Posted by Seth on July 13, 2011 under Flying, News | 
Gotta appreciate a sense of humor from an airline. Due to the closure of I-405 (a/k/a "The 405") in the Los Angeles area this weekend a massive carmageddon experience is being predicted. And JetBlue is having some fun with it. They’ve loaded a couple special flights into the system for this Saturday only between Long Beach and Burbank:
This is a pretty entertaining promo and were I in California this weekend I’d definitely be on it. Sadly, however, I do not think that I can swing the time for the transcons. But it is darn tempting, just to get the line on my map.
Yeah, I’ve got problems.
More details from JetBlue here: http://www2.jetblue.com/deals/overthe405/
Posted by Seth on July 7, 2011 under Mileage Run, Trip Reports |
I’m sitting on a United Airlines 767-300 somewhere over the Pacific Ocean right now, wondering just which screws are loose in my head today. Yeah, I’ve always been a little crazy, particularly when it comes to travel, but today might be the nuttiest yet. And so, as we pass the half-way point to Hawaii (I hope I win the contest!) I’m wondering to myself just what was I thinking. I chose to downgrade myself for no good reason.
My flight itinerary is reasonably simple, if not a bit circuitous. I’m booked from New York City‘s LaGuardia to Denver to Honolulu to Tokyo‘s Haneda airports on the outbound half of a weekend mileage run to Japan. By virtue of my elite status I received upgrades on the first two segments and I happily selected my seats in row 1 as I often do. There was a bit of a delay getting out of LGA but we did eventually and I even had time to grab some food in Denver during the connection. Sure, I was upgraded but I like choosing my own meal when I have the chance so I grabbed a burrito for the flight and made my way over to the gate.
Boarding was pretty simple and I was all set to curl myself into my assigned seat, 1J, and enjoy the flight.
The guy sitting in 1H asked if I’d mind trading seats with his wife in 2A. Window for window and while I’d be losing the bulkhead row that I generally prefer I’d get to be on the port side of the plane which, when flying into Honolulu generally means better views on the landing (similar to San Diego). All in all a relatively fair trade and it doesn’t cost me all that much to make two other people quite happy. I gladly accept. That’s when things get strange.
The man in 2B, acknowledging that it is a long shot, asks if he can "make it worth my while" to trade with his wife who is seated in row 17. That’s in the Economy Plus section of the plane, not the first class cabin. I’m pretty sure I shocked him and his wife when I said yes. More so when I refused to take the cash he tried to offer me in trade. I know I was a little surprised at myself.
And so I ended up with this view for the 6.5 hour long flight.
Needless to say, the Purser was quite confused when they started to take meal orders up front as there was no Mr. Miller to be found. She eventually tracked me down in 17J and she too was surprised that I made the trade of my own volition and without remorse. She admonished me just a tiny bit but was accepting of my explanation that I did it of my free will.
Here’s the craziest part of the whole thing: I’m not really sure I got that bad of a deal. The 767-300 domestic configuration on United is called the "ghetto bird" for a reason; the first class cabin really isn’t all that significant an upgrade over Economy Plus. I had the meal that I wanted. I had the drinks that I wanted (I have more than enough drink chits anyways and there may have been a comp or two as part of the trade). I have enough leg room that I can cross my legs when I feel like it. Yes, my seat is a bit narrower, but it isn’t sufficiently so that I really notice. So why help another couple on their way to Hawaii start the trip off a bit special?
Yeah, I know that I’m nuts. A part of me is wondering while writing this why I don’t really care. After all, I was sweating the upgrade before it actually came through. In the end, however, I legitimately do not mind having made the swap.
Definitely a few screws loose.
ps- Just bought my seat mate a beer with my drink chits. Gotta use ‘em some how, right?
Posted by Seth on June 26, 2011 under News |
I’m going to be in Bangkok at the end of July for a couple nights and recently was looking for a hotel room for that stay. I was excited to see that Accor was offering up a pretty good sale for summer bookings. Sure, the program isn’t incredibly good for awards but they’ve got a pretty solid portfolio of properties in Asia, Africa and Europe and I spend a lot of time in those areas so getting a few points for my effort doesn’t suck. Combine that with an "up to 50% off" sale and I was clicking on the link without hesitation to find a deal.
And it was a pretty good deal. I filled in the search form and came up with a good range of rates, from $25-200, according to the display. I narrowed it down to a couple options based mostly on location and price and that’s where things started to fall apart.
The Novotel Bangkok Fenix Ploenchit was a leading candidate for my stay. Average room rate starting at $63/night according to the search page and a solid location near a SkyTrain stop. I was ready to book it and be done with that part of my trip planning.
So imagine my surprise when I clicked through to the booking link and discovered that the price was double that advertised:
Needless to say, I was not amused.
I called in to figure out why the pricing wasn’t working. The agent I spoke with was quick with an answer, informing me that the price on the first page is a monthly average, not specific to the dates I entered in the search parameters. So why have the dates there at all? He could not say.
Even more interesting to me was that the "average" price was always lower than the rates I was seeing. I did not check the full month on each of the 15 hotels listed but I checked enough that I should have been able to uncover at least one room somewhere close to the reported average starting price. I could not.
So that Accor hotel would not be receiving my business. Moreover, it seems unlikely that any Accor hotels are going to be getting my business in the near future, at least not through their own website. I’ll still consider them if the price and location are correct, but I’ll also likely be booking them through Hotels.com where I get better returns through the Welcome Rewards program and more accurate pricing information for my specific dates.
Posted by Seth on April 25, 2011 under News, TSA |
Can you list every address you’ve lived at since birth? What about every employer – including the name of your supervisor and their phone number – you have ever had? Every school you attended, including address and phone number? If not, you might not be able to get a passport if the State Department has its way. And those are the easy questions on the newly proposed form DS-5513.
Here’s the justification for the new form as provided in the Federal Register filing:
The primary purpose for soliciting this information is to establish citizenship, identity, and eligibility for a U.S. Passport Book or Passport Card. The information may also be used in connection with issuing other travel documents or evidence of citizenship, and in furtherance of the Secretary’s responsibility for the protection of U.S. nationals abroad.
If you can demonstrate (arguably via a certified birth certificate) that you were born in the US then the above questions are the only ones you really need to complete. If not, however, the questionnaire gets way more detailed. Here are some of the specifics that are asked for:
- What type of document, if any, did your mother use to enter into the United States before your birth?
- Please describe the circumstances of your birth including the names (as well as address and phone number, if available) of persons present or in attendance at your birth.
- Was there any religious or institutional recording of your birth or event occurring around the time of birth? (Example: baptism, circumcision, confirmation or other religious ceremony. Please provide details including the name, location of the
institution, and date.)
They even ask for specific details regarding any medical professionals that may have been involved, including a history of appointment dates. Oh, and the mother’s profession, address and, because we don’t want to be particularly obvious that we’re discriminating against immigrants, "What type of document, if any, did your mother use to enter into the United States before your birth?"
In case you’re curious, they estimate that compiling all this information will take only 45 minutes on average. I only have to answer the easy questions and I’m not sure I can do it that quickly.
Sadly, this will almost certainly become the rule, just like all the other asinine things the government is doing to infringe upon our rights "out of an abundance of caution." Today is the last day to register a complaint to the appropriate officials. The easiest way to do so is to email GarciaAA@state.gov. You must include the DS form number (if applicable), information collection title, and OMB control number in any correspondence. For this particular abomination those details are DS-5513 and Biographical Questionnaire for U.S. Passport; there is no OMB control number currently assigned.
UPDATE (17:55 EDT 25 APR): This form is supposedly only to be used if the veracity of the initially supplied documentation is in doubt. So it probably won’t apply to everyone. Still, there is a TON of data in here way beyond what should be needed to establish citizenship and well beyond what the government should need from us.
Here’s the letter I’m sending. I encourage you to contact them as well. Oh, and the 60-day comment period started on February 24th so it is pretty much over so it is important to act quickly (i.e. TODAY) on this issue!
To: GarciaAA@state.gov
Subject: Comments on proposed rule for DS-5513 – Biographical Questionnaire for U.S. Passport
To whom it may concern:
I am writing to comment on the proposed rule change published in the Federal Register as Public Notice 7345 regarding form DS-5513 – Biographical Questionnaire for U.S. Passport; there is currently no OMB control number assigned to this document.
The proposed form is collecting an excessive amount of data, well beyond what is necessary to confirm citizenship and issue a passport for qualified individuals. The time burden suggested – an average of 45 minutes – is a gross underestimate of how long it will take to collect even the basic information; answering questions 5-12 will take significantly longer. As an adult in my 30s who is qualified to answer only the basic questions I found that it took me well over one hour to compile the information and it is still incomplete.
My schooling and job history have no bearing on my citizenship status, yet the form asks for full details of both. If I fail to provide it (and potentially if I miss something) the State Department can deny me a passport, even though I am a naturally born citizen.
The form show significant bias against home-birthed children, requiring them to complete extensive documentation as though they are an undocumented alien in this country. Similarly, the extensive details requested about the circumstances of the birth – names and phone numbers of everyone present, for example – are excessive and go well beyond what is necessary to document citizenship.
Travel is a wonderful thing. It provides education, experiences and perspective all at once, helping to better both the people doing the traveling as well as those whom they visit. It should be encouraged and facilitated by our government, not impeded. This form represents an excessive data collection against US citizens and is an undue burden for demonstrating citizenship. It is working against these goals, not towards them.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Wandering Aramean.
Posted by Seth on April 11, 2011 under News |
Apparently it is the season of producing bad statistical interpretations of the airline industry. First there was the NY Times piece that failed quite notably to account for the primary factors of airfare pricing. And now we have the annual Airline Quality Report and the associated article, America’s Meanest Airlines.
With a headline like that you’re bound to get plenty of readers. What you do not get, however, is a particularly useful analysis of the underlying data. The authors of the AQR describe their research as bettering the historically subjective analysis that had previously existed in the industry. They use objective measures instead. Sortof.
Using the Airline Quality Rating system of weighted averages and monthly performance data in the areas of on-time arrivals, involuntary denied boardings, mishandled baggage, and a combination of 12 customer complaint categories, airlines’ comparative performance for the calendar year of 2010 is reported.
The first three categories are definitely objective, though still skewed as noted below. That last category, not so much. After all, not only must there be a service problem but the customer must also know that they can file a complaint to the DoT and then figure out how to do so. Most customers simply don’t. So while it may be the best data we have, it is not great data in that category.
The researchers also conducted significant surveys to determine how important the 4 categories of statistics are to passengers. On a scale of 1-10 the four categories range between 7.17 and 8.63. That’s not a ton of range, though having a bit of weighting between them is better than nothing I suppose.
But my biggest beef with reporting the results as a meaningful measure of airline quality is that there is rarely statistical significance between the values being compared. This is most noticeable in the "customer complaints" category, where the values range between 0.44 and 2.00 in this year’s results. That’s the number of complaints per 100,000 passengers. Suggesting that such a tiny variation across such a large user population matter is a specious claim, yet it represents nearly 20% of the value of the AQR score, sortof.
On-time performance has the broadest spread – from 75.7 – 92.5% – and also gets the highest weighting (and then some, as noted below).
The spread on mishandled baggage for mainline carriers is between 1.63 and 3.49 instances per 1,000 passengers. This can either be reported as one being twice as bad or both being incredibly good; it is all about how sensational you want the headline to be. And whether one regularly check bags or not probably skews the value of this metric. Priority baggage handling (and no fees) for elite passengers also probably skews the importance of this factor more in recent years than in the past, though the weighting has remained constant.
The variance for involuntary denied boarding is 0-2.26 instances per 10,000 mainline passengers. It would certainly suck if you’re one of the two, but it is not clear that there is sufficient statistical within that range to discern that one carrier is better than another.
The most common category for customer complaints in each of the 12 months is "Flight Problems." This category covers "cancellations, delays and other deviations from schedule" which seems to be quite similar to on-time performance ratings. I happen to agree that getting where I’m going, hopefully close to on-time, is important, but not so much so that it is worth giving it extra weight above and beyond the established 8.63 weighting. With nearly 30% of the complaints in this category they are effectively worth an extra 2.4 points.
The second highest ranking category of complaints in 10/12 months was baggage related. This is on top of the wholly dedicated missing baggage category in the formula. Similar to the on-time performance numbers above, this results in baggage receiving an extra 1.14 points of significance in the scoring.
At the end of the day, the fact that they’re using consistent calculations and mostly objective numbers means that tracking trends is viable. The question is what the value of those trends really is. Sadly, in this case, the reporting is trending towards the sensationalistic rather than observing statistically significant variances. But these guys get a lot of press and the airlines who win tend to brag about it. I guess objective analysis is overrated.
Read the AQR report here (PDF!).
Related Posts
Posted by Seth on March 23, 2011 under Mileage Run, Trip Reports |
As part of the planning for my trip to Hong Kong and Guam this weekend I have finally started to look for some hotel options. In the end I’ll probably stay at the same place I stayed last time; it is a good price and a good location for a decent hotel. But I was curious what other options I have so I did some digging.
Expedia.com was nice enough to present their opaque bidding options to me so I figured I’d take a look. If the border of the neighborhood was reasonable enough Id be happy to save a few dollars and see a new hotel. Somehow, however, I do not think that their map of Kowloon is completely accurate.
That’s right, folks. Apparently Kowloon covers most of North America.
Sorry, Expedia, but with that level of incompetence I won’t be booking with you any time soon.
Posted by Seth on March 5, 2011 under Flying |
Or, perhaps more appropriately, a tale from two passengers. It is often interesting to read rants online because it is pretty clear that everyone sees themselves a little better than they really are, especially when confronted by authority for doing something wrong. It is not often, however, that both sides of the story are laid bare at the same time. Every time I read one of those posts and wonder to myself, "What did the other guy think was happening?" I end up generally disappointed as I’ll never really know.
This past week was the exception, as two different tales of a flight from Newark to St. Martin unfolded. Foul language, fighting over a seat reclining and a flight attendant threatening to remove one passenger. Super juicy stuff!
First, the events as experienced by Passenger A:
As is customary when I take my seat, I recline the seatback to enjoy the few extra inches of comfort while still on the ground. As soon as the forward boarding door is closed, I put the seat to its normal position.
Now, let me get to the juicy details:
I was seated in coach for this flight.
After I recline my coach seat, the person sitting behind me starts kneeing my seat back repeatedly. Then, she starts making loud comments, obviously so I could hear them, to her travel partner (could’ve been her husband, boyfriend, brother…not really sure).
The comments were of a nature that I shouldn’t have my seat reclined, that it was against the rules and I obviously have no idea what I am doing.
Here’s my first mistake (yes, I do admit some culpability).
I turn around and tell the lady kicking my seat that if you ask me to not recline my seat, I’ll move it forward a little bit, I tell her she doesn’t need to kick my seatback. Again she says, well its against Continental policy to recline your seat before take off.
Some more words were exchanged between us, as things obviously start taking a turn for the worse. The lady sitting behind eventually stops a flight attendant and asks her to have me please move my seat forward. The flight attendant says I am allowed to have it reclined until the safety demonstration begins. So, at this point I decide the heck with it, I’m gonna leave my seat reclined.
After some more back and forth and nastiness, I finally turn around and call the couple sitting behind me an a$$hole. Not to loud, but loud enough for the lead flight attendant to hear me as he walked by. At this point he stops and engages me and without him even asking what the problem was, he threatened to have me removed from the plane.
Everytime I tried to explain to him what the problem was, he just said, Sir, I will have you removed from the plane.
At this point I am very aggravated now, my voice raising, trying to remain calm, I ask for the flight attendants name. he gave me his first name and said thats all I am getting.
Finally, after threatening me one last time with removing me from the plane, we push back and the people sitting behind me were given different seats.
And the same scene, as told by the passenger behind him:
My travel partner went to his aisle seat, and accidentally touched the row in front of him and shook the seat a little. You know how it is during boarding…trying to get to your seat and not disturb anyone, but the rows are tight and so he accidentally grabbed that chair to stabilize himself. It probably didn’t help that the seat was fully reclined which makes it a little more difficult to board. My friend looked at me and shrugged with the "I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb that person" look and I commented back to him I’m sure it’s not that big of a deal – it’s boarding time so people understand that seats will be banged etc as people are trying to board. The person in the chair was clearly annoyed and gave some nasty looks. I apologized quietly because I was so shocked at the horrid look, but he probably didn’t hear me.
I boarded towards the end because I was running late to the airport. Unfortunately, the overheads were pretty full, so I was trying to put my purse, and jacket under the chair in front of me and I think I may have knocked his chair a bit. I’m pretty sure I did, because the next thing I knew, the person put his seat in the full upright position. I thought that was kind of him – he was allowing me to stow my stuff, so I leaned down to organize then bam – he slammed his chair back hard and it hit me in the forehead. I didn’t want to make a scene, so I just turned to my friend and commented how I thought it was kind of rude.
Next thing you know, the person turns around and calls me an @**hole very loudly. I was just stunned, but luckily the FA was walking by and helped the situation. He told the person in front of me that kind of behavior is unacceptable and not tolerated. The guy tried to argue with the FA in a loud voice and by this time, people from several rows were watching. I was just so embarrassed. I tried to crawl down my seat and hide from being seen.
My take on this whole thing – after I finished laughing hysterically at both sides – is that they are both wrong. Assuming even half of each of their stories are true, both come off looking pretty bad here.
Oh, and were I the flight attendant I’d probably do the same thing. I don’t care what got you so riled up, but if you are so easily excitable that you’re going to throw a fit on the plane even before we’ve departed you’ve identified yourself to me as combative and unstable. That’s not someone I want with me in a small metal tube for the next 5 hours.
What’s your take on the story? Who is right and who is wrong? And why couldn’t they both just remember that they were going to St. Martin and that they’d be on Maho Beach in a few hours and chill out?
Oh, and there’s a decent enough chance that at least one of the threads is fiction, but don’t let that stop you from enjoying the entertainment.
Related Posts:
Posted by Seth on December 15, 2010 under Trip Reports |
Every now and then maybe I should take the hint that “today” is just going to be one of those days. The morning started reasonably enough – on the schedule was a quick turn to Las Vegas, including a couple new routes for me – but things got quirky quite quickly.
First up, at the Presidents Club in LaGuardia, I was told that it wasn’t possible to make a same day change on my ticket because my fare was too cheap. Then because it had an advance purchase requirement. Uh, no on both accounts. The agent assured me that the woman she was talking to was an “expert” and that I must be wrong. A short 15 minutes later – “I just want to keep playing with it if you don’t mind” – I heard a Eureka! moment from across the lounge and I knew it was time to go collect my new boarding pass.
With that out of the way I settled in to do a couple hours’ of work in the lounge before my flight. The Presidents Club at LaGuardia certainly isn’t anything special, other than its heritage as an old Eastern Airlines Ionosphere club. It is actually somewhat surprising that the Port Authority doesn’t still have it labeled as such given that there are signs directing folks to the TWA lounge there. At least there are windows to watch the planes come and go, along with the typical free WiFi, snacks and booze to pass the time. And also the awesome overheard conversations of folks talking too loud into their cell phones.
Today’s ridiculous overheard other passenger call was a guy on his way to Cleveland from New Jersey for a court appearance. Over a traffic violation. I’m generally of the mind to just pay the fine – odds are I am guilty anyways – but this guy was going to fight it. And no better time to start preparing the case then shortly before getting on the plane, right? Of course, his general plan was simply to start searching on Google for details that might help him. None of this would be so bad if I didn’t hear him on the phone asking someone else how to search on Google. Yeah, that’s bad.
Finally, I decided to pull the trigger on one of my more crazy itineraries ever. I’m headed to Johannesburg, South Africa and Mauritius in February. The fare is pretty darn good (<$800 all in) and it includes stops in both places and some neat lines to go on my “places traveled” map. The 20K+ EQMs early in the year don’t hurt either. Sadly, however, the booking site rejected my purchase. This is the second time in as many weeks that I’ve been declined for an airline ticket purchase in Africa. The good news is that the lady from American Express cleared up the block pretty quickly, but not before noting that I was probably crazy for all my travels.
Finally on board the first flight of the day – an EJR-145 from LaGuardia to Cleveland – and we have W&B issues. They need three folks from the front to move to the back so we can get off the ground. Two folks moved without much fuss but it took an announcement from the pilot to get a third taker. I can understand why at least one of them was unwilling to move, however. He had a nice footrest in place. Yes, that is his shoe on the bulkhead wall up above his head. Stay classy.
Yeah, sometimes it is just one of those days.
Posted by Seth on November 18, 2010 under News |
And, believe it or not, it does not involve cleaning out toilets.
Every now and then I find myself browsing through job opening in the airline industry. I keep thinking that I’d be willing to take one – and the associated travel benefits – in exchange for longer hours and less pay than I have right now. OK, maybe not, But reading through the help wanted ads is often educational.
This week’s scan of the listings was particularly entertaining as I cam across a posting that is, perhaps, the worst job to have. At its core, the goal is to find more ways to screw your customers. I’m not sure how I’d be able to handle an assignment like that. Here’s part of the listing:
Manager, Unbundling & Fees
Job Description
DUTIES
- Utilize all available data and resources to develop and publish regularly scheduled reporting to upper management tracking the KPIs of individual fees or unbundled products and services as well as success towards meeting strategic goals
- Develop and maintain accurate forecasts of future performance on an individual line item basis
- Recognize, recommend and follow through on opportunities for new or expanded revenues or decreased costs via the creation or modification of fees and unbundling
- Develop and maintain a process for the revenue management of seat and bag inventory considering factors such as preferred seat location, aircraft type, origin and destination of flight, time of year, load factor etc and be able to implement, monitor and report on the affects of this process in maximizing seat revenue per passenger
- Promote the expansion of non-ticket revenue through short, medium and enterprise level project assignments
So, can you name the airline currently hiring for this one (without clicking the link)?
Oh, and if you are interested in more information or applying, here’s the rest of the listing.
Posted by Seth on October 20, 2010 under News |
The JetBlue/Steven Slater brouhaha has come to a close. Finally. The former flight attendant pled guilty to felony and misdemeanor criminal mischief charges associated with his grand exit from a plane at JFK a couple months ago. In addition to undergoing one year of counseling and substance-abuse treatment – which could have the felony charge expunged if completed successfully – he will also be required to compensate the airline $10,000 to reimburse the company for damages caused by his actions. If he does not successfully complete the counseling he will be subject to a 1-3 year prison term.
Remember, folks, even if you think it is a good idea to go out with a bang, there’s a pretty good chance it will come back to bite you in the end. He may have had his 15 minutes of fame, but in the end he is a criminal and an idiot and he is being treated as such.
