Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<Roady also flies "chartered" as in Sun Country? Meaning rock bottom prices, but at least he is smart enough not to fly one of the worst airlines on Earth based out of his town.>> Sun Country isn't that cheap. Most of the time they are priced the same as Northwest Airlines... what they offer is more consistency. The rates are similar whether you book 6 months in advance or 6 days in advance. That and a hot sandwich (does your airline still offer any hot food in coach?). The really cheap airfare to Orlando comes from AirTran, which if I remember is headquarted in YOUR city.
Originally Posted By danyoung Hey, I've been pretty happy with AirTran. It's a mostly no frills airline, but their planes are new-ish, they have XM satellite radio, and as you mentioned they're really cheap (and their frequent flier program is very liberal!).
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<Hey, I've been pretty happy with AirTran.>> I've been happy with both Sun Country and AirTran. Both of those airlines seem to want and appreciate our business which is more than I can say for Northwest. TDLFAN is an airline snob. I wish I could figure out which one he works for so I would know if it is truly that much better than the others or if he's just blowing smoke!
Originally Posted By vbdad55 I've only been on 2 airlines in my life that I thought were 'industry leaders' service wise -- Lufthansa and British Airways - and was willng to pay more because the flights were much longer than normal. As for all the others - I had Southwest take me home from New Orleans when NW Air went on strike when I was there in the early 80's and I had a heck of a time finding a flight. I have had good and bad experiences on : United ( my hometown airline ) - American, Delta ( used to be a fave of mine at one time - then bad, and go back to Continental / TWA ( almost always bad) - and even small carriers like Midway Airlines (gone) which I actually liked because they flew direct to White Plains NY. Many of my flights averaged less than 2 hours - so amenities not quite as important -- only item always important for me: legroom - at just under 6'4" that was my main concern.
Originally Posted By danyoung >TDLFAN...airline snob....blowing smoke!< Really? Our lovable TDLFAN? Go figure . . .
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<I've been a Disney geek for years, but I'm also a strong social liberal, so I'm constantly torn between my love of the Disney films, parks, etc. and my hatred of how the corporate side operates like an actual business. Maybe I put too much into the idea of "Uncle Walt" being such a swell guy, but I'm always wondering if a lot of the things we see today would have happened 50 years ago. Anyway, it's nice to see I'm not the only one that can enjoy the works of the artists, animators and Imagineers without ignoring the "dark side" of the corporate office.)>> I think you're amongst many kindred spirits here. Although I will say, there are plenty from the 'Disney can do no wrong school' that do remind me of the 26% of the people who still believe our 'leadership' at 1600 can do no wrong either. Probably, cause many believe both!
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 Continental (my carrier of choice) is the only legacy carrier that tries to offer real service anymore. And their Business First international service is great. But, still, a 30-minute flight on Air France provides more food and better service than a typical short haul (under three hour) flight on even Continental domestically. Either people all want to fly coast to coast for $250 ... or the airlines just choose to price each other into billions of losses. Doesn't matter cause in the end the consumer still loses.
Originally Posted By bayrr326 I can't remember if Spirit said it in this thread or not but after going to the Studios yesterday I think even with giving away the free DDP that bookings are down right now. Because the Studios was dead. The front sections of the Stage and Television parking lots were only 3/4 full and everything was a walk on even with RNR down for rehab. It will be interesting if attendance is flat for the year. I can tell you the times I went this summer it just did not seem as busy as last summer. Of course the thing I hate the most is because of them giving away the DDP even though the park was dead all of the TS restaurants were booked up but all but one of the CS restaurants closed by 530-630 with the park closing at 8, go figure.
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy << It will be interesting if attendance is flat for the year. I can tell you the times I went this summer it just did not seem as busy as last summer. >> Disney has already disclosed in their shareholder meetings that attendence is flat (WDW) to down (DLR) for the first half of the year. Domestic attendance is down quite a bit across the board, but international visitors are making up some of the difference due to the weak dollar. Nearly all of the theme park companies that report attendance are providing the same sort of numbers, so it is an industry/economy-wide trend that isn't specific to any one park operator.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<so it is an industry/economy-wide trend that isn't specific to any one park operator. >> So you are absolutely sure it is not because of the paper towel on the floor of the shitter between Norway and China?
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<So you are absolutely sure it is not because of the paper towel on the floor of the shitter between Norway and China?>> Yea, I know. The shitter is between Norway and Mexico (or at least on the Mexico side of Norway). So sue me. SPP can recommend a Barrister.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<Isn't SPP a cop ? >> He's an American Cop Lawyer. The very worst kind. For all I know he's probably freaking religious too!! ;-)
Originally Posted By vbdad55 and....are you sitting down for this one................................................... a Cub fan !
Originally Posted By RoadTrip ^^^ I don't suppose you caught the Twins game last night. We left after the 6th inning when we were ahead by a couple of runs. I'm glad we did. The thing went 11 innings. Gardy used all his players and them some. I'm convinced that if I had still been there and asked Gardy for a chance to bat (or pitch) he probably would have let me. We watched the end on TV. It was absolutely the most bizarre game I've ever seen. As I told a baseball friend who sits in the seats in front of us, I'm almost glad that I don't have to make the decision about buying series tickets this year. You always feel that you should... who knows when they might get back. But 2K for the strip... YIKES
Originally Posted By vbdad55 < who knows when they might get back. < as a for instance - how about 62 years since being in the series and 99 since winning one --
Originally Posted By dshyates We were at Uni. FL and Sea World in August and attendence there was extremely light. And most everyone we talked to was from the UK. This is just a personal observation, no scientific study. But I think the American economy is not as strong for some of us as it is for others.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 A lot of people from the UK and France when I was at WDW in August also - exchange rate has a lot to do with that too.
Originally Posted By dshyates The U.S. is 50% off for the Brits. I'd be taking advantage of a deal liuke that.
