AA Changed Flts with no Notification

[loady]

The pilot couldn’t climb to fly over the storm? Your experience sounds exciting and scary ….

I was on a plane for what should have been a short flight from Houston to Austin except for a line of severe thunderstorms about halfway between HOU and AUS. The pilot took us all the way to Texarcana looking for the best place to cross the storm front, and "best" was till pretty bad. We were all over the sky. I was sitting in a window seat in front of the wing where I could see the torrent of water being sucked into the maw of the engine on that side, which amazed me. Both airports were cleared for takeoffs and landings, though, so there was no real problem besides feeling like a pea in a maraca.

 

[loady]

will see if chase sapphire and Visa card benefit travel insurance is worth the $450 yearly when I make a claim. They say weather, mechanical related delay costs are covered. Don’t know about the rest.
We got to see glorious Miami and Philadelphia airports. So I checked that off my bucket list.

LOL...like that will happen!

 

[loady]

DSR 3 you traded first class tickets for coach tickets worth one quarter the value!? What am I missing?

re. United; On our trip last week that included the "mexican standoff" with the taxis, United conveniently re-booked us for the new plane the next morning to IAH, but opted to add another leg and layover in Denver afterwards, also moving us to separate seats in coach for our first class tickets. 2 hours on the phone, with no mention of refunds, etc, and no other reasonable options to SJC. After some pushing, they did agree to re-book direct IAH to SFO in FC after I found the flight and pushed for it, as I was just about to book that and dispute later.

 

[ggunn]

And they fly above weather.

Not always. The tops of severe thunderstorms can easily be more than 50,000 feet high.

 

[DandyDon]

IF there’s a nonstop that meets location, schedule and price requirement then take it

IF, IF, IF. This is a screenshot from United's site. Price $394 Basic Economy with all of the restrictions expected in that class. Five hours on the same plane would be a killer for me tho. I remember that going to Honolulu and we had movies on those planes. My daughter's family is tougher surviving flights to China.

we did fly once tj to Cancun on Aeromexico business class via Mexico City and it was fantastic. Same price as a USA carrier sub cattle car steerage class. I don’t know if there’s a nonstop.

Matrix doesn't show nonstop from Tijuana to Cozumel nowadays. The best Matrix finds is three planes each way with changes in Mexico City and LAX, connecting to that United flight, for $4,838 USD RT. Ugh. Aeromexico is in bankruptcy.

Lesson learned is a minimum of two hours layover for any connecting flight, and more for international plane changes because of airport terminal navigation and security. Enjoy waiting in lounges like TJ, Cozumel and Mexico City airport lounges. Maybe US service will catch up one day. US airport workers treat travelers like crap.

I've always like one hour changes going and two hours changing with I&C on return, but these days that may not be enough.

 

[DandyDon]

The pilot couldn’t climb to fly over the storm? Your experience sounds exciting and scary ….

And he was probably on a Regional jet at that.

Not always. The tops of severe thunderstorms can easily be more than 50,000 feet high.

 

[gopbroek]

And he was probably on a Regional jet at that.

The scheduled flight from CZM to MIA is a 76 passenger Embraer 175. It has a service ceiling of 41K (doubtful it could reach it on that short of flight). Some commercial jets go a little higher and a few Business jets claim 45K but that is pretty much the top end. The problem becomes safety if they loose pressurization, in addition to the masks dropping there is the chance that the passengers blood will 'boil' as divers we call it the 'bends'. The AF (per my father in-law a retire Coronel) requires pressure / space suits above 50K for this reason.

 

[DandyDon]

I was on a plane for what should have been a short flight from Houston to Austin except for a line of severe thunderstorms about halfway between HOU and AUS.

The scheduled flight from CZM to MIA is a 76 passenger Embraer 175. It has a service ceiling of 41K (doubtful it could reach it on that short of flight). Some commercial jets go a little higher and a few Business jets claim 45K but that is pretty much the top end. The problem becomes safety if they loose pressurization, in addition to the masks dropping there is the chance that the passengers blood will 'boil' as divers we call it the 'bends'. The AF (per my father in-law a retire Coronel) requires pressure / space suits above 50K for this reason.

I didn't know a lot of that, thanks. Ugh, 600 mile flight in a Region jet. We get those a lot around Texas, but at least they got rid of the ATR props when their vulnerability to icing was exposed in a crash report. But then I was referencing Gordy's 145-mile flight plan.

 

[gopbroek]

I didn't know a lot of that, thanks. Ugh, 600 mile flight in a Region jet. We get those a lot around Texas, but at least they got rid of the ATR props when their vulnerability to icing was exposed in a crash report. But then I was referencing Gordy's 145-mile flight plan.

Flew the jump seat back from Amarillo once after going up and repairing the an aircraft. Summer storms in Texas, we were vectored all over the place and actually went north and around Tulsa on the way back. ATC was scrambling trying to route all the aircraft around the thunderheads popping up. On approach we had used up the reserve fuel and were at minimums (still legal) on landing. You do not want to go through or even skim the top of a thunderhead with passengers, it can easily get violent.

 

[DSR-3]

DSR 3 you traded first class tickets for coach tickets worth one quarter the value!? What am I missing?

No, but they tried to. We got a direct flight in first class, but to SFO vs SJC- so another half-hour drive for the pickup. A fair solution, so not complaining.

re. the Texas storm route; One trip to Coz with the whole family, weather was nasty, and we attempted to be the last ones to land in Houston... After what could be described as almost a touch-and-go, the pilot pulled up hard, put his foot in it, and stressed that plane in a way I never want to experience again. I thought the wings would break off! We landed at a nearby airforce base, got gas and waited it out. Another missed connection...