Trip Report: Sun Country Airlines, New Orleans to Minneapolis (July 2024)

Trip Report: Sun Country Airlines, New Orleans to Minneapolis

comment below and let me know your thoughts :)

I was traveling to Minneapolis from New Orleans and generally there are two options available - either Delta or Sun Country Airlines.  I have flown Delta but have never flown Sun Country and was curious to decided to try them out.   From New Orleans, Sun Country flies one flight a day and the timings change; luckily for me the day I wanted to fly out they flew in the evening at the exact same time the Delta flight was heading out.  When I did research, Sun Country is a leisure-based airline that operates mainly to vacation and leisure destinations so I was not sure what to expect when booking the ticket or when onboard.  

You can book the ticket either through the website, the app, or directly at the airport.  When I booked online, the website and the options reminded me of ULCC, Spirit and Frontier, as there was a basic charge for the ticket and then there were fees for everything else from the carry-on to selecting your seat.  If you book online, they charge a 'passenger convenience fee' which can range in price, and online research said you can avoid this fee by booking at the airport yet no one could tell me if you could book the bundle of seat + carryon at the airport.  I paid for the bundle and the total for everything for my one-way flight was $110 which was a very good price.                                                                                                                                                          24-hours prior to my flight I checked in online and received my boarding pass so when I got to the airport I went directly to my gate.  The plane had just come from Minneapolis and was turning around to go back; and boarding was done by groups but the process was slow and more akin to leisure carriers rather than ULCC carriers.  The operating aircraft was a Boeing 737-800 in a 3-3 seat configuration.  The first couple of rows were premium seats which contained more legroom and complimentary snacks during the service.  The remaining aircraft was in a standard 3-3 configuration with slimline-esque seats but they did have a recline and an adjustable headrest.  The seats were basic as there was a literature compartment up top, a tray table underneath, a pocket below that, and USB ports were available below the seats.  There was no seatback entertainment but you could connect to the wifi to stream movies, TV shows, and audio (there was no moving map no flight path so you could not figure out where you were).

Even though we were boarded ahead of the pushback time, there was no rush from the staff to close the door and depart early; again their attitude and pace of movement was more akin to leisure carriers versus ULCC even though their booking and other items were similar to ULCC.  We pushed back, manual safety demonstrations were conducted, and we took off for Minneapolis.  Once we reached our cruising altitude, the in-flight service commenced.  Sun Country offers complimentary drinks including soda, water, tea and coffee but everything else needs to be purchased onboard; premium seat members did receive a complimentary pack of snack but also had to purchase everything else.  The complimentary drinks were a nice touch and akin to leisure carriers, but not giving a snack and having a buy-on-board was more like ULCCs.  After the service finished, the FA's were rarely seen in the cabin for the remainder of the flight; no additional water nor trash collection was conducted and they only came back once they were preparing the cabin for landing. 

The remainder of the flight was uneventful and you could pass your time watching entertainment onyour screen, sleeping, or staring out the window.  The seats were decently comfortable but started to get uncomfortable towards to the end of the flight.  The legroom was also decent and similar to what you would find on a leisure carrier and not that of ULCC.  Once we landed there was no rush to get to the gate or deplane as fast as you can, instead there was a leisure pace to deboarding.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                After my experience, I am perplexed with Sun Country Airlines.  Part of their model resembles ULCC - from paying for seat selection, carry-ons and snacks - while other aspects resemble a leisure carrier - complimentary onboard drinks, decent legroom and being able to recline your seat.  It was an interesting but uneventful flight and got me to Minneapolis on time (the Delta flight that was scheduled to leave about the same time left early and got to Minneapolis early as well).

Trip Report: Breeze Airways, Raleigh/Durham (RDU) to New Orleans (February 2024)

 Trip Report: Breeze Airways 

Raleigh (RDU) to New Orleans (MSY)

comment below and let me know your thoughts :)

I needed to fly to Raleigh/Durham to New Orleans and previously there were no non-stop flights as you had to connect somewhere; however, recently a new airline started a direct flight between RDU and MSY so decided to try them out.  Breeze Airways is a relatively new airline primarily operating Embraer 190's and Airbus A220s.  They fly to relatively smaller and/or secondary airports and generally have less frequency than the mainline carriers.  One of their founders in the same person who started jetBlue so they seem to be a mix between that airline and low-cost carriers.  They have a base fare which includes a personal item only and then charge for everything else, but they have termed themselves the 'nice airline'.

Between Raleigh and New Orleans, Breeze is the only carrier that operates a direct flight between the two cities and currently operates this with an Embraer 195 (the airline is currently awaiting the A220 and will fly all routes with that aircraft once delivered).  The flight was originally scheduled to depart at 4:08p and arrive into New Orleans at 5:27p for a scheduled flight time of 2hr and 19min.  As stated earlier, the base fare only includes a personal item and the base fare is relatively inexpensive.  You can add seat selection, personal carry-on, and checked baggage separately or you can bundle them together.  I was going to add seat selection and personal carry-on and when I looked at the individual fare vs the bundle, the bundle was less expensive and offered better seat selection.  Therefore, I went with the 'Nicer bundle" which included extra legroom seat, personal carryon as well as a checked bag.  Even with the bundle, the total costs for my ticket was $120.  I booked my flight through the app and when you book online you automatically get enrolled with Breeze points, the Breeze frequent flyer program.  I had previously booked a flight but then cancelled and was able to get a full refund, but still collected Breeze points for signing up; I was able to use those points for this flight and make my overall costs less!

About 2 weeks prior to departure, I received an email stating that there was going be changes to the flight time - my flight was now going to depart and arrive one hour earlier than scheduled; the new departure time would be 3:08p with a boarding time of 2:30pm.  Breeze offered to either accept the change, or cancel the itinerary for a full-refund; I accepted the change and modified my schedule accordingly.  Check-in was easy through the app and I obtained my boarding pass 24-hours prior to check-in.  As Breeze is a new airline, and they have less frequency on this route, so their planes tend to be late or cancelled more often; and this can cause issues sometimes they are the only ones providing this flight service.  I checked the Breeze app and the previous day the flight was delayed by over 5hrs - also alarming was that Google Flights and FlightRadar showed my flight as being cancelled.  I immediately contacted customer service - Breeze does not have a phone number but rather provides support through chat, SMS, as well as Facebook Messanger.  I contacted them through FB Messanger and they responded within 30mins stating that my flight was scheduled ontime.

Flight MX331 operates New York/Islip to Raleigh and then Raleigh to New Orleans with only enoughtime to turn the plane around in Raleigh between flights.  The inbound flight arrive on-time but there was only one Breeze attendant at the gate; they had to handle the incoming flight as well as the outgoing flight and they were not the most efficient; this meant that boarding which was supposed to commence at 2:30pm did not and there was no announcement and no one to answer questions.  Once they finished deplaning and assisting the inbound aircraft, they came back basically to start boarding the outbound flight; communication and details could definitely be better as there was at least a 20-30min delay with no notice.                                                                                                            After preboarders, boarding was done by zone and with the 'Nicer' bundle you get Zone 1 boarding; also with this bundle I was able to select the extra legroom seat and was able to select 1C which is the first seat and a bulkhead seat.  The flight was operated by an Embraer 195 which is a smaller plane in a 2-2 section; you could feel the smallness of the plane as you entered since the height is smaller and the overhead bins are larger.  The overhead bins could fit a personal carryon as well as a roll carryon, but the flight was extremely full so it took some maneuvering to get everyone's bag onboarded.  Once boarding was complete, the doors were closed, manual safety demonstrations were done, we pushed back and departed Raleigh 20 mins behind schedule.                                                                                                                                                 

The plane is configured in a 2-2 layout.  I was in the bulkhead seat which meant that there was lots of legroom but the seat was narrower than I had expected.  From what I could tell, the seat width and comfort on the bulkhead seat was the same as the other seats but the seat pitch and legroom were different.  As I said, the seat was somewhat narrow and I am not sure if that is the seat or the Embraer aircraft; also, the seat comfort was decent for the short flight but not sure if it would comfortable for a longer flight.  Flight time ended being 1hr 45 mins and after levelling off, the inflight service started.  As with all low-cost carriers, most items are available for purchase including drink and food boxes.  Those were first offered and then complimentary water and hot tea were offered for no charge; that is something different and many passengers were not expecting that.  Breeze did offer wifi on the plane in which you could access the complimentary entertainment - the entertainment options were extremely limited as they offered 4 movies and 4 tv shows and both were extremely old or odd selections; however, they were available and they were complimentary.  I did not see wifi packages for offer nor was texing or messaging options offered.  Once the service completed, passengers found various time to occupy their time until we landed in New Orleans.

Overall, it was an interesting flight with Breeze.  The airline concept of a combination between low-
cost carrier with charging for everything but with a better, 'nicer' attitude seems to be an interesting concept.  The fare I paid, which included everything, was very inexpensive and made the flight more attractive.  The service on board was also great as some the FA's looked like they were really enjoying their job (unlike FA's on some of the mainline carriers).  The downside is the lack of frequency, the lack of consistency of on-time departures, and the lack of communication of delays.  Would I go out of my way to take Breeze, no; would I fly Breeze again if they offered the flight route that I wanted to take, absolutely! 

Trip Report: British Airways, Geneva to New Orleans via London (July 2022)

 Trip Report: British Airways, Geneva to New Orleans via London
comment below and let me know your thoughts :)

I had to travel to Europe in Summer 2022 and was trying to find different ways to travel.  At the time of booking, the best method was utilizing miles so on the outbound I used Star Alliance miles and on the return I used OneWorld miles on British Airways from Geneva to New Orleans via London.  I am based out of New Orleans and British Airways had recently started direct service to the city so I was excited to travel on this route.  

As I said, I booked my travel using miles on American Airlines's website.  It is very easy to book awardtravel through AA's website and I have previously booked many oneworld partner flights through AA.com (in fact, I booked a SriLankan flight on AA.com and it was very simple).  This flight was no different and I booked the British Airways flight from Geneva to London and from London to New Orleans.  Once the flight was booked, I called British Airways to manage my flight including seat reservations and special meal request.  When I had originally booked my flight, premium economy was available for the same mileage amount but my dates had to change and in my revised dates unfortunately premium economy was not available.  In premium economy, the seat selection was complimentary and the luggage allowance was greater; in regular economy there was a charge for seat selection and the luggage allowance was the standard.                                                                                                  

I was able to check into my flight 24-hours in advance but I could only receive my boarding pass at the airport due to passport check-in.  My flight departed from Geneva at 11:50a and arrive at London Heathrow at 12:35pm and then my ne7xt flight departed at 3:40pm and landed in New Orleans at 7:30pm.  Because I was connecting internationally, and during this time it was the summer of European travel meltdown, I got to the airport 3-hours in advance; however, the check-in desks were not open at that time.  Apparently the check-in desks open 2 hours in advance but I was glad they were even opening as British Airways had cancelled almost all flights that day except 2 - the one we were on and then an afternoon flight.  I checked my luggage in, received my boarding pass, and proceeded to the gate.                                                                                                                                                                                             My first flight was operated by an Airbus A319 in a 3-3 seat configuration. The airplane had a Euro business class section followed by Premium Economy and then regular Economy.  We boarded through stairs and after manual safety demonstrations we pushed back and took off for Geneva.  I was seated in a window seat in regular economy.  The seat itself was basic and contained a moveable headrest, slimline seats, a tray table, and a literature section uptop for the magazines and pocket below the tray table for safety cards.  The seat comfort was alright but the seat pitch was very tight and even though the flight was only 1h45 mins, the uncomfortable seat made the journey feel longer.   Once airborne, inflight service commenced in which complimentary water and a packet of crisps were distributed; it was nice to get something complimentary as I was told that previously British Airways did not give anything complimentary in economy class.  You could purchase other food or beverage items if you wanted.  There was no wifi on the plane nor access to inflight entertainment so it was bring your own entertainment or enjoy the views.  We landed in Heathrow and then had to clear security and transfer terminals before my next flight out.

The next flight departed at 3:40pm but because U.S. bound flights require extra security we had to get to the gate extra early for additional security screening.  After the security screening, we were bused to the gate to board the Boeing 787 Dreamliner which would take us to London.  The Dreamliner was also configured with a Business Class, a Premium Economy Class and a regular economy class.  I was in regular economy where the seats were 9 across in a 3-3-3 configuration.  On the seat were a blanket, pillow, and change for UNICEF pouch.  The seat itself had an adjustable headrest and cushion.  The seatback had a PTV screen, a remote underneath, a tray table that could be half opened or fully opened, a USB port to charge your phone, and a pocket underneath.  The PTV screen was small and seem a bit outdated and while the seat pitch was decent, the legroom underneath was blocked by the huge metal box which contained the wires for the entertainment.  Because of the extra security, bus boarding, and issues with luggage loading at Heathrow Airport, it took a while for all passengers to board but once boarded, safety video was shown and we pushed back and took off for New Orleans.  Once we reached cruising altitude, a drink service plus pretzels were served and this was followed by the meal service.  The meal service was average and this is definitely an area where British Airways can improve.  After the meal service, the lights were dimmed for passengers to rest.  About half-way through the flight a mid-flight snack was served and then right before landing another snack was served.  While I appreciate the quantity of food, the quality and taste of the food was to be desired.  The service onboard was also average - they were nice and decent when they were in the aisles but in between service they cabin crew were not seen; they were not walking through the aisles with water nor checking on the passengers; if you wanted something you had to search for the crew.  The seat itself was alright but you could feel the wear and tear after the 7th hour and the big metal box which took up a lot of space really hampered the legroom - so you felt the 10hr+ flight time after the 7-8th hour.  Even though we left late, we landed on-time in New Orleans and quickly got to our gate and deplaned.

Overall, it was an interesting flight with British Airways.  They advertise themselves to be a very good to great airline but everything I experienced it made them out to be a decent to good airline.  Instead of 4-5 stars I would rate them 3-4 stars; they are decent when they are on their game but its the little things and the additional items that make other airlines standout - such as crew available in the aisle throughout the flight; better catering; a more updated fleet; and other such little things.  I appreciate the direct flight to New Orleans as I know not many international airlines fly direct to the city, and as someone from the city I really appreciate that.  I just think that New Orleans and the public deserve what British Airways was - I have flown with them when I was a child and I got the Britishness they were trying to achieve; on this flight I got that they were trying to be a step above RyanAir. 

Trip Report: jetBlue Airlines, New Orleans to Providenciales (July 2021)

Stay Report: JetBlue Airlines - New Orleans to Providenciales
comment below and let me know your thoughts :)

I wanted to travel to Turks & Caicos and I had originally booked travel on another carrier but then dates changed so had to look for another option and in my search Jetblue came up.  I have flown Jetblue before and really enjoyed their service so decided to try them for Caribbean service and see if their reputation held up.  At the time of booking, Jetblue had partnership with a variety of airlines so you could earn AAdvanage, Skyward or TrueBlue miles on this flight.  

My flight operated from New Orleans to Fort Lauderdale to Providenciales.  My flight was early in the

morning with a 6am departure on an Airbus A320 from New Orleans to Fort Lauderdale and then a 2.5hr layover prior to departing on an Embraer E190 to Providenciales at 12pm.  I had booked the 'Blue' fare which includes a carry-on, a personal item, and seat selection; checking luggage on this fare requires a cost.  Jetblue also introduced 'Blue Basic' to compete with ULCC's and that only includes a personal carry-on, no additional carryon or seat selection is available.  In every class, every passenger gets access to the inflight TVs and the wide variety of snacks.

My first flight was on an Airbus A320 with a 3-3 seat configuration.  The plane had a small business class followed by standard economy.  There were some seats that had extra legroom, which required an extra charge, but the standard legroom on Jetblue was very generous.  I am 6'1 and the seat pitch was extremely good and I could easily fit my legs in the seat.  The seat itself was very comfortable and wide.  Each seat came with a PTV screen and the plane was equipped with wifi.  The PTV had access to movies and TV shows as well as live TV.  After take-off, Jetblue's signature inflight service commenced.  I say signature because Jetblue is the only one to offer a wide variety of snacks including chips, popcorn, and cookies and these are offered throughout the flight and you can go up to the FA to request more.  In addition to these complimentary snacks, complimentary drinks are served and you can also purchase additional food and beverage items.  The extra seatpitch, the PTV and access to free content, and the access to quality snacks are some of the main reasons that people choose Jetblue; its good that they have kept those options all these years.

We landed in Fort Lauderdale and had a very long layover in a small airport (Fort Lauderdale airport

was not built to handle the capacity that it currently operates at).  About an hour before our flight to Providenciales, passengers were called to the gate so that documents could be checked - these included passport but also COVID tests and T&C health screenings.  Once all documents were checked, we were able to board the plane.  The flight from Fort Lauderdale to Providenciales was operated by an Embraer E190 with a 2-2 seat configuration.  The plane was small and it felt small - even though the flight time was 1hr50min and T&C can accommodate bigger planes; I am not sure why Jetblue operated the smaller plane.  The seats on the E190 were the same in terms of seat pitch and width and each had a PTV screen, but these were older and so did not have access to all the content from the previous plane; free live tv was still available.  After take-off, the signature service commenced with complimentary snacks and drinks and then it was time to enjoy the Jetblue experience before we started our descent into Providenciales.  

Overall, it was a nice flight experience with Jetblue.  The comfortable legroom, the comfortable seat, the access to PTV screens, and access to complimentary snacks made the overall experience a very pleasant one.  The FA's onboard were nice and friendly so it made the experience that much more pleasant.  Since taking this flight, Jetblue has increased its partnership with American meaning you can earn and redeem AAdvantage points on Jetblue flights.  This is just another reason to choose Jetblue. 

Trip Report: Frontier Airlines, New Orleans to Atlanta (April 2022)

  Trip Report: Frontier Airlines, New Orleans to Atlanta
comment below and let me know your thoughts :)

I fly from New Orleans to Atlanta a lot of surprising there are a lot of options.  The standards are Delta, which have a flight almost every hour or so; Southwest which does not as much availability but comes with perks such as free bags; Spirit which has limited availability but comes at a lower cost; and Frontier which only has one flight a day and is comparable to Spirit.  I have flown Delta, Southwest and Spirit on this route many times and used to fly Frontier but they stopped this route.  They have recently reintroduced the route so decided to try them again.

The Frontier flight from New Orleans to Atlanta leaves on at a different time depending on which day

you are traveling.  On the day I was traveling, the flight departed at 4:20pm and arrive into Atlanta at 6:52p; on the next day, the flight left at 7am and arrived into 9am and there was no afternoon flight.  I am not sure what the pairing or timing is but that is Frontier.  Frontier is a low-cost airline so the ticket only includes the seat and a personal item, everything else requires payment.  Frontier, like Spirit, has introduced 'Bundle packages' in which you can bundle a seat, a carry-on, checked baggage and priority boarding.  I have done this many times on Spirit and have always found it beneficial, especially the extra luggage and the priority boarding.  I was only going for a short period so I did not need the extra luggage but the person I was traveling with was going for a longer period and the extra carry-on was $35-40 and the bundle that included everything was $50 so it was more cost-effective to get the bundle; even with the bundle the ticket was less than $100.

Booking the flights on the app is a lot easier than the website - the website for me kept spinning and taking longer than necessary; this is where Spirit wins in the low-cost area as their website is faster (app is slower and a bit useless).  Both Spirit and Frontier do try and upsell you throughout the entire booking process and this is where you can select the various bundles.  I have bundled many times on Spirit and my travel companion bundled with Frontier; the bundle that I normally choose includes a carry-on in addition to your personal item, a checked baggage (at 18kg/40lbs instead of the standard 23kg/50lbs), priority boarding and seat selection.  If you do not choose any of the bundles, then the only thing included in your ticket is a personal item; everything else comes at a cost.  I was able to check-in 24-hours in advance and on Frontier I was given the option at the beginning to buy a seat but then afterwards there was no availability to look at the seat-map; on Spirit you are able to see the seatmap after boarding and potentially move seats within your section.  

The flight was scheduled to depart at 4:20pm and the plane was already at the gate (it had earlier come

from Atlanta) and so boarding started ontime at 3:50pm.  Unlike Spirit, Frontier only made one announcement regarding hand carry items.  Frontier boards in groups and if you purchase a bundle, that includes priority boarding so boarding in Group 1.  I was in group 3 but after group 1 the groups were not really enforced.  The operating aircraft was an Airbus A320 with a 3-3 seat configuration.  The style of the seat, the seat pitch, and the seat width all reminded me of Spirit; Frontier seats even had the tiny tray table similar to Spirit.  Both airlines offer a basic seat that is already 'prereclined' so you cannot recline anymore, the seats are decent but only for short-haul and will be uncomfortable for long-haul, and the seat pitch is tight so decent for short-haul but again would be uncomfortable for long-haul.  Once onboard, I did ask the flight attendant if the flight was full and if I could move; they said the flight was full but that was incorrect as they did allow people to move upfront or to exit rows but did charge them for these moves ($50 to sit in the exit seat).   Everyone boarded and the door closed, we pushed back ontime and headed out to Atlanta.

The flight was very basic and minimal.  Because of tail winds + short flight time + some turbulence, normal inflight service was not going to operate but rather if you wanted something then you had to ring your call bell and you could order directly from the FA's.  Other than that, the flight was very basic and not really exciting.  After 50mins, we started our descent into Atlanta and landed on-time and taxied to the gate.  One thing in the air - the FA's kept mentioning keeping a tidy airplane and that if we could help them since they had to turn the plane to Las Vegas and that 'they were the cleaning crew'.  The FAs also did an odd thing on the ground; I had put my carryon in the overhead above row 3 and I was further back.  When row 3 deplaned, my bag was still there since it would take some time for my row to deplane; but in the meanwhile the FAs was going through the overhead and taking down all the bags that were left and putting them on the seats.   This is fine except this information was not told to the passengers so I only noticed as I was trying to understand what they were doing with bag.  It was very odd.

Overall, it was an interesting experience with Frontier.  Many aspects of the process were similar toother ULCC including Spirit so in that sense at certain aspects you could not tell whether you were flying Frontier or Spirit.  Based on this experience, I would not hesitate to fly Frontier short-haul if the timings were right, the price were right, and it was short-haul.  

Trip Report: Alaska Airlines, New Orleans to Bozeman via Seattle (September 2020)

Trip Report: Alaska Airlines, New Orleans to Bozeman
comment below and let me know your thoughts :)

Travelling has seriously changed in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.  Flight schedules have been drastically reduced or cancelled, many people are not traveling, and some airlines are blocking middle seats while others are not.  As a result of all this, for those comfortable flying there were some good deals that the airline was providing and I took advantage of one these deals to try out an airline I have been wanting to fly for a while.  My family and I decided to travel to Yellowstone National Park, as there are few people there and it was easy to social distance.  There are only a couple of airlines that fly to the Northwest and Alaska seems to have the best schedules and dominance in the area, also it had been more than 20+ years since I had flown with Alaska so was excited to try the airline again.  An added bonus was that Alaska became a member of oneworld alliance so I was able to earn oneworld points with the flight.  Booking the flight through the Alaska website was very easy, and it was easy to manage and add/upgrade extras either through the website or through the app.

For my trip, I was flying from New Orleans to Bozeman with a connection in Seattle (and it was the

same on the return).  Alaska operates three services - First, Main Cabin Extra, and Main Cabin (which also include basic/saver fares).  The first flight, from New Orleans to Seattle, was scheduled at over 4.5+ hours and given this length of time we decided to upgrade the outbound journey to Main Cabin Extra  The costs were a lot higher than expected for this upgrade, and it was indicated that the passenger would receive 'premium drinks and snacks, extra legroom, and priority boarding'; the Main Cabin Extra seats were right after first class so they were also quicker to exit as well.  Through the app we were able to preselect our seats and, as part of their safety policy, Alaska has blocked out middle seats.  Alaska allows free carry-on but charges for checked baggage and the standard allowance is 50lbs; my experience with other airlines is that if you had paid for an upgrade then they will grace you 2-3lbs but Alaska did not care and each time I checked in it had to be exact 50lb or less.  I checked in through the app, received my boarding pass, and went to the airport to check-in my bag and board the plane.  As I said, on the outbound from New Orleans to Bozeman via Seattle we were in Main Cabin Extra.  This included priority boarding so we were first to board after first class; Alaska did strictly follow safety protocols when it came to boarding and enforced group boarding to ensure distance and less people (which was a good thing).  

Alaska operates a Boeing 737-800 on this flight in a 3-3 seat configuration.  Because Alaska had blocked out middle seats, we each were assigned to an aisle or middle seat.  The Main Cabin extra seats were standard Alaska seats but had extra legroom; in fact the legroom was really nice and generous.  Other seat features included a seatback pocket uptop which contained a safety card plus instructions on how to connect to the wifi and underneath was a standard-size tray table.  Below that was a power outlet which was available at every seat and completing the seat layout was another small seatback pocket.  It was a standard and basic seat layout with the only distinction or interesting piece being the seatback power outlet at every seat.  There were no seatback screens as through the onboard wifi and through the AlaskaAir app you are able to stream movies and tv shows to your personal device, so having the seatback power outlet is a nice idea.  Because middle seats were kept empty, this meant there was more room in the overhead bins for passengers carryons so once everyone was boarded and everything settled we pushed back ontime for the 5hr and 3min flight to Seattle.

Due to COVID, there were restrictions in service onboard the flight.  As I said, this included blocking

the middle seat and no lines near the lavatories.  Alaska still provided a beverage service and for the 5hr3min flight there was only one service - this to within the first 30mins of the flight. the FAs were not customer friendly, they were wearing masks, passengers were given a biscotti cookie or crackers, and a choice of a drink - the drink were served in the tiniest of cans and only one was given (similar to European carriers).  I understand modifying restrictions but this 'service' (and I put it in quotes because frankly it was ridiculous) was not sufficient given the flight time and length.  Also, even though we were in Main Cabin Extra, there was no extra greeting or extra service items - it was the same as given in regular economy.  So, for the extremely high price paid for Main Cabin Extra all we got was extra legroom and priority boarding; to me it was definitely not worth the price because the cost for two legs of the Main Cabin was almost equivalent to the price of the roundtrip ticket.  After this service, the FA's went to their seats and were never seen again in the cabin until it was time to land.  I had heard about Alaska and supposedly the great service they provide but saw none of this on my 4 flights - each flight the FA's provided basic service, did not seem to care nor want to interact with any customers, and did not exhibit any sort of customer interaction, warmth or friendliness at all.  Basically passengers were left to their own devices to pass the time as they want - watch movies, tv shows, or eat the food that you had brought on board.  We finally landed in Seattle, taxied to the gate, deplaned and made our way to our next gate.  

We originally had about an hour layover but we landed early so that gave us more time in Seattle to relax and slowly proceed to our gate and wait for boarding to commence.  When we got to the gate, everything was proceeding as normal and only when it was time to board did the airline make the announcement that the flight had been cancelled.  The gate agent and representatives at the gate were not very helpful, and again did not provide any customer service warmth or friendliness; instead they directed everyone to go to the AlaskaAir customer service desks about 6 gates away.  All of us when there and finally got a decent airline representative who proceeded to provide us with a complimentary hotel, complimentary food vouchers for dinner that night and breakfast the next morning, and then rebooked us for the next mornings flight.  I would say that Alaska did a good job in providing good compensation and generally in a timely manner, and then got more service reps to come to the center to ensure passengers were not waiting long.  We proceeded to the hotel (Seattle Marriott - review here) and the next morning went back to the airport for the early flight to Bozeman.  

This flight was operated by Horizon Air for AlaskaAir and the operating aircraft was a Q400 with a 2-2

seat layout.  The Main Cabin Extra seats were in the beginning while the regular Main Cabin seats were in the back.  The flight time from Seattle to Bozeman was 1hr42min and again a basic service of drinks + snacks were provided and both Main Cabin and Main Cabin Extra received the same service.  And again, there was a lack of customer service, friendliness, or connectivity with passengers from the FA's - they both just did their basic job.  We landed in Bozeman, taxied, deplaned and retrieved our luggage.  

The experience on the return was similar to the outbound in terms of ensuring our checked baggage was exactly at 50lbs, the same type of aircraft equipment, the attitude of the FA's, and the one basic service despite the long flight time.  The only thing that was different was that we were in Main Cabin and not Main Cabin Extra - there was a decrease in legroom but the legroom in Main Cabin was decent and given the middle seat was empty, you did not feel the shortened legroom on this flight.  

Overall, I was extremely disappointed with Alaska Airlines.  I had heard many good things about the service and the overall experience and I got none of that.  Yes, the base price was competitive but the service in air was not good, the service on the ground was not good, and overall there was nothing compelling that would make me choose Alaska over anyone else; in fact, based on this experience I would not choose Alaska and choose someone else. 

Trip Report: Spirit Airlines, New Orleans to Bogota (August 2019)

Trip Report: Spirit Airlines, New Orleans to Bogota
comment below and let me know your thoughts :)

I was traveling from New Orleans to Bogota and during the research a couple of options came up: Spirit Airlines, Copa, and jetBlue.  My first inclination was to go with Copa as it flies direct from New Orleans, the seats are generally comfortable, you get a meal plus usually a PTV, and the connection time in Panama was short.  It took some time to confirm my trip, so by the time I looked again the price for Copa went extremely high and the connection time in Panama became longer.  I then looked at jetblue but it had me overnight in Fort Lauderdale so I decided to go with Spirit.  

I was initially hesitant with Spirit since, as a LCC, there is nothing complimentary and everything needs to be paid for thus adding to the overall ticket costs.  When I have previously looked at tickets, by the time I added checked bags or other additional services the price between Spirit and others was not enough to justify flying a LCC; however, this time it was different.  The base price with Spirit was almost $200 lower than Copa, and by the time I added the bags and other services, I was still saving almost $175 - so it is because of these significant cost savings that I choose to fly with Spirit.  I have previously flown with Spirit (check out the review here) so I generally knew what to expect, but my previous flights had always been on short flights of about an hour or less so this was going to be my longest flights yet with Spirit.  


The booking process with Spirit was very easy and transparent - you are able to select your seats and they take you through all the additional services and extras that you can choose to select at the time of booking and see the complete total price before purchasing the ticket.  In addition to the base price, I added a checked bag for both the outbound and return so this added an additional $70.  While Spirit does allow a complimentary carry-on bag, this must fit underneath the seat in front of you.  Carry-on bags that need to be placed in the overhead bin incur a $30 charge each way, so instead of paying about the same price and getting less weight I decided to go with the checked baggage.  NOTE: while the traditional checked baggage allowance is 23kg or 50lbs, most LCC's - including Spirit - have reduced that to 18kg or 40lbs.  

Since nothing is complimentary, you also have to pay for your seats - I have four flights total: New Orleans to Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale to Bogota, Bogota to Fort Lauderdale, and Fort Lauderdale to New Orleans.  The New Orleans to Fort Lauderdale is a little over an hour so I decided not to pay for seats on that flight, but the flight to Bogota is over 3 hours so I did pay for seats on those flight as I did not want to get stuck in the middle seat.  You could select your seat and pay for extras either during the booking process, afterwards while managing your booking, or when checking in - and Spirit will send you email reminders to do so.  I was able to check-in 24hours prior to my flight, but I did not receive a seat assignment and thus I could not receive a boarding pass - I do not know why Spirit does this as previously when I flew them it did the same thing and so I could only receive my boarding pass after going to the kiosk in the airport - to me that is such a waste of time.  At the airport, I went to the computer screens, followed the prompts, scanned my passport, received my official boarding passes, dropped my luggage off at the baggage drop, went through security and proceeded to my gate.


I had two short-haul flights - New Orleans to Fort Lauderdale and return at about 1hr45m each way - as well as two long-haul flights - Fort Lauderdale to Bogota and return at about 3h35min each way.  Each of the sectors generally operated about the same way so I will provide overall descriptions of the flights.  Each one of my flights was operated by an Airbus A320 and each was laid out in the same way.  The aircraft was in a 3-3 seat configuration with a couple of 'big seats' in the front - with only just extra legroom - and the rest in standard economy seating.  The seat on Spirit is different than a standard economy seat: the seat is a slimline seat, the armrest are narrow to allow for a wider seat width, the seat is already in a prerecline which allows for more legroom space but also means you cannot recline it forward or backward; the seat is not padded well but the padding is standard and it is generally comfortable for the short or longhaul flights; there is no standard tray table that you can pull out but rather a small tray that just folds out; and no standard pocket but a small minimal pocket below the seat.  While it is not a standard seat you would find on most airlines, the seat pitch, comfort, and width are generally better on Spirit than I would find on some mainline carriers.  Also, in the seat pocket were not a lot of materials but just two items - the safety card and the onboard menu which also doubled as the route map and advertisement for the airline credit card (each seat had the menu on the long-haul flights but on the short-haul flights only a couple of seats had the menu). 

The service on each sector of the flight was also the same as well - Spirit does not offer anything complimentary, everything is buy-on-board including water (after a lot of backlash, Spirit started offering a cup of ice complimentary but still no free water).  For the short-haul flights, the service would depend on the time of day as early morning flights the attendants just came around with the menu and asked passengers if they wanted to purchase anything while in the afternoon and evening they came around with the full trolley asking passengers if they wanted to buy anything on board.  For the long-haul flights, the FA's did a passthrough at the beginning of the flight and then again closer to landing offering passengers the option to buy on board.  On both flights, the FA's were always in the cabin either doing their service or coming through collecting trash or quickly responding to calls.  

The service onboard Spirit was very good and actually A LOT better than some of the mainline carriers I have flown with.  The FAs were courteous, they were pleasant, they were visible throughout the cabin, and generally overall provided good customer service.  The planes were also very clean and generally in good and nice shape - again better than some of the mainline carriers I have been on.  Something new that I noticed on Spirit - on both of the short-haul flights, there was a lot of interaction between the crew and the passengers and they had a contest to promote their reward program as well as their credit card.  It was a selling opportunity but the way Spirit did it was interactive and very smart and creative as it provided another way for the airline to interact with passengers in a nice and friendly way; also the give away was a nice touch and provided good pr for Spirit.  

Another item unique to Spirit is their boarding process - they board in groups which is the general standard but they start early and board very quickly so that most passengers are boarded, seated, and ready to go well before the scheduled departure time; however, even though we were all ready to go the boarding doors were not closed until the scheduled departure time.  I do not know if the early boarding is to ensure Spirit has an on-time departure - all of my flights departed on time and arrived early at the gate - but having passengers sit on the plane upto 15-20 minutes waiting to pushback seems like a lot of wasted time.

In the end, it was a standard and good experience with Spirit.  As I had flown with them, I knew what to expect flying a LCC carrier - slimline seats and minimal onboard service; and Spirit delivered on both fronts.  Spirit is also a LCC in that they usually only have one flight a day to that destination and have minimal customer service agents so if something goes wrong, then there is a problem.  Despite all that, Spirit exceeded my expectations with the friendly and courteous crew, clean planes, ontime departure, and generally overall pleasant experience.  I knew what to expect and had prepared myself for the experience (purchased food at the airport and downloaded movies to have something to watch) so I was happy with my experience.  Would Spirit be my first choice - probably not but if the price was significantly different and the flight timings were good then yes, I would choose them again.

Trip Report: American Airlines, Washington, D.C. to New Orleans (July 2019)

Trip Report: American Airlines
Washington D.C. to New Orleans
comment below and let me know your thoughts :)

I travel a lot from New Orleans to Washington, D.C. and return.  Previously, the only direct flight from Reagan (DCA) to New Orleans was on USAirways, which then became American, but then Southwest came in and started direct flights.  I have written about the difference between the two here - originally they both were about the same price for a one-way flight so the only differences were customer service and the items that American makes you pay for that are free on Southwest just as checked luggage and changing of flights.  Because of these differences, I have generally flown Southwest on this route but this time the price difference was so great that American ended up being the better option.  We were three of us traveling so I booked two 'Main Economy' tickets and one 'Basic Economy' ticket - the reason for this is that there was a $30 difference between the two tickets, and this is the amount that we needed to pay for the checked luggage, so I discounted one ticket to build in the charge for the checked baggage.  

It was very easy to navigate and book the ticket through AA.com and I was able to manage the ticket through the app.  During the purchase process, I was able to preselect seats for those seating in Main Economy but the Basic Economy seats would be selected for me at check-in.  I had set an alarm to check-in 24hrs prior to my flight, but it took the system (both app and mobile website) about 4 minutes to refresh itself and allow me to check-in.  Once checked in, I had been assigned a window seat for the Basic Economy and this cannot be changed nor moved without paying a seat-fee (about $17); even at the boarding gate seats cannot be changed without paying the seat-fee.  Other airlines allow you to pay the checked baggage at check-in (ie. United has been doing this for years) but unfortunately this item is not available on American yet (there is news that this update is coming soon).  After check-in, we received our mobile boarding passes and were ready to fly with American.

We got to the airport early and used the self check-in kiosks to check-in the bags, pay for the bags, self-tag, and then drop the luggage off at the security desks - at almost no point did we interact with an American Airlines employee (which I do not know is a good thing or not).  Once past security, we made it to the gate and waiting for our flight to start boarding.  American has 9 boarding groups, which in my opinion is way too many.  While the boarding groups do by go somewhat fast, that is still a large number of groups to be boarding.  For the passengers in Main Economy, they could board in Group 5 but the Basic Economy passengers board in Group 9.  I was traveling with passengers who needed some extra time and so I was able to board early with them to help get them settled in.  

The operating aircraft was an Embraer 190 in a 2-2 seat configuration operated by an American Airlines partner.  I have flown on many Embraers with American and some of them are new and really nice while others are older and uncomfortable; this plane was unfortunately the latter.  The 2-2 seat configuration is nice in that there are no middle seats, but the seats were old and had lost much of the padding making it uncomfortable.  The legroom or seat pitch was decent and alright for the 2-hour flight.  The seat itself was basic with a tray table and a pocket with airline magazine and sick bags; there were no PTVs or any other amenities on the seat.  Boarding took a while (with so many groups how can it not?) and it was a full flight and everyone had carry-on luggage which could not fit in the small plane - and throughout the boarding process the flight attendants were not customer friendly at all, had scowls on their faces the entire time and kept making announcements telling people to hurry up 'so we can have an on-time departure'.  Boarding finally was complete, we pushed back and took off to New Orleans.  

There was really nothing much to do on the plane.  American does offer free entertainment to your personal device and they have movies and TV shows on there for free, so that is a nice gesture and helps the time pass by.  For the 2.5hour flight, there was only one drink service and that to within the first 30 minutes of the plane - the flight attendants came rushing by and provided complimentary soft drinks, tea, coffee, or water plus a pack of pretzels.  The complimentary drinks were appreciated, but the poor service that came with it was definitely not.  The flight attendants were not customer friendly at all, and seemed to be rushing through the service to get it done (even though after the service all they did was just sit down in their jumpseat).  For my drink, the attendant did not even wait for the fizz to go down so literally I only got one sip of the drink.  When I asked for another drink when they came back to collect the trash I got the response 'oh, I think we ran out of soft drinks'; seriously, how do you run out of soft drinks on a freshly catered plane??

Overall, it was a poor flight on American.  The plane was uncomfortable and the service was just horrible.  I usually fly Southwest and on the same route the service is better, the price is usually the same, and they provide free checked-bags so why would I choose American?   I had chosen to fly American as they were the lower fare option, but after experiencing their poor service and poor plane comfort I will just pay whatever price Southwest is offering and fly them instead!