Planning a trip to Iceland is really hard. Only one airline flies there, which is a major bummer (7-hour flights that don’t include meals … really?). It’s hard to get around, and prices are steep despite the favorable exchange rate. But I really want to hike Landmannalauger, tour the Skaftatell glacier and check out Dimmuborgir. And I want to eat the tasty fermented shark meat known as hakarl! I have to figure out ways to mitigate these obstacles. There are new (to me) glaciers and volcanoes waiting!
But New Zealand, stop whispering “come back and finish driving the Thermal Explorer Highway and climb Mt. Ngauruhoe again and go Schweebing – you know you want to!” in my ear. You’re really not helping.
travel planning
Chipping Away at Iceland Travel Plans
Air Travel Smackdown – OneWorld Versus Star Alliance!
Because I fly out of Phoenix Sky Harbor, I’ve collected the majority of my air miles on US Airways. I’ve also scooped up decent amounts from Continental and American. All of these are members of either oneworld or Star Alliance – you know, those associations of various airlines that seem to have no real benefit aside from making it easier to collect air miles.
I thought it might be interesting to see how their Web sites do at picking decent routes to cool places. My predictions were that oneworld airlines would add significant times since AA hubs are at Chicago and Dallas. I tested both Web sites using destinations such as Tokyo Narita, Singapore, Buenos Aires, Reykjavik, Auckland, Sydney, Lima, Honolulu and Hanoi. Let’s check out how they scored!
oneworld
At the oneworld Web site, a pop-up window appears with your results. And it seems to work really quickly. There’s a drop-down menu for dates, which is really nice. The fonts are a bit small, but that’s not too big a quibble. It also lacks an autocomplete for city and airport names. That’s a bummer for when you’re not certain of the city, just the country or state.
But let’s talk about getting a traveler from the fifth most-populous city in the United States to some fun destinations. Let’s start with Honolulu, Hawaii. Oneworld can’t get me from Phoenix to Honolulu on Feb. 17, nor back on the 27th? Some people should be hanging their heads over this farce. Of course oneworld airlines go to Honolulu. Problem is, Phoenix isn’t a [...]
