One Mile at a Time

It’s time for a reader photo. Thanks to Hockeystl for sending in this one.

Correct Answer:
Winner:

If you’d like your photo featured, please email it to me at onemileatatime@hotmail.com, along with the correct answer.

Posted on February 9th, 2010 by lucky
Filed under: Photo Contest | 2 Comments »

I was hoping to have some exciting stories about having scored $600 in travel credits this evening, but unfortunately there was no such luck. Instead I flew coach for the first time this year — voluntarily! As ridiculous as it might sound, I wanted to fly coach. There was upgrade space and I had upgrade certificates, but I also wanted to get some reading done and I just get too distracted in first class with all the food.

And I’ve gotta say, based on the way I flew today, first class isn’t even worth the click of the mouse that it takes to request an upgrade.

On both of my flights today I had an Economy Plus seat with an empty middle. On the first flight it was 6C on an A320, and the second flight was 10A on a B757. The first flight had the new leather seats, which were extremely comfortable. The real fun started on my second flight.

The gate agent announced that passengers with disabilities could board. At that point it occurred to me I was seated in 9C (I hadn’t even looked at my boarding pass), which is the aisle seat in the first row. Sounds nice in theory, but during boarding you get knocked right in the face by everyone’s carry-on. So I approached the gate agent and said “speaking of disabilities, to avoid one, do you have any other Economy Plus seat available besides 9C?” He chuckled and assigned me 10A, promising to keep 10B blocked.

The real shocker came with the crew on this flight. I thought I was flying a different airline. Two of the flight attendants had to be under 25, while the other two were under 35. What the heck? Compare that to the rather elderly (and as a blog reader that was on the flight confirms, rather matronly) flight attendant I had on the outbound.

As boarding finished up the gate agent came aboard and loudly told the flight attendants “he’s the only 1K, take good care of him.” Wow, very nice, although I wish he hadn’t basically said it loud enough for the whole Economy Plus cabin to hear.

And indeed they took good care of me. They offered me whatever I wanted to eat (even asked if I wanted anything to go), and even brought me a cookie from first class. They were all around excellent, and that goes beyond them being nice to me.

What was really funny was that one of the flight attendants had been with United for less than two years. The ever-so-slightly more senior purser (who, coincidentally was that flight attendant’s partner) explained he was actually the most junior Chicago based flight attendant. So that was a new one for me — two flight attendants that are “together” on the same flight, and such a young crew.

I think I better stick to coach from now on!

Posted on February 7th, 2010 by lucky
Filed under: Travel, United | 11 Comments »

Well, my flight to Washington (which was zeroed out, coincidentally) was canceled, leaving me on the west coast. United “protected” me on a US Airways flight. Without inserting any jokes, let’s just say that I don’t consider being rebooked on US Airways to be much in the way of protection!

I asked to be rerouted on United, and they offered me a connection through Denver tomorrow morning. Sounds good to me, as one of the flights is sold out and the other flight is filling up quickly. Then I asked if there’s any chance I could get my hotel comped since I’m a 1K. I explained that I knew the situation was completely outside of United’s control, but in the past I was accomodated as a 1K. The first agent that “helped” me looked at me as if I was crazy, and basically said it too. She claimed United didn’t ever provide hotels for any passengers when the weather was at fault. The other agent said basically the same thing. I asked if they could double check, and they did call up a supervisor. The supervisor claimed I got part of the “rule” right — 1Ks do get their hotels taken care of, but only when connecting as opposed to at the origin.

Oh well, at least I’ll be earning points tonight. I’m still hoping for a bump tomorrow, but I’m slowly starting to think that the folks at inventory management have their act together…. ruh oh!

Posted on February 6th, 2010 by lucky
Filed under: Mileage Runs, Travel, United | 7 Comments »

I have to give hotels a lot of credit for taking complaints seriously. In my experience if there’s an issue at a hotel, they’ll do a much better job actually addressing the issue than airlines will. While airlines might throw a “gesture of goodwill” your way, hotels actually make listen to customers and make changes (or if it’s an issue that only impacts that guest, maybe offer a refund or future stay).

That being said, I’m not sure what to think about the survey that is on my desk at the rather mediocre Holiday Inn I’m staying at. Don’t get me wrong, it’s decent, the employees are nice, and everything is ok, but the rooms aren’t renovated or “fresh” and there are some minor things that annoy me. Of course unlike most people on TripAdvisor, I’m not expecting Ritz Carlton treatment for the $80/night rate I’m paying.

But there is a sheet of paper they left on my desk which outlines Priority Club benefits, and at the bottom is a little survey which reads as follows:

Our goal is to make sure you have a very comfortable stay with us. Please fill out this form and leave it at the desk. We highly appreciate your feedback.

1. Are you completely satisfied with your stay?
2. Can you mark “Very satisfied” on the survey you will receive from InterContinental hotels within the next couple of weeks?

If you answered no to either of these questions, how may we contact you to correct the problem?

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate their proactive approach to customer service, but if I’m understanding them correctly they’ll get in touch with me if I felt my stay anything but very satisfying.

I paid $80/night for my stay and am earning lots of Priority Club points. Would I return? Probably, because of their affiliation with Priority Club. Does the hotel itself leave me “completely satisfied?” Probably not. Would I mark “very satisfied” (as opposed to “satisfied”) on the survey I receive? Probably not. But that doesn’t mean my stay was bad. But do we really expect to have a stay that is “very satisfying” at an airport hotel? Besides, doesn’t the second question seem a bit pushy?

I’m tempted to mark “no” to the second one and see if they contact me. Of course my advice would in on way be practically constructive. At the very least I’d suggest they replace the furniture, which is a multi-million dollar investment, of course.

I’ve written in the past about the Holiday Inn Ontario, for example. It’s simply an incredible hotel. It’s cheap, has incredible customer service, fresh rooms, and is all around modern. They recognize my Platinum status every time and give me a nice room upgrade. The hotel simply “gets it.” They have left me completely satisfied with every aspect of every single stay. But I can’t say the same about almost all other hotel stays I’ve made at sub-four star hotels.

Posted on February 5th, 2010 by lucky
Filed under: Hotels | 5 Comments »

It’s time for a reader photo. Thanks to Christian for sending in this one.

Correct Answer:
Winner:

If you’d like your photo featured, please email it to me at onemileatatime@hotmail.com, along with the correct answer.

Posted on February 5th, 2010 by lucky
Filed under: Photo Contest | 21 Comments »