I know you were talking about your particular US flight but this is not exclusively a US travel thread. Some folks may be interested in what to expect in Canada and other countries if their travels take them there so I comment on that. Others like yourself are better equipped than me to talk about the purely US travel experience and I find that interesting, sometimes.
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I would take some comfort that everyone has to be masked if I was flying into or connecting through a Canadian city. Conversely, if I was strongly anti-mask, I might think twice about flying there.
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Has anyone used Airalo for e-SIM cards? Weāve always landed and bought SIMs at the airport, but this seems easier, and the prices are reasonable.
They work in 190 countries, for about $25 you can get 10GB in any Euro country, or for like $35 you can get 10GB and use it all over Europe.
I got Google Fi for that. It just works when you cross national borders, and the price is reasonable.
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We are unlikely to leave Verizon, for a few various reasons. But that is on my radar.
Yep. Its quite cheap for international travel. My bill didnāt change the last time I was abroad
So, here i am, flying across the country. Wish me luck. So far, everything has been really smooth, although they took a while to turn around the jet, and we started boarding a little late. But i expect weāll take off no more than half an hour late, probably less, and itās a direct flight.
I got the jet blue āeven more spaceā, and there is plenty of room to spread out, even with my package filling the space under the seat in front of me
About 1/4 of people in the airport are wearing masks. It feels like fewer when i look but every time i tried counting a sample (everyone who walks past me, everyone visibly in this section of seating) i get 1/4. All three people in my route are wearing masks.
Weirdly, there was one guy standing in the midst of the crowd to board the plane wearing a mask over his chin. I donāt get it. If you donāt want to wear a mask, why carry the thing around? But most of the masks i see are kn95, worn normally.
We are sitting on the ground, fully boarded, while they load more fuel. Huh. We are now estimated to depart 25 minutes late. Weāre still on target to arrive on time, as there was some slack built into that time. (flight view expected an early arrival until it updated for this delay.)
Oh well, the seat is comfortable enough, and i know i donāt have to go anywhere.
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I guess itās good i didnāt try to fly southwest. They seem to be totally fubar right now.
We landed more or less on time. The only excitement was when they asked medical professionals to identify. A vascular surgeon in my row was taken back, and a guy took her seat. I guess his companion had too much to drink, āand maybe other stuffā, and needed medical help. But we didnāt make an emergency landing, and when the fire department (!!) took her off the plane after we landed, she looked okay. She was walking, anyway.
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Iām so glad we drove for our vacation this yearā¦
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Weather was bad, so most airlines canceled a fair number of flights. However, the Southwest situation does seem to be a fiasco. Theyāve been canceling a ridiculously high % of flights, stranding people and offering not much beyond a voucher or a refund. Seems like this will be extremely damaging to their brand.
SWA has been my primary carrier for years. I am looking to switch. This shit show is just the final straw to prompt me to find the rewards cc that works best for a different carrier.
I hate southwest, because I like to be able to pick my seat in advance and not have one more thing to stress about when I fly.
I have to fly in January for work. My employer really wanted me to pick southwest, and Iām fairly certain they even had a direct flight, but none of the flight times worked for me so I think I chose delta or United, with layovers. Really glad now.
Iāve tried switching from SW but I havenāt found a suitable alternative. It doesnāt help that my airport PHX is a SW hub of sorts. I fly mostly to the West Coast, so I guess Iām stuck.
Iāve tried AA but hated their customer service when issues came up. Iāll never fly enough to get top level status, and they donāt seem to care about non-elite status flyers.
hmmmm, is this shit show supposed to continue? cause iām supposed to fly southwest on January 5. If my flight is cancelled itās not the worst thing in the world.
I like southwest because they have the nicest flight attendants. Delta is okay, but they were annoying me on my flight here. I have delta going here and southwest going back. They told me I canāt put my coat in the overhead until people are entirely done putting other stuff in them, which is annoying to begin with. my coat was huge. then when people were finally done, one of the flight attendants closed the fucking overhead. iām like, bitch, that one is empty. WHAT THE FUCK YOU DOING? i did get my coat in the overhead. the guy next to me was stuck holding his. i guess it wasnāt that bad. just annoying.
American is still dead to me. Delta is okay.
I put my coat on the seat as a back rest. 
:enya:
AA is terrible. Iāve only flown them a handful of times and I had issues with half of the flights and their customer service never came through for me.
Iād fly Delta or Alaska if I could but theyāve never been where I was. I had good luck w United flying them for a decade from Denver.
My wife really likes SW and has flown them for a decade. Iāve started using SW because they are the best option out of Kansas City, but if this is more than a one-time blip I could go back to United. Iād be connecting a lot more.
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my coat is massive so not great as a back rest, and it was kinda a waste of effort bringing it as i walked a total of ONE night in the frigid cold and then caught covid and now the extended forecast is warmer if i manage to get over the covid, thus i donāt need it, but could use a lighter jacket that i donāt have.
Southwest had been my go-to because theyāre the only airline I can buy a ticket on 36 hoursā notice and have a way to not get stuck in the middle seat, and because their gate agents are incredible people who can make miracles happenā¦as long as you know the limits of the miracles they can pull off (āHey, I think Iām going to have a busted connection to BDL at Midway; looks like Iāve still got a shot to make the Boston flight; can you redirect me?ā is within their power. āA busted connection due to weather has me here overnight; can I get a hotel voucher?ā is not.).
However, Southwest has been thrifty, even miserly, when it comes to their IT infrastructure, despite running dangerously close to that infrastructureās capacity. It sounds like the 
show of the past few days has been a result of that thrift.
I havenāt flown them in a while, because my travel patterns post-lockdown are significantly different than pre-pandemic. Delta is shaping up to be my go-to airline now.
American has been dead to me since their service quality declined after having been acquired by America West, and because I had to cancel a vacation because of their screw-ups.
I had good experiences with Alaska this year for a couple of one-off trips, but they donāt work for my new-normal travel patterns, and my wife had a miserable experience with them on a one-off trip she took.
I also flew United for the first time in forever this year, and they didnāt suck. Iāve avoided them because I have for years avoided OāHare at all costs. But I did manage to connect there without issue in Octoberā¦the first time thatās EVER happened to me. (Maybe the runway configuration worked?)
i also flew united recently and it went relatively well. one thing thatās bad for me though is that even if you get economy plus, if you donāt have status with them, youāre gonna be the last to board. i rarely fly with them as they are more a EWR thing than an LGA one. i was flying out of EWR that time. flight attendants were nice.