I would like to take a moment and talk about air travel.  I know we're 'technology' evangelists, but air travel is an active part of our lives and it directly impacts what technology we purchase for producing these HDTV shows.  Part of this traveling involves lugging huge cases filled with HD television equipment.  Excluding our luggage there are 4 cases in total.  Two of these cases are 50lbs and just the right size to avoid extra fees.  The other two cases are 95lbs each and over sized.  Each airline treats us differently and I have found it interesting to watch how we're treated on a per-company basis.

Typically we budget $200.00 per case per direction for travel: $100.00 for oversize and $100.00 for overweight per case per direction which I think is absurd.  This is $800.00 just for the ability to fly with these cases.  Some airlines cost more, some less but in general that's what we pay. The only airline that ever seems to allow us to travel without any exorbitant fee is Sun Country Airlines.  This is great for us as that $800.00 can then go in to upgraded seats, newer equipment, or other areas where it's really needed such as new hard drives (hey, 100Mbps HD footage chews through hard drives).  Typically we'll get charged $50.00 per case per direction on Sun Country but that's only a total of $200.00 a far cry from the $800.00 that many/most of the other airlines charge.


Service is incredible.  Being that we're in MSP the other airline that's based here is Northwest Airlines.  There's simply no comparison between the service and friendliness between NWA and Sun Country.  These are not uber techie planes that have video in the back of the seats, power for laptops or other features that one would think that a technology evangelist would gravitate to.  No, these are brand new yet basic planes that run non-stop to major destinations across the country.  No frills but fantastic service.  I've yet to be on a Sun Country flight that was delayed.  I've never felt my blood boil at the check-in window as they tell me I have to shift 2lbs of material from one case to another, both of which are getting checked on the same plane.  They have never damaged my luggage (which happens a lot with the video cases) and they have always done right by us.

I realize that I sound a bit like a broken PR record, but with the state of the airlines today it's nice to see one that cares about its customers.  At my heart I guess I'm just an evangelist of things that I believe are good, and to date I have not flown an airline better than Sun Country.  If they fly in your area, it will be worth checking them out.  If you're ever visiting the Minneapolis/St. Paul area I would absolutely fly them in as opposed to those other larger carriers.  You'll be happy you did.

My final thought.  One question I always ponder, and maybe a fellow evangelist can help me out here, is there an airline where I can fly and check all of my bags for free?  Even the over size and over weight ones?  I would love to see an airline step up and make that happen.