Review as a Private Pilot landing in Santa Barbara Airport…read more This is my second time flying into Santa Barbara and is always a delight flying into this airport. VFR pilots plan accordingly though, as KSBA is just right off the coast and can be socked in. Fortunately, the marine layer was just off the airport and I was able to land at 15R. Santa Barbara airport have commercial service. Taxiing around the airport along with airliners is always a treat. KSBA ATC has always been helpful to private pilots, especially those like me who aren't very familiar with the taxiways. Great city to fly in and visit and equally great airport to facilitate the getaway.

The last leg of our trip brought us to Santa Barbara Airport. I had not been in the area for years…read moreand had never flown through this airport, even though I grew up in the area. When I tell you this airport is small, I mean SMALL! It is also extremely easy to navigate. You definitely do not need the same amount of time to get through this airport as you would at a larger one. TSA is only one floor up, and we got through security very quickly. Based on our experience, you could probably arrive about an hour before your flight and still get through without a problem. Of course, I would still follow your airline's recommended arrival time just to be safe. Getting out of the airport is just as easy. You only have to go down one floor, and once you walk outside, everything is conveniently located right there. The Uber pickup area is directly across the street, along with taxis and bus transportation. You do not have to walk a long distance or search around trying to figure out where to go. The beauty of flying through a smaller airport is how quick and convenient everything is. The disadvantage is that there are fewer flights, and they seem to stop fairly early. There are also not many restaurants or shops once you get through security. My main complaint is the seating. The seats looked very old and sat extremely low. They definitely need to upgrade them. I do not remember seeing charging ports near the seats, although I cannot say for certain that there were none. The gate areas are also very small. When several flights are boarding around the same time, the crowds and lines can spill over into the neighboring gates. That can become confusing because you cannot always tell which passengers are standing in which boarding line or even which gate they are waiting for. Everyone we encountered was helpful, and the overall process was still a breeze. For some flights, you do have to walk outside across the tarmac to board the plane. The weather was beautiful while we were there, but I can only imagine that walk being a little inconvenient during bad weather. If you need to travel to the Santa Barbara area, I think it is worth paying a little more to fly directly into this airport. To me, it does not make sense to fly into LAX just to save a little money and then have to drive all the way up while sitting in that LA traffic. Who wants to do that after getting off a flight? Overall, Santa Barbara Airport was small, convenient, and easy to navigate. The seats and gate areas could use some improvements, but it was still one of the quickest airport

This was the first time my dad and I had flown this airline, and we were very impressed. We had the…read morebest service, and our attendant, Deirdra,took excellent care of us. We are asked, asked for a couple of drinks, and she immediately served the drinks. The plane was immaculate, very comfortable smooth,we were very impressed by the excellent Pilot. it was a soft-- flight. The flight was exceptional. Flight 866

Simply put, Alaska Airlines is the absolute best!! I only fly Alaska unless I need to fly…read moresomewhere outside of their routes. Their website is user friendly. The app is easy to use. The customer service on the phone is super. The agents that check me in at all airports are fabulously friendly. I fly in and out of Portland and Santa Barbara often and appreciate how welcoming all Alaska employees are. Today I am flying out of Santa Barbara and Lynn assisted me. She's beautiful, friendly and funny. I know how stressful traveling can be and making customers laugh goes a long way. Alaska has done a fabulous job implementing Covid safety and kindly remind passengers of safety protocols. I'm committed to Alaska for the rest of my travel days!! Alaska Airlines is awesome!!

Don't fly with Southwest Airline The worst The worst…read moreairline that you can travel, very unorganized every time we travel they have delays and very rude staff avoid traveling with this airline I email there headquarters but they don't care not apology very bad experience every time I travel with them but that is last time no more Southwest.

3 of 10 flights this year rebooked with only text message. 2 of the flights rebooked totally…read morecanceled. 1 of them they rescheduled me on a different day completely. They don't care about your schedule and rebook just close e Pugh to not pay you anything. Won't book on another airline. Crap customer service Nothing done so don't stay on hold for 15 minutes. Waste of time. I've been a Rapid Rewards member since the 90s and pay for a Southwest credit card. That's over. Not even cheap flights anymore just crappy service Used to be you get what you pay for now it's just rude

Very professional staff they excel at being the best while being an ambassador of nature and a good…read moreneighbor

We need more capable charter solutions in SB. Kudos to Surf Air.read more

Private flying without price tag. They've made some great…read moreimprovements with consistency and are such a lifesaver for my commute!

We had a really amazing experience working with Yvette! Not only did she get us a great 10 day…read morepackage in Maui for our 15th anniversary, she was detailed, thorough and offered some of the best tips and suggestions that we hadn't even thought of. The place we stayed (as suggested by Yvette) was wonderful and a perfect fit for our busy family. We ended up missing our flight on our way home and when I called Yvette she jumped through so many hoops to help out. In the end, she was able to get us another night (at a heavily discounted rate) at the wonderful place we stayed, an awesome bargain for a rental car (for 1 day) as well as seats on same flight for the very next day (with no out of pocket expense on the flight change). We will be booking all future vacations with Yvette and I am going to share our amazing experience with all my friends and family.

The greatest. Easy to work with and extremely reliable. I've worked with them three times and have…read moreno doubt that they're putting my interests (as opposed to that of the hotel or airline) first.

Flight: UA 4715 (SBA to SFO) Date: August 5…read more Scheduled / Actual Departure: 9:59 AM / 11:22 AM (Delayed over an hour) United Express has shown a noticeable drop in service quality and operational reliability, and this flight was a prime example. What should have been a quick, routine hop from Santa Barbara to San Francisco turned into a drawn-out, poorly communicated delay. Pushing back departure by over an hour for a flight that only takes 1 hour and 16 minutes in the air completely destroys any downstream travel plans or connections. When delays occur, basic communication and proactive assistance shouldn't be too much to ask. Instead, the response from representatives was indifferent, leaving travelers stranded in limbo with little accountability. If you rely on timely departures or expect standard professional customer care, look for alternative carriers or routes. United Express continues to fail to deliver on basic service standards.

I had a really great experience with United Airlines in Santa Barbara, Ca. I had a difficult…read moretravel day getting to Santa Barbara and then another passenger left with my suitcase. A mystery because my suitcase does not look like any other suitcase! My point is that Nia, who is a baggage representative with United sorted out what happened very quickly, called the other passenger and had my bag back at the terminal within about 20 minutes. Nia just makes United look so good.

Customer service, compassion, theft…read more Bought 2 biz class seats from Logan to LAX. For 1250 each. When we got to the gate they actually sat us in economy. So I requested a refund. AA refunded 500 per ticket, meaning we paid 750 each for tickets that routinely go for 150-225. They told me that the price fluctuates a lot and 500 was sufficient. I have never seen a one way economy ticket for more than 175 in the 2 months since. Terrible terrible company

I really expected more from American Airlines today. I'm a hard person to anger and I got close to…read morethinking about behaving badly (yelling, slapping a fool). Luckily, I'm a classy guy and I'm sitting in my truck right now, and not jail. The thing is, I worked in banking for many years, and I know that solving someone's problems is not only helpful, but it's the right thing to do. I arrived 45 mins before takeoff with only a carry on bag. Santa Barbara has a small and convenient (when hosted by non-moronic kind men and women) airport. Downstairs I tried to check in and the lady said "you better just run up so you don't miss the flight". I got through security and they had only begun boarding. I bought a first class $500 ticket but was treated like I should be punished by smirking rude employees who appeared to get off like rent a cops. Siting policy and telling me I could not board while I watched 50 people walk past me when they simply could have said "your boarding pass should be in your email". I was so flustered it didn't even occur to me. But these people were so excited to kick someone off a flight, they didn't attempt the slightest workaround for someone who bought a "first class" ticket. What does "first class" mean? I'm not a snob. I paid extra for what believe are unkind, unhappy people, who get off on ruining someone's day. I have never understood why someone who doesn't like people works in customer service. They offered to rebook me with the plane sitting there and I ignored them because I had already rebooked, and have my boarding pass ready because the lady on the 800 number simply said "check your email- your pass is there". What idiots. Three people would rather rebook a first class ticket holder than simply print or remind him where his ticket is. They sited policy. I worked corporate for many years- top customer service reps know the exceptions for policy. I guarantee you a different happier person would have let me on because I've seen it happen. I begged the guy. He was half my age, seemed smart, but he was a bullied person and carries his subliminal childhood trauma in his work vest. The original person who told me to run upstairs is the one that screwed me, because she knew the workaround, but never appeared upstairs to complete her helpful mission of getting me on a simple 1 hour flight. This whole thing was so stupid I can't believe it even happened. Who would want to have this happen to someone? He's lucky I'm not a gang member cause this type of policy is going to anger the wrong person which makes airports unsafe for all of us. Get a clue guys - treat people with respect. Shit happens and I wasn't that late. After this flight I will go back to United, because American is starting to look like Southwest. Picture below is my plane leaving without me.

I used SBT many years ago for a European trip and had a great experience, so I tried them again for…read moreanother European trip. Unfortunately, this time was not good. I will not use names in this review as it is not my intention to hurt them but to report what my experience was so readers can make an informed decision. If you have mobility issues, please use a travel agency that understands and caters to these specific issues. SBT does not and it was obvious based on many issues including the location of some of the hotels, and certain arrangements that they did not complete. After the initial contact, I waited one month without contact and had to call and email them to get a response. The bottom line is that another agent took over. I was relieved until I found out that the original agent was doing most of the work. The new agent was on a three-week vacation during the planning and contact was not easy. Due to the original agent's lack of understanding or experience, the plans were incomplete, not what we wanted or more importantly not what I needed. As far as the train arrangements for wheelchair service, I was told they were made but they were not. When I emailed them from overseas regarding this issue, I was emailed the information and told to contact the service on my own. It was so bad that we skipped using the train two times and hired a taxi instead at four times the cost of the train. Three of the five hotels were on severely sloped streets and were so sloped it was impossible to use a wheelchair. Also, I had asked for all hotels to have an in-house restaurant and 3 of 5 did not. The final hotel was at the airport, and I was told it was in the terminal. It was not in the terminal and to make it worse there were no shuttles to the airport from this hotel. I do want to give you the positives, the second agent recommended a Masseria to stay in, and it was great, and we truly enjoyed the experience. He also recommended a restaurant in a cave and that was seriously awesome too!! Honestly, the entire experience with SBT was so frustrating. The day before the trip started, I was still desperately emailing them to finalize plans for the trip. There is a lot more that went bad but there is not enough time to cover all the issues. I wish I could recommend SBT, but I cannot. Sadly, I will be looking elsewhere for a new travel agency.

I loved the trip and working with Tina and Santa Barbara Travel. Tina helped to make my first time…read moreto take a cruise ship to Mexico a wonderful one. She found just the right trip for my wishes and helped me through the process from start to finish, i.e., arranging for a timely passport, ways to get to the ship, what the costs would be and finding the right insurance. What seemed most important was her experience in getting everything arranged and that she was working with the actual companies, because a lot of it was online and it is so easy to be deceived when using the internet these days. I was confident that she would prevent me from making mistakes as a first-time traveler. The whole experience was very exciting, if not a little nerve-wracking because of my inexperience, but she shared the enthusiasm with me and made everything happen! Thank you, Tina, for this first-time experience, I will be back for more trips to be arranged by Santa Barbara Travel!