Thanks for reading Marshall Jackson on Travel in 2010!  Looking forward to 2011.

Hilton has rolled out it’s Q1 bonus points promotion.  You can read the details, and register for the offer here.  In summary, if you stay 2 nights, you get double points, 3 nights = triple points, and 4 nights will net you quadruple points.  You must register first, and then stay between January 3, 2011 and March 31, 2011.

Tips of the hat to Grace and Ric.  Also, be sure to check out Ric’s analysis of the Q1 promos from the major hotel loyalty programs.

1. Airfares will continue to rise.
2. Hotel rates will rise along with them.
3. Flights will remain full.  Have a backup plan, and a subscription to ExpertFlyer.
4. The war between airlines and online travel agencies will continue to heat up.  At this time, I’m not choosing sides, nor am I predicting who will win.  However, air travelers will likely loose.
5. Will it become worth your while to engage the services of a professional travel agent?  Only you know the value of your time spent searching for airfares.  But wouldn’t it be ironic if the end result of airlines’ war on online travel agencies drove more consumers into the doors of a brick and mortar travel agency?  Not predicting that will happen…just saying “what if?”
6. MJ on Travel will travel more in 2011 than 2010, and I’m looking forward to every mile of it.

What do you predict?

Here’s hoping the worst is over for holiday travelers in the northeast.  Even if I didn’t sound sympathetic in my last post, trust me, I am.  I can’t imagine a worse week for something like a a blizzard to happen.  Ugh!  Based on press reports from this afternoon, it sounds like things are close to getting back on track.  Mind you, that doesn’t mean everyone is on their way home…..just most that continued to want to fly.

It will be interesting to watch things unfold over the next few weeks.  I wonder if there will be a big move for some kind of government investigation of the mess at JFK this past week, including multi-hour tarmac delays experienced by several international airlines?  The finger pointing has already begun, so I assume something must be underway.  I certainly think the events of earlier this week have all but assured that international flights will now be a part of the 3-hour tarmac delay rule.  Whether that would’ve mattered this week or not, I don’t know.  I guess we’ll find out soon.

24 hours after the blizzard of 2010, and New Yorkers are complaining about all the streets not being plowed.  Maybe I’m jaded, but has everyone forgotten the THREE blizzards we in the DC area got last year?

A car in front of my house last February

Dear New Yorkers, it may be a couple more days before your streets are plowed.  Deal with it.  But the incessant complaining of unplowed streets did not inspire this post, trust me, I know how you feel even if I do sound a tad unsympathetic.  Let me tell you what did inspire me.  There seems to be a growing chorus of complainers worried that the US airline industry, following multiple years of multi-billion dollar losses, is making too much money.  I mean, a certain airline made a few hundred million last quarter, but lost 30 bazillion in the last 10 years, so they must be criminals, right?

OK folks, I’m sorry things haven’t gone well in travel this week, seriously, I am.  I’m 100 percent behind the theory that airlines have become tone-deaf in what the more mundane of us used to call “customer service.”  But really…it snows 20 inches in New York, and the airports are a little slow getting going.  And the airlines don’t operate all of their flights.  Seriously people, is this really a reason to post this kind of “news” reporting? You’ve gotta watch this.

ABC News

I didn’t think so.  Get it together people.

Mileage junkies worldwide know that a great way to top off your favorite mileage account is dining out at restaurants that participate in the Rewards Network program.  Approximately halfway through the year, I switched my credit cards over to the United Mileage Plus option in the RN program, and I’ve been earning Mileage Plus miles ever since.

Well today as I’m sometimes want to do during my lunch half-hour, I took a look at my mileage program balances as well as my progress in the Mileage Plus Dining program.  To my astonishment, I found that I was only one dine away from “VIP” status in the Mileage Plus Dining program.  VIP status will net you 5 miles per dollar spent on dining at participating restaurants as opposed to 3 miles per dollar for mere regular members.  Not being one to leave an extra 2 miles per dollar on the table, I began to think of how I might get that extra dine in.

Mrs MJ on Travel and I have no dining out plans until New Year’s Eve, and those do not include dining at a participating restaurant.  It just so happens that a participating restaurant is located very near my home Metro stop in DC’s Columbia Heights neighborhood.  Like any good mileage junkie, I paid them a visit after work just for a glass of wine (OK, 2 glasses).  Does that make me a little crazy?  Probably.  But the wine was good, and during the next year, I’ll be earning 5 miles per dollar spent on dining at participating restaurants.  Are you?  If not, sign up to participate with your favorite mileage program here.

I’m a little loathe to pontificate about traveling this week by air when I wasn’t involved (thankfully), but I can’t help myself.  Frankly, I can’t think of a worse week for a winter storm like the one that struck a wide swath across the southern and eastern US this week.  I suppose Thanksgiving might be worse, but the odds are much lower that you’re going to get a big storm then.  A scenario where Atlanta gets snow on Christmas Day, Washington and Philadelphia get a little bit of snow but lots of wind, and all three New York area airports close due to blizzard conditions is just a nightmare.  Couple that with a high percentage of travelers this week are inexperienced yearly fliers, and you’ve got the makings of a big mess in travel that’s likely to last throughout this week.  My heart goes out to the folks caught in this mess.  Try your best to be patient, but I know that’s easier said than done, especially when you hear that it might be days before you can be confirmed on another flight.  Any readers stuck in this mess?

I was just doing a little poking around Delta.com looking at flight options to Miami in May.  I noticed their daily nonstop flights from DCA to Miami were now scheduled to be aboard Compass EMB 175′s, and not Airbus 319′s like my most recent experience.  A little looking around narrowed the equipment change date to April 1.  So if you’re hoping for a nonstop mainline alternative to American on this route, better fly before then.  DCA to Tampa appears to switch from mainline to Delta Connection on the same day.

The EMB 175′s appear to have 12 First Class seats, and I have always found the EMB 170-190 family to be more like a real airliner than their other RJ cousins.  Don’t know if this will lead me back to AA for my Miami flights or not.  Anyone have experience with the Compass EMB 175′s?

Not looking good down south unless you are dreaming of a white Christmas.  Delta has already cancelled 300 flights in Atlanta, and 500 systemwide.  Mrs MJ on Travel and I had planned to remain in North Carolina until tomorrow, but instead, we are going to enjoy Christmas lunch with family and then launch for DC.  I’d rather be snowed in at home, than here in rural eastern North Carolina where snow plows are rarer than a move on dot org rally. 

Have a great holiday everyone.  Blogging from Washington, DC tomorrow!

I’ve been watching the little tiff between American Airlines and Orbitz (and now Expedia) with great interest.  Frankly, it’s almost entertaining to me.  I won’t come down solidly on the side of anyone in this battle.  Honestly, I “get” why American would like to reduce its distribution costs, but I also “get” why Orbitz doesn’t want to give away the store so to speak.  The fact that Expedia entered the fray by making American’s flights harder to find on its website is just icing on the cake for what is sure to be an exciting 2011 for airlines and those who sell the majority of their product.

Let’s face it folks, AA.com doesn’t carry the same kind of cachet that southwest.com does.  Brand loyalists like me might automatically go to AA.com to purchase their AA travel, but most of the world is not me.  Online travel agencies (OTA’s) are a big chunk of revenue sales for your average airline, and American is just that, an average airline.  They’re no longer the biggest kid on the block.  Now, if the other airlines jump on board behind American and start playing tough with the OTA’s, then American may be on to something.  On the other hand, if the rest of the airlines leave American swinging in the wind, then American will find itself eating a crow sandwich for Christmas dinner.  Sit back, relax, and enjoy the fight.  It’s going to be entertaining for airline geeks like me to watch.

I’ve been a been a fan of blogger extraordinaire, Brett Snyder’s The Cranky Flier for a long time.  My hope is that Marshall Jackson on Travel will be one fourth as insightful, entertaining, and useful as The Cranky Flier when I grow up.    Leveraging his knowledge of the airlines and travel, Brett launched Cranky Concierge.  Cranky Concierge provides flight planning as well as delay and cancellation assistance.  You can read about the full menu of services and associated pricing Cranky Concierge offers on their website.  I recently tried Cranky Concierge for the first time, and I wanted to share my experience with you.  Suffice it to say, that I was impressed with the services provided.

Mrs MJ on Travel and I were planning a quick getaway to Miami for an early winter thaw-out.  I booked our flights myself about one month in advance via delta.com, using SkyMiles for Delta’s new nonstops from DCA.  As the day of the trip drew closer, it was clear to me that I was running out of time to complete some pressing issues at work and take care of things around the house before our early morning departure to Miami.  I consider myself well-equipped to handle any kind of flight issues that come up, and usually arrive at the airport with more than one backup plan in case things go wrong.  In this case, I was working on some tight deadlines with work, and had heard reports of a possible major winter storm in the midwest.  But I just didn’t have time to obsess over our travel arrangements like I normally do.  I thought to myself that it would surely be nice to have a travel agent watching our flights, and searching for alternate arrangements in case things went wrong.  This seemed like an ideal scenario to try Cranky Concierge, so I went to the website and signed up for their flight assistance service.

After registering for the service, I shared the details of my trip with Cranky Concierge using TripIt.  That evening I received an email from Brett himself establishing contact, and letting me know I’d be receiving an email from my concierge (which wound up being Brett himself) in advance of the flight.  Well, the scene shifts to the day before our departure.  I check in online 24 hours in advance and hope for the best as news reports are coming in about flight disruptions in Delta’s big hubs at Minneapolis, Detroit, and Atlanta.  I could see this not unfolding well, but being an optimist, I just hoped for the best.

Later that afternoon, I received an email from Brett advising me that our Delta flight for the next morning had been canceled, and we had been rebooked on a connecting flight through Atlanta.  Brett offered to contact Delta and see if other options were available if the one that Delta had arranged was unworkable.  Unfortunately, it was.  We needed to be in Miami no later than 1:00pm.  If the connecting flight went on schedule, it would work, but the snow and ice in Atlanta didn’t leave me feeling very optimistic that connecting there would be a good idea.  What I really wanted was for Delta to invol us to the early American nonstop from DCA.  However, we were on mileage tickets, and this was a weather cancellation, I didn’t get my hopes up.  Nonetheless, Brett went to work, calling Delta on our behalf.  A little while later, I heard from Brett again…..with great news!  Delta had booked us on the first flight to Miami on American.  Within minutes, I was able to check in for our new American flights online.  Heck, my AAdvantage Platinum upgrade even cleared into First Class for both us!  The next morning, we were on our way to Miami thanks to Cranky Concierge!!!

Brett spent a lot of time on the phone handling things with Delta, enabling me to handle last minute issues with work and errands around the house, and not stress about calling the airline and hoping for the best.  I can’t say enough about how great the whole experience was.  If I find myself in a similar situation with work colliding with personal travel, I will use the service again.  Cranky Concierge gets the MJ on Travel gold star!  Try it for yourself.  You won’t be disappointed.