FAO: TeeVee

[LH-B744]

A few years ago, my Sunday STL-ATL-BHM got thunderstorm cascade fubarred. At 1:00 AM Monday my 5:30 PM Sunday ATL-BHM flight was canceled and I was rebooked on Monday’s 5:00 PM flight. All of the earlier flights were booked up with other cancelled and regularly booked Pax.

I really needed to not miss my Monday meeting and rented a car and drove and arrived at 5:00 AM.

Monday night, when I no showed, my return flights were cancelled. Note, my delay was 23 hours and 30 min, so Delta kept up their end of the contract.

I suppose Delta gets gold stars and accolades that two minutes of disgruntled chewing was all it took for the customer service rep to realize that I deserved to keep my trip home- even though technically- the 23 hour delay meant that I violated the terms of the contract, not them.

Of course, the worst ironing is that I could have driven to BHM faster than Delta that day.

I agree with Gabe that all of this (crazy pricing and no show makes you public enemy #1) sucks, but that there’s also a bunch of other fish to fry…medical pricing, cable TV, change fees, anyone?

For people who live on the other side of the ocean, I might translate your route, may I?
from KSTL Lambert St Louis (zero nautical miles)
via KATL Atlanta Intercontinental (zero + 419.8 nautical miles, calculated 'air line', i.e. without waypoints)
to KBHM Birmingham Alabama, USA (419.8 + 116.3 nautical miles)
result: 536,1 nautical miles, with 1 stop at Atlanta.

For all of us who own a Beech B200 simulator within p3dv4.5, and who like to fly that route on the weekend ... I'd at lest know one man who could do something like that,
who is probably me. 536,1 nautical miles is definitely not without the reach of a B200.

But when you're faster in your car on your way to BHM
than Delta is through the air with a jet (probably, or is it a propeller?) on a 1 stop route,
then this is not the optimum.

Very dear greetings, my friend.

PS: It seems as if kstl - kbhm nonstop with 357 nautical miles even in a car is very much shorter than what
Delta tries to sell.

Here on my side of the ocean there is at least one another example:
EDDL - ELLX = 102 nautical miles nonstop. But this is what my favorite airline of all times tries to sell:

EDDL - EDDF = 102 nautical miles nonstop (!).
EDDF - ELLX = 95 nautical miles
So, you are able to fly and pay (!) ... 197 nautical miles on a 1 stop Lufthansa route.

Or you go direct nonstop with a propeller (or with a private jet if you are Tom Cruise) and you are 95 nautical miles shorter (50 % shorter).

Hm. Happy are all men who own a private Beech B200 (which definitely doesn't include me).

[LH-B744]

...Sorry, but with a car from Lohausen Intl to Luxembourg airport, 3 hours and 20 minutes for 237 street kilometers (theoretically 127,96 nautical miles). This is not a high speed
19 lane car route.
And that's the reason why Luxair from time to time indeed flies this route, within 45-50 minutes I'd guess.
But, I regret, not during the Summer schedule 2023.

Now, back on topic.

PS: Until one short moment ago, I wondered how TeeVee is connected to flights which are provided by Delta (as in the example of 3WE). Especially because
I've always thought that TeeVees avatar is an AA avatar. Which basically still seems to be right, after all those years.
But TeeVee has already answered this question a few entries above. Thus, the connection between AA and DL is, that AA is always cheaper,
unimportant how cheap DL is.

Hm. I don't know if a quite famous former AA-B777 Flight Captain with a big moustache still agrees with these 'modern' AA finance strategies.
Cheaper than cheap?

Not necessarily in the eyes of B747 and B777 enthusiasts, as I assume!

[3WE]

Until one short moment ago, …I wondered how TeeVee is connected to flights which are provided by Delta (as in the example of 3WE)…thought that avatar is an AA avatar. Which basically still seems to be right…Thus, the connection between AA and DL is, that AA is always cheaper…unimportant how cheap DL is…a quite famous former AA-B777 Flight Captain with a big moustache…

We have a few Airlines in the USA.

The differences (in declining order of importance are)

1. The livery

2. The location of hubs

3. Occasional advantages for certain routes, depending on where you live.

As to differences in business operations, how they handle delays, cancellations, changes, itineraries where you might skip part of the flight…they are all quite similar.

[3WE]

Another twist on this from times past:

I used to use a puddle jumper that fed TWA/Flyover from a small airport, 100 miles away…

The price was right, the parking was free, the security line was short and they didn’t close the cockpit curtains, and 45 min vs 2-3 hours of driving (parking, shuttling, etc.)

One day, the plane broke (3-hour repair job), and the ticket agent said, “you might as well drive on up”. Everyone (but me) took off.

There were no passenger bannings and jacked up
fares for this instance of deviation from the ticketed itinerary.