Upgraded: Job applications on Virgin Atlantic
The unnamed author of this complaint letter to Virgin Atlantic, who ranted against the food served on board his flight from Mumbai to Heathrow, has been offered a new job: food tester for Virgin. Call me biased, but I still like Robert P.’s letter to Midwest Airlines better. (“You have chunks in your beer.”) Hey Robert, get any job offers lately?

Upgraded: Air Canada’s forms and applications
Remember the requirement that overweight passengers on Canadian airlines need to get a doctor’s note in order to get a second seat at no additional fee? The form that doctors must fill out is priceless. It’s practically designed to make both doctor and patient uncomfortable and embarrassed. To wit:

Have your patient sit on a paper covered examination table. Rest a ruler or straightedge on the left side of patient at the widest point (hip or waist) as shown on diagram below.

Mark the touch point between the ruler and the paper as Point A. Rest a ruler or straightedge on the right side of patient at the widest point (hip or waist). Mark the touch point between the ruler and the paper as Point B. Measure the distance between Point A and Point B. Indicate this measurement above under d) Surface Measurement.

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Upgraded: Extended stay hotels, again
Hilton is adding a new chain to its lineup: Home2 will be a new extended-stay brand, with an intended price point around $100 a night (less than the existing Homewood Suites brand in the Hilton family). The development cost is estimated at $70-75,000 per room. Launch locations are in Alabaster, AL, Baltimore/White Marsh, Charlotte, Elko, NV, Gadsden, AL (Alabama, again!), Jacksonville, NC (not FL); New York City, and three locations in San Antonio.

Upgraded: Ease of investing in a money-losing industry
Warren Buffett once said, “…if a capitalist had been present at Kittyhawk back in the early 1900s, he should have shot Orville Wright. He would have saved his progeny money.” Well, the assume that ol’ Warren isn’t putting money into in the new exchange-traded fund that invests in airline stocks, including 30% in non-US airlines. The symbol for the Claymore/NYSE Arca Airlines ETF: FAA. How clever. But will the folks at Proshares come up with a double-short airline ETF?

Upgraded: The return of all-business class New York-London flights
Maxjet, Silverjet, and Eos may be gone, but British Airways is bringing twice-daily all-business class flights between London and New York back to the air. The twists: 1) The service is on the smallest plane yet to fly the route, an Airbus A318. Not ‘19. Not ‘20. Forget ‘21. ‘18. 2) Instead of Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton, or Stansted, this flight will use the very centrally located London City Airport, which thusfar has only been used by regional jets to short-range destinations. 3) They’ll allow wireless text messaging and e-mail on board, but not phone calls. (hat tip Jared Blank)

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If you’re rented a car or truck from Budget, you may be receiving a check in the mail. But don’t sign it.

There are offers in the mail referencing Budget car rentals, but signing the check will activate your membership in “Everyday Values,” a shopping “club” membership that promises big discounts but costs you hefty membership fees. The program is managed by Trilegiant, a former Cendant subsidiary that specializes in separating people from their money in convenient monthly installments.

But the really sneaky part — and the reason this is relevant to travel — is that your signature on the check gives Trilegiant the right to get the credit card information you used when you rented a vehicle with Budget.

That’s unacceptable. Swiping the card for a rental transaction is intended for use in the rental transaction, and that transaction alone. It’s shameful that Budget has no qualms sharing your card number with a company that uses such fishy customer acquisition tactics.

But this is unfortunately not new. Complaints on the web date back to 2005, and may be even older, based on Trilegiant’s longstanding history of shady offers. Budget and Trilegiant were once under the same corporate umbrella (Cendant). But while they’re no longer corporate siblings, their partnership lives on.

Inquiries to Budget went unanswered.

Full scans of the letter I received after the jump…

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Since July 2008, US citizens have been able to get a passport card instead of (or in addition to) the traditional blue pamphlet. The cards look like a driver’s license, but contain the basic information that’s contained on the inside cover of the book version.

But because you’ve got no pages for stamps or visas, the card is only valid for land or sea travel to Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, or Bermuda. If you think you might go anywhere else in the next 10 years, you’ll need the regular booklet.

To date, nearly 750,000 Americans have applied for the passport card. The majority have gone to residents of border states, especially Texas, California, Michigan, and New York.

Adult passport cards cost $20, compared to the $75 you pay for a passport book. If you’ve already got a “real” passport, you can add on a card for $20 extra. If you place your order in person, instead of by mail, you pay an additional $25, for either cards or books.

I realize that not everyone expects to travel around the world, but is the passport card something you’d order (or already have ordered)? If so, is it in addition to the passport book? If it’s just a card, why not the passport book? Hit the comments!

Recession be damned! A new “ultra-elite” credit card has launched in the US, in an effort to woo clients who aspire to better travel benefits and members-only services. Barclays is behind the new Visa Black Card, which obviously hopes to emulate the aura of exclusivity and status that the black Amex Centurion Card has evoked for years.

But the black Visa isn’t in the same league as the black Amex. For starters, the black Amex is by invitation only, while the black Visa is a card you can apply for. The black Amex gives you automatic elite status on several airlines, while the black Visa doesn’t. But the black Visa also costs a heck of a lot less per year: $495 annual fee vs. a jawdropping $2500 for the black Amex.

(Incidentally, Latin American customers have had access to an even higher-end Visa product for a few years, which is closer to the black Amex: The Visa Infinite card, reportedly with a $2000 annual fee.)

For its $495 fee, the black Visa is unsurprisingly more comparable in benefits to the platinum American Express (annual fee currently $450).

Like the both the platinum and black Amex, the black Visa comes with membership in Priority Pass, the airport lounge network. But hold on: According to these reports, the Priority Pass membership included isn’t the top-tier version, which costs $399/year. Instead, you only get the equivalent of two guest passes. Two. Thereafter, you pay $27 a pop. The Platinum Amex is far superior on the airport lounge front.

One thing that’s nice about the black Visa: It includes trip interruption insurance, which used to be part of the Visa Signature benefits package. I’m not sure when that got nixed from the Signature profile, but it’s a good benefit to have. My wife and I took advantage of this benefit with our Visa Signature card back when we were on our honeymoon years ago… Because a tropical storm delayed our return home, and because we had charged our airline tickets to the Visa, the card covered our hotel, meals, transfers, and other expenses. But that’s no longer a Signature service (at least not in the US). I was disappointed to no longer find that benefit anymore when I looked over the list of Visa benefits.

But other card perks are less interesting. 1% cash back? Big whoop. Plenty of cards do that. Concierge services? Potentially interesting, but hard to gauge. “Luxury gifts from the world’s top brands” — what the hell is that?

The last remaining perk — if we can call it that — the card itself. It’s made of carbon, rather than plastic, so you can impress waiters, hotel lobby staff, and cashiers. And they’re certain to be impressed that you wasted $495 a year on a card with so few meaningful benefits at such a high cost.

Related:
- Reader mail: How can I upgrade flights using American Express?
- How to lounge in airports
- Reader mail: What kind of point-earning credit card is best?

Traveling to Suwon, South Korea anytime soon? Feeling flush with cash and feel like staying in a house shaped like a toilet?

It’s true. Since 2007, the World Toilet Association’s showpiece has been open for your business, so to speak. Actually the private home of Korean parliamentarian, businessman, and toilet proponent Sim Jae-Duck, the house has four toilets, including an outhouse in the center courtyard:

The centre toilet is transparent and everything can be seen from the living room. But as soon as a special sensor detects movement in the toilet, the glass encasement immediately fogs up so that the user can enjoy his or her privacy.

Spending a night will set you back $50,000. The money goes toward improving global toilet sanitation. Of course.

But the house? It’s a dump. (Rimshot… Boo…)

See the toilet house for yourself in the video below.

The inbox is filling up with offers from hotel loyalty programs lately. Double points, big bonuses, tie-ins with airlines… it’s a whole lotta points being offered to try to draw in guests.

The bonuses can be big. The biggest: up to 25,000 Marriott points; up to 30,000 InterContinental PriorityClub award points; and 20,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points.

I love bonuses — don’t get me wrong — but this spate of extra point opportunities reminds me of the big awards that the airlines were offering in 2004 and 2005. (Take, for example, the ~50,000 bonus miles I earned in 2005 for taking four flights to Washington, DC.) The flood of points was followed a few years later with award devaluation. An oversupply of points contributed to the rising “prices” for awards.

So when I see big awards like this, from multiple hotel brands, at once, I worry that a round of devaluation of hotel awards is coming. It’s a classic inflationary scenario: The supply of currency expands, followed by prices. So cash in those points sooner rather than later.

Upgraded: Refunds on Spirit Airlines
Spirit Airlines, perhaps America’s most hated airline, gives refunds to its passengers after all! But only under special circumstances… like being rebooked onto a flight that ditches into the Hudson River. Actually, no, that wasn’t enough:

Rob and Jeff Kolodjay were scheduled to fly on Spirit Airlines to a golf vacation with four other friends on Thursday out of LaGuardia in New York City. Their flight got cancelled, and they were rebooked onto US Airways flight 1549. When they tried to cancel the return tickets on Spirit they could not use because they never made it to Myrtle Beach, the company representative insisted on charging them a [$90] cancellation fee.

Wait, Spirit rebooks passengers onto other airlines? Who knew? Amazing!

But as for the cancellation fee, the airline eventually reversed itself. Only after the passengers got the local news reporters involved. Stay classy, Spirit! (via Consumerist)

Upgraded: Promises and threats of Ryanair in the USA
Ultra-cheapo Ryanair has been threatening to fly trans-Atlantic again. This time, from Ireland to … Niagara Falls! Ryanair promises/threatens a route over the Atlantic on a six-month cycle, it seems. And it never materializes. Let me know when they start actually flying this one…

Upgraded: Wi-fi on United, unless you’re a Chicagoan, apparently
I’m amused by this take-down of the introduction of inflight wi-fi on selected United Airlines flights by Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism website. United is putting the $12.95 service on its JFK-SFO and JFK-LAX “p.s.” service. Notably not included: Chicago flights. The article’s negative angle toward the service may betray some sour grapes…

Downgraded: Luxury
It’s barely open for six months, but the Arctic Club Hotel in Seattle has “decided to no longer be a luxury hotel, and said that downscaling will help it attract more customers.” Their new target is the AAA 3-diamond level, and they’re hoping to partner with a major chain. Welcome to the new austerity.

Several readers have sent in e-mails, informing me of airfare deals they’ve gotten in recent days. They’re good, especially to Europe. A few examples:

Reader Diane found a deal from Denver to Amsterdam on US Airways in July: $2068.32 for a family of three, including all taxes and even travel insurance.

Reader Frank is taking his family of four to Paris in June. He’s leaving from the New York area — going over on Open Skies, coming back on L’Avion. It’s costing him more than it cost Diane, but it’s still a decent deal: $1479 per person for a cradle seat, booked on the L’Avion site. (As an aside, I don’t think L’Avion should be calling their product “business class” anymore, especially given that their corporate sister, Open Skies, is categorizing an equivalent seat as premium economy, err, “Prem+.”)

If you’re looking for some off-season discounts to Europe (say, February), and coach class is more your speed, then check Air France. $350 base fare ($490 all-in) from New York to Dublin, for example.

Finally, reader Aurelio booked a sweet spring break fare from Chicago to Last Vegas on United for $119, all-in, round-trip. Those are 2003 prices! Crazy-cheap!

To book some of these deals, you may need to be flexible with your dates or your connections. And be sure to comparison shop. Sites to consider as springboards include FareCompare, Kayak.com, and ITA Software, for starters.

Have you scoped out any good deals of late? Hit the comments with your savvy savings, especially if they might still be available for others to book!

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