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…
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.
The Myth of Buying Airline Tickets Wednesday at Midnight
Upgrade Travel Blog has a detailed explanation about why the myth of buying tickets Wednesday at midnight is wrong. The myth goes this way: What’s the absolute best time to purchase a ticket directly from the airlines? Turns out it’s Wednesday from midnight to 1a.m. in the time zone of the airline’s “home base.”[…] Why? That’s when the computer systems of most airlines get rid of the reserved but unbooked lower fare reservations. However, Held reservations don’t all expire Wednesdays Most fares that are put on hold aren’t that cheap to begin withMidnight isn’t when new fares are loaded — they’re distributed at 10:00am, 12:30pm, and 8pm EST and loaded about 2-6 hours later in the GDS and airline sites. Read the whole thing.
Alaska (Mostly) Ends 1000 Mile Online Booking Bonus
Aug
09
2006
Alaska Airlines is ending its 1000 mile online booking bonus September 5th. Beginning September 6th, though, you’ll be able to earn the bonus only by paying with an Alaska Airlines Visa. And somehow the article introduces this as an exciting new improvement, titling as New 1,000 Mile Online Booking Bonus. Heh.
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…
100 Free Northwest Miles and a 2000 Mile Online Booking Bonus
Aug
07
2006
Worldperks University has added a new, third course — read a couple quick screens, take a three question ‘quiz’, and get 100 bonus miles. The offer says miles post in 3-4 weeks, but they actually post instantly. When you complete the quiz you also become eligible for Book and fly one roundtrip flight on an NWA- or KLM-operated flight within the next 90 days and earn an additional 2,000 Bonus Miles. Back in March Northwest introduced the first two easy quizzes, I’m glad to be able to ‘enroll’ in another one at the start of a new semester… (Hat tip to Slippahs.)
