Just need to vent...

I heartily agree that foreign-flag airlines offer much better cabins and service than any USA domestics.

I was most recently spoiled by Air France, but Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa & South African Airways all deserve shout-outs.

 

Yes, I knew what you meant. I was just saying that it can be a challenge to get that 50% decrease when you've flown in the USA only twice in your whole 52 year life.

Update, I did get a refund for the $43.56 for the wrong week I mistakenly reserved for parking. I still had to pay the some $220 for the week I had thought I had reserved parking for, but it's better than nothing.

 

I've only flown in the USA and Mexico. In Mexico it seems so much cheaper and easier. For one, the airports are a fraction of the size. In Denver I couldn't figure out how to get out of the airport as the exit signs didn't seem to lead to any exit. In Ciudad Juarez there are only 4 gates in the whole airport. It is also immensely much cheaper to just drive there, cross the boarder, and fly out than flying from the USA.

 

Along with that Joy we notice that there are more canceled flights, more 1 & 2 leg flights, overbooked flights, rescheduled flights, less goodies to eat even when the flight is more than 2½ hours? Sometimes requiring payment? etc.
.

 

After ~1.5 decades of flying international and not-within US, I took some US domestic flights a few years ago. They were all memorably below average. Don't know what changed, exactly or generally, but DANG.

==
Decades earlier bopping around Latin America, one flight took off with all lavatories inoperative. Made an extra stop in Caracas where pax were escorted to lavs by young men with automatic weapons. That will be hard to beat I think.

 

If I can comfortably drive for two days, I don't ever fly anymore. That covers the whole US east of the Mississippi.

JeffD

 

I learned the hard way last spring that driving in Winter can risk your life. Yeah from now on I know how important it is to fly in wintertime, even though it's more expensive. The winter time can easily put you off the side of the road in an icy ditch.

 

I'll drive to gigs roughly between Pittsburgh and New Haven; past that I fly.

I first flew to Mexico in the 90s, back when Mexicana did violently hard landings at LAX because the jet shop there was better than the one at home- they wanted to break the planes where they'd get a better repair. I think that was the last time I was on a Boeing 727... I miss those.

Since then I've enjoyed AA service to Cancun a couple times; looking forward to another someday.

 

Flew from Cancun to Mexico City in the very late 1980s. It went flawless.
Anomaly?

 

Ice-time plane and train travel are fraught. Sometimes just troublesome, but sometimes much worse. Ice-time road travel depends much on drivers not being ... typical. This is a heck of a thing to rely upon.

 

In the Deep South, driving on ice is a little easier, because we live in a more hospitable portion of the planet and we simply do not have to DEAL with icy roads all that often.
This means, of course, that we ALSO do not have to deal with ID10Ts that "think" that the laws of physics do not apply to them because they have a vehicle with a "4X4" or an "AWD" placard.

Those folks are 'self eliminated' early.

 

That's why I always have high quality, All-Weather (not all season) tires on my car. I grew up in Chicago and learned how to deal with snow/ice while driving there.

JeffD

 

Everyone has seen the news where pictures of dozens of cars get piled up in the ditch, or jackknif'ed ... crumpled sheet metal like so many billiard balls that bounced off each other. Even if you manage to NOT be one of the unlucky ones, coming upon the aftermath - your vehicle & subsequent ones, end up tucked into the middle of the wait list - waiting for tow trucks. You ain't going nowhere.
Watched the 1st patrolman on the scene from about 20 yards away, he stopped walking to a truck ... bent way over & it looked like he was having some kind of illness, or stomach problems?
Nope - the high winds ... just standing there he started sliding sideways on the ice - getting blown towards the ditch. When the gusts lightened up he just kept on his job as though no big deal. Obviously not their first rodeo. Later in that trip was my first experience with snow drifts coupled with high winds too.
No mas

Floor jack? check
Impact wrench? check
Winter studs? check


Discount Tire will swap summer to Winter Wheel sets out for free, but after the pandemic they're so backed up you can end up waiting weeks. Who wants to take that chance
.

 

^ You may also want to add a tow strap and some tire chains - perhaps a AAA membership and some backup winter wear.

 

Is this a competition? I have all-weather tires for summer, studded snow tires for winter, always carry a tow strap and tire chains all year long, and I'm never afraid to use them. Sometimes, when the snow pack stays on the roads for days on end, I just put on the tire chains and leave them on until the pavement starts showing up again.

People always say they need AWD, yet I'm the guy to always be driving around AWD vehicles stuck in snow banks with no problem. AWD is overrated. I do avoid going out though because people don't get it that you need to slow down and take it easy. Snow tires, studs, chains, socks, cables, etc. all help a bit, but there are no miraculous tire accessories that take away the slipperiness of ice and snow. Despite what people claim, there are no winter tires that make driving on snow just like driving on dry pavement.

 

Check check & check!
Fortunately - threw in a shovel too. when hitting an insurmountable snow drift that had blown across the road. It paid volumes of dividends. Even comes in handy when it's the other guy's problem

but to repeat? no mas!

 

Same.

Nariyoshi Miyagi say best way to avoid punch - no be there.