Alaska Airlines used to have mileage partnerships with some OneWorld and SkyTeam airlines, so that made it easier to consolidate miles. But now it looks like they are just OneWorld.
After years and years of business flying for both us, itās great to take advantage of all those miles and status. In the past year weāve used miles to travel using United Business class and Polaris to: Costa Rice, Singapore, Da Nang Vietnam, and Tokyo. Currently planning a trip back to Japan for our whole family (S and D). Fun, and fun.
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@BunsenBurner. Alaska had a good flight from San Jose to Boston or New York that Iāve flown a few times. That is a decent way to pick up miles.
It is hard for me to know how many miles I have flown as many of the airlines mix miles and class of service and fare paid. But, Iām pretty sure I flew over 2 MM on AA. That made me Platinum for Life that was useful at the time, so being a milion miler on Alaska may be helpful to your husband, but now AA has devalued Platinum so the status is not worth much. A long time ago (just after hitting 2 MM miles on AA), I switched over to accumulating miles/points on BA. Iāve flown tons since then (over a dozen transatlantic flights per year in some years plus flights to Asia and South America, usually business or first class). As a consequence, I am Gold for Life on BA (which is the equivalent of AA Executive Platinum), and that status can be helpful. When using my Avios for the France trip, they made award availability for me and my wife on one flight, which was not generally available. Pre-Pandemic I always had status on Star Alliance and never on Sky Team, which is why I was surprised I had flown 475K miles on Delta.
I think I will have a number of flights to Africa in the next two years on top of my normal business flying (London, Sao Paulo, San Francisco, etc.). Those flights are paid for so I donāt use miles for them.
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Sounds great @Rivet2000. I just got an invite from a VC firm in Paris that invested in a firm I co-founded.] for their annual party a few days after we would be returning. May try to set up a few meetings and attend the party.
I would love to go back to Vietnam ā we had a great time there ā and would like to visit Laos. Trying to plan a trip for the whole family someplace, but it is hard to get our children and their partners to be able to do the same week.
I just made round trip tickets from Hartford to Atlanta for a wedding in October. Total cost for a nonstop on Delta was $560ā¦total for two people. Not bad!
And itās nonstop too!
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Note that Alaska used to count miles only flown on Alaska flights towards their million mile status back then even though they were a part of those alliances. Now all alliance miles do.
Oy, Iām sure Iām overthinking thisā¦
The rolling carry on I have, hard sided, 4 wheel, which Iād planned to use for a 4 week Europe trip, is about 1/2 too deep for one airline going to Europe (coming home I couldnāt care less and will check everything!) - your experience please. Of course I could check it, but Iāve got a connection in Frankfurt and really donāt want to be separated from my stuff.
Do most (all?) of the European carriers make you put your bag in the ācageā to test size. Not worried about weight.
Last year our flights in Athens & Munich both drug the ācageā around to each gate and checked bags that did not fit. Aegean Airlines, if I remember correctly.
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Swiss air did not check the dimensions or the weight last month (Frankfurt to Zurich). Ours was a couple of pounds heavier.
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Flying through Belgium and Germany in route to/from Italy last year, we had backpacks that definitely were too heavy and were slightly oversized. We were fine, but I admit I was worried on the way there. On the way home my husband actually checked his backpack, if I recall correctly.
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Our experience has been that European carriers are strict about sizes once you are in Europe. Less so if your flight originated in the US.
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I hope this shows up. I thought it was funny. Gate at Lima airport boarding for flight to Newark. People trying to take advantage of the wheelchair first boarding policy.
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If you donāt personally know these people you are making a big assumption. My mother was wheel chair bound for 10 years starting in her 60ās. She had MS and otherwise looked very healthy.
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I donāt get this at all. Iād rather be the last one on the plane and let them gate check my carry on if there is no room. Why do you want to sit in that cramped plane longer than you have to?
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Son flew Lufthansa from Newark to Munich. They had the cage right there at the check-in counter, had to put the carry-on bag in, and then they put a tag on the bag to prove that it had been sized in the cage.
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We fly out of OāHare and have never experienced that, but usually our flights are co-shares with United so they follow the United protocols when leaving. Iāve had my bag taken away for being āoversizedā in Europe more times than I can count, even on the same type of aircraft where we know for sure it fits.
The European carriers flying between European cities were always the worst for us. I find it super frustrating to the point that weāve started going by train once in Europe to avoid the hassle at the airport as we have a terrible history of bags being lost.
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Yeah, who knows whether the wheelchairs are legit or not. The wheelchair picture came from the āView from the Wingā website that covers aviation issues, which in turn linked to the Reddit discussion where the picture was originally posted. Thereās been a discussion for several months about how people are abusing wheelchair boarding privileges in order to be the first onto the plane, and then when they get off, they miraculously donāt need the wheelchairs. It mostly happens on Southwest, where the first people onto the plane get to pick their seats.
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Iāve mentioned before that in the last 2 years Iāve been that person, at Long Beach (CA) airport as their boarding is a very long, steep winding ramp to board the plane, and since being hospitalized for 2 weeks with piriformis syndrome, I simply canāt ascend the ramp anymore. Descending is no issue for me, nor is straightaway. Therefore when we land, yes, I am able to make my way on foot without assistance. So yes, please donāt assume that these are folks taking advantage.
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I also look and am pretty healthy but if I walk all over the airport I use up a ton of battery for my O2 machine that I will need for the plane. I also have to travel with 2 O2 machines, batteries and a ton of other medical stuff that adds weight & bulk. Yes, I use wheelchair services. Oh yeah, have to carry all my medical stuff with me on the plane, because Iām sunk if any medical stuff goes missing!
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I have needed a wheelchair, but I admit seeing a long line of wheelchairs waiting to preboard does raise my BP, especially on SW.
About ten years ago, I reserved one. I was flying to have an orthopedic surgery and had a lot of trouble walking. For the trip to the doctor, I thought I was okay, just slow and gimpy, but post op I knew I would need help. When I arrived at the airport, there was no chair available. Okay, fine, I could walk. When I got to my gate, I saw a line of ten filled wheelchairs! I canāt say the others looked worse than me. (I looked pretty bad. Those motorized carts always stopped and tried to persuade me to hop on. I refused and limped on.) The gate agent found a chair for me, I was on the list and had reserved one, but before I could claim it, a young woman who looked like she had just had a baby stepped up. She was young and the baby was tiny and it looked like it took all she had to stay on her feet. Her H was nearby with too many carry ons and a car seat and a stroller. I gave her my chair.
Now it is possible that mid week flight to Atlanta in early November had more than ten people on it who needed wheelchairs and early boarding. It is possible. But I doubt it.
On the flight home, I was the only wheelchair passenger.
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