We will be leaving for a vacation in the states in just over a week so the long flight from Johannesburg to Atlanta is on my mind. As such this blog will be about flying and in my opinion the most important thing about flying is LOYALTY. Pick an airline, sign up for their mileage program and then use that airline exclusively for your travel needs. While some people prefer to use websites like Priceline and Travelocity to find the best deal, I prefer to stick with one airline. By using a travel sites people usually end up using various airlines and therefore accrue a small amount of miles on several airline programs. However if you choose one airline to use exclusively you will rack up miles faster and obtain elite status and all the perks that come with it. Using one airline exclusively may at times cost you more money, however I think it is worth it.
WHY SPEND MORE MONEY TO FLY ONE AIRLINE CONSISTENTLY?
First off, you need to get it out of your head that you will always fly on the cheapest ticket. Ticket prices fluctuate by airline, by day, and by destination. Sometimes Delta will be cheaper, sometimes American Airlines, and sometimes United, but if you are loyal the extra money you spend on some tickets will more than make up for it. Although I have joined various mileage programs, I always try to fly Delta if they have a flight or if one of their partners have a flight to my desired location. Since I fly Delta the majority of the time I have collected quite a bit of miles and am currently a Gold Medallion member (Spencer is also a Gold Medallion member, but sadly Becca is only a Silver Medallion member.) In Delta the elite status goes Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond. The greatest benefit of flying one airline is obtaining an elite status. Since I am a Gold Medallion member I get several benefits to include:
1. Sky priority
-Faster Check-in: Access dedicated check-in areas
-Accelerated Security: Walk through expedited security lines
-Expedited Baggage Service: Have your bags delivered first to the carousel
2. Extra bonus miles for flying
3. Complimentary upgrades on domestic flights
4. Waived baggage fees
5. Better chance of scoring an international upgrade (however you have to use your miles to upgrade). If you upgrade you get a seat like this. We are on the wait list for our flight out to Atlanta in a week and hopefully we get the upgrade. 15 hours is a long time in the coach seats. (this seat reclines to a completely horizontal position.)
HOW TO CHOOSE WHICH AIRLINE TO FLY EXCLUSIVELY:
If you want to rack up the airline miles and begin getting the perks of being an elite member, you have to choose which airline you want to fly exclusively. All the airlines have their pros and cons, as do their mileage programs. If you want to get the most bang out of your buck, then choose the airline that uses your home airport the most, or pick the airline that has alot of flights going into your most frequented destination. If you live near an airline hub, that airlines tickets will usually be cheaper and most likely will be a more direct route. For example, I chose Delta because we lived in Utah. As SLC is a Delta hub, Delta usually has some of the cheapest flights flying out of SLC. If you live in or near Chicago, then you may want to pick United. Research your local airport to find who the main carrier is.
Another factor in choosing an airline if your flying long distances is comfort. In Coach seats, the leg room and width of the seats do not change that much from airline to airline. Being tall an extra inch doesn't really make alot of difference during a 15 hour flight. So, instead I look for what airline has the best entertainment package. A 15 hour flight goes by quicker if there is a large selection of movies to choose from. It is also better if the movies are on demand. On Delta long-haul flights you usually have a very large selection of current and popular movies, usually over 20 movies. In addition, you can start the movie when you are ready, fast forward it, pause it, and rewind if you missed a part. Not all airlines do this. I was on a United flight from Brussels to Dulles and they only had 5 or 6 movies on all at the same time on a continuous loop. No choosing when you watch the movie and no pausing it.
When you go to pick the seats of your next flight I encourage you to use the website www.seatguru.com. This website lists every aircraft by every airline and tells you the pros and cons of every flight and every seat. It tells you which seats are more noisy, which ones have extra leg room, which ones have a bad view of the in-flight movie, etc..
2 comments:
Wow! Great tips. Who knew?? Thanks!
First of all I would like to congratulate you for this great post, however, at one place I disagree with you.
In your post you said that sticking to one airline will work but using travel portals will make you fly on varied airlines. But being a frequent traveler I like to experience different Airlines because until and unless i won't do the same, I won't be able to know which airlines is offering better services and relatively lower services.
Usually, I like to fly via Cathe Pacific but last moth I deliberately traveled via Kingfisher because I wanted to know more about their services and what exactly they offer. And this time I booked my ticket via a travel portal called ZapBooking.com
And I must say that travel portals are very effective, efficient and are of great assistance. On a portal, you will get to know which airlines is offering the cheapest airfare coupled with best of their services.
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