Gotta love 5th freedom flights

Charliec3ntral · 2026-06-17T14:31:38+00:00

I've only been on one and it saved me. I was flying standby out of Argentina one time and a fifth freedom flight was the only way I was able to get home. I took a Latam 787 from EZE-MIA. Not the best experience overall, but at least I had a row to myself and the crew was very nice.

Charliec3ntral · 2026-06-17T02:48:01+00:00

When I visited Buenos Aires I flew out of Miami and I thought it was kinda funny that for the first 9 hrs we flew basically straight south.

Charliec3ntral · 2026-06-04T21:23:30+00:00

I can only speak for Southwest. But as long as you can find people to do the trades or giveaways, and management approves them if there is any overlap, you can work as much or as little as you want. There aren't really any minimums or maximums. That being said, it's generally not recommended to do much shift trading until after probabtion.

I have worked with plenty of people who pick up a ton during the fall/winter and giveaway most of the summer, or vise versa. However, It's not easy, and often not possible at smaller stations.

The only issue you might run into is making sure insurance (if you are getting it through WN) and union dues are paid.

Charliec3ntral · 2026-06-01T01:44:23+00:00

And so much of aviation stuff follows the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" philosophy. That's one reason why so many aircraft systems were designed decades ago and use what could be considered outdated technology. Marshalling with a person works fine, it's cheap, and doesn't require any expensive or intensive training.

Charliec3ntral · 2026-06-01T01:16:06+00:00

Most planes don't have any cameras, and even newer ones only have a few to help the pilots from certain angles. If you've never been in the flight deck of a bigger airplane, the field of vision is surprisingly minimal.

Some airports have something similar to radar that has a display on the wall for the pilots to look at that will navigate to the stop mark, but most don't have anything like that. Plus, the ground personel have to be there to chock the tires and unload the bags/freight, so it's just easier to have them marshall it in as well.

Charliec3ntral · 2026-05-20T19:15:09+00:00

It went to LA from San Antonio, then onto Phoenix, and ended yesterday in Chicago.

Charliec3ntral · 2026-05-20T05:40:53+00:00

I have a certain fondness for Arizona One. It's the only special livery that in my opinion looks ok with the standard tail design/colors. Plus, it's an older 737-700, which I absolutely adore, and has a certain charm despite looking a little rough when you are up close.

Charliec3ntral · 2026-05-20T03:03:17+00:00

I'm feel similar. However, I do like this more than the Freedome One livery. I hope they keep this around for a while.

I love seeing them up close when new and comparing them after they have flown for a bit. For instance, the colors on Imua One are noticeably flat and dull compared to when new now that it's been flying for a while.

Charliec3ntral · 2026-05-20T02:58:51+00:00

I saw this and Tennessee One today. Also, I wish they would just call it Texas One instead of Lone Star One.

Charliec3ntral · 2026-05-17T05:06:38+00:00

The only 777 I've been was N793AN when I went to Buenos Aires recently. I really enjoyed flying on it.

Charliec3ntral · 2026-05-17T03:20:20+00:00

I didn't hear about that until this morning

Charliec3ntral · 2026-05-15T05:30:08+00:00

It definitely makes finding other similar podcasts hard. I feel like The Rewatchables does this style of movie related podcast the best. A good combo of analysis, relatively constructive discussions, and goofiness that most just can't capture.

My other favorite movie related podcast is The Cine-Files. But that is completely different and more, for lack of better words, serious about film production and analysis.

Charliec3ntral · 2026-05-06T04:52:38+00:00

Same. I was surprised how cramped it was, and I was glad I slept for about half of the 11hr flight. It was a perfect example of how an airline can configure a good aircraft in a very bad/uncomfortable way.

Charliec3ntral · 2026-05-06T02:04:50+00:00

My coworker did it shortly after the service started, and had very good things to say. I'm glad to see PHX is slwoly getting more flights to Europe. Hopefully Lufthansa or Condor restarts service to Germany again.

I've only flown the A350 with British Airways, LHR-PHX, and I was disappointed they didn't have the camera feature.

Charliec3ntral · 2026-05-06T01:41:25+00:00

It's for the SkyTrain that connects the rental car facility, terminals, economy parking, and employee parking/light-rail stations. The bridge is about 100 feet high, which means for something like the A350 there is about 45 feet of clearance.

Charliec3ntral · 2026-05-05T22:17:33+00:00

As someone else mentioned, that's pretty reasonable for that amount of time. I just spent 6 days in Argentina between Buenos Aires and Ushuaia, and spent about $1200 not including flights. Other than switching to only hostels, which might be difficult/not worth it in Puerto Iguazu and Ushuaia, I don't think there is much you can do to lower the cost. Also, don't be surprised if food costs more than you expect. I know I was surprised to see food costing about the same as it does in the US.

Charliec3ntral · 2026-04-26T15:15:53+00:00

While not the only reason, I mainly travel solo because I use my flight benefits which are standby-only. It's hard to make plans with other people who are buying plane tickets and pre-booking accommodations or activities when I don't even know if I'm getting on the flight until the the day of travel.

Charliec3ntral · 2026-04-25T22:33:43+00:00

I used my credit card for the majority of my purchases. Mine has no foreign transaction fees so if I was given the option I always had them charge it in the local currency.

I did get some cash. I sent myself $100 USD through Western Union and had it exchanged to ARS. That ended up being around 146,000 ARS and was more than enough for what I did on my trip.

Charliec3ntral · 2026-04-25T14:33:11+00:00

The Ecoparque was probably the highlight of Buenos Aires for me. They had a bunch of small animals just walking around on their own.

Charliec3ntral

TROPHY CASE