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Ok, maybe I’m just being lazy, but why reinvent the wheel? Other blogs have some good stuff up today, so I’m riffing off that.

- Jared Blank cuts through American Airlines’ PR for their new business class seats (which I first mentioned (with photo) here). It’s nice that the seat is being upgraded, and all, but Jared rightly takes this sentence from the Boston Globe’s coverage and demolishes it: “Hadden claims American’s new seat offers a combination of flatness, width, and adjustments that can’t be matched by other carriers.” Maybe that statement is true on it’s surface: other carriers can’t match their offerings DOWN to American’s level… But there are plenty of competitors whose business class seat is more horizontal, wider, and with better audio/video — in short, better than AA’s biz class. Nice try, though.

- Remember Ed Hasbrouck’s scuffle with the TSA (mentioned earlier here), when he was detained and had documents removed and photocopied, all because he questioned the legitimacy of a rent-a-cop’s authority? His correspondence with the TSA continues, and he has a followup.

- Gary Leff takes on the conventional wisdom that frequent flyer miles are impossible to redeem, and offers solid advice. Amusingly, his springboard is this past Sunday’s “Cathy” comic strip. Shorter version: Know ALL the flight options, on all possible partner airlines, and use the phone instead of the website. As I’ve said before, the mainstream media loves to beat the drum of how impossible it is to redeem miles. It isn’t always easy, and you don’t always get what you want on the first try, but I agree with Gary: You CAN redeem miles for excellent rewards if you plan ahead, know your options, and remain persistent. The bigger question is why “Cathy” is still being published. Or better yet: Why is Gary reading it!?

- Tricia Holly Davis of the Times of London is miffed at MAXjet, and the MAXexecutives at the corporate MAXoffice can’t be happy with what she wrote. Jared Blank (again!) thinks she went too far in calling the airline to the carpet like this. I disagree somewhat. Sure, mechanical delays happen, but the airline lied (or, more generously, offered completely false information) about their responsibilities to their customers, their agreements with other airlines, and the availability of alternatives. From the CEO down. On old-school airlines, if the carrier cancels or indefinitely delays a flight, you can invoke “rule 240″ to be reaccomodated on another airline at no cost to you. MAXjet’s contract of carriage doesn’t use the regulation-era rule 240 moniker, but it still has a rule 240-esque “failure to operate as scheduled” clause (see bottom p. 19 of the contract - PDF). The airline screwed up, plain and simple, and its customer service was rotten. It deserved the bad press it got. That said, the article *does* go too far in predicting the entire airline will fail, and Davis could have made the piece more of a consumer advocacy article by explaining passengers’ rights more explicitly.

The Chicago Tribune’s Alfred Borcover goes over the options for accessing airport lounges. It’s quite similar to my “How to Lounge in Airports” post from a few weeks ago. Two comments:

First, this item caught my attention:

Travis Mason-Bushman, a 22-year-old journalism student at California’s Contra Costa College, plunked down his own money to belong to the United Airlines and US Airways clubs to make life easier for his weekend public relations job with a sports car racing team. […] “My memberships [$500 for Red Carpet and $375 for US Airways] are a small price to pay, considering all the time I spend in airline terminals. I cross the country about 15 times a year.”

You’re paying twice for the same thing, Travis. United and US Airways have a reciprocal lounge agreement, which allows members of one club to use the other for free. United’s Red Carpet Club members automatically get US Airways club access; US Airways Club members can upgrade their base membership for $120 to include United club access. I just saved you $375, Travis.

…and come to think of it, why is Travis paying $500 for the Red Carpet Club anyway? If he’s flying that many miles, he’s got to be getting an elite-member discount.

Second, a lot of airport lounges really aren’t all that great. Nicer than the terminal, maybe. But there can be tradeoffs. Like a “no outside food inside the club” rule. Or big variations in the facilities: there are four Red Carpet Clubs at Chicago O’Hare, but one of them (near gate B18) doesn’t even have a bathroom. (Somehow, it feels a lot less exclusive when you have to leave the lounge to pee.) Anyone buying a $50 day pass to use that facility is out of their mind.

It’s really when you leave the U.S. that lounges become a real treat. Nice spreads of prepared food, and not just carrot sticks and crackers. Not as many TVs running everywhere. A better selection of newspapers and magazines. Complimentary beverages of all kinds, and not just soft drinks. (Tokyo-Narita’s Red Carpet Club even has the Amazing Beer Machine!) No drink coupon silliness for elites or premium cabin travelers. (To my knowledge, of the US carriers, only Continental still has complimentary bar service in their domestic clubs. — Update: According to Tucano in comments, drinks are free in Delta’s clubs, too.)

If you’re flying to an airport and you have several lounge options, check LoungeGuide.net first. It’s an airport lounge review wiki, so it’s based on user reviews. (So the amount of detail and the quality of the reviews varies.) The site currently lists 322 lounges around the world. That’s far from complete, but it’s a start.

Update: Click below to see a video of the Tokyo-Narita beer machine in action!

(image)
tags: travel | airport lounges | beer machine | Tokyo Narita

Forget the TSA and their shoe inspections. If you want to sound serious about airport security, bring in the lasers: Northrup Grumman and Raytheon are both starting to pitch ground-based systems for creating a shield around airports.

Northrop described Skyguard [a laser-based system that is designed to create a 5-kilometer bubble around airports or secure installations] as capable of destroying rockets, mortars, artillery shells, unmanned aerial vehicles, short-range ballistic missiles and cruise missiles. Against shoulder-fired missiles, which are relatively easy to heat with a laser and destroy, the protective shield would extend to a 20-kilometer radius, Wildt said.
Raytheon, eyeing a similar market, has developed a ground-based airport protection system that uses high-power microwaves to protect commercial aircraft from shoulder-fired missiles.

On the one hand, increased security for aircraft and airports is a good thing. And it sure sounds neat, though the track record for missile defense isn’t exactly stellar.

On the other hand, if the fear is that someone will shoot down a plane, wouldn’t aircraft-based countermeasure solutions be more appropriate? (Alas, current-generation systems are apparently prohibitively expensive and/or difficult to implement for large commercial aircraft, though the price may drop with volume discounts.)

If you build the equivalent of a mini-ABM system and create a 5km bubble, then wouldn’t anyone with a brain who wants to do harm to planes set up shop just outside the bubble’s perimeter, at the 6km marker? While an Israeli charter flight was indeed targeted by a missile attack departing Kenya in 2002 (it missed), a Sibir Airlines plane was actually shot down by a missile (a in October 2001 nowhere near an airport: It happened over the Black Sea, and at cruising altitude.

Save the money. Skip the laser.

tags: travel | Star Wars | airport security

Update:
The usairways.com discount below expired at the end of 2006. So the list of promotional codes for American Airlines and other carriers, linked below, is down. However, there IS a 5% discount codes for US Airways Vacations, as well as a discount for American Airlines, in the 2008 edition of the Entertainment book, which may be a worthwhile investment.

The original post lives on below for posterity.

——————————————————-
If flying US Airways, and booking on usairways.com, try entering the promotional code RR506FS to receive a 10% discount on purchased first class tickets, or promotional code RR506CU for 5% off economy class tickets. On the flight booking page, enter these codes in the “e-certificate” box located below the “return date” field.

Travel by November 15. Up to 4 passengers can receive the discount on the same itinerary. No codeshares. It doesn’t appear to have any advance purchase or geographic restrictions — you can seemingly use it for any destination on US Airways. I also don’t see any reason why the codes can’t be used again and again, so have at it.

Main offer page here; full terms/conditions, and (important!) blackout dates here.

Bad customer service experience? Why write a letter that someone *might* read, when you can create a PowerPoint presentation that corporate executives can more easily understand?

Here’s your template, with the fantastic title “Yours is a Very Bad Hotel,” courtesy of Tom Farmer. It’s a classic from 2001, but it’s just as fresh and real today (and I just saw it for the first time, so it’s new to me…)

Mr. Farmer and his companion arrived at 2:00am at the Doubletree Club Hotel in Houston (a hotel that no longer exists under that name), only to find that their room had been given away. It’s unfortunately normal for hotels to “walk” overbooked travelers to another property and comp them the first night, etc., but Mr. Farmer’s experience was worse. He did the right thing by standing firm and fighting for his guaranteed room, but he sure didn’t enjoy it. Enjoy his tale, in slide form! (And yes, it’s real.)

Update: The property is now the Four Points Sheraton Southwest. The TripAdvisor reviews still aren’t that hot, and one review is even (consciously?) entitled “Bad hotel.” (Thanks, Dave!)

(via FT)

A mileage sale of sorts: Cash in only 50,000 of your American Airlines miles, instead of 75,000, for a flight from the U.S. to Fiji. Travel is on Air Pacific, Fiji’s national airline. (I flew them several years ago between Fiji and Tonga, and the service was just fine.) It’s no $51 roundtrip fare to Fiji, as was available on Travelocity last year, and it’s economy class travel, but it’s a good deal. All travel needs to be completed by December 14, 2006.

To get the lower mileage rate, call American at 1-800-882-8880 and request the Air Pacific reduced mileage award to Fiji.

(via MilesLink; image)
tags: travel | American Airlines | frequent flyer miles | Fiji

CNN’s Richard Quest revives that old chestnut of a question: Does your employer own the frequent flyer miles you earn on business trips?

A German court recently ruled that employers have the right to miles their workers earn on travel paid by the firm. Quest quotes analyst/consultant Ravindra Bhagwanani, who estimates that a company performing such a mileage raid could reduce its travel budget by up to 10%.

But would it really? Frequent-flyer mile travel doesn’t necessarily fit the same parameters as business travel, and the administrative hassles might overshadow any savings in airfare. Besides, business travelers might revolt (and productivity could drop) if this little perk were taken away — especially if the miles you earned sitting in RJs were spent by folks in the executive suite on first-class travel to exotic locales…

The issue also has tax consequences. The question has come up in the United States before, with the government determining, effectively, that employers own the miles, and that miles are a form of income. But the Internal Revenue Service essentially gave up (pdf, see p.17) trying to measure thosse miles. Yes, they’re income, but the IRS doesn’t want you or anyone else to report it. (The IRS does specify, however, that if you sell miles earned on business trips for cash, that payment is taxable.)

But if the miles were truly the company’s and treated as such, then you would have two levels of problems: 1) coordinating the use of miles within the firm, and 2) managing mile earnings and spendings from a tax viewpoint. Think of all the things that throw a wrench into any realistic mileage commandeering scheme:

• The reporting burden:
  - The miles are issued by the airline, not the employer, and are credited to the individual member at the airline’s discretion. So who tells the IRS (or heck, the company!) how many miles were earned: the employer, the airline, or the traveler?

• Redemption challenges:
  - The conventional wisdom is that mileage redemption is challenging and the rules are inflexible. Businesses tend to require flexibility, short notice, and specific travel dates. Those can be booked using miles, but with higher rates and, increasingly, fees. The value proposition of miles sinks quickly.
  - Right now, booking tickets for non-family members is a pain in the butt. Even within families, it can be hard: My wife has a different last name than I do; if I book an award ticket over the phone for her, I have to trek to the airport to sign for the tickets. They won’t just take my word for it over the phone. (If I book online, no further proof is necessary.) Would businesses want their employees spending time doing this? Or would they spend the money to have an airline liaison in the travel office who manages these tickets?

• Earnings/Accrual accounting
  - If I sign up for a 5000-mile promo and then fly a qualifying flight for my employer, who gets the bonus miles?
  - When would the miles be recorded as income? When they are flown/earned, or when they are cashed in?
  - What about credit card miles? If I just happen to charge a business expense to my miles-earning credit card, and later get reimbursed for the expense, are THOSE miles the employer’s as well? If so, do I get to write off a percentage of the card’s annual fee?
  - How many cents-per-mile would you calculate for earned miles, since they can be redeemed at varying rates? Canada has a system for this, which involves calculation of alternate fares, but it sounds like a hassle, and not necessarily an accurate reflection of the value of miles.

• Status and Upgrades
  - If you earn elite status flying for business, are all your upgrades the company’s property, too? Do you have to add income for complimentary lounge access?

I’m sure there are more. In the end, I hope that governments give up the idea that the miles belong to companies. And that journalists stop giving companies such bright ideas… But if companies start taking your miles away, let me know. And ask your accountant about the possibility of writing off the value of those miles as an unreimbursed business expense.

Safety first!
Flying from the United States to Korea or Japan? If you’re traveling with Asiana or Korean Air Lines, you’ll take a different flight path nowadays, thanks to North Korea’s recent missile tests coming dangerously close to existing air routes. Today Japan’s largest airlines, Japan Air Lines and ANA, announced their own re-routings. No word on American carriers’ flight paths. Yay.

Safety second!
British tourists file more travel insurance claims on trips to Thailand than any other country. Runners up: “…the Czech republic, which came out top for incidents of pick-pocketing, South Africa, top for violent robberies, and Mexico, which is the place to go for over-exposure to the sun, it seems.” By this measure, Ireland was the “safest” destination.

Impressive, but…
China recently completed the train to Tibet and began passenger service. It’s an ambitious and impressive engineering project to be sure (the train cars are pressurized, like a plane, due to the enormous altitudes), but also a highly controversial exercise in internal colonialism. A good overview of the cultural and political ramifications (and fears) can be found here. It’s not all gee-whiz-isn’t-it-neat-what-they-built.

The Denny’s of the Sky?
A new promo: If you fly Aloha Airlines on their birthday (July 26), and you keep the boarding pass stub, you can fly free on your birthday (return within 7 days). Inter-island flights only. But what the heck.

Fare sale to Europe
Air France kicks off their Bastille Day fare sale today (purchase by July 28). Some good late summer/fall fares.

More luxe to Europe
All-biz airline Eos looks to expand from the New York-London route to also serve New York-Paris.

Healthier airborne meals
Northwest Airlines had better keep up. Just a few weeks ago they announced that their Stalinist experiment in inflight dining was over, and that they would reintroduce a choice (gasp!) to the menu in domestic first class. At the same time, other carriers are redesigning their first and business class menus, too, with an eye for lighter gourmet fare. But take away the ice cream, and flyers revolt. (The sarcastic chorus of “boo hoo” is coming from the economy seats.) The article also plugs Peter Greenberg’s book The Traveler’s Diet: Eating Right and Staying Fit on the Road.

Predicting the next protectionist outrage
Chicago Midway under foreign management? It could happen, since the city is soliciting bids for long-terms leases on the airport. We’ll see if a (likely) winning bid from a foreign entity yields as much furor as the Dubai ports affair. If an international firm wins the bidding, it won’t be the first foreign-managed US airport. Indianapolis and Stewart-Newburgh, NY airports are already under British firms’ control. International bids for US assets should be no surprise, given the current account deficit; all those dollars flowing overseas need to be put to work somewhere…

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A Washington-bound Alaska Airlines flight diverted to Denver in order to inspect a “nick” in its paint. The chip was found near the rear of the plane, and had been detected by catering crews on the ground in Seattle.

This isn’t about custom detailing the paint job or polishing the chrome, though thankfully it wasn’t serious damage. I can understand the precaution, especially after the incident last December when a ground worker ran equipment into the side of the aircraft, creasing the outer hull. The damage went unnoticed (or unreported) until the plane was airborne and the crease turned into a hole. The cabin’s depressurization was blogged by passengers (with photos). And just two days before the most recent “chipped paint” incident, another Alaska Airlines aircraft was damaged by a jetway operator in Seattle.

But if the catering crew noticed damage on the ground, why was the plane ever allowed to depart Seattle in the first place? If it’s serious enough to divert the plane, it’s serious enough to ground the plane before takeoff. Why wasn’t this reported to the pilot or the airline earlier??

And what’s up with the AP’s coverage? It focuses more on the fact that a Congressman was on board the flight, and missed a vote, as well as his dinner reservation. Poor fella. That’s the key takeaway? Jeez!

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Who will be the next discount carrier to hit the US skies? The Bransonesque Virgin America? The Ryanair-esque ultra-no-frills Skybus? For sheer kitsch value, I’m rooting for Air Gumbo, an airline in the planning stages since 1998, whose slogan is “Louisiana’s Culture in the Sky.”

Their “gumbo jets” (their pun, not mine) are slated to be Canadair Regional Jets within the U.S., and 737s to Mexico and the Caribbean. And why not. Who doesn’t love an airline that flies nothing but cramped, relatively gas-guzzling regional jets around the country? (Oh, wait…)

And what about the cultural thing: After all, Delta long ago turned its back on its Mississippi Delta roots and the source of its name, so someone has to represent the bayou… And airlines that offer a “unique cultural experience” onboard do great, right? (Well…)

Air Gumbo claims to be a “one-frill” airline: As the name implies, they plan to offer gumbo on flights longer than an hour, or a lunchbox for shorter flights. They are also planning a premium meal option, for a fee, featuring “meals such as Crawfish Etouffee and Jambalaya as well as exotic gumbos, subject to seasonal availability, such as alligator, vension [sic], rabbit, duck, turkey, etc., or totally organic variations.”

Sounds tasty. I can only hope that this leads to other cuisine-themed airlines. Air Sabrett, out of New York?… Fare wars between Air Grinder and SkyHoagie?… Tandoor Express?… Pizzair?… Pie in the Sky?… (I’ll stop.)

(image; hat tip USAT)

Southwest started its test of assigned seating in San Diego today, but according to news reports, confusion reigned, with irritated passengers forced to line up twice — once to check in, and another time to get their seat assignment. In the end, many people were assigned to seats they didn’t want. But nonetheless, the plane left the gate on time, which is what the company was hoping for.

Two questions:
Is it really necessary to make people stand in line twice to get their boarding passes? Other airlines seem to do it in one line. Or none, if you check yourself in.

And what’s the point of assigned seats if the seats aren’t the passenger’s choice? Notice the title of the AP article linked earlier: “Southwest Tries Telling Passengers Where to Sit.” Telling. Not “allowing passengers to choose in advance of boarding.” The sole appeal of assigned seating, to me, is picking the seats I want to be in. Being told where to sit, or just having a seat assignment — any seat — is of little use.

I’m going to plug my earlier proposal for Southwest again. Let a limited number of those who want assigned seats choose them in advance (online). Let the rest of the passengers onboard with open seating.

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Want to travel on miles, but can’t get the dates you want? Show up at the airport anyway! According to John Ewolt at the Star-Tribune, just book any ol’ date to the cities to you want, then just show up at the airport on the dates you actually prefer to travel.

Hard to believe, but Ewolt did it, wrote about it, and possibly just ruined it for the rest of us. The logic is simple: “Buy” the ticket with miles for any date you like. If you get the dates you want, mazel tov! If you don’t, show up on the date you really WANT to be traveling, present your receipt, and ask to be put on that day’s flight. If there is an empty seat on the flight, and they can squeeze you onboard, you’ll pay a ticket-change fee (usually $50 to $100 per change) and get a boarding pass.

Some caveats: The experiment was conducted on Northwest, an airline that is desperate to increase revenue (fees) and reduce liabilities (miles). And there are fees, it’s not a free ride. The experiment was also between cities that aren’t already ridiculously overbooked. No dice on pulling this off on summer vacation travel to Orlando, for example. With planes flying full, this is essentially flying standby, so there will always be a risk.

But is this legit? Apparently so. As long as it’s within the rules of the ticket, it shouldn’t be a problem. The “catch” is that the airline technically isn’t required to give you a seat if the booking class for free tickets is unavailable on the day you show up. Even if there are empty seats on the plane, those seats might not be listed in the computer as free-ticket-eligible. In that case, you’re at the mercy of the airport agent. In other words, it’s a crapshoot.

It’s probably easier to try this scheme for domestic flights, not international; for nonstop flights, not connections; for travelers with elite status, not general members; for individuals, not groups; and for itineraries all on one airline, not partner airlines.

But more importantly: Is it worth it? If you end up spending $50 to $100 *each way* to do this, you’re no longer getting much value for those miles. Sounds like you might have been better off just buying the ticket you wanted, rather than wasting the miles and paying the fees. But it’s an interesting option, nonetheless!

So, anyone want to try this and report back?

(via Consumerist; image)
tags: travel | frequent flyer miles