By Mark Stone

So, as you all may have noticed, Neil sent over the info for our Las Vegas Reunion Tournament which will take place April 30 through May 2. Now I usually drive to this event and go up early on Thursday to play a little golf before so making travel and even flight arrangements does not enter into the equation. I will drive again this year, hopefully there will be a little golf but I, like some of you, will have someone flying up on Thursday evening to join me for the weekend of fun and baseball. Because of this, I thought I’d take an early look at the flight schedules and fares.

Now anyone who flies from LA (either LAX or Burbank) to Las Vegas knows that the most daily flights of any airline are provided by Southwest Airlines. And Southwest is probably the most economical as well. A non-refundable advanced web booked flight is right now only $59 each way and that is a non-stop, one hour flight. Since my friend will be leaving after work – that is 6:00 pm or later – and Burbank’s airport is the most convenient, there are three flights that will accommodate the schedule and get her into Las Vegas in time to see a late show. No question the most economical and convenient way to go. Nevertheless, just for “sh*ts and giggles” I thought I'd see what the other airlines had to offer and let me tell you, what I found was very interesting.

Since I collect United miles, I thought I’d try to use miles for this short one hour, 300 nautical mile flight and save a little of the cash for the tables or a show. So onto the United website I logged. Unfortunately using miles and flying United was not quite going to work. Sure I could use the miles and there were several options from which to choose. I could get a flight at 6:09 pm for $87.00 and the same flight for $95.00 one way, or a flight at 8:27 pm for the same price. The problem, well we’d definitely have to forget about a late show. You’d think a flight leaving Burbank at 6:09 would arrive around 7:00 but not on United. Why? Well let me tell you why - United doesn’t fly directly to Las Vegas from Burbank. You can get there non-stop from LAX and it takes an hour and 17 minutes, but from Burbank the shortest amount of time it takes is 2 hours and 51 minutes of actual flight time with a 30 minute stop over in San Francisco of all places.

OK. If I or my friend really loved flying and the use of miles was that important to me, I could maybe see flying to San Francisco before going on to Sin City. But I thought maybe there was something better and after all, I am accumulating miles through another credit card. So I went web surfing a little. Well, if I thought United's trip was a bit inconvenient wait until you see what else I found.

First, no other flight scheduled from Burbank to Las Vegas at 6:00 pm or later on April 29, 2010 was less expensive than the Southwest or United flights. Alaska Airlines has a one-way fare for $260 - a lot compared to Southwest's $59 and even United's $97, but you get more for your money . . . you get to see a lot more. Alaska leaves Burbank at 6:50 pm and flies to, of all places, Seattle where you get to stay overnight (on those very comfy airport chairs or in a hotel on your own dime) and then leave at 6:00 am the next morning for Las Vegas. Crazy, right?

Not so crazy, how about this one? Leave Burbank on United at 6:10 pm, arrive in San Francisco at 7:26 pm, change planes and leave San Francisco at 9:00 pm to arrive in Salt Lake City at 11:39 pm. . . . change planes and airlines for a flight the next morning at 8:31 am from Salt Lake City to Las Vegas . . . And this flight is only $279 per person one way. At least the last leg is only 28 minutes in the air.

You say you prefer to fly American? Well with American you get to see even more of the West! You leave Burbank at 6:50 pm and arrive back up in Seattle at 9:27 where you hurry up and wait 7 hours. At 5:15 am the next morning you switch airlines to US Airways and fly to Phoenix, arriving at 8:30 am only to switch planes again, if your flight is on time and you can get to the next plane in 15 minutes because you then 8:45 am to get to Vegas at 10:00 am and all this for the irresistible fare of $315 . . . ONE WAY! Are we laughing yet . . . Well, there’s one more (and honest, all of these came up when I searched flights on Cheaptickets.com and Orbitz.com).

Here's the "best" flight that came up on Cheaptickets.com. As many of us know, Jet Blue prides itself on low fares and it recently opened up routes that allow it to now fly out of Burbank. One of those routes is headed to Vegas and leaves at 9:40 pm. I did say "headed to Vegas" didn't I? Well the pilot just over shot the runway not to mention the city entirely and 5 plus hours later you are in New York only to wait 2 hrs at JFK before getting on another flight for almost 6 hrs - those damn head winds - for a 10:10 am Friday morning landing in Las Vegas and all for the low, low fare of $479 one way - and you have to pack your own meals each way. Shall I book you on this one?

I don't know whether to really LOL and ROFL with these but this little search did start me wondering if anyone EVER really books a flight like any of these or, should I just be amazed by the logic of computerized ticketing.

I guess I’ll just use my credit card, accumulate a few more miles for the next flight and get that ticket on Southwest . . . Hope to see you in Vegas and I would love to hear from any of you about your airfare adventures.