Yes!
That’s why we try to stick to the same carrier whenever possible because those are the situations where having seniority in their frequent flyer program can help you.
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Yes, that’s why I called to insist on seat assignments for their return trip. That’s really bad, though. If they don’t have room for you they should let you know when you’re booking, not at the gate.
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I’m really surprised at the bad experiences with United. We’ve flown United exclusively for decades and have had great service. We recently flew United (and Star Alliance member Singapore Air) from LAX to Singapore then to Da Nang, Vietnam, then to Tokyo, then back to LAX without a hitch. Guess we’re just lucky??
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My craziest travel experience…ever. It was a while ago. DH and I were traveling with a 3 year old and a 7 year old. We had confirmed seats AND boarding passes with those assigned seats. DH was with one kid on one side of the aisle and I was directly across with the other kid.
One of us adults was called up to the counter at the gate. We were told they had to change ALL of our seats. They put us all over the plane. No parent anywhere near either of the kids. I politely said, “that’s fine with me. I hope the people next to our young kids (who wouldn’t have been old enough to fly unaccompanied) don’t mind taking care of them. I’ll enjoy my quiet time elsewhere on the plane”.
Remarkably, they were able to put us back in our original confirmed with boarding passes seats.
Unbelievable!
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I have flown a lot on United and have had mostly good experiences.
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We need to be booking flights this summer for an Alaska cruise next June. We fly out of Boston, so we will need flights from Boston–Vancouver, then Fairbanks–Boston.
We like Delta so will look at them first, but any suggestions? I’m not sure if anyone flies Boston to Vancouver direct, so we’re expecting a connection both ways.
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What about Boston to Seattle and then taking a train or a ferry to Vancouver? I think you might have more options.
Most airlines overbook because there are typically some passengers who do not show up for various reasons. I.e. it is their business model to offer “confirmed” tickets to more passengers than the aircraft holds, with the expectation that some do not show up, leaving the correct number.
But if they overestimate no shows, then they have to make offers for voluntary denied boarding, and if not enough passengers take those offers, then they use involuntary denied boarding.
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You probably have some level of status on United, and overseas flights may be prioritized when airports lose capacity due to weather.
I don’t know all their routes, but my mom flies nonstop Boston to Portland OR on Alaska Airlines a couple of times a year and is very happy with them.
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We are a delta hub so despite their higher prices we stay loyal to them. And no problems in a very long time thank heavens. I haven’t looked to see if they have direct flights for you, but Kurt know that booking this far out (which is fine b/c you can get a credit if prices drop) there is a strong possibility your itinerary may change (change in departure times or aircraft). Just stay on top of it.
BOS-YVR nonstop is available on Jet Blue.
I looked at getting to Vancouver by train or bus from Seattle or Bellingham (when Southwest still flew to Bellingham) and there wasn’t much that was convenient) or that was much cheaper than flying direct as that is about $200 more one-way). I ended up having my niece, who lives about an hour from Bellingham, pick me up. We dropped my friend at Vancouver airport (which was quite a way from the cruise ship port) and then I visited with my niece and flew back out of Seattle.
My kids are going to the last (unless she extends again) Taylor Swift ERAS concert in Vancouver in Dec. The problem they are running into is all hotel rooms in Vancouver are $1000s of dollars. Again, it will be my niece to the rescue who may have to haul them up there, wait for the concert to be over, and haul them back to Seattle. Her inlaws actually live in Vancouver but way on the other side of town so only helpful in an emergency (or if they need someone to watch their cat for a month).
Exactly. So pay up for a seat assignment (unless you are on a steerage ticket). Check-in early online (or thru the app). And if possible, try to fly early in the day, particularly on holidays. (If a flight gets cancelled for weather or mechanical, no other seats are available).
Long time flyer on UAL. Sometimes have Premier status and other times nothing. Only once had a problen: my wife and I were on separate tickets, sitting next to each other, but they moved her seat one day for some unknown reason. It just popped up on the app: ‘congrats, we’ve given you a new seat’. Uh, no. Spent 20 minutes on the phone getting her original seat back. Other than that, no real issues, but then I also fly mostly to/from UA hubs, so if there’s an issue, they have other flights into that direction.
Fwiw: just attended a wedding. Most folks coming in on AA got delayed, some even both ways. Most of the wedding party missed the Rehearsal (originating from different airports). It took my sister two days to get from Sacramento (CA) back home to Charlotte.
Last week Denver had ground delays almost every night because it was thinking of raining (didn’t rain at my house). Didn’t matter which airline you were on, you were delayed if you had a flight between about 4 pm and 8pm. One would actually be better off on SW or United because they have tons of flights every day to every where.
It’s not the rain, it’s the lightening. Cant have ground crews working out there.
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Not to mention wind shear…
Our Land/Sea Alaskan Cruise had us fly out of Atlanta to Minneapolis then change to a Frontier Airline to Fairbanks - all handled by Princess Cruise Line…kind of wish I’d done my own air but my first cruise and they kind of scared me into the fact that they don’t make any exceptions or credits for your flights getting screwed up if you made them yourself. I didn’t like the Frontier plane.
Thats peculiar. We took 12 people on a princess cruise. The travel agent booked all our airfares but princess guaranteed that if we missed the boat (literally) they would guarantee to get us to the next port. No clue about the airfare issue if there was a problem (but there wasnt).
Maybe I wrote that incorrectly -yes, Princess handled all the airline booking, guaranteed any flight issues would be handled by them and we’d be compensated, etc - but if we did our own air, it would not. I would have preferred handling my own flight but did not because I was nervous about missing the ship etc. I’m guessing your travel agent had Princess book the fights…I used a travel agent as well and they went through Princess to book the flights.