Confessions of a YYC Travel Junkie

[Wormius]

If you're trying to get to Tokyo through Shanghai with separate tickets (assuming you don't leave the airport), do you still need a Chinese visa?

[Bean]

Booked a hotel stay in Edmonton and the hotel royally effed up with allowing us into somebody's room (they were in it at the time), somebody coming to our room (while we were out) as well as disclosing my personal details mixed with other guests' invoices.

I see this as numerous breaches in security as well as FOIP. The hotel admits that the serious blunders that occurred should not have happened and they are extending an olive branch of a free stay in the future for our troubles.

They claim that they are unable to provide a refund as I booked through Expedia, Expedia says that they can't refund me because I checked in. - But by checking in, it created the problems.

I don't want to stay at the hotel in the future, and Expedia says that they can't extend a refund as we didn't call them upon check in.


Has anybody had success with fighting back in this type of a situation?

[TheAlpineOracle]

So I went to check in to my Seattle flight tonight at 6:25 (leaves 24 hours from then), and when I got through the process on Delta's website it wouldn't let me pick
A seat which Has never happened before and tells me it will be assigned at the gate. So I automatically lose my #### thinking I'm on standby now for no real reason and call Delta and they tell me that I am guaranteed a seat on that flight and everything should be smooth. I have my doubts though as it says my luggage is "pending" which I pre-paid for.

I'm having trouble believing I actually have a seat on this flight. Anyone else experience this?

[stazzy33]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

So I went to check in to my Seattle flight tonight at 6:25 (leaves 24 hours from then), and when I got through the process on Delta's website it wouldn't let me pick
A seat which Has never happened before and tells me it will be assigned at the gate. So I automatically lose my #### thinking I'm on standby now for no real reason and call Delta and they tell me that I am guaranteed a seat on that flight and everything should be smooth. I have my doubts though as it says my luggage is "pending" which I pre-paid for.

I'm having trouble believing I actually have a seat on this flight. Anyone else experience this?

Did you buy the cheapest of the cheap seat? I was booking through Delta recently and realized that there are quite a few things you don't get if you book basic economy or whatever they call it.


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[Calgary14]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

So I went to check in to my Seattle flight tonight at 6:25 (leaves 24 hours from then), and when I got through the process on Delta's website it wouldn't let me pick
A seat which Has never happened before and tells me it will be assigned at the gate. So I automatically lose my #### thinking I'm on standby now for no real reason and call Delta and they tell me that I am guaranteed a seat on that flight and everything should be smooth. I have my doubts though as it says my luggage is "pending" which I pre-paid for.

I'm having trouble believing I actually have a seat on this flight. Anyone else experience this?

Yes. Long story short, Delta's system sucks and it's most likely an error on their end. Same thing happened to me and I couldnt check in so I assumed I was on standby. But I showed up at the airport to check in and everything went fine

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by stazzy33

Did you buy the cheapest of the cheap seat? I was booking through Delta recently and realized that there are quite a few things you don't get if you book basic economy or whatever they call it.


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Just the standard seat not in first class.

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by Calgary14

Yes. Long story short, Delta's system sucks and it's most likely an error on their end. Same thing happened to me and I couldnt check in so I assumed I was on standby. But I showed up at the airport to check in and everything went fine

I got a boarding pass that gets me through security but it says my seat will be given to me at the gate which sure as #### sounds like standby to me. I called and they my wife and I had guaranteed seats. I'm having a hard time believing that though.

[Fuzz]

Go a bit early and ask at the check in desk. Does your current boarding pass have any special codes, like SSSS?

The past 2 flights this year, someone in my party has been selected for "additional security screening" and they couldn't check in online. And when they got to the ticket counter and got their ticket it said "SSSS" and had to get the full meal deal through security. Maybe it's that?

Edit: was typing my reply just as Fuzz was typing his :P

[TheAlpineOracle]

Nope. Nothing other than the boarding time, gate, and zone are blank.

[stazzy33]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

Just the standard seat not in first class.

Nope, I meant that Delta has two different class of economy. One is almost like a ULCC, the other is your traditional economy class. You might have booked basic economy which means your seat will be assigned at the gate (see below).



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[Calgary14]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

I got a boarding pass that gets me through security but it says my seat will be given to me at the gate which sure as #### sounds like standby to me. I called and they my wife and I had guaranteed seats. I'm having a hard time believing that though.

Ah that was different than mine, when I first tried to check in online I got an error message but when I got to the airport I was able to check in and the boarding pass had an assigned seat. If it doesn't have an assigned seat I would assume that would be standby

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by stazzy33

Nope, I meant that Delta has two different class of economy. One is almost like a ULCC, the other is your traditional economy class. You might have booked basic economy which means your seat will be assigned at the gate (see below).



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Not sure as I booked through Expedia. That would make sense though. I usually fly first class to Seattle as it's generally only $100 more and when you factor in you don't have to pay for your luggage and a drink on the plane you are close
To break even. For some reason this time though, everything was ridiculously expensive.

[cmyden]

Here's some info on the new 'Basic Economy' fares that Delta and United Airlines have started offering on many of their domestic routes.

So far, I have only seen Basic Economy fares showing up from Canadian cities on Delta.

I imagine one day soon, we'll start seeing them on United Airlines from Canada as well.

Both of them are now offering what they call 'Basic Economy' fares. Think of this as a level below what used to be just called Economy (if you can imagine).

What does this mean?

DELTA: No longer allows you to select a seat before check-in. You will be assigned seats after check-in or at the gate, unless you 'upgrade' to Economy. In your head, you should now automatically add $31.50 CAD to all of Delta's roundtrip prices that you see online when searching, to compare fairly against other airlines.

Unless you don't care about being able to select your seat in advance. In which case, you might actually be saving money on some Delta flights from now on. Delta.com makes it very clear when you are booking a Basic Economy fare (giant pop-up). Other websites may be less clear.

UNITED AIRLINES: The situation is actually worse for United. Their Basic Economy fares do not allow you to select seats in advance, *and* they don't include any carry-on luggage.
*However*, so far, I have not seen Basic Economy fares on United to U.S. destinations when departing from Canadian cities. Just when departing from U.S. cities...for now.
The United Airlines website makes it very clear when you are booking a Basic Economy flight (giant red box with a warning). Other websites may be less clear.

[cmyden]

Calgary to Denver, Colorado - $211 CAD roundtrip including taxes | summer flights on WestJet

WestJet is trying to throttle the new competition from low cost carrier Frontier Airlines on the Calgary to Denver route.

They've just dropped the price of *every* flight in June, July, and the first 9 days of August 2018 down to $211 CAD roundtrip.

This includes Friday to Sunday flights, long weekends, etc.

http://yycdeals.com/calgary-to-denve...hts-on-westjet

-

[Calgary14]

Originally Posted by cmyden

Here's some info on the new 'Basic Economy' fares that Delta and United Airlines have started offering on many of their domestic routes.

So far, I have only seen Basic Economy fares showing up from Canadian cities on Delta.

I imagine one day soon, we'll start seeing them on United Airlines from Canada as well.

Flying is getting to be more and more fun each year. Honest question - at what point will airlines start charing for basics like water or using the facilities while on the plane?

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by Calgary14

Flying is getting to be more and more fun each year. Honest question - at what point will airlines start charing for basics like water or using the facilities while on the plane?

It is already happening with the super low cost budget airlines.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by cmyden

Calgary to Denver, Colorado - $211 CAD roundtrip including taxes | summer flights on WestJet

Damn it! Waiting on such a price for the start of April again!

[Hockey Fan #751]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

So I went to check in to my Seattle flight tonight at 6:25 (leaves 24 hours from then), and when I got through the process on Delta's website it wouldn't let me pick
A seat which Has never happened before and tells me it will be assigned at the gate. So I automatically lose my #### thinking I'm on standby now for no real reason and call Delta and they tell me that I am guaranteed a seat on that flight and everything should be smooth. I have my doubts though as it says my luggage is "pending" which I pre-paid for.

I'm having trouble believing I actually have a seat on this flight. Anyone else experience this?

Anytime this happens to me it's SSSS (Secondary Security Screening Selection). It's because they need to actually print your boarding pass at the airport so it says SSSS on it so the security knows to pull you aside.

[Flamenspiel]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

It is already happening with the super low cost budget airlines.

Well, I have to say that my experience this summer in Europe was that both Easyjet and Volotea are better then Air Canada or Westjet in coach. The two things that stood out were leg room and departure time. I was really pleasantly surprised with legroom and that the seats are non-reclining, so you don't get the seat in front of you in your lap.

In addition there is no time wasting with the overhead cabins like on Air Canada. No one is allowed on with anything over the exact size carry-on and most flights(if they are near full) had the option of a free check-in just before boarding. IN addition because of the gate assignments you were able to board from the back and front. All in all a pleasant surprise