“So, your flight was delayed, and may be cancelled. You missed your connecting flight and you face hours at the airport waiting for Plan B to play out. What to do?

Given that so many travelers feel air travel is driving them to drink, why not take this literally and seek out good places at the airport for a colorful cocktail, fine wine or hearty beer?

Beer is the most budget-friendly quaffing option, and airports are increasingly putting the good stuff on offer: toothsome microbrews, unique specialty beers and other fresh-from-the-tap alternatives to watery, character-free, mass-market suds.

The need to drown your sorrows has combined with the trend of airport concessions offering better beers to prompt UK-based Cheapflights.com to develop a “Beer Lover’s Airport Guide” to 15 U.S. airports. Beer bloggers and others are compiling airport lists, too.

“More airports are transforming themselves into places that travelers enjoy,” said Carl Schwartz, a Cheapflights.com executive. “The addition of specialty brews to their beverage lineups is helping to decrease stress levels while providing unique enjoyment at the same time.”

Given the turbulence in aviation, and the scary state of the economy, we have to hope so.

Jerome Greer Chandler, of Cheapflights.com, singles out Portland, Oregon’s airport for its Laurelwood Brewing Co. outposts — both are located post-security — in concourses A and E. Laurelwood’s Organic Tree-Hugger Porter is “robust and dark, with a chocolate malt ambience and a dry, roasty finish.”

Chandler favors another exemplar of American micro-brewing in the Denver International airport. This is New Belgium, a brewery that pours its beers in a pub called The Hub in the Mile High Aerodrome in concourse B of the regional jet terminal. “Nicely balanced” Fat Tire Amber Ale is showcased there.” ( via www.msnbc.msn.com ) by David Armstrong. (image moonbattery.com)

Pointswizard.com Spin: read more Waiting for your flight? Relax and have a beer

“He knew he had the miles and thought he had plenty of time.

Yet when Greg Marzolf tried to redeem frequent-flier miles early last year for a ticket to Colorado over Christmas — several months away — the Pendleton, S.C., resident said US Airways told him the return flight was off limits.

That’s a blackout date, they said. What gives, Marzolf wondered.

As it turns out, US Airways — Charlotte’s dominant airline, with more than 80 percent of daily flights — has flagged several dozen dates on which travelers can’t use Dividend Miles. Some apply to U.S. travel, while others are for overseas flights.

As the cost of tickets continues to climb, travelers who hope to cash in frequent-flier miles are finding more hurdles to getting a free flight.

Besides requiring more miles and making fewer seats available, airlines have expanded blackout dates so they can keep seats open for paying customers, said David Stamey, director of consumer and industry affairs for the International Airline Passengers Association.

“The restrictions have gotten tighter,” said Stamey, whose group promotes passengers’ rights and provides discounts on hotel rooms, rental cars and insurance. “You don’t get to redeem your miles, sadly, for the trip you would like to take.”

Policies on blackout dates vary by airline. United Airlines and American Airlines said they don’t have blackout dates. Southwest Airlines, like US Airways, posts dates on its Web site.

Travis Christ, vice president for sales and marketing at US Airways, said the Tempe, Ariz.-based carrier shares those dates so customers can better plan their frequent-flier travel. The dates are off-limits for miles, he said, because US Airways can fill planes with paying passengers.

“It’s pretty simple economics,” Christ said. “Those are very high demand days, and we want to be upfront with our customers.”

If US Airways made even a small number of seats available for frequent fliers, he said, it would have to make up that lost revenue somewhere else.

“You’re pushing down on the balloon, and it’s going to pop up somewhere else,” he said. “There’s no free lunch.”

Forget Thanksgiving

Some blackout dates are obvious, such as the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and the Sunday afterward. US Airways also has blacked out every Saturday from June 14 to October 11 — nearly four months — for flights to and from Europe.Other dates in March and April are in high demand because of school spring breaks and the Easter holiday, Christ said, adding that blackout dates are studied by the airline’s revenue management division.” (via www.charlotte.com ) by JEFFERSON GEORGE

Pointswizard.com Spin: Read more-click here

“If you’re a frequent user of Priceline like I am, you know there are bidding restrictions. These restrictions can lead to overbidding.

You may still get a pretty good deal, but not the lowest rock-bottom price that Priceline has hidden in its computer system.

You can’t simply increase your bid by $1 after each rejection. If you don’t want to change your dates of travel or hotel class or add an additional hotel zone, Priceline makes you wait 24 hours before you can bid again.

But there is a way to manipulate your bidding, find the cheapest price offered, get around the 24-hour rule and stay exactly in the area you want. ”
[Via komotv.com/news]

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To see the rest of the article click on blue line above

“The country’s effort to move away from a dependence on foreign oil and embrace green initiatives appears to be behind a change in one of New York’s purest traditions, the menu of the classic steakhouse.

The production of ethanol, which is made from corn, is one major reason classic cuts of prime beef are becoming more and more expensive, an analyst at the cattle market analysis firm Cattle-Fax, Tod Kalous, said.

“It’s getting worse,” the owner of Ben Benson’s Steakhouse, Ben Benson, said. “The problems the ranchers are having are making it more difficult because feed is getting more expensive.”

Brooklyn’s Peter Luger Steakhouse now serves a rib eye. On some nights at Ben Benson’s in Midtown, diners can order buffalo steak. The Old Homestead of the meatpacking district serves one of the city’s best Kobe burgers.

The new menu items at some city steakhouses are a result of an increase in the price of top-notch beef and a decrease in its availability.
Corn is the primary feed for cattle that produce USDA-grade prime beef. Corn is also the main ingredient for what many believe is the fuel of the future, ethanol. The production of ethanol has not only increased the demand for corn, it has made harvests more profitable for farmers, who receive the fruits of government subsidies when it is sold to ethanol producers.” [Via NYSUN.COM]

The Pointswizard.com Spin:
Well, There’s always Ranch1 for chicken.

The fact is that these smaller upstart airlines like JetBlue, Air Tran, Spirit, etc have taken away business from the major airlines. They’ve done it by competing with new planes, better service, different entertainment, and some times better fares. Sometimes things go terribly wrong-read what happened to this JetBlue customer.

Here is a letter from one of our readers about JetBlue:

Let me start off by saying I was a huge JetBlue fan and supporter that is until the night of (Feb15-16)

This was by far the worst JetBlue experience I have ever had from start to finish.

First my JetBlue flight was canceled (3PM las-jfk Wed. Feb15- Next the flight I was put on was supposed to leave a 12:30am (FLT# 190 las-jfk) the website and phone system said it was on time.

I arrived at the Las Vegas airport at 11pm on Thurs (Feb15) to discover that I was completely mislead. It turned out FLT#190 was delayed 6 hours. I had to wait and wound up passing out on the airport floor from exhaustion. At 4:30 AM now (Feb. 16) I was put on what I was told was going to be a “JetBlue” flight and that my luggage would arrive with my flight as well.

Then I find out its a charter plane from a company called Omni which is probably one of the worst planes I have been on with non JetBlue employees as the attendants. with the luggage coming 2hours later on another plane.
I spent over $400 for one way to fly the JetBlue experience and nothing less - that’s not what I got.

Because of the misinformation I lost a whole day of work and a nights sleep. The charter plane got me into JFK at 1:30PM Fri. I missed an important business meeting that I had to be at on Friday AM - losing thousands of dollars in sales.
Needless to say my loved ones were confused as the JetBlue web site said the 1240am flight was cancelled, then taking off at 6AM

Even though as a new airline They don’t participate in Rule 240.(with rules about what to be done in a case like this)

No effort was made to see if a seat could of been found on another airline going back to New York City- which was the least that could of been done. Then to top it all off my luggage didn’t come on another plane 2 hours later as was promised to be delivered on Friday- I got it Monday at 1PM.

Saturday AM and early PM I was on the phone for hours as JetBlue’s special baggage line (866— —-) rang 3-4 times and went to dead air and on a second phone calling 800 JetBlue and could not get through.

After having my luggage missing for the 2nd day with no clean clothes to go to a wedding celebration I tried calling JetBlue to get permission to buy clothes I needed for a wedding and toiletries and health and beauty aids. Not being able to get to talk to somebody I did what other airlines allow I had to go out to buy clothes and health and beauty aids I needed

When I finally got my baggage from the flight on Monday I find missing my black pinstripe suit from Barney’s New York that cost $975

the following are the monies I asked to be paid back to me by JetBlue

$ for clothes to be used for 2 events on Saturday since luggage was missing $301.41
$ for health and beauty aids needed since luggage was missing $ 75.61
$ missing men’s suit from luggage upon delivery $975.00
$ back for Wed.-Thurs flight screw ups (las-jfk) $400.00
—————
Total $ 1.752.02

Truly Blue,
A JetBlue customer

P.S.- After many calls, certified letter, still more calls to JetBlue etc, etc - they finally gave back money for flight, clothes, and lost item in luggage, but it wasn’t easy.

The Pointswizard.com Spin:
Thanks to our reader JB for sending us your story