News and notes from around the interweb:
- Conroe Hyatt is a financial disaster city building a hotel that private developers won’t ending badly surprises no one. The city was forced to allocate $5 million for operation of the $107 million project that they forgot to budget.
Now they are projecting an operating ‘profit’ of around $6,000 or $217,000 (both numbers reported) that assumes doubling of occupancy at higher room rates, but leaving nothing to cover debt service on that $107 million. City-owned hotels are an invitation to shenanigans.
On the other hand, if the CIA needs a black site for rendition with nobody around, the Conroe Hyatt seems to fit the bill.
- The soft bigotry of low expectations.
@AmericanAir has stepped up their game in the Admirals Club lounges to start off October. Huge shout out to the MCO team during the 4am rush. On one hand I want to tell everyone how great they are- on the other I want it to be a secret to avoid those jumping from other airlines… pic.twitter.com/DxzlW0hqoM
— ProScubaCoach (@ProScubaCoach) October 2, 2023
- Please don’t transfer Cathay Pacific Asia Miles to Marriott Bonvoy at 2:1
- Air France KLM promo awards for October are coach-only for long haul.
- At least she’s not flying Delta, which owns an oil refinery?
Ok, who is volunteering to tell her? pic.twitter.com/ZVZUUxqMnS
— Speedbird Julie ✈️❤️⛸️ (@JSS779) October 1, 2023
- New frequent flyer program from Australian carrier Rex which is a Delta partner, will include reciprocal benefits and redemptions with Delta.
- Naked passenger makes music, throws chair in airport
- What’s happening at closed Berlin Tegel airport
- Pilots in India face perfume ban out of fear they could test positive in breathalyzers.
- Son Carrying His Mom Onto Airplane— ‘I Carried My Son For 9 Months And Today He Is Carrying Me’
Sometimes you don’t have any feasible or logistical choice but to fly.
For example, one location being touted for a conference I attend for next year is Manchester, New Hampshire.
I can fly there in 90 minutes. It has an airport.
The alternatives are:
1. Drive, which actually uses more carbon if you’re on your own. Takes 8 hours 22 minutes. I don’t own a car.
2. Amtrak to Boston then GREYHOUND to Manchester because it has no train station. Unless I get the Acela, it takes 18 hours, counting getting to Union Station. The Acela costs more than flying. Btw, the regular train to Boston, 90% of the route? 8 hours. So that 10 hours includes being STUCK IN BOSTON.
If it ends up being there, then I, who firmly believe that trains are good and we shouldn’t fly until we have to…will be flying. (Both of the other two locations are the other side of the country so, again, flying is the only option, but it’s a distance where flying is typically the only option…) Unless a very good friend is also going and would like company in the car.
Unfortunately, the ground transportation infrastructure in the U.S. is very oriented towards cars. (These times are to the Greyhound station in Manchester, so I’d presumably have additional time to actually get to my hotel…and likely a cab, while if I fly it’s possible there will be a shuttle. It would cost more in both money and lost income).
I actually wouldn’t mind an 8 to 10 hour train ride through a part of the country I’m not hugely familiar with. 18 hours with a Greyhound segment, however? Not happening.
So I’m not going to judge People vs Fossil Fuels…because she has probably looked into all kinds of alternatives to that flight.
I already gave a credit card to pay for this delivery… I’m not paying any more for it .. Thank you Diana ONeill
@ Gary — Please tell me the person praising the Admirals Club breakfast food is joking? A paper plate and plastiware? Seriously?
A couple of years ago on Amtrak, I sat next to in the diner (in cursed communal dining) a British student traveler. We were passing through somewhere in southern Virginia around that time heading toward Atlanta. He was talking about how this train travel is so clean and he is so much happier to see this green choice versus flying to New Orleans… how he was so happy to see the electric power when he boarded in Trenton.
I pointed out to him the reason we stopped in Washington D.C. for 45 minutes and the power went out for about 10 of those minutes…. they removed the electric locomotive and hooked up two big ol diesel units to take the train the whole rest of the way. I thought his head was going to blow up. The priest sitting across from us nearly spit up his coffee.
Diesel trains are still more efficient per passenger than flying, I would note. But there are trade-offs. (Train travel also has the advantage of a better view ;)).
We should be continuing the very good work already being done on sustainable aviation fuel, quietly in the background. Electric planes MAY prove to be an option for very short hops, but biofuel is probably going to have more of an impact.
@ Gene
I’m the elite person praising the magnificent world class breakfast @ the Admirals Club
The fine china, elegant cutlery and 5 star chef creations all custom cooked to order with organic powdered Tang OJ alongside artisan fresh baked pastry.
Admiral Club membership fees are now worth thousands annually now with the made to order premium breakfasts ;):)
Translation microwaved bacon & dried out scrambled egg beaters
Hmmm Good!
Can someone translate the opening sentence for me?
“Conroe Hyatt is a financial disaster city building a hotel that private developers won’t ending badly surprises no one.”
Say what now?
I’m kind of surprised a suburban Texas hotel is not making money. Isn’t the population supposed to be exploding due to all the ex-Californians and Chicagoans?
@ryan – confusing sentence for me as well.
lately i’ve seen several instances of difficult to comprehend phrasing both here and elsewhere on boardingarea. maybe some bloggers are using ai ‘assistants’ for some of the writing chore.
@ Jennifer,
I actually drove from Manchester to Boston yesterday- it’s about 50 miles to the train station. So quite feasible to take the train to Boston, pick up a car and drive the rest of the way in about an hour. Also gives you more flexibility in hotels, see the sites along the way- the foilage should be amazing in a few weeks.
@Peter: It is, and Texans is an astonishingly wealthy state. People bleed money down here. However, the morons in Conroe thought they could get business from the Woodlands. That’s ridiculous. The Woodlands is a full, dynamic suburban city with a lot to offer and things to do. Conroe is…well…Conroe. I can’t believe they tried to turn a nothing little town into a bigger city by building a conference center.
Wow. In the time that it would take me to consider all of those options and information Jennifer, I could be at my destination helping the economy and welfare program to allow others to do all the complicated math to save the world from the sun monster.
@George I’m not renting a car to drive fifty minutes and leave it sitting in a parking lot for three days. I will be staying in the hotel the conference is in, no “flexibility” there. I absolutely agree that you’re right for many situations, though. And if the conference is there it will be next spring so, alas, no fall foliage. I’d actually *rather* take the train up, but it’s too expensive to rent a car and too complex to deal with that last little bit. We’ve uninvested in train travel to the point where when it *should* be feasible, it isn’t. If Manchester still had a train station, I’d 100% do it and enjoy the ride.
@MDtravel I understand not wanting to, but with practice it doesn’t take that long.
You can also take the Boston Express bus from boston south station to manchester. Better then greyhound.