Recorded in the Gaithersburg, MD Marriott outside Washington, DC at the end of an intense week of travel that had me flying from the East Coast to the West Coast and then back east again… on four different airlines. With many airlines’ plummeting customer satisfaction scores, we ask the question “Who raves about their airline?” Recent trips allow me to do a “seat-to-seat” comparison of two high-buzz airlines — JetBlue and Virgin America. Our recurring Travel Tech topic talks about replacing a laptop with the latest evolution of Nokia’s Internet tablet, and hunting down power outlets in airports. Also, a listener suggestion on local food in DC’s Reagan National Airport leads to frustration at missing a great burger. Here’s a direct link to the podcast file.

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For the past couple of months, I’ve been wondering if it has been my bad luck with Hertz or the rental car industry trying to stretch their cars a bit farther. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal assuaged my paranoia. Though Hertz claims their fleet age hasn’t changed, the owners of National, Alamo, and Enterprise Rent A Car admit that they’re letting their fleets age an additional 2,000 miles. My personal experience — I’ve received more 20,000+ mile cars from Hertz this year than ever before, and this is with some level of status in Hertz’s Gold Club.

I don’t care as much about the mileage as I do the state of the car when I receive it. The last couple of cars I received from Hertz at San Francisco Airport made me pull a T-shirt out of my bag so I could sit on something clean. Stained seats, soda residue on the center console, ashes in a supposed non-smoking car — I could take an extra 2,000 miles if Hertz would just clean the insides of the car once in a while.
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