Posted by Seth on July 27, 2010 under News | 
They say that bad things come in threes. Southwest Airlines seems to think so, or at least their recent policy changes are playing out that way. First it was the changes to their “travel bank” funds policy. Then there was the claim that mechanical problems aren’t really their fault. And today it is strike three: Many drink coupons will lose their value this weekend.
Southwest has had a VERY lenient policy regarding drink coupons over the years. Most notably was that, although there was an expiration date printed on the coupons, they were always accepted. As of Sunday, August 1, 2010 that will no longer be the case. Starting in the new month no chits will be accepted past their printed expiry date. Additionally, chits that do not have an expiry date printed on them will inherit such a date: August 31, 2011. Finally, the drink coupons that customers receive for buying Business Select fares – the most expensive fares Southwest offers – will now only be valid on the day of travel; they cannot be saved for future use.
There are also some changes expected with the next round of drink chits that get issued. Most notably they have the customer’s name and Rapid Rewards member number printed on them. No word yet from the company on why they will be personalized but it will certainly limit the 3rd party market value of the chits. Selling a drink chit on eBay is much less likely to happen if it has a name and member number on it.
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Posted by Seth on July 20, 2010 under Internet, News |
As new aircraft models are launched the airlines often do fun, interesting and new things to attract additional business and help cover the costs of those multi-million dollar pieces of equipment. When the Airbus A380 went into service things like double beds (Singapore Air) and showers (Emirates) came about. With the eventual entry into service of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner there are similar promises of grandeur and benefits being made. Sortof.
Thomson Airways, the UK-based charter/tour operator, is expecting to take delivery of their first 787 in a bit more than 18 months. And they are starting the PR push now. Among the benefits being touted, more legroom in long haul economy that any other European leisure airline, in-flight broadband internet access and aromatherapy fragrances. The carrier also intends to fit the plane with a bar area that will provide, among other things, unlimited fresh fruit smoothies and mineral water.
Yup, all-you-can-drink smoothies. That’s something to look forward to in the air.
Posted by Seth on June 30, 2010 under News |
Following a successful trial period a couple months ago, Continental Airlines has announced that they are introducing a number of premium cocktails on their domestic and Latin American flights. The drinks – Red Bull and Stirrings cocktail mixers – will be priced at $9 including alcohol or $3 for just the mixer in the economy cabin. The program goes into effect on July 1, 2010. The press release is not particularly clear how they will be treated in the first class cabin and there is plenty of speculation and debate on FlyerTalk about how that is going to play out.
I’ve had the Mojito mix that will be included on a Virgin America flight and they were decent enough. I’m not sure that they are $9 decent, but when they were included in the price of my ticket I was certainly happy to drink the entire available stock during my transcon flight. On the Virgin America flight they also came served in a shaker rather than just poured into a glass. That might be worth a little bit of a premium just for the kitsch factor.
This move shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, especially given the recent trial program and the announcement of Buy-on-Board meal service also starting later this fall.
UPDATE (30 June 13:50 EDT): Apparently the July issue of Continental Magazine is out and it indicates that the premium mixers will be a paid item in the forward cabin. That’s pretty bad form.
Posted by Seth on June 17, 2010 under News |
If you do, and if you live in a hub city for Delta or US Airways (and a few other cities as well), United Airlines has a deal for you. Lots of opportunities out there for flights to Vancouver (YVR) for under $300. I’m seeing the fare from PHL, ATL, MEM, SFO, MSP, PHX, CLT and others. Lots of inventory out there right now.
Even better, it looks like the routing rules on this deal are pretty loose, at least from Philadelphia. I was seeing plenty of three connection options available if you’re in it for the miles. Looks like United has not finished cracking down on all the routing rules quite yet.
Oh, and if you do go, I strongly recommend giving Tojo’s a try. Some of the best sushi in North America, if not the world. I’m a big fan.
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Posted by Seth on June 11, 2010 under News |
Starting on June 16th JetBlue will be rolling out a new buy-on-board snack product selection on many of their flights. The offerings are most definitely snacks, not meals, and they will be available on routes where the flights are 4 hours or longer and which are operated by the carrier’s Airbus A320 aircraft; there isn’t room in the Embraer E90 galleys.
Offering complimentary snacks has been part of JetBlue’s culture since the carrier started operations 10 years ago and they have stated that they intend to continue offering a selection of free snacks going forward. These new choices are in addition to the existing selections.
So, what can your $6 get you on board a JetBlue flight? Here are the packs that will be available:
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Posted by Seth on May 17, 2010 under frequent flyer |
It is always a shame when the airlines make cuts to their loyalty programs. Certainly the value of the points in your accounts is likely to never be better than it is right now, but when the cuts happen they still sting a bit. Continental Airlines has been on a bit of a tear lately with cutting benefits from their offerings. These cuts are affecting both their most frequent customers – those with elite status – and the every day random customers as well. They really all pretty much suck.
So, what are the cuts in question? Some are relatively old news, like charging non-elites for the seats with more legroom. Of course, when they made that announcement they also made it clear that:
Extra legroom really means extra legroom. The seats that we’ll be selling have at least 7 inches of extra legroom. Specifically, our mainline aircraft will offer 10-12 extra inches on average.
So what happened in reality? They realized that they could also sell seats that have nowhere near that much extra legroom for more money, too. They’re charging for access to the bulkhead seats now on mainline aircraft, seats which have nowhere close to 10-12 extra inches. On top of this, those seats are now blocked from assignment prior to the day of travel. So even elites who can get them for no up-charge cannot actually book them in advance. This offers a small benefit to folks booking at the last minute as they have a chance for a decent seat, but it is a pretty raw deal for everyone else. I am looking at potentially flying to Los Angeles for a meeting on Wednesday and I see the bulkhead seats available but I cannot choose them. Not knowing that I can get a better seat has me seriously considering just skipping the flying and calling in instead.
Next up on the chopping block? Complimentary upgrades on flights to and from Lima, Peru. For the past several years (at least 5) flights between Lima and both Houston and Newark were eligible for complimentary upgrades. That benefit disappeared last week with the announcement that upgrades would now incur a mileage charge and likely a cash payment as well, depending on the fare paid for the ticket. What do customers get in exchange for this increase in cost? An ice cream sundae, assuming you’re going to Newark. There will be a minor upgrade in catering on the Newark flights. Folks going to and from Houston actually get nothing different than they do today, other than a guarantee that they’ll be riding in the back of the plane. The airline did actually upgrade everyone with a previously purchased ticket, essentially honoring the complimentary upgrades for folks who bought when that policy was in effect. This was a nice touch to be certain, but new purchases must pay the higher costs going forward. Sure, it is just one route, but that ice cream sundae is pretty damn expensive now.
Finally, there is the issue of their call centers. It was a few months ago that they announced their intention to shutter one of their three facilities, removing about 500 agents from their role. And now trying to get through to actually talk with someone is a tremendous challenge. Yes, the volcano is affecting a number of flights causing more calls than usual. But for a customer to be greeted with a recording stating that too many people are already on hold and that they should call back later, followed by the call disconnecting, is bad for business and bad for the customers. Sure, they’re saving a few bucks on the expense side of the ledger but the costs on the revenue side may eat up those savings and more.
Maybe it is no wonder I haven’t flown on Continental all that much this year. Sure, I’m still collecting points in their OnePass program, but I’m not particularly inclined to pay their asking prices for flights these days; the value simply isn’t there.
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Posted by Seth on May 10, 2010 under News, Trip Reports |
I certainly understand Amtrak’s efforts to promote rail ridership in the United States. Even if the offerings are relatively poor compared to many other countries, it is important to keep awareness up and try to attract more riders. For the third year now, Amtrak has run a National Train Day promotion, with events around the country to promote their services.
The festivities this year started in New York City a day prior to the actual event, with Taye Diggs launching a kick-off party for the weekend. Also present was the crew from the Cake Boss show on TLC. They were filming an episode for the show based on the fact that there was an enormous cake display set up in New York’s Pennsylvania Station. They had a model train set and a “city” made of cakes. There were about 30 buildings and roughly 3000 pounds of cake making up the model, not to mention two trains running on different levels in the model. I didn’t stick around for free cupcakes, mostly because the TLC folks apparently weren’t happy with the initial crowd reaction to the cake unveiling so they were going to take the shot again.
Next up on the schedule was actually riding the rails. We were in Philadelphia this weekend and decided to ride the rails rather than a bus this time a round. Between rush hour travel and the general comfort factor that Amtrak offers, plus a pretty good sale on advance purchase fares, the train just made more sense. Given the 6:30pm departure time and uncertain dinner schedule on arrival in Philadelphia, we decided to go for a bit of a picnic on the train. A block of cheese, some pretzel crisps and a bottle of champagne, decanted into water bottles made for quite the enjoyable ride. The pressure in one of the bottles of bubbly built up enough that it sounded like a firecracker going off when I opened the bottle on the train, but no one really seemed to mind too much in the end. And apparently consumption of private-stock alcohol isn’t permitted in the train on a regular basis but we didn’t have any troubles. All in all, a quite enjoyable commute down to Philadelphia.
The third bit of National Train Day that we celebrated was in Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station, part of the main celebration event. It was a zoo. There were way more people out and about celebrating than I expected to see. We actually got shut out of a few of the exhibits – most notably the antique rolling stock – because the lines were too long. Still, it was nice to see so many avid train buffs taking advantage of the things Amtrak had on offer. Not quite as much history of the rails as I would have liked to see, but I can understand them trying to celebrate the future of rail travel more than its past. After all, that’s what is going to help them ensure their existence.
And, finally, for your foaming pleasure, a short video of part of my ride from Newark to New York earlier in the day. I was riding in the space between two of the cars and poked the camera out through the gap between the heavy rubber pads that separate the cars from each other.
Posted by Seth on April 23, 2010 under Trip Reports |
I’ve taken the United Airlines p.s. flights a couple times between New York City and the west coast, but always in coach. They were, to be frank, not all that special. Really not much “premium” about them in the back. In the business or first class cabins it is a whole different story, or so I’d been told. This weekend’s trip to Los Angeles finally gave me a chance to find out for myself. Thanks to a friend with extra CR1 upgrades lying around I managed to find myself in seat 10A, a window seat in the business class cabin of the Boeing 757-200.
One nice thing about the p.s. premium cabin service is that it includes lounge access. Of course, in New York that means the somewhat tired Red Carpet Club, but it is better than nothing. They had some yogurt out as well as fruit juices on the bar. And since I was in a premium cabin they even gave me drink chits for the alcoholic beverages when I went in. Not so bad. Still, that lounge needs some work. At least it wasn’t too crowded at 7:45am.
Boarding was quick and easy. It is amazing what reducing the number of seats on a plane by 30% will do to ease the boarding process. Plenty of overhead bin space and everyone was able to get settled into their seats pretty quickly.
The seats are the same as the old international business product seats. They aren’t my favorite, to say the least. Adjusting them is a very manual process and getting them “right” is something I have yet to master. Still, plenty of room to stretch out and work. It didn’t hurt that the seat next to me was empty on the flight, giving me even more space.
The meal service in business class is also a premium product. Printed menus and table cloths and quality glassware for the drinks. I had one drink on the flight – it was early and I was also working during the trip and needed to be somewhat coherent – and it was juts fine. Not really my favorite flavor but I figured it would be worth trying the featured drink in the menu. And the food – I had the pancakes – was, well, airplane food. Certainly not gourmet by any stretch but better than the Buy-on-Board boxes offered up in the back. One very nice thing was that the meal service was on-demand. The couple in front of me chose to sleep for the first three hours of the flight and they got their breakfast when they woke up.
In-flight entertainment was provided by both overhead monitors and personal media players distributed by the flight attendants. I don’t know how anyone could even consider watching the overhead monitors on the plane. I had a view of six from my seat. One was completely dysfunctional and the other five were all different colors while watching the same content. I’m not all that surprised as most folks in the cabin were just using the portable devices the FAs were handing out, but it is still a bad overall representation of the product and the brand to have the systems in such a state of disrepair.
The entire p.s. fleet also has Aircell’s gogo service available. I’m not a huge fan of paying for in-flight internet, but I had work to do and it was stuff I couldn’t load on to my laptop and do offline. So I sucked it up and paid the price. The service was pretty good this time, without any drops in performance or other troubles. I even uploaded a video to YouTube of our takeoff that morning during the flight and it made it through OK, albeit slowly.
Lest the above report sound like a bunch of griping, let me be clear: the trip was just about what I’d expect from a premium transcon product on a US legacy carrier. Maybe it is just that my expectations have be reasonably set low. If I can get my hands on more CR1s I’d certainly do it again, but I’m not going out of my way for it nor would I ever consider paying the fares that United charges. Sure, it is better than a poke in the eye (or coach) but not that much better that my budget would accept it. But I was up in the air, looking out at this, and that’s rarely a bad thing…
Posted by Seth on April 15, 2010 under Trip Reports |
At some point in the middle of last year I managed to cross a line in personal records, having now visited more foreign countries than states in the USA. I’ve got every state with a coast save one (Delaware) and a whole bunch in the interior, too, but I’m also missing a number in the middle of the country.Idaho was one of those, until this week. In my planning for the triple run to Spokane, Washington I did a bit of research and was egged on by Mike to consider visiting Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Had I done even more research prior to arrival I would have known that Montana is only another hour beyond and I probably would have gone for that, too, but there is enough worth seeing in Montana that I’m willing to make another trip back later to get that one. Still, it was time to cross Idaho off my list. So I booked a 26 hour layover in Spokane and got my Idaho on.
First surprise of the visit? No potatoes. Not a single potato farm to be seen, at least not that I recognized. Plenty of them sliced up, fried and served along with the sandwiches I ordered, but no farms. I’m guessing I was either in the wrong part of the state or just ignorant as to what a potato farm looks like.
On the beach in Coeur d’Alene
Second surprise of the visit? Coeur d’Alene was stunningly beautiful. I was expecting it to be pretty nice. My expectations were WAY exceeded. I made it into town around 3pm, checked into the hotel and then set out to explore. The downtown is tiny – maybe 10 blocks long and two wide – but full of bars, restaurants, shops and mostly nice folks. I had no idea what to do or see so I did something that I believe I only have done once before. I walked into the tourist information center and asked for help. The wonderful woman there gave me a ton of information and a ton of grief for only having 24 hours in town. But she absolutely pointed me in the right direction for something to do that afternoon. I was going to hike Tubbs Hill.
One of the many stunning views from Tubbs Hill
Tubbs Hill is a peninsula that sticks off the edge of downtown Coeur d’Alene. It is about 120 acres and is public land, purchased by a trust a while back and developed with trails and beaches that are accessible without too much effort. The main trail is a mostly flat two mile loop that is generally well marked and a pretty easy hike. There’s also a trail that goes up over the top of the hill, adding about 400 feet of elevation to the trip. In addition to a couple random tourists walking around on the trail I was passed by a number of locals who use it as a jogging path. Branching off of the main trail are a number of smaller paths that head either up into the hill or down to the waterfront and small sandy beaches. The beaches ranged from tiny to small. They aren’t going to pack in huge crowds – and no crowds out on the day I hiked due to the weather most likely – but I can see them as being a relatively private escape from the main town beach area crowds in the summer. Plus, they’re stunningly beautiful.
Speaking of beautiful, I made a point of booking a round of golf at the Coeur d’Alene resort during my layover. The course is most definitely one of the most beautiful I’ve ever played and it is the only one where I’ve had a caddy assigned to help with the round. Among other things, the course is known for its 14th hole, a truly floating green. In my case the other two golfers who I was paired up with no-showed due to the misty weather. That left just me and the caddy. I was given a choice of having him play as well or just caddy. I chose to have him play and it was great to have someone else at about my skill level on the course with me.
The course is most famous for its 14th hole, a par three to a green that is actually floating out in the middle of the lake. It is attached to a track underwater so that it can be repositioned but it also floats naturally in the lake with tethers to the track keeping it in relatively the same place on any given day. Alas, it was beyond my skill to actually land a ball on the green 175 yards away, but I did have fun trying (and on the boat ride to and from).
Coeur d’Alene is mostly a seasonal town, swelling up with visitors in the summer. I was a bit early for the 2010 season which was good and bad. The golf was a bit less expensive but the weather was also a bit cold and wet, plus not so many folks in town. Dinner-time downtown was like a ghost-town except for one place, the Coeur d’Alene Brewery Pub. It was packed. The beer definitely was better than the food, though the latter was passable. But the beer was delicious. Sadly, I was driving so I only got to taste a couple of them.
So I was there off season and the weather wasn’t the best. Still, Coeur d’Alene has a ton going for it and is definitely a place I’ll have on the list of worth returning too, likely for more than 24 hours next time.
More pictures here.
Posted by Seth on April 11, 2010 under Trip Reports |
A 4am wake-up call is rarely a good thing. Perhaps the only thing worse is when that call doesn’t come in and you’re expecting it. Fortunately I had set my alarm, too, so I didn’t miss my train, but it was annoying. On to the light rail from downtown Minneapolis to the airport at 4:07am and then through security in just a few minutes. Total time from my hotel room to the gate was about 50 minutes. Not bad at all, except that the Red Carpet Club wasn’t open yet.
The agent at the club did question my sanity when I mentioned in conversation that I didn’t find it all that strange to go hang out at the airport if not flying that day. Apparently she does. Such is life. The new RCC in Minneapolis is pretty nice. Small, but nice. Plenty of power outlets and both the RCC T*Mobile and the airport Boingo wireless work great there. And then, at 6am, it was time to start flying.
Minneapolis to Chicago. Chicago to New Orleans. New Orleans to Denver. Denver to Spokane. Certainly not the most direct route, but one of the more lucrative routes when it comes to accruing frequent flyer points, and that’s what this trip is all about. Explaining it to the flight attendants always is good for some strange looks but once they hear the value proposition – I’ll pay $500 in airfare now for enough points to get two flights to Europe or South America in the pointy end of the plane – they start to come around. Or they’re just being polite.
The flights were mostly uneventful. I slept through one of them, take-off to touch-down, and the other three saw nothing particularly interesting happen. I still find the United Airlines first class seats strangely uncomfortable. If I’m sitting upright like I have decent posture they just don’t feel right. Great if you want to slouch our slide your butt forward, but not so great to just sit in, at least to me. Friendly enough flight attendants and the food on one of the two meal flights was passable (not the eggs for breakfast). And then I was in Spokane.
Spokane is pretty much exactly as I remember it. I was last in town almost seven years ago for a wedding and there are only bits that I really remember but just as soon as we pulled off the highway and onto Division Street the memories came flooding back. There was the Perkins where we had the after-after-party from the wedding and the bar just across the way where the after-party was. And there was Frankie Doodle’s, home of the Texas-sized cinnamon roll. Just as large as I remember it and almost as delicious. It was worth waking up 5 minutes earlier than we otherwise would have to camp out in their parking lot and grab one for the flight, even if it did mean a second consecutive 4am alarm and fighting the line to get in when they opened their doors at 5am (yes, there really was a line to get in).
Just another day in air world…
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Posted by Seth on April 9, 2010 under Trip Reports |
Every trip is an adventure. There is always something a bit strange or exciting that happens along the way. Those are often moments of panic or disbelief at the time and are great stories later on. For this week’s mileage run I managed to have the first of what I imagine will be several of such events well before I even started the trip. Twenty-two hours prior, to be precise.
Early Thursday afternoon I started thinking about packing for the trip. Not actually packing – that would wait for the morning of departure – but at least I was thinking about it, mostly because i received the email from Midwest reminding me to check in online for my flights. So I clicked the link and dutifully filled out all the information: name, reservation number and departure city. The system spit back an error indicating that the reservation didn’t exist.
Ruh roh.
So I went back and made sure that I hadn’t misspelled my name and that I hadn’t made an error on the reservation number. Both were correct, but still no love from the website. No way I messed up the date of the reservation, right? After all, I di get the Online Check-in email and that only comes at 24 hours out. Something must not be right.
And something was very wrong. Me. I had the wrong departure airport in the form. I had no idea that I was flying from Newark rather than LaGuardia. At least I figured it out well before my initial departure time and was able to plan appropriately.
Coincidentally enough, riding on NJ Transit out to the airport this morning I was sitting next to a couple who were flying on Continental from New York City to Houston. We were just pul
ling in to the station at Newark when they realized that their flight was actually booked from LaGuardia. Apparently it was not just me having troubles with that.
All in all, not a terrible way to start the run. The flight was on-time getting out of Newark and karma managed to get me a decent seat on the plane in the end. I was originally assigned 6D – a window – on the Embraer ERJ-145 for the flight to Milwaukee. The mother/son pair boarding behind me asked the flight attendant if it was possible to move seats around so they could sit together. One of them had 6C. So I gave them my 6D and took 16C, way in the back and on the aisle. Not my ideal seat assignment but the family together is a good thing and no real trouble sitting back there for the couple hours in the air. I also happened to notice that 12D, the exit row, was still empty. Midwest charges extra for that seat and I’m not going to pay extra for it, but if I can convince the flight attendant that my trading seats at boarding is worth the “upgrade” then why not? She had, unfortunately, already promised the seat to someone else. Bummer. And then, just before closing the door, she came back to let me know that 4A was open and waiting for me. Aisle and window and up near the front of the plane. That’s about as close as one can get to an upgrade on the ERJ-145 once row 12 is gone so I’m calling it a win.
Oh, and cookies on the flight, too.
Overall, the initial experience on Midwest was about what I expected. Nothing special in Newark and just another flight on the ERJ, but the flight attendant is friendly enough and I got a cookie and a full can of soda just for asking. Not much to complain about there. There are cameras in the plane cabin. I don’t think I mind that too much, but it is strange to see them mounted on the bulkhead walls pointing back at the passengers.
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