Some 80,000 mile awards between Europe and Asia are on sale today for 25,000 miles. We wish you all dear members a Merry Christmas and to celebrate we’ve got a super offer for you today on bonus flights with SAS between Scandinavia and Beijing, Shanghai and Tokyo. The deal is out there and are going quickly, valid only if you book today! … Rules and conditions for our Christmas offer • Only bookable today 00.00CET until 23.59CET, December 24, 2005. • Travel between January 1 – 31, 2006 • Children receive the same discount 25 000 points • Only available in Economy and the number of seats available is limited • Only SAS operated flights and on new reservations only • You can book this offer online and we will reward you with 500 Extra…
Washington, DC Restaurant Week
DC Restaurant Week returns January 9 – 15. As expected, the deal is a 3-course fixed price lunch for $20.06 and a 3-course fixed price dinner for $30.06. Restaurant week means busy restaurants. Very busy. Service suffers, and the goal at each place is to turn your table as quickly as possible. At all but the most expensive restaurants $30.06 per person exclusive of drinks isn’t as amazing a deal as you might think. At most mid-price places it represents perhaps a free dessert. And the most expensive restaurants are the ones most likely to limit your menu choices to their less expensive dishes or control portions. Another reason for limited choices on the menu is to limit the time it takes to prepare food, or allow the kitchen to pre-prepare as much food as…
45 Hour Delay!
The Los Angeles Times reports on a 45 hour delay of an Air India flight where the passengers revolted and just got off the plane: Finally, Wenz, the professor, said he just walked through a door that attendants had opened. He climbed down the stairs and off the plane to wait on the tarmac. Other passengers, he said, followed. Far worse than just losing some bags!
Why People Don’t Complain About U.S. Discount Airlines
In his latest column, Joel Widzer excuses complaints about major airline carriers as caused by unfair expectations When flying a network airline, travelers have grander expectations than they do when they fly a budget carrier. When flying Southwest or JetBlue, people adjust their attitudes to lower expectations. Psychologists call this the expectancy value. Excuse me? People expect more from Delta than JetBlue? Customer satisfaction surveys of JetBlue are high because JetBlue offers a better coach product than the major carriers. Seats behind row 9 offer extra legroom, matched only by United’s Economy Plus (which can’t be reserved by everyone) and American’s dwindling More Room Throughout Coach. Anyone can reserve these better seats on JetBlue, and the JetBlue website even recommends these seats. Continental, Delta, Northwest, and USAirways don’t offer any coach seats with legroom to…
Boca Raton Renaissance
Dec
22
2005
I spent a long weekend at the Renaissance hotel in Boca Raton. I’ve stayed here before, it’s the most convenient hotel to my grandparents’ place in Boca. It’s also the only 4* property in the relevant zone on Priceline and I managed to score the place for $55 — for a weekend in December! While it’s mainly geared towards business travelers — the club lounge offers breakfast Monday to Friday and evening hor d’ourves Sunday through Thursday — it’s a nice escape for leisure travel as well. The Renaissance is convenient off of the 95 freeway, all you do is turn onto “Renaissance Way” after exiting Glades Road. When I first stayed at the hotel the street name was “Sheraton Way” giving away the fact that the property used to be a Sheraton. It’s right…
Starwood’s annual hotel award category shift
Starwood’s 2006 hotel category changes for award redemption are up at Flyertalk. 133 hotels are going up in category (which means it will take more points to redeem at them) and 29 hotels are going down in category (so fewer points required). Starwood categorizes in groupings numbered one to six based on the average room rates that a hotel achieves during the prior year. While there are occasional changes during the year, these lists are mostly stable throughout the year with major changes loaded each late December or early January. It’s important to remember that these categorizations are based on room rate and not a reflection of a hotel’s quality. There are some real gems in Category 1 and 2, and some really awful Category 4 hotels. This past year Princes de Galles in Paris…
Mini bar at Café Atlantico
The description from Tyler Cowen’s Washington, DC dining guide remains correct — mini bar “takes many chances and doesn’t always hit.” But it doesn’t need to when they’re serving you 35 different things over the course of a couple hours. The “caviar” made of peas is fascinating, an amazing creation, the texture is just right — but tastes like, well, peas. The Friday night before last when I ate there was the most fun I’ve had at a meal, purely over the food, in a long time. It’s my second favorite meal of the past twelve months behind Tetsuya in Sydney — which puts it ahead — in terms of sheer enjoyment — of the Inn at Little Washington, CityZen, Citronelle, 2941, Indebleu, etc. Minibar is a restaurant within a restaurant. It’s just six stools…
Missing Baggage: a Tale of Two Airlines
Dec
20
2005
When I’m traveling on my own I’ll do everything possible to avoid checking luggage. That will remain my strategy, at least until Ted Stevens succeeds in limiting carryons (from one carryon to… one carryon). But when I’m on a three week trip involving multiple climates it isn’t possible. And when I’m traveling with my wife for a long weekend, and she packs enough that we have to check her bags, I tend to check mine as well. Even without a connecting flight that turns out to be a mistake. Back in June I flew in from Melbourne on Qantas and transferred my bags to Alaska. This was in the midst of their baggage handler unpleasantness, and one of our four bags was sent to Reno instead of Seattle. The baggage service office was extremely apologetic,…
American Elite Buyback Returns
Dec
18
2005
American is offering its annual elite buyback offer for Gold and Platinum members who did not requalify during 2005. Depending on the number of miles you flew and the status you already have, you can pay $299 – $599 to retain that status through February, 2007.
Weird Hotel Innovation
Hotels are great for romantic getaways. Apparently, though, this isn’t true just for people. HotelChatter points to this MSNBC story from August on a Sao Paulo motel which caters to love-seeking dogs. The air-conditioned pet love motel room, with a paw print decorative motif, has a special control panel to dim the lights, turn on romantic music or play films. “The owner has to know what kind of DVD will excite his or her dog,” Marinho said with a chuckle. The dog motel, which opened this month, costs $41 for two hours, making it more expensive than the least luxurious rooms at the Opium, which cost $45 for four hours. “We also have a wedding agency that matches up dogs and if the female dog doesn’t get pregnant, we offer artificial insemination services,” said Marinho
