Wow, who knew? Thanks for the heads-up.
ski-air travel stories
- Thread starter jimk
- Start date
Interesting to see United's cash pricing of Newark to Zurich -- expensive during the first three weeks of December (when it's usually cheap):
... followed by typical good-value fares throughout January:
... followed by typical good-value fares throughout January:
EMSC
Well-known member
Den to GVA prices in mid-March only going up by ~$100 every couple of weeks which makes no sense as when you look at seat maps the flights are well less than 10% occupied (eg more than 90% available) with no significant volume getting booked at all between price increases. I assume United computers think that the very few who are booking now are not aware of the availability and are trying to maximize revenue of early bookers this year...
Today is the first day of United's winter European FF-award "sale." They're doing it as a dumb daily announcement of five destinations (instead of just a dump of all eligible cities all at once) that you have to purchase within 24 hours -- today's city is Paris, see below. 50K roundtrip is better than nothing but a far cry from the deals we'd gotten in previous years. To quote The Kinks: where have all the good times gone?
EMSC
Well-known member
Agreed on the stupidity. Not only are they doing poor deals, they clearly don't want many to take advantage of them. Who is actually going to pay attention for multiple days in a row to such nonsense.
And while United can do what they want, I still can't figure out United's end game here. I still have not booked my March flights to GVA. Prices are terrible for winter time's low demand and when I look at the available seats on the flights, it's clear that the flights are at most ~20% booked so far (I would think they would want to be 50%+ by now to have any chance of making money on these winter flights). Last I checked it's better to have the flights mostly full with $750 payments than only 25% full on $1250+ payments. But then the AI models they are probably using are likely NOT good at math. All the AI models I've seen so far are language models that cannot do even basic math very well.
ChrisC
Well-known member
Other airlines have better airfares to Geneva (or Zurich) from different cities (SFO, NYC, MIA). Looks like Denver has some of the highest.
Denver still suffers from United's monopoly on international flights. SW does not compete there.
EMSC
Well-known member
Alaska air just lost one of my bags yesterday... we'll see if it shows up in the next 24-48 hours. Basically my clothes bag. Will be hassle but nothing super difficult to replace if necessary. Toiletries, lots of base layers, helmet, warm-up pant, normal clothes etc... I had the bag for customs processing in Seattle (from Kelowna). It's bright orange and red so kinda hard to miss....
My first Alaska flight in 5-6 years. I was shocked just how bad their app and website were for check-in. Innumerable problems with trying to get either method to work or get me a boarding pass.
My first Alaska flight in 5-6 years. I was shocked just how bad their app and website were for check-in. Innumerable problems with trying to get either method to work or get me a boarding pass.
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So what did you do upon arrival, buy or borrow a helmet? IIRC, Tony and Liz have gone on shopping sprees when their luggage didn't show up, which is what I'd certainly do if the airline was reimbursing the outlay!
jasoncapecod
Well-known member
don't check luggage...aside from skis
Hah, we've had that discussion a few times. Ain't doin' it.
EMSC
Well-known member
None of the above yet. They lost it in Seattle after I went through customs on my way home. Luggage still nowhere to be found as of this morning.
But shopping sprees will be incoming tonight through Fri night if it isn't found ASAP. Unfortunately for me, I have lots of catch-up job work and also business meetings into the evening these next two nights so probably Friday before I can manage time to buy ski base layers, ski socks etc...
We are en route to the Okanagan with only minor annoyances.
Good News: WestJet is a Delta partner so the last 3 seasons I’ve been able to use FF miles for the direct flights to Calgary.
Bad News: Kelowna is not so easy. In order to use miles we had to use a 2 stopper itinerary with the first flight leaving LAX 5:45AM. So we had to leave our house 3:30AM.
Good News: SLC-Vancouver flight was as empty as I’ve been on in a long time.
Bad News: After clearing Canada Immigration we were instructed to claim our bags then take them past Customs and recheck to Kelowna. But none of our 4 bags came out.
Good News: Both Liz’ Air Tag and the Delta App said our bags were in Vancouver. after half an hour we went to the Delta desk and were informed that Delta was permitted to check bags through because WestJet is a partner. That’s nice but we were not informed in advance.
Bad News: The WestJet flight is full and Liz and I are in separated middle seats. I booked the trip on Delta website and of course the interface did not allow to get seat assignments on WestJet. I needed to go on WestJet’s website and there are times when the partner airline won’t let you reserve seats until closer to flight time. So I let that slip through the cracks.
Good News: WestJet is a Delta partner so the last 3 seasons I’ve been able to use FF miles for the direct flights to Calgary.
Bad News: Kelowna is not so easy. In order to use miles we had to use a 2 stopper itinerary with the first flight leaving LAX 5:45AM. So we had to leave our house 3:30AM.
Good News: SLC-Vancouver flight was as empty as I’ve been on in a long time.
Bad News: After clearing Canada Immigration we were instructed to claim our bags then take them past Customs and recheck to Kelowna. But none of our 4 bags came out.
Good News: Both Liz’ Air Tag and the Delta App said our bags were in Vancouver. after half an hour we went to the Delta desk and were informed that Delta was permitted to check bags through because WestJet is a partner. That’s nice but we were not informed in advance.
Bad News: The WestJet flight is full and Liz and I are in separated middle seats. I booked the trip on Delta website and of course the interface did not allow to get seat assignments on WestJet. I needed to go on WestJet’s website and there are times when the partner airline won’t let you reserve seats until closer to flight time. So I let that slip through the cracks.
We arrived in Kelowna with ski bags and Liz' checked suitcase but not mine. 
We had to wait half an hour for the baggage agent to show up. He said the bag will be on a flight arriving 7PM and hopefully it will be delivered this evening as we are only about 20 minutes away.
I took all kinds of
on this Forum back in 2008 about how dumb I was to put boots in checked luggage.
We had to wait half an hour for the baggage agent to show up. He said the bag will be on a flight arriving 7PM and hopefully it will be delivered this evening as we are only about 20 minutes away.Liz and I take some long and complex trips so that's rarely possible. It is possible to fit a few days' ski clothes in a carry-on boot bag backpack and I have done that every time since the France-to-Utah debacle of 2008. That precaution served me well in Zermatt in 2014 and may again tomorrow.
We know. James is special. It's happened to EMSC and me in the same week but will never happen to James.Hah, we've had that discussion a few times. Ain't doin' it.
I took all kinds of
on this Forum back in 2008 about how dumb I was to put boots in checked luggage.
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I'll ignore Tony's snotty tone and remind him that I carried my boots on board a SLC-JFK flight two years ago -- not out of concern that they'd get delayed, but because I didn't want to pay the weight overage fee.We know. James is special. It's happened to EMSC and me in the same week but will never happen to James.
Is it fair to say that changing planes on the way to interior British Columbia is a particular Bermuda Triangle for delayed bags? I recall this happening in previous seasons as well.
Yes it happened to me on WestJet 2 years ago and on Air Canada in 1999. Both of those were DIRECT flights.
And I still don’t have the bag this morning.
And I still don’t have the bag this morning.
EMSC
Well-known member
Neither do I. Alaska doesn't even claim to know where mine is at this point. I'm quite certain mine's gone forever. It was a brand new bag on top of the clothing and gear (helmet) inside (bought explicitly for the 'annual' Mustang trip to replace a 30+ year old(!) Solomon bag that has finally been retired).And I still don’t have the bag this morning.
I did a quick estimate and Alaska will likely owe me a bit below the amount they claim to cover per bag. My real dumb move was not putting more small stuff in my carry-on boot bag. Things like I am super crazy specific about my ski socks; but they were all dirty and stinky so I put them with the rest of my dirty clothing instead of easily fitting them in the boot bag. Will be a PITA to quickly find replacements.
berkshireskier
Active member
You didn't put an Apple air tag in the bag?
EMSC
Well-known member
That would be a no. Of course i don't have Apple anyway, but almost certainly will put an android tag in there next trip.
I haven't had a real bag issue for over 15 years! And I fly a fair bit too (6-10 trips per year between personal and work).
This is what, 72+ hours? I've had 3 incidents last that long:
1) The infamous all luggage incident between France and Salt Lake in 2008
2) My skis hung up during a 24 hour delay in Heathrow, not making it onto the next day flight to Zurich and arriving in Lech 3 days after that.
3) Liz' skis and boots never put on the originating flight from Geneva in 2019. Sent home a day late via Warsaw, then stuck in storage at LAX for 3 more days.
Thankfully this was not one of them. My bag was delivered midday today to the B&B where we are staying. I'm not going to bother calling WestJet again since I have the bag, but I don't understand why "processing" a bag that was supposed to arrive 7PM last night means I don't get it until noon the next day. That would have cost a ski day if I had been James.
Two years ago my ski bag arrived in Calgary in very late evening and got impounded at customs as it was a direct flight from LAX. It got delivered to Fernie about 40 hours later.
Liz just got them last year, put them in our big suitcases that we took to Africa. We did not move them to ski bags or smaller luggage we used for the current short trip. The Delta App has a new feature that traced our bags to Vancouver. But Delta turned over the bags to WestJet in Vancouver.
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That would have cost a ski day if I had been James.
I'll let Tony explain why that's an unlikely scenario: