Posted by Seth on May 10, 2012 under Flying, News | 
Odds are you don’t know the answer to this question. I know that I have no certain answer to it. But I do know that the most recent revisions to it carry tremendous potential impact on passengers, travel agents and airlines. The most recent rules took effect only earlier this year, meaning there haven’t been many opportunities for test cases. It looks like a pretty significant test case has just shown up. The above referenced cite is the rule the DoT uses to handle unfair and deceptive advertising practices. While it is focused on truly misleading or bait-and-switch actions where one price is advertised and then the fare changes after a ticket is purchased, it also appears to have potential impact on mistake fares.
Here’s the text of 49 U.S.C. 41712 § 399.88(a) :
It is an unfair and deceptive practice within the meaning of 49 U.S.C. 41712 for any seller of scheduled air transportation within, to or from the United States, or of a tour (i.e., a combination of air transportation and ground or cruise accommodations), or tour component (e.g., a hotel stay) that includes scheduled air transportation within, to or from the United States, to increase the price of that air transportation, tour or tour component to a consumer, including but not limited to an increase in the price of the seat, an increase in the price for the carriage of passenger baggage, or an increase in an applicable fuel surcharge, after the air transportation has been purchased by the consumer, except in the case of an increase in a government-imposed tax or fee. A purchase is deemed to have occurred when the full amount agreed upon has been paid by the consumer.
Airlines have, with some frequency, cited clauses in their Contract of Carriage when they load mistake fares into the GDSes and sell them. Korean Air canceled a whole bunch of flights to Palau last year and British Airways did the same to customers who were ticketed to India (self included) prior to that. In each case the airline claimed that the fares were simple and obvious errors and therefore they could absolve themselves of their obligations simply by refunding the charge.
The DoT seems to feel otherwise these days. In fact, this specific type of case is directly addressed in their Second Final Rule on Enhancing Airline Passenger Protections FAQ:
Does the prohibition on post-purchase price increases in section 399.88(a) apply in the situation where a carrier mistakenly offers an airfare due to a computer problem or human error and a consumer purchases the ticket at that fare before the carrier is able to fix the mistake?
Section 399.88(a) states that it is an unfair and deceptive practice for any seller of scheduled air transportation within, to, or from the United States, or of a tour or tour component that includes scheduled air transportation within, to, or from the United States, to increase the price of that air transportation to a consumer after the air transportation has been purchased by the consumer, except in the case of a government-imposed tax or fee and only if the passenger is advised of a possible increase before purchasing a ticket. A purchase occurs when the full amount agreed upon has been paid by the consumer. Therefore, if a consumer purchases a fare and that consumer receives confirmation (such as a confirmation email and/or the purchase appears on their credit card statement or online account summary) of their purchase, then the seller of air transportation cannot increase the price of that air transportation to that consumer, even when the fare is a “mistake.”
A contract of carriage provision that reserves the right to cancel such ticketed purchases or reserves the right to raise the fare cannot legalize the practice described above. The Enforcement Office would consider any contract of carriage provision that attempts to relieve a carrier of the prohibition against post-purchase price increase to be an unfair and deceptive practice in violation of 49 U.S.C. § 41712.
Seems like good news for consumers, right? Well, that depends on whether the airlines are actually held to the rule. Both Korean Air and ANA, among others, are now facing just such a question after a “mistake” fare for travel from Burma/Myanmar to pretty much anywhere in the world was available last week. The “mistake” came about due to a currency devaluation, essentially causing a few zeroes to disappear from fares. When just a few were being purchased here and there it was no big deal. Once the deal was widely publicized, however, hundreds were purchased and the airlines realized they had a problem.
They managed to pull most of the fares pretty quickly though some were still available several days later. But what to do about the hundreds of tickets already issued? For obvious reasons the airlines want to cancel them; in many cases the costs to cater for the passengers, much less carry them, are greater than the fare paid. The airlines are going to lose money on these fares. But does that give them the right to unilaterally cancel the flights?
At least for now, the carriers seem to be erring on the side of “Yes” for that question. Both Korean and ANA have contacted the booking agents and most tickets booked at the mistake rate have been canceled. But that doesn’t mean the DoT actually approves of such an approach. Korean seems to be taking the approach that since they never changed the fare and instead simply canceled the tickets they are not in violation of the rule. ANA has similarly responded that the “genuinely regret the circumstances that prompted [a complaint]” and that they are “now in contact with the appropriate agencies and departments.” Vayama, one of the booking agents which was party to many of the tickets issued has claimed, in part,
The DOT Ruling was set up in part to prevent unfair and unethical business practices associated with pricing on the part of airlines… [T]he cause of the dramatic decrease in fares out of Rangoon was not the result of unfair or unethical business practices on the part of the airlines.
… Although we have no way of knowing at this time how the DOT will rule on this case, we are confident that the actions taken were NOT in an effort to unfairly or unethically impact any customers.
All three seem to be of the opinion that, because it was truly an accident that they should be excused from the rule. I can certainly understand the position of the airlines in this case. Maybe they shouldn’t be held responsible for a country devaluing its currency by a few decimal points. Then again, they’re the ones who publish the fares and they’re the ones who have control over such things, so maybe they should be held accountable. After all, what is the threshold for really an accident versus not?
One thing is certain: the DoT has quite a doozy of a first test for their revised rule. They’ve shown little sympathy with respect to fines handed out relative to the 3-hour tarmac rule since that went into force so perhaps that is a hint as to their consumer-friendly leanings these days.
Related Posts:
Posted by Seth on February 29, 2012 under frequent flyer, Hotel, points |
It would seem that, despite my best efforts, I’ve managed to maintain hotel status through my own actions. I don’t really believe much in the value of hotel status for personally paid stays, mostly because I couldn’t care less about the "free" lounge, the "free" breakfast or the "free" internet service that the status affords. Ditto for suite upgrades. Plus, I like the character and charm of independent hotels in foreign countries way more than the western-branded ones as a general rule. Yes, I have SPG gold via my AmEx Platinum card, but even that barely gets used.
So imagine my surprise when I received an email this week congratulating me on getting status with a hotel program.
FIVESTAR is the program for hotels.com users, and I’ve been a pretty heavy user for a while now. I suppose that if I knew about the program I probably would have been surprised that I hadn’t qualified earlier (it only takes 10 nights annually) but I never knew about it so I never cared. Still, now that I’ve got this status I should figure out what the benefits are, right?
So I click the link lower down in the email and I start reading. There is a PDF file for both the FIVESTAR and FIVESTAR Plus (25+ nights) on their site and I tried to figure out what’s special about the programs. I still haven’t figured it out. There is this one section that purports to be part of the benefits:
Plans change. Now, so can your reservations–with the Hassle-Free Travel Guarantee. If you need to change your reservations for any reason – weather, schedule change, or even personal preference–our FIVESTAR Plus agents will do their best to help you make new travel plans right away, without any Hotels.com change or cancellation fees.
With Hassle-Free Dispute Resolution, we will work to fix any problem that you may have during your hotel stay. Just call your members-only phone number or email us at FIVESTAR@hotels.com.
Here’s the thing about these benefits…they’re not actually unique to the "status" level. Hotels.com has a no-fee cancelation policy for all their reservations. They advertise it really big on their home page:
So that’s nothing special. And their promise to "fix any problem" is also something that seems to be available to all customers. I know that they took care of several successive fiascos with reservations in Kochi, India well before I had the special status.
They also promise a price match guarantee for FIVESTAR members, but that’s also advertised to all customers really big on the homepage. Maybe there is something to be said for the special deals that they supposedly offer for members, but I haven’t seen any of those yet. I’m not holding my breath.
I get that they want to make their most frequent customers feel special by providing them extra value for their loyalty. After all, that’s what these programs are all about. But it doesn’t really work so well when you’re not offering any tangible benefits as part of the program. I’m certainly not going to call up and complain that they gave me a worthless "status" but it is also not going to change my booking patterns, which is what these sorts of programs are supposed to do.
I’m a big fan of their Welcome Rewards program in general (even with the devaluation not too long ago), but this FIVESTAR program is pretty much worthless from what I can see.
Related Posts:
Posted by Seth on February 3, 2012 under frequent flyer, News |
Kingfisher was dealt a potential death blow yesterday when the airline was suspended from IATA’s ticketing clearinghouse due to reported non-payment. The clearinghouse is used by hundreds of airlines to process payments for interline tickets and other multi-carrier transactions. Roughly 80% of interline transactions worldwide are settled through the system so being suspended is a huge blow to the carrier.
The company claims the suspension was triggered automatically by the IATA systems when a technical glitch prevented their scheduled payment from reaching the clearinghouse:
As a result of a recent internal system failure, certain credits did not hit our ICH account in time, triggering an automatic suspension. Kingfisher would like to confirm that all its dues via ICH have been settled in full and it has absolutely no outstanding due as of date,
Despite claiming to be current it appears that IATA has not yet commented or reinstated the carrier to the systems.
Adding fuel to the fire is the announcement today that the planned February 10, 2012 ascension of Kingfisher into oneworld is being delayed, with no revised date yet announced. FlightGlobal is carrying the story, with quotes from both oneworld and Kingfisher executives on this latest development. Said oneworld CEO Bruce Ashby:
These are turbulent times for the airline industry in India and many other parts of the world. We have been working closely with Kingfisher Airlines over the past months and it has become increasingly clear recently that the airline needs more time to resolve the financial issues it is confronting before it can be welcomed into Oneworld. Will work with Kingfisher Airlines with the aim of setting a new joining date once it is through this current period of turbulence.
This delay is somewhat reminiscent of the frequent delays that Air India suffered in their attempts to join Star Alliance over the past few years. Those efforts were eventually scuttled after multiple delays.
Without access to interline booking revenue is seems unlikely that Kingfisher will be able to realize the revenue needed to pull themselves out of their financial morass. With many unpaid or severely delayed bills the future of the carrier is very much in question. It is not surprising that the alliance is not interested in bringing the carrier on board as their liabilities for interline travel could be significant.
This is a serious blow for oneworld, as another member carrier, Malev, ceased operations today, also under financial pressures they could not overcome.
Not a good day in the aviation world at all.
Hat tip to Flying With Fish for the head’s up on this one.
Related Posts:
Posted by Seth on January 11, 2012 under Trip Reports |
Just a quick hour or so south of the manic hustle of Chennai sits the town of Mamallapuram and one of the most significant collections of temples from the 7th-9th centuries that can be found in India. Even more impressive is that the temples are, for the most part, in surprisingly good shape. Some have suffered the fate of wind and sea spray from the coast but most are incredibly well preserved for being 1400 years old.
Scattered across a few miles of shore there are three main areas where the temples are sited; unsurprisingly the areas in between are dotted with tchotchke shops and such catering to the throngs of tourists who visit daily. Easy enough to avoid if you have a driver or just keep your head down as you walk the roads between the sites. Working from the south to the north here are some of the highlights from our visit.
Five Rathas
These Rathas, literally chariots but more like carved temples, sit adjacent to each other at the south end of town. Each of the Rathas is dedicated to an individual god and the collection of them together is quite impressive. And, to be quite clear, each of these huge buildings was carved out of the piece of stone that was there when they decided to build. That someone had the vision to look at a chunk of stone and see in it a temple as ornate and detailed as these is incredible; that they were able to execute on the plan even more so.
The carvings on the individual temples are incredibly detailed, with much of the work still visible even today, centuries later.
Arjuna’s Penance (et al.)
Arjuna’s Penance is a massive bas-relief, carved into the side of a rock basically in the middle of town. The story told is under debate by historians and archaeologists (some claim it to be of Bhagiratha, not Arjuna) but pretty much everyone agrees that the level of detail shown in the carving is tremendous.
There is a story being told in the carvings, one that I don’t really know, but the collection of animals, angels and gods is stunning.
In the same small park area that holds Arjuna’s Penance there are a number of other temples to visit. They vary in size and age, though most are from the same era. Thanks to being sheltered from the weather they have survived the test of time incredibly well.
Just spend an hour or two, starting from the south end of the park by the lighthouse and wandering about and you will see incredible carvings and statues scattered about the area. The main area is fenced in so it is hard to get too lost as you wander.
Access to this part of the historical sites is also fee-free, unlike the Rathas or the Shore Temple. That changes the dynamic of the crowd a tiny bit, but not so much as to skew the experience. And if you’re on such a tight budget that the $5 to visit the main sites is too much, these certainly give a great feel for the history of the area.
The Shore Temple
Of all the sites in Mamallapuram the Shore Temple is in the worst shape of the sites in town. This is not particularly surprising given its location right on the waterfront where it has to deal with wind and sea spray all the time. Also somewhat unique to the Shore Temple is that it is a constructed building rather than a carved temple.
Even with these two differences, the Shore Temple is an impressive site. And, along with the Five Rathas, it has entry controlled by the sale of tickets (Rs. 250, ~USD $5 for foreigners, Rs. 10 for Indians for both sites),which keeps the experience a bit more calm. That said, it can still get a bit crazy if you’re there with someone seen as a movie star.
The sites at Mamallapuram are each impressive. Taken as a whole, particularly with the mix of different gods and sects being honored, it is an incredible testament to the way of life seen in that era. It is most definitely worth the day trip down from Chennai to see this collection.
Posted by Seth on January 10, 2012 under Flying, frequent flyer, News |
As part of their bankruptcy reorganization efforts American Airlines has announced that they are cutting the longest route in their network, the flights between Chicago and Delhi, India. The flights are being terminated as of March 1, 2012. Live from a Lounge (a local on the India side) and One Mile at a Time (a quite vocal AAficionado) have both weighed in on the topic, mostly with disbelief. To me the surprise is really that it took the bAAnkruptcy to do the route in.
At least one analyst out there says the route was losing $40MM annually. And naturally you’re going to cut anything that isn’t profitable in a reorganization, right? The problem with that approach is that, at this point, nearly everything American touches is not profitable; they’ve got the inverse of the Midas touch. The real question should be whether a route can be profitable, not whether it is right now. And in the case of the Delhi flight, the answer is still no.
It is the longest route in their system, roughly 7500 miles in the air each way. That’s a whole lot of fuel that needs to be carried so the plane can make it to the destination, and that fuel has increased significantly in cost since the route was launched in 2005. It seems that even if the company could get the labor costs down, their stated goal in the bankruptcy process, the other fixed costs of the route are still too great.
The same analyst who asserts the $40MM annual losses also suggests that there are a few other routes which are hemorrhaging cash and which seem primed to be cut: New York-London, New York-California, Chicago to Delhi, Beijing and Shanghai and Miami to Buenos Aires. Seems unlikely to me that all those are going to be touched. The London routes gets the advantage now of ATI, something that was far too late in being granted by the authorities on both sides of the Atlantic. That should help significantly for margins on that service. The transcon market is an interesting one and I could see some changes come, but I doubt they’ll fully retreat. And the South America service seems to have way more potential than the Asia routes, putting it squarely in the "potentially could be successful" category.
Could the Beijing and Shanghai routes be on the out? Loads to China are down and the yields are likely following. At the same time, however, getting back into that market is incredibly challenging. Plus, there aren’t particularly great onward connections if you look to partners. It seems much more likely that the China routes could be profitable and that they’d stick around a least a bit longer.
The other consideration for American, more than individual routes, is the combined effect of cutting too much on the route map. Their international network was already somewhat anemic outside of Latin America and further cuts won’t help that. Even with partners and the ATI agreement, it is hard to market and sell flights to corporate contracts when you don’t actually have service to the destinations they need to serve. And a merger with US Airways, JetBlue or Alaska Airlines isn’t going to solve any of those problems.
Related Posts:
Posted by Seth on January 7, 2012 under News, Trip Reports |
The New York Times has an interesting piece out this weekend about UNESCO World Heritage Sites and the impact they have on the destinations in which they are sited. To be certain, the strain of having so many tourists in some of these areas is huge, pushing the limits of what the local infrastructure can support in many cases. I’ve seen that recently in visiting the backwaters of Kerala, for example, where the process of pushing tourists through has significantly changed the local environment significantly. Ditto for a number of the sites we visited in Sri Lanka (reports coming soon!).
There’s also the issue of certain newer designations, the so-called "intangibles," and some rather heated debate about whether those really should be counted or even what they really are. Some of the traditions enshrined under the act – like Indonesian puppet theatre – are reasonably easy to identify. Others are a bit harder. The French have designated their "gastronomic meal" as one such tradition.
The French gastronomic meal, enshrined in 2010, is one example. It is meant to preserve the lavish family occasion that marks major life events: births, communions, weddings, birthdays, exam results, deaths. It recognizes “that the French community puts a gastronomic meal at the center of its celebration of life,” said Ms. Duvelle, herself French.
Unesco was not pleased that three-star French chefs used the designation to try to promote themselves, culminating in a grotesque celebration at Versailles last April where some 60 celebrity chefs largely prepared meals elsewhere that were trucked in and warmed up on portable workstations for celebrity guests and the news media.
Now there is talk, at least, of taking the recognition away because the state has not done much to safeguard the tradition except to advertise it abroad under the slogan, “So French, So Good!”
I’ve visited over 50 of the designated sites so far in my life, and nearly every one of the has been an incredible experience. I haven’t explored the intangible options as much, but I suppose they’ll be part of my adventures at some point. That said, having now looked at the list, there’s a lot of stuff on there that doesn’t seem to really be "special" in a way that needs or deserves protection. Then again, if I could get money out of the UN to help protect the heritage of the Tango, I would do it, too.
In the meantime, I’ll keep tracking my visits using that section of the Travel Tools site. Lots of fun to help plan trips and identify potential sites to visit, as well as to keep track of some of the places I’ve visited. And being able to have a bit of competition on how many I’ve visited isn’t so bad either.
Posted by Seth on January 5, 2012 under Dining, Hotel, Review, Trip Reports |
On our second stay in Chennai on this trip we wanted to be more in the center of town than the Radisson Blu at the airport could offer. There were a few options available to us towards the center of the sprawling metropolis and, on the recommendation of a good friend, we chose the GRT Grand hotel.
The GRT Grand is a mid-range, utilitarian business-class hotel located in a reasonably busy area of town. It is not far from a number of western branded hotels (we could see the brand new Hyatt from our window and had drinks there on a couple of the nights) but doesn’t suffer from the same pricing issues those seem to (we were in for about $130/night including tax via hotels.com; could have booked slightly cheaper as a non-refundable rate directly with the hotel but wanted the flexibility). Not being a western brand also means a bit of character that I nearly always find lacking in those hotels, charms I usually enjoy.
The hotel itself is pretty big, with three restaurants, a night club and a huge atrium that extends up the entire interior of the building.
The check-in process was a bit frazzled as they were swapping our room and that of another guy around because he needed an extra bed but it was eventually squared away and we were escorted up to our room on the 6th floor. I’m not sure if they have upgrades or suites but the superior room we were booked in to was decently sized, with a separate tiny couch (both of us on it was a bit tight) and desk area.
Yes, the décor is a bit dated, but it was a pretty comfy bed and the desk had outlets above, not below, for charging my gear.
The bathroom was similarly dated in style but functional in its facilities.
We had meals at all of the restaurants on the property. Breakfast each morning (included in the rate) was a at the all day lobby buffet. It was passable, barely. Cooked to order eggs was a bit of a saving grace there, really, giving us enough sustenance to get out on the road and find other options.
We dined at the Indian restaurant for lunch on two days. The menu is vast, inspiring great curiosity in how all of it could be good and challenging us to guess at what might be. I don’t know that we guessed right either time but we also didn’t guess particularly wrong. The food was fine, though hardly memorable. I actually don’t remember now what we had, but I know it wasn’t so great that I needed to.
Finally, they gave us coupons at check in for the Mediterranean restaurant in the hotel. Figuring that we wanted a bit of variety (but not so much that we were willing to venture out into the rains of Cyclone Thane) we gave it a try. It was surprisingly delicious. We learned why about half-way through the meal when the chef came out to say hi and ask how things were. He’s a native of Turkey and has spent a few years in Uzbekistan, too. The menu here was even broader than in the Indian restaurant; it is literally a bound book about 80 pages long including sections on the history and cuisine of the various countries around the Med that they are serving from. We were, again, hesitant, but the choices we tried were all delicious. Oh, and there was a weird stage show at various points throughout dinner where a young woman came in and danced a bit in a relatively skimpy outfit. Best we could figure is that it was their version of the Moroccan belly dancer option; it was a bit strange but didn’t detract from the food.
My only real complaint about the property was some frustration that I had with the travel desk and concierge services. Not surprisingly they don’t like their guests going out of their purview for day trips or really anything else and they were less than helpful in making arrangements. When it came to things like getting movie tickets – something that I was told the hotel guys should be able to handle quickly and easily – it actually turned into a bit of a fiasco with promises of seats three different times which were never delivered upon. We eventually figured that out on our own via a pretty web booking engine; I’m shocked that the guy didn’t know it existed and they had a computer sitting there for them to use. On the plus side, they did have an umbrella to loan us when we headed out into the Cyclone.
And even on the day trips front, the driver was less than stellar. Our tour was supposed to include all tolls and parking. The driver insisted we pay. I didn’t mind as I was collecting the receipts and that would be enough to get it handled back at the hotel. But I also called to make sure I understood the tour correctly as I didn’t want any more surprises. When we got back in the car the driver insisted on paying us back immediately (admission of first attempt to screw us) and then tried to short-change me on the reimbursement. Funny thing is that trying to screw me out of 10 rupees cost him 50 times that in tip; I had intended on giving a rather generous tip but that plan went out the window in a hurry as soon as the guy tried to short-change me. On the plus side, he did a great job of getting us to and from our intended destination without any incidents on the road.
Overall the hotel was pretty much exactly as I expected and it was perfectly functional and the price was right. Even the couple minor inconveniences were trivial relative to the value we got. I still think that the Radisson Blu was a much nicer property near the same price point, but the location – all the way out at the airport – isn’t great for being a tourist in town.
Posted by Seth on January 5, 2012 under Trip Reports |
With Tropical Cyclone Thane bearing down on the coast of Chennai our regularly scheduled touristing options were pretty much dead. Well, I suppose we could have gone with the plan of checking out the waterfront and the lighthouse, and we would have seen them really in action, but the waterlogging we would have to accumulate to do so was less than appealing. And so began our quest to visit the local cineplex.
Thanks to the advice of a good friend and Chennai native we learned that it is possible to have the hotel call over to the movie theater and arrange the ticket purchase – and even delivery – rather than dealing with the queues at the theater. Sounded great, but there was a problem. Turns out the concierge at the hotel wasn’t very good and the movie was mostly sold out and most theaters in town that day. He basically couldn’t find us seats, and every time he did they seemed to disappear as he called us to confirm.
Back to square one. Thank goodness for the internet. The theaters we were looking at all had online booking systems. And there were a couple aggregator sites, too. This meant that we were actually able to find theatres showing the movie and which had seats available with a quick search rather than having the concierge calling them individually. We actually found a few showings with seats and went to book. Of course, it took us three different sites until we found one that actually worked throughout the process, but eventually we got that part squared away. For only Rs. 120 (~USD$2.40) each we were going to the movies. And I’m also now apparently a member of the INOX frequent guest program. Not sure about elite status yet, but I’ll see what I can figure out.
We hopped in a tuk tuk/auto-rickshaw in the rain and hoped for the best as we made our way to the theater. I’ve heard plenty of stories about the theaters in India, with rather chaotic scenes inside. I was expecting a bit of the worst.
- Yes, there were three levels of ticket takers, each checking the previous and issuing a new one, all for the same seat.
- Yes, they checked our bags going in and confiscated the battery of my camera (but not my mobile) and my wife’s granola bar, issuing us a claim tag to recover them later.
- Yes, there were people talking randomly throughout the movie, on mobiles or otherwise, and no one seemed to care.
- Yes, they turned up the volume on the movie excessively loud to compensate for the above noted talking.
- Yes, there was an intermission. Not timed for a break in the show but per the clock, leading to an awkward pause in the heat of an action scene.
- Yes, there was an awesome collection of snacks available. Not just popcorn (which was also there) but samosas and roti and other "normal" food that wasn’t complete junk.
It was a bit crazy, no doubt, but also mostly quite civilized. Maybe because we went to an English-language film (almost certainly actually the reason) or maybe because it was a "fancy" theater. Awesome experience (and horrible movie) and one I’m completely happy I got but a bit less extreme than I was expecting.
Maybe next time we’ll step it up and try for the more authentic, "local" version and see what happens.
Posted by Seth on January 3, 2012 under Trip Reports |
Why is it so hard to not steal from people?
I know that I’m an easy mark when I travel. I’m not walking around flashing tons of cash or jewelry or anything like that, but I’m clean, dressed cleanly and usually carrying an SLR camera. Oh, and I’m a reasonably tall, healthy looking white guy. I stand out in a crowd, particularly in Asia. And Africa. And decent chunks of the rest of the world, too.
I’ve had a few "real" run-ins, a few simple scams and a few just plain idiots come after me at one point or another. The bigger scams, long cons or other bits are actually at least entertaining to me. Someone has to put some effort into those. But a guy just trying to take your cash with no good story to back it up is pretty pathetic. I usually come out OK, and even when I haven’t my losses were minimal; at the least I got a decent story for the few dollars.
I tweeted my frustrations this morning, the second time in the few days we’ve been here in Sri Lanka that someone tried to short-change us:
Another asshole tried to short-change me in Sri Lanka. It gets old very quickly. But apparently not to them.
I got one interesting reply:
@WanderngAramean Easy…they are poor, you are not.
She’s right, of course. Relative to the people here my daily spending is a week or more of income based on the average numbers. And that’s only the average income numbers; I’m not dealing with the most wealthy citizens or anything close to that here, so there’s a decent chance their incomes are lower than that. There is no doubt that, in nearly every sense of the word, we are rich.
Still, it pisses me off something special every time this sort of thing happens. I get that I have more money. I’m choosing to come here and spend that money. I’m even trying as much as possible to do it in smaller shops, hotels and restaurants rather than in the big chains and such. No, I don’t often hire the touts/"guides" outside the sites nor do I buy the tchotchkes, but mostly because I know they are just plain awful. I’m willing to pay a fair price for a fair product. Try to screw me, however, and you get nothing.
In India it was all about negotiating for the tuk tuks. There’s the metered price, which no one pays. Then there’s the local price, which I know I’m not going to be paying, then there’s the actual tourist price, which is in the ballpark of what I should be paying, and then there’s the actual price they offered up for the fare when you ask how much. I sortof get that part of the negotiating process, even though I’m no good at it. I understand that as a tourist I’m going to pay ~30-50% more than the locals for a fare. We’re generally talking about $0.30-$1.00 here, and that’s something I can accept. After all, we’re both openly negotiating in good faith and agreeing upon a price. And at the end of the ride I’ll pay that price and expect correct change. In this regard I was never disappointed.
But when the guy we took an elephant ride with here in Sri Lanka quoted me Rs. 6600 (~USD$60) and then tried to short me Rs. 1000 change, then tried to "fix" it to only shorting me Rs. 800, I was pretty annoyed. When the cashier at one of the official tourist sites (i.e. run by the feds) similarly tried to stiff me Rs. 1000 change it got old. And when the guy at the spice garden marked the prices up 250% and then tried to seem sincere in the "20% discount," all while telling our driver that they were offering us a price half of what we walked out on, I got downright pissed.
In many of these countries tourism is the best chance they have to actually develop an economy that will support their population and not destroy the country. Sure, there are no guarantees that it will work, but certainly trying to shortcut the process, stealing from the visitors along the way, is a fast-track to killing any chance you’ve got.
At least I see it that way. Am I the only one? Am I being too hard on these people? These people who, I might add, appear to be leading a reasonably successful middle-class life, with a decent income level compared to the cost of living. Why should I have sympathy for them trying to rob me, especially after we’ve agreed that I’m already willing to pay their inflated prices, so long as we agree in advance?
Which brings me back to the opening thought from this post: How hard is it to not steal from people??
Posted by Seth on January 2, 2012 under Trip Reports |
I’m a sucker for waterfalls. Seriously, if you ever need to distract me from something important for a few hours just put me in front of a cliff with water flowing over the edge and I’ll be oblivious to nearly everything else around. I had that opportunity once again in India this trip, with a visit to Athirappilly Falls, near Kochi. This was the afternoon portion of our "elephants and waterfalls" tour, one of the more popular day trips available from Kochi.
The falls are not incredibly tall (~24 meters/85 feet) but they are reasonably broad and there are three different falls across the face of the rock. The middle one also has a "platform" two thirds of the way down which causes some rather neat effects with the water spray.
There are two observation areas at the falls. The first is at the top, accessible by a rather easy path from the parking area. From that area a second path descends down to the base of the falls where a large outcropping of rocks is available for climbing and relaxing with the views. The path is reasonably marked and mostly stone and dirt, though there are also many shortcuts own the switchbacks where people have chosen to take the much more direct routing. Too steep for my tastes, but its there if you want it.
The area at the base of the falls is strictly cordoned off preventing access to the water for visitors. Ignoring the ropes will get you a whistle blowing from the park ranger and potentially a stern talking to as well. At the top of the falls, however, there is a large area marked off as accessible for visitors to relax and play in the cool water. We settled for just soaking our feet in the water rather than going for the full swim; I think we were in the minority. There were many others taking full advantage of the situation. Most were just bathing themselves but there were a few doing laundry as well.
Much like any good tourist attraction – and this is a popular one, seeing 7MM+ visitors annually – there were plenty of stalls set up near the parking area selling various tchotchkes. We managed to negotiate our way through them mostly successfully. The allure of fresh coconut water, however, was too much to pass by. That the guy is hacking them open with a machete right there only adds to the fun.
The Falls are only about 90 minutes from Kochi, assuming you are driving directly there. If you add in the elephant tour detour the drive time seems to increase exponentially, though that also might have just been our driver; it did seem like many others we saw at the elephants got to the falls faster than we did. The two combined made for a very full and very enjoyable day overall.
Posted by Seth on January 1, 2012 under Flying, Review, Trip Reports |
An image like this near your airport is simply not good. Flying out of a tropical cyclone almost guarantees an adventure.
About the best thing that can be said for Cyclone Thane is that it passed over 100 miles to the south of Chennai, meaning that the winds and rains were steady, but not excessively strong. Our flight got out basically on time and that was a most welcome relief. Our biggest adventure was actually getting to the airport, with some areas of road having standing water and other issues. On the plus side, it seems that most folks decided to stay home in the rain so there wasn’t too much traffic.
The flight itself was on one of the relatively new Airbus A320s in the SriLankan fleet and it was pretty much an uneventful 65 minute trip from Chennai to Colombo. Cloud cover was heavy for nearly the entire flight so there were plenty of bumps along the way, but nothing too strong.
The seats were comfortable enough. I scored a bulkhead in advance through their online booking system with no issues, though it is a solid bulkhead with no foot cutout.
They even managed to serve a meal to a relatively full aircraft in that short flight time. The vegetable Biryani was not half bad, though it also wasn’t particularly wonderful. (I also think now, 72 hours later, that it was this meal that got me ill, necessitating dipping in to the emergency cipro supply, so maybe the "not half bad" comment above was a bit off.)
The family of four sitting adjacent to us (we both wanted window seats and they took the middle/aisle adjacent) was pretty entertaining, including the decision to change the lap child’s diaper at the seat. Ick. At least the kid was cute and didn’t scream. And his brother fell asleep shortly after takeoff, ending that shouting as well.
The flight attendant uniforms were pretty awesome, with the women wearing a sari-esque outfit. Didn’t manage to snag a photo, sadly, but I’m a big fan.
I was also impressed with the amenities offered up to passengers in the forward cabin on the short flight. Never seen anything close on a short-haul flight.
Oh, and coloring books (colored pencils, not crayons!) or hats for the kids on the plane was a nice touch, too.
And then, as we started our approach into Colombo, the skies cleared and we were treated to a beautiful view of the Sri Lankan countryside as we came in to land on runway 22 at CMB.
I’ve also heard reasonably good things about the long-haul product that SriLankan offers and was actually planning on trying it out, albeit on a somewhat shorter CMB-BKK flight. I booked those tickets online also with no issues. Trying to get them refunded, however, has been nothing short of a nightmare. The refunds for online bookings can only be handled online and the webpage has failed three separate times for me. Fortunately I was able to get through to someone in the call center here in Sri Lanka and have them at least cancel out the seats but I foresee much trouble in the future getting my money back; they insist that I now send emails to a refunds group. AmEx might be getting a call on this one.
Tags: American Express, Chennai, Colombo, Flying, in flight, India, NYE2011, Photos, review, Sri Lanka, SriLankan, Trip Report
