Being home on the weekend without fixed appointments and obligations can be one of the simple pleasures. There’s a feeling of getting caught up, of moving slowly but ticking things off of a list, feeling productive even if you’re only doing things that themselves will allow you to be productive like buying paper products and doing the laundry. Several years ago I moved within walking distance of my office. I saved myself an hour and a half a day in commuting time. And it means that when I’m not flying, I’m always pretty close to home. I rarely drive. So my life exists around the world or within one mile radius of my front door (plus, occasionally, wherever DC’s metro will take me). Yesterday was a great ‘catching up day’. I set off on my…
Self-Help When Flights are Delayed and Cancelled, What Are the Best Mobile Apps and Websites?
Bloomberg carries a piece on travel apps that’s really about how to take control of your own travel during irregular operations. I always try to find my own way of getting where I’m going, arm myself with a knowledge of what’s available, and then prepare to ask for exactly that — rather than rely on the options presented to me by an airline agent, either at the airport or over the phone. When something goes wrong before the airport I can usually take care of it over the phone. Sometimes at the airport I do the same thing. If there’s a club lounge that I have access to, that’s usually the best place to get help — friendlier agents often times, certainly less stressed most of the time than the customer service agents in the…
Looking Forward to the Next Frequent Traveler University!
Frequent Traveler University, Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay, Sept 27-29 Last weekend’s Frequent Traveler University in Northern Virginia was a whirlwind. It was the biggest gathering of frequent flyers ever with about 650 people in attendance. I admit I was scared that the logistics would be a challenge with such a big group, and I didn’t get a chance to meet everyone or spend as much time with a lot of the people I did meet as I would have liked. But things worked out pretty well (with room for improvement) on the logistics — certainly the smoothest FTU so far. Some of the feedback was that sessions were too basic, for others too advanced, not every session was pitch perfect for all 650 attendees — but we did have three concurrent sessions during much of…
Bits ‘n Pieces for May 3, 2013
News and Notes from Around the Interweb: Man detained on arrival after failing to flush the lavatory toilet. (HT: Milepoint) Tipping for more luxury on vacation Happy second birthday to Mommy Points! American has announced plans to slug it out in the New York-Los Angeles market with hourly shuttle service starting next year. That’s on top of the nine new Los Angeles routes they announced last month. I’m really looking forward to trying out American’s new narrow-body A321 premium cabin seats between New York and Los Angeles/San Francisco. While competitors offer lie-flat products, American’s will be the only three-cabin offering offering on the route. Meanwhile, Joe Brancatelli outlines the competitive landscape at LAX and is way too kinds to the airport facilities.
They Don’t All Look Alike: Airline Products Are No Longer Just a Chair in the Sky
Airline seats used to be thought of as interchangeable. You have a seat that gets you from A to B. In many cases you have to connect, through a hub, and most of them have similar degrees of efficiency. Airlines pretty much competed just based on price, and given how technologically advanced pricing is the price of a trip on most airlines is going to be about the same. Sometimes airfare will vary for a given flight but there’s usually a reason — either that flight is mostly sold out, or perhaps there’s competition with a low fare carrier… so the major airline matches the price only on their flight that’s running at about the same time as the competition’s, while charging more for flights at different times throughout the day. That’s a terrible business…
Are Travel Blogger Who Take ‘Press Trips’ More Ethical Than Traditional Travel Media?
BBC runs a piece on travel junkets for bloggers and ethics policies, and how blogger travel compares. I came away from reading the piece with the sense that the ethical boundaries are less clear than sometimes thought, and also realizing that some publications are taking free travel that I never realized. Traditional media, where journalists aren’t “taking a free trip,” may have the assignment arranged between the advertising and publishing department. The magazine may be bringing in more than enough on the advertising side to cover the trip expenses, and this still generates editorial coverage. Lonely Planet makes exceptions to their no freebies policy “when it is the only possible way to research a destination.” I took a trip (that I paid for, while others were comped) where an industry publication representative explained that they…
Bits ‘n Pieces for May 2, 2013
News and Notes from Around the Interweb: Standard domestic airline change fees are now $200: On April 21, United upped their change fees by $50. US Airways matched 3 days later. Then on April 30 it was Delta’s turn, at which point it was a foregone conclusion that American would make theirs $200 as well.. which they did on May 1. The price of buying up to a Choice Essential fare on American which includes a $0 change fee remains unchanged at $68. Homeless Shelter Makes Tripadvisor’s Top 100 Hotels in the U.K.: I assume that the property was so highly ranked because it serves Tuscan whole milk as part of its complimentary breakfast. Car service discount: I’ve become a much bigger fan of Uber, with its on demand mobile app (a couple taps on…
Preparing for the Dreaded American Express Financial Review
American Express ‘financial reviews’ send shudders down the spines of frequent flyers (and Amex cardholders) everywhere. But in my opinion they shouldn’t. So I’m going to explain what a financial review is, what we know about what triggers a financial review, and why financial reviews don’t worry me a bit. Your opinion may differ on whether these are a big deal — and that’s fair — so hopefully this explanation helps you prepare in case you’re faced with one. This past weekend at Frequent Traveler University I answered an audience question, and Frequent Miler offered by way of followup that I should highlight the risk of an American Express Financial Review as part of my answer. I did, because I agree it’s something that is helpful for cardholders to understand — even if it doesn’t…
Badges? Badges? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Security
What I’ve seen get the most attention is that the Chief Operating Officer of American’s regional carrier, American Eagle, used his security badge to bring his wife airside at DFW airport. This was apparently one of about 140 such violations by a variety of individuals at the airport over the past two years. But what the rest of the reporting uncovers seems far more shocking to me. DFW police caught a TSA supervisor taking another worker through an employee door. Officers seized a badge from a Federal Aviation Administration manager caught using it to board a flight for personal reasons. And police even stopped an analyst who works for the DFW airport board, the agency that issues the security badges, as she escorted her husband through an employee door to board a flight. “The vast…
Reader Question: Booking Europe With Low Fuel Surcharges or Domestic US Flights With British Airways Points
Reader M.K. asks, Dear Gary, I have 161,878 BA Avios miles, built up almost entirely by getting the BA credit card, which we have since relinquished. The miles expire … this year. [We] are simply not going to be able to go to England this year (and anyway, we are repelled by the gasoline surcharges). But I think we can use the points on American Airlines. I have gone to the site and punched in Vancouver from any WAS airport, anytime in July. The BA web site never shows any availability. I cannot believe there is NO availability. Is there any way to check this out? First, there are ways to get to Europe without exorbitant fuel surcharges. flights on British Airways’ oneworld partner Air Berlin have no fuel surcharges Aer Lingus is a British…
