richard
Jun 15, 02, 9:50 am
I had to visit people in Seattle and Calgary, Alberta, with only a few days notice.
Fares were $2700 mostly and this was too high for me.
My criteria were: travel in F if possible, on UA mostly, with other travel on an airline getting me status on NW if I couldn't go on UA. And I had a very tight schedule worked around the people I was meeting in each city, so I didn't have a lot of flexibility.
I decided to structure a trip around IAD-OAK on UA.
IAD-OAK is very cheap now where UA is trying to drive JetBlue out and is matching them. I got a one way fare IAD-OAK with continuation to SEA on Alaska (offering NW status miles) for $306. That got me to SEA.
The UA transcon was an A320 and very, very enjoyable when I got the upgrade. A great breakfast of scrambled eggs and corned beef hash with gravy, and then a second meal, the deli plate, with excellent service all the way in between.
Oakland was a madhouse with flights on JetBlue, and a few overflow Southwest gates. It was incredibly crowded. Since I arrived before the AS gate was open, I exited security and upgraded the Alaska flight at the ticket counter for $50, then went through security back to the gates.
AS served a good Greek salad with chicken, and the flight was fun as the pilot continually pointed out the scenery with lots of enthusiasm and it was a clear day.
After my meeting the next leg was to Calgary.
My SEA to Calgary flight on Horizon Air was expensive, $380 for a one way fare on a CRJ, no way around that, about 400 miles or so non-stop.
Three of the hugest people I've ever seen were on that flight. Not huge in the fat sense necessarily, just huge, the fill-up-two-seats huge, and they were all apparently unrelated.
They served a free micro-brew and a cabernet sauvigon, and the atmosphere was festive onboard.
The airport at Calgary is being completely rebuilt and expanded. Despite the construction we cleared immigration and customs quickly and I got an immediate taxi ride into town.
The big Oil and Gas meeting meant that everything in Calgary had been booked, but I got a reservation finally at the Holiday Inn a few days before the trip. The Holiday Inn/Airport is typical Holiday Inn, nothing great but nothing terrible either.
After overnighting and having my Calgary meeting, I took UA to DEN.
UA served a complete, tasty dinner in F on the short (under 2 hour) flight.
I waited 4 hours once I was in DEN, then took the redeye back to IAD. The cost was $512 for a round trip, YYC-IAD-YYC, so I used one half and have the other half (IAD-YYC) to use some other time with a change fee.
DEN shuts down mostly at about 8:45pm (when the RCCs and the 1K room close along with almost everything else), but the redeye leaves at midnight.
I passed the time at the Qwest business center, talking on the phone to a friend on the west coast, and reading.
The trip cost $1200 altogether. Booking this took about 2 hours on Orbitz, but I saved my client $1500 in expenses.
Fares were $2700 mostly and this was too high for me.
My criteria were: travel in F if possible, on UA mostly, with other travel on an airline getting me status on NW if I couldn't go on UA. And I had a very tight schedule worked around the people I was meeting in each city, so I didn't have a lot of flexibility.
I decided to structure a trip around IAD-OAK on UA.
IAD-OAK is very cheap now where UA is trying to drive JetBlue out and is matching them. I got a one way fare IAD-OAK with continuation to SEA on Alaska (offering NW status miles) for $306. That got me to SEA.
The UA transcon was an A320 and very, very enjoyable when I got the upgrade. A great breakfast of scrambled eggs and corned beef hash with gravy, and then a second meal, the deli plate, with excellent service all the way in between.
Oakland was a madhouse with flights on JetBlue, and a few overflow Southwest gates. It was incredibly crowded. Since I arrived before the AS gate was open, I exited security and upgraded the Alaska flight at the ticket counter for $50, then went through security back to the gates.
AS served a good Greek salad with chicken, and the flight was fun as the pilot continually pointed out the scenery with lots of enthusiasm and it was a clear day.
After my meeting the next leg was to Calgary.
My SEA to Calgary flight on Horizon Air was expensive, $380 for a one way fare on a CRJ, no way around that, about 400 miles or so non-stop.
Three of the hugest people I've ever seen were on that flight. Not huge in the fat sense necessarily, just huge, the fill-up-two-seats huge, and they were all apparently unrelated.
They served a free micro-brew and a cabernet sauvigon, and the atmosphere was festive onboard.
The airport at Calgary is being completely rebuilt and expanded. Despite the construction we cleared immigration and customs quickly and I got an immediate taxi ride into town.
The big Oil and Gas meeting meant that everything in Calgary had been booked, but I got a reservation finally at the Holiday Inn a few days before the trip. The Holiday Inn/Airport is typical Holiday Inn, nothing great but nothing terrible either.
After overnighting and having my Calgary meeting, I took UA to DEN.
UA served a complete, tasty dinner in F on the short (under 2 hour) flight.
I waited 4 hours once I was in DEN, then took the redeye back to IAD. The cost was $512 for a round trip, YYC-IAD-YYC, so I used one half and have the other half (IAD-YYC) to use some other time with a change fee.
DEN shuts down mostly at about 8:45pm (when the RCCs and the 1K room close along with almost everything else), but the redeye leaves at midnight.
I passed the time at the Qwest business center, talking on the phone to a friend on the west coast, and reading.
The trip cost $1200 altogether. Booking this took about 2 hours on Orbitz, but I saved my client $1500 in expenses.