We have to take off our shoes walking through TSA security checkpoints, because Richard Reid’s shoes had wires coming out of them and nobody noticed. And lighters were banned because if Richard Reid had had a lighter he might have been able to light his shoes on fire. But even the TSA now admits the lighter part is silly. Lighters are safe. At least they will be on August 4th. But as Mike Boyd points out, until midnight on August 3rd they are apparently still dangerous.At least at some point in the future shampoo may no longer be dangerous. But I won’t count on it. Update: Upgrade: Travel Better points out just how surreal it is that lighters carrying fluid that’s flammable are ok.. but water is still somehow a security threat.
About Gary Leff
Should Priceline like, um, book hotels for its own guests on Priceline?
According to HotelChatter, when Priceline books rooms for out of town guests to its corporate headquarters, they reserve the nearby Doubletree… they don’t actually name their own price on Priceline.
United’s New Premium Cabin Seats
Jul
23
2007
United is refitting its international widebody fleet with new first and business class seats beginning in the fall (with the 767s) and ending two and a half years from now. United’s promo site is here. Business class will feature: true lie-flat seats (not the angled-flat wedgie seats) some rear-facing seats in business class 15″ lcd video screens and video on demand iPod adapter and standard outlets for seat power This will give United the best seats among US-based carriers. But they’re hardly world-leading. Virgin, Air New Zealand, Singapore, British Airways, and Cathay Pacific already offer similar business class seats. Those last three all offer first class as well, with products that will still surpass United’s (and we’re not even getting into the ‘soft product’ of food, service, and amenities – more about that below). Along…
$17 Radisson Shanghai
For the second half of September the Shanghai Radisson is pricing at $17 instead of $117 at GTAHotels.com. It’s an ‘on request’ booking, so far from guaranteed that it will be honored.
Lufthansa Suspends Accra Operations
Ghana withdrew Lufthansa’s right to offer daily service from Accra to Frankfurt (via Lagos) because Lufthansa refused to pay royalties to the Ghana state airline. That meant that, by treaty, they retained the right to twice weekly service, which they have chosen not to offer — viewing it as a money loser (most of the fixed costs without many seats to amortize them over). And then Ghana goes ballistic over Lufthansa’s “bad faith” decision to pull out of Accra! Ultimately the government was unsuccessful at blackmailing Lufthansa for US$4 million, refused to back down from its threats, and now has lost Lufthansa’s international service. Clearly the people of Ghana are not better off for the actions of its government. Sad, really.
A Variation on the Usual Myth: Buy Your Airline Tickets on Saturdays?
Consumerist says you should shop for airfare on Saturdays. Like the traditional story about Wednesday at midnight, the idea of a specific day of the week that you’ll get the lowest price is a myth.They do, at least, helpfully point readers to ITA Software, a powerful search tool — but only marginally useful for novices. The real usefulness of ITA Software comes into play when narrowing searching with their advanced route language. Folks who don’t want to go crazy learning it might be best advised to start their airfare searches with Kayak.
Le Meridien Khao Lak’s Presidential Oceanfront Villa
I’m recently back from Khao Lak, Thailand among other destinations in Asia. The trip was prompted by the Ugandan Schillings rate at the Le Meridien. My wife had three nights booked in the Presidential Oceanfront Villa and I had three nights booked in the Royal Suite. That satisfied the requirement that they’d only honor one reservation per person, and together we had six consecutive nights at the resort. The Presidential Villa wasn’t showing up for all six nights when we booked, so we had to settle for the smaller Royal Suite for half the stay when making our booking. As I saw pictures from others who had stayed in both rooms, I was actually getting disappointed. While the Royal Suite looked fabulous, the Presidential Oceanfront Villa was just breathtaking — how I’d hate to move!…
Senator Chuck Schumer Resigns…
… from the Senate and applies for a job in revenue management and route planning for Delta. (Okay, not really.) Online Travel Review notes, though, the business advice that he’s been dispensing to Delta in response to their pulling out of the Binghamton-New York and Binghamton-Atlanta markets.“Delta’s move is premature and poorly thought out. The New York City service had a solid start, and Delta needs to give it time to take root and let it prosper, while the Atlanta route has consistently carried a high volume of passengers.” And since Chuck Schumer has extensive experience running profitable businesses in general, and airlines in particular, Delta should of course heed his advice and seek to lure him away from the Senate with a lucrative offer. Or not.
USAirways Offers Buyup to Trial Elite Status
Jul
18
2007
USAirways and most other airlines have offered status matches — a way to pilfer the best customers of other airlines. Elite status with an airline usually locks a customer into flying that airline. They get upgrades, bonus miles, and other perks. How can they give that up, even to change to another airline? Airlines make it easier for customers to switch by advancing status to customers who already have it with a competitor — if I were an American Platinum member I could get Continental to give me Gold status right away so I’d still have elite benefits when I switched. (The definitive discussion of the subject is a Flyertalk thread I started in October, 2003 that’s still going strong.) Most US domestic airlines offer status matches of one kind or another. American has long…
Bonus Miles for Paying By Paypal
Jul
18
2007
Northwest is offering 500 bonus miles for booking a roundtrip on their website and paying with Paypal by September 30 for travel through the end of the year. (Hat tip to Free Frequent Flyer Miles.)I do suppose that more payment methods are better, and this in essence gives customers the ability to pay via direct debit from a bank account in addition to a credit card, and they won’t need a Visa-branded debit card in order to do it. my hundh, though, is that the universe for this is rather small. Paypal is a great way for small shops to begin accepting credit cards without much hassle, and to give customers confidence in paying by credit card when the vendor is a relatively unknown. But for larger institutions? I’m not really sure I follow the…
