Posted by Seth on April 29, 2008 under News | 
The editors of Southern Living, Coastal Living, Sunset and Cottage Living. They’ve published an article that I’ve now read four times, and I cannot believe that it ever made it to press. Then again, they’re in the business of publishing travel stories, regardless of how inane they are, so I guess they’re just doing their jobs.
The article itself isn’t all that bad. It gives some sample itineraries for 3-day trips to Charleston, SC; Santa Fe, NM; Destin, FL; San Francisco, CA and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. But the basis of the article is just ridiculous. The idea is to help people spend their $1,200 tax rebate. On travel. I’m sure that the government hopes that people spend it on something frivolous, but I’d think that maybe paying off the credit cards is a way better use of the money. Even more entertaining is the opening two paragraphs of the article:
From laid-back Florida beaches to guided mule rides in the Grand Canyon’s North Rim, our editors picked these getaways with the average American family’s tax rebate of $1,200 in mind.
We budgeted each trip for a three-night stay, meals and activities, but did not account for travel expenses.
That’s right, folks. Here’s how to spend your $1,200 refund, PLUS more money just getting to the vacation destination. Turns out that apparently travel is so expensive they can’t actually do a weekend getaway for $1,200 any more. Of course this isn’t actually true. There are plenty of weekend deals all summer long to places worth visiting that can be done for less. Apparently these travel editors aren’t really worried about that. And they actually leave plenty of budget room for flights and/or fuel to drive to the destinations, but it sure does read funny when they’re talking about budgeting a vacation and they don’t include the transit costs.
Of course, it wouldn’t be any fun if CNN.com let the folks writing the article have all the fun, so their editors tossed in their own little nugget at the top of the page:
Yeah…I’m a big fan of number three on the list.
This article makes about as much sense to me as the comment I saw on a message board last week:
In general, I think the real downturn is yet to take effect. Yes we have seen a big crisis in foreclosures, but this will have a temporary beneficial effect, as those people will now be freeing up their mortgage payment and can spend that on leisure pursuits.
That’s right, folks. Instead of looking for a new place to live after their home is foreclosed on, people are going to be spending their money on a vacation to Disney!
I fear for the future of society some times.
Posted by Seth on April 28, 2008 under Uncategorized |
Most pundits (self included) had been suggesting that following the expected DL/NW merger that United and Continental would be the next pair to join up. United is struggling mightily, and Continental is well run but also small, making it difficult for them to compete either domestically or globally on total route coverage or frequencies of flights. Of course, such mergers are almost always bad for customers, and most folks are looking at the mergers with apprehension more than excitement. So yesterday’s announcement from Continental’s management to their employees was somewhat surprising (I bolded some of the interesting points):
We want you to know that our Board of Directors met today and has unanimously supported management’s recommendation that, in the current industry environment, the best course for Continental is to not merge with another airline at this time.
…
We have significant cultural, operational and financial strengths compared to the rest of the industry, and we want to protect and enhance those strengths — which we believe would be placed at risk in a merger with another carrier in today’s environment. We will, however, continue to review potential alliances and our membership in SkyTeam. We are considering alternatives to SkyTeam as we carefully evaluate which major global alliance will be best for Continental over the long term.
While some would prefer to see Continental pursue a merger, we strongly believe we have made the right decision – one that is in the best interests of our stockholders, co-workers, customers and the communities we serve.
Not really included in the letter, but implied and suggested throughout the tone is that merging with United would be bad for the morale and probably bad for the balance sheet as well. Considering United’s significant losses last quarter, the liability of trying to take on that additional debt is significant, so not all that surprising that Continental is happy to stay small and flexible given the high costs of doing business right now.
Also interesting is the suggestion that Continental is considering jumping ship from SkyTeam. They joined the alliance based mostly on their tie-in with Northwest, which joined based on their link to KLM, which in turn is tied to Air France, a founding member of the alliance. Now that the CO/NW link is somewhat weakened, the need for Continental to stay in SkyTeam is somewhat diminished. Combine that with the super anti-trust exemption that AF/NW/DL/KL recently won and the fact that Continental is talking with American Airlines about alliance options doesn’t come as much of a surprise at all.
So we’ll have to keep watching, but it looks like the merger mania may have slowed down a bit.
Posted by Seth on April 26, 2008 under Uncategorized |
Eos, the all premium carrier that many expected to actually survive, has declared bankruptcy and halted all service effective immediately. Their last flights will operate today, April 27, and even then only a limited service. The post on their website includes most of the details:
Our unique relationship makes it all the more difficult to share with you the news that Eos has filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York. On April 26, 2008, we plan to operate Flight 6 (8:30pm) from JFK to STN. On April 27, 2008, we plan to operate Flights 3 (1:00pm) and 7 (6:30pm) from STN to JFK. Flight 5 from STN to JFK and all flights from JFK to STN on April 27, 2008 are canceled. We will cease operations entirely after April 27, 2008.
This announcement is particularly regrettable since we have achieved so much, including having a term sheet in hand for additional financing. Clearly, even in today’s challenging economic and credit environment, investors believe in Eos. Unfortunately, some issues arose that prevented the parties from moving forward
It seems that the money that they were expecting didn’t come through for some reason, and that the carrier cannot continue operations at this point. This leaves SilverJet and L’Avion as the last two players in the all premium TATL market. SilverJet also has their London – Dubai route, and L’Avion flies from Paris instead of London, but that doesn’t guarantee too much these days.
Oh, and if you are a member of their frequent flier program or an AmEx Platinum or Centurion cardholder looking to redeem a reward ticket on Eos, that ain’t happening either. Bummer.
Posted by Seth on April 26, 2008 under TSA |
<Insert bad joke about on-time flight here>
But seriously folks, the most common lie you’ll hear at the airport these days is that you are required to show some form of ID to the TSA in order to pass through the security screening checkpoint. The TSA has spent enormous amounts of energy publicizing this lie. The good news is that they seem to be coming around, finally. In fact, checking the TSA web page it seems that they’ve backed off on the insistence (highlighting mine):
Of course, this hasn’t stopped them from demanding ID from every passenger who passes through security every day, but you do not have to show ID if you don’t want to. Some folks have even gone so far as to get their congressmen involved in the discussion. Ultimately the Senator was able to get a Federal Judge TSA lackey involved resulting in this letter (PDF) being produced. One of the most salient points is this one:
“TSA has statutory authority to establish such a requirement. To date, TSA has not implemented this authority.” And while we can debate the validity of the statutory authority as a constitutional issue some other time, it will likely never actually make it to a court decision, since the TSA has not implemented the rule. More importantly, the TSA is almost certainly never going to implement the rule. Otherwise anyone who loses their wallet will never be allowed to fly back home. And the TSA is dumb, but they aren’t that dumb. Still, right there in plain English the answer is spelled out. The TSA cannot require ID from a passenger as a condition for passing through the security checkpoint.
Naturally the question arises, “What happens if you don’t?” Surprisingly, the answer is very little. As noted in the capture above, it results in “additional screening.” And the additional screening is basically them taking all your bags, swabbing them with the Explosive Trace Detection machine and letting you go on your merry way. If you’ve ever had the “SSSS” notation on your boarding pass it is the same exact process. It really isn’t that big a deal. And at some airports having the “SSSS” designation gets you assigned to a dedicated line to deal with the special passengers, so the total processing time may actually be shorter! Assuming you don’t set off the metal detector when you walk through it, the additional screening shouldn’t take more than a couple minutes to happen.
I pass through the security checkpoints without showing ID on a regular basis. Sometimes it goes more smoothly than others, though last weekend both the Newark and Jacksonville, FL checkpoints were probably the smoothest I’ve ever had. One interesting issue arose in Newark when the TSA guy checking IDs went to fill out the “incident report” about me. The second line on the page, right after the one that claims the document is “Sensitive Security Information,” very clearly states “No personally identifiable information” is to be recorded on the form. The reason for this is that, among the many laws the Department of Homeland Security (TSA’s parent org) has decided don’t really apply to them, they’ve also decided that they don’t really want to abide by the Privacy Act either. So by not taking down any personal information they don’t have to deal with Privacy Act issues. That’s great, except for when the TSA guy started writing down my name from my boarding pass. I stopped him and he crossed it off the form, but I do wonder what their training is regarding the forms. There isn’t a place for the passenger name on the form, but this is the third time someone has tried to write it down. Someone higher up is training these guys to write down the names, even though they aren’t supposed to be.
Read the PDF I linked to above, and next time you’re passing through the airport just remember these words: “I choose not to show my ID.” You don’t have to lie (“I don’t have any ID”) but you also are under no obligation to show ID to the TSA, and there is nothing they can do about your choice, other than to refer you to a secondary screening.
And for those of you wondering why I choose to not show ID, the answer is pretty simple: Showing ID does absolutely nothing to improve the security of the airspace. If the TSA is doing their job correctly then the metal detector and x-ray machines are going to detect any weapons. It doesn’t matter who boards a plane if they don’t have any weapons, so matching my name to my boarding pass actually does nothing to improve security. It does make some people think that they are more safe, but there’s no real security being added. Perhaps if they stopped focusing on catching people with fake IDs and started using the resources to do something that contributed to security (cargo screening, for instance), there would be an actual improvement in security, rather than just the appearance of such.
UPDATE (4.28.08 9:20a) – Apparently I gave the TSA too much credit for fixing the “required” parts of their web page. A new release out today has “required” in it again, as well as new restrictions on what types of IDs you’re not actually required to show. From the webpage:
Beginning on May 26, 2008, adult passengers (over the age of 18) will be required to show a U.S. federal or state-issued photo ID that contains the following…
which is followed further down on the page with:
After May 26, passengers who do not present an acceptable ID may be subject to additional screening.
And so the TSA is at it again, “requiring” ID that isn’t actually required. Thanks guys.
Posted by Seth on April 26, 2008 under Internet |
Perhaps the most stressful part of the day before departure for me is making sure that I have a coherent itinerary email to send out. Sure, packing is also a pain in the ass, but that can be overcome pretty quickly with a glass of vodka and a lot of not caring if you happen to show up without any underwear. But the itinerary email seems to actually be a bigger issue. I like to have a single itinerary detailing all the flights, hotels, rental cars, trains and any other reservations that we might have scheduled. But since I do not book all those things through a single party, getting a consolidated view can be pretty annoying. Thankfully, the Internet heard my pain and responded in the form of TripIt, a new service that handles all those confirmation emails for me, processing them and making something pretty and useful out of the mess.
Our upcoming trip to Turkey and the UK has five flights on four different airlines, stops in at least three cities and several hotel and car reservations, most of which I haven’t actually made yet. Using the TripIt service I forwarded the confirmation emails that I’ve received so far and it put together a well formatted and easy to use list of day-by-day details, including historical weather information (it is predicting sunny days in London, which I find hard to believe), Google Maps for all the destinations, links for online check-in for the flights and other useful stuff. And the best part is that they made up a word to name the engine that they use to make it all happen: The Itinerator!
This is easily the best new tool I’ve seen in a long time for travel planning and management. Check it out. And thanks to Matt E. for sharing!
Posted by Seth on April 25, 2008 under TSA |
Sad, but true is probably a better way to phrase it. There’s a column in today’s WSJ online that talks about how we’ve let ourselves become subjugated to our government in terms of going through the motions of travel. Here’s the opening paragraph:
America is in line at the airport. America has its shoes off, is carrying a rubberized bin, is going through a magnetometer. America is worried there is fungus on the floor after a million stockinged feet have walked on it. But America knows not to ask. America is guilty until proved innocent, and no one wants to draw undue attention. America left its ticket and passport in the jacket in the bin in the X-ray machine, and is admonished. America is embarrassed to have put one one-ounce moisturizer too many in the see-through bag. America is irritated that the TSA agent removed its mascara, opened it, put it to her nose, and smelled it. Why don’t you put it up your nose and see if it explodes? America thinks.
The rest of the column goes on to cover some of the candidates and election stuff and why nothing is going to change, regardless of who is elected. It is actually pretty depressing. Combine it with the blog post of an airline pilot who moonlights as a writer for Salon.com and the NY Times about the foibles of the way the TSA treats us and why the whole thing is a joke and things start to look even more depressing around here.
I lament the fact that I’m not flying as much as I have the past few years, but at the same time maybe it is for the best. I’m probably better off not having to fight with the TSA every time I show up at the airport and refuse to show them my ID (completely legal by the way). Still, I miss the experience of flying and the joy of discovering new (to me) places. And with rising fares (~8 times so far this year) and more trouble at the airport, it seems to be getting less and less worthwhile.
I think that the worst part is knowing that it isn’t going to get any better anytime soon. Regardless of who wins the election in November very little will change. Appearing “soft on terrorism” is a guaranteed way to end up serving only a single term. Being “stupid about terrorism” seems to guarantee reelection. Sucks.
Posted by Seth on April 24, 2008 under Uncategorized |
I had an interesting series of conversations on my flight down to Florida last weekend, all centered around whether the exit row seat I was in was supposed to be reclining or not. To all the people sitting around me on the airplane on Friday night please allow me to repeat what I said then: IT DOES RECLINE!
Yes, it is an exit row seat. But the seat (14F on a Continental 737-300) does recline because there isn’t an exit behind it. All the seats that are red on that picture don’t recline but the pretty yellow/green one with no seat in front of it does. It has tons of legroom AND it reclines. If I can’t sit in first class (which on this flight was not possible due to the upgrade being traded for marital bliss) then 14A and 14F are the next best option, followed by 5C or D.
Yes, my seat was broken in that it wouldn’t stay upright when I boarded, but the maintenance guy was able to fix that pretty quickly and we managed to depart without too much extra delay based on that. But the fact that it reclined at all was completely normal. So, Mr. 12D, you still don’t know what you’re talking about; you’re going to have to live with that.
When you’re choosing seats on other flights, don’t assume that the exit row won’t recline. Pretty much any row that doesn’t recline INTO an exit row will actually recline. And if there is enough space between the rows, such as the 38″ of pitch on JetBlue’s A320 planes, then all the seats can recline, as there is still sufficient space to get out the exits per the FAA requirements. Try SeatGuru; they have a ton of information about seat options. It isn’t 100% accurate and it has certain biases, but it is pretty good overall.
Whew…I feel much better now.
Posted by Seth on April 23, 2008 under News |
In addition to my reasonable obsession with travel, I’m also pretty into technology. Mostly it is based on the fact that I work with computers for a living and love playing with new toys that come out, and it also probably has something to do with the fact that I started playing on an Apple ][e 22 years ago. So, when I was given an opportunity to start contributing to a blog focused on travel and technology, I jumped at the offer. In addition to continuing my postings here – and on my straight technology blog for work – I’ll also be posting on TravelTechTalk.com going forward. I’ve already put a couple posts up there (link 1, link 2) and will continue to do so in the future.
Head on over and take a look!
Posted by Seth on April 21, 2008 under Uncategorized |
I am very aware that our society has gone entirely too far in terms of its litigious nature. The fact that a cup of hot coffee has to be labeled as hot is rather ridiculous. So I guess I shouldn’t be surprised to see a label like this one:
That’s right – a warning on a package of nuts that they may have been processed in a facility that processes nuts. Apparently without that warning someone may have mistaken the cashews for cotton candy or something.
Anyways, back to your regularly scheduled programming…
Posted by Seth on April 21, 2008 under Uncategorized |
I’ve posted previously about my dining nemesis on Continental, the Almond Delight. So I was rather excited to learn that the Almond Delight was being traded in for Pepperidge Farm cookies as the after dinner snack on meals in first class. Needless to say, I was more than a little disappointed to find that dinner tonight on the plane was served with the Almond Delight rather than cookies. I am not eating either one on account of it being Passover, but I certainly am feeling a bit less confident in whether the Almond Delight really is gone from Continental or not. On the plus side, no cheese soup and plenty of wine, so things aren’t all bad in the air.
Apparently I should’ve read the fine print a bit more closely. The change doesn’t take effect until May 1. So I guess I have to get back on a plane next month to celebrate the end of the era.
Posted by Seth on April 18, 2008 under Uncategorized |
JetBlue, in conjunction with Dunkin Donuts, is offering triple TrueBlue points for May and early June. The promo requires seats to be purchased by May 6 and flown between May 1 and June 15. Triple points only for the first customer listed on the reservation, so if you’re flying as a group book as separate reservations, not all on one. The “triple” is really only 1.5x, since you already get double every time you book online, but this is still a nice little bonus that they’re throwing out there. Also, this one explicitly states that it can be redeemed multiple times, so fly as much as you want to get the extra points. You have to book through the special link to get the deal, so plan accordingly.
Good stuff!
Yeah…I’m a big fan of number three on the list.
