News and notes from around the interweb:
- Air Canada’s points are best used for air travel, but they’re a lot less bad than you’d think for hotels. Their HotelSavers program has some hidden values, and they’ve just added fourth night free for Aeroplan co-branded credit cardholders through December 31, 2024 (fourth night free is based on the average nightly price in points of all four nights). I’m still waiting for elite status benefits with the hotel program, but wouldn’t be surprised if those come too.
- Tulum airport expected to open in December instead of April 2024, with Aeromexico, Viva Aerobus, and new Mexicana offering service.
- American Airlines Admirals Club access will no longer be available to club members (or those using other means of access such as day passes) when traveling on JetBlue after January 31, 2024.
- The new United Club in Denver looks fantastic. At 35,000 square feet it’s being misreported as the largest airline lounge in the world, when it’s the largest United Club. Still, it’s enough to make me regret that I’m planning to fly Southwest home from Denver soon rather than United because I’d love to check it out.
- Hertz is doing poorly renting out EVs because their fees for failing to recharge are driving down rental rates. It’s challenging enough for a non-EV driver to figure out how to drive a Tesla, for instance, as a one-off. But having to figure out charging the car – which takes longer than filling up the gas – on the way back to the airport to avoid penalties is too high a burden.
Something else to consider when renting a Tesla is that the previous customer may have forgotten something in the ‘frunk’. There’s a front trunk since there’s no engine there, and people forget! Rancid meat from a Costco run!
“Buried underneath the pile of groceries was the source of the stink,” Marc Froemelt told Insider. “There was a slab of meat — at least 10 pounds — that had burst out of its vacuum seal and had started oozing juices. Some of it had caked on, and it was the most disgusting smell.”
- No. Just no.
Hey @AmericanAir please tell people not to do this. Currently flying with the armrest up and he keeps trying to push it back down. #Travel pic.twitter.com/ulpybXkJxI
— Molly (@Mollygarv_oh) September 11, 2023
- Amtrak is, formally, the National Railroad Passenger Corporation. It is government railroad, not just subsidized but with an appointed board of directors. And it is using eminent domain to try to seize Union Station in Washington, D.C (WaPo)…. even though the station is already owned by the federal government.
The government leases it to a private company. Wihtin days of presenting a cash offer to buy out the lease, Amtrak entered into eminent domain proceedings to take land already owned, while underscoring that contracts with the government cannot be trusted if they can be cancelled at will. Renovation of the station is slated to take until 2040 to complete.
- A service dog’s final flight (HT: Paul H)
- British Airways triples the cost to transfer Avios between accounts right after Virgin Atlantic lowers theirs.
F* cancer.
@ Gary — I know you are a Tesla owner/lover, but Hertz is doing poorly renting out EVs because they are EVs. As a non-EV owner, why would I want to drive one? I think current EVs are impractical and will eventually be replaced with either EVs that can fully charge in a few minutes or solar-powered cars that never need to be plugged in. I don’t have a place to plug in an EV or to add a charging station even if I wanted to buy one.
@Gene. Ditto.
“I think your Frunk is all Frunked up” – Bertram Gilfoyle
I’ve considered renting an EV many times but never considered there might be a requirement to return it fully charged!
Hard pass on any future consideration renting one. Good luck finding anyone who wants to track down a charging station within close proximity to the airport and wait an hour while all the other airport rental returnees queue up.
Does anyone actually consider logical issues anymore or are they all just focused on theoretical outcomes they can promote as meaningful change?
You already have range anxiety with EVs now add “return with a full charge anxiety” when renting them. No thank you and no wonder Hertz is seeing low demand for them even discounting their rates lower than ICE cars.
If a rude person rudely puts their foot through the armrest slot into your area, put your elbow on it forcefully. You can say your sorry, that you didn’t know he or she was putting their foot in your space. You could ask them to not do it first, but you are dealing with a rude person who probably will not respond nicely.
@jns – And they will respond nicely with an elbow jab? Just throw something on the armrest you don’t care about that makes it less of an ideal footrest. I once shoved a blanket right on top of an offender’s foot and that’s all it took.
@Gary last week I rented a Tesla from Avis. It was my first time driving one and very disorienting. Avis provided literally zero info on how to operate it. I’m a pretty tech savvy person but it was not easy figuring out how to shift into drive, how to adjust the mirrors, how to use the nav system, even how to lock the doors. They should provide a one-sheeter to help with these things.
I did find it pretty easy to recharge at a Tesla supercharger station. But what was crazy was Avis put a $18.99 “fuel service” fee on my invoice, even though I charged it before I returned the car.
I called Avis about the charge and first he told me it was because I didn’t “fill the tank.” When I said that I recharged it and the invoice actually showed the fuel level at 8/8 upon return. He then said since I only drove 56 miles, that’s not enough for the tank to provide an accurate reading so they have to assume that I didn’t fill it up. Huh?
When I explained that this is an electric car, he then seemed stumped and eventually agreed to remove the charge.
Seems like Avis, at least, has a lot of work to do to understand these cars themselves. And they need to stop with the outright fraud of charging customers modest fees in hope that they don’t notice or can’t be bothered to call and challenge them.
I surprisingly enjoyed my Polestar rental. Drove nicely and the controls were intuitive
That guy with the foot. A coke needs to be dumped on it . ( Not a diet coke.. this does not get as sticky as there is no real sugar in it) . but do make sure the ENTIRE cup is pored on the foot.