Northwest Online Was Right for Us and So was the Airline.
by meleahk - Written: Apr 14 '08
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Recently my father-in-law was diagnosed with Mesothelioma in the advanced stages and of course we had to go and see about him. It just so happened that my husband’s spring break at college was the same week as our son’s school and since my husband already had one of his vacation weeks scheduled for the last week of the year he had to go to his company and ask them to change it for him, which they did. In the mean time I went to various online sites to check for flight schedules and pricing. I decided to do this because it is 2 days to Ohio and 2 days back, plus the cost of gas, food and lodging and it just might be as cheap to fly as opposed to drive. If the flying worked out that would give my husband 9 days with his father instead of 5.
I went to the usual places that I go to and found that the price for flying was very competitive. In fact, it was just as cheap to fly if not cheaper in the long run and so that became my mission. All the online websites were any where from 2 to 10 dollars difference in the tickets. Well, 2 to 10 dollars is a lot of money now days and so I began to check the actual airline sites to see if I could get the tickets even cheaper. I am glad that I did because sometimes it is better to just go directly to the source instead of a travel agency. I wound up saving us about 10 dollars and figured that was a good savings.
www.northwestairlines.com or www.nwa.com was the airline that had the best flight schedule and the best price for us. I do not fly much but when I do have mostly flown Northwest and have never had any problems with them.
The Website
www.nwa.com is very easy to get around. When I went to the site I was able to choose what I wanted to do right there on the home page. The way it is designed you can choose a Flight, or a Cruise, or a Vacation Package or choose your Award Flight. Since Flight was the first choice the page was already set up for that and I put in the dates, which were 2 weeks away along with number of passengers and the site set off a search for me. I was totally in awe because not only were the exact dates available for us but there was a choice for direct flight along with flights with several stops. It was cheaper to fly direct, which in my limited experience in booking flights was actually cheaper than flights with stops. Up to over 1200.00 dollars even! Of course I went for the direct flight. Detroit Airport was the choice of arrival because from they’re to Toledo, Ohio was only an hour for someone to come and pick us up. And we knew that would not be a problem at all.
At www.nwa.com I was able to check in online, print out tickets off from my computer and printer, choose our seating, and use my World Perks if we had any. To my surprise I did have some of those Perks, but not enough to help out with this trip. And my husband now has a World Perks account and we both can fly more with Northwest and continue to add those Perks up. I do not think we will be flying much so this part will most likely not help us out any but those who do fly will have the chance to choose this airline and their World Perks should add up nicely.
The flight and gate status was right there on the home page as well. And I was able to manage our reservations from there also. Exactly 24 hours before flight I was able to check us in and choose the seats, which was cool. It was so easy to do. When I chose the seats I was able to go to the page that showed a line up of the plane and seating. If a seat was available then the seat would show as empty or blank and I just clicked on that seat and it put both of us together. Very easy to do and it was a little fun choosing the seats. At first we were back on row 18 and about 10 minutes after choosing those seats I decided to check the airline again and was surprised that row 13 had opened up. Of course I changed our seats and secured row 13 E and F for us. I like the window seat. Also when I chose the seating it was clearly marked which seats were the Exit Row Seats and which were the Handi-cap Seats.
One can choose to buy the Exit Row seats for 20.00 per person if they would like and one can choose to purchase the hand-cap seats, if someone who needs them, if they like and these are 25.00 per person has not taken them. And of course there is the First Class Seating for those who want them and can afford them.
Once I had all of the seating done we were set to fly out the next morning. We had an hours drive to the airport here in Jacksonville, Fl and our flight was scheduled to leave at 8:31 am. We had a very early morning but not a long day at all. Our flight was only 2 hours and 15 minutes, and in the end we made it in 1 hour and 30 minutes. Good wind for us flying up!
We could purchase, while on flight, bagels or nuts for 2.00 each and we actually given a beverage for our flight for free. I was a little put out by the airline charging for food though because normally you at least got a snack for your purchase. I guess everyone has had to cut back somewhere. Needless to say, www.nwa.com did not sell too much food!
The Return
Once again, 24 hours out, I was able to use my in-laws computer to check us in and print our tickets. My father-in-laws printer was not working but that was okay because I was still able to check us in with the option to print the tickets once we got to the airport. In fact, after I had printed our tickets to fly up and after we got to the Jacksonville, Fl Airport we didn’t need them because once we checked in at the counter using the Touch Screen Check In, we got new tickets anyway and I knew not being able to print off the tickets from home would be no problem. Once we got back to the Detroit Airport we got off the bus that had driven us in and wound up being right that at a Northwest Airline counter, which worked out well for us. We didn’t have to fight all those people trying to find our airline because it was right there! Once again we used the Touch Screen Check In and had no trouble what so ever. In fact, both directions we had no problems checking in and no problems getting through security.
When we first arrived at Jax International the security level had been set to “HIGH” and we just knew that we were going to be delayed and in the end because it was early morning we were not delayed at all. We did however, have escorts from our Military flying up. In fact, we could see these planes in the distance once we took off and several times a Fighter Jet would fly right beside us. This was a little disturbing because we had no idea what was going on and why we had these escorts, but we decided not to fret over and just enjoy our flight, which we did.
Coming back home we were stuck with row 23, which was okay. However, while at the airport getting ready to come back home, the Exit seats had not been bought by anyone and the Stewardess announced that if there were a couple traveling together to please come up to the desk. Well, I jumped at this chance and of course not knowing that the Exit seats had not been purchased, we were offered those 2 seats. Well duh, I took them for us. We had a much bigger foot area and a little bigger seat and were closer to the front of the plane. And of course we took on the responsibility of having to open the Exit Door in case it was needed. No problem for me because although I had once again taken the window seat, hubby could open the Exit Door if needed.
How I Feel
I was very pleased with www.nwa.com from start to finish. It was refreshing to actually find a bargain out there in these days and times and especially since time was of the essence for us with my father-in-law being so sick and all, it was very important to us to get to him as quickly as we could and in a way we could actually afford. The plane tickets cost us 598.00 for both of us and we saved in the end over 400.00 flying instead of driving and most importantly, we saved days.
I received emails after I bought the tickets that were detailed information of our flights and then emails when it was time to check in. I received emails letting me know that the flights were on schedule, what gate our plane was at or if anything had changed. For us nothing had changed. The emails also had where I luggage could be picked up and of course those did change but that was not a big deal because we able to see the Monitors placed around each Airport for this information. I was able to put in our Reservation Number and our information came right up for me and from there I was able to choose the seating for us. It was just so easy. The pages loaded quickly and all the information I needed was right there at my fingertips.
We had such a wonderful experience with this Airline and the use of www.nwa.com was completely and totally easy to do! I was just in Awe at how God had worked it all out for us and Grateful that we got to spend so much time with the family. Dad, will die from this Cancer and there is nothing that can be done about that but to make him as happy as possible and visiting with us made him and mom very happy as it did us. While we were with there they celebrated their 45th Wedding Anniversary and that was wonderful for us all.
I hope that this has helped in some kind of way.
God Bless!
copyright LKD 2008
Recommended:
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What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Two Airline Tickets
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