Gloom

Hey disgusted,
We're just having a friendly rant about airline travel. Not EVERYTHING has to go back to 9-11. Yes it was horrible, but we all still have pet peeves and complaints, legitimate or not. Just let us have some fun and stick to the topic at hand. This is not a post about the tradegy of 9-11. If you want to discuss that fine, but don't dismiss the rest of our opinions.

areyouforreal

I understand that there are many times you don't earn miles for one reason or another, but don't use the excuse that you don't have enough money to fly so you take a train or bus. Last time I checked it would have cost more to take, (for example), AMTRAK from NYC to DC than it would to fly. You can also help yourself: use 1 credit card ONLY, and make sure you get miles. Take advantage of any ridiculous offer for bonus miles (cut the coupons on the back of the Kellogg's boxes, etc.). Put everything on the card. I use an ATM debit that earns miles. A double bonus-no running up a debt and earning miles at the same time. Investigate-you would be surprised at how many household expenses you are writing checks for that you can pay on your credit card. Volunteer to be bumped on an overbooked flight & receive vouchers. Try to always fly the same airline (even if it is inconvenient in the beginning). Get an AMEX card. The points you earn are transferable to miles on many airlines. This should get you started.

x

Hey, areyouforreal, if it were possible for everyone to fly first class, then it would be just like coach. Then I guess big shots like you would hold out for Plutonium Class or whatever the next level is. I have an Amex card, I've saved miles for YEARS, now Delta has tightened up their program and if I want a garanteed seat then I have to have DOUBLE the miles I did before. We're flying to the Caymans in May and I wanted to upgrade the three of us to get us out of coach but it would take 15k miles per person ONE WAY to upgrade to coach and even then the cheap internet fares are not upgradeable. You a have to buy a more expensive ticket first. So actually it isn't that the rest of us are too stupid to fly in first class, its hard to do even with miles.

phil

sky mile programs are the biggest scam to come down the highway. These programs cost money.

orgy7

areyouforreal
1. Money does count. the last time I checked it costs $15 too take a bus from bali to jakarta as opposed to $150-220 by plane.
2 I agree using one card is a good Idea especially if it's an airline specific card.
3 picking up all thoee "ridiculous offers" doesn't always work. you usually end up spending a lot more for an Item just too get 100 miles. plus you sometime end up buying something you don't need just for a few more miles.
4 ATM debt cards.. They also charge an anuall fee. and you don't get miles for withdrawing money. so your paying for 2 cards (credit and debt) which get miles for doing the same thing..
5 I agree, paying household expenses with a card is good idea.
6 I would NOT get the AMEX card since it's useless around the world..

Yes, I've played the game for many years, it almost felt like an addiction.

JJ

I think the general lack of courtesy I see these days. I see it with the FA's and Passengers. What's the harm in moving and letting people sit by one another? Heck it's only a flight it is not as if you have moved in permanantly.
Also what has ever happened to "Thank You", "Yes Ma'am", "Please".
Most of all show common courtesy to the people sitting around you.

Kath

Orgy

Is is true that AMEX is useless around the world? Right now that's the only card I have. Do you find its not widely accepted?

Ally

orgy7,
You can take a bus from Bali to Jakarta? How do you get over the water between Bali and Java? Ferry?

What bothers me on airlines is the people who put small packages and even coats or sweaters either in the overhead, or under someone elses seat, leaving THEIR foot room free and cramping their neighbors footroom, then giving ugly looks when you ask them to put their belongings under the seat in front of them.

crammed

Hey "clueless", you're still clueless. When that person relining keeps on trying to push back his seat because it won't go back all the way its BECAUSE HE'S CRAMMING IT INTO MY KNEES AND MY THIGH BONE WON'T BUST. your screen name is perfect.

orgy7

I know it's useless.. One of the stranger experiences was in Tanjier Moroco. I bought some goods and offered my AMEX card they said "OK, no Problem" once the machine could not accept it. I was led on an Indiana Jones like journey at night around the madina and slums looking for a merchant that would accept the AMEX card.

Amex
Get cash when you need it from over 500,000 ATMs worldwide

visa
obtain cash at more than 750,000 Visa ATMs

VISA is good even if you want a cash advance, that was the only WAY I could of gotten any money in CHINA..

ya right

areyouforreal
you are not talking to a boy. I run my own business unlike you.
Your "three trips to Europe" which you haven't used yet on most airlines equals 90,000 miles for just one seat. and you have used miles for trips before. You're taking profit out of you company.
I built my own business from almost nothing and have used miles to Europe and in the states for nearly 20 years.
I didn't play any games with any boss.
I may have been into the miles game when you were just a kid.

have a heart

Susan, have a little compassion about someone who coughs. My mother is not sick or contagious but has a condition which gets her into coughing spells which she can not control and she becomes very imbarrased and hurt when it happens around other people. It is also physicaly painful. If you had ever happened to sit next to her I would hope you would be kind enough to ask her if there was anything you could do for her. And she would be very nice to you in return.

areyouforreal

Amazing how defensive people get. First off, Orgy7, I agree that from Bali to Jakarta you should take the cheapest mode of transport. The plane you would take would most likely be an island hopper and not a major airline and miles wouldnt be an issue. I think that is a bit different than Amtrak vs flying from ny to dc. but if you must make a point and be right about something...Next. Amex works about 85% of the time. The rest of the time I use my CHASE ATM debit card that has NO annual fee. No, you do not earn for withdrawals, but you do on all purchases. Last, not all of my suggestions may work for you, but that doesn't mean they are bad suggestions.

Ya right - I think you have me confused with another poster as I never mentioned three trips to Europe. But one comment, I actually do own my own business and use the points I accumulate on my AMEX for trips, both business and pleasure. So what if I am taking profit out of my company? If I am not in it for profit, what then?

Another tip. Try flying on different days or in shoulder season. You will use less miles and have an easier time getting the seats. Read the flyers that come with your miles statements. We flew to the orient round trip on 20K miles each on one of their special deals. IT CAN BE DONE!!!

Jude

Have a heart my mother has something very similar to what you are talking about ever think of having your mother tell people it is not contagious.


I tell people soon after a cough when I am on a NYC public bus. Don't know how old your mom is. I suspect most of us would have patience with and elderly person but I agree with Susan it is tough when you are in a confined space that is known for germ spreading like an airplane.

Lynn

Sorry, Jude; but while I feel very sorry for your poor mother, I'm with Susan. An airline passenger has no way of knowing what the circumstances are when the passenger sitting next to them starts coughing.

I once flew from Honolulu to Los Angeles with the man sitting next to me coughing his head off. I fully expected him to cough up a lung, he was coughing so violently and loudly. I kept thinking to myself, "He's got bubonic plague, and by the time we get to LAX, I'll have it, too!"

I was in an aisle seat and kept pushing myself as far away from him as I could until I was practically sitting in the aisle, but of course in that situation you are truly trapped. I was never rude to him; in fact, we never spoke to one another. But this was a midnight flight and I assure you, between this guy's cough and the screaming babies, no one got a moment's peace, much less sleep, on that flight.

I realize it was no one's fault and one cannot help it when they have a cough, but don't expect the people around you to adopt a humanarian attitude when they're being driven insane by the noise and the fear of becoming ill from someone else's cough. It's a very human reaction.

Jude

Lynn you were not reading correctly I was with Susan to speaking to Carol!

have a heart

Jude,
this post is really meant for Jude only.
The uncontrolled coughing she experiences on a flight etc. is caused by lung scarring (and she has never smoked in case you were wondering). I'm sure she trys to tell people it is not contagious but when she trys to speak while having a coughing spell it only makes it worse. I would hate to be her and start coughing on a flight. I would feel like an outcast. I think the airlines need to do a better job of supplying fresh air in the cabin so the people who really do have a cold, etc. wouldn't have it spread around so bad...hense my mother wouldn't get blamed.

xxx

Now everyone is getting confused.

"Ya Right" you addressed "areyouforreal" when you talked about his having 3 free flights to Europe coming with air miles. It was me who wrote that. We get our miles using AA Visa. It is our personal Visa card, which is why, as I said, we can also pay the kids tuition on Visa for more miles. One would hope you would not do that on a business Visa!

Using the term boy does not indicate age, it's a southern colloquialism, used in a humorous warning, and not meant as a slur! Sorry, I should be more attuned to the fact that not everyone will recognize that.

Lastly, you could not know, but I doubt you were using air miles when I was just a kid. I don't believe air miles were even anyone's pipe dream 50 years ago in my "kid" days!

Jude

who is blamming your mother? Like I said my mother suffers from something similar. She also coughs for a long period I don't see people blaming her at all. People are very patient when my mother does get a breather though she does tell people it is allergy related. Not saying your mothers must do this just suggesting it to make herself feel better.

AND WHY WOULD I WONDER IF SHE WAS A SMOKER??? WHY WOULD I CARE? No time for nonsense too many things to really be angry about in the world, misplaced anger is just a waste of time.

have a heart

Jude, I didn't expect an angry response. I agree about misplaced anger.
Just forget it.