I've had some pretty stressful connections at DEN. Really hate the fact that the last few times I have flown through DEN, I end up about as far as physically possible from my connecting gates with 10 minutes to make my connection. It's either that or sit in DEN for 4-5 hours for the next flight.
"We don't beat the reaper by living longer, we beat the reaper by living well and living fully." - Randy Pausch
Seriously what choice have I? I fly out of DEN and almost always to the west, so it is UA or WN. AS, DL, and AA just don't have routes, and even if they did, the only one that might be better is AS.
I don't even know if I would benefit from calling the premier line to complain.
Originally Posted by blurred
That would give me new opportunities for bad experiences.
Originally Posted by blurred
I fly United frequently, because Denver, and whenever I fly any other carrier I do not feel like United is inferior. They all suck.
"fuck off you asshat gaper shit for brains fucktard wanker." - Jesus Christ
"She was tossing her bean salad with the vigor of a Drunken Pop princess so I walked out of the corner and said.... "need a hand?"" - Odin
"everybody's got their hooks into you, fuck em....forge on motherfuckers, drag all those bitches across the goal line with you." - (not so) ill-advised strategy
Way back before 9/11 we were flying to Chicago on SouthWorst to meet some friends and then go straight to a lake house in Wisconsin for a week. We're running late and do curbside check in for the bags and we're right at 30 minutes to flight time. Run to the gate and barely make our flight.
We get to Chicago and my bag shows up at baggage, but not my wife's. We wait until the bitter end and there's just one lone bag going around the carousel and we go into the SW baggage office to start the process. We tell the barely caring SW customer service person our bag hasn't shown up and she clicks some keys on the computer.. "You sure it's not here?". "No, it's not here." She clicks some more keys and then goes out to the carousel in a huff, brings back the lone bag and drops it on the floor and loudly proclaims "HERE'S YOUR BAG". My wife looks at the bag and says "That's not my bag." Then she points at one of those picture tags hanging off the bag's handle with a picture of someone's dog, "That's not even my dog".
The look of shock on the service drone's face was almost worth dealing with her shitty attitude. Within minutes she tracked wifey's bag in Seattle. It took a day to get our bag delivered way out in BFE wisco, some black kid straight outta south side showed up at 1 am with it. He looked like he'd never been out of the city and was scared out of his wits. We gave him a beer and $20 for his effort.
I haven't either (nor have I had United issues, FWIW). But it's SWA that has had the more newsworthy problems with flight schedules that last year, not United. And while none of those affected me, I do have friends and family (including in Denver) that were screwed royally by SWA.
"fuck off you asshat gaper shit for brains fucktard wanker." - Jesus Christ
"She was tossing her bean salad with the vigor of a Drunken Pop princess so I walked out of the corner and said.... "need a hand?"" - Odin
"everybody's got their hooks into you, fuck em....forge on motherfuckers, drag all those bitches across the goal line with you." - (not so) ill-advised strategy
If you regularly fly out of Seattle, get Clear. The TSA precheck line the last few times was a full hour. Wraps around the airport. SeaTac feels tiny these days.
It's all North American airlines. They just take turns.
SFO both the Pre and Clear lines were longer than normal security at T3 and I was told this is normal.
This is frequently true at DEN too, and even more common that that Clear+Pre is longer than Pre.
Originally Posted by blurred
I can handle long lines at TSA but I'm not letting my bags out of my sight. I don't think I'll check anything again ever.
at the risk of jinxing myself, I haven't had lost luggage in a long time. Admittedly, I am one of those "arrive at the airport with gobs of time" people. And usually flying non-stop. Both of which help.
Also, on just about every flight, whether I check a bag or not before security, I also frequently use the free gate check they are always offering (because the flights are always full and there's never enough overhead space). You can be sure your bag gets on the right plane in that event.
"fuck off you asshat gaper shit for brains fucktard wanker." - Jesus Christ
"She was tossing her bean salad with the vigor of a Drunken Pop princess so I walked out of the corner and said.... "need a hand?"" - Odin
"everybody's got their hooks into you, fuck em....forge on motherfuckers, drag all those bitches across the goal line with you." - (not so) ill-advised strategy
I find that security ebbs and flows like anything else but for me (ATL), Precheck/Clear is still overwhelmingly faster than regular TSA.
In recent months I've seen the regular TSA line extend out of the terminal, into baggage claim and then snake outside with wait times approaching 2.5+ hours. Precheck at that same time was longer than usual at 30 minutes (usually 8-12 minutes) but still worth every penny.
Once you get to any airport that isn't a major hub the only think I've found that can slow down your trip through Precheck is how fast you can move your legs.
I still call it The Jake.
Gate check is great if there's someone actually handling baggage at your connection and/or destination which doesn't seem to be happening on a regular basis at this time.
This is one of the benefits of Delta comfort+ and premium economy - assigned overhead bins. I can go a couple weeks with an international size carryon and an Osprey transporter extra bag.
https://www.osprey.com/us/en/product...728&nulsc=true
I might need to do some laundry but that beats losing luggage.
Back when we were new parents we gate checked our fancy-ass Uppababy travel stroller that was fresh out of the box. Got the tag saw it get stacked next to the baggage conveyer, didn't think another thing about it.
Until we landed and was told there was no such stroller on board and the tag was never scanned into their system. Thieves suck ass, especially when you're forced to use their services.
To DL's credit, they had money in our account within 24 hours for a new fancy-assed stroller which did make the return flight home.
I still call it The Jake.
LOL back when we checked bags we were at a baggage carousel and what was left of a bag went by. The shredded remains of only the luggage, no contents at all, were in a litter box and it had a tag on it that said "CAUGHT IN ROLLERS".
Reminds of this trip - I went to Moscow and Estonia just after BCBR and my bag got lost on the way back through Warsaw. But then it was returned to me while still traveling in Canada so I was happy- once when boarding a connecting flight the airline staff stopped me and said your bag got damaged but will still be loaded on this flight. I was like sure whatever as long as it’s not lost. Then it came out on the carousel with down feathers flying in the air like it was snowing
But I had receipts for my down jacket, gore tex jacket, shoes etc and the airline paid me back for full value. They couldn’t really dispute it in this case.
wow ^^ I was talking to a guy ( some kind of ologist ) who flys narth quit a bit so he tells me they have lost shit so many times he brings empty luggage in hopes they were gona lose it and he could make a claim
I don't check anything I always stuff everything into a BORA 40 and bring it in
Lee Lau - xxx-er is the laziest Asian canuck I know
Ha! We were skiing in Utah in February and my brother in law was the last to arrive and said his ski bag didn't make it but they'd have it up to the condo by midnight as it was on the following flight. Cool.
He gets a call about 10:30pm from a baggage claim worker saying "I'm so sorry but it looks like your bag got caught in the wheel of the baggage Tug and got dragged for a while before the ground support employee realized. I'm afraid its got hydraulic fluid all over it and is pretty torn up. Would you like us to send it still or would you just like to claim the total loss?"
He said send it and holy shit I've never seen a bag so destroyed. It was exactly as advertised. I felt terrible for him because his new skis, bindings, poles and helmet were in there. He nervously opened it up and to everyone's surprise the skis and bindings were like new still. Not a scratch on em.
The helmet, poles and various other pieces of clothing packed around them looked exactly like they got caught under a drive wheel, broke some fluid line and then got dragged for a good bit - destroyed. At least he got to go shopping somewhere affordable for the replacement gear, downtown PC, so at least the airline wasn't out any more than usual.
I still call it The Jake.
Hope he bought all the Bogner stuff, submitted the receipts then returned it all
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