Ski-Air Travel

We will be in Barcelona 2 extra days before the eclipse group tour starts. Liz has been working diligently on those and other Spain plans. In Barcelona she is focusing on Antoni Gaudi architecture, so maybe the locals will consider her "cultural tourist?"
 
Has any else ever returned a car rental to an airport you have never seen before? That was us in Madrid this morning. Google car rental return, follow the map and signs, and we were there easily at 6:55. Then we get in the terminal and find out it’s the domestic Terminal 4. Terminal 1 is a 15 minute bus ride, of course crammed with people and luggage to be checked (shades of Sydney). We got to Delta check-in at 7:45.

Also we have bus shuttle from gate to plane, another indicator of a Mickey Mouse airport.

With regard to the car rentals the Astro-Trails tour started in Barcelona and ended in Madrid. Therefore the first drop off and second pickup were in the cities not at an airport.
 
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Tony Crocker said:
Has any else ever returned a car rental to an airport you have never seen before? That was us in Madrid this morning. Google car rental return, follow the map and signs, and we were there easily at 6:55. Then we get in the terminal and find out it’s the domestic Terminal 4. Terminal 1 is a 15 minute bus ride, of course crammed with people and luggage to be checked (shades of Sydney). We got to Delta check-in at 7:45.

Also we have bus shuttle from gate to plane, another indicator of a Mickey Mouse airport.

With regard to the car rentals the Astro-Trails tour started in Barcelona and ended in Madrid. Therefore the first drop off and second pickup were in the cities not at an airport.
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Sounds stressful. Was there yelling? I would have been.😂
 
Tony Crocker said:
Also we have bus shuttle from gate to plane, another indicator of a Mickey Mouse airport.
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You mean you walked up into the plane on air stairs? Many airline geeks consider being out on the tarmac to be a unique/positive experience these days. The last time I recall doing that was in Brussels on my 1986 People Express 747 flight back to Newark.
 
jamesdeluxe said:
You mean you walked up into the plane on air stairs? Many airline geeks consider being out on the tarmac to be a unique/positive experience these days. The last time I recall doing that was in Brussels on my 1986 People Express 747 flight back to Newark.
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I’ve been on a few flights within the last 10 years that I had to use air stairs. Here’s a pic from three years ago in South Africa. I forget the name of the airport.
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The discount carriers believe that they can get faster turnarounds on the ground by not using jet bridges while also not paying the airport fees for the more expensive jet bridges. Thus for example Frontier Airlines in Denver is shifting their entire group of gates to be self loading with no jet bridges. Someone somewhere must have real data on it, though I find it unlikely to be much time or money saved. Must be fun in a snowstorm in January...

But for the 'regular' carriers I can't imagine any benefit for their business (can you imagine having your first class passengers walking out there on icy stairs in a rain or snowstorm?) How fast would they drop you as preferred carrier.

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EMSC said:
But for the 'regular' carriers I can't imagine any benefit for their business
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This is my point. Of course it’s cool getting off the plane and walking across the tarmac in some remote spot in Africa or the South Pacific. And for the smaller planes used to connect into regional airports in the US Mountain West, sure. But this was a Delta transcontinental flight from a major European capital on a widebody plane!

On the plus side we were upgraded to Delta Premium Select, and for this flight at least it was a significant upgrade. Seats were at least as good as Emirates last year and I slept 4 hours even though it’s a daytime flight. Food was a solid cut above standard coach too.

At check-in we were also let off with a warning for our checked luggage weighing 59 and 56 pounds. It has occurred to me that on the long trips where there is likely some shopping we should pack a thin duffel bag as a reserve to be checked on the return home. I’m allowed to check 2 bags per person yet they will complain about one bag if it’s overweight.
 
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Tony Crocker said:
But this was a Delta transcontinental flight from a major European capital on a widebody plane!
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It's somewhat common at European airports. Especially at space-constrained airports: Frankfurt, Madrid, Munich, Vienna, Rome, and Lisbon.
Seen it in Mexico City on my Delta flight.

The worst case: Years ago, my Singapore Airlines flight lost its gate at Frankfurt due to a NYC-JFK delay. This is not the crowd you want to put on a bus and deplane by stairway in winter! Not sure if some First Class/Business travelers have used outdoor stairs in years, and let it be known. (Some were due to health issues/eldery, but a lot were high-maintenance types.)
 
ChrisC said:
Some were due to health issues/elderly, but a lot were high-maintenance types.
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This applies to our friends who were with us on the first half of the trip.

The husband just retired at the start of 2026 so they are newbie retired travel mode, starting with 3+ weeks in Japan in May. Spain was their second big trip and we were traveling together in a van for the 10 days from Bilbao to Barcelona.

The wife has severe back issues and was wheelchair bound for much of 2021 and 2022, but she had very successful surgery including some kind of metal cage protecting part of her spine in late 2022.

She still has issues, avoids stairs and they insist on paying up for lie flat seats on international flights. Her back started acting up halfway through the driving but she toughed it out in the Costa Brava and Barcelona. Second morning in Valencia she woke up in severe pain so they had to bail from the rest of the trip, remaining in Valencia 2 more nights and flying home from Madrid Aug. 10.

They have a $1200 per year travel insurance policy that covers cancellation costs as well as medical. It will be interesting to see what it pays as they missed about 3/4 of the Astro-Trails tour.
 
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Tony Crocker said:
Delta Premium Select
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Oh boy what a mouth full. I had to look up what that means for Delta since I fly them so rarely. Sometimes once per year on Delta as that is the only airline that flies to the tiny town one of my brothers lives in. But not this year for me as I have no idea how, but basically free flights in/out of Syracuse at two hour drive away but in United's premium economy no less. Apparently I was going to lose those comps (no idea how I even had them) from United so am burning them this fall.

I still need to figure out what I'm going to do to burn credits soon on United, Alaska and Air Canada before the credits expire. Simply have to book travel by Sept 10 (approx $200), Oct 10 (approx $400) and Nov 10 (approx $600) respectively. All the trips I didn't take last ski season but booked airfare in the fall...
 
EMSC said:
How do you get someone wheelchair bound on or off that flight with those rickety stairs? I guess the answer is too bad, so sad for you if you are not very fully able.
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I never thought about that. Here's what a search turns up:

When aircraft use air stairs instead of jet bridges, airlines use specialized lifting vehicles called ambulifts, narrow mechanical aisle chairs, or platform lifts attached directly to the stairs to safely get handicapped passengers on and off the plane.
  • Ambulifts: A specialized truck with an elevated platform cabin that rises directly to the aircraft door, allowing wheelchair users to roll straight off the plane and safely descend to ground level.
  • Aisle Chairs and Stair Lifts: Specially designed narrow wheelchairs fit inside the cabin. Passengers transfer from their airplane seat into the aisle chair, which is then secured onto a motorized platform lift attached alongside the air stairs or a portable mechanical lift unit.
  • Tarmac Waiting: Passengers requiring special assistance are typically asked to wait until all other ambulatory passengers have deplaned so the crew can safely manage the narrow aisle space and retrieve personal mobility devices.
I was the recipient of an aisle chair when I flew home from SLC with a broken femur 25 years ago. Luckily, there was a jetway that connected to the terminal!

EMSC said:
for the 'regular' carriers I can't imagine any benefit for their business (can you imagine having your first class passengers walking out there on icy stairs in a rain or snowstorm?) How fast would they drop you as preferred carrier.
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Similar to the artist formerly known as Spirit, does anyone consider Frontier their preferred carrier? Is there really much of a fare difference between the big boys and Frontier?
 
We encountered stairs and tarmac when changing planes at Amsterdam airport in Jan 2026 using Delta and KLM from SLC to Geneva.
 
jimk said:
We encountered stairs and tarmac when changing planes at Amsterdam airport in Jan 2026 using Delta and KLM from SLC to Geneva.
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That's a new one to me and AMS is our usual connection airport flying to Europe including the outbound trip to Bilbao recently. The return from Madrid was via Atlanta.
 
jamesdeluxe said:
When aircraft use air stairs instead of jet bridges, airlines use specialized lifting vehicles called ambulifts, narrow mechanical aisle chairs, or platform lifts attached directly to the stairs to safely get handicapped passengers on and off the plane.
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I'm not convinced that that would be legal in the US at this point. ADA accommodation must be via the same area and method as for everyone else. Thus the huge ADA compliant structures Frontier uses at DIA at the front of the plane. Multiple retail stores have been sued over the years and lost when ADA people had to use a side door different from the main entrance.

Makes me wonder about Europe's rules as they have a ton of remote spots for loading planes after bus transport from the terminal.
 
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