled without explanation or offer to help them get another flight. No assistance whatsoever, customer service non existent. :mad:

On their own, they managed to get an American flight to RDU. Cost them $1800 one way. :eek:

What does one do when work and school happen to be the next day? Imagine four young kids stuck at the airport.

I have never flown any of those budget airlines myself and never will.
 
I could hop on a jet at Sanford Orlando Airport and be in Cincinnati non stop in 2 hours for usually around $50 to $100.

Instead I drive 12+ hours to get there.

Never been on a plane. No fear of crashing, but I like to have my space. If I could score a seat similar to this, I'd never make that drive again.

i-CttPq9s-L.jpg
 
ladder13 said:
.....On their own, they managed to get an American flight to RDU. Cost them $1800 one way. :eek:...I have never flown any of those budget airlines myself and never will.
Click to expand...

To be fair, last year we flew from Colorado Springs to Orlando on American with one stop in Houston. Thunderstorm in Houston so they dumped us in Austin. At midnight (our scheduled arrival time Orlando) American personnel went home for the night. They booked us out to Houston 7:30 in the morning, delayed so we ran for the Orlando plane. Got back to the house 2 pm after a "night of the living dead" in the Austin airport. Emailed the CEO and nicely voiced displeasure, nada nothing in return. Customer service is dead in America, across the board. Frontier disconnected the phone today as a matter of fact. That's OK, I have never been able to book their "low-cost, direct service Orlando to Colorado Springs" in the many years of trying, when the phone was working. Joe
 
pharmer said:
To be fair, last year we flew from Colorado Springs to Orlando on American with one stop in Houston. Thunderstorm in Houston so they dumped us in Austin. At midnight (our scheduled arrival time Orlando) American personnel went home for the night. They booked us out to Houston 7:30 in the morning, delayed so we ran for the Orlando plane. Got back to the house 2 pm after a "night of the living dead" in the Austin airport. Emailed the CEO and nicely voiced displeasure, nada nothing in return. Customer service is dead in America, across the board. Frontier disconnected the phone today as a matter of fact. That's OK, I have never been able to book their "low-cost, direct service Orlando to Colorado Springs" in the many years of trying, when the phone was working. Joe
Click to expand...

When it's a weather delay, the airline rarely helps these days.
 
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