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Google is apparently trying to poach some pennies out of the travel market. Entering a pair of cities in a Google search now outputs a small search box with links to the big online travel agencies. (pictured above) Clicking the default link sends you to Expedia.

You can also use airport codes for North American destinations. You’ll need to spell out the name of the international destination city.

Maybe this is old news, but it’s new to me.

But I’d still stick with the aggregators like Kayak, as reviewed here. You’ll get a much better overview of the fares available.

The folks at TravelPost.com have compiled a handy directory of wi-fi providers and pricing at U.S. airports. It’s a good list.

One thing that’s missing is the wi-fi that’s provided by airline lounges. Continental’s President’s Clubs usually have free wi-fi, Red Carpet Clubs have a contract with T-Mobile HotSpot, etc. So if you hang out close enough to the club, you can pick up their wi-fi signal. Now you just need to find a power outlet… (see here for that.)

Related:
- FREE T-Mobile HotSpot access for 30 days
- Free stuff! Hotel stays, wi-fi, even wine…
- Power sockets, sponsored by Chase
- New site roundup

tags: travel | airports | wi-fi

Tim Winship notes a change to United Airlines’ Economy Plus program. Getting a seat in the forward section of coach, which offers up to 5 inches more legroom than the rear of the plane, certainly has always been a great feature, especially since American eliminated their “More Room Throughout Coach.”

Now, the zone is reserved for elites in United’s Mileage Plus program, and those who pay to upgrade their legroom. (If a flight is booked solid, you can get lucky and get seats in the E+ zone, too.)

The change to the policy is subtle, if you’re not looking for it. (I sure wasn’t.) Two categories of United customers are no longer given access to Economy Plus: passengers on expensive/full-fare tickets, and elites on other Star Alliance airlines.

While it may make it easier for United elites (myself included) to find a seat in the more spacious Economy Plus section, I don’t agree with Tim that this is a good thing. For starters, the people on the expensive tickets are subsidizing everyone else. Throw them a bone, for God’s sake. That way they’ll come BACK.

And the elites on other Star Alliance airlines now have little reason to choose United for their travels. If you’re hooked on a Star Alliance frequent flyer program, you can earn miles on any of the member airlines. Why give United your cash, when, as an elite, you can get an exit row seat on US Airways?

Maybe United thinks that more people will pay to upgrade their seats, but I have my doubts. If anything, I imagine that this could reduce revenue for the airline.

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tags: travel | United Airlines | Economy Plus | UAL Corp. | frequent flyer

Reader Patrick writes:

Hi, my family and I have four tickets to Portland which we booked with our miles. Two of us are flying nonstop, but we couldn’t book everyone onto the same flight. So two of us are flying to Denver first and connecting to Portland. Is there any way for all of us to fly together without paying hundreds of dollars in change fees? Thanks.

It’s certainly worth a shot, Patrick. In most cases, you can attempt to standby for a nonstop flight, if you are booked on a connection. Your ability to grab a seat will depend on availability and, to an extent, the mood of the gate agent working your desired flight.

The precise policy depends on the airline, but most American airlines allow for 1) free domestic standby, and 2) an oxymoronic $25 “confirmed standby” on the day of travel. With the $25 fee, you confirm into the new flight, no standing by. Trying to make a change like that earlier than the day of the flight will cost you as much as $100 per ticket, plus any difference in fare.

Some more general advice on standbys:

If more passengers want standby than there are available seats, boarding passes are awarded on the basis of a combination of elite frequent flyer status, fare paid, and time of check-in. (It’s up to each airline to determine the rules for awarding seats, but don’t be surprised if a high-level elite flyer who walks up at the last minute trumps a non-status flyer who’s been on the list for hours.)

Since you’re on award tickets, the fare you paid doesn’t help your upgrade chances, but it doesn’t disqualify you either. Check in as early as possible. If checking in online, look for a standby option. Otherwise, go to the gate ASAP to join the standby list.

Also: Checking luggage can hurt your chances, because of “bag matching.” You’re supposed to travel with your luggage, so you can’t put a bomb in your suitcase, check your bags, and then ride standby on a different flight. (Of course, if the airline screws up, your bags could ride on a different plane, but since there’s no way for YOU to control that…) So, if others in your party already have the desired nonstop flight, have THEM check the bags.

The exception to all of this is Southwest. Southwest doesn’t do standby. If you want to take a different flight, you effectively have to trade in your existing ticket and buy a replacement on the new flight. This can be costly, since you’re essentially buying a last-minute ticket. But them’s the breaks.

Good luck!

tags: travel | standby

When the TSA announced that it was allowing personal lubricants such as K-Y Jelly on board, I honestly asked myself why.

Besides gaining some inflight intimacy with a flying partner, or possibly performing some Ghostbusters-esque special effects onboard (to the inevitable delight of the flight crew, I’m sure), why would anyone need to have K-Y on board? It’s not like asthma mist, eye drops, or cough syrup.

Apparently, the TSA’s enforcers are second-guessing the policy. One of the Consumerist’s readers put the liberation of K-Y to the test and got the Heisman when asked how he’d be using it on the plane.

Note to TSA: If it’s explicitly permitted onboard, it should be permitted onboard. Period. No justification should be necessary. Think that’s not good enough? Change the policy, don’t make up rules as you go along. Jeez…

So what is a randy traveler to do? Two options…

First, you could do as thousands of flyers are doing, and sneak the goods onboard anyway. Just carry it in a pocket as you go through the metal detector. But this is not recommended, to say the least, since your plane might be turned back mid-flight if someone sees you breaking out the liquids inflight. If you sneak it on, prepare for a butt-kicking from angry passengers when the plane diverts.

Option two: Hire Bob Smith to fly you around in his airborne ’70s-style love van. USA Today profiled Captain Bob, who will take amorous couples to an altitude of one mile for an hour, for $299. You keep the sheets. (Classy.) K-Y optional.

(images: thePhotoPhreak, USA Today)
tags: travel | K-Y Jelly | mile high club

When Air Canada isn’t kicking unruly 6-year old kids off of planes, they’re sending your cranky cat to the cargo hold.

Beginning September 18, no pets will be allowed inside the passenger cabin on Air Canada flights. Guide dogs will be an exception.

While Air Canada is saying “no” (and “non,” presumably) to your furry friends, other airlines are stepping up with more pet-friendly policies. Roger Collis offers up a short (if Eurocentric) list in the International Herald Tribune. I personally favor Virgin Atlantic’s apparent policy of providing ferrets (and presumably other animals) with a “cool limited edition flying jacket and collar tag.” Swank.

Better yet, upstart CompanionAir plans to be the first airline catering exclusively to pets and their owners. Another niche airline? Why the hell not. It’s about as likely to take off as Air Gumbo at this point.

But until CompanionAir is flying, owners planning to take their pets to the skies should consult with the list of policies and tips offered at PetsWelcome.com. Though hardly globally authoritative, the site provides a good overview of the largest airlines’ pet policies.

As a person who’s allergic to most furry creatures, I actually see a no-pets policy as a perk, though I realize that pet owners are understandably worried about putting their animals in another person’s hands. Checking your pet as cargo will always involve some risk. Maybe owners should just hope for the best and then treat their pets to a luxurious pet spa at the destination…

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tags: travel | pets | ferrets with cool limited edition flying jackets | CompanionAir |

Travelers within and from the UK rejoice: Beginning next weekend, larger carry-on bags and some liquids, including toothpaste, will be allowed on board once again.

The changes, especially permitting larger carry-ons, are certainly welcome. The earlier restriction was absurd, making it impossible to carry anything larger than a briefcase.

But America’s TSA and Congress aren’t allowing toothpaste on board anytime soon. The liquid ban remains as-is.

So if you’re flying from the UK to the US, not only have the terrorists won, so have the Cavity Creeps.

(image: Johnny Vulkan)
tags: travel | airport security | toothpaste

The Economist magazine has a great piece this week spoofing an “honest” in-flight announcement. Cut to the tape:

GOOD morning, ladies and gentlemen. We are delighted to welcome you aboard Veritas Airways, the airline that tells it like it is. Please ensure that your seat belt is fastened, your seat back is upright and your tray-table is stowed. At Veritas Airways, your safety is our first priority. Actually, that is not quite true: if it were, our seats would be rear-facing, like those in military aircraft, since they are safer in the event of an emergency landing. But then hardly anybody would buy our tickets and we would go bust. [$ Econ]

While the rest of the parody is funny as well as scathing, it got me thinking: would an airline that markets itself as putting consumer safety first acutally be a selling point today? Heck, we have naked air and an airline for smokers. I think it is an idea that would fly.

-Dr. Vino

tags: travel | air travel

If you’re lucky, you’ll be getting a guest blogger today. I’m flying to Denver and then to Chicago-O’Hare, both of which are experiencing delays. Checking the FAA’s airport delay page — here — you can see the periodically-updated status for major airports.

As an added bonus, the Denver status page reads:

Due to CAT III’S ARE RELEASED, there is a Traffic Management Program in effect for traffic arriving Denver International Airport, Denver, CO (DEN).

Huh? Wikipedia tells me that “Cat III” has to do with instrument landing systems, but I have no idea what this really means. (Any pilots out there want to explain it in comments?) Hey, FAA, how about a glossary?

We’ll see where I end up tonight. Wish me luck.

tags: travel | airports

Yesterday, the Consumerist featured a letter from a person frustrated by US Airways’ website. It wasn’t the booking engine or the new site layout that got her juices going: It was the flight status page:

I hit the US Air website. It said that the flight had taken off 3 minutes before it was scheduled to and had landed exactly on time, although the status was “UNKNOWN”. For the next hour that “UNKNOWN” label, as I refreshed and refreshed, worried me more and more. I’m picturing all sorts of horrible things. Still no call from husband. I start planning my life as a single mother, when finally at 3:20PM, I got a call from him, saying he was finally on the ground. I asked how that could be since he’d taken off on time. He told me that the plane did not leave on time, and that it was about 11AM before they took off.

While most seasoned travelers would say the letter-writer overreacted, even in the current culture of fear, the author probably had some reason to be scared. After all, when airlines experience “incidents” they often remove the flight from the airport monitors and online status pages. But of course programming errors happen, and thankfully the “unknown” flight was just delayed.

What should the upset letter writer have done? How do you cross check this information? Outsource.

Never just rely on the airline’s own website for flight status. Instead, check out FlightAware, the site devoted to tracking all flights in American airspace. You’ll see the actual time of takeoff, landing, a neat map of the flight route, and some dorky data on speed, altitude, etc.

But most importantly, FlightAware reports two different pieces of information than most airline websites: Wheels-up and wheels-down times. Airlines categorize flights by the times the plane is out, up, down, and in. “Out” and “in” refer to the departure and arrival at the gate. “Up” and “down” refer to the takeoff and landing on the runway.

Instead of fretting about the “missing” flight on the US Airways site, the reader could have seen that the plane was delayed, but airborne.

If I’m picking someone up at the airport, I always check both the airline’s status page, and then check FlightAware to see how far out the plane really is.

Extra bonus: With FlightAware, you can even track private jets, charters, and UPS or FedEx flights — though I’m not sure you really need to track your shipment that way… (It’s probably especially handy for private jets.)

Creating a free login on the site also lets you automatically refresh the live map of the actual flight route. You also get access to historical wheels up/down times, (not just the gate departure/arrival times) if you want to see how much time the flight actually spends in the air. The maps are fun — hours of dorky procrastinatory fun!

tags: travel | FlightAware

Disappointed at the lukewarm reception to the launch of mywetstuff.com? Still strategizing on how to avoid checking your luggage, and looking for a site where you can buy products prohibited by the TSA (and have them shipped to your destination)? Have no fear. There’s an alternative: Minimus.biz.

The site has a broad range of products, not limited to personal care products, but all in small/trial sizes. Shipping over $20 is free. If your order doesn’t reach an Andrew Jackson, shipping will cost $4.50.

(Thanks to reader Janet!)

(image: xmasons)
tags: travel

Free hotel stays
Want to be a hotel inspector for Small Luxury Hotels of the World? You get one free night’s stay, but you have to get to the hotel on your own dime. Kitty Bean Yancey of USA Today links to the application for the “job” of hotel inspector. You’ll need to fill out a form detailing your lodging habits, and obviously not every applicant is accepted.

Free wi-fi
Yesterday I posted a link to get free T-Mobile wi-fi access. Reader Jeff passed on another great link: A list of airports with free wi-fi, without any introductory offers, etc. Just plain old free. Thanks, Jeff!

Free wine
Answer all 10 questions about wine correctly, and you’re in the running for a free mixed half case of wine, courtesy of Dr. Vino, the site devoted to “wine picks and politics.” Click here to take the quiz. Check out the recommendations for cheap-but-good wine, too. (update: quiz ends midnight tomorrow - Thursday, Sept. 7)

Free SuperBowl tickets
Another sweepstakes, courtesy of Southwest Airlines. Enter by buying a Southwest ticket with your Visa card, or by sending in your name. Details here.

tags: travel | free stuff | wine| wifi| hotels