Bear Down Wildcats

For a link just paste the URL

Just a really great thread:

She obviously has not been to too many airports. Either that or she was dropping some really good Acid.

Knowing ORD pretty well, I thought that thread was fun. Thanks for posting it. Now she should do EWR. I dare her to make that overnight seem even slightly appealing.

What did Tom Hanks do in that terrible movie about him being stuck in an airport as a man with no country. The Terminal I think it was called.

That secret hallway she found is pretty cool.

And having crashed overnight in airport terminals several times, I can attest the janitors are the only people present between about 1AM and 5AM.

Not very restful, but certainly eventful, have crashed in:

Toronto, San Francisco, New York JFK, Chicago-Midway, Spokane, and Miami.

edit: throw Washington-Dulles in there too

I was stranded once inn Seattle waay back in the day. It was kinda cool at first, but then I ran out of blow and things changed.

I've spent a lot of time in airports but somehow avoided staying overnight

I spent a month in the Philly airport one night.

Several days in Chicago this week, flying in and out by way of O’Hare. Sunday’s late flight from Phoenix didn’t land until midnight and as a sign of growing older, rather than sleeping in the terminals before heading out the next morning, I stayed at O’Hare’s on-location Hilton, which was comparatively excessive and mature. This is the rare airport hotel built onto the airport complex rather than accessible by shuttle-service down a nearby access road. (I’m minorly interested in trying more on-location Airport Hotels, like Denver’s Westin.)

I forget just how large O’Hare is until an hour of walking its various paths. For instance the underground tunnel system is extensive, for which there’s no aesthetic unity through their vastness. Stretches of tunnel will be cylindrical damp cement walls like that of a sewer before alternating to the tacky, faded orange color scheme of blocky locker room tiling, before again narrowing to shinier metallic inner surfacing resembling that of a fuselage.

One thing that stood out was how many security doors with direct access to the outside runways are left unattended. Inside the terminals several sets of steps led down to outside ground level doors posted with warnings saying employees only/badge access only. Anyone could’ve charged right through those doors and sprinted after a taxiing aircraft.

A company called Surf Air started running a lot of commercials on local radio. Hadn't heard about Surf Air before, but using their website to search flights and shop their prices, they're tapping into a luxury market that, depending on your association with the successful, marginally famous, and image-is-substance Instagram mindset, is a larger market than most of us might realize.

For example, what are round trip flights from PHX to Las Vegas costing these days? About $250? And your airport options are commercially limited from PHX to LAS.

Surf Air will charter you a Cessna (among other smaller plane models) from the *Phoenix Area* to the *Las Vegas Area* for easily in the $3500 - $5000 range for a group of about 4 - 8. Their airport selection for Phoenix is expanded from commercial airports to include surrounding municipal airports, totaling 15 area airports. For the Las Vegas area, Surf Air similarly expands your options to 7 area commercial/municipal airports.

And to think about my wealthier groups of friends in Scottsdale, most would gladly spend the $4 or $5K to take a smaller charter from the Scottsdale Airport SDL to the North Las Vegas Airport VGT. Partly to avoid the more hectic and crowded PHX and LAS airports. And also partly due to the Instagram status of traveling in a private jet.

https://www.surfair.com/

I can't fathom spending 4k to fly to Vegas when it's only a 6 hour drive, no matter how rich you are.

The rich seem to need to spend. They aren't interested in something if it doesn't cost enough.

CatsbyAZ wrote: ↑Fri Mar 25, 2022 12:44 pm A company called Surf Air started running a lot of commercials on local radio. Hadn't heard about Surf Air before, but using their website to search flights and shop their prices, they're tapping into a luxury market that, depending on your association with the successful, marginally famous, and image-is-substance Instagram mindset, is a larger market than most of us might realize.

For example, what are round trip flights from PHX to Las Vegas costing these days? About $250? And your airport options are commercially limited from PHX to LAS.

Surf Air will charter you a Cessna (among other smaller plane models) from the *Phoenix Area* to the *Las Vegas Area* for easily in the $3500 - $5000 range for a group of about 4 - 8. Their airport selection for Phoenix is expanded from commercial airports to include surrounding municipal airports, totaling 15 area airports. For the Las Vegas area, Surf Air similarly expands your options to 7 area commercial/municipal airports.

And to think about my wealthier groups of friends in Scottsdale, most would gladly spend the $4 or $5K to take a smaller charter from the Scottsdale Airport SDL to the North Las Vegas Airport VGT. Partly to avoid the more hectic and crowded PHX and LAS airports. And also partly due to the Instagram status of traveling in a private jet.

https://www.surfair.com/

Reminds me of this really bad Dustin Johnson commercial.

Really DJ, you couldn’t take a vacation with your family without Netjets?

https://youtu.be/zzyLJS-BCX0

dovecanyoncat wrote: ↑Fri Mar 25, 2022 6:40 pm The rich seem to need to spend. They aren't interested in something if it doesn't cost enough.

Reminds me of Kobe renting a helicopter to take his daughter to basketball practice.

Putting the "I" back in TIA!

UAEebs86 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 29, 2022 5:01 pm Putting the "I" back in TIA!

At least three of those airports have to be made up.

Good to see international, no idea why there isn't daily flights to Hermosillo at least from Tucson. I've lived there for 18 years and I don't think there's been an international flight once during that period.

I flew to Guaymas, Mexico from Tucson back in 1989 I think it was.

Are they banking on Canadian wheat farmers going to Tucson for vacation? I mean, Lethbridge is not the most cosmopolitan place in the world…

More snowbirds!

The new agreement also establishes a winter crew base in Tucson. The base will act as a temporary “home” for Flair’s Canadian-based crews so flights can be scheduled to start and end in Tucson.

Flights start at $99 the first week.

Winter only?

https://www.accesswire.com/695118/Flair ... an-Markets

New Winter Routes

Tucson (TUS) - Edmonton (YEG): 2x weekly, effective November 30, 2022 - March 24, 2023

Tucson (TUS) - Fort McMurray (YMM): 2x weekly, effective November 30, 2022 - March 22, 2023

Tucson (TUS) - Lethbridge (YQL): 1x weekly, effective December 1, 2022 - March 23, 2023

Tucson (TUS) - Prince George (YXS): 1x weekly, effective December 2, 2022 - March 24, 2023

Tucson (TUS) - Windsor (YQG): 1x weekly, effective December 1, 2022 - March 23, 2023

https://www.kvoa.com/news/local/tucson- ... 35426.html

Won't be many non-Canadians on the northbound flights LOL

There is going to be a very smart real estate agent advertising heavily on those flights and around the gates at the airport.

We're going to have a 5 1/2 hour layover in Montreal. We booked the Montreal Airport National Bank Lounge for 3 hours of that for $40 each. It includes food and drink (beer and wine) and free unlimited Wi-Fi.

https://www.executivelounges.com/airpor ... ort-lounge

Where are you connecting to?

Longhorned wrote: ↑Thu Mar 31, 2022 4:08 pm Where are you connecting to?

Paris.

Sounds like a great plan

It's more than a great plan. It's $ heavily to the good. There's no way that 5+ hours won't accrue badass equity to a $40 stake. I'm jealous.

I always forget what a farm animal they turn you into in American airports. Take off your belt! Hey! Hold up your pants! Eat this slop! Squeeze into another long line!

And since I pay to be a "Priority Passenger", I get to squeeze into my seat first while the proletariat watch me and the other capitals board. Somebody give me scrotum polish!

Those livestock chutes that send the sheep to be sheared or the pigs to be slaughtered have nothing on the TSA rope lines at Midway Airport. Just need a Border Collie or Australian Heeler nipping at your legs to move you along.

My daughter is on an airliner from Seattle/Tacoma to Tokyo Japan, with an almost 4 year old and an almost 2 year, both boys. Her husband is there, but if you see someone walking toddlers up and down the aisle, it's them.

I took that same flight around 1978, and it was brutally long for me just by myself.

Did they fly into Seattle from North Carolina?? Jeez

Chicat wrote: ↑Tue Apr 26, 2022 4:55 pm Did they fly into Seattle from North Carolina?? Jeez

The spent 2 and a half weeks with us in Cali before heading out.

Ah, gotcha. Glad they could break up the trip because I’d be pulling my hair out.

Qantas announces plans for world's longest passenger flights, direct from Sydney to London: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-02/ ... /101029912

"The new routes will be the longest passenger flights in the world, and are expected to take more than 19 hours. A Qantas test flight direct from New York to Sydney in 2019 took 19 hours and 16 minutes."

Big news in the sense that ever since the flight industry established itself in Australia, there's been talk of Sydney one day getting a direct passenger route to London. Sydney in particular looks up to London as all things blood brother, godfather, and origin city.

Previously the "kangaroo route," as it is termed, pit-stopped in Singapore. And there's a whole wikipedia page on the differing definitions for "Kangaroo Route." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangaroo_Route

^

including a "wellbeing zone" in the centre of the planes.

Just make it a bar like the old 747's had.

Merkin wrote: ↑Tue Apr 26, 2022 1:14 pm My daughter is on an airliner from Seattle/Tacoma to Tokyo Japan, with an almost 4 year old and an almost 2 year, both boys. Her husband is there, but if you see someone walking toddlers up and down the aisle, it's them.

I took that same flight around 1978, and it was brutally long for me just by myself.

My friend and his young family used to take that route 3x year (he was an expat Tokyo). They had a "baby hammock" that strapped into the overhead luggage - not too dissimilar to this one.

That actually looks pretty good. Lot safer than the old car beds my folks used to have.

This one looks safe too.

This one looks fun.

GlobalCat wrote: ↑Mon May 02, 2022 11:21 am

Merkin wrote: ↑Tue Apr 26, 2022 1:14 pm My daughter is on an airliner from Seattle/Tacoma to Tokyo Japan, with an almost 4 year old and an almost 2 year, both boys. Her husband is there, but if you see someone walking toddlers up and down the aisle, it's them.

I took that same flight around 1978, and it was brutally long for me just by myself.

My friend and his young family used to take that route 3x year (he was an expat Tokyo). They had a "baby hammock" that strapped into the overhead luggage - not too dissimilar to this one.

We used to use those on our transatlantic flights with our baby. But it used to hook up to the face of the divider wall that the front of economy class, not the luggage compartments.

We live in exciting times.

God damn sky harbor, how long do I have to wait for my bags?

40min after deplaning. Nothing at the carousel yet for anyone. I’ll be on my return flight at this rate:

Hate sky harbor.

No wonder I make the miserable drive there. And where are the masks?

How could anybody hear anything at all at the Vegas Airport?

I was there one time and the flight was cancelled. They told us to come back in 3 hours and they would have it figured out how to get us to Houston.

So we hung about in the airport for 2 and a half hours and went back to the desk. They were real upset at us.

"Where have you been? We have been paging you for 2 whole hours!"

There was so much noise from the 40 gazillion slot machines in that place that we couldn't hear ourselves think and we certainly never detected anything that sounded like a paging system going bonkers.

In the end we got to Houston 4 hours late and missed our connection to NOLA, so we got put up in a hotel for the night to get up at some ungodly hour in the morning to catch the first flight out.

Vegas is my second least favourite airport in the world.

EDIT: Vegas is my THIRD least favorite airport in the world. I forgot about Dulles.

RichardCranium wrote: ↑Sun Aug 14, 2022 7:07 pm How could anybody hear anything at all at the Vegas Airport?

I was there one time and the flight was cancelled. They told us to come back in 3 hours and they would have it figured out how to get us to Houston.

So we hung about in the airport for 2 and a half hours and went back to the desk. They were real upset at us.

"Where have you been? We have been paging you for 2 whole hours!"

There was so much noise from the 40 gazillion slot machines in that place that we couldn't hear ourselves think and we certainly never detected anything that sounded like a paging system going bonkers.

In the end we got to Houston 4 hours late and missed our connection to NOLA, so we got put up in a hotel for the night to get up at some ungodly hour in the morning to catch the first flight out.

Vegas is my second least favourite airport in the world.

EDIT: Vegas is my THIRD least favorite airport in the world. I forgot about Dulles.

So, you’re saying you’ve never flown out of Newark?

Yesterday was my first time through Dallas Love Field, a focus city for Southwest Airlines which comprises over 90% of the airport’s traffic. For a “Southwest Airport” (think Chicago-Midway, Houston-Hobby) the terminal, laid out in three spokes, is nicer than expected. I think it’s the first time I’ve seen a Whataburger inside an air terminal. Their line was quite long partly because their neighbor, Chic-Fil-A was closed for Sunday. There seemed an abundance of dining options to include finer Italian, Cantinas, and Steakhouses as well as a Dallas Cowboys themed sports bar seating the many Cowboys and Bears fans awaiting flights home after yesterday’s game.

Really, they didn't expect that?

From AZFamily.com:

"Records will likely be broken today at Sky Harbor Airport as tens of thousands of people leave the state following Super Bowl 57 and the WM Phoenix Open. “It looks like we are going to have a record-breaking day,” Heather Shelbrack with Sky Harbor Airport said. On an average day, 120,000 travelers come in and out of Sky Harbor but Shelbrack expects today’s number to be at least 180,000. She anticipates roughly 1,500 take-offs and landings at the airport, roughly 300 more than a normal day."

Between hosting the Super Bowl in Glendale and the Phoenix Open in Scottsdale, where single day attendance combined to top 700,000(!), this past weekend might be the busiest in Phoenix history.