Zacharius

38 minutes ago, kadmgs said:

As a 22 yr. social studies educator and life-long learner, I agree 100% that this could be more educational than what they could get in a classroom. The amazing things I could do with students given the opportunities and locations they will have. Plus, having a dedicated space on board for "school" would be amazing. 

I think you just came up with Semester At Sea

On 12/10/2023 at 7:22 PM, smokeybandit said:

In several ways they'll get a better education in the next 275 days than they would in a school setting

I would say in most ways. And I'm saying that as a big proponent of traditional education/schooling (hell, I have a PhD, I drank the school kool-aid). If you have the right caregivers, they can open your eyes to so much along the way. Cultures, languages, history. Even math - "how many drinks do we need a day to break even on the drink package?". Got it all. 

16 hours ago, steverk said:

I'm not sure of the series, but I'm logged in, looking at the seat map using my booking number. Rows jump from 46 to 61.

ANZ only has one version of the 777, which is the 777-300ER. And as far as I know, they all have the same seating chart. This is so odd, I am stumped. 

EDIT: Well, according to this website, there are indeed two versions and one jumps from 46 to 59. Interesting. https://seatmaps.com/airlines/nz-air-new-zealand/boeing-777/#fd92a703e837c873aca02bf1edfafcfe

7 minutes ago, steverk said:

It's a 777. The flight is coming up in February 

Well that's even weirder then, because ANZ's own website shows a perfectly normal sequence of rows on their 777-300s - https://www.airnewzealand.com/seat-map-boeing-777-300 

I'll never be surprised by what cruisers pack on their trips

On 11/27/2023 at 8:07 AM, Cactus527 said:

I want to know how they know it came from Arizona. That's kind of wild to trace.

It was eating a Sonoran hot dog.

Yeah there's a decent amount of missing info here. Where are you leaving from? Where are you going? What passport(s) do you carry? 

14 minutes ago, Doug_Texas said:

I’ve never used Air2Sea but am Exec Platinum on AA.  It is amazing how often they reassign seats and it greatly annoys me.  Sometimes the departure time changes by 15 minutes and my seats get reassigned.  I log into aa.com frequently to check seats.  I have observed it happening even more with British Airways where I have no status other than OneWorld.  My last Europe trip I had AA going to Philly connecting to BA and made sure I had 4 hours between flights and AA reassigned me to a later flight with only 40 minutes between flights.  The original flight was still available.  I had a heated discussion with AA and got back on the flight I originally booked.  Once a reseller like Air2Sea books you use your airline booking reference number to stay on top of your flights.

So weird, because I'm ExecPlat too and I can't remember ever having a seat assignment changed due to a simple schedule change. Not saying it doesn't happen, maybe I've just been lucky, but in my 15 or so years of being Exec Plat, I don't remember one time where just a schedule change alone (same flight numbers, same aircraft type) has caused a seat re-allocation. Heck, just yesterday I had a rather large schedule change on one leg of an upcoming ELP-LAX-HND-CTS trip, and I just reconfirmed that all of my seats are the exact same. 

45 minutes ago, steverk said:

The airline website allowed me to select different seats. I'm still wondering what happened to more than 10 rows of seats in the middle of the plane!

Do you remember what aircraft it was? The only thing I can think of is that it was one of their 747s back in the day (which have all been gone for the last several years) and those numbers were allocated to the upper deck. I've been on the ANZ 747-400s, even on the upper deck, but don't remember what row numbers were up there. 

1 minute ago, RoadtoNowhere73 said:

Thanks L2C2002. This helps. I do recall the original flight departure/arrival times changed with AA (by <30 min), where all other details remained the same, but I was not aware this prompted a seat assignment reset. Now I do. I'll stay on top of these airline details much more closely and diligently going forward. 

As someone who pretty much lives on AA planes - a schedule change alone shouldn't screw up seats. A flight number change might, but if the aircraft type stays the same it should stay the same too. It's when an aircraft type changes that it can screw up the seats for obvious reasons. 

1 hour ago, Esther said:

My passport has expired, but I have a US green card. Will I be allowed to board the Carnival Cruise Ship, Independence of the Sea to Labadee, Haiti with a US green card?

For your reading pleasure - https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1401/~/travel-documentation%3A-u.s.-permanent-residents 

On 11/23/2023 at 1:17 PM, Lovetocruise2002 said:

I am wondering, and it's just a guess because this has happened to me a lot lately with several of my Air2Sea flights, if United changed the flights (moved times and aircraft) and a new flight number was assigned and that caused Air2Sea to cancel somehow.

Airlines change times and flight numbers all the time, especially as far out as many cruise travelers book. If that caused Air2Sea to cancel the bookings, that's a serious flaw in their system, not United's. 

Flash mob?

On 11/11/2023 at 12:11 PM, Kelseylovestocruise said:

As a Canadian what is the earliest flight out of Venice you would book knowing that it is a long drive from the port to the airport. 

Your citizenship doesn't really matter...what matters is where your flight is going. Is it within Schengen where it's just security? Is it outside Schengen where you have to clear Schengen immigration on the way out in addition to security? Is it a nonstop to the US where there would be additional security on top of those things? There's not really a one-size-fits-all answer. I would say 12:50pm would probably be okay in all three of those scenarios, but there's always a chance of delays getting in to Venice and/or getting off of the ship. 

15 minutes ago, Jolly Ogre said:

Your education system has failed you.

This makes absolutely zero sense. I have a PhD in engineering, I know my math fairly well, and I agree that 20% is easier to calculate in a split second than 15%...neither are hard, but 20% is easier. 

1 minute ago, jbrinkm said:

This is what I was going to say. The recommendations used to be 15% baseline - everything was fine, 20% exceptional service and 10% for subpar service. Post covid, the baseline seems to have shifted to 20%. 20% is much easier to calculate than 15%.

I feel like 20% became the standard at least a decade ago, if not more. 

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

Unfortunately so many job roles expect tips now.

Because so many base pay's don't cover the bills in 2023

July 18th sees four AMS-ATL nonstops between KLM and Delta. I would personally choose another one. 

50 minutes ago, RoadtoNowhere73 said:

I visited the union page and a strike has almost unanimous support from its dues members, so it seems it will happen, it's just a question of when they decide to do it.

There is still a chance it could be negotiated out of. But yeah, the unknowns are difficult. I have a couple of flights scheduled for work around that time (I practically live on AA/OneWorld flights) and I'm just in that "we'll see what happens" mindsight. But, I have been since the vote happened. I do have non-AA backups for all of my itineraries just in case (but I also have the opportunity to book on other airlines and just pass that on to my clients if it's an extra expense, so...that helps). 

On 11/4/2023 at 5:42 PM, teddy said:

You definitely want to stay in Boston itself, not near the airport…..the airport is across the harbor from the city. 

Boston is one of those few major US cities (along with San Diego, Vegas, and DC (Reagan Airport, at least)) where there really is almost no point of staying in an airport hotel. The city center is so close and easy to get to that it would be crazy not to stay in the city. 

23 minutes ago, sammyg said:

If money is not an issue, you could take a seaplane from Seattle to Victoria, and another from Victoria to Vancouver. It would be beautiful!

There may be regular flights from Seattle airport to Victoria and maybe from Victoria to Vancouver. That wouldn’t be awful, if the schedules align with your flight into Seattle. 

Alaska Air runs SEA-Victoria (YYJ) flights a few times daily. If the flight to SEA is already booked, adding a SEA-YYJ flight puts you in to "separate tickets" territory which is something to be careful with. It can be done, but there are things to be aware of and I'm happy to advise on that if this is a route OP wants to check out. 

Air Canada does YYJ-YVR flights, but it may be worth the extra expense of the seaplane to get you between city centres. I've done that flight and it's fantastic. Harbour Air runs these flights if you want to check out pricing and compare it to Air Canada/Air North/Westjet on the YYJ-YVR route (keeping in mind the additional time/expense of getting between city centres and airports on both ends of that very short flight). 

13 minutes ago, RoadtoNowhere73 said:

Hello all, new to the forum.

My family is booked for the Oasis of the Seas for a Christmas cruise out of Miami next month. We also booked our flight plans through RC, from California to Miami (direct).

My concern is this: I understand the union of flight attendants for American Airlines has agreed to strike, but the question is when. Some speculate the most leverage they will have will be right before the holidays. This makes me very nervous, as our flight (through RC) is with AA, and the possibility of missing our expensive cruise (which I paid for in full) because of a flight attendant strike is making me crazy.

I called RC and they said their Emergency Travel Team will attempt alternate flight arrangements for us if this happens, if there is anything available with other airlines but not to call them until a day or two before our cruise. Worst case they will fly us to Jamaica so we can join the cruise ship from there, missing the first 2 days of our cruise (not to mention the 1 night in Miami I already reserved and paid for the day before the cruise). This is unacceptable. And I cannot afford to make another set of roundtrip plane tix for my entire family as a plan B. 

And yes, I'm an idiot because I did not opt for insurance, and even though my cruise is about 40 days away I can't add it at this point either. My heart is sunk. 

As you mention, there's no set date on this, so there's not much anyone can do in the mean time. I understand that can be frustrating, but RC isn't going to switch your flights for something that is purely hypothetical. I know it doesn't sound good, but you really just need to wait at this point. Research alternative flights so that, if it does happen, you can immediately call and ask to be put on specific flights. Definitely don't wait until "a day or two before" unless that's when it happens...be prepared, and call the moment it happens (if it happens). 

Each passengers gets one of those underwater scooter things from Thunderball to get them to their final destination. 

10 hours ago, teddy said:

To be fair, we live on the east coast, so that makes it cheaper than anyone west of us. 

Not always the case. Distances have little to do with cost when it comes to flights and it's based on demand and what the individual markets can handle, price wise. For example, I can book a roundtrip PHL-LHR-PHL roundtrip on May 4-18 (random) for the same price as LAX-LHR-LAX ($850ish, both examples nonstop on BA or AA, which essentially act as the same airline on Transatlantic flights). On the same dates, nonstop Air France flights BOS-CDG-BOS run roughly $500 more than nonstop Air France flights SFO-CDG-SFO.

13 hours ago, Traveling Mike said:

I like the prices but I cannot book when the Cruise is $1,400 and the flight is $5,000 for economy class.

Nobody is going to charge $5k for a standard economy ticket to Europe, even in the dead of summer, unless something crazy changes. Hell, I can book FAT-CDG or FAT-LHR (picked some random major European cities) on random dates in July, the height of 2024 tourist season, for less than $1600 roundtrip. On those same random dates/flights, if you drove up to SFO and did SFO-CDG or SFO-LHR, it's less than $1200 roundtrip. 

11 minutes ago, Woody14 said:

Had some people miss it and ended up having to get a helicopter ride, I can't imagine the cost of that.  

Yeah but, come on, how bad ass would it be to "have" to take a helicopter back from Capri to catch your "yacht".