Being cheeky with flights.

[FlyerTalker]

37 minutes ago, mev202 said:

Thank you all to those who replied, I am in the UK and going to the USA. I have looked at buying avios points, and sometimes there are offers on.

 

Avios are a terrible airline FF currency, and the BA surcharges make it a poor first choice.  Crunch the numbers vs buying AA miles or others.

[Zach1213]

1 hour ago, mev202 said:

I only want to fly direct, as the risk of our luggage going missing, even if it is a big airport we transfer in, is not worth taking. We have met many passengers who's luggage never arrived after they had a transfer.

 

As mentioned above, I do think your fear of misplaced/lost luggage is overblown. I travel for a living, usually 125,000+ BIS miles each year, sometimes more (less over the last year, of course, but I am still traveling due to the essential nature of my work). I don't always check a bag, but often do. My bags have only been "misplaced" three, and all were due to missed connections - once flying MCI-LAX-SYD and it arrived in Sydney the next morning; once flying MCI-DFW-PVG, and it arrived in Shanghai the next morning; once flying DFW-MAD-RAK, and that was the worst one where it took two days to get to Marrakech. Is it a pain? Sure. Is it a massively common problem? No, it really isn't...it's just that those who are impacted are very, very vocal, whereas people don't ever say "yeah, my bag came perfectly on time". 

[iancal]

After 45 plus years of international travel we have only had baggage problems twice.  Once, when returning home because someone mistakenly took one of our bags home.  No big issue.  Mostly dirty laundry.

 

The second time was in Rome.  And yes, it was attributable to a very tight connection in Frankfurt because our incoming flight was late.  It showed up two hours later on the next Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt.   We have always been amazed at how good the airlines are at getting the bags to where they need to be.

 

Countless flights, countless connections.

[scottbee]

The details are starting to trickle out:

One Way Transatlantic Flight UK-USA (presumably Apr/May 2021)
Non-Stop only

The problem the OP is running into is that very very few fares are issued more than 11 months in advance; and you're not going to see anything but the very highest until perhaps 8-9 months out; plus Virgin haven't published fares, and AA & BA are joint venture partners so only their highest pricing is showing (based on the dates).

I would encourage the OP to reconsider their hard and fast "it must be non-stop", as you can easily get business w/ one connection for well under UKP2000.  Take the savings and if your luggage disappears, go on a shopping trip, you'll still be ahead financially

 

[wowzz]

I know it is frowned upon, but if the OP purchased a return ticket, Club outbound, and Economy inbound, could he not just "throw away" the return leg ? As long as he didn't make a habit of it, would BA, VS, AA or whoever, actually care? 

[iancal]

19 hours ago, scottbee said:

The details are starting to trickle out:

One Way Transatlantic Flight UK-USA (presumably Apr/May 2021)
Non-Stop only

The problem the OP is running into is that very very few fares are issued more than 11 months in advance; and you're not going to see anything but the very highest until perhaps 8-9 months out; plus Virgin haven't published fares, and AA & BA are joint venture partners so only their highest pricing is showing (based on the dates).

I would encourage the OP to reconsider their hard and fast "it must be non-stop", as you can easily get business w/ one connection for well under UKP2000.  Take the savings and if your luggage disappears, go on a shopping trip, you'll still be ahead financially

 

Absolutely.  Pre covid we did a trans atlantic and a trans pacific every year.  Our experience was that starting to shop 90-120 days out was about right and buying somewhere in the 10-60 day day window was ideal.

 

Cruise air can sometimes  be great.  We snagged a fabulous last minute RCI cruise that also provided excellent pricing and an even better BA routing from BCN to Calgary.   

Edited March 27, 2021 by iancal

[rkacruiser]

On 3/26/2021 at 2:43 PM, iancal said:

After 45 plus years of international travel we have only had baggage problems twice.

 

A long time international traveler like you, I have had minimal baggage problems:  3x with two of those with luggage that did not arrive home with me on the same flights.  The most curious was the one time (after 9/11) when luggage was supposed to accompany the passenger on the same flights.  That time, I was flying to Fort Lauderdale to board a cruise.  Arriving at FLL, neither of my two bags were on the carousel at baggage claim.  "Oh no" (actually a bit stronger reaction than that) was mine.  Going to the Baggage Office, I was quite pleased to see my 2 bags sitting in the Office.  They beat me to Fort Lauderdale!  

[iancal]

Prior to covid I we always felt the cruise fares were somewhat akin to airfares.

 

They kept going down.  The product attributes kept going down as well.   Still, people moaned and bitched about the product.  Yet the market showed that few were willing more to get more.

Edited March 27, 2021 by iancal

[FlyerTalker]

2 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

when luggage was supposed to accompany the passenger on the same flights.

 

A slight misinterpretation of the rule.

 

The actual provision was that if the passenger chose to change their flight from what they were originally checked in for, they could not do so unless their bags could also make that change.  This was to prevent a passenger from "separating" themselves from their checked bags.

 

OTOH, there was no restriction on the airline separating the bags from the passenger, as this was not deemed to be a security issue.  So bags could (and did) fly on a different routing or flights to the end destination.  This would mostly happen if the original departing flight was delayed, and a bag reroute would tend to preclude a missed luggage connection in the middle.  Or if there might be a weight issue on a segment.

 

For example...you are flying on DL from Seattle to Florida.  You were routed through Detroit, but similar routings could be through MSP or ATL or SLC.  For whatever reason DL chooses, they could put your bags on the alternative routing and sometimes beat you to your destination.

[waterbug123]

Two things to add:

1.  Re: concerns about delayed luggage...the real advice here is to plan to arrive at your cruise embarkation point one or two days early.  If your bags are delayed, they generally have time to catch up to you before the cruise.  More importantly, YOU have time to catch up if your flights get canceled or delayed at the last minute for whatever reason.  That's the real reason it's so often suggested to plan to arrive early.  That it gives delayed bags a chance to catch up is secondary.

2.  Re:  buying a round trip ticket and ditching the return....First, make sure it's the return you're ditching, not the front end, because as soon as you don't show up for a leg of the flight, the rest of the itinerary is canceled.  Second, If done as a one off, usually you won't experience any consequences.  But do it repeatedly and if the airline catches it, the outcome might not be so friendly. 

[rkacruiser]

21 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

OTOH, there was no restriction on the airline separating the bags from the passenger, as this was not deemed to be a security issue.  So bags could (and did) fly on a different routing or flights to the end destination.  This would mostly happen if the original departing flight was delayed,

 

I appreciate your explanation of the rule.

 

In my situation, my itinerary was DAY-ATL-FLL.  The flight previous to mine from DAY-ATL was delayed and was still at the gate when I arrived at the airport and checked in for my flight.  It was still at the gate when I got through security and was in the boarding area, but left very soon after my arrival there.  I have thought that my luggage took that flight.  I did not understand until now that this separation of my luggage from me was SOP and OK to do at that time.  Thanks for your explanation.  

[iancal]

We have often heard people complain about airlines.  But they seldom complain about cost. 

 

Frankly, pre covid we never understood how airlines were able to do it.  We have flown Toronto-Porto, Portugal for $220USD one way.   Calgary-Bangkok return for $550USD.   Krabi, Thailand to Gold Coast Australia  for $150USD,  Sydney, Australia -Honolulu a few times for $275USD.  Palermo-Rome for $35USD, Milan-Jo'burg for $325USD, Santiago-Montevideo for $75USD etc, etc.     The list goes on and on.

 

Did we complain about paying for food?  No.  Did we complain about the service?  No.  Did we complain about paying extra for carry on?  Never.  When we get those sorts of fares in standard economy we do not expect a steak dinner or wine service.  Strictly pay as you go...and we are fine with it.

 

We have also paid for business and had sleeper seats.  More expensive but you get what you pay for.  Mind you, the meals are never anything special to us, no matter the class-inclusive or add on.

Edited March 28, 2021 by iancal

[Zach1213]

14 hours ago, iancal said:

We have often heard people complain about airlines.  But they seldom complain about cost. 

 

Frankly, pre covid we never understood how airlines were able to do it.  We have flown Toronto-Porto, Portugal for $220USD one way.   Calgary-Bangkok return for $550USD.   Krabi, Thailand to Gold Coast Australia  for $150USD,  Sydney, Australia -Honolulu a few times for $275USD.  Palermo-Rome for $35USD, Milan-Jo'burg for $325USD, Santiago-Montevideo for $75USD etc, etc.     The list goes on and on.

 

Did we complain about paying for food?  No.  Did we complain about the service?  No.  Did we complain about paying extra for carry on?  Never.  When we get those sorts of fares in standard economy we do not expect a steak dinner or wine service.  Strictly pay as you go...and we are fine with it.

 

We have also paid for business and had sleeper seats.  More expensive but you get what you pay for.  Mind you, the meals are never anything special to us, no matter the class-inclusive or add on.

 

Fares, especially for economy, are often shockingly low. I always explain to people that their $99 JFK-LAX fare or $400 ORD-CDG fare "covers" the cost of the fuel, the cost of the aircraft (hundreds of millions of dollars each) getting paid off, cost of countless staff above and below the wing (as well as back at the office), airport fees, taxes, etc. etc. And I say "cover" because, often, economy fares barely cover the actual costs, if not lose some money, for the airline. Airlines very commonly rely on business/first class fares and cargo, the latter of which is a big money maker for many airlines and often ignored by passengers. 

 

 

[scottbee]

3 hours ago, Zach1213 said:

 

Fares, especially for economy, are often shockingly low. I always explain to people that their $99 JFK-LAX fare or $400 ORD-CDG fare "covers" the cost of the fuel, the cost of the aircraft (hundreds of millions of dollars each) getting paid off, cost of countless staff above and below the wing (as well as back at the office), airport fees, taxes, etc. etc. And I say "cover" because, often, economy fares barely cover the actual costs, if not lose some money, for the airline. Airlines very commonly rely on business/first class fares and cargo, the latter of which is a big money maker for many airlines and often ignored by passengers. 

 

 

Just an FYI, if you look at airline financials (total revenue passenger miles flown vs total fuel costs), you see that fuel costs are about 0.05/mile/passenger.  So JFK-LAX at 2475 mi is a little over $120 in fuel.

[trtog7]

On 3/21/2021 at 3:06 AM, FlyerTalker said:

Some excellent business class pricing can often be found on TAP, routing through Lisbon.  If you are insisting on non-stops from the UK, your options are much more limited.

We flew TAP business once. Was a great flight, staff were awesome. Only problem was seats were hard

[waterbug123]

On 3/28/2021 at 6:46 PM, iancal said:

We have often heard people complain about airlines.  But they seldom complain about cost. 

 

Frankly, pre covid we never understood how airlines were able to do it.  We have flown Toronto-Porto, Portugal for $220USD one way.  

 

One word:  cargo!

[iancal]

We are now starting to see some pricing changes similar to what we have seen in recent years.    Flight cost from our city to Bangkok now through Jan-March dropped 25 percent yesterday.  From a typical $1025 CAD to as low as $725 CAD economy depending on departure/return dates.  Various AC/ANA/Thai/Cathay combos.    But, no significant change in business class seat prices.  

[travelplus]

For our last Trans Atlantic Cruise I picked up a one way for my Father and I to Barcelona via Level Air for $250 all in one way and Southwest back from Tampa was $130 with a few days before in BCN and a night in Tampa. The Level flight was non stop from SFO with luggage,meal and seat selection. I snagged us the 2x2 on the A340 in the small cabin.