Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Flight ranting

FINALLY, my ticket has been purchased! Pestering for months, and I just had to resort to extreme measures. Those being: go to studentuniverse, sign in, find the flight, put it in my cart, go to checkout, then unplug my damned laptop and BRING IT to my mother. Tasks too strenuous for my her, I had to take it upon myself to do them. Ha.

Anyway, I know I have plugged them already, but studentuniverse (SU) is E F F I N G amazing. You have to give them a school email in order to purchase their supah cheap tickets, but if you have one it is worth it. When I purchased my ticket it was $502 for a one way from Seatac to Narita. On SU they also offer you the choice of comparing prices from other sites that promote cheaper ticket prices, and here's what I got:
  • Kayak.com - $805
  • Cheaptickets.com - $843 (And this is the cheapest one. The exact flight that I have booked, airline and flight number and everything, is up for a whopping $1704. Jesus.)
  • Mobissimo.com - $685.40 (I'd probably recommend this if you don't have an email with which to utilize SU. Even though it's more expensive than SU, still a huge drop in price compared to the other three.)
  • Orbitz.com - $808 (Again, same flight number and airline $1707. Apparently I got the good shit.)
So you can kind of get the picture as to why I'm touting SU so much. That's more than 300% more expensive for the same flight if I were to go with cheaptix or orbitz. My flight leaves 11:40am (holy crap, you mean I don't have to wake up at way-too-fucking-early o' clock to anal rententively obsess about what I may have forgotten to pack, and then leave so I can be 2 hours early for a 6am flight?) , which I think is a HUUUUUGE reason why my flight for the other sites isn't at the bottom of the bucket in regards to price.

I also, incidentally, figured out how to change my seating. I like to "plan" (i.e. obsess) about my trips and anything remotely EXCITING going on in my life (my previous trip to Japan, first moving to Portland for college, etc.) , so I got to looking around on Northwest Airline's website for travel tips and whatnot, and happened across "Manage my Reservations." Of course, being me, I happily clicked away and found that TADA I can change my seating! I'm not eligible for "Premium" seats (see: basically every damn aisle seat) , as they are for elite members or whateverTF, but I'm sure as hell not sitting in the middle of the middle 4 columns of the plane, having to stick my ass and/or crotch into (1, possibly 2) someone else's face(s) several times during an 11 hour flight. So, what I did is I chose the one window seat next to a "Coach Choice," which are basically the seats they save for last-minute buyers (up to 24 hours before departure). Hopefully by doing this I have thus saved my self from aforementioned ass/crotch exhibitionism, and given myself a little more leg room as well. One can only hope.

I also need to briefly plug seatguru. Basically it has the seating plans for almost every commercial plane imaginable, and tells you all the (sort of) nitty gritty. Whether the seat is bad/good/neutral, whether they serve food, whether there are power adapters (and what kind... ac, dc, empower), if they have individual screens for each seat... etc. It's pretty much ze shit, and I'd recommend it, especially for a long flight like I'll be experiencing.

Ok, I should scamper off now and let you (all 1 or 2 of you) get back to doing something productive.