View from the Wing

The U.S. Beer Drinking Team has a loyalty program. Details are sketchy, but the potential exists to turn 90 million American beer drinkers into a sophisticated database of consumer preferences.

Mmmmm… Beer.

Sometimes a comment isn’t even necessary.

A West Virginia man is suing an airline company, alleging it didn’t notify him that drinking alcohol at night might adversely affect passengers before he fell down an escalator at Southwest Florida International Airport.



Floyd W. Shuler, 61, filed the lawsuit against Virginia-based US Airways Inc. in circuit court in Fort Myers. Shuler, who has lived part-time on Marco Island, said in the suit that US Airways was negligent by failing to warn him the effects of alcohol are greater at night on airline passengers, and that the company did not properly maintain the escalator at the airport when he fell down while using it on Aug. 28, 1999.



“US Airways failed to warn (Shuler) and its other passengers of the increased effect that consumption of alcoholic beverages has on airline passengers who consume alcoholic beverages while in flight and while flying at night,” according to the lawsuit, which was obtained Tuesday.

The major hotel chains offer perks and points to meeting planners. In my experience, these points are generally ‘left on the table’ — that is, meeting planners don’t know about them. In most cases these offers don’t drive up the cost of a meeting. They’re really just a marketing expense that the hotel chains incur and the points can be had by those in the know.

So if you plan meetings for a living or occasionally, be sure to take note: Marriott, Starwood, Hilton, and Hyatt all offer formal rewards programs for meeting planners. Priority Club offers American Express Gift Cheques for paying for meetings with an Amex.

If you’re aware of other programs in this category, please let me know.

Tony Woodlief has some observations on air travel and the silly consequences that flow from a legal obsession with safety.

[P]art of my trip required me to fly from Phoenix to Tucson. It’s a 22-minute flight over sand and rock and an occasional patch of farmland cultivated no doubt at the expense of low-income taxpayers in New Jersey. As we prepared for take-off, the stewardess explained to us how we can use our seat cushions as flotation devices in the event of a water landing.



I’ll let that sink in for a minute.



It’s not her fault — our safety-obsession leads us to make silly rules, like the one that requires stewardesses to demonstrate how to work a seatbelt

Oh, and Tony warns us about peeing in a bucket on the train.

Update to the Scalia/Throwaway Ticketing story. I’m told that Scalia did indeed fly New Orleans-Washington National non-stop on USAirways, and USAirways’ Contract of Carriage clearly prohibits the practice of throwaway ticketing.

Now that Justice Scalia’s cirumvention of fare rules is public knowledge, will USAirways go after the Supreme Court Justice for the difference in fare? I’m guessing not.

I bet that if the hidden city ticketing class action suit returns to the Supreme Court, there’ll be another request for Scalia to recuse himself.

In another sign that frequent flyer miles are no longer just proprietary currencies, but an alternative medium of exchange, ANA has entered into a points exchange agreement with an internet shopping mall.

I’ll be earning miles even more quickly now that McDonald’s will be accepting credit cards.

What the piece doesn’t say is the reason — their tests have found that customers using credit cards spend more on food than those using cash.

While I’m not sure if this is selection bias (people who don’t have credit cards might tend to have less cash to spend?), it still sounds about right.

If you’re flying in business or first class to London on American Airlines, you should register to receive free noise cancelling headsets.

Get a free subscription to Hispanic Magazine.

Daniel Montgomery, former executive director of the Air Transport Stabilization Board, exercised tremendous influence over the future of major airlines — the ATSB was in a position to grant or deny billions of dollars of subsidized loans. Now several major airlines face subpeonas looking into whether Mr. Montgomery extracted free travel and other benefits from the carriers.

Get 3000 miles for signing up for United’s Mileage Plus program by April 30th.

Murphy’s Law for Travelers

1. No flight ever leaves on time unless you are running late and need the delay to make the flight.



2. If you are running late for a flight, it will depart from the farthest gate within the terminal.



3. If you arrive very early for a flight, it will inevitably be delayed.



4. Flights never leave from Gate #1 at any terminal in the world except countries where there is only one gate.



5. If you must work on your flight, you will experience turbulence as soon as you touch pen to paper.



6. If you are assigned a middle seat, you can determine who has the seats on the aisle and the window while you are still in the boarding area. Just look for the two fattest passengers.



7. Only passengers seated in window seats ever have to get up to go to the lavatory.



8. The crying baby on board your flight is always seated next to you.



9. The best-looking woman (or in the case of women, the best looking man) on your flight is never seated next to you.

Lynne Kiesling was suffering jet lag last week. Lynne, and everyone else, here are some basic tips on avoiding jet lag.

• Don’t fly coach. That alone makes a huge difference, both in ability to sleep and in general relaxation/stress mitigation level.
  

• Many folks report good success taking No Jet-Lag pills. It may be a placebo, but anecdotally they seem to work.
  

• Drink alot of water. Avoid alcohol especially on overnight flights.
  

• Try to adjust to the new time zone the day before flying out. Continue to adjust to the local time by sleeping or forcing yourself to stay awake during the flight.
  

• Upon arrival at your destination, take a shower and change clothes. Then stay up until bedtime in that location, no matter how tired. A quick nap is OK, but that’s it. If it’s sunny, take a nice long walk.
  

• If just hopping across the pond to Europe, take a day flight.

Joe Brancatelli reminds us that for all the romance of trains, and for seeming cost/hassle advantages, Amtrak is just plain ‘ol unreliable — especially outside the Northeast corridor.

A friend of mine is getting married this summer and work constraints are going to keep him and his wife relatively close to home. They’re likely going to travel to the Carribean (they had been considering Thailand and Indonesia when they expected to have more time). So I was looking at deals at some of the nicer properties around, especially in Puerto Rico.

Last month I stayed at the Wyndham El Conquistador in Fajardo, Puerto Rico (about 30 miles from San Juan). It’s a bit of a controversial hotel in the eyes of many. It’s a huge resort — 900 or so rooms. My general take is most complaints stem from room choice or being surprised at the price of food. A little careful planning, combined with realizing the food at resorts are expensive (think eating out in Manhattan for every meal), and this place can be truly outstanding.

It’s phenomenally beautiful. The grounds are great. But some of the rooms and furniture show their wear.

This property also has a five-diamond resort within the larger complex called Las Casitas Village. It gets lots of good press, and is known for hosting J. Lo and Ricky Martin.

Since my friend is looking at a summer honeymoon, he’ll be able to take advantage of off-season rates.

The off-season pre-paid web rate is $731 a night for an ocean view one bedroom Casita. (Garden view is far cheaper, but to me - why bother?). So it seemed that this was a decent deal: $735/night (not prepaid), which comes with: 7th night free (Worth $731), two free rounds of gold or spa treatments (Worth ~ $250), and complimentary Airport Transfer (Worth ~ $120 for two).

Of course, you could choose to go to the property and NOT get a Casita. You can get a Deluxe Ocean View Room from $198 a night plus get buy one get second free on golf, spa, water sports, and airport transportation plus a $100 credit on food which amounts to a free dinner for two without wine.

My stay was complimentary, direct-billed to Wyndham, the result of winning a door prize at the Freddie Awards last year. (Thanks, Kathi! Thanks, Randy!)

I didn’t get a Casita, but I did have a junior suite on the Marina with a direct ocean view and a huge balcony. That struck me as being just as good as having a Casita, just without the butler service. My advice would be to book the deluxe ocean view and request the Marina level. Join Wyndham’s ByRequest program and then either request and hope for a room upgrade, or ask the ByRequest Manager about buying an upgrade to a room like I had (1208, right at the very far end of the Marina).

Aside from the Casitas, the resort is broken up into four areas: the Vista and Brisas wings of the main hotel, Las Olas Village half-way between the main hotel and the ocean level, and the Marina right on the water.

When you land in San Juan, you’ll likely see an El Conquistador staff member and a Westin Rio Mar staff member waiting at baggage claim. The El Conquistador staffer will walk you over to their airport transfer desk. Transportation is $60 roundtrip per person. A cab runs about $75, so if there are more than two people in your party and your rate doesn’t include transfers, get your own cab. Otherwise go with the hotel’s shuttle. It is a van with a VCR (on the return we were shown old Hooneymooners episodes taped off television in the 1980s) and a bar (complimentary drinks).

When I arrived the van wasn’t at the airport, so they had us wait for about 20 minutes while they gathered up some other folks coming in on another flight and then stuck us in a shared cab.

I noticed that the other folks on my shuttle were ahead of me in line to checkin and I saw they got placed in the main hotel. One had a confirmation printed with a hotels.com logo. That person seemed to get a pretty standard room, assigned to them at checkin. I got to the front of the line and the clerk saw that I had been preblocked in a room that I was ultimately very pleased with. My stay was arranged directly by Wyndham’s Vice President for the ByRequest program, and the ByRequest manager picked an appropriate room (and checked on me more than once during my stay).

On the way to the room I walked through the main hotel and to the funicular, the “elevator” on a track that takes you down from the main property (Las Vistas and Las Brisas) to the middle level (Las Olas) and down to the Marina. There are two funiculars — one that’s an express straight to the marina and one that stops at the Las Olas level.

Once down at the marina we walked to the far end where we were shown a secluded room. Despite the size of the property, it was very quiet at the far end of the Marina and almost secluded. The room was large. The bathroom was huge. There was a pool that was seldom used right next to the room. The bed was very comfortable.

But the real benefit was the balcony. It was huge and had a direct ocean view, with the pool off to the right (and a mountain behind it). Absolutely stunning. My favorite part of my long weekend was just sitting out on the balcony and relaxing.

In the morning I went to breakfast at the buffet restaurant. For a resort with so many food options (more than a dozen) they’re lacking a bit at breakfast. The Casitas have their own complimentary continental breakfast, but for the rest of us there’s the Cafe Caribe in the main hotel, the Las Brisas restaurant which has only a buffet (but stunning view) and more or less just room service as the other option. On future days I just popped up to the little bakery in the hotel first thing in the morning for a mocha (I hate in-room coffee) and then ordered room service which I enjoyed out on the balcony.

Next I went out to Palomino Island, the resort’s leased private island which is the site of the beach. Plenty of chairs and shade and good bar/cafe service as well as watersports and horseback riding. The boat leaves every half hour from 9-3 and takes about 20 minutes to get there.

Came back to the room and made dinner reservations at the seafood restaurant at the Marina. The menu wasn’t all that exciting, and didn’t live up to its billing for Carribean-influenced cuisine. Everything was offered either with rice or truffled mashed potatos. So I made a meal of soup, two appetizers, and dessert which was really excellent.

The next night I had dinner at the teppan yaki restaurant, which is a bit of a factory and the whole affair was over in 45 minutes or so. That restaurant also offers sushi and chinese — the chinese I ordered the following night as room service and enjoyed it on the balcony.

The rooms outside of the Casitas aren’t quite as finely appointed. The archetypical example would be that the toilet paper was Scott tissue. The Spa phone line rings off the hook… if I were in a Casita I would have had the butler make my appointment for me. As it is, I should have had the ByRequest desk do it. Instead I waited 20 minutes to schedule a massage. But the Spa itself was quite nice.

In the end, the resort had everything I wanted. The weather was perfect and I was perfectly located on the property. My balcony absolutely made the trip. The grounds are huge, and with such a large resort comes an enormous number of options. The place is really a self-contained city (there’s even a Sunglass Hut franchise on the property, along with several other shops). It’s far away from anywhere one would want to go, but there’s an Avis rent a car on property and several hotel sponsored excursions.

CNN journalist Richard Quest did a Star Alliance Round-the-World trip in economy and lived to tell the tale.

Of course, if his journey had started off in Cairo he could have done business class the whole way for the same price…

Chris Barnett rhapsodizes about improvements chain-wide at Hampton Inn.

Some of the changes you’ll soon see at a Hampton near you are cosmetic: red-carpet welcome mats and planter gardens at the entrance; black-and-white photography in the lobby reflecting local city scenes; piped-in traveling music; and a stylish front desk with nicely designed signs. Other changes are substantive: free high-speed Internet access in guestrooms and wireless Internet access in the lobby and meeting rooms.



The new guestrooms look far more residential than a road soldier’s barracks. Beds are skirted, raised 28 inches off the floor and outfitted with a handsome headboard, better sheets and four pillows fluffed up and displayed at an angle, Ritz-Carlton style. The bedspread has been replaced by a “coverlet” with some designer touches. The mattress seemed pretty firm to me. The room has nicer furniture, including a roomy desk with an adjustable lamp and a comfortable upholstered desk chair on rollers. There’s also a spacious, portable desk for laptopping and doing e-mail in bed.



Bathroom towels are of a higher quality and there’s a nicely curved rod and shower curtain. Even the sink seems a bit European. Shampoos, potions and lotions have been upgraded and a nightlight is thoughtfully included.



A supercool new feature is a clock radio custom made for Hampton. Anyone can operate it and figure out how to set the alarm. Cordell says 150 clock radios were tested and flunked before Hampton created its own idiot-proof version.



Cordell and his crew of designers and decorators haven’t scrimped. The new breakfast area resembles a country kitchen and while Hampton still dishes out the high-fat donuts, it has added sausage and eggs plus lots of fresh fruits, muffins, cereals and other low-fat foods. The coffee is pretty serious, too.



Too busy to stop and nosh? Hampton has created a breakfast in a bag that includes a cereal bar, fruit, a muffin and bottled water.



At the moment, 120 Hampton Inns a month are getting the facelift. And, believe it or not, Hampton officials swear that prices will not be kicked up to cover the chain’s extreme makeover.

I still like Hilton’s other entry into similar space better (Hilton Garden Inn) but these changes are certainly welcome.

Frommer’s has 55 tips for planning an affordable vacation to Hawaii. Though somewhat obvious, many of them are much more widely applicable than just Hawaii excursions.

Lynne Kiesling passes along a piece on public goods and transportation which wisely concludes

These two cases indicate something very important for city planners. First, if a city demands mass transit, private enterprise will supply it. Second, if a city does not demand mass transit, building it anyway (publicly, since private enterprise does not supply what is not demanded) will result in a system so poor that few people want to ride it and that can only survive on continuous 11th-hour rescues with tax dollars. Either way, we will get from point A to point B without you.

A biology professor faces charges for packing the severed head of a harbor seal in his luggage without a permit.

[H]e found a dead seal on Revere Beach and cut off its head so he could use it for educational purposes. He was catching a flight to Denver from Boston on Friday, Massachusetts Port Authority spokesman Phil Orlandella told The Boston Globe.


Federal wildlife laws make it illegal to disrupt or remove body parts from a dead mammal, or to transport any illegal fish or wildlife product.