Jeannietx

I do book domestic hotels in advance, however I never book prepaid hotels.
Booking.com is a good tool for finding the area you want, in the city you are staying pre-international flight, and you can always find those that do not require pre-paid.

Also, if you book pretty much any of the hotel groups, and have their "membership" you can book with no pre-pay.

The problem with weather related flight cancellations down here is, when weather conditions in the North due to ice/snow happens, the same delay trickles down to us. Then of course we have the tropical storm, torrential rain then as we did a few weeks ago, and it pretty much shuts our airports down.

You definitely aren't overthinking.

Zeeb

If you've got the time and the money booking a short domestic vacation in your international departure city seems like a pretty neat idea.

MSPeconomist

Do you know of the Sioux Falls airport closing for several days? My guess is that this doesn't happen very often. Once the snow stops falling fast, it doesn't take long with good equipment to open a runway, although wind can mean that it takes some effort to keep that runway open.

It's a much larger airport, but when MSP closes (very rarely) for snow, it seems to only last a few hours, until tthe snowplows get on top of the job. We have multiple runways, so they can alternate using one and plowing one.Of course this slows down the arrival and departure rate, but international flights, larger aircraft, and high yield business destinations are prioritized.

The padding at SFO would increase the chances that any rebooked trip would arrive into your Asian destination on the palnned day, thereby avoiding missing other commitments or playing for a hotel night in Asia that you won't be using. [IME USA chain airport hotels are fairly forgiving about cancellation fees when there are weather issues and flights are delayed or cancelled, but this assumes that one has not used a prepaid nonrefundable rate.]

You could skip the SFO stop and plan to drive to MSP for the DL nonstop to NRT and connect elsewhere in Asia from there.

burk

Thanks for your insight and info. Greatly appreciated. The Twin Cities are great!

MSPeconomist

If you drive to MSP, look for airport hotels that offer parking packages. If you book the night before and after your international trip, you would get 14 days of partking included, as well as shuttle service to/from airport (which means the light rail line to downtown) and often Mall of America (or you can shuttle to the airport and then take the light rail line to MOA).

burk

And will my car start when I arrive back at MSP? Or maybe they have covered parking?

MSPeconomist

Unless you have an old clunker, no problem. Many places used to have the electrical hookup or heater "blankets" for cars in winter, but not they're not considered necessary in the MSP metro area. They seem to still be prevalent in rural areas and farther north. You just need to get your car winterized every fall (including checks of antifreeze, battery, perhaps a switch to lighter weight oil, etc.), use a heavy duty battery, and check that your windshield washer fluid is topped off with antifreeze solution. It's also good to have a AAA membership or something similar.

A few hotels would have covered or indoor parking (an exception is the new Raddison Blu--which IIRC charges extra for parking--attached to the Mall of America; another is the Westin Galleria in Edina, but it doesn't have an airport shuttle), but all of the longterm airport parking that I know consists of open lots. It's really not considered a problem here. The bigger nuisance of winter can be scraping ice off the windshied (and of course brushing all the snow off the car, which at least in MN is state law so that it doesn't blow onto another vehicle and blind the driver).

burk

Much appreciate the info!!

SeriouslyLost

It wouldn't. Ignore the poster that said that.


All you can do is book on the same carrier and have travel insurance to cover any delay (& costs) if the carrier does leave you stranded. And perhaps don't get too attached to travelling on the day you thought you might.