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I don't think it is a recent issue. Boeing's last three commercial product deliveries have all been botched in my opinion - 787 - very late and many quality problems 737max - a complete disaster that led to the loss of life 777x - very years late and many issues

Ok, I think you will find many options if you simply search the Internet. I see many preplanned options. Here is one: https://www.mazatlantours.org/deer-island-snorkeling.htm

Does the use of Chase Sapphire points to buy a ticket actually help in terms of the one way cost problem associated with one way, long haul international travel? Are you transferring the points into an airline program first or are you buying the tickets via Chase's travel department?

Sadly, Boeing quality in my opinion seems to have gone down hill at least since the merger with McDonnell Douglas and the movement of HQ from Seattle to Chicago. The recent move from of HQ Chicago to Arlington VA suggests that product focus instead of government lobbying won't be coming to the forefront anytime soon.

I have not. However, I have been on the beach across from the island in the "golden zone" and have had "panga" operators ask if I wanted to go to over for a visit. I would definitely consider it if and when I go back to Mazatlan. The cheapest way would be to simply go to the beach and find a boat to take you across. I am sure more organized tours exist as well but the cost is probably 5-10x more expensive.

This is not true. Deer Island (Isla de Venados) is a real island off the coast pretty much in front of the "zona dorado" and Stone Island is across the channel to the South. My vote is for Deer Island as a more unique experience. BTW - The local baseball team is called "Los Venados."

My speculation is that their scheduling department has had their hands full these last couple of weeks dealing the the 737-Max9 grounding and trying to keep current operations going as well as possible. I heard that these aircraft are coming back starting this weekend so maybe things will catch up soon.

Sadly neither AA miles nor loyalty points were accrued on my trip as my booking code wasn't eligible. As you initially suggested, it is truly a mixed bag flying on Fiji Airways as a Oneworld member.

Hi @Gardyloo - I am writing this post from the Fiji Airways lounge in Nadi. It seems that at least some OneWorld benefits apply when flying Fiji Airways. As a OneWorld Emerald I received group “a” boarding in both LA and Nadi. Interestingly, I didn’t get lounge access at LAX but did in NAN while flying economy. Lounge access in Nadi has been especially appreciated as we needed to checkout of our hotel this afternoon and are waiting several hours before this evening’s flight back to LAX. Fiji Airways connect status in OneWorld might not bring all benefits, but so far my experience has been good. It would have been really good if they had given me the extra leg room coach seats for free.

I like Panama as well. The menu is huge and the quality of the food, while not gourmet, is pretty darn good for the price. All of the deserts and cakes are great too. I would recommend it even though it's not really what one thinks of as a tourist Mexican restaurant.

To be honest, it seems passport stamping is becoming less common in many areas of the world with digital systems keeping track of travelers being in compliance with their terms of entry into a foreign country. Here are is a somewhat recent link: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-10/passport-stamps-phased-out-overseas-travel-technology/102933124

This seems so strange to me. What airline and class of service did you have? On American Airlines, which I have the most experience flying, domestic first class passengers are in the first boarding group and after their highest elite level passengers. Below are links to the largest carriers in the US with first class domestic service. https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/boarding-process.jsp https://www.delta.com/us/en/check-in-security/boarding-priority https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/travel/airport/boarding-process.html

Especially if you are tall! Some of the bulkhead seats in normal economy are worth way more to me than a premium economy middle seat.

I think it only helps as a convenience to home country immigration or consular staff in case of loss of documents. That said, I don't think you really to have much of anything to get back into your home country. Based on what I have seen and heard locally crossing into the US from Mexico, the immigration officials will make you sit in secondary for a long time as a penalty as they "check out" your status - especially if you forgot your passport or passport card. Exactly! 100% in agreement.

You miss the practical dimension of traveling light. I remember once travelling as a family on a 2 week Mediterranean cruise with land travel on both ends. This was when my kids were young and dragging lots of bags through train stations and other forms of public transportation wasn't all that fun. Made me think twice the next time we traveled in a similar fashion about how much we truly needed. Any "cheating" is easily solved by the onboard cabin crew if it is truly a problem. I have seen gate agents for legacy carriers collect bags to eliminate on board hassles. It's better to check the bag at the gate than paying a bag check fee in advance. Rarely are there problems on low cost carriers. These carriers use their gate agents as "police" to collect fees. I would suggest the most people who travel "light" are, on the large, simply more experienced travelers. Rather than being fuzzy about things, these travelers have clear memories about what is truly needed when traveling generally.

I like this idea although I am not sure how secure any document really is on a mobile device. As an aside, I keep my passport card and global entry in my wallet for land crossings into Mexico. My understanding is that the passport card is limited in application to land crossings and seaport entries from certain destinations.

I just checked on my application and I saw availability of Ubers from the cruise port. The fare is 44 pesos from the port exit to “Papas & Beer” at the current time.

Wow! I had no idea it had been that long. It can't be a real priority as while constrained route planning/scheduling is a hard problem it at least is a well understood problem for the airlines. Maybe they don't really want it to work... Okay Seems only fair for AA. Fortunately, more and more flights seem to be codeshared these days. That is what I thought. It really is a trade-off in terms of cost versus convenience. Thanks again for all your help. These tickets really look to be a good deal if you can plan ahead and have sufficient time/resources to travel.

Thanks so much!. I started punching in various departure countries into the Oneworld tool. The tool will list base prices at the outset of a planning session. I did note that a small reduction is possible for starting in Canada as opposed to the US. Central and South America are worse. I noticed that as well. It seemed anecdotally that Australia and New Zealand have high fees. London Heathrow and maybe BA are best avoided as well. Thanks again! There is really lots to think about. I guess once you are done planning, the tool ships the itinerary off to the airline for ticketing. I am not sure if it's best to do this or simply call the airline directly once you actually have a planned trip. BTW - It's a good thing Oneworld calls their planning tool a "beta." It is super finicky and really doesn't work all that well. It really takes effort to get a valid route with actual flights assigned.

Thanks for this tip. I have been playing with Oneworld's trip planner to find a RTW ticket and I like your idea of embedding some US domestic travel as part of the overall trip as well as initiating the trip outside the US. Do you know of other locations to try above and beyond Oslo? Thanks in advance for any help on this subject.

This makes sense. Especially if as in the post below, it seems like 4 ports were planned in 7 days. I think the reason is exactly as stated - fuel efficiency (i.e., lower ship's cost.) 3 ports is normal for a 7 day cruise on the west coast. The ship would need to be really moving to get another port in the allotted time.

To the far end of the tourist zone is about a mile walk all in. I picked "Papas and Beer" as the end destination even though I would personally recommend to go around the corner to "Hussong's." The Ensenada tourist area is extremely safe and even more so during the day.

Total BS. Exactly

I am going to ignore the chatter about immigration. Please realize that your friend is not alone. I know someone from a country that came to the US seeking asylum and has been waiting 8 years to get their case heard. In all of this time they have not been able to leave the US without jeopardizing their asylum claim. It was only by filing a lawsuit against USCIS were they able to finally get a hearing to consider their case and that is still about a year away. I would not be so sure of this. Anything relating to what you posted would only be relevant to someone who entered under an I-131 process. Asylum cases and refugees use a different process. To the OP - this topic more than anything else I have seen on CC really requires specific knowledge. I wouldn't even tempt anything without consulting a real immigration expert such as an attorney or agent. Anything you read hear is useless and is for entertainment purposes only. BTW - In my opinion, which is worth nothing, your friend should simply stick to the terms of their entry conditions and not subject themselves to additional risk. The good news is that the US is a large country and has many travel options.

Innovators and disrupters sometimes make existing competitors go away all together as well as creating entirely new business models.