Airline Choices

Choosing An Airline

Gathering all the options before booking a flight is important. Please check our post on Reservations and DIY Travel Budget Strategies to see how we gather information and try to keep the costs down.

Also, if you are trying to decide which specific airline to fly among the biggest US carriers, we suggest that you read our post: United vs American Airlines and Delta: Which is Best?

Generally speaking, we don’t fly the new budget carriers; however, in Europe, we found that the budget airlines tend to have the more available itineraries and, since we have less loyalty to the major European carriers, we found ourselves flying them quite often.

Here is a link to one of our favorite US Carriers: Hawaiian Airlines.

Here are links to three of our favorite International Carriers:

• Aer Lingus
• Etihad
• Qatar

Quick Airlines Booking:

Here is an easy way to search for low-cost flights and to make airline bookings: WayAway.

Following is our approach for deciding which carrier we use for different itineraries:

Priority #1: Is there a direct airline route?

When you can fly direct from point A to point B you eliminate a lot of potential problems, and you will arrive much earlier than other alternatives. You eliminate the possibility of missing a connection and the additional possibility of your luggage not being on the second flight. You miss the hassle of having to connect through airports that were not designed for easy connections (JFK, DFW, MIA, PHL, CLT and ORD to name a few) and you can take it a little easier when rushing to get off the first flight. This factor will dictate in many cases which airline we choose to fly.

For example, if we are traveling to one of the airlines’ main hub-locations, then that can sometimes dictate our choice of airline. A good example is when you are visiting Amsterdam. Amsterdam has a very good airport, Schiphol, that doesn’t get a lot of attention like some of the more populous European cities. The countries’ former flag-carrier, KLM, offers a great transatlantic service, especially with its partnership with Delta.

One of our favorite airlines is Hawaiian Airlines. For a while they were flying a direct flight from Orlando (near our home) to Honolulu. In addition, they have the chef from one of our favorite Hawaiian restaurants in Honolulu (MW Restaurant- see our Restaurants Post) as their executive chef. Normally, from where we live in Florida it can take us two stop-overs to get to Hawaii. They are a great airline to fly to and around Hawaii.

Priority #2: Can we use airline miles to reduce the cost or fly for free?

We didn’t make this priority one, since we value our time more than just about anything else. But it can sometimes be as important as priority one in making a decision. Robin and Cos are enrolled in all the major airline loyalty programs. We tend to fly Delta and American more than the other airlines. So we have more points banked in their programs, and we do check with them first.

We also have their branded credit cards. We use the cards for extra points and priority boarding when we travel with them. However, if we are flying to JFK, we will strongly consider Jet Blue or Delta. If flying to Baltimore and Nashville, we prefer Southwest, and to Hawaii, Hawaiian Airlines. Cos is also enrolled in the British Airways Avios program which also includes Air Lingus and Iberia. He hasn’t done it yet, but there are ways of getting good deals with the Avios points on the US American Airlines flights.

Of course, we look at the total cost before we choose an airline. Sometimes, we are flying one way, but mostly it is roundtrip. A round trip option will normally be cheaper than two one-way tickets between the same two cities. A round-trip is almost always a better option. We have booked round trip, even if the flights are months apart at the beginning and the end of a long trip.

For more information about using points, see below.

Priority #3: Generally, don’t fly overnight.

Sometimes, you can’t avoid having to fly overnight. Flying from the USA to Europe is a good example where that is the general case. But why fly overnight coming back from the west coast to the east coast of the USA? Okay, you will lose a day, but you will avoid feeling dead the next day you are back east. We understand this can save you a day in a hotel, but is it worth the pain?

Priority #4: Long Distance Airlines Rules

When we are really travelling long distances, like USA to Australia, we try to break up the trip. We do this by staying somewhere in-between for a few days as a stop-over. Normally this will cost you a little extra money but there are some places where it is free.

One good example is to fly through Iceland on the way from the USA to Europe. Icelandair will let you do the layover at no extra cost. We are flying from Florida to New Zealand next year, and we have two planned stops. We are doing a little skiing in Salt Lake City, and then on to Maui, Hawaii for a little rest. It is all part of a ninety-day Asia/Pacific trip. So we will spend some time getting there as well as returning thru Hawaii on the return. By the way, we have a service that holds all our winter ski wear and equipment in Salt Lake City. So that really helps to eliminate hauling our ski luggage.

Airline Loyalty Points: Additional Information

Airline (and Hotel) loyalty point are very important to helping keep your travel costs down. They are also important to get positioned in the airlines frequent flyer tiers. If you want to become an expert on this subject, we recommend you visit The Points Guy This website (for which we have no affiliate relationship) has a world of information about airline points and how to get credit card bonuses. They will tell you which cards to get and when the best time is to apply.

Here is an example of when it is best to use points. Let’s say you want to upgrade a one way flight from New York to Los Angeles. Currently, the difference on most airlines between coach and first class is about $1000. Since most airline points are worth about $.01, if you can get the upgrade for anything less than 100,000 points than this can be a good deal. The Points Guy has valuations for all frequent flyer and hotel loyalty programs, so this is a good way to decide when to use points. Cos will soon be issuing a spreadsheet tool to help you keep track and value your points (stay tuned).

Purchasing Additional Loyalty Points

While we don’t recommend this as a common practice sometimes it even makes sense to buy extra points. You might want to do this when you need a few points for a trip, or an upgrade, etc. Here are some of the programs where you can buy extra points. We will attempt to provide you with promotions when they are available: