Regular readers know that I’ve been going through a frustrating back and forth decision on a new mobile phone for the better part of 8 months. I’ve long been a blackberry guy. I love my phone for two reasons: that it’s a phone, and that it did an amazing job handling email. I send paragraphs-long emails with my phone. The blackberry keyboard was terrific, always has been. But the world was passing me by, there’s so much that new devices can do and they’re simply not being offered for Blackberry. I kept holding out hope that what seemed like a dying platform would be brought back to life, but their new operating system was delayed until the fall and then until 2013, and it was finally announced that even Blackberry would be ditching the physical…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for July 2012.
A Superior Suite and Inferior Service at the Intercontinental Boston
I walked into the hotel and straight up to the checkin desk. I was asked for my name and I handed over my credit card. They asked for my drivers license. I know that internationally I’m frequently asked for a passport but I wish hotels would not card their elite members, they should at least feign knowing who I am and welcoming me rather than asking me to prove that I am who I say I am. This is hardly an issue I have with the Intercontinental Boston as such, just an observation. When I first became a Royal Ambassador member, one of the benefits that was explained was that they keep my credit card on file, I would never have to do the usual check-in formalities. That never turned out to be the case,…
Are American and US Airways Really Just Haggling Over Timing and Price?
Scott Mayerowitz interviews American’s CEO Tom Horton and comes away with some interesting tidbits — such as that the first merger discussions with US Airways were initiated by American, before they filed for bankruptcy. The first conversation the two had about a possible merger took place in September, when Horton was still just American’s president. Horton wouldn’t say where they met but two people familiar with the situation said it was at the A Bar A Ranch, a 100,000-acre retreat in southern Wyoming during an exclusive gathering of top airline executives informally known as “conquistadores del cielo,” or the conquerors of the skies. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because the executive meeting is supposed to be a secret. The discussion between Horton and Parker occurred during a barbeque lunch along the banks…
Redeeming Award Tickets on Virgin Atlantic Without Fuel Surcharges
Hawaiian Airlines offers a really frustrating frequent flyer program. Their airline partner redemptions can be really expensive (e.g. Korean Airlines business class between the U.S. and Korea runs 200,000 miles roundtrip — and doesn’t allow connections to other destinations in Asia). They are restrictive — you cannot combine partners on an award ticket, you cannot have a stopover on an award ticket, and you cannot even book an ‘open jaw’ flying into one city and back from another. Talking to Hawaiian Airlines agents can be a frustrating experience. They’re on par with Delta agents, they simply don’t know the ins and outs of their program. One must frequently hang up, call back to get what you’re after. And their call center hours are even quite limited, on the East Coast of the U.S. I have…
United Offers a 20% Discount on International Upgrades — And I’m Not the Least Bit Excited
Summer, especially for European travel, is all about the coach cabin. Planes fly full. But business travel dries up, which means paid business travel dries up. As coach tickets get more expensive, business class prices fall, the spread is much smaller than usual. United is looking to goose some extra revenue from their business class cabin during the lull in premium traffic by offering a 20% discount on both the mileage cost and the cash co-pay for upgrades requested online by July 28 for travel between July 24 and August 12. The discount applies to travel between the Continental U.S. plus Alaska as well as Canada and Europe, Japan, North Asia, Middle East, Central/Southern Africa or Southern South America. Interestingly the discount does not apply to South Asia. Take a discounted coach fare to Europe…
Asiana’s New First Class and Virgin America’s New Elite Levels
This isn’t quite ‘bits ‘n pieces’ with only two items that I’m sharing, they struck me as worth noting but also not things I was inspired to offer longer treatments on. Still, worth passing along. Asiana is introducing a new first class seat – true suites with doors and a 32″ television. This is apparently going into their 777 aircraft, and the Chicago – Seoul route is having first class re-introduced and award space appears possible. I really enjoy the food, service, and amenities on Asiana but the seat is a full generation behind so this is really good news. Lucky links to a video in Korean that shows off the new seat. Wandering Aramean reports on Virgin America’s new silver and gold elite levels. The co-branded credit card lets you get halfway to silver…
Reader Boston Lobster Roll Challenge
The first two comments on my JetBlue trip report, where I ended by finding a good lobster roll near the airport, were about another lobster roll downtown at Neptune Oyster. So in the interest of research and science, I decided to check it out and compare. Neptune is more expensive, but it’s a sit down restaurant and not a takeout seafood store in a shack. They don’t take reservations, and on a Saturday night the wait can easily be two hours. I went on Sunday afternoon just before 5pm and the wait was 45 minutes. While I waited, I played tourist and walked 3 or 4 blocks to Paul Revere’s home. You’re spared that, since they don’t allow photographs inside. When they had a place at the bar open up they rang me on my…
Checking Out the New Conrad New York
I was prepared not to like the Conrad New York. It’s the old Embassy Suites, given a facelift, and which re-opened in March. I remember staying there for the Freddie Awards in 2004 and paying 35,000 HHonors points for my room, it was my second hotel redemption ever and most of the points were earned changing my email address every quarter. The property is owned by Goldman Sachs and it’s across the street from their offices. The scuttlebutt I had heard was that their partners wouldn’t stay at the property while it was an Embassy Suites. Back before the financial crisis they would stay down at the Ritz-Carlton Battery Park. But now with austerity they want their people nearby at their own property, so it needed to be re-branded. How accurate that is I don’t…
American is Bringing New Premium Cabins to their New York – Los Angeles and San Francisco Routes
I popped into the exhibit hall at the Global Business Travel Association convention and stopped by the American Airlines booth. They were featuring 3D video of the new Airbus A321s that they’ll be bringing into the fleet to replace the 767-200s flying their New York to Los Angeles and San Francisco transcon flights. I admit I was surprised by the announcement of a dedicated fleet of Airbus A321s for this route. They’ve been the only remaining carrier with plans to operate widebodies on their premium transcon routes, and they’re ending that. When American goes to a narrowbody fleet for the route, though, they’re keeping first class. United is getting rid of their first class, and Delta only operates two-cabin planes. It’s interesting that American is keeping first class only on their Boeing 777-300 aircraft, it’s…
The Absolute Highlight of the Global Business Travel Association Convention…
The highlight of being at the Global Business Travel Association’s 2012 convention today wasn’t: Hearing JetBlue CEO Dave Barger talk about going fishing with American CEO Tom Horton, while declaring that he didn’t think it was possible to merge cultures at a company. Watching the American Airlines video on its new Airbus A321 interiors — complete with 3D glasses and with its current livery zapped off the pictures — walking through the 3-class cabin including 1-1 seating in first class and lie flat business class seats. Getting to be the designated maverick, off-the-reservation guy speaking on stage about how corporate travel policies burn out travelers and don’t save companies money — to a bunch of travel managers and suppliers of managed travel solutions Nope. The highlight was definitely getting to meet Deltalina. Now, it’s a…
