Blasted airlines, always making it tougher!

[DandyDon]

I just did a trip to Coz last month, and as often is the case - now I am thinking about going again. I hate plane travel in the winter and know that northers & blowouts are possible then, but I'd really like to see the eagle rays before I get too old for all of this. My favorite Op tells me December thru February is almost guaranteed for those beauties. I am not about to get on a plane in December, so I looked at the next two months.

American offers the same flights I took last month - ugh, over 2½ hour layover going, arriving at 4pm if I am lucky - hate getting there so late, then 3¾ hour layover on return starting my car's defroster after midnight for $556 plus my two checked bags I feel like I gotta have = $686. But it gets worse! Seats assigned at check-in only, so who knows what I'll get stuck with?! I always consider travel problems as part of the adventure and try to allow for the worst, but even if my flights and bags make it okay - I could get stuck in a middle seat between people bigger than me! For $50 more, I could select seats in advance, but dangit.

If I have to take those risks on seat assignments, I might as well try Southwest in & out of Cancun - if it'd save me enough. Dragging two checked bags plus my roll-on and my backpack laptop is doable, but I really need to count on carts & porters for the multi-block humps. I think Cancun supplies free carts arriving & departing, but I have arrived in PDC too late to find a tricycle porter as well as so late into the Coz dock that I luckily grabbed the last one. Another trip I escaped in advance of the hurricane Dean threat (should have canceled that one and filed insurance claims) by catching the 5am ferry on the way to Cancun - no porters that early! When you overpack like I do, you have to allow for these challenges.

Okay, so SWA says they can probably get me into Cancun at 2pm, so I should be okay finding porters in PDC & Coz, arriving at my hotel late in the day again - after having to be at the LBB airport by 5am for the 6:15am departure, followed by changes in DAL & HOU both! For the return, I've got to be on the 11:25am plane, so that sounds like I need a 9am bus, an 8am ferry, skip the free breakfast and leave the hotel at 7am. $416 round-trip, no bag fees, but with ferry & bus costs and porter tips - I am back into the $600+ range.

Well, what about United? Gawd, I miss Continental. $556 for similar times, and I get to reserve seats, but $170 for bags = $726! I might as well go back to American and pay $50 to select seats, as that's only $10 more bottom line.

All this with the risks of flying in winter, delayed & canceled flights, stressful airport atmospheres, etc. On one hand I know the airlines do their best to fly ontime as that benefits their business, but the risks remain. On the other I know their obligations are to the stockholders and not the passengers. All in all, American in & out of Coz sounds more appealing, but they're always making it tougher to enjoy.

Am I missing something with my plan attempts? Traveling light is not an option, but I might be overlooking some other good idea.

 

[Pyro_]

if you are flexible on dates then plug in the number of days you want to go into google flights and see if it might be able to find you a better price or even if you have a specific date range you want to go in you might be able to get a better price by moving the dates by a couple of days it should be able to show you those options as well Google Flights

 

[DandyDon]

if you are flexible on dates then plug in the number of days you want to go into google flights and see if it might be able to find you a better price

I get along with Matrix better than Google flights, but I checked both.

 

[ajtoady]

I try to always investigate the airline sites. I have found that the "Travel" sites seem to favor certain airlines and do not check all the carriers rates. The advantage to SWA is free bags and if you cancel a flute you get full credit towards future. Just got raped, yes raped, by United for changing a flute to WI. ,original tickets for two $950, after changing due to a delay in equipment, total cost for the original and charges,,,$2600!!! Do your homework and you may find a deal.

 

[cicopo]

If you want a real challenge try booking from up here in the Great White North. Might be -30C when you (attempt) to start your car to get to / from the airport, and it could also be blizzard conditions. Might be a serious delay for de icing the aircraft, and this year about 90% of the flights starting / returning me to my local airport feature an overnight lay over which means clearing customs, taking your luggage to the hotel or sleeping with it in the airport, & then getting in the line up to give it back to the airline an hour earlier than necessary to catch the final flight of the trip. My trip when I add in the luggage costs & seat selections works out at roughly $1000 per person Cdn which is about $767 US at the official rate right now.

 

[flyboy08]

Such worries heading to tranquility! If you were poor and desolate, you wouldn’t have these issues.

Fly into Coz, relax ( as it seems your already worked up about this trip). Flying into CAN seems like too much of a hassle with all your bags....or hire a pvt driver from CAN to PDC....some poster listed his frequent driver in here somewhere.

I’m flying down on Saturday...$353rt NY/COZ!

 

[mcpowell]

First world problems....

 

[Snoweman]

Seats assigned at check-in only,

That sounds like a Basic Economy seat. With American Airlines, you're not allowed a carry on bag for that airfare type. Make sure you verify everything, including checked bag fees and carry on allowances. SWA doesn't charge for the first checked bag.

 

[Snoweman]

First world problems....

I would hope so. Otherwise, I am living in the wrong place.

 

[dlofting]

These were the types of problems I never had (or even thought about) when I was younger. Who cared if you arrived in a place at some awful hour, had to sleep in the airport or hump 100 lbs of gear, clothes and stuff to some stopover hostel and back to the airport.

But that's all changed. I have to consider how much I can carry and how long it will take me to recover once I get where I'm going....particularly if we're planning to do 3 or 4 dives a day.

Two years ago we were in the Philippines for some great diving, but the trip from Manila to Sabang was hard for us. We each had two rolling bags and getting them around the streets and on and off the bancas was a pain. So this time when we booked a similar trip I decided to opt for private transfer...it's expensive but I guess just one more cost of getting old. Oh well at least we're still diving.