Into The Wild Blue Yonder - Air Travel

     I have to admit that I am very disgruntled in air travel these days.  No longer is flying an exciting event.  My mother still will dress up to fly by air, even though security now requires you to remove almost everything.  Gone are the meals, replaced by at best, peanuts, or;  present your credit card and you can get a TV dinner warmed up.  Now, there is so much talk about paying to use the lavatory or even to sit down...seriously!

     What really discourages me, and everyone else who now finds air travel almost as necessary as breathing air, is the volitility of airfare.  Fares really make no sense to me.  I understand that oil prices have a great deal to do with the cost of flying people here and there.  But why does it cost me more money to fly from Salt Lake City to Ft. Lauderdale, than it does from San Francisco to Paris?  Thousands fly to both locations every week, from all over the U.S., so popularity cannot have everything to do with it.  Supply and Demand?

     So now, we are relegated to checking every search engine available on the net, along with subscribing to each airlines daily and weekly travels ads, just to hopefully save $100 on a fare that will cost me $1,400.  But if that is what we have to do, then we do it.  If we don't, then we fall victim to the whims of the airlines raising and lowering their fare, when just one of them makes a move.

     So, I rant about the airlines.  But I will admit an appreciation for one carrier that, for many years, and it continues today, to break the rules and buck the trends.  They buy their fuel by strategically using the futures market, thus stabilizing their cost of Jet A.  Many think they are an airline to be avoided, so people don't feel like cattle going to market.  I for one think they are genious!  No baggage fees. Fares that are more consistant.  A fun experience when flying with them.  I speak of Southwest Airlines.  And with their merger with AirTran in the second quarter expected, they will no longer be fenced in to the U.S. border.  Those who want to enjoy the warm sunny beaches of the Caribbean and Mexico, they will go there. Woo Hoo!

     But until they go worldwide, here are a couple tricks I learned a couple years ago.  This info has recently been published in the USAToday, so the airlines will probably find a way to squash it.

• Begin your searches on a Monday.  Make note of the fares you find.  Then, start watching the fares on Tuesday.  Usually, at 3pm eastern on Tuesday, any great deals will show up on the booking engines available to you on the internet. 
• If you can, start pricing at least 30 days in advance and try to travel in the middle of the week to get the lowest fare.  If you buy within 2 weeks of the travel, expect to pay a much higher price.
• I like to get airfares from 3 different sites to insure I am not being taken advantage of by one site.
• Make sure to add in (Manually...I know...what a pain) baggage fees, so that you get an apples to apples comparison on what it'll cost you.  Be aware that some airlines are even talking about starting to charge you to carry on baggage. OH BROTHER!!!
• If you have a lot of airline miles with Delta, but United is $20 cheaper, I would still take Delta, because the addional miles to my account are worth something too.

     You might ask, what options do we have to air travel?  Do you say, "We have no choice!"?  If you need to get there (1,000 miles) by tomorrow, then you really have no choice.  Star Trek transporters are not here yet.  If you have extra time, consider Rail travel.  Or drive a car.  Considering that I used to be able to get from Phoenix to Atlanta in 4 hours on Eastern Airlines, today, it will take me 9 hours, because I have to change planes in Minneapolis.  How Lame!!!

     If you are traveling overseas.  Here is what I suggest.  Give youselves 3 weeks.  Take a cruise ship to get there and back.  It is relaxing getting there.  You change time zones once a day, instead of 7 of them in one day (No jet lag).  You are not cramped in an 18" seat for 10 hours, where you will need copious amounts of petrolium jelly to get yourself out.  Instead, you sleep in a comfortable bed and eat daily meals made for the next King of England.

     I encourage all to start coming up with alternative modes of transportation domestically, other than train, plane, and automobile.  I have seen amazing plans to bring back balloon travel.  Luxury travel.  I would be happy to travel from Denver to Atlanta, at 90 miles per hour, where I could enjoy the same luxuries as cruise ship travel.  A meal, A bed, An incredible view, and be able to walk around and enjoy myself all the way there.

     What are your ideas?



The Dining room at the back of the Holland America Amsterdam - Glacier Bay Alaska



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