Posted by Seth on December 14, 2011 under Mileage Run, Trip Reports | 
A visit to Hiroshima can be exhausting. Thank goodness for the island of Miyajima, just south of town, where a visit is rejuvenating and uplifting. It is a great counter to the emotional drain of the Peace Park in the center of town.
Miyajima is actually just a nickname for the island; it means "shrine island." The real name is Itsukushima and the island holds a long and storied history of religious significance. It was in 806 CE that a monk ascended the mountain on the island and established it as an ascetic site for the Shingon Buddhists. The island also has great significance in the Shinto religion as well, and the two have coexisted in an impressively symbiotic manner through the years. This is a great thing for visitors as the two present great sites to visit in a very condensed area.
Perhaps the most famous site on the island – and a UNESCO World Heritage Site – is the Itsukushima Shrine. Known mostly for its floating torii gate, the shrine complex is actually on stilts to help preserve the sanctity of the island. It doesn’t hurt that the stilts also keep the temples out of the water as the tides roll in, but the idea of keeping the commoners off the sacred soil is pretty nifty, too.
The temple itself includes a number of buildings, all lacquered in bright red, but the focus is the "floating" gate. It doesn’t really float; it is solidly planted in the ground just off-shore. But when the tide rolls in the base goes underwater and the visual is awesome. There are boats that offer tours of the gate, taking passengers out to see it up close. There is also a kayak rental shop on the island if you want to get up close on your own. Or, you can do what most tourists do and just take a photo from the shore, either inside the temple grounds or out. That’s what most the folks I saw were doing, including some incredibly cute kids dressed up in their finest.
The other main shrine complex on the island is the Daisho-In. For me this one was much more impressive. Maybe because it wasn’t packed wall-to-wall with tourists. Maybe because it seemed more dedicated to prayer. Or maybe just because I thought the architecture was more impressive. Likely a combination of all of the above. It was pretty awesome.
Just walk 5-10 minutes inland and uphill from the Itsukushima and you run right into the Daisho-In. The grounds are dotted with small prayer statues (hundreds of them and they all appear to be different) and there are a number of prayer wheels on the grounds. Some are on the stairs and others along the paths. All of them are said to bring great fortune to those who touch them as they visit.
There is also an impressive collection of prayer offerings at the shrine. The island is, for some reason, known for its wooden rice spatulas, and that is one of the main souvenirs that is on sale in the markets on the island. It is also apparently one of the more common prayer offering vehicles at the Daisho-In shrine. There were hundreds of them with prayers offered up on them. Some of the prayers were less traditional than others.
The town itself is supposedly maintained in "classical Edo-era" style but I didn’t see much evidence of that as I visited. It mostly seemed like a series of shops all selling basically the same trinkets or food options. And there were a ton of people crowding the area and trying to avoid having their snacks stolen by the local deer which are known for such shenanigans.
But snack options were yummy, including grilled oysters, a variety of street meats (including seafood) and some sort of potato thing wrapped in bacon and then grilled. Mostly delicious, all cheap and worth a try to provide nourishment as you’re wandering around the island. Oh, if you do go for a snack on the street buy your beer from the vending machines scattered about; way cheaper.
My trip was limited in time due to a pressing need to get back to the ferry to get back to the train to get back to the bus to get to the airport so I could take my flight on the 787. I missed the ropeway and the hike to the top of the island, known for great views of the surrounding area. I also missed seeing the island without the throngs of tourists, most of whom leave as afternoon turns into evening. Still, it was an awesome follow-up to the gravity of visiting the Peace Park; the two really do go hand in hand. Plus I got to ride the local train and a ferry as part of the deal, both of which were fun.
Read more from this Trip Report under the Dream2011 tag here.
Posted by Seth on December 13, 2011 under Mileage Run, Trip Reports |
August 6, 1945. In the blink of an eye the world had changed. Just a few hundred feet above Hiroshima, Japan, a bomb unlike any other ever used before detonated. The effects are still being felt today, nearly 70 years later. The tens of thousands who died immediately were, in many cases, the lucky ones, compared to those who suffered the after-effects in subsequent years. Today the city of Hiroshima has recovered rather impressively. But at its heart remains the shell of the one building left mostly standing when the bomb went off, a memorial to the dead and an eerie reminder of just how good we are at destroying ourselves.
That the building remains at all is something of a surprise. In part that is because it survived the explosion which was centered nearly directly above. But more because the Japanese were rather keen on razing the damaged structure shortly after the attack and clearing the space for reconstruction. Eventually the conservationists won out and the remains of the Prefectural Industrial Promotional Hall, now generally known as Genbaku, or A-bomb Dome, is now preserved as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
There’s more to the area than just the dome. While it is the iconic center of the Peace Park area there are a number of other memorials within a 10 minute walk. Some are dedicated to specific groups (students and children are most common) and there is also the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum at the south end of the walk which holds some incredible artifacts from that fateful day and other exhibits as well.
Among those artifacts are watches which stopped at the moment of impact. Even if their owners had survived the watches would not be able to change from that point in time with the gears seized up from the explosion.
There was also a tricycle and helmet that were the prized toys of a small child killed in the aftermath of the explosion. His father buried them with his son in a grave near their home. Only years later was the body dug up and moved to a proper cemetery and the bike taken out to be preserved.
There are many more pictures and exhibits in the museum, nearly all of which are heart-wrenching. It is an experience that is not to be missed (the admission was a trivial ¥50, approximately USD $0.60) but is is also an experience that is both humbling and awesome.
Between the museum and the Dome the Peace Park are any more memorials and even more stories. One of the more famous is that of Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. As a child suffering from leukemia as a result of the bombing Sadako heard the tale of folding one thousand paper cranes and having that grant a wish. The ending of the story varies as to whether the full 1,000 were folded by Sadako or not but she died not long after starting the effort. Her story is now shared in schools the world over with folded paper cranes arriving nearly daily at the memorial site (approximately 9 tons annually). The cranes have become something of a symbol for the city (ANA used them in their local announcement of 787 service) and for peace around the world.
On the day of my visit there were a few different school groups who came to the site to offer up their cranes to the memorial. Each group had a small performance associated with the offering (I have no idea what they were singing, of course) and then quickly made way for the next group such that all had the opportunity to participate.
There is also the Cenotaph dedicated to the victims of the bombing. Regardless of nationality, names are added to the registry held in the stone chest that sits under the arched roof. The chest holds more than 221,000 names and bears the inscription (translated from the Japanese), “Let all the souls here rest in peace, for we shall not repeat the evil.”
There is a Peace Bell in the park as well. Every now and then the sound of the bell rings out over the area; it is often the only sound you’ll hear walking through unless a school group is near by. The bell is marked with a map of the world that ignores national boundaries. The strike point of the mounted log is an icon of the atom such that each time the bell tolls a statement is made opposing atomic weapons.
A visit to the Peace Park can be emotionally draining, to be certain. It definitely was for me. But absolutely, completely and totally worth it. I’m incredibly happy that I chose Hiroshima as the interloping city for my 787 Dreamliner adventure and that I got to have the experience. It is unparalleled.
Read more from this Trip Report under the Dream2011 tag here.
Posted by Seth on December 4, 2011 under Mileage Run, Trip Reports |
There are few things more fun than a behind the scenes view of how companies operate. For a travel junkie like me that means behind the scenes at airport operations, getting to "ride along" for the day while watching how the many people I never get to interact with work together to make sure that my flights run. In other words, getting to play airline for a day.
Thanks to the folks at United Airlines I had that opportunity this weekend. It was AWESOME!
The event was in Tampa, which isn’t so far away that it was a bad thing to have to make the trip. In fact, making the trip also put me over 150K EQMs for the year so that means more upgrade certificates, too. And that was part of the justification I had for making the trip. Even still, when faced with a VDB opportunity I declined to make sure I’d get the tour and I’m incredibly happy I did. Getting to the airport for a 7:45am departure after a night of drinking can be a challenge. In my case it meant no sleep and being still drunk when I got to the boarding area. Whoopsie. No matter; I was running on adrenaline by the time the tours started and there was no holding me back.
The tour involved about 15-20 customers and guests as well as a comparable number of employees from United. It was great to see them come in on the weekend and shmooze with the customers. And, if the few bits I overheard are to be believed, many of them were getting to experience some of the behind the scenes stuff for the first time as well, so it was fun for them, too.
The initial part of the day was meetings with these managers and talking through a number of the different services they represent. One of the guys who helps run the contact centers was available to talk about some of the difficulties being experienced as part of the merger (roughly the same number of calls but handling times are WAY up due to inter-carrier complexities, for example). There were questions about the computer systems merging, the loyalty program (I had more answers than many of the UA employees there on that category) and many other thins. After meeting everyone and talking about the Tampa station and some of the potential future changes it could see (yes, there is a space that could work quite nicely as a United Club once corporate real estate gets through the relocation aspect of the merger) it was time to head out airside for the tours. And by airside, I mean out on to the apron.
We visited a number of different departments on the tour. The maintenance guys have two different roles, working on ad hoc tasks during the day as planes come and go. On the overnight shift they are responsible for running basic scheduled maintenance operations for the planes that RON at the station. Even when there are no flights operating the folks working there are busy.
Flight operations is still split between the Continental and United subsidiaries but progress is being made, with some systems already aligned on the Unimatic platform for dispatch. Still, there are differences in things like fuel planning reporting, where United is a computerized system and the Continental folks are still filling out paperwork by hand and filling the various copies. Pretty interesting differences.
Back inside and up in the terminal we all got to take turns working the various aspects of the gate agent jobs while a flight was boarding. I got out of there before they were forced to handle an oversold F cabin for a flight to Newark but I did get to play with the computer system to make sure that the flight was fully boarded, make the announcements for the few passengers who were late getting to the plane and hand out BPs to the non-revs as they cleared onto the flight. Apparently my announcement style is "a bit curt" (I blame my Newark training) but otherwise I’m apparently pretty good at talking on a PA. Not that it is any surprise; I will talk about anything. We also got to take the final paperwork out to the plane, chat with the crew and close up the door (well, the real employees did that part) and send the plan on its way.
Back outside it was time to get a flight loaded up and ready to push back. In addition to being allowed up the conveyor belt and into the hold of the plane (apparently I have a penchant for finding myself in such areas) we also got to see how the folks working the ramp prioritize loading of the bags, handle the tracking and otherwise make sure that the bags get where they are going. I got to play with the scanner to "load" the bags and even found one that was supposedly missing to help the agents at the ticket counter verify that it was actually checked through as expected.
Finally it was time for the flight to depart. A few last-minute bags came sliding down the chute and were loaded into the plane and then things were sealed up and we walked the plane out for departure. Standing out under the wing as the plane pushed back was awesome. There were definitely a few confused customers on the plan wondering why the guy "working" out there was also waving at them and taking photos. Because I can.
Oh, and I got to drive the jet bridge. Those things handle like a pig and make for a very bumpy ride. Still, I managed to get the wheels back in the red box where they belong after driving around for a minute or so. I think I’ll put that in the "skills" section of my resume next time I apply for a job.
One other very cool thing they showed off was a special baggage cart. As one of a few stations located adjacent to a large military installation the airline is often used to help repatriate remains. The support this function they actually have a dedicated carrier which is specially equipped for the task. Just another little thing they do to make things better for all customers.
And then, sadly, it was time to get back on the plane and head home. I was in and out of Tampa in about 6 hours. Six glorious, wonderfully fun hours of playing with all the toys and getting to experience what operations are like for the airline. On a slow day. With no weather or mechanical issues. Sure, it was the intro-level version of the experience but that didn’t make it any less fun. And the icing on the cake was that my upgrade cleared just as they were about to close the door. A big comfy seat to sleep in on the way home, dreaming happy thoughts of aerophile fun.
Posted by Seth on October 31, 2011 under Dining, Flying, Mileage Run, Review, Trip Reports |
About half way between San Francisco and Beijing I awoke from my nap and headed to the lav. Time for a quick break to stretch my legs. I had absolutely no expectations of anyone waiting for me when I got out. Apparently I should have.
A flight attendant approached me in the aisle, addressed me by name and asked what she could get me from "up front." Knowing that a bigger seat – my likely answer – probably wasn’t going to actually do much in terms of being successful as a request I was rather dumbfounded. Partly because I had just woken up, I like to think, and partly because I honestly had no idea what I was supposed to answer.
She then offered up that they had no extra amenity kits as the forward cabins were both full, but that I could ask for anything else I wanted, finishing the suggestion with the phrase, "You know the drill, don’t you?" Alas, I was somewhat embarrassed that I have no idea what the drill is or what I’m supposed to ask for or be able to get. Eventually she suggested that perhaps a glass of wine or a snack would be suitable.
And the snack was.
Seriously, compared to the mid-flight snack offered up in Economy is was like a bit of heaven.
And the mid-flight snack was probably better than the first meal. That first meal was a piece of sponge-like reconstituted chicken-esque product soaking in a tomato-based sauce. It was pretty bad.
The last of the three meals was the most edible of the bunch, but still not phenomenal. I chose the noodles over the turkey sandwich.
And then I was in Beijing. Woohoo!
As always, more to come…
Tags: Beijing, China, Dining, Dream2011, Flying, Mileage Run, Photos, review, San Francisco, Trip Report, United
Posted by Seth on October 31, 2011 under Dining, Flying, Mileage Run, Review, Trip Reports |
When the check-in machine at the airport informs you that it is unable to rebook your connection that’s a bad thing. When the agent behind the counter has to back away from the computer and call in reinforcements to figure out the rebooking it is even worse. But, when they eventually work together to figure everything out it isn’t all bad.
With the snow in New York City not expected to begin until early afternoon I figured my 10:30am flight out of JFK was going to be just fine. And the connection on from Dulles to Seattle would be fine, too. After all, Dulles has plenty of spare capacity and nicely separated runways meaning that operations there rarely suffer. But they did. And so the issues in DC, combined with the rain in NYC, meant that my reasonably easy connection on the way to Seattle was not going to happen. Ruh roh.
The issue was made even more challenging by the fact that the United Airlines operations at JFK are so limited. There aren’t a whole lot of alternate options out there once you’re stuck. Fortunately they managed to scare up space on the JFK-SFO flight and then connect me onward from there. I’m pretty sure there was some sort of overbooking involved to make that space appear but the flights ended up going out with folks clearing the standby list so that was apparently not a huge issue. And, even though I didn’t get the new line on my flight map (IAD-SEA) I did actually get to Seattle the same day I intended to. And that was pretty critical for catching my onward flights to China. Even better, I did it from the comfort of United’s p.s. Business Class.
The seat was much more comfortable for sleeping than the A319 seat I was supposed to be on. And the food was, much to my delight, quite good.
The past few times I’ve done the p.s. flights it has been on the morning departures and the breakfast options aren’t much to get excited over, but the lunch I had was most impressive.
If I had to quibble at all it would be on the fact that they don’t have as many toppings on offer for the sundaes, but they have the ones I like and they have chocolate and vanilla ice cream rather than just one. Hardly worth getting worked up over.
Add in plenty of leg room and a blanket that I really should have kept for my onward flight to Beijing and I managed to both eat and sleep quite well for the five and a half hours I spent on the plane.
The onward connection to Seattle was on a CRJ-700, not my favorite aircraft by any stretch. But it was a smooth flight and the approach in to Seattle offered up phenomenal views of downtown as we flew up the Sound and then circled back to land to the South.
Only about 3 hours later than originally expected and many, many hours ahead of my originally scheduled flights, even if I hadn’t missed the connection. Not bad at all in the end.
Tags: Beijing, China, Dining, Dream2011, Flying, Mileage Run, New York City, Photos, review, San Francisco, Seattle, Trip Report, United
Posted by Seth on September 12, 2011 under Dining, Flying, Mileage Run, Review, Trip Reports |
My decision to finally pick up my first flight on Alaska Airlines was driven mostly by the fact that they operate non-stop flights between Alaska and Hawaii. I think the lines look cool. Apparently that is more than enough to get me started on booking flights. The fact that I had a voucher expiring that I could use for positioning didn’t hurt either.
Pretty much the entire experience I had with Alaska Airlines was a treat. Booking online was easy. When I decided an hour later that I wanted to change the travel date the guy in the call center was more than happy to help out with that. Online check-in worked well, though the mobile site didn’t offer the option to change seats. I took care of that with the full site and snapped up seat 6A on the 737-800. That’s the window at the bulkhead between coach and first and offers plenty of legroom and no hard wall so under seat storage, too.
Dealing with the airport at Anchorage was incredibly easy. I arrived at the airport rental car facility at 1:25pm and was at the gate by 1:35pm. Considering that the flight was at 2:10pm maybe I was cutting it a bit close, but it worked and I got to have lunch with a friend up in Anchorage so it was well worth the risk. I probably even had time to hit up the Board Room and grab a drink before boarding but I was busy planning other shenanigans so I just headed to the gate and then boarded the flight.
Once on board pretty much everything is a paid transaction other than sodas and juices. Want some in flight entertainment? That’s $10 to rent the digEplayer. Food runs $7 for the hot entrees, though I will say that the chicken teriyaki looked pretty good. Booze is $6 which is pretty standard these days for US-based carriers, though there was a nice surprise towards the end of the flight.
The carrier also treats the flights to Hawaii a bit special. The flight attendants have leis and shirts to note the special service and there is a "Flight Plan" card on each seat highlighting the series of in-flight services that will be happening throughout the flight.
The service was friendly and pleasant, though the digEplayer sales did take a while, delaying the first beverage service a bit. There was also a special treat of sorts on this flight: I was buying the first round of drinks for anyone who ordered one. Maybe that skewed my enjoyment of the flight (OK, I’m sure it did a bit) but the flight overall was still quite pleasant.
Had I been in first class (I tried to buy up but it was sold out) I would have received the IFE for free as well as a full meal. I did manage to score a dessert from the F meal and I have to say that it was the best I’ve had on a domestic flight. Even better than the ice cream sundaes.
It was then time for the third service run on the flight. In addition to all the regular drink options this one included a special bit special for Hawaii service: Free Mai Tais! Yeah, it is just the Trader Vic’s plastic jug stuff, but it is still a very nice treat to help make sure that everyone is in the Aloha spirit heading into the descent. There is also a small pack of macadamia nuts as part of the service.
And then, an hour later, we were on the ground in Honolulu. I was off the plane and on my way to theBUS quickly and in my hotel about 75 minutes later.
Yes, I know that my experience isn’t completely typical of an Alaska Airlines flight. Not all of them go to Hawaii and I’m pretty sure there isn’t someone trying to spend a couple hundred dollars on booze every time. Still, I can see why the carrier has such vocal and loyal fans. I would imagine that if I lived on the left coast I’d be one of them.
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Tags: Alaska, Alaska Air, Alaska Airlines, Anchorage, Dining, Flying, Hawaii, Honolulu, IFE, PacificLines, review, Trip Report
Posted by Seth on September 12, 2011 under Flying, frequent flyer, Mileage Run, Trip Reports |
Anyone ever tried to buy a round of drinks for an entire airplane? I did today and the logistics were surprisingly complicated. Maybe that’s because no one ever does this sort of thing. Or because it is ridiculous. But that mostly just describes me so I gave it a go.
American Express offers a $200 credit to platinum charge cardholders to offset the various fees airlines will hit you with these days. The catch is that it can only be used against one airline and once you choose the carrier you’re stuck with that choice for the whole year. Most of my flying is on airlines where I have status and I rarely check a bag, even when I don’t have status. Plus I get upgraded a fair amount so food and booze are often part of the deal. Nearly a year into the program’s existence I haven’t figured out a scenario where I could reasonably spend that $200.
Sitting a lunch with a friend in Anchorage I decided that today would be the day. I was going to commit my $200 in "fees" credit to Alaska Airlines and get my money’s worth. It is my first flight ever on Alaska and probably my last for the year so committing to spending the $200 on my own is too tall a task. But with a little help it shouldn’t be much of an issue. After all, it is a flight to Honolulu and folks should mostly be pretty happy about that, right? A free drink should make it even better.
After stowing my bag in the overhead bin I made my way back to the galley to explain my plan to the flight attendants.
Me: Hi there! I’ve got a strange situation here. I want to buy drinks. A lot of them.
FA: Huh?
Me: I want to buy the first round for the whole plane. That’s probably 40-50 drinks, right?
FA: Huh?
OK, so the quotes aren’t entirely verbatim, but the confusion expressed by the FAs was pretty close. We spent the next 10 minutes chatting about my scheme and trying to figure out the best way to handle the logistics. One option was for her to run the card 30+ times and have me hand the receipts to the lucky drinkers. We threw that one out pretty quickly as way too much work. Eventually we agreed that they’d just do a normal beverage service but rather than charge everyone they would just tally the total drinks consumed and I’d pay the bill at the end of the service.
Because the offer was only revealed after the drink was ordered the initial damage was actually rather limited. We didn’t quite get to the $200 threshold on the first pass. This, of course, raised another issue of trying to figure out how to spend the rest of the credit on board. I made a sign, figuring I’d walk through the cabin offering up the drinks that way.
Ultimately, however, that seemed less friendly. So I just started asking folks if they wanted a drink. I’m wearing a Hawaiian shirt that is similar in color to that of the flight attendants so A few people confused me for that; I even had one ask how to fill out the agricultural declaration form. But once I explained that I’m just a guy buying drinks for anyone who wanted one I did manage to get a few takers. Pretty soon my sales efforts were rewarded and the $200 credit (and a few dollars more) was over. I was willing to keep going (a bit) but the third beverage service is about to start and that means free mai tais for everyone!
I had entirely too much fun on this flight. I don’t know why but flights to Hawaii make me want to have more fun than most. Also, a special thanks to the crew from Alaska Airlines who were willing to help me out on this ridiculous bit of entertainment.
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Tags: Alaska, Alaska Air, Alaska Airlines, American Express, Anchorage, elite status, fees, Hawaii, Honolulu, Mileage Run, PacificLines, Trip Report, upgrade
Posted by Seth on September 8, 2011 under Flying, frequent flyer, Mileage Run, points |
With the Boeing 787 Dreamliner entering service in the next few weeks I’ve been quite excited about the opportunity to fly on it. Seats on the inaugural flight – from Tokyo to Hong Kong – are being auctioned off for charity and I’m quite certain I don’t have the scratch to make that work. Plus the dates for that flight wouldn’t work in my schedule. But thanks to a great sale fare from Seattle to China I’ve found a way to make it happen at a reasonable price.
The plan moved from the day dreaming phase to potentially real a couple weeks ago when a sale fare popped up between Seattle and Beijing. The timing on that deal was a bit tough – it only worked on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and had a 3-night minimum stay – but I had a few days at the end of October/beginning of November where it could fit in my schedule and the $400ish price tag was hard to complain about. At that point I was pretty much ready to go to China for a few days and wasn’t thinking much about the 787 options.
Then someone mentioned that the fare also permitted a stopover in Tokyo in either direction for only $100 more, Now it was getting interesting. I could get in a trip to China and a stop in Tokyo during the first week the 787 is supposed to be flying. Now the planning started to get interesting. I ticketed the Seattle – Beijing – Tokyo – Seattle flights and then started researching the 787 options.
Yikes!
I really, really, REALLY didn’t expect the fare to be so high. That was definitely putting a wrinkle in this master plan of mine. I found that I could get a one-way award ticket for only 6,000 points on the outbound flight to Hiroshima, saving $400, but the return flight was still full price. That was going to sting.
Fortunately, however, both ANA and JAL offer up Japan Air Pass tickets in conjunction with their alliance partners. These passes allow you to assemble domestic Japan flight segments in conjunction with an international itinerary at a much more reasonable rate. The Star Alliance version prices at ¥10,000 per segment, plus ¥50,000 in taxes per segment. Even better, the ¥50,000 ¥5,000 tax is not paid on any segment which is within 24 hours of the international arrival or departure. Since my total time in Tokyo is barely 40 hours it turns out that both of my domestic segments are within that threshold. All of a sudden I had hope for a quite reasonably priced adventure.
The challenge was not over yet, however. The Japan Air Pass on ANA requires inventory in the M fare bucket. This is a mid-level bucket on ANA so not impossible to find. In fact five of the seven outbound flights had the M bucket as an option for the day I was in town. Of course the one I wanted (the most reasonably timed flight in the morning) did not. Neither did the 787 flight from Haneda to Hiroshima. And for the return segment the Hiroshima to Haneda flight was also missing the appropriate inventory. Back to the drawing board. Sortof.
While considering whether paying the $400 was back to a viable approach for me I also figured that maybe I’d get lucky and that maybe the M inventory would open up. I set up an alert to watch that fare bucket and hoped that the email would come soon. Somewhat to my surprise, it did! A quick call to the folks at United Airlines (the Japan Pass is booked through the airline operating the intercontinental flight) and I had my seats reserved. It was going to take a few days for the rate desk to price it out but the seats were mine.
I called back a few days later as instructed and got the good news. That $800 plane ticket was mine for only $264.40. That’s 66% off. Woo hoo!
Sure, there is always the chance of an aircraft swap. And the day starts WAY too early so that I can also spend a few hours touristing about in Hiroshima. But overall I’m incredibly excited about the opportunity and about the price point at which I got everything put together. I’m also impressed that I finally found one of the regional passes where the fare makes sense. I guess there is a first time for everything.
A special thanks to the friends who suggested looking in to the Japan Air Pass option. Most excellent advice indeed.
Tags: 787, ANA, award, Beijing, Boeing, China, Dream2011, Dreamliner, frequent flyer, Hiroshima, Hong Kong, JAL, Japan, points
Posted by Seth on August 12, 2011 under frequent flyer, Mileage Run, points |
The rumor mill is running strong these past 24 hours with Lucky pointing out a possible new scheme for elite status on United Airlines. Yes, it is a rumor, but the framework is pretty well defined so let’s take it for a spin and see just how crazy it is.
The basic qualification requirements would shift from a simple metric – how often/far you fly – to a rather more complicated one. It would still include miles/segments flown (EQMs) but on top of that there would be a count of flights taken on United metal. Most recently Air Canada announced that they would require a certain number of segments as part of their qualifying requirement and several other programs have similar requirements. This is not a particularly controversial change to the program and the number of segments required is pretty low.
And there would be a spend metric.
Yes, after years of wondering when a program would finally start to consider spend as part of their elite qualification it seems that United is going to be first to give it a try. And I actually think it is a smart idea. The spend thresholds are not trivial: 8 cents/mile is the number being rumored. Personally I probably would not qualify at the top level given that number as I do not think I spend $8,000 in airfare on United in any given year. But I’m also not so sure I’m the customer that the airline should be rewarding.
By every rational metric spend should have always been included in calculating the value of a customer to a carrier. Many airlines have done little things here and there to approximate such value (e.g. more points for higher fares) but until recently no one has gone 100% in that direction. And United is not proposing a 100% shift in that direction either, but spend will play a significant role in the qualification process.
When talking about spend rates to requalify for status or to earn points there are a lot of thresholds tossed around. Three or four years ago it would not be uncommon to find deals in the 2.5cpm range without too much trouble. These days those same deals are in the 3.5-4.5cpm range. And there are certainly some people (self included) out there flying on them and accruing a ton of award miles and elite status, too. And the airlines treat those customers the same as the business traveler who is buying full fare tickets and who is actually profitable. That is hardly a rational way for a business to behave.
Just looking at the average numbers, the cost to fly a seat on United last quarter was $0.1423. That’s averaged across all the available seats, not just the occupied ones. If you include the 84.1% load factor (n.b. all numbers from the Q2 2011 10-Q filing) then the cost of operating a filled seat was about $0.1692. It costs nearly 17 cents per mile to operate the seat on average and they’re willing to consider you a loyal customer if you’re paying just under half of that over the course of a year. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe the plan is completely irrational because the threshold is still too low.
When JetBlue announced their revamp to the TrueBlue program 18 months ago spend was almost entirely what the focus was on. Virgin America‘s Elevate has a similar structure. The new Rapid Rewards program from Southwest is similarly focused on spend, though still with some variation in the minutiae. Of these, only Southwest currently has an "elite" program and they permit qualifying via spend. So does the Hilton HHonors hotel program. It isn’t like this sort of policy is ground-breaking.
What is revolutionary about it is that the company might just finally be willing to step up and cast off the hangers on. The leeches. The folks who are not profitable to their operations. In other words, Me.
I know that I’m not a profitable customer to United. I realize benefits far in excess of the value I bring to the company. And if this policy becomes real then I’ll be looking at the numbers and deciding if I can meet them or if I’ll be finding another program from which to leech. Certainly the folks at United will not be sorry to see me and my STLKNG fare habit that gets upgrades 80%+ of the time disappear. And anyone who has a similar purchase pattern and believes the company will miss their departure is delusional.
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Posted by Seth on July 29, 2011 under Mileage Run, News |
Philippine Airlines is now offering the FLY ASIA PASS, an unlimited flight pass, similar to the BluePass announced by JetBlue yesterday. The Fly Asia Pass is valid for a 7 week travel period, beginning on 15 August 2011. In addition, the pass can include positioning flights from Europe or North America to the Philippines to get started. And, at $270 for economy class or $1070 for business class it seems like a great deal. Seems like one.
The most significant drawback of the Fly Asia Pass is the taxes and fees that will be assessed on the pass flights. More than just the actual taxes and fees, Philippines Airlines will also be assessing "surcharges" for each segment flown. And the surcharges are severe in some cases.
Those numbers will add up pretty quickly. That said, they’re actually not all that dissimilar to the taxes paid for international travel in the Caribbean area which JetBlue BluePass customers would be subject to, but these are not government-imposed which is unfortunate for customers.
The other significant limitation of this Fly Asia Pass is that all flights must be booked within two weeks of purchase. Changes will accrue an additional $50 fee per transaction.
The pass is a reasonable deal if you’re going to be in the region or if you want to fly around the region a lot, but only really if you can fix your travel dates and you’re willing to pay the fees. With standard return fares at around $300-400 on many of the regional routes, if you can commit to the timing of a few trips this pass can be quite reasonable.
Like most crazy deals there will be some winners and some losers. This deal seems to have options for both.
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Posted by Seth on July 24, 2011 under Dining, Flying, Mileage Run, Review, Trip Reports |
Every time I board a long-haul flight with a ticket for a premium cabin seat my expectations are high. When it is a flight in Continental‘s BusinessFirst cabin those expectations might be (probably irrationally) even higher. I’ve had a number of great BF experiences and when I used my last system-wide upgrade to confirm into my favorite seat on that plane – 8E – I had pretty high expectations. I suppose it is no surprise that they were not met given that setup. Still, it was a bit disappointing.
Don’t get me wrong – the seat was still just as awesome as I expected. The foot-well in the bulkhead rows is notably larger than that of the other rows and that makes a big difference for a taller passenger. And the overall seat + IFE experience was top-notch, giving me time to watch a few movies interspersed amongst some naps to pass the time.
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| The difference in the foot-well space in the bulkhead and other rows in the new BusinessFirst seats is noticeable for taller passengers. |
Dinner was a typical multi-course affair. The appetizer and salad were fine, though not particularly special. I was somewhat impressed that the flight attendant took care of one of the nearby passengers and his request for more of the garlic bread even before the service got into full swing but that level of service didn’t extend very far.
For the main courses there was no misSteak™ on the menu. This made my choice a bit harder. I decided against the pork chop and went with the salmon instead. I got what I deserved: a somewhat overcooked piece of salmon.
The cheese course was, as always, pretty if not particularly flavorful.
And apparently I consumed my ice cream sundae so fast that I forgot to take a photo of it. So that’s a good sign, I suppose.
Still, there were a few misses in the service that made the overall experience less than stellar. The drink service was slow on the refills, somewhat surprisingly for a flight with 30% of the cabin empty, and there were a number of requests made that weren’t filled. None significant enough at the time to be an issue but overall the pattern was such that it was apparent the crew wasn’t really in to actually providing service on this particular flight.
Breakfast time – served well after noon in the arrival time zone – was the real service miss that defined the flight for me. Given the choice between cereal and eggs I actually asked what the cereal was. Apparently this was an insult to the flight attendant taking my order; things went downhill from there. I ultimately did choose the Corn Flakes as my breakfast as when they were thrown down on my tray table I realized that apparently asking what the cereal option would be was a bad idea.
I also was somewhat excited for a cinnamon roll as part of my breakfast. When they didn’t show up in the basket I jokingly noted that they must not have been loaded on the flight. About 5 minutes later a plate with two of them, minus the frosting, was tossed on my tray table. Not good to skip confirming whether I wanted them or not. Pretty awful the way they were presented.
Overall the flight was fine. It really probably doesn’t deserve real complaints. Still, there were enough little things gone wrong that it bugged me. The service was definitely not up to the standards that I generally expect from a Continental BusinessFirst crew; definitely worse than my prior experience flying Hong Kong to Newark two months prior.
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Tags: Continental, Dining, in flight, Japan, Newark, Photos, review, Tokyo, Trip Report, TYO2011, upgrade
