Ffffffff airline travel... Seriously.

denverpilot

denverpilot

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DenverPilot
Every time I do it instead of flying the 182 myself, I end up regretting it.
 
I'm glad my nearest major airport is a 2 hour drive away....makes the decision a whole lot easier.
 
denverpilot said:
Every time I do it instead of flying the 182 myself, I end up regretting it.
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I think both airlines, and flying privately both have their place. I wouldn't want to fly the 182 from SFO to MIA for a meeting, then turn around and come come.
Nor would I want to fly commercially if I was trying to go from Hartford CT to Portland ME.
 
Kritchlow said:
I think both airlines, and flying privately both have their place. I wouldn't want to fly the 182 from SFO to MIA for a meeting, then turn around and come come.
Nor would I want to fly commercially if I was trying to go from Hartford CT to Portland ME.
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Yup.. Even with something a bit faster than a 182 commercial still wins sometimes due to cost, time, or weather considerations. Especially in the winter.

Actually, I more often find myself choosing to drive either for cost or weather issues, and I tend to regret that the most! Given the option I'll drive 30 minutes to the airport, take 30 minutes to preflight, and fly 10 minutes to get somewhere an hour drive from my house.

That said, if I had the cash for a nice 400+ knot jet, I'd probably say F airlines too!
 
I flew American from Tulsa to Dallas with a very large person next to me. The person ( I say this because I seriously can not tell you the gender ) could not buckle their belt and the arm rest could not be folded down. I complained before we took off, nothing happened, I took pics on the sly and sent them to American and all I got was "Sorry for that, please give us another chance". I am about done with the airlines, thinking of driving my motorhome to Florida with my family instead of flying.
 
Clark1961 said:
Snow is easy...
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For us anyway... :)


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If anyone has any pull over at the tracon, go have them authorize us for a slam dunk arrival and get me off this frigging **** poor excuse for comfortable travel. Awhell even they don't claim comfortable anymore. Just cheap.
 
Nate,

I am sure if you had asked Clark, he would have flown you both ways. I know its scary :D but you could have avoided the airlines.
 
We're predicted to have winds of 35-40 G 60+ here in El Paso tomorrow.

Even the Southwest pilots won't mess with that, even if it is a headwind!! :D
 
Mike what is up with that Superawos today, it almost chewed my butt with the old "let's lie, and give the exact opposite 20+kt wind direction to everyone" trick.
 
The worst is flying the corporate plane to a destination just to go to the terminal and get on the airline to go home.
 
flhrci said:
Nate,

I am sure if you had asked Clark, he would have flown you both ways. I know its scary :D but you could have avoided the airlines.
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Prolly a little warm today for an IMC run into Denver. A scud run would likely have worked. Snow itself is pretty easy. It's already frozen. Now if it's got freezing rain along with it then it might just be a bad day. I've found that in flight but was only in it about 30 seconds.

Don't try this type of stuff at night without FIKI. Ya gotta be able to see what's going on...
 
There is a story about a two dumbasses who occupied the exit row with me that ended with me leaning across my damned armrest into the aisle the entire flight. I didn't want to type it with dumbass #2 looking over my shoulder. But I'll type it up later when I get home. Sheesh. Frigging idiots.
 
Amtrak. Often late, but a great deal more comfortable.
 
murphey said:
Amtrak. Often late, but a great deal more comfortable.
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But isn't Amtrak from Florida to Denver at least two days? I think it was 24 hours from Denver to San Francisco, the time I lost my mind and took it. Might have been better if I sprung for a sleeper car.
 
denverpilot said:
If anyone has any pull over at the tracon, go have them authorize us for a slam dunk arrival and get me off this frigging **** poor excuse for comfortable travel. Awhell even they don't claim comfortable anymore. Just cheap.
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The airline has software to scan messages sent through the onboard wifi which diss the brand, you know. If found, they automatically spin you for 20 more minutes and close the bar.
 
MikeELP said:
We're predicted to have winds of 35-40 G 60+ here in El Paso tomorrow.

Even the Southwest pilots won't mess with that, even if it is a headwind!! :D
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We had those last night... Rattled a few trees (Plams) around here.
Rain today, snow tonight.
 
Everskyward said:
But isn't Amtrak from Florida to Denver at least two days? I think it was 24 hours from Denver to San Francisco, the time I lost my mind and took it. Might have been better if I sprung for a sleeper car.
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It is ridiculously slow and often with board times that are inconvenient (2 am here).
 
Everskyward said:
But isn't Amtrak from Florida to Denver at least two days? I think it was 24 hours from Denver to San Francisco, the time I lost my mind and took it. Might have been better if I sprung for a sleeper car.
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Officially 33 hours. Not for anyone who needs to get someone on schedule. I took it from Denver to Milwaukee last year (18 hrs) for Airventure (picked up a car at MKE - the amtrak station is at MKE). For a long trip, the sleeper car really is a necessity.
 
NJP_MAN said:
The worst is flying the corporate plane to a destination just to go to the terminal and get on the airline to go home.
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I did that last Wednesday, 3.3 down to FL and two legs back, one through ATL, took 7 more just to get home.
 
Airlines have their place in the transportation system. I much prefer my own aircraft,but if you have to get someplace,the airlines will get you there most of the time.
 
Taken Amtrak twice for vacations. Once was Chicago to LA and the second from Chicago to Seattle. Had a sleeper and really enjoyed the peace and quiet of watching some beautiful landscape go by.
 
EppyGA said:
Taken Amtrak twice for vacations. Once was Chicago to LA and the second from Chicago to Seattle. Had a sleeper and really enjoyed the peace and quiet of watching some beautiful landscape go by.
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Einstein agrees.
 
I asked my employer if I could fly up north for a meeting rather than take an airliner. Would have been 8 hours from point A to point B.

I would have preferred that to taking a cramped flight and then sitting in a car for 2 hours driving to my destination (don't ask why they picked an airport 2 hours away...).

I could have been at the destination and into a hotel long before anyone else got there, and home before anyone else left.

<sigh>...
 
Flew for the airlines 24 years, and avoid flying them if at all possible. Went to Alaska on AA and it wasn't too bad on the way up with short hops to DFW, SEA, and then Fairbanks. Way back was a 6 hour 757 flight ANC to DFW, miserable the entire flight, crammed in and no legroom. And the ticket price wasn't cheap either. I can fly free on Delta but it's difficult to get on a flight as a nonrev and I'd rather just drive then go through the hassle.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Mike what is up with that Superawos today, it almost chewed my butt with the old "let's lie, and give the exact opposite 20+kt wind direction to everyone" trick.
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Dave, the superAWOS at 5T6 is pretty much useless. You can be standing on the ramp having to hold down a 172 from being lifted away like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz and the damn AWOS will say "wind calm" :mad:

Supposedly :dunno: they have it in the budget to get a REAL weather reporting system installed sometime here in 2016.

We've been promised that before. I'm not holding my breath. :no:
 
I would fly airlines less if refundable tickets were cheaper/available. Hard to predict weather a month or more out.
 
Kritchlow said:
I think both airlines, and flying privately both have their place. I wouldn't want to fly the 182 from SFO to MIA for a meeting, then turn around and come home.
Nor would I want to fly commercially if I was trying to go from Hartford CT to Portland ME.
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Guess I am crazy, but I would rather fly myself even SFO to MIA. Of course it is usually an 1.5 hour drive to a major airport, when I live closer to run that I can use and same on the destination end, 7 minutes to 30 minutes drive usually. Then the whole getting raped by TSA, getting charged for luggage/having it lost, not being able to carry on something, not having my carry on fit because someone else is hogging the bin, not fitting in my seat, sitting next to two guys my size who don't stay in the confines of their seat area. Having two or three lay overs sometimes over an hour long. Having to show up 2 hours early to get raped by TSA just so you can make it to your gate on time, but then the flight is late. Missing your layover because the first flight was late and no other flights for the day.

With layovers and showing up to the airport early and drive time to commercial airports, even a 172 should beat most commercial flight times as long as fuel stops don't run longer than 30 minutes.

Last year I took two trips for work one from Indiana to Virginia and another from Indiana to Nevada, after coming home I planned the same trip for Cessna 172. I would have completed the same trips faster (at least 2 hours faster) for both trips with less stress. The year before I missed a flight for work and was stuck in San Diego an whole extra day because of traffic to the airport. 1 hour drive took 3.5 the morning of my flight.

The only problem is the cost.
 
MikeELP said:
Dave, the superAWOS at 5T6 is pretty much useless. You can be standing on the ramp having to hold down a 172 from being lifted away like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz and the damn AWOS will say "wind calm" :mad:
Supposedly :dunno: they have it in the budget to get a REAL weather reporting system installed sometime here in 2016.
We've been promised that before. I'm not holding my breath. :no:
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Thanks Mike, I think it could 'get' someone, someday. I talked to another pilot who landed downwind there too.
For some reason that windsock is never really visible to me.
 
I would rather drive than take Amtrak, but I've only had that one experience. At least with driving, you're on your own schedule and can detour at the spur of the moment if there's something you want to check out. On my drive from Denver to San Francisco last year I investigated the Greater Green River Intergalactic Spaceport. OK, nothing to write home about...
 
denverpilot said:
If anyone has any pull over at the tracon, go have them authorize us for a slam dunk arrival and get me off this frigging **** poor excuse for comfortable travel. Awhell even they don't claim comfortable anymore. Just cheap.
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And who is actually responsible for that ? Maybe the traveling public that think air travel is a constitutionally guarunteed right. If you want to shlep yourself and all of your crap from one side of this country to the other for less than the cost of driving it in a Prius then guess what - it ain't likely to be pretty.
 
MikeELP said:
Dave, the superAWOS at 5T6 is pretty much useless. You can be standing on the ramp having to hold down a 172 from being lifted away like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz and the damn AWOS will say "wind calm" :mad:

Supposedly :dunno: they have it in the budget to get a REAL weather reporting system installed sometime here in 2016.

We've been promised that before. I'm not holding my breath. :no:
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What is a Super AWOS? Never heard of it.

David
 
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