I just received a subscription offer to

"RECIEVE TWO YEARS OF THE OAG FOR THE PRICE OF ONE!"

Now, this subscription deal costs $99, which isn't exactly gonna break the bank, but having never even seen an OAG (I've just hear of them), does anyone out there still use the OAG and so is it worth shelling out the $$? In this day and age of internet access to airline timetables, is the OAG even still relevant?

I mainly commute LAX-SJC (so I pretty much know the timetables of every flight up and down the left coast) but don't travel THAT much where I could justify spending the $$. Just hoping to get a feel for the usefulness of the OAG.

Thanks.

[This message has been edited by onedog (edited 10-19-2000).]

I prefer the Amex sky guide. It is laid out backwards from the OAG. In the OAG you look for the city you want to fly to and then it gives you flights there from many US cities. The sky guide, is set up listing the departure city and listing where you can fly to. I primarliy use it when a flight is cancilled or delayed (or if i'm delayed). It is useful while standing in the line to rebook to check you options. "okay I see Delta has a flight leaving in 45minutes, maybe I can get rebooked on that one..etc."
That kind of thing.

onedog,

I like OAG for planning my RTW trips. My employer subscribes to the Worldwide edition, which is thicker than a NYC telephone book!

In any event, it does seem to provide the most complete listing of flights between city pairs...and when you're looking at a lot of different trips between a lot of different potential cities, I still prefer the old-fashioned paper guide.

The worldwide edition also comes with bi-monthly supplemetal materials (another book) that has visa and passport info., plus seat maps for many different airlines and airplanes from around the world. Like every resource--electronic or hard copy--the OAG is not absolutely perfect. However, for my purposes (which includes A LOT of int'l travel), OAG seems to fit the bill.

If you fly pretty standard routes, then you're probably better off figuring out which airlines fly between those points and picking up their own, free timetables...or use their webpages to search fares and times.

Just my two cents.

And 1 more thing, The OAG guide is great bathroom reading. Afterall, where else can you check out how many miles it is to......
all in one sitting.

I'm sure many a mileage run was born in that room.

Dan

lol

Join WEXAS, and OAG access comes free!
www.wexas.com

martin

I prefer American Express SkyGuide, but have used both. Cigarman points out the major difference IMO: SkyGuide is laid out like most airline timetables: Departure City listing with all flights out of the city. OAG is the opposite, unlike anything else I've run across: Sorted by arrival cities, with all flights to that point.

SkyGuide has always listed mileage and OAG only began doing that in the last few issues. SkyGuide has always listed major international routes from the US, another copy-cat feature that OAG has started recently.

I don't use it anymore to plan travel, but it is very useful during irregular ops when I am reviewing other options. At such a time, you can't load up your laptop to get to the net or a downloadable timetable, and it is impractical to have timetables for every airline.

My company gets all sorts of OAG materials: The pocket version for North America, Europe, asia, etc, the Desktop Editions for Worldwide, etc. I use them occasionally for reference, but prefer SkyGuide for carry around use.

One other thing, if it matters between the two: OAG has pocket editions for different regions around the world: North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia/Pacific. The Worldwide edition is only desktop (like a phonebook, as mentioned). Skyguide only produces pocket for North America.

US1

Thanks to everyone for the quick replies & comments.

Here's an additional question. How current are these guides? I carry the AA timetable with me whenever I travel, but I have found that the guide is sometimes off by a few minutes to about a half hour on a lot of flights. This sometimes irritates me b/c when I am trying to talk to an AAdvantage agent to book or reschedule flights, my connecting times are off and making the reservation takes extra time , expecially for the commuter flights up and down the left coast which are often just minutes apart anyway.

Thanks.

Also, I have found that OAG does not list all flights. For example, the TWA flight that goes PWM-BDL-STL.... you will not find TW's flight on the nonstop PWM-BDL leg. It will only show the PWM-STL as a one stop.

Of course, few, if any, fly this sole leg, but it is good to have it listed. THis is one of many examples that OAG does not list.

I didn't know OAG is incomplete. I've been using it for about 5 months and find it very helpful for rescheduling, on the fly.

How current? Both are printed and completly changed monthly.

Martin,

Pardon my ignorance, but what is Wexas? I visited their Web site, but it was marvelously uninformative - you have to register even to find out what it is!

At least twice in the past year the OAG came with nice wording to the effect, it was not correct as to many flights. Once a "corrected" copy was sent to me. Way too much money for a 2 lb 2 in thick "pocket" helper with mainly UA flights.

On several occasions OAG has reissued the guide to incorrect information. I subscribed to SkyGuide, have been happy with them, and once OAG runs out, no renewal for me.

BJ

PS: I much prefer the From/To format to OAG's To/From. But that's minor.

All this talk about OAG, I'm thinking about jumping into one again (I was a subscriber long time ago but cancelled since I couldn't keeup up). Are they currently offering any bonus miles? I remember seeing a 2,000 Skymiles (or was it AAdvantage miles) offer before, but don't know if it's still active.

Anyone knows?

Thanks
Jamester