Flying to Las Vegas, Its Such a Joy!

Flying is such a joy. I fly to Las Vegas about 5 times a year, two or three times for business, the other times for fun. And I always have to fly since I live in Ohio. OK, we could drive, but its not going to happen.

There are certain unalienable truths that follow me on every flight:

My flight will either be canceled or delayed causing a long layover.
If I have a connecting flight, it will be three gates away and will require a long walk, a tram ride and more walking.
I will always end up in the middle seat, no matter that I've chosen an aisle seat and was assigned an aisle seat. The airline will change the aircraft and give me a middle seat.
The person in front of me will be sick and cough and sneeze the entire flight. I will be sick by the time I get home.
The person in front of me will also recline their seat just to make sure that the germs hit me.
The person next to me will have long legs and will crowd my space and he or she will make sure they read all night long with the light on during a red eye or night flight.
There will always be a kid behind me who cries and kicks my seat until the plane lands.

I had all of the above on both of my flights to and from Las Vegas last week. I had an added bonus. There was a teen age girl who refused to get on the plane. She had a panic attack to top all panic attacks. She screamed and screamed and even the pilot came out to discuss the her not getting on the plane. Then she kicked and she screamed and her mother laughed. But she got ON the plane and continued to panic. Of course, she was in front of us AND she was sick, coughing and sneezing when she wasn't crying or breathing into a paper bag. Her mom started drinking and ignored her. The girl finally shut up two hours into the flight. When the flight landed, she asked her mom if she could sit by the window on the next flight.

And there is more. I flew on Delta. My connecting flight was canceled and we had a long long layover.
To quote Carrot Top, Delta stands for:
D Don't
E Expect your
L Luggage
T To
A Arrive

So we are standing at the baggage carousel, and everyone has their luggage but me. My husband's suitcase came off in the first wave of cases. I'm standing there like an idiot thinking about my makeup being in my suitcase since the airlines have the 3 ounce rule. I NEED my makeup. I can buy a tee shirts and wear my jeans, but to replace my makeup is going to cost some serious cash. Nearly ready to panic, my suitcase finally arrives. It was the last one off the plane. So what else is new? But our driver was getting ancy from waiting, he grabbed my suitcase and we were off. He kept saying there was something wrong with my wheels....when we got to the car, we saw one of the wheels was pulled off, the side was scraped and it reeked of wine. Since I didn't have wine in my suitcase, something spilled on it. And since we were three hours late, we left before I could go back into the airport to have a hissy fit.

I called Delta the next morning, and of course, they aren't responsible for wheels. I wouldn't have cared except it was my new suitcase and it had spinner wheels. My husband pulled on the other wheels and couldn't budge them. So, Delta isn't responsible. The suitcase company isn't responsible for carrier damage, so I'm screwed. I arrive in Las Vegas already down $300 bucks for a suitcase. Just my luck!! Oh, yeah, flying is such a joy!

Cheap Flights To Las Vegas, They Are Out There!

I spend hours looking for the best deal on airfare to get to Las Vegas. Its a game, the more I save, the more I can spend in Las Vegas. I search for convenient flight times, short layovers and good seats at the lowest price I can find without traveling in the baggage compartment or strapped to a wing.

Yesterday, I scored and I scored big! Woooo Hoo....I'm going to Vegas, baby! OK, so I was just there 6 weeks ago, but I managed to blow a disc in my back and we didn't get to do everything we wanted to do. When you can't walk, are tethered to a heating pad and under the influence of pain killers, it keeps you from having the quintessential Vegas experience. I spent a lot of time in a jacuzzi and not in the casino. My husband had to push me around in a wheel chair and that wasn't much fun. He left me in a gift shop when he got distracted by a candy display and I was surrounded by a tour group. I'm claustrophobic! He forgot where he parked me and couldn't see me. He had to pay big time for that! This trip is my do over. OK, so I held that over his head and we are both getting a do over.

I fly a lot. I hit Vegas at least 5 times a year or more, if I can figure out a way or an excuse to go. I use Kayak to find my flights. Find Cheap Flights from 100+ Sites with One Click. They will search hundreds of sites to find the very best rates. This is such a cool free service, it literally saves hours and days of searching. It hits all the major sites like Travelocity, Orbitz and Expedia. Kayak also hits the airline sites. Its amazing how much the same seat on the same plane can vary on the different sites. Sometimes the airline sites are less, sometimes not. This is such a cool site and it WILL save you a lot of green.

I have no more free vouchers from taking a voluntary bump, so I make it my mission to find a great flight AND try to get bumped. I will sit for hours at an airport, if I can get to my destination and get a free voucher for a round trip, to Las Vegas, of course! If you want more information on how to get bumped to get a free airline voucher for a free trip, check out this awesome site. Gadling's Guide to Getting Bumped.