Airport reviews

Quote: Fleastiff

Strange. I'm shocked miles is a factor... they are illusory. A carrot dangled before the buyer who later finds out... restrictions, changes, and that "mileage points" really means nothing. I once heard a comp-hungry gambler in Biloxi ask the Evil Empire to give him six hundred thousand miles ... as if a casino company actually owned the airline company.

Its about status and upgrades, not free tickets.
A lot of these guys are forced to fly coach very long distances, they are looking for the upgrade to business class.
Typical policy for your average company, business class ok to Asia but coach to Europe or South America..
Some companies, anything over 6 hours business class ok. Some companies are cheap, coach everywhere.
Some travelers actually decline big savings on other airlines because they don't want to be stuck in coach with no possible way of upgrading.

Quote: terapined

Typical policy for your average company, business class ok to Asia but coach to Europe or South America.

I've heard that. I also knew people that had the six hour rule. Just looking at a round trip from Houston on United Airline's website, I get the following prices (Business and First were giving me the same price).

Houston to London (9 hr) $1,270 - $7,048
Houston to Buenos Aires (10.5 hr) $1,519 - $8,624
Houston to Tokyo (14 hr) $2,507 - $7,266

So you are saying given that the extra 3.5 hours to Tokyo costs an extra $1K in economy class, the accounting department would clear a $7K ticket? That is almost 3X the price.

The Federal government cleared a rule that said 14 hours door to door entitled you to business class. But most of those trips are done by the military anyway. The admiral wrote a memo that said it was not OK, as it would bankrupt the travel budget of the military. He did authorize a one night stay enroute.

Now your average business traveler is not going to stay one night enroute, as with most long haul flights that would mean staying somewhere ridiculous (i.e. spend a night in Los Angeles before flying home to San Diego after coming back from Okinawa).

I did have one trip from Washington DC to Bahrain. It was a 7 hour ride to London on United, then a 7 hour trip to Bahrain on British Airways. I took the night in London, so that I could see a play. I arrived on a Monday when the theatres were closed, so I went to Music Hall. They like to call out the Americans in the audience, and ask them how long they were staying in London. I said "one night" which really annoyed the emcee.

Although the flight is more in absolute dollars the 3X the price is often allowed by a company for a decent business hotel compared to some fleabag place. Given that the hotel could be for several nights the comparison with the flight is even closer.

Quote: kenarman

Although the flight is more in absolute dollars the 3X the price is often allowed by a company for a decent business hotel compared to some fleabag place. Given that the hotel could be for several nights the comparison with the flight is even closer.

Houston to Tokyo (14 hr) $2,507 - $7,266

The difference of $4,759 for the plane ticket is a lot of money when you are talking about hotel rooms. The airline ticket is $260 per hour.

The US State Department rate for Tokyo City is US$200 per night. If I book the nicest Comfort Inn in Tokyo for 4 nights I got a price of $367.
Even if I stay at the Tokyo Park Hyatt (the Lost in Translation hotel) for four nights it is $1,900. That is one of the nicest hotels in Tokyo. Total is $1100 over the State Department maximum. I am still not even close to the $5K additional for the upgraded plane ticket.

The accounting office would be much better off giving they're guy a luxury hotel room for a week instead of a business class seat on a trip to Asia.

Personally, I flew on the negotiated Federal government fares. Houston to Tokyo is $856 economy class or $1106 business class. I always got an economy ticket, and if I had FF miles I would get an upgrade.

I drove to Morelia yesterday for work. Due to quirks of the GPS, some road work, and a very inopportune phone call, I wound up driving past the airport. IT seems a bit bigger than the one in Carmen, but it's hard to tell from just one side while driving past at 65 mph trying to make up for lost time.

I researched it a bit and was surprised there are flights to Mex City, Houston and DFW. I'd expected flights to elsewhere in Mexico, too.

Carmen had more passengers than Morelia last year, but they are both pretty small.
602,305 Ciudad del Carmen International Airport
425,200 General Francisco J. Mujica International Airport Michoacán Morelia

I think that if an airport has only one flight, it is to Mexico City. The exception seems to be "Uruapan International Airport", which has a Volaris flight to Tijuana, and is going to put a flight into LAX in two months.

Those flights to Houston and Dallas to small airports are conducted in a 76 passenger aircraft, and fares are an arm and a leg. As I said earlier my theory is that they can get away with it because there are always some American businessmen on trips to any corner of Mexico, and they are afraid to change planes in Mexico City so they pay a small fortune to change planes in Texas.

I flew from Tijuana into Morelia and out of Uruapan. I thought that Uruapan was the craziest airport I have ever seen. At the time there was a few small turboprops going to Mexico City, but everyone was there for that one flight to Tijuana. I have never seen so much security. They went through every single suitcase with drug sniffing dogs, and they were all armed with Uzzi's. I was half expecting a colonoscopy.

I have no idea why there are no flights from Mexico city to Uruapan. I mean Aeromar flies to Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico and carries less than 10,000 passengers per year. Uruapan is a small city, but it is still over 300K.
MEX-Morelia 130 miles
MEX-Xalapa 149 miles
MEX-Uruapan 194 miles


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I read that the Presidential jet arrived in Mexico City but was sent back to the USA for another year. Maybe they took it there for a show and tell.

Quote: Pacomartin

425,200 General Francisco J. Mujica International Airport Michoacán Morelia

That's about 400k more people than I expected ;)

The two biggest cities closer to Morelia, if memory serves, are Mex City and Guadalajara, both about as far away. Both also operate big, for Mexico, airports.

Quote:

I think that if an airport has only one flight, it is to Mexico City.

Oh, yes.

Quote:

Those flights to Houston and Dallas to small airports are conducted in a 76 passenger aircraft, and fares are an arm and a leg. As I said earlier my theory is that they can get away with it because there are always some American businessmen on trips to any corner of Mexico, and they are afraid to change planes in Mexico City so they pay a small fortune to change planes in Texas.

Maybe. On the other hand Michoacán is one of those states with a large expat population living in America.

Quote:

I have no idea why there are no flights from Mexico city to Uruapan. I mean Aeromar flies to Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico and carries less than 10,000 passengers per year. Uruapan is a small city, but it is still over 300K.

Beats me. Perhaps supply and demand. It's common to drive places as far as 500 kilometers, sometimes even more, or to take the bus. But in the end airlines move in mysterious ways, their blunders to behold.

Quote: Nareed

Maybe. On the other hand Michoacán is one of those states with a large expat population living in America.

Volaris is getting a huge share of the USA VFR (visiting friends and relatives) market by cramming 174 seats into the Airbus A320-200 (only 6 less than maximum capacity).

Aeromexico has decided to convert four of it's Boeing 737-800 from 160 to 174 seats to compete with volaris.

Interjet is adding it's 5th USA destination by next week (Houston to Monterrey), but is concentrating on business customers looking to save money over Aeromexico and US airlines.

Quote: Pacomartin

Interjet is adding it's 5th USA destination by next week (Houston to Monterrey), but is concentrating on business customers looking to save money over Aeromexico and US airlines.

I'd be satisfied with an additional date to Vegas, either from Toluca or Mex City, say on Mondays or maybe Wednesdays. A daily flight would be great.

Just got back from a trip and flew through MSP for 1st time.
What a great airport. Gate area is like a restaurant. Each seat has a tablet for ordering food, surfing the internet and electrical outlets. You don't have to order food to sit, can just surf the internet on their tablet and plug in your device. There area ton of these seats. I was quite impressed. One drawback at this airport, hit a bathroom after a flight, a line. A line! A small bathroom near a gate with a ton of people getting off, poor design. Seems they are all small at MSP. Had to walk to another one not near a gate letting a bunch off a plane.

Left Vegas yesterday. Standard gate area with a just a COUPLE of outlets. In this age of everybody is looking to juice up there devices before a flight, just a couple of outlets. Really sad. I come from Tampa, a gazillion outlets all over the place. That's customer service in designing an airport. Lots of outlets, big bathrooms.