Explain this (AA) horse****

EdFred

EdFred

Taxi to Parking
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White Chocolate
Planning on honeymoon next year, going business/first class to Jamaica.

Flying Delta is waaaaay more money out of GRR or DTW than American

American out of GRR wants to force us through CLT, and gives us like 0 minutes of time to make the connecting flight, and it's the last flight of the day to Montego Bay from CLT. This has disaster written all over it. Well, how about if we book a multi-city trip, and hotel it one night in ORD so we have a direct flight the next day? (Doing the same thing through CLT is more $$.)

Day 1 GRR => ORD hotel it in ORD
Day 2 ORD => MBJ
Day 7 MBJ => GRR (connection in CLT or PHL)

Booking first class all 3 legs comes out to about 1300 per person. Awesome.
Well, what if we go main cabin to ORD on day 1, I can deal with it for 45 minutes, should save some coin right?

Nope.

The trip now costs $6700/per person to DOWNGRADE the first leg.

Explain that?!?!?!
 
Chrisgoesflying said:
Fly your own plane to wherever there is the most convenient and economical first class commercial flight to Jamaica.
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ORD is the most economical, except it's a $120 landing fee, and $120 PER NIGHT parking fee, if I fly in there with the Comanche.
 
I'll never understand airfares. Years ago I needed to go IAD-CLT because I had to be there the next morning to meet someone at NC26 and the weather was iffy. Best fare was $1300 which was a bit rediculous. So I try, IAD-GSO (Greensboro is about an hour and a half away, whereas CLT at the time was about an hour). $300... and I have to make the connection in CLT. Margy is watching me grumble about this and says, try BWI. BWI-CLT: $166

I'll have to say, things are much better now that I switched over to Airpass. The rates are fixed and usually less than what the main website charges. You get your own customer support and reservations team (well the latter is shared with the AAdvantage Platinum folks), and a bunch of other stuff. I did First Class from CLT to AVP for less than coach last week.
 
flyingron said:
I'll never understand airfares. Years ago I needed to go IAD-CLT because I had to be there the next morning to meet someone at NC26 and the weather was iffy. Best fare was $1300 which was a bit rediculous. So I try, IAD-GSO (Greensboro is about an hour and a half away, whereas CLT at the time was about an hour). $300... and I have to make the connection in CLT. Margy is watching me grumble about this and says, try BWI. BWI-CLT: $166

I'll have to say, things are much better now that I switched over to Airpass. The rates are fixed and usually less than what the main website charges. You get your own customer support and reservations team (well the latter is shared with the AAdvantage Platinum folks), and a bunch of other stuff. I did First Class from CLT to AVP for less than coach last week.
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I've also run into that with it being more expensive to leave DTW than it was to leave GRR, even though I connect through Detroit.

When I went to Africa in 2019, it was something like $1500 less to go MDW => DTW => AMS => JNB than it was departing out of DTW. So I paid $79 for a SWA 1 way to MDW.
 
Go to the Bahamas, fly yourself, avoid all the ********.
 
One thing not obvious, DTW is a Delta hub and not contested so higher fares rule the day. GRR you are in satellite airport/RJ land so I am sure there is some explanation for that madness but I’ve never found it. For the fare change for mixed cabins, I’m sure some crazy fare rules cropped up which forced your ticket into a higher fare. E.g. forced overnight on the itinerary may be allowing you to get into a discount biz/first that is not otherwise bookable.

If you haven’t already try adding or subtracting a day on each end. Set a google flight alert. Make sure you have a Saturday overnight on the trip. For the $50-100 it’ll cost you, a travel agent is a path to consider. They can get access to hotel inventory, advise on what is going on with the fares, rebook in case a Chicago winter cancels your original itinerary, etc
 
Chrisgoesflying said:
Fly your own plane to wherever there is the most convenient and economical first class commercial flight to Jamaica.
Click to expand...
This^^.
I just flew to/from KUGN(Waukegan). Make sure you park at the transient parking, which I believe is near the self serve pumps. Do not go to Signature!(that was my mistake without knowing how to avoid them). Bring your own ropes/tie downs. No landing fee or parking fees. There is a nearby exit gate, I am told, and a building just outside that has bathrooms. During the day, there is staff that, I have been advised from the airport, that can help.
Call the airport manager for specifics if you need to.

To ORD, get an Uber that I would estimate is about $70+.
 
EdFred said:
Well, how about if we book a multi-city trip, and hotel it one night in ORD so we have a direct flight the next day?
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As long as you're going to do multi-city make it part of the trip - Detroit to JFK and spend the night in https://www.twahotel.com/ - Cocktails in a Connie! We were planning on an overnight there on a trip to Argentina that got Canx'ed due to Covid.
 
MajorTurbulence said:
This^^.
I just flew to/from KUGN(Waukegan). Make sure you park at the transient parking, which I believe is near the self serve pumps. Do not go to Signature!(that was my mistake without knowing how to avoid them). Bring your own ropes/tie downs. No landing fee or parking fees. There is a nearby exit gate, I am told, and a building just outside that has bathrooms. During the day, there is staff that, I have been advised from the airport, that can help.
Call the airport manager for specifics if you need to.

To ORD, get an Uber that I would estimate is about $70+.
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I’m currently en route to France. Did the same thing, took my Cherokee from the Boonies where I live to the nearest international airport (4 hour flight vs. 8 hour drive vs. ton of extra $$$ for the airline to take me there on their schedule instead of mine), landed at the GA airport, took an Uber to the big airport ($50) and boarded the international flight. Also, parking fees for the Cherokee is $10 per day. Car parking would have been $20 per day. That’s what’s paying the fuel for the flight lol.
 
If anyone wants in on the betting pool: How soon before American Airlines files for bankruptcy?
 
I always check Kayak/Google Flights. Kayak shows beaucoup flights for a given routing with everybody except the UUULC (and Southwest).

Sometimes they show a routing I hadn't thought of at a cheap price.

BTW, Simple rationale for pricing, if they can sell it at a price and make money, they charge that price or higher. Duh.

PS> I'd never go to Jamaica when just about every other Caribbean Island is nicer IMNSHO.
 
Pay Delta and be done with it. If you go the other route, in the middle of the travel mess (when it occurs), you'll wish you had just ponied up the cash. An unhappy and frustrated bride is not a good place to be!
 
Don’t try to understand airline pricing. It’s all wizardry. Hope you guys have a great time on your honeymoon!
 
Same thing happens in DFW: AA is always more expensive, by a large margin, than the competition. At least, that's my experience.
 
Of Caribbean destinations, I rank Jamaica only slightly above Haiti. I suggest you consider the Netherlands Antilles.

Better yet, bag the airline crap altogether. Fly your own plane to south Florida and board a cruise ship.

BTW - why wait until next year? That just gives her more time to recover her sanity, er, I mean change her mind.
 
I wasn't pricing anything out of DTW originally

I priced AA / UNITED / DELTA out of GRR

AA is 1200 going through CLT (I couldn't make it work through ORD same day)
DL is 2400 going through ATL
UA is 2400 going through EWR (or some other convoluted routing. One was to DEN and then EWR, WTF!?)

The connection through CLT was garbage, and if anything goes wrong we miss a day because the connection is the last flight out of CLT. Then we were thinking, how about no connections getting there at all??

Skip the connection and both Chicago and Detroit are drive-able.
1000 on AA if we go out of ORD - direct.
1700 on DL if we go out of DTW - but it still connects through ATL
UA has 1 or 2 connections out of ORD to get to Jamaica so they are now out.

I *REALLY* hate driving in Chicago. Worst place I've driven except for maybe LA. I'll even take ATL traffic every day over Chicago. Plus we don't want to get up before we go to sleep to drive to make the early morning flight. So skip leaving out of DTW or ORD as the initial.

OK, what about a multi-city?
Only $300 more per person plus hotel and already being in the terminal when we get up? Good enough for me. That's how much I hate Chicago traffic.

Prices on Delta with an overnight in ATL was in the 3000 range.

The point was how crazy it was that taking a lower class caused a $5400 fare increase - PER PERSON!
 
Half Fast said:
Of Caribbean destinations, I rank Jamaica only slightly above Haiti. I suggest you consider the Netherlands Antilles.

Better yet, bag the airline crap altogether. Fly your own plane to south Florida and board a cruise ship.

BTW - why wait until next year? That just gives her more time to recover her sanity, er, I mean change her mind.
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Curacao was first choice. Pricing and flight availability/schedule scratched it from the list. Same went for Aruba and Bonaire. I'm not getting on a death barge.
 
Half Fast said:
Of Caribbean destinations, I rank Jamaica only slightly above Haiti. I suggest you consider the Netherlands Antilles.

Better yet, bag the airline crap altogether. Fly your own plane to south Florida and board a cruise ship.

BTW - why wait until next year? That just gives her more time to recover her sanity, er, I mean change her mind.
Click to expand...


We did that a few months back - cruise ship to Bahamas. Well run, nice ship - overall a great experience.


Kelvin said:
You getting married?

Congratulations!!
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Either that, or he's decided to start dating, and is both extremely confident and also really likes to plan ahead.
 
Haven't been to Jamaica and can't say it is too high on our list given other peoples experiences. Caribbean-wise, islands we've been back to multiple times are: Grand Cayman and Saint Maarten. Grand Bahama, Dominican Republic, and St Thomas had a few spots that felt less welcoming so were one and done.
 
Island hopping the Bahamas on your own might be good.


EdFred said:
Curacao was first choice. Pricing and flight availability/schedule scratched it from the list. Same went for Aruba and Bonaire.
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Too bad. I love Bonaire but haven’t been there in many years. Fantastic scuba diving.
 
Trying to make sense of ticket pricing is a bit of a waste of time. Some good suggestions so far about ways to get the price down like originate in non-hub airport etc. The one thing I would add is to consider what happens if something doesn't go according to plan. You did one thing like that by rejecting the CLT option with a too short time between flights. The other thing to think about is how aligned or mis-aligned you are with the chosen airlines hubs in case of a mechanical or re-route. Delta from GRR puts you into either DTW or ATL and right in the heart of their system, so more options.
One other thing is if you don't like the answer, try again. Meaning the prices can change in near real time. Back in the call in days, I would try a few things with an agent and if I didn't sense it was getting anywhere, I'd hang up and call back. More often than not, I got what I wanted on the second call. The same is true on the web, you might just need to wait a bit longer for prices to refresh.
Lastly, unless you like life on the edge, don't use Kayak, Expedia etc to actually book tickets. If something goes to crap, you are the very last in any line to get help. Use them to find cheap routings and then try to duplicate that on the airline's website.

Not sure of your exact dates, but I was seeing about $1,800 to $1,500 for first class GRR - KIN for a week in October. One stop in ATL
 
The crazy part is if you check the tickets again tomorrow, the pricing could be all different.

I do know though, the schedules are getting bad as the airlines have reduced capacity due to the staffing issues across the board. That means less connections, and less available flights during prime hours.
 
schmookeeg said:
lol @ death barges :D
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We're all on a giant death barge. It's all sub-death barges from here.

As far as commercial flights go, it could be worse. I'm trying to span the globe for someone and honestly it might cost more to charter an intercontinental flight, but I'd live longer with fewer headaches. I miss Hipmunk (the source of my avatar here), which let you search for flights and sort by "agony," being some formula based on all the things we hate about flying commercial (layovers, airport and terminal changes, departure and arrival times in the middle of the night, etc.)

Good luck planning your honeymoon travel. If the airline doesn't end your marriage for you, it sounds like you'll have a good time.
 
My experience is that AA Business or First is NOT to the level of DL or UA.

Also, a trip to Barbados we upgraded to First on AA and the seats would not work. No recline, nothing.

They would not even offer enough miles as compensation to have upgraded that flight. WTF?!
 
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