View from the Wing

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In helping a customer get compensation for their checked artwork that was damaged in transit, Chris Elliott recommends dealing with baggage issues at the airport rather than going home and dealing with customer service

I probably would have stood my ground at the baggage claim office, rather than waiting until I got home to file a complaint. Once you leave an airport and begin dealing with an airline’s customer service department, your chances of resolving a problem plummet. Supervisors are authorized to offer compensation, and I suspect that you might have gotten as good a deal from the baggage claim office as you did from getting me involved.

It’s always better to deal face-to-face whenever possible, especially if a sufficiently empowered agent is on hand to assist. And it’s usually better to call an airport’s baggage office directly rather than an airline’s central lost baggage number. However, Chris apparently hasn’t ever had to deal with American’s lost bags folks at Reagan National:

American Airlines baggage services at Washington-National was staffed with a man and two women. Both women were missing most of their teeth. The woman who took my claim never looked at me. She entered my home address, but wouldn’t take my business address (in case the bag came in and was ready to be delivered during the day, of course no one would be home).



The helpful women processing the claim of the person next to me (off the same flight) explained that when flights are full sometimes weight issues prevent all bags from being loaded. The flight we came in on was less than half full, although strictly speaking I don’t know what kind of cargo load it might have had.



When the claim process was done, she didn’t speak to me. She handed me a piece of paper. I asked if we were through, she didn’t answer.

Still, even in this situation Elliott’s advice isn’t wrong since American’s 800# was no better. Heh.

I love ‘best of the best’ hotel lists, and this year’s Travel & Leisure’s 500 best hotels around the world — as voted on by readers of the magazine — is no exception. (Hat tip HotelChatter.)

This one, I love to hate. While there are lots of wonderful properties on the list, the rankings are truly bizarre.

If you believe this list, there are more top luxury hotels in the United States than in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Carribean, Australia, New Zealand (and the rest of the South Pacific) combined. This has to be a function of the limited travel experience of T&L readers.

Some of the stranger U.S. listings:

• The St. Regis isn’t the best hotel in Manhattan. And the Pierre isn’t better than the Ritz-Carlton Central Park, the Peninsula, and the Mandarin Oriental.
  

• The Hay-Adams is a nice hotel, but not even in the top 5 for DC — let alone the best! The Ritz-Carlton Georgetown, the Mandarin Oriental, and the Four Seasons are probably the three best (in that order). This list doesn’t even include the Mandarin Oriental, and includes the St. Regis and the Willard above the Georgetown Ritz!
  

• Does the Westin Hilton Head really belong on this list at all? The Grand Hyatt Seattle? (Or for that matter, any hotel in Seattle?)
  

• The Boulders Resort & Golden Door Spa is not better than the Sanctuary at Camelback Mountain or even the Phoenician.
  

• The Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel, even post-renovation, is not superior to the Montage.
  

• Little Nell shows up as the best in Colorado. True enough. But the Broadmoor nearly bests them in this survey, and the Broadmoor is one of the most overrated properties in America — a convention hotel that offers little true luxury.

And that’s just the US!

At least they get some stuff right: The Peninsula Beverly Hills is the best hotel in the LA area. And the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai is the best hotel on the Big Island of Hawaii.

But their analysis of the rest of the world is just as strange.

• Bora Bora Lagoon Resort, Bora Bora Pearl Beach Resort, and InterContinental Le Moana Resort — hardly tops in Bora Bora. Where’s Bora Bora Nui?
  

• 
  The Asia listing is, in general, a bit more reasonable, though I don’t know how they can list the Royal Orchid Sheraton as among the tops in Bangkok… and not for the first time, either. Oddly, last year’s list apparently included the ROS but not Sukhothai.
  

• 
  Cruising on over to their Carribean rankings, let me just say that Sandals Ocho Rios (or any property with ‘Sandals’ or ‘Beaches’ in the name) does not belong on a list alongside Sandy Lane and Parrot Cay.

Leave the rankings you find most bizarre in the comments!

I love ‘best of the best’ hotel lists, and this year’s Travel & Leisure’s 500 best hotels around the world — as voted on by readers of the magazine — is no exception. (Hat tip HotelChatter.)

This one, I love to hate. While there are lots of wonderful properties on the list, the rankings are truly bizarre.

If you believe this list, there are more top luxury hotels in the United States than in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Carribean, Australia, New Zealand (and the rest of the South Pacific) combined. This has to be a function of the limited travel experience of T&L readers.

Some of the stranger U.S. listings:

• The St. Regis isn’t the best hotel in Manhattan. And the Pierre isn’t better than the Ritz-Carlton Central Park, the Peninsula, and the Mandarin Oriental.
  

• The Hay-Adams is a nice hotel, but not even in the top 5 for DC — let alone the best! The Ritz-Carlton Georgetown, the Mandarin Oriental, and the Four Seasons are probably the three best (in that order). This list doesn’t even include the Mandarin Oriental, and includes the St. Regis and the Willard above the Georgetown Ritz!
  

• Does the Westin Hilton Head really belong on this list at all? The Grand Hyatt Seattle? (Or for that matter, any hotel in Seattle?)
  

• The Boulders Resort & Golden Door Spa is not better than the Sanctuary at Camelback Mountain or even the Phoenician.
  

• The Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel, even post-renovation, is not superior to the Montage.
  

• Little Nell shows up as the best in Colorado. True enough. But the Broadmoor nearly bests them in this survey, and the Broadmoor is one of the most overrated properties in America — a convention hotel that offers little true luxury.

And that’s just the US!

At least they get some stuff right: The Peninsula Beverly Hills is the best hotel in the LA area. And the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai is the best hotel on the Big Island of Hawaii.

But their analysis of the rest of the world is just as strange.

• Bora Bora Lagoon Resort, Bora Bora Pearl Beach Resort, and InterContinental Le Moana Resort — hardly tops in Bora Bora. Where’s Bora Bora Nui?
  

• 
  The Asia listing is, in general, a bit more reasonable, though I don’t know how they can list the Royal Orchid Sheraton as among the tops in Bangkok… and not for the first time, either. Oddly, last year’s list apparently included the ROS but not Sukhothai.
  

• 
  Cruising on over to their Carribean rankings, let me just say that Sandals Ocho Rios (or any property with ‘Sandals’ or ‘Beaches’ in the name) does not belong on a list alongside Sandy Lane and Parrot Cay.

Leave the rankings you find most bizarre in the comments!

I love ‘best of the best’ hotel lists, and this year’s Travel & Leisure’s 500 best hotels around the world — as voted on by readers of the magazine — is no exception. (Hat tip HotelChatter.)

This one, I love to hate. While there are lots of wonderful properties on the list, the rankings are truly bizarre.

If you believe this list, there are more top luxury hotels in the United States than in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Carribean, Australia, New Zealand (and the rest of the South Pacific) combined. This has to be a function of the limited travel experience of T&L readers.

Some of the stranger U.S. listings:

• The St. Regis isn’t the best hotel in Manhattan. And the Pierre isn’t better than the Ritz-Carlton Central Park, the Peninsula, and the Mandarin Oriental.
  

• The Hay-Adams is a nice hotel, but not even in the top 5 for DC — let alone the best! The Ritz-Carlton Georgetown, the Mandarin Oriental, and the Four Seasons are probably the three best (in that order). This list doesn’t even include the Mandarin Oriental, and includes the St. Regis and the Willard above the Georgetown Ritz!
  

• Does the Westin Hilton Head really belong on this list at all? The Grand Hyatt Seattle? (Or for that matter, any hotel in Seattle?)
  

• The Boulders Resort & Golden Door Spa is not better than the Sanctuary at Camelback Mountain or even the Phoenician.
  

• The Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel, even post-renovation, is not superior to the Montage.
  

• Little Nell shows up as the best in Colorado. True enough. But the Broadmoor nearly bests them in this survey, and the Broadmoor is one of the most overrated properties in America — a convention hotel that offers little true luxury.

And that’s just the US!

At least they get some stuff right: The Peninsula Beverly Hills is the best hotel in the LA area. And the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai is the best hotel on the Big Island of Hawaii.

But their analysis of the rest of the world is just as strange.

• Bora Bora Lagoon Resort, Bora Bora Pearl Beach Resort, and InterContinental Le Moana Resort — hardly tops in Bora Bora. Where’s Bora Bora Nui?
  

• 
  The Asia listing is, in general, a bit more reasonable, though I don’t know how they can list the Royal Orchid Sheraton as among the tops in Bangkok… and not for the first time, either. Oddly, last year’s list apparently included the ROS but not Sukhothai.
  

• 
  Cruising on over to their Carribean rankings, let me just say that Sandals Ocho Rios (or any property with ‘Sandals’ or ‘Beaches’ in the name) does not belong on a list alongside Sandy Lane and Parrot Cay.

Leave the rankings you find most bizarre in the comments!

Orbitz has the Intercontinental Tokyo Bay for 374 JPY per night (~ US$3.19) and other hotels have glitches as well, e.g. Crowne Plaza Shanghai for 123.16 Chinese Yuan (US$15.24) pre-paid.

Apparently conversion issues are affecting the Intercontinental Coex Seoul as well, with rates from 187 Won instead of the usual 187,000 Won.

There’s plenty of availability. When you pull up the hotel, you’ll see “From $XXXX” and that will show the correct rate. Choose the hotel anyway and you’re given a list of rates including the mistake rate.

In the case of the Seoul property you’ll have to choose to display more rates than then all rates in order to get Won pricing rather than US dollar pricing.

This was posted on Flyertalk a bit after 10pm last night but wasn’t sent out on fare alert so is still available…

There’s no guarantee that these will be honored, of course. Some rates are prepaid, others are not. Maybe Orbitz’ll come through!

I’ve got a night at the Intercontinental Tokyo Bay for when I’m in Tokyo on the Hilton glitch courtesy of Expedia, I figure I’ll stay there one night and go to Tokyo Disney…

Final disposition is pending the outcome of the auction next week of course, but it sure looks like they’re going to sell just a few pieces of the airline and shut down.

A thread at ACA-LOUNGE.COM, a bulletin board for the airline’s employees (and a place rife with rumors), indicates that pretty much everyone has gotten their furlough notices:

Dear Flight Attendant ######:



As you know, FLYi, Inc, the holding company for Independence Air, has been actively engaged in securing inverstors in, or purchasers of, the Company as it attempts to reorganize under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankrupcy Code.



The Company expects that is it is unable to secure significant external investment or a sale of all or substantially all of its operations before January 7, 2006, it will permanently cease all operations and seperate all employees at all locations sometime during the period January 7-21, 2006.



In accordance with Section 16.A.4 of the collective bargaining agreement between the Company and AFA covering flight attendants, this letter shall constitue notice that you will be furloughed effective January 7, 2006. The Company retains the right to ament or rescind this notice of furlough.




Sincerely,

Jeff Rodgers

Vice President, Employee Services

Everyone pretty much confirms receiving this all around, flight attendants and pilots alike, whether assigned to regional jets or Airbus aircraft.

While the airline is still offering tickets for sale on its website, I wouldn’t buy any tickets.

What a great line, but how much further from the truth could this be? At TripAdvisor, one reviewer of the Ritz-Carlton Battery Park describes the place as “a reminder of war-torn Beirut.”

The complaints are that the hotel is downtown (duh — it’s perfect for business in the financial district, but not where tourists choose to stay) and that breakfast was expesive (double duh, it’s breakfast at a hotel, a Ritz no less, and in Manhattan to boot).

Still, it’s a great line, and one I’ll have to remember. I can think of a few Radisson properties where it might apply…

American Express Membership Rewards has added Airtran as a points transfer partner.

This new partnership makes sense as Airtran already has a meaningful partnership with American Express, offering bonus frequent flyer credits for tickets purchased using an American Express card.

It’s interesting in another way, though. Juniper Bank issues the Airtran Visa. Juniper’s partnership with USAirways is forcing the USAirways Dividend Miles program out of American Express Membership Rewards and Diners Club Club Rewards. But I guess their contract with Airtran isn’t so restrictive!

The transfer ratio is 1500 American Express points to 1 Airtran credit, which means that 24,000 Membership Rewards points buys a capacity controlled domestic reward ticket. Sounds about right. But the best use of these points isn’t going to be transferring that many for a free ticket. The way to use the partnership is to top off an Airtran account. Say you have 13 or 14 Airtran credits, transfer 2 or 3 and claim your award rather than letting the points expire. Airtran credits expire after a year.

As a simple yet obvious reminder, don’t transfer points into your Airtran account until you need them. First, because Airtran points expire. Second, because points from the current Wendys promotion may wind up overwhelming award availability.

Continental is giving away elite status to people signing up for their co-branded Mastercard.

Register on the Continental website with offer code 58038 (for Platinum status) then go to the ‘Apply Now’ page and enter your OnePass account number and PIN code and complete the application by December 31, 2005 (so hurry - just 5 days left). You need to make your first purchase by March 1, 2006.

Other offer cards are 58039 for Gold status and 58040 for Silver status.

The offer is intended to be targeted. The terms and conditions say

This offer is non-transferable and is intended only for the person to whom it was sent.

However, the website lets anyone register for the promo. So this one is a big ‘Your Mileage May Vary’. Print out the registration confirmation and all other screens along the process to put yourself in a better position later. If the status is what drove you to apply for the card you should be able to at least get the fee credited back later. (And you can always get the fee credited back within a month of it appearing on your statement if you press hard enough, that’s a right you’ve got on any credit card in the U.S.)

But it’s likely worth the $85 fee just for the 15,000 bonus miles with first purchase and 5% discount on all Continental tickets purchased with the card at continental.com for your first year as a cardholder.

The Flyertalk discussion of this offer is here.

Update 12/31/05: I titled the post ‘too good to be true’ and caveated that your mileage may vary. Not entirely surprisingly, Continental is not honoring the offer.

Some 80,000 mile awards between Europe and Asia are on sale today for 25,000 miles.

We wish you all dear members a Merry Christmas and to celebrate we’ve got a super offer for you
today on bonus flights with SAS between Scandinavia and Beijing, Shanghai and Tokyo.
The deal is out there and are going quickly, valid only if you book today!

…

Rules and conditions for our Christmas offer


• Only bookable today 00.00CET until 23.59CET, December 24, 2005.


• Travel between January 1 - 31, 2006


• Children receive the same discount 25 000 points


• Only available in Economy and the number of seats available is limited


• Only SAS operated flights and on new reservations only


• You can book this offer online and we will reward you with 500 Extra points per booking


• If you have a combined card with EuroBonus and MasterCard or Diners Club, you get a 500 points discount per adult and 250 points per child (2-17 years) when booking online


• EuroBonus general membership conditions apply

DC Restaurant Week returns January 9 - 15. As expected, the deal is a 3-course fixed price lunch for $20.06 and a 3-course fixed price dinner for $30.06.

Restaurant week means busy restaurants. Very busy. Service suffers, and the goal at each place is to turn your table as quickly as possible.

At all but the most expensive restaurants $30.06 per person exclusive of drinks isn’t as amazing a deal as you might think. At most mid-price places it represents perhaps a free dessert. And the most expensive restaurants are the ones most likely to limit your menu choices to their less expensive dishes or control portions. Another reason for limited choices on the menu is to limit the time it takes to prepare food, or allow the kitchen to pre-prepare as much food as possible. Again, turn that table.

Still, I always takea advantage of Restaurant Week. I make reservations for dinner every night. They’re cancellable, so I at least lock in the option of trying several places. I do use it as a way of getting a feel for lots of restaurants in a short period of time, recognizing that the restaurants may not be putting their best foot forward (so I have to grade on a curve).

One thing I’ve been meaning to try is ‘double booking’.. make perhaps a 6pm dinner reservation and an 8pm somewhere else. That’d be a way of taking advantage of the pricing, and with a limit of three courses and portion control I often don’t leave the first restaurant full anyway…

The Los Angeles Times reports on a 45 hour delay of an Air India flight where the passengers revolted and just got off the plane:

Finally, Wenz, the professor, said he just walked through a door that attendants had opened.



He climbed down the stairs and off the plane to wait on the tarmac. Other passengers, he said, followed.

Far worse than just losing some bags!

In his latest column, Joel Widzer excuses complaints about major airline carriers as caused by unfair expectations

When flying a network airline, travelers have grander expectations than they do when they fly a budget carrier. When flying Southwest or JetBlue, people adjust their attitudes to lower expectations. Psychologists call this the expectancy value.

Excuse me? People expect more from Delta than JetBlue? Customer satisfaction surveys of JetBlue are high because JetBlue offers a better coach product than the major carriers.

Seats behind row 9 offer extra legroom, matched only by United’s Economy Plus (which can’t be reserved by everyone) and American’s dwindling More Room Throughout Coach. Anyone can reserve these better seats on JetBlue, and the JetBlue website even recommends these seats. Continental, Delta, Northwest, and USAirways don’t offer any coach seats with legroom to match.

Only discounter Frontier offers similar onboard live television (for a fee, unless you’re elite) and only discounter Airtran offers XM radio.

And Southwest is famous for getting there on-time and not losing luggage. (Both American and Alaska lost bags of mine this year…)

Oh, and JetBlue’s snack basket is far superior to what passes for food on most major airline domestic coach flights.

Joel is living in a different universe if he believes that low cost carriers offer less than the majors, but that people simply attenuate their expectations accordingly.

I still prefer the major carriers because I can generally obtain a first class seat, though domestically the quality of that major airline product has declined markedly. Continental still offers reasonable onboard service, and I love United flying widebodies domestically. But the meals on Northwest, American, and Alaska are poor excuses for what used to pass as snacks in coach back when coach passengers got fed. And the seat pitch in Northwest’s first class section is no better than JetBlue’s standard seats behind row 9.

For the average traveler, many (though not all) discount carriers offer a better product for the same or less money than the major airlines.

Sure, the majors have to compete on price. And they attempt to stem their losses through service cutbacks. But the fundamental difference and competitive advantage of discount airlines is their labor costs, and in particular their work rules.

I spent a long weekend at the Renaissance hotel in Boca Raton. I’ve stayed here before, it’s the most convenient hotel to my grandparents’ place in Boca. It’s also the only 4* property in the relevant zone on Priceline and I managed to score the place for $55 — for a weekend in December!

While it’s mainly geared towards business travelers — the club lounge offers breakfast Monday to Friday and evening hor d’ourves Sunday through Thursday — it’s a nice escape for leisure travel as well.

The Renaissance is convenient off of the 95 freeway, all you do is turn onto “Renaissance Way” after exiting Glades Road. When I first stayed at the hotel the street name was “Sheraton Way” giving away the fact that the property used to be a Sheraton. It’s right next to two strip malls and just down the street from a major mall which has everything you could need. On the other side of the mall is the Boca Raton Marriott, a nice hotel where I’ve stayed at as well. That hotel seems to generate higher average room rates (my impression only), though I’d gladly choose the Renaissance from among the two.

Staff here are some of the friendliest I’ve encountered. Greetings from every staff member on property are on par with well-trained Ritz-Carlton personnel.

The pool area is fabulous for a non-resort hotel.

There are plenty of trees and a rock formation waterfall. The grounds are immaculate. The only aesthetic drawback to the public spaces is that tiles on the roof of the hotel are missing, victims of the late-October hurricane.

There’s free parking, free wireless internet in the rooms and public spaces, and throughout the day free treats are in the lobby. For most of my stay there were fresh baked cookies, mimosas, and orange juice.

Turn down service included the obligatory chocolates and water bottles. The nice touch was that, after the maid noticed ice in my ice bucket when cleaning the room the second day the bucket was filled with ice the second and third evenings I was at the hotel.

The rooms themselves are fairly standard. There are a handful of suites, but otherwise the rooms seem all the same in configuration. The only differences are whether or not you have a pool view, and club floor and ‘female friendly’ rooms have additional amenities such as plush robes.

Perhaps the only fault to the service was they housekeeping didn’t refresh the toileteries in the bathroom at all during my stay. I had plenty, so I didn’t go without, but I found it odd.

Continue after the jump for more photos.

Read the rest of this entry »

Starwood’s 2006 hotel category changes for award redemption are up at Flyertalk. 133 hotels are going up in category (which means it will take more points to redeem at them) and 29 hotels are going down in category (so fewer points required).

Starwood categorizes in groupings numbered one to six based on the average room rates that a hotel achieves during the prior year. While there are occasional changes during the year, these lists are mostly stable throughout the year with major changes loaded each late December or early January.

It’s important to remember that these categorizations are based on room rate and not a reflection of a hotel’s quality. There are some real gems in Category 1 and 2, and some really awful Category 4 hotels. This past year Princes de Galles in Paris was a Category 6 property. Few would confuse it with luxury! But it has an enviable location in Paris, and high room rates.

Fortunately I booked my Sheraton Pattaya reservation for April as a Category 2, anticipating that it would go up. I locked in the lower point price. While the new list is up, if you have plans for 2006 stays at any of these hotels it’s worth checking whether the change has been made online yet. Last year after Starwood Lurker posted the new list on Flyertalk I was still able to make a reservation at the Westin Melbourne at the lower award price. I squeaked in just under the wire. So if you have any upcoming plans, you might well not be too late, but act quickly. Remember that award bookings can be changed or cancelled without penalty as long as you comply with the hotel’s cancellation policy. So speculative bookings make sense here!

I’m disappointed to see both the Westin and Sheraton in Seattle bumped up to category 4. They’re probably both at the low end of category 4 room rates. They’re also two of my most frequent redemption properties, or at least they were. Both have participated in cash and points awards in the past, and that’s the only way I’ll redeem with them in 2006. Otherwise my Seattle redemption will be at the W, and even that’s a stretch for spending 10,000 points as a category 4 when the hotel is often available at under $200 a night.

I’m also disappointed — though not surprised — to see The Atlantic in Fort Lauderdale move up to category 5, I figured I’d plan an award stay there sometime soon.

Shocking is Mardavall and the Hotel President Wilson moving up to the exhaulted (and ever growing) category 6, requiring 20,000 points a night during off-season!

And the Sheraton Maui a category 5? Might as well stay at the Westin there in the same category, though personally I’ll avoid them both.

On the upside, sanity returns with the Hotel Danieli and Princes de Galles back to Category 5. And Grande Bretagne moving down to category 4 is a real treat.

The description from Tyler Cowen’s Washington, DC dining guide remains correct — mini bar “takes many chances and doesn’t always hit.”

But it doesn’t need to when they’re serving you 35 different things over the course of a couple hours. The “caviar” made of peas is fascinating, an amazing creation, the texture is just right — but tastes like, well, peas.

The Friday night before last when I ate there was the most fun I’ve had at a meal, purely over the food, in a long time. It’s my second favorite meal of the past twelve months behind Tetsuya in Sydney — which puts it ahead — in terms of sheer enjoyment — of the Inn at Little Washington, CityZen, Citronelle, 2941, Indebleu, etc.

Minibar is a restaurant within a restaurant. It’s just six stools at a bar upstairs.

There are two seatings a night, and you must be on time. You provide your credit card with the reservation and will be charged full price if you do not show. If you’re late you’ll join in the meal already in progress.

They suggest arriving 15 minutes early. Then you wait for the other diners to arrive, and you’re all escorted upstairs.

Two chefs prepare your food in front of you, and you have a dedicated waiter. The waiter handles your drinks and removes plates, and along with the chefs present your food (three people will usually take a dish in each hand in order to lay down all plates at the same time, this doesn’t always happen and the two chefs will manage it on their own). After each dish is presented one of the two chefs will tell you what you are about to eat, and when appropriate how to eat it — with your hands, with your metal spoon (with fork on the other end), in a single bite, or in two bites.

I’m told that the restaurant within a restaurant is so separate that Café Atlantico diners will be denied a copy of the Mini Bar menu if they request it. That’s strange, of course, since a sample of a (not entirely current) menu is on the website. But if you want to experience Mini Bar you must make the reservation… Or just continue reading this post after the jump, where I reproduce the evening menu along with pictures of most courses.

My favorites on the night were the Cotton Candy Foie Gras (foie gras on a stick with cotton candy wrapped around it, alas my picture came out too fuzzy to reproduce here), Lobster Americaine (where you inject roe into your mouth while eating a bite of lobster), and the “Philly Cheesesteak” (which was a piece of pita bread with cheddar pastry cream, truffle oil, and wagyu beef).
Read the rest of this entry »

When I’m traveling on my own I’ll do everything possible to avoid checking luggage. That will remain my strategy, at least until Ted Stevens succeeds in limiting carryons (from one carryon to… one carryon).

But when I’m on a three week trip involving multiple climates it isn’t possible. And when I’m traveling with my wife for a long weekend, and she packs enough that we have to check her bags, I tend to check mine as well. Even without a connecting flight that turns out to be a mistake.

Back in June I flew in from Melbourne on Qantas and transferred my bags to Alaska. This was in the midst of their baggage handler unpleasantness, and one of our four bags was sent to Reno instead of Seattle. The baggage service office was extremely apologetic, embarassed even. The woman who took my claim gave me her name and her direct number, so that I could call and speak to someone in Seattle directly whenever I wanted an update. They found my bag that night and dispatched it immediately out to my hotel. I had a phone call from the baggage folks even before I tried to call them!

Fast forward to yesterday afternoon. American Airlines baggage services at Washington-National was staffed with a man and two women. Both women were missing most of their teeth. The woman who took my claim never looked at me. She entered my home address, but wouldn’t take my business address (in case the bag came in and was ready to be delivered during the day, of course no one would be home).

The helpful women processing the claim of the person next to me (off the same flight) explained that when flights are full sometimes weight issues prevent all bags from being loaded. The flight we came in on was less than half full, although strictly speaking I don’t know what kind of cargo load it might have had.

When the claim process was done, she didn’t speak to me. She handed me a piece of paper. I asked if we were through, she didn’t answer. Well, at least the printout apologized!

American’s 800 number for baggage is an automated system, without the option of speaking with a person. My bag apparently came in on the 6:22pm arrival yesterday, but nobody updated the system until after 9:30pm. According to the automated system, that may have been later than they do residential deliveries so I don’t yet have my bag. And the automated system doesn’t give out contact information for the delivery service.

In theory my bag should be delivered today, but I don’t know when or by whom. Thanks, American!

American is offering its annual elite buyback offer for Gold and Platinum members who did not requalify during 2005.

Depending on the number of miles you flew and the status you already have, you can pay $299 - $599 to retain that status through February, 2007.

Hotels are great for romantic getaways. Apparently, though, this isn’t true just for people. HotelChatter points to this MSNBC story from August on a Sao Paulo motel which caters to love-seeking dogs.

The air-conditioned pet love motel room, with a paw print decorative motif, has a special control panel to dim the lights, turn on romantic music or play films.



“The owner has to know what kind of DVD will excite his or her dog,” Marinho said with a chuckle.



The dog motel, which opened this month, costs $41 for two hours, making it more expensive than the least luxurious rooms at the Opium, which cost $45 for four hours.



“We also have a wedding agency that matches up dogs and if the female dog doesn’t get pregnant, we offer artificial insemination services,” said Marinho