The bedbug scare must be sinking in: Two colleagues were telling me stories of their recent hotel visits — upon checking into their rooms, they tore apart the bed, looking for bedbugs. And sure enough, jackpot. The little buggers were crawling around in there. Two completely different hotels, two bedbug infestations. It made me realize that I’ve really been careless and slack: I haven’t changed my behavior. I have been checking into rooms as always. But maybe it’s time to take some different steps.

What are the steps the careful traveler should take?

• Unmake the bed
  Check the bed for the nasty critters by pulling the sheets back. Look for tiny bugs, especially near the seams. Lift the mattress and look for bugs between in the space between the boxspring and the mattress.
• Inspect the furniture
  Once you’ve checked the bed, lift the cushions in the furniture and look for bugs. Again, special attention on the seams.
• Drawers, too
  Open the drawers. Look for scurrying.
• Quarantine the bags
  When you walk into the room, leave your bags near the door for starters. Once you’ve given the all-clear to the bed and furniture, bring the bags in, but use the foldable luggage rack. Pull it away from the wall. Keep the luggage zipped, if you can.

If you do find a bug, alert the front desk and — it goes without saying — demand a different room. If you feel the urge for revenge, there are websites that allow travelers to name hotels where guests allegedly were bitten — BedBugRegistry and BedBugReports — but I am frankly skeptical of their utility. Much like TripAdvisor reviews can be gamed by competitors, these submissions on these sites aren’t entirely free from ulterior motives.

Anyway, have you changed your behavior? Do you tear the sheets off the bed and conduct room inspections? Or do you let it ride? Vote in the poll below, and hit the comments with your stories.

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Once you’ve voted, please enjoy this short film by the venerable Isabella Rosselini on the subject of bedbugs, and their lifecycle. Note: Once seen, it cannot be unseen.

Upgraded (sorta) and Downgraded: Continental’s in-flight food
For a few years, Continental has been the last holdout on the domestic airline scene, offering free meals in coach. That ends now. The airline is offering a new-and-improved menu in coach — that is, if you consider food on a stick an improvement. None of the food sounds particularly exciting, and in-terminal options are likely still better choices. And, in a departure from their recent practice, the food will no longer be free (thus, downgraded). Here’s what to expect: “The menu will include freshly prepared hot and cold mealtime selections similar to those served in casual-dining restaurants, such as Asian-style noodle salad, grilled chicken spinach salad, Angus cheeseburger, and Jimmy Dean sausage, egg and cheese sandwich. Snack and dessert options — including a gourmet cheese & fresh fruit plate, several types of snack boxes, a la carte brand-name snacks and chocolate-covered Eli’s Cheesecake on a stick — will also be available for purchase. Prices will range from $1.50 for Pringles Original Potato Crisps to $8.25 for the grilled chicken spinach salad.” See a fuzzy pic of the menu here.

Downgraded: Starwood’s top hotels’ redemption options
Gary Leff makes a great point in criticizing Starwood’s outrageous redemption rates for its most expensive hotel rooms. I like the Starwood Preferred Guest program generally, but 100,000 per night for some of those all-suite hotels in locations like French Polynesia? Come on, people.

Upgraded: Star Alliance Africa options
Star Alliance has invited Ethiopian Airlines to join the alliance. This is the third African airline in Star (South African Airways and Egyptair are the others). In the other alliances, SkyTeam has Kenya Airways, and oneworld has… no one. Africa is expected to be a major growth area for air travel — and for economic activity generally — so expect to see further invitations like this within all three alliances.

Upgraded: Las Vegas as a lair for supervillains
In a cross between the laser satellite run by a Las Vegas kingpin in “Diamonds are Forever” and the Death Star’s destruction of the planet Alderaan in “Star Wars,” we now have a Las Vegas hotel that channels the sun’s rays to create a “death ray” of sorts in the middle of the Vegas Strip. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) it’s unintentional… And if you’re a guest at the Vdara Hotel, it could be problematic: “[...] a visitor from Chicago tipped off [the Las Vegas Review-Journal] after having his hair singed, and his plastic shopping bag partially melted, while trying to lounge by the pool.” Here’s a diagram from the paper, via Minyanville:

Thinking of traveling for the holidays this November or December? The good folks at FareCompare have mapped out the dates when the major airlines in the US have added “peak travel day surcharges.”

This phenomenon of peak surcharges began last year. It’s getting worse, not better, as more airlines adopt these fees that aren’t technically part of the base fare.

While there’s more to airfares than just these surcharges, avoiding (or minimizing) these fees can make a holiday trip more affordable.

Here’s a snippet for the Thanksgiving dates:

Note that Thanksgiving Day, and days prior to the marked dates on the chart, are surcharge-free. Interestingly, AirTran, which added surcharges over the summer, is refraining now.

Click on the image to see the full post and December date info.

As you’ve probably heard by now, Southwest Airlines has made a $1.4 billion cash-and-stock offer to buy AirTran. (The rumors that Southwest would buy SunCountry didn’t pan out.) I’ll leave the financial analysis to others. The market went nutso today though, with Southwest going up 8.7% and AirTran going up a whopping 61.3%.

So what does this mean to you, whether you fly Southwest, AirTran, or neither?

• More open seating, more coach, fewer first class seats, and tougher upgrades elsewhere?
  Southwest seating rules will prevail, which means a victory for the open-seating model. AirTran will lose assigned seats and its first class. Those first-class seats were rather inexpensive, compared to other airlines’ products, which will disappoint some premium travelers out there. And the network effects of that loss of first-class seats? Demand for first-class fares on other carriers might go up as a result, making your upgrades harder to clear. Hey, it’s a theory.
• Bag fees take a well-deserved beating.
  Southwest has vowed to remove checked baggage fees on AirTran, post-merger. Spreading the gospel of no- or low-fee travel is a good thing. (And given Southwest’s recent advertising of its baggage policy, I think they’re committed to it.) This won’t kill the concept of bag fees, but it might make them less socially acceptable.
• This is about Atlanta and Washington.
  When organic growth slows, or the barriers to entry in a new market are great, buying a local rival becomes more attractive, and that’s what happened here. AirTran has been successfully carving out a piece of the Atlanta market from Delta for the past few years. For Southwest fliers, you’ll (finally) be able to fly to Atlanta without having to change to a different airline. This deal also brings Southwest to Washington-Reagan National. If you fly into either of those cities, you’ll see a bit of fanfare over this deal, and likely some fare sales to kick things off. You may see counteroffers, like double-mileage promotions from Delta in ATL, US Airways at DCA, etc. But over the longer term…
• Fares? A wash, for now.
  Yes, there’s a “Southwest effect” on fares, but it’s particularly pronounced when Southwest enters a new market, bringing low-fare competition to the legacy airlines. In this instance, AirTran has already warmed up the market. So for now, we shouldn’t expect any macro-level discounting. If anything, we might see fares go up in the long term if Southwest retires some of the AirTran capacity. But that’s not going to happen overnight.
• This takes Southwest international, but it’s not a big deal.
  Yes, it’s international, but it’s not like this takes Southwest to Tokyo and Sydney. If Southwest keeps the AirTran routes, you’ll be able to fly Southwest to Cancun, Montego Bay, and Punta Cana. For those who have avoided Southwest because their travel plans (and frequent flier redemption goals) take them to other hemispheres, you’ll still be out of luck, for now.

Any other thoughts on Southwest and AirTran? Any predictions on how this will affect your travels, on a post-merger Southwest or anywhere else? Hit the comments!

Air France is revamping its business class — excuse me, la classe affaires — with some new seats. But strangely, the flat beds aren’t horizontal. They’re “near-horizontal.” That’s so … 2005.

Rollout will take three years, so you’ll be seeing old and new seats across the fleet.

But seriously, isn’t 180-degree flat bed seating the standard today? Why would Air France opt for something that’s less than the standard?

I’ve got nothing.

Domestic lounges are generally nothing to get too excited about, but American Airlines is taking a step to raise the bar on its Admirals Clubs in the USA: They’re adding free cocktails.

Beginning Oct. 1, American Airlines is offering travelers another benefit of membership in its Admirals Club(R)lounges. American will offer alcoholic beverages, including wine, beer and spirits, free of charge to customers visiting any of its domestic clubs, in addition to complimentary coffee, tea, soft drinks and juices.
[...]
Domestic clubs will offer well brand liquors, as well as beers and house wines as a complimentary service on Oct. 1. Premium liquors and wines and a selection of Amora(TM) fresh food items will be available for purchase in all U.S. Admirals Club lounges. Menu items vary by location, and include fresh salads, sandwiches, hot entrees and small bites. Seasonal and regional specialties are featured throughout the year, with special chef demonstrations offered at select clubs. All menu items are available to enjoy in the club or for carry-out. Customers visiting an international Admirals Club location will continue to enjoy complimentary alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages as they do today.

I understand that they don’t want to break out the single-malts at an open bar, but I hope that their well liquors are a step above Popov vodka.

Upgrading the snack selection without making them for-pay would have been nice, too, but that may be asking a bit much.

Regardless, a nice upgrade to the domestic airport lounge scene!