Points and Miles

[realjd]

My most frequent flight over the last couple years has been Denver to Boise or Seattle to Boise, and that's usually a  Frontier/Midwest Embraer E190 (which are horrible planes given that it's a newish design- very cramped, tiny overheads)/a couple Delta by Skywest CRJs or a Horizon CRJ or Bombardier Q400, all fairly uncomfortable planes
Good call- that makes me want to fly Southwest more often

You don't like the ERJ's? I absolutely love those planes. Yes, they're small planes with small overheads, but Embraer makes the best damn seats in the business. Even the tiny 145's with 1-2 seating are a nice ride. I actually like the ERJ's better than the MD-88/DC9/717/whatever-they're-calling-it-todays.

The CRJ's, on the other hand, suck hard. They make the worst seats in the business. My home airport is served by Delta with a few flights each day on a Mad Dog and a few on the CRJ-700. My coworkers and I know which flights are which and will go out of our way to book the MD flights over the CRJ7 flights, partly to avoid terrible Atlantic Southwest Airlines (DeltaConnection) and partly because the CRJ's are that bad. Thankfully, ASA has been adding a small first class section to their CRJ7 which makes them a bit more bearable for us frequent flyers, but they're still crappy planes.

For what it's worth, I like AirTran better than Southwest as far as low cost airlines go. I can't stand Southwest's boarding policy. AirTran also only has full-size planes, in their case 717's and 737's.

[oscar]

exit rows are fine, but the very first (bulkhead) row is something up with which I shall not put.  My "personal item" tends to be my camera bag, and I like to have it by my feet in case something worth photographing comes up suddenly.  In the bulkhead row, you cannot keep an item so nakedly in front of your feet, because, you know, in case of turbulence, I'm not going to suddenly hold three thousand dollars of camera equipment very tightly and instead I'll let it fly all over the plane and bonk people on the head.

I hate bulkhead seats too, for the same reasons.  Especially aggravating is when you fly an Alaska Airlines "combi" 737 (on "milk run" routes in western and southeastern Alaska) with cargo in the front, and you think you got a regular seat with a row number in the teens, only to find you got the front-most row in the passenger cabin.  One time with one of the old 737-200 combi "mud hens" (this seems not to be an issue with the newer 737-400 combis that replaced the mud hens), the overhead bin was too short for my camera bag, so I had to do some serious begging to get another passenger to let me stow my bag under the seat in front of her.

[corco]

You don't like the ERJ's? I absolutely love those planes. Yes, they're small planes with small overheads, but Embraer makes the best damn seats in the business. Even the tiny 145's with 1-2 seating are a nice ride. I actually like the ERJ's better than the MD-88/DC9/717/whatever-they're-calling-it-todays.

The ERJ is passable for short flights- I had to ride one from Denver to Seattle a couple months ago though, which was horribly uncomfortable. The seats aren't bad, but there's very little shoulder room. I do expect a plane that debuted in 2004 to have better designed overhead compartments. It may just take some getting used to- before Midwest showed up Frontier used Airbus 318s on many of the routes they're using E190s on now, and the 318 is about as comfortable a 100ish passenger plane as you can get

[J N Winkler]

I have flown in both types of regional jet (Canadair & Embraer) and I don't like either of them.  I don't like regional jets in general.  I also dislike unassigned seating, but I have had to learn to put up with it because that is the dominant model for European budget airlines (I have personally flown only EasyJet and Ryanair, but I am not aware of any other budget airlines which assign seats).

I have never encountered an airline which had a boarding procedure I liked or considered truly accessible to deaf people--the airlines seem to have no interest in devising a boarding process which does not involve a lot of standing around with carry-on luggage in hand.  Boarding by groups is especially bad because if you don't know that is the boarding method being used, you don't know to look for the group identifier on your ticket and risk being branded a queue-jumper if you join the wrong group.  Some airlines are less bad at boarding than others--the worst will channel you into a cattle-chute lounge with a hard linoleum or tile floor and noplace to sit.

I think mobile lounges, airside buses, and boarding procedures which require passengers to cross the air traffic operations area on foot should all be banned.

[corco]

I think mobile lounges, airside buses, and boarding procedures which require passengers to cross the air traffic operations area on foot should all be banned.

That's a nice idea in theory, but the cost of maintaining jetways for small planes is absurd- if Great Lakes Airlines (which operates nowhere near the Great Lakes) had to put up a jetway for every one of their planes at DIA (and build the requisite facilities in big cities like Laramie or Chadron which have single level terminals- the cost would be ridiculous to build a two story terminal and then attach a jetway just so a couple flights a day don't have to walk outside), they probably wouldn't be able to operate. Even slightly larger regional carriers like Horizon likely can't make money if they have to put up jetways.

I do think a decent system for boarding those little planes should be in place- Boise and SLC have them where you get your pass scanned, walk down an indoor/outdoor hallway that serves all of those regional flights, turn where you see the bright sign that says "PLANE TO IDAHO FALLS, TURN LEFT" and then you turn left and the plane is right there down a clearly marked path. I have been in other jetway-free circumstances where it's a lot less organized, and that's annoying, but if it's done correctly I don't see a problem.

[SP Cook]

Air travel for me involves a small plane to a larger airport.  We only have the "traditional" airlines (Delta, American, US Airways, and Continental/United) and prices between them are pretty similar.  I have a points card in each, and try to keep enough to have a trip available for each at any time.  I have a Delta credit card to which I charge everything, and thus get plenty of miles from it.

I find no difference between any brand of airliner, either between Airbus or Boeing, or between Embarier or Canadair (and do not mind the props that also fly into here still).  I also see no significant service level difference between the "traditional" airlines, other than US Airways, which has eliminated all froms of entertainment, and which I thus avoid for cross-country trips.

I mostly make my decisons based on the connecting ariports.  Of the ones currently used by my airport, I find ATL to be too large, but well-organized;  CLT is far smaller, but the small plane terminal is like a 20 minute taxi in and out, adding to the trip; ORD is too large and poorly organized;  IAD is a nice airport, but not really on the way anywhere from here, unless one is going to Europe; DET is good in the summer, but again not really on the way and often snow bound in winter; IAH is probably my favorite, and you can fly to ANYWHERE from there.  You can also fly from here to DCA, LGA, and PHL, but they do not encourage connections via those places.

As a primary hotel, I have a Hilton card and use that brand (Hilton, Doubletree, Hampton, Embassy, etc) if I can, with Priority Club (Holiday Inn) as the back up, but my daughter is in college now and the only hotel in town is a Marriott and I have gotten its card as well.  I will stay at a Hilton member if at all possible.

[J N Winkler]

I think mobile lounges, airside buses, and boarding procedures which require passengers to cross the air traffic operations area on foot should all be banned.

That's a nice idea in theory, but the cost of maintaining jetways for small planes is absurd- if Great Lakes Airlines (which operates nowhere near the Great Lakes) had to put up a jetway for every one of their planes at DIA (and build the requisite facilities in big cities like Laramie or Chadron which have single level terminals- the cost would be ridiculous to build a two story terminal and then attach a jetway just so a couple flights a day don't have to walk outside), they probably wouldn't be able to operate. Even slightly larger regional carriers like Horizon likely can't make money if they have to put up jetways.

Yes, soon after I posted that I realized exceptions would have to be made for cases such as the single-level small regional airports you mention, as well as some European bucket-and-spade airports.  But my view is that any airport which handles over 1 million PATMs annually has no excuse whatsoever for exposing passengers to the inconvenience and danger of airside transfers.  I have been forced to do these at major international airports like (PATMs in millions in parentheses) LHR (67), LGW (37), ORD (64), FCO (35), LTN (10), DFW (56), and MAD (48).

In my view, and with the exceptions noted for small airports etc., the authority to operate an air route should be linked to routine provision of jetbridges or some other suitable means of transferring passengers between plane and terminal that does not involve direct contact with the airside environment.  I don't particularly care who pays for it and I don't think that has to matter; there is an expectation that airlines should meet the costs of the facilities they use, but in reality municipalities will offer airlines subsidies to get themselves access to air service (either cash in hand or indirect subsidies such as provision of necessary infrastructure at below cost).

I do think a decent system for boarding those little planes should be in place- Boise and SLC have them where you get your pass scanned, walk down an indoor/outdoor hallway that serves all of those regional flights, turn where you see the bright sign that says "PLANE TO IDAHO FALLS, TURN LEFT" and then you turn left and the plane is right there down a clearly marked path. I have been in other jetway-free circumstances where it's a lot less organized, and that's annoying, but if it's done correctly I don't see a problem.

I wonder what their excuse for not using jetbridges is at BOI.  They have 3 million PATMs.  SLC is even less likely to have a good excuse because it handles over 20 million PATMs.  Jetbridges are available at TUS (4 million PATMs) and they are used year-round.  For that matter, ICT (my home airport) handles 1.6 million PATMs and has jetbridges capable of handling both regional and mid-size jets, though there are airside transfers since four of the eleven gates in regular use do not have jetbridges.

[PAHighways]

I am a member of Choice Privileges, Gold Points Plus, Hilton Honors, Priority Club Rewards, Marriott Rewards, and Gold Crown Club.  If I can, I try to stay at any of the hotels covered by the latter three as it's a win-win since my website is an affiliate of Intercontinental Hotels, Marriott, and Best Western.

[corco]

I wonder what their excuse for not using jetbridges is at BOI.  They have 3 million PATMs.  SLC is even less likely to have a good excuse because it handles over 20 million PATMs.  Jetbridges are available at TUS (4 million PATMs) and they are used year-round.  For that matter, ICT (my home airport) handles 1.6 million PATMs and has jetbridges capable of handling both regional and mid-size jets, though there are airside transfers since four of the eleven gates in regular use do not have jetbridges.

It's cheaper, I'm not sure they even make jetways that fit the Bombardier Q400 which is most of the BOI traffic, and they have a system that works really well. In Boise, Alaska/Horizon is the only airline that doesn't use jetways, and they essentially have their own concourse. Interestingly, before they rebuilt BOI four or so years ago, Alaska/Horizon had two gates with jetways. When they rebuilt the airport, those disappeared because the new Alaska concourse is at ground level.  Before they retired the MD-80, Alaska used to fly one to Boise once a day and didn't have a jetway which actually sped up the process because they let us exit from the front and rear doors on really nice custom-built roll up staircases.

I'd guess the ground level argument is most of it- you can get a lot more planes in a smaller space by putting them on ground level- if BOI had to build an elevated concourse for Alaska/Horizon, the building footprint would have had to have been a LOT bigger. I'd suspect that's the same way in Salt Lake.

[Truvelo]

Of all the flights I've been on I can think of only three airports where I've boarded the plane from the runway. These are Manchester UK, Grenoble FR, Vasteras Sweden. Even the little ERJ I traveled on last month from Houston to Albuquerque used jetways. One thing I notice is the pavement near the jetway has different plane types painted on the surface. I assume this is to show where the plane pulls up so the door lines up with the jetway.

[hbelkins]

I don't fly, so airline points are irrelevant to me.

As for hotels, I have been a member of Choice Privileges and Wyndham Rewards for some time now. Choice offers quite a few bonus points promotions so I have been tending to stay with those hotels when they have such a promotion. Wyndham properties are more numerous (Days Inn, Super 8, Ramada, now Microtel) so it's sometimes easier to find one of those facilities than a Choice Hotels member.

I recently signed up as a Best Western loyalty program member because I was pretty much forced to use a BW on a recent trip. And I also joined the America's Best Value Inn program, which offers no points but a 15 percent discount.

I just secured a Choice Privileges Visa card which will provide extra points when I use it to book Choice Hotels rooms, and also applied for a Wyndham Rewards Visa so i can reap bonus points when reserving at one of those motels.

[mightyace]

Being a tall person, I absolutely loathe the "regional jets."  (Freudian slip, I originally type regional jokes)  The have less room than the turboprops.  So, I especially, don't like them on say Wilkes-Barre (AVP) to Philadelphia (PHL).

[J N Winkler]

I don't know whether 5' 11" counts as tall, but the regional jets do feel cramped to me, and the overhead bins are typically too small for me to store my laptop and my backpack.  Usually the latter has to go on the luggage cart just outside the boarding gate and then I have to worry about its being dropped on hard concrete (from second-floor height) if it contains an external USB hard drive.  I have never had that happen, but just to be safe, I never travel without wrapping hard drives in bubble wrap.