Or -- next time I'll take a bus.

Very recently I read a news posting in one of the software engineering newsgroups I follow bemoaning how the computer industry has simply swallowed a millionfold improvement in performance, with result that a basic computer still costs the same as it does 17 years ago and does the basic things everyone does on a computer less well than in 1984. He's right of course, but he lost his case with me when he went on to proudly proclaim how in his work as an aeronautical engineer he has seen enormous progress in commercial aviation result form dedicated engineering. Fat Chance -- I've been a frequent flier since the early 1970's, and can relate that in those days travel was generally reasonable (for me at least), every airline took every other airline's tickets and had the same rules on fares, space was if not generous at least comfortable, planes were never full and ran on schedule most of the time, and the food and service was something special. Now?? -- if you fly I don't need to spell it out. What follows here is some hopefully useful insights on air travel, airlines, and airports.

Picking Airlines and Flights

Some General Considerations

• Many areas have more than one airport. In some cases the city airport is not even the closest one to where you are going. You may want to look at all the airports in the area. For example, the Manchester NH airport is actually closer to some of the lucent locations in the Boston area than Boston Logan, and much less hassle. When flying to the San Francisco area, SFO, Oakland, San Jose, or even Sacremento can be viable options. And Northern European destinations often have several airports that are reasonable choices
• Check early and often -- many destinations are MUCH cheaper if you buy 1-3 weeks in ahead. Sometimes it doesn't matter at all. If you want to go somewhere check early, and look at the requirements on the fare you are considering. If it's not urgent to book it, don't, but keep checking back, the price may drop, particularly if the trip is in a low travel period when airlines run specials or have fare price wars.
• Consider changing your schedule. Airline fare rules have gotten way too complex. It used to be that staying over a saturday night and buying a week in advance got you a cheap fare. Now simply picking a different flight on the same day may make a huge difference.

Connecting -- don't

• Don't connect onto the last flight of the day. For obvious reasons, if you miss your connection you get stuck somewhere you never intended to be.
• Think about what the weather will be where you are making the connection. Connecting in Dallas or Atlanta in January is probably a better bet than Denver or Chicago, but in June the tables may be turned and Thunderstorms may make the south less relaible.
• Leave enough time. You would think Airlines would understand this, but they often are willing to book connections that are too tight. If you absolutely, positively, have to get there, leave a longer gap in the connecting city. If your flight is on time, you can still stand by to go on an earlier one out and often get on, but if you miss the connection, you are often screwed.

Airlines

Frequent Flier Miles -- a legal addictive drug

• Fly as many miles as possible on one airline. Generally airlines give you more miles the more often you fly on them. The bonusses can be VERY substantial. United, for example, gives a 25% bonus on every mile flown for those flying over 25K miles in a year, and a 100% bonus to those over 50K. That's only the start, however. The very frequent fliers get extra miles for enduring labor problems (another 100% bonus for United Year 2000 woes), filling in surveys, and many other things. In addition the high mileage levels entitle you to early boarding, priority wait listing, and fewer restrictions on using the miles which are often worth more than the raw miles themselves.
• Look at special promotions. Last year I collected and extra 5,000 miles on each of half a dozen or so short flight segments just because I was seated in the "Economy Plus" section of the plane. Actually this required no conscious choice on my part. Airlines also have promotions for booking trips to particular destinations. These often require special codes or internet registration when you do them. Visit the websites of the airlines you use before booking to know what to do.
• Look at other ways to earn miles -- I said look don't necessarily do. All the airlines offer credit cars that earn miles, but they often have big annual fees and/or high interest rates if you carry a balance, so be careful you aren't spending more in fees and interest than you are saving. Signing up for miles when you rent a car or visit a hotel is a reasonably painless way to get a few extra, but don't expect miracles.

When it comes time to spend your miles, there are a lot of choices to be made. Here are some considerations

• If you don't have many, look at magazine offers. I sign up for the program on every airline I fly. On Most I never get enough for free travel, butthe airline offers to buy them back for magazine subscriptions, which can be a good way to use them.
• Look at upgrades. United, and presumably other airlines, offer an interesting option for me, which is to use the miles to get a guaranteed upgrade to a distant place. Flying to Europe, Hawaii, or Asia in coach isn't much fun, but you can often get very cheap coach fares, then upgrade to business or first. First class service on long overseas flights is still a special experience.

Airports and Cities

• Hub and spoke -- these airports have a central terminal hub with checkin and baggage claim for everyone, then radiating concourses or transit to the concourses where the planes depart. Convenient for connecting between airlines and little need to worry about what airline you are on in returning a rental car or taking a cab, but often this design means a long walk to the gate.
• Multiple terminals -- These have different terminals for different airlines. The walk to the gate from checkin is often less, but to get between airlines you often have to ride a shuttle of some sort or walk a LONG way.
• Curbside gates -- perhaps the extreme of multiple terminals are airlines where all the gates are right next to checkin and baggage claim. Great if you are coming or going, lousy if you are connecting. With these espeically you need to know what gate you are going to before deciding where to park a car or get out of a taxi.

Beyond the design, it's worth knowing where the rental cars are, and what the transportation system is like in the city. Here's a list of airports and some basic advice:

• Chicago/Ohare -- my home base it seems. This is a multiple terminals design, but it's compact enough you can walk from end to end (except international) in 10-15 minutes if you have to. Ohare used to be the busiest. It still has the most runways (6), and utilizes its gates far more heavily than other big airports. While it has a bad repuation for delays, In my experience it's exaggerated. The number of runways running in different directions give it more options to handle bad weather than some airports, (though wind conditions limit what can be used more often than in some airports) and it has an army of snow removal equipment to deal with winter. The worst weather condition at Ohare is thunderstorms, mainly in Spring and early Fall. You can park at the airport, walking to the terminal, but it's expensive ($23), or take a train to a remote lot or park at a non-airport lot. Rental cars require a bus ride. Ohare has cheap transit service to downtown chicago, but suburban Chicago has little public transport, so visiting the suburbs requires a car.
• Chicago Midway -- A brand new hub and spoke airport. The 2 usable runways, however are old and short, limiting the airport to smaller jets. Like Ohare it has a convenient garage and transit to downtown. Midway is much closer to downtown, but an awkward drive to the northern and western suburbs.
• Boston Logan -- This airport has been under construction for years. It's busy, but has a limited number of runways (one long one and about 3 shorter ones usable for the smaller jets. It's prone to snow in the winter and fog in the summer. If you are going to downtown Boston it's the best bet, and don't bother with a rental car. Taxis aren't expensive, and the Boston subway is cheap and safe (though it takes a bus ride from the airport to get there.) If you are going to the western or northern suburbs, consider Manchester NH, since you will need a car and driving in and out of Logan isn't easy.
• Manchester NH -- This is a brand new airport. Only 1 or 2 parallel runways, but away from the coast (and coastal fog and congestion). Garage and rental cars are a walk from the single terminal.
• Newark NJ -- This is my personal least favorite airport, probably because it's been the source of several overnight delays. It's a multiple terminal airport with a convenient monorail system to connect them and connect to parking and rental cars (when the monorail is working). The big problems it has are only 2 usable runways, both paralell, meaning it doesn't handle northwest or southeast winds well, and it always seems to be last priority for the routes into and out of the NYC metro area in bad weather. United has a bad habit of cancelling at least one of it's flights to Newark on good days, and on bad days most of the schedule goes. Continental is a bit more reliable.
• Washington National (Reagan) -- I'm not big on renaming things after politicians. For years the FAA tried to close this airport, but since it's so convenient to the government they never will. Instead they rebuilt it as a new hub and spoke airport. It has convenient subway transit to washington, though highway access is a bit awkward. Again it has only one usable runway most of the time and flightpath restrictions that give it trouble in bad weather.
• Raleigh/Durham Not a bad airport really, 2 parallel runways and a multiple terminal design, but it's small enough that each terminal is very compact. You ride a bus to rental cards, which are convenient to highways and anything in the area.
• Columbus A Hub and spoke airport with 2 runways, a bus to rental cars, and convenient highway access.
• Atlanta The new traffic king in number of flights and passengers, but Atlanta has only 4 runways and all are in the same direction, which give it trouble when the wind blows hard from the North or South. You ride a train from the single terminal to most gates, which takes some time. Because everyone passes through one big terminal, Security, rental car busses, and other choke points can develop long lines. Atlanta does have a cheap train to downtown, well worth avoiding a car if you are going there. The Atlanta metro area is rumored to have the current lock on worst traffic jams in the US.
• Toronto Canada Torronto is to eastern Canada like Ohare and Atlanta are to the US, virtually unavoidable. It's a big airport with multiple terminals and radiating concourses. One thing to note is travelling to and from the US you go through customs there in both directions, and fly in and out of domestic terminals in the US. Nice to avoid the problem here, but it means extra delay when you arrive. Word of warning -- don't say your are visiting Canada to do business if it's just routine travel, or you get singled out for extra interrogation in Canadian immigration and customs. The thing about Torronto to know if you go there is it's a huge city, with really awful traffic and no good freeway access to downtown. No easy way to avoid this, just plan on the delays.
• Orlando. Disneyville has a nice new hub and spoke airport with trams that take you to terminal pods. Rental cars and parking are walking distance to the terminals. The only downside is you will pay major tolls on all the freeways on the area. A bit of a pain.
• Miami. Miami has a hub and spoke airport and 3 runways. It's a big connecting point for central and south America, as well as Europe. The airport is in a sleazy part of town and rental cars are tucked away and a bit awkward to find. If you are going downtown or to Miami beach don't bother, Taxis are probably cheaper than parking your rental car and plentiful at all hours.
• Dallas/Fort Worth -- This is a "grand vision" airport, a curbside gate design on a grand scale. If you know where you are going this is very convenient, but it makes it a LONG walk and/or shuttle ride between gates. Everything is Texas sized here. The airport itself has 4 or more runways and handles most conditions well. It's a long drive to just about anything in the metro area, with few other options.

  DFW has recently "improved" it's rental car center, having all the vendors in one beautiful new building -- 5 miles from the gates on the south side of the airport (Wrong if you are going to telecom alley). Two tips -- don't believe the maps that show Texas 161 as a freeway, it's a 10 mile construction zone with traffic lights. Second, while you can go through the airport, it's awkward, not a freeway but a slow local road with traffic lights and crosswalks.

• Kansas City -- This airport is DFW in miniature. Only 2 or 3 runways, and only 3 "curbside gate" terminals, but the same basic characteristics. It's also almost an hour away from most of the high tech companies on the south side of Kansas City.
• Denver International -- Once upon a time Denver had a nice convenient airport, but that wasn't enough for the politicians, so they built a new one -- 20 miles east of town in the middle of nowhere (except, as I understand it, land owned by the very same people who decided Denver needed a new airport). The decision cost them a second airline hub (Continental pulled out, United stayed). The airport itself is nice, a hub and spoke design with a train that takes you to your concourse, much like Atlanta. With 4 runways and the latest in instrumentation it does pretty well under most conditions (Even pea soup fog wasn't bad enough to foul up major jets, unfortunately icing in the engines was enough to ground me an extra day). The biggest problem is it's a zillion miles from nowhere. Even the airport hotels are a $20 cab ride away. Downtown is about 25 miles, and the closest ski area about 75.
• Phoenix -- This is a multiple terminal airport. The United terminal is one of those small and quaint ones with parking and rental cars within walking distance -- great. Phoenix rarely has weather problems.
• San Francisco -- A hub and spoke airport in perpetual reconstruction. It has 3 or 4 runways and is subject to fog delays mainly (no snow or thunderstorms). The big problem with it is extreme crowding in the early AM, when most big flights depart for the east. When the construction is done it will have transit to rental cars and parking (maybe even to downtown). For now it's an awkward bus ride to the rental car area, where all the companies are. San Francisco is of course a city where cars are a handicap, not an asset. If you are going to Silicon Valley, route 101, the main route south is always congested. Consider I280, which often isn't if you are going to San Jose or Cupertino. SFO has far more flights than the other bay area airports, but it's worth considering offerings at San Jose or Oakland if you are headed for silicon valley.
• Oakland -- an anachronism, one runway and a little hub and spoke airport out of the 1950's. Rental cars are at the terminal. It has reasonably close freeway access to I880 and the bay bridge to San Francisco
• San Jose -- a multiple terminals airport. The United terminal is old and quaint -- drive/park near the terminal, walk on the tarmac to your flight. The other terminal is more modern. San Jose is the most convenient airport to most silicon valley locations, which means it's the hardest of the 3 to get a decent fare to.
• Seattle/Tacoma Seatac is a hub and spoke airport with transit to gate "pods". It has 2 runways, and is subject to wind, rain, and fog in the winter primarily. It's convenient to freeways and rental cars and parking are right at the terminal. Seattle's freeways are often heavily congested.
• Honolulu One thing to keep in mind is that inter-island flights flights to other destinations fly out of different terminals and it's a LONG walk inbetween them. Rental cars can be a long ride from the airport, but you don't really need one for Waikiki.
• Other Hawaiian Airports -- Maui, Kona, Hilo, and Kaui now all have direct flights to the US mainland and airports that accomodate large planes. Maui is definitely the bussiest of these and resembles a US mainland airport, while others have a more laid back and underutilized feeling. I believe you ride a bus to the rental car everywhere except Hilo though. Molokai and Lanai have small airports served only by inter-island prop planes, and seem more like a bus depot -- virtually nothing there but get on the plane (always a walk on the tarmac)
• Heathrow (London) This is a multiple terminals airport with a long ride between. Not bad.
• Charles DeGaul (Paris) Another multiple terminals airport with a long and infrequent bus ride between the two major terminals, one of which serves the US airlines among others and one most of the flight sin France and the rest of Europe. You can connect between the two but leave lots of time. The airport also has direct access to France's train network, which may be a better option for connections to other cities.
• Schipol (Amsterdam) My favorite european airport, a compact multiple terminals design with rental cars in the garage in the middle. You can also access trains easily. One interesting feature is the Casino in the overseas terminal, which is a good place to dispose of miscelaneous coins and bills -- if you win, you can collect your winnings in dollars.
• Brussels Another connecting hub for flights from the US. This one has 3 terminal areas serving different partsof the world. it's a long walk between them with passport/immigration check in. When I flew through this airport in 1998, it wasn't effectively air conditioned and was very hot.

  When things go wrong

  Flight Safety

  The thing to keep in mind is no matter how chaotic things seem, airplanes are still the safest mode of transport around. They are also much tougher than you would probably expect. Things happen to planes all the time and knowing what can happen is sometimes reassuring. In the years I've been flying I've been on planes:
  • Hit by lightening. -- This felt like an explosion. I remember a big flash, a tremendous noise, and being kicked in the side as the side of the plane pushed into me, presumably from the force of expanding air near the strike. The plane continued to fly normally though and the pilot said it happened occasionally and was not a problem.
  • Subjected to severe turbulence. -- once enough to injure another passenger. Keep your seat belt on and stay away from any food or drink not nailed down. (The injury was from a coffee pot knocked off the food cart). Also watch out for luggage knocked out of the overhead bins, especially if you are on the aisle.
  • Aborted landings -- This is more common than you would think. Planes abort landings because the traffic ahead is slow to clear the runway, or because they hit turbulence caused by other aircraft. It's no big deal other than a delay.
  • Near misses -- These too happen more often than you would think. It's a big sky out there and usually it means nothing other than an unexpected turn, perhaps a sudden one. Another reason to keep your seatbelt fastened.
  • Planes with mechanical problems -- Everyone hates on the ground delays for mechanical issues, but it's worse if it happens in the air. Again, though, there are big safety margins. I once flew in a plane which lost a hydraulic system, making it unameuverable on the ground, but the flight landed normally. Exciting though to watch all the emergency vehicles tracking your plane as it lands. My favorite may have been the flight from Sydney Australia to LA where the pilot came on as he was starting the engines to tell us not to worry about the flames coming from them -- that's just our alternate way of getting them started -- the flight to LA was otherwise completely normal.

  Delays and cancellations

  My one biggest wish for the airlines is more honest about what's going on, and better reporting. Flight delays under bad weather are inevitable, cancellations that throw your schedule into chaos, even when your flight was the only one cancelled, are something else. When (not if) you are on a cancelled flight, consider and use your options:
  • Get booked on another flight. The airline will probably do this for you immediately. Your frequent flier status will help or hurt here, but it's often chance to see what happens. When in doubt, call the travel agent, use the web, or call the airlines hotline directly rather than stand for an hour in an airport.
  • Consider other airports or destinations. Sometimes the fastest way home is to fly to another airport or leave from another airport. Airlines are accomodating in cases like this, so if it fits your schedule they will often let you use the ticket you have.
  • Get on another airline. Airlines DON't want you to do this and make it hard. It's easier if you have paper tickets (a vanishing commodity, but worth considering when you suspect trouble). Again if the airline you are leaving or the one you are getting on has you as a very frequent flier this is easier. The attendants in the airline lounges are often better at this sort of thing than the gate agents. If all else fails and you can't get the other airline to accept your ticket, consider tricks likey buying a round trip, if you KNOW you will be flying the route again, and using your unused ticket to complete your next trip to the same destination.
  • Rent a car and drive. Seriously, I've done this several times. Driving several hundred miles is clearly a desparation move, but when I lost a short commuter flight I discovered it was faster and cheaper to rent a car. Remember that you will pay mileage rates on a one way rental, though, and the companies aren't anxious to let you do it.
  • Remember that lots of people flying in to where you are won't get there. Hotel rooms and cars are often a big problem when an airport is closed due to weather, but at least a couple of times I found them by getting a travel agent to find incoming passengers on cancelled flights that would now not need them and switch the reservations.
  • Stay calm and prepare for it. Make sure you have plenty to read/work on, and several days extra of any medications you use before leaving. That way a long delay or cancellation becomes just a chance for some uninterrupted time to get the work/reading done. Above all, don't take out your frustrations on the airline personnel, who are often stranded themselves and always overworked.

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  Warren Montgomery