View from the Wing

Via Brad DeLong, Iraq’s transportation minister has ordered a ban on alcohol sales at Baghdad International Airport.

The airport’s duty-free shop is not complying, in spite of threats to have their $800,000 inventory destroyed. Alcohol makes up 85% of duty free sales at the airport.

Oddly enough, the decision to ban alcohol is influenced by how it would look to the outside world.

Jabiri expressed concern about Iraq’s image if alcohol continues to be sold. “And this could corrupt the employees also,” he said. “Foreign travelers might not even realize this is an Islamic country when they see alcohol in the airport.”

Oh, yeah, if we didn’t go to war in Iraq because of weapons of mass destruction that didn’t exist, it must have been to create a secular, democratic state in the Middle East…

Tim Harford asks what would be the best way for frequent flyer program to devalue their currency?

Last year I explained why a devaluation is inevitable, and why that doesn’t mean you should stop collecting miles.

The simplistic version of the problem is too many miles chasing too few seats. Problems have been exascerbated the last couple of years as airlines pulled down capacity. Now, with flights running especially full, getting a nominally free seat can be tough. Award redemption (at least at the usual mileage pricing) is predicated on giving away only those seats that are likely to go unsold. That pot of inventory isn’t growing, but mileages balances are.

Given the need for devaluation, how should airlines do it?

The first option Harford gives is rejected, but not strongly enough:

Airlines could simply repudiate the debt, but this seems unnecessary.

“Seems unnecessary?” It would be suicidal to the viability of the programs. Not only do the programs drive loyalty, they are a huge databsae of consumer behavior, and they actually make a profit. The Air Canada program has a market value of about $2 billion. Large US domestic programs are worth some multiple of that. Why kill the goose?

British Airways seem to have decided on the latter: they are making it nearly impossible for me to book frequent-flyer tickets, rectify their errors or coordinate with my wife’s bookings. But this is a puzzle - a simple devaluation would go unnoticed, but the current shenanigans are hugely irritating.

For transatlantic crossings, I’ve actually found award availability on BA to be pretty good. But that aside, devaluations are far from unnoticed! Devaluations ‘move the goalpost’ while your customers are earning. Some may strive harder, certainly others will become angry.

It’s true that an inability to redeem seats is a frustration felt by many, Capital One exploits is through their David Spade TV spots to hawk an inferior credit card.

Several explanations are offered:

1) They have devalued already and I didn’t notice, but they still had too much debt outstanding.

Bingo. A good example is Northwest, but BA devalued substantially a couple of years ago. And Qantas nearly double the cost of some premium awards.

2) The frequent flyer contract makes devaluation illegal but obstructiveness legal.

Hardly, both are legal and ongoing.

3) Never attribute to conspiracy that which is adequately explained by incompetence.

Another good theory. Never trust airline websites to tell you about availability. Never trust the CSRs either. If you don’t like the answer you get, hang up and try again. Not everyone is sufficiently diligent to find seats that do exist.

I’ve never walked away empty handed, but it takes trying each gateway one by one, flight by flight.

Technology will solve this in the short run, but without greater devaluation the problem will return as more miles are successfully redeemed, eating up available seat inventory.

Now there are inefficiencies and some award seats do go unoccupied. Once technology wrings those out, the problems will be even more acute and more demanding of further devaluation.

Boldly going where another travel site has gone before, SideStep has brought on Patrick Stewart as its spokesman.

In the online travel world, one of the biggest battles for new customers has come down to this: Captain Kirk vs. Captain Picard.



Patrick Stewart, who played Captain Picard on “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” is the new company spokesman for travel search engine SideStep. That’s a direct challenge to rival Priceline.com, whose ads have long featured William Shatner, Captain Kirk on the original “Star Trek.”

(Via Tripso Daily.)

We all have certain fees that travel providers charge which drive us up the wall, usually because they offer an explanation that’s especially absurd.

I’m usually bothered by award ‘expedite fees’, a charge that some airlines impose for issuing an electornic award ticket within a certain number of days of travel.

I’m similarly bothered by hotel resort fees (just include it in your room rate!) and charges for ticketing at the airport when that’s the only option available, such as issuing an open-jaw award on United for someone with a different last name (since it can’t be done online and if it isn’t, it must be signed for in person).

Perhaps the most offensive, albeit small, fee I’ve heard of was recently reported at Flyertalk.com. Apparently American Airlines is now charging $3 to e-mail a replacement travel itinerary. I’m speechless, truly.

Probably the best marketing bang for the buck in hotel history was Westin’s introduction of the Heavenly Bed. Travelers came to trust the brand to provide them with a good night’s sleep.

A more recent trend in hotels is paying attention not just to the best but to the pillow in particular. The trend started at the Benjamin hotel in New York and has spread, there’s now a recognition that people sleep differently and different types of pillows can enhance or detract from a night’s sleep.

The New York Times piece on the subject could have been made really useful with an added discussion on what pillows best match which sleep habits, a subject about which I know little.

I understand the entire bed effect, and while I like the Westin Heavenly Bed I find that some properties may need to replace their beds more often. Since the oldest beds are now six years old they’re not as comfortable as they once were.

Intuitively I know that pillows matter, but here I need some expert input. Fortunately better hotels have concierges or butlers versed in the subject, but I haven’t yet acquired their knowledge.

Airlines oppose the move to extend daylight savings time to March and November because if the rest of the world doesn’t go along the timing of their flights will be out of sync with limited landing slots in foreign airports. One estimate I’ve seen is that this will cost US airlines more than $170 million per year, though I presume the figure is somewhat self-serving and likely lower in reality.

Perhaps the cost argument isn’t the only place to focus. Tyler Cowen asks whether daylight savings time is dangerous, because the moving the clock forward is equivalent to imposing a mild case of jetlag on the whole country. Some data suggests that automobile accidents go up after the change to clocks, although the data is far from conclusive (Tyler observes a lack of data on whether Indiana, which doesn’t observe daylight savings, is safer during parts of the year).

Colloquy reports on a new program in the United Arab Emirates where cutomers receive a 1% rebate on their spending and a 1% rebate on the spending of everyone they refer for the credit card.

I haven’t seen anything like this in the U.S. (though there are certainly one-time referral bonuses for getting someone to sign up for a card) but I certainly expect to.

USA Today reports on bloggers on the payroll of government tourist bureaus.

Blogs tend to criticize other blogs, and many blogs permit comments (my current technical difficulties notwithstanding) so the blog’s culture of critique should limit the harm from this. Blog content should stand on its own, regardless of funding. But be aware of potential shading, influenced by financing of blogs.

This isn’t new, surprising, or all that different from traditional travel writers whose perspectives may be colored by the advertisers at their publications or the free trips and upgrades handed out by travel providers. It’s always worthwhile using a skeptical eye towards travel writers.

I want to know, though, how to get my hands on some of this money — then you could hermaneut my own writing all you want!

Tyler Cowen wonders whether airplanes make weird people seem less weird. More broadly, travel brings different types of people together and that kind of mixing tears down frames of reference that allow people to judge others weird.

If his hypothesis is correct, he then wonders

Does this mean that weird men are more likely to have foreign wives?

Last night I saw Wedding Crashers. I don’t usually comment on movies here, but the opening scene features Dwight Yoakam and Rebecca DeMornay fighting over Yoakam’s frequent flyer miles in their divorce settlement conference.

This was a raunchy, funny movie. Senator John McCain with a very brief appearance in the film has been all over the media, getting asked why he’s in this kind of movie when he spends his time railing against Hollywood for producing just this kind of product? The answer, which he won’t give, is that he’s a cynical politician who exploits anti-Hollywood sentiment but frankly enjoys these movies. Maybe McCain is a Straussian after all.

While funny and creative, the opening of the film was absolutely brilliant taking the main characters through a series of different ethnic weddings each one funnier than the last, it’s as if the writers stopped somewhere in the middle and realized that they had left out all of the cliches’. Perhaps the producer demanded that they be re-inserted?

How can a wedding movie possibly be made without a climactic interruption, I tried to tell you how much I love you but I was misunderstood!

I put up with the tired cliche’s — every “plot twist” was thoroughly predictable — because the chemistry worked and the movie was funny. That and the early scenes with Christopher Walken were priceless.

Though I’m confused by the ending, the main characters depart a wedding that’s presumably at the National Cathedral and then drive into Washington, DC. Why do I look for consist editing in a cliche’-laden yuk-fest?

The travel section in today’s New York Times carries a review of Wynn Las Vegas… as though the property didn’t get enough press when it was opening.

This $2.7 billion hotel seems far from offering a flawless experience, and most folks seem disappointed. TripAdvisor reviews are decidedly mixed. I haven’t stayed there yet.

Now, no 2700 room property can possibly be a luxury hotel. Personal service seems impossible. Complexes are sprawling. Wait times will occasionally seem interminable, no matter how well the property is designed, when unusually large cohorts of guests decide to make us of the same thing at once (pool, elevators, checkin/checkout).

I have nothing against large resorts per se. I have an upcoming stay booked at the Westin Diplomat, and I enjoyed a trip to Wyndham’s El Conquistador in San Juan last year.

And the sprawling kitsch experience is what I actually want in Vegas. Sure, there’s a Four Seasons, and in most cases that might be more my preference. But when in Vegas I’ll want Vegas. And though the Bellagio is probably the nicer property, I have a particular strange affinity for the Venetian.

Since I’m not a gambler, I don’t have much juice in Vegas. So I like that all the rooms are suites (one one sort or another). And I like themes a la Paris, New York, etc.

The Venetian comes cheap, too. One trick to Vegas is to sign up for the various hotel newsletters to receive their special offers. The Venetian frequently offers midweek rates of $100/night. I often see offers from the Venetian below the rates that people are winning the hotel for on Priceline, and the Venetian offers might come with a room upgrade, match credits, or other benefits.

(Side note, for reliably inexpensive accomodations, The Orleans is a pretty good standby. It’s a basic, clean casino hotel and I’ve seen midweek rates on the hotel’s website as low as $13.)

A new Destiny’s Child pre-paid Visa debit card was introduced last week.

It’s probably been in the works for awhile, so I’m sure there were plenty of groans when the executives involved learned that Destiny’s Child is breaking up.

Steven Levitt studies terrorism as an academic and realizes this makes him a threat to the state. It’s dangerous to carry pictures of 9/11 terrorists when you fly…

It’s also dangerous, by the way, to claim not to have a bomb or to carry a bible through a security checkpoint.

Brad DeLong points to the fine print in a hotel’s complimentary breakfast offering

Fresh Fruit Parfait–Granola and yoghurt topped with Fresh Fruit OR Two farm fresh eggs, scrambled (Only) with choice of Bacon or Sausage. Served with country potatoes and a Croissant. Toast is not included with Hotel breakfast, Nor can it be substituted for the Croissant, however it can be purchased for $1.95. Coffee, Tea, Milk, Lemonade, Orange Juice, Apple Juice, or Pass-O-Guava Juice Only Is included with Hotel Breakfast Please No substitutions on Hotel breakfast. A $3.95 credit will be applied to other entries on the breakfast menu if you choose outside the box.

Two comments.

First, as Brad DeLong observes, the hotel squanders much customer goodwill through its complicated rules.

Second, this hotel has to be a good candidate for a six sigma project. Their rules are so complicated that the costs of enforcing them have to be higher than any incremental revenue the policy brings.

Joe Turner got food poisoning on a JAL flight. Not fun, and I can relate — I picked up salmonella last month on Qantas (in first, flying Melbourne to Los Angeles).

Doesn’t discourage me from flying, though, I’m just not sure how to ‘be more careful’ and avoid such things in the future. Thoughts?

I’ve had fabulous oceanfront rooms and rooms with the neatest gadgets imaginable. I’ve stayed in suites at Ritz-Carltons.

Though not the largest or most technologically advanced I’m probably happiest with my room at Bora Bora Nui, if only for the view from my deck (here’s the view to the right). The ability to feed fish from the tub isn’t bad, either. The sunset, the view from the spa, and the incredible colors of the water made this the most beautiful physical property I’ve ever seen, though service at the property was a bit lacking.

Recently I’ve been musing over what properties are on my ‘must see’ list.

While reserving the right to change the list at any time, the hotels I’m meaning to see in the near future include:

• Cala di Volpe on Sardinia’s Costa Smeralda, and while in the same part of the world I figure I’ll stay at Hotel Villa Cirpriani in Italy and Hotel Grande Bretagne in Athens, this last is one it’s hard to believe I haven’t visited yet — several friends have been and it doesn’t take that many Starwood points to stay there either.
  

• Four Seasons George V in Paris
  

• Banyan Tree Phuket in Thailand
  

• Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur
  

• Peninsula Bangkok in Thailand
  

• Four Seasons Chiang Mai also in Thailand (a theme is developing here)
  

• Little Nell in Aspen (since it’s supposed to be far nicer than than the Broadmoor)
  

• Parrot Cay Resort in Turks and Caicos
  

• The Montage in Laguna Niguel - I’ve been to the Ritz there, admittedly pre-renovation, but this is supposed to be a lot better
  

• Four Seasons Resort Bali at Jimbaran Bay in Indonesia

The nice thing is that I’ll be able to redeem Starwood points to stay at the first three hotels I’ve mentioned.

What hotels are on your list?

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The cover story of the July, 2005 Inside Flyer is on airlines spinning off their frequent flyer programs in public offerings.

David Rowell thinks United could be worth $15 billion. Randy Petersen says “greater than $2.5 billion.”

According to the piece, airlines sell $3 billion worth of miles annually. United’s spinoff of Mileage Plus into a wholely-owned subsidiary in 2002 was a $1.4 billion transaction. Mileage is clearly a big business:

In 2003, ULS accounted for 5 percent of UAL’s 2003 revenues. In 2004, United recognized more than $400 million in revenues related to ULS, which would not reflect the entire business revenue of ULS for that year. In 2000, revenue for third-party mileage sales reached $220 million during the first six months alone.



But American AAdvantage is clearly the king of frequent flyer programs, with annual revenue related to third-party sales of miles exceeding $1 billion annually.

Airlines sell miles, and buy seats redeemed with those miles (or merchandise, etc.) at a discount, earning money on the spread.

Randy thinks a spinoff would make miles safer, since a loyalty program could simply buy seats from another carrier if the one to which they’re linked goes under. And since the largest programs redeem millions of free seats each year, they should have the buying clout to negotiate sufficiently discounted tickets (likely maintaining heavy restrictions) that they could remain profitable.

Wednesday, June 15

10:25 am Departure Melbourne (MEL)
Qantas Flight 93, MEL-LAX
First Class Seats 2E, 2F

We arrived without further incident about 8:20am and walked right up to the 2 dedicated Qantas checkin counters for First Class on MEL-LAX. No wait. Bags were tagged to Seattle and boarding passes were issued all the way there – even though LAX-SEA was on a separate e-ticket purchased from Alaska directly. I simply showed my itinerary to the CSR and she didn’t have any difficulties.

There was a short line for passport control, and then we walked through duty free. Would they let me bring in Aussie beef jerky into the states? It was on sale at duty free, but when I arrived at SYD there was a sign specifically saying that beef jerky was prohibited. I guess that must be a common item? :confused: I skip the duty free, even though there were the largest liquor bottles I’d ever seen on offer.

We went through security with no line and then over to the QF club downstairs. We checked in at the desk and were sent down the hall on the left to the F side, which had showers, 4 computers with internet (a tad slow) and printers. I found the club lihht and airy for a downstairs lounge with no views. The food selection wasn’t impressive, just some pastries and pretzel-type snacks, perhaps it was because of the early hour. The coffee machine made a decent cappuccino, though.

We boarded 20 minutes late due to late arriving aircraft and were in the air at 11am. Captain said we’d make up the time.

Once at our seats, FA came around for drink orders and brought nuts and olives (the latter distributed with a separate plate for pits). Amenity kits and PJs were distributed on the ground. I changed in the lavatory, which is nice as it’s larger than the standard lav not to mention having a window!

After takeoff, menus were presented…
Read the rest of this entry »

Air Canada successfully sold a stake in its frequent flyer program today, and based on the price paid for a 12.5% stake Aeroplan has a market value of CAD$2 billion.