[QUOTE=Codeman]Continental has applied to begin non-stop service between Houston and Buenos Aires starting November 1.[/QUOTE]
This is great...except my CO miles are spoken for. I need regular doses of Colombia.
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[QUOTE=Codeman]Continental has applied to begin non-stop service between Houston and Buenos Aires starting November 1.[/QUOTE]
This is great...except my CO miles are spoken for. I need regular doses of Colombia.
But for us non rev travelers it's good news.
[QUOTE=Daddy Rulz]But for us non rev travelers it's good news.[/QUOTE]
DR,
Can you explain why airlines prefer to leave their seats empty rather than allowing their frequent flyers to cash in their miles as stand-by during off season? I have heard flights to EZE are half empty this time of the year.
[QUOTE=Sportsman]Above quote is a partial posting from Tbird in the cell phone rental thread.
Most of my airline miles are with US Airways. Last week I tried to book a reward business or first class ticket to EZE for a long weekend (leaving WED or THU and returning on MON or TUE) on United, being it is part of the Star Alliance network. I searched for availability on United website and does not appear to have a single busniess nor first class ticket available for the next 11 months (the furthest ahead you can book a ticket) unless using double miles. I found only 3 dates available in coach between January and March of next year.
I thought US Airways are bad with reward ticket, but at least with them chances are good in the off season and given plenty of lead time. UNITED REALLY SUCKS WITH THEIR REWARD TICKETS!!!
Looks like the only realistic way to get reward ticket to EZE on United is paying double the mileage (80K for coach, 150K for business, and 200K for first).
Sportsman[/QUOTE]
Instead of looking online, call the airline award phone line directly, and you'll stand a 400% better chance of getting what you want than the way you're doing now. Though on a few occasions I have come up empty, when trying to use my miles on a business or first class ticket, I have had much more success than just plain economy.
And if you're wanting to fly United, stick to paying miles for business class unless only first is available. They fly 767s down to Argentina, and first on those planes isn't much better than business. Unlike their 777s and 747s, which have flat beds in First, which are light-years ahead of the traditional business class seat.
First Hunt couldn't be more correct, on a United 767 the only difference between first and business is the seats are electric with a little more pitch and the footrest comes up a little higher, they also have a personal video player. Stick to business first just isn't worth it. Oh yes you get TWO pillows compared to the ONE pillow you get in business.
Sportsman in answer to your question: Who the fuck knows why yield managment does any of the fucking things they do. Those levels are set by fucks that only look at computers and probably don't even know they are talking about an airplane. They are the same idiots that publish round trip fares for $199.00 for a Y seat round trip from Dallas to San Diego leaving the day before Christmas coming back the day after New Years when the trips couldn't be more fucking oversold and we are giving people more money than that to get off of planes.
My guess would be a combination of factors though. To save room for people using upgrades they paid for (more revenue) also a lot of those seats have been sold in advance to priceline et al so they have actually made money on them. They also throw around this idea of not diluting the value of the product alot. The thinking being that if people don't pay cash for C and F then in their mind the Value of that product goes down.
Could also be that a bunch of those number crunching geeks are planning a trip to BsAs to fuck Rosa Maria.
Daddy's advice would be this, buy a domestic ticket to Miami then fly on Aerolinas Argentina or Southern Winds. They both still hire F/A's by the time honored hotness tests and the cabins aren't full of fat assed ugly old cows and sassy queens but rather a preview of what you will be finding when you get to BsAs. Also if you speak Spanish you could probably get some phone numbers. I know the hotel where they Southern Winds crews stay and all the young F/A's are very friendly and I have gone out with a few of them. It may cost you more but then there will be a seat for me on the Fat Cow airline and at least one of us will be happy, perhaps both if you get one of those numbers I mentioned.
Sounds like someone is rather bitter about all those pay cuts.
[QUOTE=Dickhead]Sounds like someone is rather bitter about all those pay cuts.[/QUOTE]
I'd say they're more pissed about getting their pension plan turned over to the Fed's this month. What's a little pay cut? From 120k a year to 39k or so for some pilots.
One thing that is very important to do is to know when they release the free tickets. Many carriers are at 330 days, some at 350. I always try and book at the first available day, especially for business class fares.
I'm familiar with CO and NW for most of my tickets, but the system is similar for most of them.
Make sure you check out partner flights. The option I used last year was to fly on Copa to EZE. Not the greatest of option, you fly on a 737, but it is first class and the service is pretty good. It was only 70k miles at the time, so I wasn't too disappointed.
If I recall correctly, AA, DL and UA are the American flagged carriers going to EZE right now. CO to come down in November. I know that you can fly Varig, TAM, Lan and a few others as well. (You could also get a reward trip to Montevideo, and just deplane in EZE. This would *probably* work going there, but you'd probably have to go to Montevideo on the return. They will often have a reward ticket going past your destination, but not to it. Weird yield management stuff. )
I noticed when I left a week and a half ago that Gol is now flying from Brazil to EZE. You could get a reward ticket to Sao Paolo or Rio, and then take a cheap flight on Gol for the rest of the trip.
The last United Chicago to BA nonstop will be June 6. It seems that United was not able to negotiate a new deal with the company who leases them the aircraft
so they (United) have to give the airplanes back. There will still be service on United through Washington. This was according to the Chicago Tribune today.
I really enjoyed that nonstop.
For the past two years United has gone to one flight a day from IAD in our summer/BsAs winter due the sharp decline in demand at theat time of year. The last two years they said it was because of low pax count. This year I think they said it was due to losing the planes so they can fuck us again in court. I'm pretty sure they will add it back again in Sept/Oct. Right now we are filling up the planes to the Orient, Viet Nam mostly.
I recon I am a little bitter about the pay cuts. What any of you Republicans on this board should be pissed about (us fiscally conservative Dems are pissed allready) is that the court wouldn't allow the Union to take over and administer the pension at no cost to the taxpayer. The court seemed to think that a better idea was to put a 6 billion dollar burden on the tax payer with other airlines to shortly follow suit.
As far as Jamito's suggestion of using the hidden city to get a reward flight I would really advize against it. The airlines have managed to get that activity included in interstate fraud and will, not can, but will cancel your return and charge you 100% of the full fare for your return. I'm not totaly sure they can do that on an international flight but I will check at work today and get back to you guys. I've seen this happen many, many times domesticly and people are always ever so suprised when they find out their return will cost them $2000.00 or more for a flight that cost them $99.00 on the outbound. Airlines really suck and have many, many lawyers.
Yes, definitely make sure that any hidden city type thing is checked out. If you were using FF miles, they might freeze your account. It wouldn't work on the outbound, so it's a very mixed bag.
However, if you can't find an award, Montevideo is pretty darn close. I don't know if any low cost carriers fly inbetween them or not.
Perhaps if they stopped giving away free flights to employees that would improve their bottom line. :)
I have to pay all of $130.00 each way for first class. However whan too many of you fucks are flying and the plane is full I end up holding my dick at the airport wishing I had bought a ticket.
As the pussy god gives so does he take.
I'll check about the hidden city and post it upon my return to the family manse this eve.
[QUOTE=Daddy Rulz]I have to pay all of $130.00 each way for first class. However whan too many of you fucks are flying and the plane is full I end up holding my dick at the airport wishing I had bought a ticket.
As the pussy god gives so does he take.
I'll check about the hidden city and post it upon my return to the family manse this eve.[/QUOTE]
Well you pay the taxes on them, or a bit more. I'd take a $260 RT ticket any day of the week. I wouldn't work for an airline to do it though.
I'm sure that they'll figure a way to screw you out of it soon enough though. You have my symphathy. I wouldn't want to work in the airline biz these days.
[QUOTE=Stormy]The last United Chicago to BA nonstop will be June 6. It seems that United was not able to negotiate a new deal with the company who leases them the aircraft
so they (United) have to give the airplanes back. There will still be service on United through Washington. This was according to the Chicago Tribune today.
I really enjoyed that nonstop.[/QUOTE]
That explains the strange things I have been seeing past couple of days. All the sudden flights 854 and 856 for the next few months disappeared from United and all the travel booking websites. I am booked on those flights for my July trip. I called United today and was told the flights are still scheduled in fact they are fully booked. I will call again to comfirm the status.
Just got off the phone with United. My Chicago to BA flight in fact has been canceled. I rebooked on the flight out of Dulles. Now my outbound flight instead of only a two hour layover in Chicago (which I think it's perfect timing since I usually do not feel comfortable with a really short layover being having missed an international flight in the past becasue of delay from the first leg), I had a choice of a flight to Washington with an hour layover or one with over four hours layover to the EZE connection. I played it safe and booked the latter one. I hope IAD has a nice Red Carpet Club. The return flights are not much different from the original Itinerary. I also lose out on about 2000 miles on my Frequent Flyer account because of this routing change. :mad:
Do not, Do not, Do not book a milage ticket to Montevideo and get off in BsAs unless you do ALL of these things.
Do not check any bags you can not short check bags only carry on. When you return you MUST start in Montevideo. You may still end up getting your trip canceled but if you check in for the flight in Montevideo the argument would be "What do you mean I didn't fly from EZE to here, I sat in that stupid airport for 2 hours and got on the plane and got off here, its your machine that is fucked up."
However they may still screw you when they see your passport and see the entrance stamp for Argentina on the day you said you flew to Montevideo. You may be able to be an American asshole and get away with it but Daddy really doesn't think so. The waiters advice is to go to MVD if that is the only milage fare available, have some fun and take the ferry over and back to leave the country.
Sportsmen there is both a Red Carpet club and a First Class lounge near the gate for 847 (or 846) in the C concourse. Usually 847 leaves out of gate C-6 but lately was going out of C12. If you pm me with the flight you arrive in IAD I can direct you if you are unfamiliar with the airport. On your return I would suggest you give yourself a minimum of 3 hours between connections. Immigration at IAD sucks first you walk a mile to get to the fucking shuttle bus from the plane and invariably you get stuck at the back of the bus, then wait an hour at passport control. Then you have to get your bags back to United and clear security after customs and then go BACK to the concourse you just left. Sometimes where you return your bags there will be a United agent handing out expedite passes for TSA, sometimes not. If you can get one get it.