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One of my father’s favorite pastimes was arranging trips. He relished
the process of making a few phone calls and then triumphantly telling my mother that
that they were going to San Francisco, Las Vegas or even Paris in two weeks.
While the means of locating flights have clearly changed (travel agents to
online searches), the process can still be quite challenging and ultimately
emotionally rewarding. Having had to fly quite often, sometimes on short
notice, in the last few years, like my father, I have developed the skill, art
if you will, of searching for the best flight, for me at least. This ability has become quite valuable as the current war has turned Ben Gurion Airport into a
non-hub, with only a few airlines regularly serving it. I will share my tips to finding the almost
perfect flights in the age of the Internet. I will use my preferences and
limitations but obviously these are individual.
Personal preferences:
1. Due to the distance to the airport and the security procedures, which in practice means leaving the house five hours in advance, I
take no flight that departs before noon. I need a good night’s sleep before I began a day of
travel.
2. I try not to arrive at the destination after midnight. I intend to
enjoy the next day.
3. I will not spend more than 4 daylight hours at a connection airport
but will insist on at least 2 hours in case (or is that when?) the plane is
late.
4. I am willing to spend overnight at a connection location and have
learned to enjoy my mini-stop.
Hub to Hub
For discussion purposes, a hub is major international airport, e.g. Frankfurt
and Newark, to which there are many flights. By contrast, a non-hub has limited
national and international flights.
1. I check the direct routes. They can be more expensive but are easier
on the body.
2. I check flights from another hub to the destination with a short wait
over seeing if their price justifies the extra flight time. Total flight time
is a key statistic here.
3. When flying international, such as to the United States, I try to
stay on the international flights as long as possible as the plane is more
comfortable. For example, it is more pleasant to fly from Israel to San
Francisco and then to Los Angeles as compared to the Israel to Newark and then
to LA.
Non-hub to hub
1. Due to limited and expensive direct options, I look for convenient
lower-cost flights to other airports that may have better direct flights to the
destination.
2. It is vital to check the arrival times in order to allow for late
arrival but avoid wasting too many hours in the airport. Duty free is not that
interesting regardless of the airport.
3. I reconsider the direct option and make a choice, i.e. time vs.
money.
Non-hub to non-hub
1. This is the fun one. Here, I work backwards. I ask Dr. Google “from
which city can you fly directly to X” and get a nice map with lines indicating
various cities.
2. I crosscheck that list with the cities to which I have a direct
connection.
3. I then spend time trying to ascertain which combination of dates,
times and price is the most practical, all issues considered.
In this manner, after several hours of intense effort, I found a
convenient way of getting from Israel to Portland, Oregon, site of the American
Translators Association conference next month where I will make two
presentations. If you are wondering, the connecting flights to Portland is to and from
Amsterdam, with an overnight stay on the way there and three hours wait at the
airport on the way back, all without losing a night’s sleep. When I completed
the purchase of the tickets, I experienced the thrill of victory just as my
father would do. I suppose if you turn trip planning into a game, it becomes a
rather fun challenge. The shortest line takes some calculation.
* Picture captions help the blind fully access the Internet.
Picture credit - Pixibay
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