Not that I ever doubted the outcome, but late Friday, we learned that Continental and United would be able to proceed with their merger without fear of getting sued by the Justice Department.  Pending shareholder approval, the 2 airlines are headed towards an October wedding that will create the biggest airline on the planet.

Whether or not this is good for anyone is not for me to decide.  Frankly, as long as I can fly from A to B with some level of certitude,  and for a price that doesn’t exceed my mortgage payment, airlines can merge all they want.  Of course, many do not agree with my sentiment.  Notably, some members of Congress seem intent on waiving the re-regulation flag now that justice has reached the conclusion that there is no logical reason these companies should not be allowed to merge.

I love how the first words to be shouted by the anti-anything crowd when it comes to the airline industry is that “fares will rise.”  Well boohoo.  Is that a bad thing?  Afterall, we are talking about an industry that hasn’t made money since the Wright Brothers first took off from Kitty Hawk.  Fares will rise?  I sure as hell hope so.  Let me give you a little anecdotal evidence of why that’s not a bad thing.  Way back in the stone ages, OK, 1984 or so…..  my parents assembled the funding to buy your trusted blogger a roundtrip ticket from Raleigh, NC to Washington, DC.  Cost: $188 dollars.  (Yes, I’m an airline geek from way back to remember something like that)  On the other hand, I just purchased a roundtrip ticket for a flight from Washington to Raleigh for travel in 2 weeks that cost….. wait for it….  $198 dollars.  I’m no economist, but something tells me that in real dollars, that’s less than what my parents paid in 1984.

Don’t get me wrong.  I can think of a long list of things that airlines do to travelers that should raise the shackles of Congress or anyone else.  And you better believe, I love a cheap airfare as good as the next person.  But raise the re-regulation flag because a merger may lead to increased airfares?  Seriously, you’ve got to be kidding me?  And yes, I have heard of Southwest Airlines, and their low fares…and profits.  More on that later.

You may have read that I’ve been waxing philosophically lately about my air travel habits.  Frankly, no one values my time as highly as I do, and I think it’s time that I stop wasting time on connecting flights except when that’s the only way to get somewhere.  Living in Washington, DC, that makes United (in my opinion) an attractive option for my travels.  I did a little research on Flyertalk.com regarding United’s elite status matching practices and decided to pull the trigger.  I downloaded my current American AAdvantage and Delta Medallion statements, and attached them to a short email politely explaining what I was looking for.  I sent the email late Monday night.  At 1:30PM on Tuesday, I was Premier Executive with United. Only catch is that I have to fly 20 segments or 15,000 miles between now and late November.  That won’t be a problem, but given that I already have 4 other trips booked with other airlines during that time, I may have to suck it up and find a reason to take an extra trip so I can meet my end of the bargain.  In other words, I’m in the market to take a good mileage run.  If you have any ideas for high mileage and low cost destinations from DC, send them my way. 

Aside from saving me time, moving a chunk of my travel to United will give me a new travel topic to blog about.  I hope you’ll join me as I explore the Mileage Plus program, and watch how things evolve as United and Continental move towards becoming one airline.  Should be fun.

If you are a Citi AAdvantage cardholder, check your inboxes for a special offer.  I just received an offer for double AAdvantage miles on all purchases of apparel, entertainment and gas purchases between September 3 and September 6.  You must register by August 31 with your invitation number.  This is a pretty lame promotion, but I suppose if you’re going to purchase any of these items between these dates, you may as well get double miles for them.

The offer requires your invitation number, and the website for registration doesn’t offer a great deal of information, so I’m not posting a link.  This is just a heads up to check your inbox and spam filter if you carry a Citi AAdvantage card.

1. I got spoiled over the summer months.  Even as a lowly Delta Silver Medallion, my upgrades were clearing like clockwork.  The kids are back in school, and the big Medallions are back in the air.  I really don’t like coach all that much, even on short flights.

2. I’m going on a diet.  The only widebody I want to see is a 777, not my reflection in the mirror.  Impetus for this: see random musing # 1.

3. If this makes me seem snooty, so be it.  I can’t imagine having to fly even a minimal amount without some kind of elite status.  If I’m ever without status, I’ll be a Southwest customer before the sun goes down.

I’m completing a short 2-night stay at the Hilton Atlanta Downtown this week. This is my first stay at this 1,200+ room property, and I’ve found a lot of things to like about the hotel.

Getting There

The hotel is connected via covered Sky Bridge to the MARTA Peachtree rail station. That said, it’s not close. There are a couple of alternative Sky Bridge routes with the most direct being straight through Peachtree Mall to a parking garage next to the hotel. There is some signage in the MARTA station directing you towards the hotel, but beyond that, it’s not the most intuitive of routes. Unless you are familiar with downtown Atlanta and the Sky Bridge “system,” you might need to ask directions.

Checking In

Arriving on Tuesday afternoon, I was struck by how busy the hotel seemed. Check in was mobbed, but thankfully, the Hilton HHonors check in desk was fully staffed, and a very polite gentleman by the name of James had me processed in a few minutes. If you are a Diamond VIP member, I would skip the desk and just take the elevator straight to the 27th floor Executive Lounge which is staffed until 11PM, and will process your check in. I didn’t have my thinking cap on when I arrived, or I would’ve done that.

The Room

Room 2705, is an Executive Floor King room with standard Hilton amenities. Executive Level rooms also feature a 42″ LCD television, bathrobes, and nightly turndown service. The room is quite comfortable, with a nice work area that is well lit and functional. I especially appreciate the nightstand lamps which are equipped with an electrical outlet. Very handy for those of us that use our cell phones as alarm clocks and like to charge our phones overnight by the bed. The nightstands are equipped with soft floor lighting that sense movement as well, a neat feature that I appreciated. Overall, the room seems larger than average, and I like it a lot. Not over the top fancy by any means, but certainly a great room for a busy business traveler. Internet is $12.95 per 24 hour period. Thankfully I will no longer have to pay that kind of price as of September 1 as an HHonors Diamond VIP member.

Here’s a video of the room. I hope you find it useful.

The Hilton Atlanta Downtown has a large Executive Lounge. Per usual in the US, there’s a charge for alcohol, but free fountain sodas are available. The hotel provided several coupons for complimentary bottled water at check in as well. The morning and evening food spreads are pretty standard for US hotels. Floors 27 and 28 are considered the Executive Level, but the lounge is located on 27. The concierge and bartender were both quite polite and appeared helpful to those that had requests.

Around the Hotel

The selection of restaurants immediately surrounding the hotel is pretty disappointing. In fact, there really aren’t any. Not that I consider a 4 block walk anything major, but that’s about how far you have to go to find any eateries outside the hotel. I wandered around until I got bored and decided to drop into Morton’s Steakhouse for a quick cocktail. The bone-in ribeye was tempting, but I persevered! The hotel itself is home to Trader Vic’s on the lower level. I didn’t partake, but did wander through, and found the restaurant to be quite busy. Now I wish I’d stuck around. The Bistro Salad I enjoyed in the lobby bar was fine, but as I write this, I find myself craving something a little more inspired.

The Bottom Line

I like the hotel. All staff I encountered were polite and helpful. The hotel recently underwent a multi-million dollar renovation, and the rooms show it. The lack of restaurants in the immediate vicinity of the hotel seems problematic, but in truth, dining is a reasonable walk away. There are other good (and newer) HHonors properties downtown, notably the Hilton Garden Inn, and the Embassy Suites. But if standard Hilton service and access to amenities like an Executive Lounge and room upgrades are your thing, then the Hilton Atlanta Downtown is the place for HHonors loyalists to go.

Completed my first flight with TripTracker today, a short hop from DCA to ATL aboard Delta Air Lines.  I flew down this morning, and am staying at the Hilton Atlanta Downtown.  I played around with TripTracker this morning, specifically looking at its flight status tracking.  Here are a few screen shots of the app for my trip down.

Home Screen with Trip Details

As I noted, this is the home screen with details of the trip.  Selecting the outbound flight will yield the following screen.

Departure Information

While tapping arrival, will show your estimated arrival, and gate information.

Arrival Information

In the interest of full disclosure, I snapped these screen shots while inflight and using GoGo Inflight Internet.  I identified one minor issue, and I think it’s specific to Delta.  After departure, Delta appears to delete your current segment from visibility on Delta.com. This means it isn’t visible to TripTracker.  Shortly after I snapped this screen shot, I lost access to current flight information.  Again, I think this is specific to Delta, but I can’t be 100 percent certain.  Not the biggest deal, but something to be aware of.

TripTracker has a map feature that gets its data from Flightview.  I snapped a screen shot just before Delta deleted my segment from visibility on Delta.com.  Take a look.

Enroute to Atlanta

All in all, TripTracker works quite well.  I really like it, and appreciate the real time access it has to my current itineraries.  Give TripTracker a try.  I think you’ll like it too.  Be sure to report back any issues you experience via the comments section.

I’ve stumbled upon a pretty neat little iPhone app that I’m trying.  It’s called TripTracker, and I have to tell you, so far I really like it.  By happenstance, I noticed a post in the FlyerTalk.com thread on AA’s new iPhone app that mentioned TripTracker, so I thought I’d give it a try.  Two apps are available, TripTracker (free), and TripTracker Pro ($4.99).  As far as I can tell, the only discernable difference is the pro version is free of advertising, while the free version which I am testing features small and not annoying ads on the bottom of the screen.

Unlike TripIt, TripTracker works off of your frequent traveler accounts and automatically adds your itineraries, hotel stays, and rental car information almost immediately after they are booked.  There’s no need to forward your itineraries via email.  Simply enter your frequency account number and password, and TripTracker does the rest.  You can also add your flight information manually.  In addition to your basic travel information, TripTracker offers live flight status updates as well.

Tuesday will be my first opportunity to test TripTracker during a travel day.  If it doesn’t work as advertised, I’ll be sure to let you know.  In the meantime, if you are looking for a simple and effective way to manage your travel information, TripTracker is worth the free download and then some.  Depending on how it performs this week, I am likely to download the ad-free version soon.

If you downloaded the AA iPhone app I blogged about here, be sure to pay a visit to the iTunes store and download the update which became available today.  Among other things, it fixes an annoying little issue with the app that resulted in itineraries displaying incorrect times due to issues with time zones and the fall and spring time changes.  For example, I have a flight booked in November that departs at 6:05am, but the iPhone app displayed the departure time as 5:05am.  After I downloaded the update, the departure time displayed correctly.  Yay.  :)

I’m in a reflective mood tonight.  Don’t know why, but I hope you’ll indulge me while I….well….reflect.

It’s been a good travel year for me.  Certainly nothing like the few hundred thousand miles type of year I used to have in my slightly younger days, but definitely the best I’ve had in the last 5 years.  It could’ve been better if I could exercise complete control over my airline choices.  If that were the case, I’d be Executive Platinum on AA now, but likely drop to Platinum next year.  As it is, I’m Platinum on AA, and Silver Medallion on Delta.  I will likely hit Gold Medallion with Delta by year’s end, but I will drop to Gold with AA.  I’ll earn Gold, but already have lifetime Gold with AA by virtue of passing the 1 million mile mark this year, which was a big deal to me.

Perhaps that’s why I’m a bit reflective tonight.  If you haven’t picked up on it through my posts (I’m not sure I’ve ever clearly stated it), I spent the first several years of my post college working life with American Airlines.  First at American Eagle, then American itself.  Since leaving the company for more sedate pasture in 2004, I have with little exception gone out of my way to fly American, even if it meant connecting when a more convenient nonstop flight was available.  I had my reasons.  I’m comfortable with American since I “know” it, I like the AAdvantage program, and I have a certain sense of allegiance to my former coworkers.  Frankly, it’s nice to see someone you know when you go to the airport.

All that said, I really find myself wondering if going out of my way to fly American is worth the trouble.  I live in Washington, DC.  I can fly nonstop to just about anywhere in the world, and certainly anywhere I need to go in the USA. This summer, I spent some hard-earned miles on 2 pretty important European trips.  On each, I experienced some kind of operational issue or issues that resulted in missed flights, lost opportunity, and interruption of much needed holiday time. Certainly, American isn’t the only airline to have operational issues, and in the end, they got us where we were going.  But in both instances, the root of the problem was that I was connecting to get to my destination.

I shouldn’t have to plan a 4 hour layover in Chicago to ensure I make a connection, but in both of these instances, that’s what it would’ve taken for the rest of my travel to go as planned.  All of this I could tolerate, but delaying MrsMJonTravel’s arrival in Italy and England comes with consequences.  ;)  OK, I’m kidding a little.  I certainly won’t be avoiding American. I’ll just fly them when it makes the most sense from a scheduling and convenience perspective.  Having lifetime AAdvantage Gold status will make my AA flights a little better than they would be otherwise.  And the upcoming joint venture with BA opens up even more options for AAdvantage miles.

So…where do I go from here?  Delta could be an option.  I’ve made no secret of my fondness for flying Delta.  They have a fairly significant (and expanding) operation at nearby DCA, and right now, I’m making relatively frequent trips to Atlanta, which makes focusing on Delta somewhat attractive.  Then there’s SkyMiles.  While I’ve noted some distinct improvement in the SkyMiles program of late, I’m still not convinced you can actually get an award seat on Delta for a reasonable amount of miles.  In fact, the 2 award trips I took to Europe this summer were simply not available on Delta…..yes, I checked just for curiosity.  Well, they were available, but for twice as many miles.  While I will keep my eye on Delta and SkyMiles, I’m just not convinced that Delta is the answer to what I’m looking for right now.

The seemingly easy answer is United.  They hub at Dulles, which is admittedly a bit of a hike from my Northwest DC home.  But when I factor in their Star Alliance partnership with US Airways, which has something of a hub of its own at nearby DCA, things begin to clear up.  US Airways Dividend Miles would be attractive to me as a frequent flier program, but I don’t trust them not to toy with their program in ways that are detrimental to me.  As it stands now, when US Airways offers a convenient flight from DCA, I can bank the miles to United.  First Class upgrades would be nice, but I can live without them on the short flights up and down the east coast from DCA.  When I’m heading to the west coast or Europe, I could make the drive to Dulles and fly nonstop.

After thinking (probably too much) about it, I believe the time has come to reengineer my mileage scheme strategy, and shift my focus to an airline and a program that I don’t have to go out of my way to use.  I think that airline and program are United and Mileage Plus.  What do you think?  Have you ever found yourself rethinking your frequent flier strategy?  I’d love to hear from you, and I’m sure other readers would too.  And thank you for your tolerance of this reflective post.  :)

I’m not an AirTran guy, but if they suit your needs, why not take $12 dollars off your next flight?  Click here for your voucher and the terms and conditions.

I guess Delta wants to pump up interest in its partnership with Alaska Airlines, because they’re offering double bonus miles between September 15 and November 15, 2010, when you fly Delta (or certain SkyTeam partners) and Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air on the same ticket.  Click here for details and registration.