Roadboy's Rules for Traveling Well for Less - Airlines

Roadboy's Travel Tips: Part 1 Domestic Airlines

Updated 10-22

 

I first penned this article in 2010 and rereading it made me chuckle a bit. In many respects things have improved. Most of the aircraft being flown today is vastly better than in 2010 and, despite what a lot of the press says, service on many carriers continues to improve. The mix between very seasoned flight crews and the new generation coming on has been good. 

 

The real difference today is that most planes are now jammed and flying at capacity. So the whole flight network seems very fragile and every weather or computer glitch results in chaos and inherently makes travel frustrating.

Despite everything I still believe that travel should be something to remember. Never a chore. So I plan trips to experience unique places. I just like to do it in comfort at a fair price. The next three posts will cover how to select and get the best possible prices for airlines, rental cars, and hotels.


Domestic Airlines - My Take

Flying is a crapshoot. Mergers, hidden fees, and tarmac waits - oh my!

Now, first things first. I always shop for good fares. But I don't always fly the lowest priced carrier.

 

With some sleazeball airlines now adding hidden fee after hidden fee a fare that initially seems cheap may, in reality, just as costly. Want a seat assignment? That's extra. Want to use the overhead bin? That's extra. Want to get a boarding pass? That's extra. Want a coke on board? That's extra. Want any legroom at all? That's extra.

 

Sadly, some of the fastest growing carriers in the US have adopted the Ryan Air / Easy Jet European death by a thousand cuts fare model. As a result I always begin every googleFlight search by simply unclicking, Spirit, Allegiant and Frontier. I won't Life's too short to waste flying those carriers. And one of them frequently get massively assessed big fines for not maintaining their planes....

 

However, if you are traveling in a gap year, with a backpack and no cash, be my guest.

So here's the rest of the domestic options.

• Alaska

Nice people, an expanding route system, clean planes, and fair rates. Their first class on long flights is always nice. Alaska's frequent flier program is wonderful.

Their odd merger with Virgin America is now complete. They had to switch aircraft and they inherited another fragile hub (SFO) where the tiniest whisp of fog closes its second runway and sets off horrible delays.

 

If Alaska ever truly wants to become a real national carrier it needs an all weather hub that doesn't have a view of the Pacific Ocean.

But for west coast service, from Mexico to Anchorage, Alaska remains the best.

• American

After decades of declining service levels and lousy flying stock American has finally gotten rid of its awful fleet of skinny MD 80's. It's new Airbus centric fleet is excellent.

 

Historically American rivaled United for having the most patronizing, arrogant, and godawful, staff in the air. American counter and gate staff exuded contempt for passengers and AA used the most bizarre upgrade policy (segments) in the industry. Throw in its wretched hubs (Dallas, Chicago and Miami) and viola - Yuk!

 

Hard to imagine that despite how hard I tried to avoid flying them, I still passed my 2,000,000 miler status on AA years ago.

But to be fair, in the past five years American service has shown dramatic signs of improvement in customer service as the dinosaurs retire. It all seemed to happen after the merger with US Airways ªwho had been acquired by America West). Union regs for a long time kept AWA and USAir staff apart, but eventually those AWA crews (always the nicest humans in the air) brought positive change to US Airways and eventually AA. 

AAdvantage American's current frequent flier program is now like Delta and United's presenting a constantly moving target in redemption pricing. Yet, they keep trying to us sell points. Why would any sane human buy points from airlines that constantly erode the value their points? Go see PT Barnum's famous quote about damned fools.

 

Some good news for me is they have finally bagged those stupid upgrade "Segments".  

• Delta

While I find the state of Georgia to be filled with some of the nicest, most wonderful people in the US, none work at ATL. No matter how many improvements the airline makes, Delta's main liability will always be its home base of Atlanta's horrible Hartsfield airport followed by its quirky fleet. How come North America's largest hub airports are typically our worst airports?

For years while Delta was just another "recovering" legacy airline their planes were old (oh those horrible Lockheed L10-11 Tri-stars) and the merger with NWA just increased their inventory of antique planes along with another hub in sunny warm Minneapolis.

 

In the last few years however, I find Delta's planes to be improving and usually pretty clean. Delta is now one of my favored airlines and their hub in Detroit is very nice. Salt Lake City.... is improving, but still not a fave...

 

• JetBlue

Great flights, fair prices and nice planes. They Are launching European service soon and offer a business class product called Mint. Sadly, JetBlue just under serves the market I live in (Phoenix). 

I am at a complete loss why they want to purchase Spirit(?) What a clash of cultures. We will just have to wait and see how that goes.

• JSX

This is the anti-airline that few have heard of. JSX offers an excellent alternative to conventional airline service. Sort of a private jet meets scheduled airline vibe. Small jets configured for comfort. They fly between separate private terminals at major airports. There are snacks, comfortable waiting rooms and quick just get on the plan (zero TSA) boarding. I fly them whenever possible.

 

• Southwest

Smiling superbly trained staff (the best in the business - period). Clean almost new planes. Terrific refund / change policy. Wonderful frequent travel recognition with its "A" List program.  What's not to like? 

 

Well what's not to like is their "Just OK" fares and constant attempts to eek out special fees. Southwest's rabidly loyal customers however drink the cool-aid and assume they are getting the best price. Reality - after Southwest lost their fuel hedge pricing advantage a few years ago, their prices began to mirror everyone else. In fact their fares are frequently the most expensive so spend the time to compare (I use GoogleFlights to start my comparison shopping)

Their other major feature is both their advantage and Achilles heal. Southwest flys point to point instead of hub to hub. So when anything goes wrong it turns into a total cluster......

They also have some nasty quirks that annoy me.

Quirk one. When you go to cash in a free trip you find that they now (Herb is flipping over in his grave) limit award seats just like everybody else.

Quirk two. The "free" bags thing. Recently I needed to change plans and return home from Denver on short notice. On the way to the terminal my I-phone showed Southwest had the most convenient flight and was only $25 more than a less convenient Frontier (yuk) flight. When I arrive at the counter the fare quoted is two times the price on my phone. I show the agent the price on my phone. Counter agent laughs and says "that's web only, we can't sell it at the counter". So I am left to fumble through a time consuming smart phone web purchase (the fare I saved went a long way to pay for that I-phone). 

For giggles I asked how come Southwest's web fare was $25 more than Frontier's? The agent winks and says, "we don"t charge $25 for checked bags". Got to hand it to Southwest, instead of just charging passengers that opt to check their bags, they just charge everybody and say its free!

In their zeal to perk up the bottom line, Southwest now has four pricing categories and charges (a lot) for the first 15 passengers (Business Select) and then adds fees to buy lower boarding passes numbers.

• United

Another "Legacy" carrier in and out of trouble. The friendly skies are frequently anything but friendly. It is hard for me to ignore that many of my worst travel experiences have been on United. But, like Delta, lately I see glimmers of hope. Planes are getting cleaned up, prices are fair, and there are improvements in service. Hope springs eternal. Besides I'm a Gershwin fan and loved their advertising use of Rhapsody in Blue. Now if they could just fix their awful frequent flier program.

The new kids: Breeze and Avelo. These airlines are seeking to fill in the gaps in under served markets. They have some good leadership, I hope they thrive.

Getting the Best Airfare

Normally I find it best to buy a month or so in advance. That said, fares can fluctuate wildly. All it takes is one company starting a 48 hour fare sale and all bets are off.  99% of the time, however, waiting to buy tickets just before you go is nuts. 

 

With the removal of change fees during Covid (lets see how ling that lasts?) there is really little reason not to set a Google fare alert and buy whenever fares are rated "much below normal".

1. Always buy more than 14 days in advance. Usually the time frame about 45 days before a flight is when I find the best savings.

2. Test fares using on GoogleFlights. It can search everything but Southwest.

3. If you are more than 14 days out check Southwest. Unless they offer a sale though, after 14 days they will likely price out high.

4. Check SkyLux if you want international business class.

5. Check your favorite airlines website and search their last minute deals. Once in awhile they are great. 

The Best For Last!

I've saved the best tip for last.  Register for Travel Zoo's weekly "Top 20".  In the past two years every week they have unearthed truly exceptional deals.

That is how Roadboy does it.

Roadboy's Travels © 2010 (2022)