The second phase of the study surveyed 864 business travelers in “the airport environment”.   Only 1% of these travelers had ever lost a laptop.  You’d think with 425,000 of them lost every year, the surveyors would have a better hit rate.  I’ve never lost a laptop and I don’t know anyone who has lost one in an airport.  I know people who’ve had them stolen out of rental cars, who’ve left them in a plane’s overhead bin, but no one who has lost one in an airport.

One thing I have seen is people picking up the wrong laptop.  At the back end of security screening, it can be a race to grab your PC before it gets pushed off the conveyor and onto the floor by the constant stream of gray bins burping out the TSA’s x-ray machine.  More than a few times, I’ve seen someone grab a ThinkPad that doesn’t belong to them.  Personalizing that black matte finish with a business card or a sticker or even a large gouge can help prevent a mistaken adoption.  Of course, not having to pull your laptop out of your briefcase would be an even easier solution.  Of the 864 business traveler surveyed, only 12% of them agreed that “checking my laptop or notebook computer separately from other carry-on tems increases passenger safety and security”.

Comparing passenger jets to “flying buses” is not an exaggeration. The airlines are redefining themselves, shrinking the boundaries of their responsibilities. They no longer sell a travel experience; they sell transport. And they’re walking running away from any service that doesn’t directly involve transporting passengers through the air. Is this a business opportunity for another company — say, for one of the private airport operating companies? Hmmm, not sure the result will be any better if BAA’s stewardship of London Heathrow is any guide. The real question, though — are regular coach passengers willing to pay for anything more than being hauled from one city to another?

• Intro music — Warmth by Makkina
• Recorded in the TravelCommons studios outside of Chicago, Illinois
• Other family “creative” obligations forced me to take a month off of the podcast
• Playing around with the Dopplr travel website — it’s not bad, but hasn’t yet provided a serendipitous meet-up with other friends on the road
• However, Dopplr helpfully totes up the carbon footprint for my travels
• Bridge Music — Discipline by Nine Inch Nails

Following Up

• Thanks to Drew Leifheit for mentioning TravelCommons in his travel podcasting article Travelcasting: Lighten Your Backpack, Load Up Your iPod on the Vagabondish website
• A listener shares his own “traveling while injured” story after listening to episode #54
• Air ambulance service like AirMed and MetJetAssist offer insurance-like programs starting at $225/year
• A listener points out a great song for the summer travel season by the Bar & Grille Singers
• Bridge Music — One by Cargo Cult

New Ways to the Front of the Line


• Recently had first hand experience with the Registered Traveler program and the Diamond Lane Self-Select program
• The Clear security line in San Francisco airport (SFO) was empty, but the biometric checks made it take longer the regular 1st-Class/Premium Frequent Flier line
• The Diamond Self-Select Program in Chicago Midway airport (MDW) doesn’t live up to its promise — too many “non-experts” self-select into the black diamond line
• Bridge Music — Magnified by Very Large Array

Southwest Skips the Nickels & Dimes

• Southwest Airline’s Fees Don’t Fly With Us ad campaign goes straight at the legacy carriers’ new-found love of add-on fees
• Southwest is becoming more attractive to frequent business travelers
• Their Business Select program removes the “cattle-car” boarding queue that everyone hated
• Southwest’s gate areas in Midway (MDW), Cleveland (CLE), and Balimore-Washington Int’l (BWI) are impressive — comfortable seats and lots of easy-to-find electrical outlets
• But Southwest still can’t match the value of the frequent flier awards I receive from United Airlines

Closing


• Closing music — iTunes link to Pictures of You by Evangeline
• Bridge music from Nine Inch Nails and Magnatune
• Feedback at comments@travelcommons.com or right here in the comments section below
• Direct link to the show

Tags: travel podcast, travel, business travel, Clear, TSA, Registered Traveler, Dopplr, SFO, Southwest Airlines, Air Ambulance, United Airlines

As I mentioned in episode #64, Clear, one of the registered traveler programs, is offering a free first-year membership to top-tier status members of Hyatt’s and Marriott’s frequent sleeper programs. I applied on-line in April and then stopped by the “Clear Enrollment Station” in San Francisco airport to have images of my passport, driver’s license, irises and fingerprints captured. Flying through San Francisco (SFO) last Friday was my first chance to try out the program.

The Clear line was easy to find — there was a nice bright blue-and-white Clear sign on top of a pole. I walked past the nearly empty 1st-class/premium status security line, past the mostly full regular security line, to the completely empty Clear line. I presented my driver’s license and my Clear card to the TSA screener who then handed them to the Clear employee right next to him who then handed them back to the screener. I followed the screener to the Clear machine three steps away, inserted my Clear card, and was directed by the machine to put my right index finger on the small reader pad.

My first two attempts with the fingerprint reader failed. The TSA screener just shrugged and pressed the “Try Again” icon on the touch screen. It seemed a common occurrence. On my second try, I noticed a small window on the machine’s screen that displayed my fingerprint. I could see that, because of the angle of the reader pad, it was only picking up half of my fingerprint. On my third attempt, I watched the little window, adjusting my finger until it picked up a full fingerprint. Bingo! It immediately approved me. The screener then escorted me to a regular screening station, holding off a couple of other travelers so that I could go directly to the metal table and start putting my things into the grey bins.

On that Friday morning in SFO, the $100/year Clear line saved me nothing over the free premium line. Indeed, with the card shuffle between the Clear employee and the TSA screener, and the three tries at the fingerprint reader, the Clear line probably took me four times longer than having someone glance at my driver’s license in the premium line. The real value for programs like Clear are at those airports without 1st-class/premium status security lines — Oakland (OAK), Reno-Tahoe (RNO), San Jose (SJC), and Orlando (MCO). Now, if Clear could sign up Las Vegas McCarran Airport (LAS) — brutally long lines and no premium lanes — then they’d have a real value proposition.

Today was my second experience with the ski resort-inspired Diamond Lane Self-Select program at Chicago Midway (MDW) airport. The right-most security lane has a black diamond sign, designating it for “Expert” fliers — defined by the TSA as “the business traveler who flies several times a month”. The next two lines have a blue square sign and are for “Casual” fliers, those who “who travel less frequently, but are familiar with the security process”. The remaining three lines have a green circle and are for families and special assistance passengers. The program was initially piloted in Salt Lake City and Denver. The TSA claims that the “pilots have resulted in an overall increase in throughput and greatly increased customer satisfaction” and that both airports have “experienced a reduction in wait times for expert travelers in the black diamond lanes”.

My experience was a bit different. The program started at MDW on Thursday, May 8. My first experience was the following Monday, May 12. Catching the first Southwest flight to Cleveland, I headed straight to the Expert line. So did a lot of other people, not all of which looked like business travelers who fly several times a month. It quickly became clear that the folks in front of me weren’t expert fliers. They didn’t have their IDs out and ready; they didn’t know to take their shoes off; they tried to take a bottle of water through, and they had to make multiple passes through the metal detector because of jewelry and spare change.

Two weeks later, I’m back at MDW catching the same flight to Cleveland. This time, though, I drop into one of the Casual lines. The Expert line is longer and, once again, about 50% of its inhabitants don’t look like frequent business fliers — the flip-flops are dead giveaways. I match my progress against an easy-to-spot marker in the Expert line — a tall guy wearing a suit. The Casual line moves twice as fast as the Expert line — even with our share of flip-flop wearers. I don’t know what the TSA did differently in their Salt Lake City or Denver pilots, but I haven’t seen any lower wait times for expert travelers and, at least this morning, the guys in the Expert line certainly didn’t look like their satisfaction was greatly increased.

• Intro music — Warmth by Makkina
• Recorded in the Brooklyn Marriott after trying to find time to record it in Minneapolis and Haarlem, the Netherlands
• A medley of earlier TravelCommons hotel room introductions
• Bridge Music — 7 Ghosts I by Nine Inch Nails

Following Up

• Leo Vegoda inventories the security screening inconsistencies he’s faced in China, the US, and Europe
• Enrolling in the Clear registered traveler program, I gave up images of my driver’s license, passport, irises, and fingerprints
• Lori Humm and Drew Leifheit agree that the nipple ring removal incident typifies the TSA’s disregard for travelers
• I hate how far away the BWI and CLE rental car facilities are from the terminals. Makes me choose DCA over BWI
• Bridge Music — When Irish Eyes are Burning by the Ike Reilly Assassination

Breaking the Travel Bubble

• Sometimes I get tired of traveling within the travel bubble that frequent travelers often construct for themselves
• Staying in the Brooklyn Marriott, taking the subway from the Borough Hall stop in Brooklyn to the 32nd St stop on Park Ave certainly gets me up close and personal with a lot of NYC residents
• Taking the commuter train from Amsterdam to Utrecht, I was engulfed in a swarm of bicyclists – the commuters got off their train, hopped on their bicycles in the dark, drizzly, 40 degree January night, and rode home
• Some travelers like to stay in the same hotel every time they visit a city – the “Cheers” syndrome – you wanna go where everybody knows your name
• Bridge Music — Stupid Now by Bob Mould

Mark’s Travel Tips

• Joy in Denver asked me if I use mileage credit cards. I primarily use Diners Club because it doesn’t lock you into a single mileage program. I’ve used it to “top off” other accounts, where I needed some extra mileage to meet an award level.
• I also have a Starbucks Duetto Visa card that I also use occasionally for business expenses
• Brian from Naperville, IL recently earned Gold status on American and is wondering the best way to maximize the benefit
• Key benefits of this first status level are separate security lines and priority boarding

Closing


• Closing music — iTunes link to Pictures of You by Evangeline
• Bridge music from Nine Inch Nails and the Podsafe Music Network
• Feedback at comments@travelcommons.com, the comment board on podcastalley.com, or right here in the comments section below
• Direct link to the show

Tags: travel podcast, travel, business travel, Holland, TSA, Registered Traveler, biometrics, BWI, Hertz, Avis, Diners Club, Advantage Gold, United Airlines

• Intro music — Warmth by Makkina
• Home for Christmas week, recover from a tough 4 weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas
• Thanks to everyone who has left, or tried to leave, a review on the TravelCommons page of iTunes
• Bridge music — iTunes link to Pictures of You by Evangeline
• Medley of TravelCommons Hotel Bathroom studios
• from T/C #5 - Why I record in bathrooms
• Medley of TSA rants
• from T/C #5-7 - Sean Penn comments
• from T/C #7 - Steve Frick of Frick’s World is a little uncomfortable recording in the bathroom
• from T/C #14 - Willie Evans from the Scots Band Evangeline talks about writing a travel song
• from T/C #17 - My kids’ view of travel
• from T/C #20 - Allan Marko tells a story about rapid airplane repair
• from T/C #3 - Flyers from Cleveland to Chicago looking for an early exit
• from T/C #11 - Packing light leaves no margin for error
• from T/C #23 - Patrons at the hotel bar drinking shots
• from T/C #19 - Different colors in Bologna, Italy
• from T/C #13 - Imaginative way to sleep on red-eyes
• from T/C #21 - Decisions on vacation photos
• from T/C #4 - Disappointed web search
• from T/C #24 - Fun with Rental Cars
• from T/C #7 - Air sickness without the bag
• Closing music — iTunes link to Ramblin’ Man by the Allman Brothers Band
• Feedback at comments[at]travelcommons.com, the comment board on podcastalley.com, or right here in the comments section below
• Direct link to the show

• Intro music — Warmth by Makkina
• Recorded in the TravelCommons studios outside Chicago, IL
• Just got back from a week’s skiing in Breckenridge and A-Basin in Colorado
• Wanted to check out the TSA’s new Diamond Lane program that its blog claims is a huge success. However, the security line with the old system was much shorter.
• Bridge Music — 3 Ghosts I by Nine Inch Nails

Following Up

• Evan Sparks’ Aviation Policy Blog picked up the story of a Feb 9th American Airlines flight from Chicago to London that carried only 5 passengers and the resulting ruckus raised by environmental groups.
• Gary Learned tells about attending a business conference in the Gaylord Opryland at the same time as 5,000 Red Hats
• Saurab Bhargava sends along his account of a particularly bad day in Newark
• Bridge Music — Ghost Hardware by Burial

The 733-Mile Stare


• During the Vietnam War, the “thousand-yard stare” described the dazed look, the unfocused straight-ahead gaze of the front-line soldier
• Regular travelers on the Chicago-to-New York run are starting to develop their own dazed look as they try to fight through delays, and cancellations to get home or get to an important meeting
• Call it the “733-mile stare” – the flight mileage between ORD and LGA
• USA Today article said that, based on 2007 passenger counts, the ORD-LGA route was the 3rd busiest in the country
• Bridge Music — Lonely Dog Blues by Tobin James

TSA Can’t Help Themselves

• USA Today article on TSA forcing a woman to remove nipple rings
• TSA posted a statement on their website and blog saying that the screeners “properly followed procedures” and that they were “acting to protect the passengers and crews of the flights departing Lubbock that day.”
• Watched a TSA officer in Chicago-O’Hare help a confused Chinese couple find their connecting flight.
• Why can’t the TSA act more like the ORD officer and spend less time justifying stupid decisions like those in Lubbock?

Closing


• Closing music — iTunes link to Pictures of You by Evangeline
• Bridge music from IODA Promonet
• Feedback at comments@travelcommons.com, the comment board on podcastalley.com, or right here in the comments section below
• Direct link to the show

Tags: travel podcast, travel, business travel, Denver, TSA, American Airlines, Friends of the Earth, Opryland, Newark, LaGuardia, O’Hare

Life wasn’t so good for the guy sitting next to me in seat 30D. He laid his jacket on the middle seat, loosened his tie, rolled up his cuffs, dropped his head, and was asleep — sitting straight up — before we pushed back from the gate. When the drink cart rolled by, he bought two bottles of white wine to my one bottle of red. Halfway through my bottle, the plane hit some big turbulence. We were bouncing up and down, and my wine was sloshing just up to the rim of the little plastic cup. The guy saw this and moved his jacket over to his lap, saying a bit wearily, “That would just be the perfect end of a lousy day.” He was trying to get home to Omaha, was certain he had missed his connection, and wasn’t confident that he had many alternatives.

This guy came to mind when I watched The Delay, the first of three short films produced by Ritz-Carlton Hotels and American Express. The first few minutes of the film were spot-on — the downcast trudge through an empty airport when you finally get to your destination. The rest of it, though, pounds the product placement a bit hard — the one-second pause so we can fully visualize the Amex Gold card being handed over for payment, the empathetic Ritz-Carlton desk clerk mentioning the time the spa opens in the morning. It’s nowhere near as good as any of BMW’s The Hire films from 2001/2002, but the opening sequence perfectly captures the mood of a head-hanging day.

• Intro music — Warmth by Makkina
• Recorded in room 959 of the Newark Liberty Airport Marriott
• A 2-day conference in Disney World reminds me that it’s a great place for a family vacation, but a lousy place for business. No early check-in, no quiet place for a conference call — I definitely didn’t have a “magical day”.
• Bridge Music — Indian Blossom by Ruben van Rompaey

Following Up

• Revisiting Peter Rukavina’s question from T/C #61 on how to reduce the environmental impact of air travel
• Virgin Atlantic’s biofuel test flight from London to Amsterdam received a lot of press — as it was meant to do — but biofuels are more about sustainability than reducing the carbon footprint of a plane flight.
• Air France-KLM’s 2005-2006 Sustainable Development Report provides statistics on the reduction of hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide emissions as a result of its fleet modernization program.
• Three things an individual can do to reduce their in-flight carbon footprint — choose the flight with the most efficient plane, take a direct flight, and fly into a less-congested secondary airport
• I liked my recent experience with Southwest Airline’s Business Select program. For last minute travel, it gets me a better seat than I can usually get on airlines with reserved seats.
• Had yet another beat-up high-mileage car from Hertz — this time in Orlando. When compared to the brand new Lincoln Moutaineer I received from Avis in Nashville, I’ve decided to ditch Hertz for Avis.
• Bridge Music — Afternoon in the Sun by John Williams

Evolution of Connectivity

• After mistaking the modem port on my ThinkPad for the Ethernet port, I couldn’t remember the last time I used my modem
• Apple’s new MacBook Air lacks an Ethernet port, depending completely on Wi-Fi. Is Ethernet going the way of the modem — at least on laptops?
• For me, the big travel news wasn’t the Delta-Northwest or United-Continental merger dances, but the announcement that Starbucks is switching from its Wi-Fi partnership from T-Mobile to AT&T.
• Starbucks has become a watering hole, some new millennium oasis for the web Bedouins — those of us working out of our “mobile offices”
• Bridge Music — Arsenal is by The West Exit

Return of the Travel Agents?

• In the Web 1.0 days, the travel agent was the classic example of an industry being “disintermediated” by the web
• However, when dealing with delayed or canceled flights, it usually takes talking to a person to get you home or to get you a refund.
• If you’re on a single-carrier ticket – especially a carrier where you have status – you’re usually OK going direct. However, multi-carrier tickets are best worked through a travel agent
• I used to use Orbitz or Travelocity for these tickets, but trying to get hold anyone there live to sort through a problem was near impossible

Closing

• Closing music — iTunes link to Pictures of You by Evangeline
• Bridge music from Magnatune
• Feedback at comments@travelcommons.com, the comment board on podcastalley.com, or right here in the comments section below
• Direct link to the show

Tags: travel podcast, travel, business travel, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, ThinkPad, greenhouse gases, tooth powder, Southwest Airlines, Disney World, Air France-KLM, Hertz, Avis, Starbucks, T-Mobile