This week I went to dinner at Michel, Michel Richard’s new restaurant at the Ritz-Carlton Tysons Corner. The space was previously home to the amazing Maestro, which closed when the chef moved to New York to open there … right at the start of the financial crisis, his restaurant there didn’t work and he’s on his way back to DC. Tyler Cowen gave the place “an enthusiastic thumbs-up”. I take his recommendations seriously and find that for strip mall restaurants he’s invariably spot on but that we disagree more often than not with fine dining. He loves Komi, I find it especially hit or miss. I reviewed The Fat Duck outside London, and he thought the meal seemed like ‘B.S.’ and while I had mixed emotions about the place I think I took it much…
Should Tall People Be Entitled to Complimentary Upgrades, or Required to Stand During Flight?
Chris Elliott writes about a man who was asked to stand onboard a Spirit Airlines flight, or so he says. The man is apparently 6′ 7″ and that’s just pretty tall to be suffering a coach seat. The average economy class seat “pitch” on a Spirit Airlines Airbus A321 — the distance between seats on an aircraft — is between 30 and 31 inches, which is well below the industry standard and hardly enough room for a big guy. Except, no, that isn’t well below the industry standard. Industry standard for coach seating is 31 inch pitch (distance from seat back to seat back). So some seats on Spirit may be an inch shy and others equivalent to industry standard, but certainly not ‘well below.’ (And according to Spirit, seating on the A321 does have…
Similarities – and Differences – Between the TSA and Other Professions That Touch You in Special Places
This venn diagram will help clarify the similarities and differences between doctors, prostitutes, and the TSA. (Via Boing Boing via Chad W.)
Alfred Kahn Passes Away
Alfred Kahn, frequently credited as the father of airline deregulation, passed away. While Kahn was certainly an important voice for deregulation, and made important positive contributions to the economy and played a key role in the legislation sponsored by Senator Kennedy which deregulated the airline industry while serving as the Chairman of the Civil Aeronautics Board, he was continuing down a path that had already been set in motion by his predecessor at the CAB, John Robson. Under Robson the CAB ‘experimented with price competition’ the radical notion that airlines would be permitted to lower their prices without formal proceedings in Washington, DC. And the world didn’t end, though most airlines opposed deregulation because the government had essentially guaranteed airline profitability by refusing to permit competition, either in prices or even in services. Robson passed…
Thanksgiving in Mumbai: Aftermath – Lufthansa Reaches Out to Apologize for Service Lapses
Two weeks ago I posted about the worst first class flight I’ve ever experienced. It was Lufthansa from Frankfurt to Mumbai, and it was really unlike anything I’d ever experienced. Service-wise I hadn’t seen anything like it in coach even. I was totally flummoxed, and though folks said I should have spoken to the purser about the experience inflight and asked to be served by someone else, in the moment it was so challenging that I just wanted the flight to be over and it didn’t seem like anything could possibly be done other than wait for our arrival in India. Well, shortly after I posted a woman working for Lufthansa posted in the comments. See, her job used to include participating in the Flyertalk forums (as “LHRelate”) and I had friended her on facebook.…
Playing the Odds and Winning, Even When I Bet Wrong
With snow creeping out along the East Coast, the forecast for DC today was 6-12 inches. And the entire DC area panics at the thought of an inch or two. Dulles, National, and BWI all paralyze. So I rather figured I wouldn’t be making it home this afternoon. Flying Alaska Airlines (out of a destination with only Horizon service, but fortunately benefiting from one of those $99 companion tickets that come with the Alaska Airlines Visa from Bank of America, I didn’t have a ton of options. Alaska doesn’t have very many East Coast flights, and the weather was looking worse for Newark and Boston. There were seats to Chicago, but only coach. Atlanta and St. Louis were looking like my best bets. I’d expect to overnight, and grab a flight on Monday morning early…
And the Winner is…
Hyatt wanted to highlight the benefits of the Gold Passport program.. which for general members became especially attractive a year and a half back when they lifted capacity controls on their hotels, if there’s a standard room available at a property you can have that room with your points. And which for elites became especially attractive as well, they were the first chain to introduce free internet (and for all elites, not just top tier). And they won a Frequent Traveler Award for “Best Elite Level” in both North America and Asia Pacific, as well as a Loyalty Leadership Award for introducing confirmed suite upgrades four times annually for their Diamond members, providing top tier elites the benefit they want most when they decide they most want it. So they asked if I’d give away…
I’m Giving Away 44,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points and Entering is Easy
We’re halfway through the contest period, you have until noon Eastern on December 25 to enter (by leaving a comment – easy!) in my giveaway of Gold Passport points, thanks to Hyatt. Full details here.
Thanksgiving in Mumbai: United First Class from Frankfurt to Washington-Dulles
After passport control and an extensive security check, where we were selected and taken over to a side screening area in the terminal, we made it to our gate for United’s old-style 777 to Washington-Dulles. Approaching the gate there was a man directing everyone to see one of several US agents with laptops, they were re-entering everyone’s passport information and then being told to queue for the flight. No sitting around the gate area, everyone must get in line! And it wasn’t time for boarding yet.. There was a general boarding line and a priority line, after we had our passport data re-entered we were walked to the front of the priority line. We got a couple of nasty looks, and the man directing everyone asked why we had gone to the front of the…
Basic Tips for Getting Organized and Getting Rewards in the New Year
Regular readers of this blog know that many of the things I often write for for intermediate travels than for beginners. But I’ve been evangelizing the benefits of miles, points, and free travel more often to colleagues and friends of friends more frequently lately, and I thought that passing along some of the basics that I’ve found helpful for the not-already-converted might be useful to some of y’all having similar conversations with family over the holidays. And thus I offer some basic tips for getting your rewards house in order for the New Year, since most everyone can set a goal to have their dream trips inexpensively with a little bit of attention to rewards programs. Sign up for frequent flyer programs. If you’re flying cross country and back, why not sign up for a…
