|
|
Post by trailboss on Jun 6, 2021 22:16:08 GMT -5
Check out the deals. My wife just nailed down flights for about $50 each way from Phoenix to Oakland on Allegiant airlines... that airline is touting some trips as $18, but they only serve secondary airports, and charge for luggage. Some good deals to be had on southwest airlines in the last day or so.
Heck, each time I fueled the wagon in California, it cost me $60.
Tip: If you ever fly allegiant, and you fly by yourself so seating doesn't matter, don't pay to pick your seats.
You will end up in the last boarding group as a result, file onto the plane at the end of boarding and grab the seat in a mostly empty row and avoid being sandwiched in the middle by not choosing to pay for seat assignments as a punishment.
It has worked for me several times, if perchance a last minute stragglers says "you are in my seat' it is an honest mistake.  |
|
|
|
Post by trailboss on Jun 6, 2021 22:31:02 GMT -5
If you fly Allegiant, and departing the airport is near you, and you have more than 2 people flying, find out when the ticket window is open, and buy the tickets in person. You can avoid a fair amount of the tack on fees. I saved quite a bit a few years ago when I planned travel for five family members. If you are flying solo, pass it up and book online.
|
|
|
|
Post by Ronv69 on Jun 6, 2021 23:24:17 GMT -5
I'll never get on a plane again unless it's the only way to get where I want to go. They are so cramped and you get treated like criminal cattle.
|
|
|
|
Post by trailboss on Jun 6, 2021 23:32:33 GMT -5
I'll never get on a plane again unless it's the only way to get where I want to go. They are so cramped and you get treated like criminal cattle. I hear you, flying sucks especially post 9/11, but if I have to travel over 6 hours or so unless I am getting paid, that sucks more. But then, driving is a daily job for me. Your mileage may vary. |
|
|
|
Post by Gandalf on Jun 7, 2021 0:15:50 GMT -5
Personally, I would only fly if leaving the country for another continent.
Unfortunately, my wife feels that we should fly if it's much more than a day's drive.
Flying absolutely sucks!!!!!
Going to and from China was the longest 12 or 13 hours of my life!
Coming back, I think we left at ~4pm and arrived at ~4pm in Chicago - on the same day!
We just chased the sun around the planet for 12 hours. OMFG!
And going to Italy a few years ago, we had a couple little monster children from hell sitting behind us, making our flight a nightmare.
They were Italian, going back home with their grandmother - who couldn't control the little bastards.
When we told them to stop their shite, they claimed to not speak English, even though we heard them speaking English earlier.
The flight attendants actually apologized to us - saying that they were helpless to do anything about it.
And on the way back, we had to land in Indiana and wait, because Chicago couldn't let us land. Too busy.
The airline provided enough cold pizza for dinner - for about half of the passengers.
Then we were further delayed because the pilot and crew exceeded to number of hours they were allowed to be "on duty".
Had to wait for another plane and crew to fly from Chicago to Indiana to take us back to Chicago.
Only about a 6 or 8 hour delay.
We were actually prisoners. We weren't allowed to say FU to the airline and rent a car and leave - because we were coming back into the country from a foreign country and the Indiana airport we were at didn't have the "proper facilities" to process us back into the country!!!!! Believe me, I asked the armed guards they had on us.
I could have driven home, actually arrived home, before we left there for Chicago.
And then there was another flight into Italy, several years earlier, that arrived at the same time a flight from Africa arrived.
When the Africans poured into the hallway leading to processing, the smell was enough to gag you! I guess bathing is a weekly or monthly thing for them. Another nightmare. Long long lines trying to process in. Africans butting into line.
Security dragging them back out of line, and a few tense moments which ended up with some of them taken away in handcuffs.
Yes, flying sucks!
|
|
|
|
Post by Ronv69 on Jun 7, 2021 7:49:08 GMT -5
I'll never get on a plane again unless it's the only way to get where I want to go. They are so cramped and you get treated like criminal cattle. I hear you, flying sucks especially post 9/11, but if I have to travel over 6 hours or so unless I am getting paid, that sucks more. But then, driving is a daily job for me. Your mileage may vary. We still enjoy driving. We talk and listen to audio books, music, sing and hold hands quietly. After 44 years we still enjoy each other's company. |
|
|
|
Post by Ronv69 on Jun 7, 2021 8:06:55 GMT -5
Personally, I would only fly if leaving the country for another continent. Unfortunately, my wife feels that we should fly if it's much more than a day's drive. Flying absolutely sucks!!!!! Going to and from China was the longest 12 or 13 hours of my life! Coming back, I think we left at ~4pm and arrived at ~4pm in Chicago - on the same day! We just chased the sun around the planet for 12 hours. OMFG! And going to Italy a few years ago, we had a couple little monster children from hell sitting behind us, making our flight a nightmare. They were Italian, going back home with their grandmother - who couldn't control the little bastards. When we told them to stop their shite, they claimed to not speak English, even though we heard them speaking English earlier. The flight attendants actually apologized to us - saying that they were helpless to do anything about it. And on the way back, we had to land in Indiana and wait, because Chicago couldn't let us land. Too busy. The airline provided enough cold pizza for dinner - for about half of the passengers. Then we were further delayed because the pilot and crew exceeded to number of hours they were allowed to be "on duty". Had to wait for another plane and crew to fly from Chicago to Indiana to take us back to Chicago. Only about a 6 or 8 hour delay. We were actually prisoners. We weren't allowed to say FU to the airline and rent a car and leave - because we were coming back into the country from a foreign country and the Indiana airport we were at didn't have the "proper facilities" to process us back into the country!!!!! Believe me, I asked the armed guards they had on us. I could have driven home, actually arrived home, before we left there for Chicago. And then there was another flight into Italy, several years earlier, that arrived at the same time a flight from Africa arrived. When the Africans poured into the hallway leading to processing, the smell was enough to gag you! I guess bathing is a weekly or monthly thing for them. Another nightmare. Long long lines trying to process in. Africans butting into line. Security dragging them back out of line, and a few tense moments which ended up with some of them taken away in handcuffs. Yes, flying sucks! Flying was fun for the first couple of years in the 60s. I was commuting from Houston to Birmingham AL and it was a milk run with about 5 stops. Then it got old. Add a bad landing in San Francisco and I got a real distaste for it. In 84 we took a charter flight to Ireland. We got on the plane at 5am in Houston and sat there for 4+ hours because they couldn't get the engines started on the old 727. When we finally got in the air we had to go to St Louis to pick up another group of passengers, but they had been sent home. So we sat on the tarmac in St Louis in August with no air conditioning. We were close to a riot. People were passing out. After we finally got in the air, the pilots were hauling butt and barreling through any weather. On top of the bad ride, the ceiling dripped ice water on me the whole time. 24 hours total to go 6k miles. Ireland made up for it, but that was the last time I looked forward to flying. I was on a flight from New Orleans to Houston and Sylvester Turner, the current mayor of Houston, and we hit some bad weather. The alcohol was flowing freely and it was dripping off the ceiling. Turner was curled up in a ball and crying like a little girl. That was fun. |
|
|
|
Post by bigwoolie on Jun 7, 2021 8:21:16 GMT -5
It’s amazing how many times I’ve been out here pushing cattle through chutes, or from one pen to another, and thought to myself “This is exactly how they treat us at airports”. I’ll never fly again if I can help it.
|
|
|
|
Post by Ronv69 on Jun 7, 2021 8:30:32 GMT -5
It’s amazing how many times I’ve been out here pushing cattle through chutes, or from one pen to another, and thought to myself “This is exactly how they treat us at airports”. I’ll never fly again if I can help it. Airports and Walt Disney World. 👍😁🤠 |
|
|
|
Post by simnettpratt on Jun 7, 2021 8:31:27 GMT -5
I've flown for business and pleasure on both commercial and private airplanes and I absolutely love flying. I could live at an airport. Yes, I've had nightmare flights, like the 13-hour trip from Wichita to Dallas (1 hour in the air, 12 hours sweating on the ground - if it could go wrong, it did), and have spent hours arguing with the check-in people that these bags are not too big and heavy to go on the plane - how do you think we got them out here, but still love to go fly.
Spent about eight months flying to two different cities a week (sometimes you forget where you are), and still love it.
Yeah, private airplanes are way more fun than commuting in coach and dealing with the airport people. The best part is taking off, because you're going flying, and the worst part is landing, because you're done flying. I love learning about aviation and have thousands of hours studying and in Flight Sims practicing.
So, we're different. For me, I'll take every opportunity I can get to go fly.
|
|
|
|
Post by Plainsman on Jun 7, 2021 9:05:41 GMT -5
Crossed the Atlantic about 100 times back and forth to and from Ireland. No more. Done with that. If I can't get there with my truck and dirt yacht I ain't going.
|
|
|
|
Post by Ronv69 on Jun 7, 2021 9:10:08 GMT -5
I've flown for business and pleasure on both commercial and private airplanes and I absolutely love flying. I could live at an airport. Yes, I've had nightmare flights, like the 13-hour trip from Wichita to Dallas (1 hour in the air, 12 hours sweating on the ground - if it could go wrong, it did), and have spent hours arguing with the check-in people that these bags are not too big and heavy to go on the plane - how do you think we got them out here, but still love to go fly. Spent about eight months flying to two different cities a week (sometimes you forget where you are), and still love it. Yeah, private airplanes are way more fun than commuting in coach and dealing with the airport people. The best part is taking off, because you're going flying, and the worst part is landing, because you're done flying. I love learning about aviation and have thousands of hours studying and in Flight Sims practicing. So, we're different. For me, I'll take every opportunity I can get to go fly. You can have my seat. I suppose it's like Nascar, boring to watch, fun to drive. |
|
|
|
Post by Plainsman on Jun 7, 2021 13:11:59 GMT -5
My current travel-mode of choice... Looking at contrails will be about as close as I get to air travel from now on if I'm lucky.  |
|
|
|
Post by trailboss on Jun 7, 2021 17:20:11 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by trailboss on Jun 7, 2021 18:00:32 GMT -5
I reckon it all depends on where you are driving.
Driving up the washboard two lane I-5 with trucks required to drive 55 mph, and cars drive 100 creates a really shitty drive.
And driving through the LA basin twice with numerous road construction projects and horrendous traffic, if I had my druthers, I would have flown into the bay area, rented a car drove down the coast and flew out of Santa Barbara.
But on that trip, the wife wanted her own wheels there.
She is going back to care for her sister, but she is flying both ways.
Meanwhile, I am flying to hang with my brothers for four days around independence day.
|
|
|
|
Post by simnettpratt on Jun 7, 2021 18:04:39 GMT -5
I don't think NASCAR's boring to watch, either! While I much prefer road courses over ovals, the difficulty in wrestling those heavy beasts around makes you appreciate the driver's skills. I mean, next year's car is the first one to ditch the live axle, which is 19th century technology! There's no CV joints or differential, so the wheels can't turn at different speeds, and any bump makes the whole axle bounce. It makes me sad that modern Formula freaking 1 is often more boring than NASCAR, with fewer passing opportunites and a lot of individual cars circling the track. Lewis Hamilton just lost the last race because he pushed the wrong button on his damn steering wheel, and accidently moved all his braking to the front. I'd rather watch spec racing, where the cars are identical (before the grey area tweaks and the cheating), so the best drivers run up front. I don't get to drive or fly in the real world anymore, but at least I still can in simulators, and I don't die when I crash. I can smoke when I'm flying, too.  |
|
|
|
Post by trailboss on Jun 7, 2021 18:41:53 GMT -5
I was fortunate to fly on a corporate Gulfstream 550 with a buddy that was in charge of the corporate fleet of a major silicon valley company. You fly in something like that, you never want to ever ride in a car for a "road trip".
|
|
|
|
Post by Ronv69 on Jun 7, 2021 20:49:19 GMT -5
I don't think NASCAR's boring to watch, either! While I much prefer road courses over ovals, the difficulty in wrestling those heavy beasts around makes you appreciate the driver's skills. I mean, next year's car is the first one to ditch the live axle, which is 19th century technology! There's no CV joints or differential, so the wheels can't turn at different speeds, and any bump makes the whole axle bounce. It makes me sad that modern Formula freaking 1 is often more boring than NASCAR, with fewer passing opportunites and a lot of individual cars circling the track. Lewis Hamilton just lost the last race because he pushed the wrong button on his damn steering wheel, and accidently moved all his braking to the front. I'd rather watch spec racing, where the cars are identical (before the grey area tweaks and the cheating), so the best drivers run up front. I don't get to drive or fly in the real world anymore, but at least I still can in simulators, and I don't die when I crash. I can smoke when I'm flying, too. I've raced. Doing is better. Much better. |
|
|
|
Post by Ronv69 on Jun 7, 2021 20:50:08 GMT -5
I was fortunate to fly on a corporate Gulfstream 550 with a buddy that was in charge of the corporate fleet of a major silicon valley company. You fly in something like that, you never want to ever ride in a car for a "road trip". That's different than what we have been talking about. |
|
|
|
Post by simnettpratt on Jun 8, 2021 0:38:25 GMT -5
Very much so. That's why I bought a Miata  |
|
|
|
Post by toshtego on Jun 8, 2021 2:46:30 GMT -5
I have not flown since 2001 and do not plan on doing so again.
|
|
|
|
Post by Stearmandriver on Jun 8, 2021 23:05:03 GMT -5
I can smoke when I'm flying, too. The Cub logo stuck on the panel of a Cessna is heresy. The rest is fine . I fly for a living, and it's not a bad way to make one of those. I used to have to commute from Seattle to Houston as a passenger every week, and that was horrible haha. I typically don't airline anywhere that's less than a day's drive away now. I do some part time instructing for a group that owns a bunch of classic airplanes, so I get my fun flying fix on my days off. |
|
|
|
Post by simnettpratt on Jun 9, 2021 0:30:51 GMT -5
Hey, it was there when I bought the thing. I do have Gimp, but seeing as it took me two days to figure out how to add a little Union Jack to the tail of my 65 Cherokee, the Cub logo's probably there to stay. I have a pretend Cub too, and it's awesome. Comes with a girl you can add to the front seat, and give her one of four personalities. Fly for an hour with the nervous one, and you're both ready to get on the damn ground.
|
|
|
|
Post by Stearmandriver on Jun 9, 2021 1:50:02 GMT -5
Haha I know that pretend Cub and it impresses me quite a bit. My kids are into the sim scene and they show me some cool stuff! My older boy's gotten me sucked into DCS lately. I always wanted to fly a Hornet... . |
|
|
|
Post by simnettpratt on Jun 9, 2021 3:01:00 GMT -5
Ah, so you know Heidi, eh? Sweet. I have to fly sims because I can't afford the real thing. If it weren't for being such a niche product, ie a combat flight sim and not another damn Fortnite or Call of Duty, I would rank DCS as the greatest computer game ever made. From the size of the buttons to the business model, they just don't make any mistakes. My pc is too old to run the latest, but they still offer 1.2 on their website for free, so all I get is the Su-25T, but I still get all the training, instant and campaign missions. If you don't know who Growling Sidewinder is, check out his youtubes. He flies all the planes, stays calm and precise in the cockpit, and always finishes with a TacView to analyze what went wrong or right. Last week's video is the F/A-18 in Desert Storm, and is only sixteen minutes. www.youtube.com/channel/UCh2rDh7vXGeoh1LlzL3QEwgPS I still like flying even commercial in coach, because you get to go flying. It's the airport people that suck, and some of it's not their fault. PPS I don't have a Stearman, but I do have a:  |
|
|
|
Post by Scott W on Jun 9, 2021 7:06:27 GMT -5
I’ll be on a plane tomorrow at 10:45 am, not looking forward to it
|
|
|
|
Post by Ronv69 on Jun 9, 2021 7:37:11 GMT -5
I can smoke when I'm flying, too. The Cub logo stuck on the panel of a Cessna is heresy. The rest is fine . I fly for a living, and it's not a bad way to make one of those. I used to have to commute from Seattle to Houston as a passenger every week, and that was horrible haha. I typically don't airline anywhere that's less than a day's drive away now. I do some part time instructing for a group that owns a bunch of classic airplanes, so I get my fun flying fix on my days off. You're a lucky man! 👍 |
|
|
|
Post by Plainsman on Jun 9, 2021 7:55:09 GMT -5
Use to mess with X-Plane. Haven't for a long time. Maybe I should re-up.
|
|
|
|
Post by simnettpratt on Jun 9, 2021 12:50:41 GMT -5
I can send you links to get the Western part of the US and all of Europe photoreal, for free. This is for FSX and P3D, but I bet will work with X-Plane. I have sites that have a lot of free aircraft and utilities, too.
The default size of the FSX install is about 8 GBs. After fixing literally everything that microsoft does because it's crap, my install is 90 GBs. The photoreal terrain I have is right at 1,000 GBs on top of that, and I only have seventeen US states, and about fifteen countries and areas in Europe. I'd have more, but am out of hard drive space and downloading a country with my paltry 3 Mbps down connection takes weeks.
If you decide to fire up X-Plane (or FSX or P3D), PM me and I'll hook you up.
|
|
|
|
Post by Plainsman on Jun 9, 2021 13:00:30 GMT -5
Thanks. Kind of you. Not sure what I will do. I really liked the engineering mode in X-Plane and used it to design a Beech B-200 bush-plane. Great fun.
|
|
