I love credit cards so much!

[snugglebug]

I have a "luv" hate with Southwest right now. Ugh. That was a rough night.

My son was booked using my UR points from Austin to St Louis via Houston yesterday. For whatever reason the plane didn't leave here, we had great weather so it wasn't that. I thought he was in the air when he texted to say they had rebooked him on a later flight out of Houston. He told them that wouldn't work, the Army wanted him in STL by 11 so they got him on a flight through Dallas arriving in STL around 10. That plane was coming from Tampa where there was bad weather and was delayed. He was then stuck in Dallas. There was nothing to be done. He did let me know he wasn't the only one delayed. I wasn't completely thinking about his bags. He gets to STL around 11:30, so at least before midnight, I hear nothing from him. Sometime after midnight I get an email about a baggage incident. His bags, all of his Army gear, lost. New soldier headed to his first duty station that happens to be overseas and he has nothing. I'm blaming myself at this point although I know this is all beyond my control and I did my best having booked him to be there by 7, I didn't know 11pm until this week anyway. I have never, ever had any issues with SW flights. Slight delays, but nothing that has caused a missed connection. I have no idea what to tell him, I'm trying not to be over protective and let him handle this. I just really thought his bags would have been on the later flight from Houston and I had given him the flight number so he could go check for them. Finally just after 2am he texted to say they did locate his bags and gave a $50 voucher, which I assume expires in a year so useless to him at the moment. I haven't heard from him so I guess he made his flights to Korea. Of all days to deal with travel mess, this one day was not the day I wanted to do it. He's been traveling for 24 hrs now and has about 8 more to go.

Other than that, SW was so nice to give us gate passes so my daughter and I could spend a little more time with him at the airport. They didn't even ask for his orders or military id, just took his Army bags and checked without question. Military has no restriction on number of bags and gets up to 100 pounds, he had 2 large bags and a garment bag. I just don't know why the plane couldn't leave Austin for Houston yesterday. It wasn't a weather issue, we had great weather.

Now, how do we fly mom (and maybe dad) to South Korea from Austin, Texas on points in the next year, obviously economy at this point? I don't want to go when it's cold. I will have 50K MR soon, not sure on my UR balance because I still want to try to do Hawaii with the littles. The boy hasn't even arrived yet and I still need to get my passport lol

 

[Alexle2007]

I know there are some MDers, N VAers on board. DCA and IAD are both significantly cheaper than BWI for our trip to FL in Sept. We’ve flown out of IAD before but it was an international flight. Any preference between the two. We would be staying near the airport on Fri night since they are early flights and we live 2 hours from (MD/PA line area). DCA is a tad closer for us. Any opinions between the two? It will save me 15k SW RR. Why, oh why did I check...

 

[palhockeymomof2]

I have a "luv" hate with Southwest right now. Ugh. That was a rough night.

My Active Duty son was booked using my UR points from Austin to St Louis via Houston yesterday. For whatever reason the plane didn't leave here, we had great weather so it wasn't that. I thought he was in the air when he texted to say they had rebooked him on a later flight out of Houston. He told them that wouldn't work, the Army wanted him in STL by 11 (he had orders to Korea flying out this morning) so they got him on a flight through Dallas arriving in STL around 10. That plane was coming from Tampa where there was bad weather and was delayed. He was then stuck in Dallas. There was nothing to be done. He did let me know he wasn't the only one delayed (he knows about 4-5 others also headed to Korea with him). I wasn't completely thinking about his bags. He gets to STL around 11:30, so at least before midnight, I hear nothing from him. Sometime after midnight I get an email about a baggage incident. His bags, all of his Army gear, lost. New soldier headed to his first duty station that happens to be overseas and he has nothing. I'm blaming myself at this point although I know this is all beyond my control and I did my best having booked him to be there by 7, I didn't know 11pm until this week anyway. I have never, ever had any issues with SW flights. Slight delays, but nothing that has caused a missed connection. I have no idea what to tell him, I'm trying not to be over protective and let him handle this. I just really thought his bags would have been on the later flight from Houston and I had given him the flight number so he could go check for them. Finally just after 2am he texted to say they did locate his bags and gave a $50 voucher, which I assume expires in a year so useless to him at the moment. I haven't heard from him so I guess he made his flights to Korea. Of all days to deal with travel mess, this one day was not the day I wanted to do it. He's been traveling for 24 hrs now and has about 8 more to go.

Other than that, SW was so nice to give us gate passes so my daughter and I could spend a little more time with him at the airport. They didn't even ask for his orders or military id, just took his Army bags and checked without question. Military has no restriction on number of bags and gets up to 100 pounds, he had 2 large bags and a garment bag. I just don't know why the plane couldn't leave Austin for Houston yesterday. It wasn't a weather issue, we had great weather.

Now, how do we fly mom (and maybe dad) to South Korea from Austin, Texas on points in the next year, obviously economy at this point? I don't want to go when it's cold. I will have 50K MR soon, not sure on my UR balance because I still want to try to do Hawaii with the littles. The boy hasn't even arrived yet and I still need to get my passport lol

First..I want to thank your son and you for his service....

ugh on all the travel troubles...but if the voucher your son got is like the one I received a few months ago ...anyone can use it it’s not tied to your son...so possibly you can

If you’d like I can see what the issue was with his flight..my son in law is an air traffic controller and may be able to find out...just let me know the flight number and I’ll see if he can find out anything

 

[striker1064]

I know there are some MDers, N VAers on board. DCA and IAD are both significantly cheaper than BWI for our trip to FL in Sept. We’ve flown out of IAD before but it was an international flight. Any preference between the two. We would be staying near the airport on Fri night since they are early flights and we live 2 hours from (MD/PA line area). DCA is a tad closer for us. Any opinions between the two? It will save me 15k SW RR. Why, oh why did I check...

I've never been through IAD, but DCA is a fairly small airport that's very easy to navigate. There are even hotels in Crystal City that have airport shuttles, so if you have a way to get there via some kind of car share or public transport, you don't have to worry about parking your car.

I hear IAD can be pretty hectic, and I can't confirm for sure, but I do know DCA is a very easy airport. I'd pick that.

 

[GusGus16]

Waiting to receive my CIP, won't take long to meet the MS which is crazy...

Just wondering if anyone has some advice for flights to Italy. My sister plans to honeymoon in Italy, she is not a churner so it would be booked on cash. Looking for flights into/out of Rome or Milan, Chicago would be the closet large airport, but given the time of year (January) no real good options, thinking what would work best would be a positioning flight to New york probably on southwest and then a non-stop from there, they would likely have to transfer airports in NY, so far the only options I have found are Norwegian or Air France...

 

[afan]

I know there are some MDers, N VAers on board. DCA and IAD are both significantly cheaper than BWI for our trip to FL in Sept. We’ve flown out of IAD before but it was an international flight. Any preference between the two. We would be staying near the airport on Fri night since they are early flights and we live 2 hours from (MD/PA line area). DCA is a tad closer for us. Any opinions between the two? It will save me 15k SW RR. Why, oh why did I check...

I've flown into bwi and reagan and out of Dulles. I have a friend that is 20 to 30 min from dulles and tends to fly from there or bwi but not Reagan cause it's further. I flew into bwi last year when visiting her because it was cheaper to fly from Charlotte (1st part of trip), rent a car and return it at Dulles where she picked me up.

I think they are all busy airports because people will use any of the 3 due to proximity. I would go with whichever is easier to get to for the times of day and easier\cheaper parking and hotel. I would think dulles would be easier to get to, and I did the drive in the middle of rush hour.

 

[Judique]

I know there are some MDers, N VAers on board. DCA and IAD are both significantly cheaper than BWI for our trip to FL in Sept. We’ve flown out of IAD before but it was an international flight. Any preference between the two. We would be staying near the airport on Fri night since they are early flights and we live 2 hours from (MD/PA line area). DCA is a tad closer for us. Any opinions between the two? It will save me 15k SW RR. Why, oh why did I check...

When I'm paying for southwest flights I book youngest daughter into DCA because its closer and older daughter into BWI, cause that's closer to her. Every time I look at southwest pricing to and from Florida, one of the other two are usually cheaper. But older daughter got a cheaper flight to Denver out of IAD earlier this year, so I dropped her there.

IAD will have cheaper hotels in general.

I will add that I do find IAD less congested and easier to navigate for parking. DCA can be a madhouse trying to get in and out of.​

 

[speedyfishy]

I know there are some MDers, N VAers on board. DCA and IAD are both significantly cheaper than BWI for our trip to FL in Sept. We’ve flown out of IAD before but it was an international flight. Any preference between the two. We would be staying near the airport on Fri night since they are early flights and we live 2 hours from (MD/PA line area). DCA is a tad closer for us. Any opinions between the two? It will save me 15k SW RR. Why, oh why did I check...

I normally do DCA. It’s a small airport especially the Southwest terminal. Some ok food options, but not many choices. They have a good deli. I have flown out of BWI and it’s much bigger. I have had to circle the airport a few times landing at DCA. I guess waiting for the go ahead to land. Idk if other airports have this too, they probably do I just seem to only notice at DCA. I feel like at JFK I taxi forever and DCA I circle the airport lol. I haven’t flown out of IAD. 15k is enough for two round trip flights to Orlando from DCA if you can snag a good deal so I’d change to DCA.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Did you add in all of the extra fees on Frontier? I had found cheap, cheap flights out of Harrisburg, PA to MCO (I’ve never been to Harrisburg but imagine it is a small airport) but the fare only includes carrying basically a backpack on the plane that needs to fit under the seat. To bring luggage, you pay a fee then there is a fee for seating...it suddenly got much more expensive. A friend was talking about how people will layer up (undergarments, pants, shirts, etc..)

Have you considered the cost difference vs SW on your luggage? Last time I priced Frontier, their baggage fees were insane and made up for the difference for what I would have saved if I went with Frontier. Plus the resort I work at here in Vegas is really close to the airport, so we get a lot of the stay-over guests that have had cancelled flights. It's always either Frontier/Allegiant/Spirit flights. Supposedly they barely maintain their planes... we had an Allegiant plane catch on fire last year IIRC at McCarran.

I’ve never used UR for frontier but we’ve flown with them a lot. We like them for the convenience. They are the only airline near us that flies nonstop to MCO. For southwest we either pay a bunch or drive 5 hours to Chicago to get a nonstop flight.

Thanks y’all. I did already add in all the fees. It is a big difference. Sw is actually even higher than the big legacy carriers too. Weird. SW and Frontier are the only ones nonstop to mco from here. I am considering flying into TPA instead but that’s super annoying too.

Unless SunTrust updated their terms within the last 2 months, it's definitely not once per household... both P2 and I received the personal bonus at the same address this year.

Oh I need to double check. thx! I sure did have once per household in my head.

 

[speedyfishy]

I have a "luv" hate with Southwest right now. Ugh. That was a rough night.

My Active Duty son was booked using my UR points from Austin to St Louis via Houston yesterday. For whatever reason the plane didn't leave here, we had great weather so it wasn't that. I thought he was in the air when he texted to say they had rebooked him on a later flight out of Houston. He told them that wouldn't work, the Army wanted him in STL by 11 (he had orders to Korea flying out this morning) so they got him on a flight through Dallas arriving in STL around 10. That plane was coming from Tampa where there was bad weather and was delayed. He was then stuck in Dallas. There was nothing to be done. He did let me know he wasn't the only one delayed (he knows about 4-5 others also headed to Korea with him). I wasn't completely thinking about his bags. He gets to STL around 11:30, so at least before midnight, I hear nothing from him. Sometime after midnight I get an email about a baggage incident. His bags, all of his Army gear, lost. New soldier headed to his first duty station that happens to be overseas and he has nothing. I'm blaming myself at this point although I know this is all beyond my control and I did my best having booked him to be there by 7, I didn't know 11pm until this week anyway. I have never, ever had any issues with SW flights. Slight delays, but nothing that has caused a missed connection. I have no idea what to tell him, I'm trying not to be over protective and let him handle this. I just really thought his bags would have been on the later flight from Houston and I had given him the flight number so he could go check for them. Finally just after 2am he texted to say they did locate his bags and gave a $50 voucher, which I assume expires in a year so useless to him at the moment. I haven't heard from him so I guess he made his flights to Korea. Of all days to deal with travel mess, this one day was not the day I wanted to do it. He's been traveling for 24 hrs now and has about 8 more to go.

Other than that, SW was so nice to give us gate passes so my daughter and I could spend a little more time with him at the airport. They didn't even ask for his orders or military id, just took his Army bags and checked without question. Military has no restriction on number of bags and gets up to 100 pounds, he had 2 large bags and a garment bag. I just don't know why the plane couldn't leave Austin for Houston yesterday. It wasn't a weather issue, we had great weather.

Now, how do we fly mom (and maybe dad) to South Korea from Austin, Texas on points in the next year, obviously economy at this point? I don't want to go when it's cold. I will have 50K MR soon, not sure on my UR balance because I still want to try to do Hawaii with the littles. The boy hasn't even arrived yet and I still need to get my passport lol

Thank you for your sons service. I can’t even imagine being so far away without any of my belongings. Is Southwest going to ship his bags when they find them to him?

 

[Haley R]

Thanks y’all. I did already add in all the fees. It is a big difference. Sw is actually even higher than the big legacy carriers too. Weird. SW and Frontier are the only ones nonstop to mco from here. I am considering flying into TPA instead but that’s super annoying too.



Oh I need to double check. thx! I sure did have once per household in my head.

We honestly don’t mind frontier. If you go into it knowing what you’re getting you will be fine. Just don’t expect any frills because they are literally there to get you somewhere and that’s about it lol.

 

[Alexle2007]

I've flown into bwi and reagan and out of Dulles. I have a friend that is 20 to 30 min from dulles and tends to fly from there or bwi but not Reagan cause it's further. I flew into bwi last year when visiting her because it was cheaper to fly from Charlotte (1st part of trip), rent a car and return it at Dulles where she picked me up.

I think they are all busy airports because people will use any of the 3 due to proximity. I would go with whichever is easier to get to for the times of day and easier\cheaper parking and hotel. I would think dulles would be easier to get to, and I did the drive in the middle of rush hour.

When I'm paying for southwest flights I book youngest daughter into DCA because its closer and older daughter into BWI, cause that's closer to her. Every time I look at southwest pricing to and from Florida, one of the other two are usually cheaper. But older daughter got a cheaper flight to Denver out of IAD earlier this year, so I dropped her there.

IAD will have cheaper hotels in general.

I will add that I do find IAD less congested and easier to navigate for parking. DCA can be a madhouse trying to get in and out of.​

I normally do DCA. It’s a small airport especially the Southwest terminal. Some ok food options, but not many choices. They have a good deli. I have flown out of BWI and it’s much bigger. I have had to circle the airport a few times landing at DCA. I guess waiting for the go ahead to land. Idk if other airports have this too, they probably do I just seem to only notice at DCA. I feel like at JFK I taxi forever and DCA I circle the airport lol. I haven’t flown out of IAD. 15k is enough for two round trip flights to Orlando from DCA if you can snag a good deal so I’d change to DCA.

Thanks. I discussed with DH and he just wants to stick to BWI. It’s our home airport and coming home on Mon evening and DS11 having school the following day an hour drive home will be better than 2 hours. It would have been nice to save the points but it’s not going to break us to use them. (Just means I need a new CC to earn more )

 

[brownhaired_girl]

A little but needed friends to share with. I went in and finished the mortgage pay off today (actually the loan for the barn) about a year early. On Friday, I can pay off anything that went on my credit cards in the last 2 weeks and will be officially debt free.

 

[calypso726]

A little but needed friends to share with. I went in and finished the mortgage pay off today (actually the loan for the barn) about a year early. On Friday, I can pay off anything that went on my credit cards in the last 2 weeks and will be officially debt free.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

 

[Alexle2007]

I've never been through IAD, but DCA is a fairly small airport that's very easy to navigate. There are even hotels in Crystal City that have airport shuttles, so if you have a way to get there via some kind of car share or public transport, you don't have to worry about parking your car.

I hear IAD can be pretty hectic, and I can't confirm for sure, but I do know DCA is a very easy airport. I'd pick that.

Missed you when I was gathering the quotes. Thank you!
Thanks. I discussed with DH and he just wants to stick to BWI. It’s our home airport and coming home on Mon evening and DS11 having school the following day an hour drive home will be better than 2 hours. It would have been nice to save the points but it’s not going to break us to use them. (Just means I need a new CC to earn more )

 

[DisneyMandC]

Just put my review of the Hilton Anaheim up on the Dischurners Hotel thread for anyone who's interested!

 

[WVMomof3]

All the talk earlier of Amex offers and I just realized I ordered a backpack for DS earlier today and I had an eBag offer on my Amex. I didn’t use my Amex. I don’t know how everyone keeps these straight. I didn’t spend $75 but I could have added something. Lol. Got to spend money to save money.

 

[snugglebug]

First..I want to thank your son and you for his service....

ugh on all the travel troubles...but if the voucher your son got is like the one I received a few months ago ...anyone can use it it’s not tied to your son...so possibly you can

If you’d like I can see what the issue was with his flight..my son in law is an air traffic controller and may be able to find out...just let me know the flight number and I’ll see if he can find out anything

That is good to know. If there's no exp, he can use it when he returns. If it expires I'll use it.
Thank you for your offer. It doesn't matter much now. I swear I saw something on Flightaware about Hobby in Houston so maybe they were in holding for that, or it was a plane/crew issue. He's almost to S.Korea now, just a few more hours. He better text his mommy when he lands.

Thank you for your sons service. I can’t even imagine being so far away without any of my belongings. Is Southwest going to ship his bags when they find them to him?

That is what I spent hours stressing over. And whether he should leave or stay so he can get everything replaced first. But, they were located around 2am. His morning flight was at 7am. I hope he got some sleep at the USO, or at least on this flight.

These are definitely the moments when you know you did a good job raising the kids and they are ready to fly the nest. He handled this with only a few text updates to me, not really asking me what to do, he just seemed to flow with it all. It was just me stressing.

 

[wendow]

A little but needed friends to share with. I went in and finished the mortgage pay off today (actually the loan for the barn) about a year early. On Friday, I can pay off anything that went on my credit cards in the last 2 weeks and will be officially debt free.

Major CONGRATS, my friend!! What an amazing accomplishment! Will there be even more travel in your future?

 

[gottalovepluto]

....And just so you gals who have not had dc know...my motion sickness was fairly mild before children...and got worse after having babies. Not sure if that is normal or not...

I have no clue if that’s in the cards for me but... NOOOOOO!!!!