Pearls of Travel Wisdom » Current Affairs

First Flight out of SFB – Better than Expected!

Carol Margolis — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:04:16 +0000

Orlando International Airport (MCO) has been my home-base airport for the past twenty years. But did you know that Orlando also has a second airport? Orlando Sanford International Airport (SFB) is about 50 miles from Disney World, about double the distance from MCO. Though great for me, SFB is only 10 miles from my house, compared to 30 miles to MCO. It offers close proximity to the Lake Mary, Longwood and Altamonte Springs areas.

I flew out of SFB for the very first time last night. A business trip to Reykjavik had me searching Delta and Continental, though with 3 to 4 connections and very high fares, a direct flight to Reykjavik out of Sanford’s airport was a quarter of the price in a quarter of the hours! Granted, getting no miles towards my Diamond or 1K status may have me regretting this flight later in the year, but its practicality won me over for this trip.

SFB has two terminals, with about four airlines flying out of each. It’s an airport that if you blink, you may miss it. However, I was surprisingly very impressed with the airport.

Security was a breeze with only one other passenger going through the line with me. The airport is larger than it looks from the outside, with a huge seating area near the international gates, restaurants, Duty Free and other stores, and free wi-fi. Though what surprised me the most was the lounge for international travelers.

The Royal Palm Lounge is available to business class international travelers and those with Priority Pass. Day passes and arrangements with tour providers for access are also available. This lounge offers a bar area (2 free drinks of beer or wine included), a children’s play area and a Sony Playstation area. There is a separate behind-glass doors smoking area, which is very rare to see within a lounge. You can also order food from a nearby restaurant and the lounge attendant will deliver the food directly to you. Nice to be able to eat a full meal instead of just living on lounge snacks.

There is a bar/eating area, a big-screen tv room, as well as a good-sized comfy sofa and chair area.

Now that I am impressed with the airport, its lounge and the close proximity to my house, I’d love to see a few flights by Delta or Continental come into SFB. Can’t hurt to hope!

To receive a free copy of our ebook, 70 Secrets to Safe Travel — Because Your Life Can Change in a Heartbeat, and for more travel savvy info to help you travel smarter, safer and with more enjoyment, visit SmartWomenTravelers.com and PearlsofTravelWisdom.com. Watch for my new book, Business Travel Success – How to Reduce Stress, Be More Productive and Travel with Confidence, being published by Morgan James in early 2012.

It’s Your Choice! Fairmont Hotels Promotion Offer

Carol Margolis — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:43:41 +0000

Fairmont Hotels is offering an interesting promotion. Choose the deal that most appeals to you:

Up to 30% off the room rates
Free breakfast for two
Stay for a free night

All of these deals include 10% off Air Canada flights, and some of them include bonus air miles. This promotion applies to their resort properties worldwide so it may appeal to US travelers as well as Canadian and international travelers. Some properties may have blackout dates so verify the qualifications before booking.

I love Fairmont Hotels (Lake Louise is my all-time favorite!) and all of these deals sound good to me! Choices, choices!

This promotion is good for travel through April 30, 2012 but note the hotel must be booked by February 7, 2012, so act fast if you are interested.

One-Third of the Way There with Airline Fee Disclosure

Carol Margolis — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:19:38 +0000

It’s been talked about for a long time and the rules are finally changing – airlines will need to disclose government taxes and fees and other mandatory charges in their advertised fares. Baggage fees are another item that will soon be full disclosed.

Airlines to Disclose Ticket Prices Upfront gives more details on the rules that go into effect on January 24th.

Now we need the other two-thirds taken care of.

How would you like to know the full price of a hotel room (showing the myriad of taxes and those annoying resort fees) upon your initial searching? There should be a rule for this one, too. I recently had to explain to a few international travelers who were visiting the U.S. why their credit cards were charged $203.00 for a hotel room that cost $179.00 a night.

And while advocating new rules, how about one for car rentals? Instead of seeing $42.00/day like I often do in cities I travel, show me the true rate of $68.00 once the airport concession fee recovery is added, the busing cost recovery, property tax, title/license reimbursement & customer facility charge and energy surcharge. What are all these charges anyway? Oh, and don’t forget the tax!

Let’s first see how the airlines react on January 24th to the new rules. If it’s successful here, maybe here’s hope for the other two thirds.

Final Chance to Win 2 Nights at a Marriott Courtyard

Carol Margolis — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 13:00:05 +0000

We’re down to just hours. By this time tomorrow the winning name will be selected. Enter now for your chance to win 2 nights at any Marriott Courtyard in the continental U.S. It’s easy, it’s fast and it’s a great holiday gift if you win. Go here for the details and I hope I’ll be contacting you shortly!

Hertz GoldChoice – A New Type of Hybrid

Carol Margolis — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 13:54:28 +0000

Signs were displayed all throughout the Hertz rental car lot in Houston’s Intercontinental Airport (IAH) this week announcing their GoldChoice program. This was the first time I’ve seen these signs in IAH’s Hertz lot, even though I’ve rented from this same location multiple times over the past few months.

Hmmm … GoldChoice. What’s this? It’s Hertz’s new program that is a combination of having an assigned car all ready for you (if you are a Hertz Gold customer) and being able to select your own car – kind of a Hertz Gold / National Emerald Isle combo.

I took a look at the GoldChoice aisle to see what types of cars were available. They were mostly mid-size and full-size cars, maybe 20 or so cars to choose from on a busy Monday morning. One lone SUV was in the GoldChoice aisle, maybe because others had already been taken. When in Houston, it’s always good to be up high on the road when you’re sharing the highways with lots of Texas trucks.

As I was checking out, I asked if this program was new and was it unique to Houston. “No,” said the attendant. “GoldChoice has been in Houston for a couple of months, and it’s now available in other cities as well.” I can believe the latter part of his statement but not the first. If it’s been in Houston for a couple of months, their signs have been invisible and their GoldChoice aisle must have been over at Avis. Like I said, I’ve rented from IAH weekly, all but Thanksgiving week, and there have been no signs of the GoldChoice option until now.

I like the idea of this new hybrid model. If there is a car more to my liking in the GoldChoice section, then I’ll take that car; otherwise I’ll keep what’s been assigned. The only challenge with this is that I’ll want to first see what I was assigned. This means first walking to the GoldChoice aisle to see what’s available, then walking across the aisles to find my assigned car. If I then realize that I’d like a GoldChoice car more, than I’ll have to do an about-face and head back to GoldChoice. Not the worst thing in the world, but time-consuming. I could also stop in at the Gold desk and ask for what car has been assigned. Or just take the assigned car. Or just go with a personally-selected GoldChoice car. Such decisions…

I’ll be curious for next Monday morning’s rental. I really need a minivan next week as I have several colleagues I’ll be traveling with. Do I reserve and pay the higher cost for a minivan or take a chance that the GoldChoice aisle has one waiting for me?

While I figure out what to do, why don’t you check out more details on Hertz’s new GoldChoice program and the available locations. Let me know your thoughts.

New TSA PreCheck Program: How Good Is It?

Carol Margolis — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 20:01:25 +0000

TSA’s new “trusted traveler” program, known as PreCheck, went into effect a few days ago. From the press release, “Eligible passengers may be referred to a lane where they will experience expedited screening.” This pilot program is the long overdue beginning of risk-based traveler assessment. Not surprising, there are many limitations to gain entry into this trial program:

It is only available to American Airlines and Delta Airlines passengers.
It is only limited to a few airport hubs (Dallas and Miami for American, Atlanta and Detroit for Delta).
And only some frequent fliers qualify.

TSA also built in some safeguards. They may at any time change their policy and make this separate line just like all the others. In addition, they do not guarantee that merely because of enrollment in this program that passengers will receive expedited service every time. At some point, I expect them to test this by denying access on a periodic basis. How frequently this occurs will likely determine the program’s success or failure.

I had the opportunity to try out PreCheck last week. Embedded information in the boarding pass barcode directs travelers to an expedited line. Anything metal like change or cellphones are either placed in a carry-on bag or one of the small buckets. Everything else – liquids, shoes, belts, coats, and laptops – remain in the carry-on bag or on your person. It was simply a matter of dropping my carry-on bag on the conveyor belt and walking through the metal detector. Total time to get through the expedited line: less than 60 seconds.

Needless to say, this is a dream for frequent travelers. It was such a pleasant experience that I thought about exiting the security area and going through the line again!

Some frequent travelers I spoke to expressed apprehension, reminding me that one bad apple could ruin this for the lot of us. We would all still walk through security with our shoes on if it weren’t for Richard Reid.

While other passengers may resent this “special” treatment granted to a select few, there is a benefit for them, as well. Moving frequent travelers to expedited lines means shorter lines for everyone else. When this program is successful (crossing my fingers), it will expand to more airports and shorten security lines for even more travelers.

Here’s hoping that the TSA’s new PreCheck program really takes off!

Passenger rights when flights are canceled

Carol Margolis — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 13:15:09 +0000

If you’re scheduled for a business trip this week and it involves a flight to or from the Northeast, check out this post on Passenger rights when flights are canceled by MSNBC.com. It’s going to take several days before all flight schedules are back to normal after Hurricane Irene.

To receive a free copy of our ebook, 70 Secrets to Safe Travel — Because Your Life Can Change in a Heartbeat, and for more travel savvy info to help you travel smarter, safer and with more enjoyment, visit SmartWomenTravelers.com andPearlsofTravelWisdom.com. Watch for my new book, Business Travel Success … How to Reduce Stress, Be More Productive and Travel with Confidence,being published by Morgan James in 2011.

Interview with Protesting United Pilots and Flight Attendants

Carol Margolis — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 00:32:05 +0000

CAROL: This is Carol Margolis from SmartWomenTravelers.com and PearlsofTravelWisdom.com and I’m here at the Global Business Travel Association Meeting in Denver and about to go in to a session with Jeff Smisek, CEO of United Continental Holdings, Inc. There is picketing going on outside by United Pilots and Flight Attendants. I’m here with Garth Thompson, a pilot from United Airlines.

Garth, want to tell us why you’re out here and what your message is?

GARTH: Well certainly. Thanks for coming out to meet us. It’s been 15 months since United and Continental announced their merger and although the senior managers took large compensation increases immediately after the announcement, the rest of the employees have yet to receive a contract that covers the integrated workforce.

We’re out here to say that the foot dragging needs to stop, the buzzwords such as “working together”, “changing the culture” and these kind of things need to stop and we need to have earnest negotiations at the table.

CAROL: And how does this impact business travelers sitting behind you at the back of the bus?

GARTH: Well it never bodes well for a service industry to have labor disputes between management and worker bees, and it’s gotten pretty contentious and only promises to grow unless we see some movement at the table.

CAROL: So is there anything that we can help with as business travelers?

GARTH: Certainly. Jeff.Smisek@United.com is, I believe, our CEO’s email address. I would love for our most frequent flyers to send him a message today that he took care of himself, and now it’s time to take care of your employees.

CAROL: Garth, your message is getting across and you have an audience out here. Thanks for your input today.

GARTH: Thank you for your time.

New Airplane Boarding Procedures Could Be In Your Future

Carol Margolis — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 12:14:03 +0000

This Wall Street Journal article focuses on American Airlines’ efforts to speed up the boarding process. In a two year study, the airline found that randomizing boarding can actually reduce boarding procedures and get you in the air faster.

You’ve been boarded by row numbers from the back of the plane to the front and you’ve waited for your zone to be called (or your lights to blink at Southwest), but have you been boarded by window or aisle? American found that boarding windows seats first, then middle and aisles, can shave a few minutes off of the boarding time.

No more getting stuck behind that one passenger trying to cram their oversized bag in to the first available space they see because they’ll be more likely to easily move forward to their own seat area. When you randomize and spread out the boarding, studies show that the traffic flows better and faster.

I’ll go along with anything that gets the crowd in the jetway moving forward faster. In my travels, I’m either an early boarder (first class upgrade or elite boarding status) when I have a carry-on bag, which is most always, or the dawdler who is in no hurry to get aboard.

Once in awhile I do check a bag. On those occasions, I’m very happy to be the last one to board the plane since I don’t have to worry about finding overhead space. It’s very freeing to not have the ”is there overhead space near my seat?” worry.

I’m almost never a middle-of-the-pack boarder as I abhor the slow crawl through the jetway and the aisle to get to my seat. So even if their airlines changed their boarding sequence, I’ll stick with my personal sequence of boarding.

What do you think of these various boarding methods? And what is your modus operandi for boarding?

International Travelers: Register with the State Department

Carol Margolis — Mon, 02 May 2011 21:26:17 +0000

What’s the impact on your business travels following the news that Osama bin Laden has been killed? Hopefully nothing at all. However, the State Department has warned Americans worldwide of “enhanced potential for anti-American violence” so be prepared.

If you are traveling internationally, register your itinerary with the State Department‘s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP). Hopefully no acts of terrorism will occur but be safe and let the State Department know of your international travels. I am out of the country as this news is unfolding and have updated the State Department website with my itinerary information. It only takes a few minutes to do this and there is no cost. You can also have the latest travel updates and security information emailed to you.

Keep apprised of the news over the next few days and weeks for any late-breaking news prior to your flights. Besides news sites such as USAToday and CNN, travel information is also available at travel.state.gov. Up-to-date information on security can also be obtained by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll-free in the United States and Canada or, for callers outside the United States and Canada, a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444.

Check TSA.gov before your flight. Their latest statement about the Bin Laden death: “TSA continually evaluates the latest threats and screening measures which are implemented based on the latest intelligence. As always, passengers may notice a variety of security measures at U.S. airports to include the use of physical bag checks, random gate screening, explosives detection technology, canine teams and behavior detection officers. We ask the traveling public to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to the authorities.”

Be safe. Be smart. Register your international travels now.