Anyone who travels enough eventually breaks off one of the zipper pulls.  I happen to have broken off 2 from the compartment where I keep my liquids bag.

There are many different solutions people have:

• Paperclip
• Twist tie
• cable tie
• Key ring/Key chain
• Zipper Fixer
• Zipper Mend which also retails at Walgreens

I opted to go with some cable ties that I had around the house.  It isn’t the prettiest, but it works.

I’m sorry for my haitus.  I was between internets while getting Time Warner’s new Signature Home installed with 50 mbps downstream, 5 mbps upstream.

I’ve had 2 more opt out stories recently.

CVG:

This was in the everyone but Delta terminal.  There was only 1 line open and they were randomly sending people through the Nude-o-Scope so I had no way to attempt to avoid it.  Of course I magically got chosen (they had been alternating, but I got chosen immediately after the person in front of me).  I got the “Do you have anything in your pockets” question and responded “I’m not going through that.”

The opt-out lady quickly positioned me in a way to face my stuff and  I was quickly on my way.

SAN:

I was in the line that was supposed to be for Experts, but really there was a couple 6 people in front of me who didn’t realize you couldn’t go through the Walk Through Metal Detector with a walker.  Why they were in the Expert line and not the (also open) line for people who need more time I don’t know.  When I got in the line the nude-o-scope was not open, but by the time it was finally my turn to go through the metal detector suddenly the nude-o-scope was opened.  I knew it was coming when I was putting all my stuff through the X Ray and heard “Do you have anything in your pockets, a watch, or belt?” The “anything in your pockets should be a dead ringer that you’re not going through a metal detector.  When I hear that line I instantly go into “I am not going through that” mode.  I don’t say “I opt out” but just “I’m not going through that.”

This was my third opt-out and the first time the lady seemed apprehensive to let me look at my stuff.  I positioned myself looking at my stuff and she was trying to reposition me so I’d be looking towards the Nude-o-scope.  I said “I would like to keep an eye on my stuff” and then she understood what I was doing.  She did her thing but instead of letting me gather my stuff while waiting for the explosives test I had to stay in place until the explosives test was completed.

The US Federal Air Marshal program seems to be in the news a lot recently.  First airlines are trying to kick them out of first class, then they get detained in Brazil but still get back to the US with magic new documents.

I don’t know too much about the second situation so I’ll talk about the first.

It was common knowledge on FlyerTalk that FAMs sat in the second row aisles.  They were on board even before any preboarders.  They had a military looking hair cut and did not usually have much with them.  They also didn’t sit there playing sudoku on their blackberry during boarding.  All of these descriptions are readily available online so the FAM program did mix things up.  Some anonymous FAMs who post on FT do say that FAMs are often in coach.

I used to think FAMs should indeed be in the very back of the plane.  After all, how can you see what is going on in the rest of the plane if it is all behind you?  Sure they had easy access to the cockpit, but other than that they were far away.  Then I thought about it more and from the back of the plane someone could take out that flight, but if the flight deck is breached then more people could lose their life.  A drunk lady on a plane is hardly the situation that would require FAMs to out themselves, but I wasn’t there.

Really the FAMs just seem to constantly get in the news for unrelated instances.

I fly Delta a lot and take advantage of their promos, but redeeming sky miles for airfare requires a PhD in patience and determination.  The last time  I used Sky Miles it was to get 2 tickets from ATL-DUB in coach for 90,000/ticket.  Since I really only take 1 international vacation per year and I travel enough for work to get oodles of miles on various carriers I decided to see what the SkyMiles Marketplace had.

from Amazon.com

DH wants a mac mini to replace his computer that was stolen in the breakin, but the only program I’m in that allows those for points is Citi’s Thank You Points.  I don’t keep too many TYPs on hand so I didn’t have the 115,000 it requires nor does TYP allow redemption for Amazon gift cards anymore (SPG is the only program I have seen that still has them).  Since we are changing from satellite back to cable we can finally easily use more than 1 TV so that is what I looked for.  Delta had many HDTVs in their marketplace.  I decided to pretty much deplete my balance and get the biggest TV I could afford.  Why?  Well because sometimes you just have more points than money.  Skymiles have little value to me compared to United miles so I will not use United miles to buy an iMac.  Using Skymiles to purchase a TV is fine with me.

I used ~236,000 miles for a TV that retails for $1000.  This isn’t really a great redemption, but when my choices are to sit on my pile of sky miles and grow it 250,000 per year or actually get something I chose actually get something.

My point is that it isn’t about always getting the most CPM, but about using miles for something that is worthwhile for *YOU*.

I’m stealing this tip from The Crew Lounge podcast.

I usually don’t touch the phone or remote or other frequently touched and uncleaned surfaces in a hotel room and I don’t dwell on germs anyway.  I know some of you out there do sanitize different surfaces including the phone and remote.  Since spraying or wiping may not always get all of the crevices in the remote Bobby on the Crew Lounge mentioned something else: the remote condom.  Take the disposable liner from the ice bucket and put that over the remote.

Don’t do this if you plan on getting ice.

Does anyone know much about it?  I just installed it and I’m very underwhelmed with it compared to TripIt.  Sure Pageonce will update you if something happens to your flight, but I think I will have to manually enter a lot of flights.  With TripIt I have my travel agent’s site set up to automatically e-mail the TripIt e-mail address and 95% of stuff is imported correctly (I’ve had 2 car reservations not come across with the company name, but that could be my travel agent’s site, not TripIt).  Pageonce goes by frequent flyer accounts.  This means you give them your usernames and passwords, but it also means that all my partner stuff doesn’t come across.  I’m a United elite and I’m flying Continental this week.  Since United doesn’t usually know about my partner itineraries this one doesn’t show.  I can’t even enter the confirmation number…I would need to enter flight numbers!

I have rooted my backflip and upgraded to android 2.1 so I should have app reviews of better apps coming soon.

I’m tired after waking up at 4 am and flying for 7 hours so I’ll clean up the grammar later.

This seems to be the trend now and I welcome it although I don’t think I requalified for Marriott Silver even after Rollover.

Being on the road doesn’t have to mean you’re far from home. In addition to free Internet at hundreds of hotels across North and South America, Gold and Platinum Elite members can enjoy free Internet at participating hotels across these brands worldwide starting January 7, 2011:

• JW Marriott®

• Autograph Collection®

• Renaissance® Hotels

• Marriott® Hotels & Resorts

As a Gold and Platinum Elite Member, you also will enjoy free Internet when staying with our hotel partner, The Ritz-Carlton®.

And, every guest will continue to receive free Internet at all participating EDITIONSM, Courtyard®, Fairfield Inn & Suites®, SpringHill Suites®, Residence Inn® and TownePlace Suites® hotels.

So whether you’re in your room, in the lobby or lounging pool-side, we’ll help you stay in touch.

I hate to start off with a title like that since I’m in the food industry and understand the issues airlines need to face to run their catering operations, but apparently it isn’t the food, it’s the atmosphere.

Airplane food tastes bad because your brain can’t handle the noise

For as long as there have been hack comedians, humanity has pondered the question: “What’s the deal with airline food?” Well, science has figured it out: airplanes are just too damn loud for food to taste good.Generally speaking, it’s not just that airplane food tastes bad – most passengers, when asked, report that the food is bland and a bit flavorless. Airlines have been very heavily seasoning and salting their foods for years in an attempt to counteract that, but they don’t have much success to show for it. As it turns out, it might have been easier to just figure out a way to make the engines run silently.

It’s an interesting premise.  I haven’t witnessed it myself though.  If we just talk about foods we are familiar with, I don’t think a red delicious apple tastes different on the ground or in the air.  I do wear some Shure earbud headphones which are practically an ear plug also (passive noise canceling) but that amplifies noise from chewing.  I also don’t notice any difference between beverages.  Maybe there is some taste memory so since I’m eating a red delicious apple and know what it should taste like it will taste that way unless it is bad.  In that case I’d need to eat 1/2 of a sandwich onboard and 1/2 of a sandwich in a quite location and determine a difference.

Until then I think this is an interesting hypothesis and making a quieter airplane would be very nice, but there isn’t a correlation to me.

Hilton is mixing it up a bit for the final quarter.  I don’t say many Sundays so this promo has less value for me than the others, but is good for people who travel Sun-Thurs.

Hilton HHonors 2010-Q4 promotion is Double Base Points for all stays, and 4x Base Points for the entire stay if it includes a Sunday night, completed between October 12 and December 30, 2010.

• Promotion dates: October 12 – December 30, 2010
• Double Base Points for all stays (20 points per dollar) or
• 4x Base Points for the entire stay if a Sunday night included (40 points per dollar)
• Points & Points (5 points/dollar) and elite bonuses are additional to promotion bonus
• Registration is required first before stays count:  www.HHonors.com/Sunday
  

Hat tip to Loyalty Traveler

I am well versed in US Airway’s stand-by policy.  As a United elite I’m not eligible for a free confirmed seat on an earlier flight (that’s $50) but I can stand-by for free.  The caveat to this is that they can’t be able to confirm me to put me on stand-by.

I got to MCO at around 12:30 pm for a 5:15 pm flight.  I went to the Star Alliance gold check in and requested to go stand-by on an earlier flight.  They had a 1:30 and a 3:30, but apparently both had confirmable seats so she would have to charge me.  Since my bag was expanded I didn’t want to hassle with it on board and I checked it meaning that  I couldn’t play the “if you don’t like that answer ask again” with the gate agents.  I also didn’t want to pay $50 to get home earlier.

By the time my flight came around they were oversold by 2 and were offering $125 in travel credit.  Since that seemed very low compared to what they usually offer I didn’t bother.  I just laughed that they could have waived my confirmed fee and put me on an earlier flight and avoided the need of 1 volunteer.