Solitude and Snowbird, UT 3/9/2008

[jamesdeluxe]

Told you so. :wink:

Somewhat related: I once met someone who had an incredible scam (this is 15 or so years ago, before the bar-coding of luggage)... his bud would drive out to JFK to pick him up from his flight. His bags would come out, the friend would grab them and go back to the car. The guy who was traveling would report his bags missing, get the full replacement value, and go home with his actual luggage.

Almost too easy if you're ethically challenged.

 

[Admin]

If I have 90 ski days on my boots and their life expectancy is 300 days, then they would only give me 70% of my boots.

I oversimplified the depreciation calculation for the sake of discussion, but true, it would be a product of age, use or both.

My new boots would still be pretty expensive. What's more, I would have to have them worked on again to get rid of all the hot spots. They wouldn't reimburse for the extra work on the boots would they?

In theory you could make an argument that any fitting adjustments would be added to the cost to buy an equivalent boot as the sum is the true cost of replacement.

 

[rfarren]

In theory you could make an argument that any fitting adjustments would be added to the cost to buy an equivalent boot as the sum is the true cost of replacement.

Thats nice to know, but I'll still take my boots with me on the plane. Its just one less thing for me to worry about at the luggage carousel.

 

[ChrisC]

(Note: I have had VERY successful flights with United/Lufthansa - 100% success with 7 SFO - via frankfurt to - lyon, geneva, berlin - over 6 years.)

Part of your success has been avoiding Charles De-Gaull, and Schiphol. Paris may be the worst airport to transfer to another flight in all of Europe. Schiphol may not be much better. Frankly, you've been lucky with Heathrow. It's not terrible to transfer in, but it is worse than La Guardia for delays. It's also very risky in the winter, where ice-fog has been known to shut the airport down for days. IMHO the best airport in Europe to have a transfer in is Barajas. Being in southern europe it generally avoids bad weather, and it doesn't get a huge volume of traffic. If in the north then Geneva, Zurich, or Frankfurt are generally the best to fly into. Those are less likely to have strikes like Malpensa, or Fiumincino in southern Europe. That being said, this whole spiel gives even more reason to bring your boots on board.

I think direct Geneva flights are best.

I avoid Paris Charles De-Gaull. It sucks. I am at a 0% success for any transfer there. The airport is old and crappy. Nothing works. It sucks. Complete sh-t show. France at its worst.

Barajas - yes, Spain seems to work really well. But what airline uses that as a stopping off point? Major infrastructure spending in Madrid/Barcelona makes it great. However, no one speaks English. I speak Spanish because I am an American, so it's not an issue for me.

Schiphol - I do not have a lot of experience, but I am hesitant to count the Dutch out. The facility is simply amazing - and I could be in terminal hell forever there.

 

[CWHappyRN]

It would be pretty funny to see Tony is regular ski clothes versus his favorite beat up garb. I hope you transformed him.

 

[Admin]

I hope you transformed him.

Lady, I'm only human! I've got my limitations! :wink:

 

[CWHappyRN]

I hope you transformed him.

Lady, I'm only human! I've got my limitations! :wink:

If only that jacket would never make it from Cincinnati! However, he would find one just like it to show the world his softer, compassionate, non-elitist side that dares to connect with the world! Crocker needs that jacket badly! Don't deprive him of it!It is symbolic of his true self! His true self that skis! His ski self!

 

[rfarren]

Barajas - yes, Spain seems to work really well. But what airline uses that as a stopping off point? Major infrastructure spending in Madrid/Barcelona makes it great. However, no one speaks English. I speak Spanish because I am an American, so it's not an issue for me.

Schiphol - I do not have a lot of experience, but I am hesitant to count the Dutch out. The facility is simply amazing - and I could be in terminal hell forever there.

Barajas gets major service via Iberia. Iberia has direct service, I believe, from most major cities in the states.

The problem with Schiphol is that its too big. If you have a quick connection you can have a very difficult time getting there.

 

[Tony Crocker]

The aforementioned jacket is always carry-on :lol: :lol: :lol: . admin's jacket was pretty good. Though it was somewhat heavier it seemed to breathe well. The demo was useful, and I expect to come up with a new jacket by next season.

Extremely Canadian recommended Lyon as the gateway city to La Grave. If you go to Lyon, you are going through Paris CDG. Air France is also a Delta partner for my FF mileage, though I was unable to use mileage for the trip. CDG was the change airport for my Egypt trip in 2006, and we thought it was horrible that time too. Interestingly, all 5 of the other EC customers on the La Grave trip came through Geneva.

The NASJA trip to Chamonix in 2004 was Lufthansa via Frankfurt and Geneva. On the return flight my bags failed to make the connection in Frankfurt. But I was going directly home that time and the bags made it about 30 hours later.

Since I've had Air Canada lose at least one bag 3 times (and 2 of those were direct nonstops from LA) that's why I made the "high-risk" comment.

Though Delta is the airline I fly most, this is the first time they have lost my bags. But Delta did not need to send my boots from Detroit to SLC via Atlanta and thus cost me a 3rd day without them.

Air France is the major culprit for failing to make the connection at CDG Saturday morning. Air France sent the bags to Detroit on Sunday and released them through customs separately to Delta. I received clothes Monday afternoon, skis early Tuesday and boots early Wednesday.

My ski and boot bags are also in need of replacement. I will consider your suggestions about the boot bag.

 

[rfarren]

You can get to lyon via most major airports in Europe.

Air France is also a Delta partner for my FF mileage

Thats good, because SLC is a Delta hub.

CDG, is the worst airport in the world for transfers. It is truly french modern design at its worst. It looks neat but it is anything but functional.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Thats good, because SLC is a Delta hub.

Thus it was somewhat annoying last October for Delta to have NO mileage seats available between Paris and SLC on March 8.

 

[rfarren]

Thats good, because SLC is a Delta hub.

Thus it was somewhat annoying last October for Delta to have NO mileage seats available between Paris and SLC on March 8.

It's a little more than just a bit annoying. Well, at least you got miles. Now, you can use those miles flying around the country in search for turns. Hopefully [-o<

 

[Tony Crocker]

The LAX - Lyon - SLC airfare of $877 wasn't bad. But I had to pay Southwest another $100 to get home yesterday.

The airlines are getting stingy with the mileage seats. It's often advisable to go after them when first available 11 months ahead. And there are many dates either blacked out or restricted to using double the normal number of miles. I had to do this for Adam to Alaska and 2 of the Peru tickets in 2007. I suspect retirees who can fly on Tuesdays and Wednesdays may have better luck getting around some of this stuff.

I'm somewhat surprised that Patrick gets away with using mileage tickets as often as he does.

 

[rfarren]

I'm somewhat surprised that Patrick gets away with using mileage tickets as often as he does.

I know that some credit cards have anytime-anywhere miles for any airline as reward points. However, I'm pretty new to the whole miles thing, and I only have it for Delta and Continental. Its discouraging to hear that I will need to make reservations 11 months in advance. I guess I'll have to use my miles to go Cat Skiing to make sure its worthwhile.

 

[Jcocktosten]

It all depends re the miles - we have been pretty lucky using our Delta miles. Flying to SLC tomorrow on miles. We booked the trip maybe 6-7 weeks ago.

 

[CWHappyRN]

The aforementioned jacket is always carry-on :lol: :lol: :lol: . admin's jacket was pretty good. Though it was somewhat heavier it seemed to breathe well. The demo was useful, and I expect to come up with a new jacket by next season.

Extremely Canadian recommended Lyon as the gateway city to La Grave. If you go to Lyon, you are going through Paris CDG. Air France is also a Delta partner for my FF mileage ....

.

My sister left last night at 1 am (yuck) from San Jose for India and then Sweden on a 3 week trip. She said she uses a new Asian airliner that won an award. She only had to pay 200.00 for business class upgrade versus the usual thousand on her India and then Sweden route. She often visits those two countries. I'll skip India and visit with my Indian friends here. They ski in Kashmir, but, you are in dangerous territority there.

I would carry on a ski outfit, or wear it in layers, carry the rest and carry on boots. Those airlines are tricky! But, maybe you will get a free ticket out of it if you document expense and inconvenience.

 

[Sharon]

one more travel tip:

make sure you carry your meds in your carry-on, as well as a change of underwear and a toothbrush in case you get bumped or flights get cancelled and your luggage is checked.

if you take daily meds (for whatever reason) and your well-being is dependent on those meds...you'll be in better condition if you have them with you in your carry-on. I once got bumped from a flight on my way home. My meds were in my toiletry bag, checked in my luggage. They don't give you your luggage when you get bumped. They just ship you off to a hotel.

 

[berkshireskier]

Sharon's right again. Carrying any needed meds on the plane with you is always smart. I always pack a small dob kit and put it in my carry-on boot bag.

Re: Airline miles. I think that the whole airline mile issue has become somewhat of a scam on the flying public. I think the airlines have definitely cut back on the number of seats that they make available for frequent flyer miles (of course, I don't blame the airlines - why give away the seats for free if you can charge for them??). I think it is always best to try to reserve the seats as far in advance as possible. On our recent trip to SLC, I called 11 months in advance to get three seats. Even then, it was not that easy to get the free tickets.

 

[Marc_C]

one more travel tip:
make sure you carry your meds in your carry-on, as well as a change of underwear and a toothbrush in case you get bumped or flights get cancelled and your luggage is checked.

A simple way of condensing all the various travel tips:
carry on whatever you...
* cannot be without
* need to live
* can't bear loosing, permanently
* think is valuable, whether it's obviously valuable to others (eg: camera, laptop) or just to you (eg: your great grandfather's pocket watch or that special memento you bought in Zermatt)

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Delta used to be difficult with FF award transparency, but since they updated their online system so that you can see all award seat distribution on their flights (as well as on partner airline flights), it's much easier. We got our flights to Jackson Hole with no problem, and for our recent trip to Denver, we got 25K-awards on Continental (partner airline) only a couple weeks out.

Who the hell would put important medicine in a check-in suitcase?
:roll: