Taking off your shoes at the security checkpoint is now mandatory — as though it wasn’t before. Okay, it varied by airport, with some incredulous TSA staffers asking passengers “WHAT are you doing taking off your shoes? You don’t have to do that!” (in the same tone one might ask, “have you soiled your underwear AGAIN?”) But generally shoe removal was ‘recommended’ but optional — though if you chose not to, you received secondary screening that included taking off your shoes. Now you have to take them off in the first instance. And no more soiled comments from screeners. The joke of it is that the x-ray machines you’re putting your shoes through can’t actually detect explosives. So what’s the nonsense reason for taking off shoes? Consistency! Oh, and in case you’re concealing a James…
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Round-the-World tickets
The New York Times mentions one of the neat tricks about international travel. If you’re going to buy a business class ticket somewhere, it’s often no more expensive to buy a business class round-the-world ticket and get a lot of extra flying for free. Where you buy the ticket and start the journey makes a ton of difference in the cost, as the Upgrade Travel Blog observes:Start in Sri Lanka. If you’re going around the world twice or more, consider buying the second (and third, etc.) ticket someplace like Colombo, Sri Lanka. I’m not kidding. You can buy a business class RTW ticket there for about the same price as a coach RTW ticket in the US or most of Europe, on the same airlines. The article mentions this, but it’s really worth driving home.…
W Hotels Store Blowout Sale
I’m a little late to the game here, most items are already sold out, but the W Hotels Store is having a blowout sale with items up to 80% off. At least it appears that they’re adding items to the sale, so keep checking back as well. I just picked up a couple shirts.
Two new useful sites for the frequent flyer and the miles collector
I get pitched pretty regularly with emails touting the next great travel tool, item for purchase, or community and wouldn’t I like to write about it on this website? Two recent emails I’ve gotten, though, highlight some things that may be actually useful. One is About Airport Parking which the website’s creator describes as: I just wanted to let you know about a new site we just launched, www.aboutairportparking.com. We’ve collected information, including prices, on all the major lots we could find in the U.S. We then integrated this data with Google Maps to make it easier for people to find the right lot for them. We also include some traveler tools like current flight status and average security wait times, but it’d be a great idea to also include real-time parking availability down the…
The Case of the Missing Mileage Credit
I’m quoted in a Sunday Washington Post story on missing frequent flyer miles. Michael Shapiro goes looking for why frequent flyer miles we earn don’t always post to our accounts. Most of the time it isn’t the fault of the airline or hotel whose miles you’re accuing. Generally they have to be told what miles to credit by the partner you earned the miles with. The most frequent reason miles don’t get posted is because you haven’t given the number to the partner in the first place. Sometimes, of course, that’s not your fault. I’ve had American Airlines reps not know how to enter a Mexicana Frecuenta number. And websites like Orbitz don’t even give you a chance to enter partner frequent flyer numbers (this feature is one thing I prefer about Expedia). There can…
Starwood Offers Shakira Redemption
Starwood is offering two VIP tickets and backstage passes to a Shakira concert for 20,000 Starwood points. Eleven concerts are listed and 10 packages are available per concert. The offer is limited to ‘elite members’ apparently, but not just Platinums. Not a bad experiential redemption if you’re into that sort of thing.
Dealing with jet lag
The New York Times ran a piece on the science of dealing with jet lag. But who’s going to do this? Dr. Charmane I. Eastman, director of the Biological Rhythms Research Lab at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, said she had found one way to virtually eliminate jet lag from, say, a New York-Milan flight. It involves resetting your body clock with small doses of the hormone melatonin for three days before flight time — combined with going to bed an hour earlier each day — and then taking in bright light, natural or artificial, after arriving in Italy about six hours later. She recommends using a light box, widely used to treat the “winter blues.” Better is the article’s suggestion to drink some coffee and take a better. Better still, here are my…
Finally Earn Miles for Air Tahiti Nui Flights
Air Tahiti Nui has long been a partner of American Airlines, has recently added Northwest Airlines, and was supposed to add Delta — for redemption only. You can spend lots of points to get to Tahiti but if you’re flying Air Tahiti Nui on a paid ticket you’re not going to earn miles — unless you pay to join Air Tahiti Nui’s own program (doesn’t make sense for most) or book the flights as Qantas codeshares. That’s now changed. As of August 1, you now can earn American miles when flying Air Tahiti Nui. These are not “elite qualifying miles” so they won’t help you keep your Gold, Platinum, or Executive Platinum status. But they’re redeemable miles.. the kind that will help you earn towards your next award flight to Tahiti! Most coach fares (Y,…
The Man Who Arranges Bachelor Parties at Hooters Hotel i Vegas
Hotel Chatter interviews the custom party planner for Hooters Hotel in Vegas, who will arrange ‘anything that’s legal’. He’ll arrange “Celebrate your Divorce” packages and put stripper poles in your room.
Which Starwood for an Award in San Francisco?
A reader at HotelChatter.com wants to know which Starwood hotel to use for an anniversary stay. The choices are: Westin St. Francis W San Francisco Palace Hotel Le Meridien Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf The St. Regis – not on the list above – is absolutely outstanding. Of course it’s category 6 property so 20k – 24k points per night! The choice depends on how many points this person has to burn in their account…. The other key question is whether they have any status with Starwood. The Westin St. Francis has some absolutely teeny rooms at the entry level, so I don’t think I’d stay there unless I was a Platinum and thus reasonably assured of an upgrade. (The St. Regis does a good job upgrading Platinums to suites, by the way.) The Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf…
