Monday, June 13

Westin Sydney

Westin is built around an old Post Office (the Intercontinental was built on top of the old Treasury building).

We checked in about 1pm and were given a ‘deluxe room’, number 1806. The door has electronically-controlled signs for do not disturb and service room – you flip a switch inside the room by the door, and the appropriate note lights up outside.

Our room certainly had a fantastic bathroom. It wasn’t the Nui, I couldn’t feed the fish from my tub, but it had a large glass window between the bathroom and the room (with an electric-controlled screen between the two) and separate toilet and shower rooms housed in frosted glass. Here’s the sink. The shower had two heads – one directly above from the ceiling, and one coming out of the wall as is standard, the latter being removeable/moveable.

Here’s the entryway to the room, the room as seen from the bathroom, and a shot of the room itself.

The room had a power converter by the desk, not just the standard ‘shaver only’ 115V outlet in the bathroom, although it felt a bit light and I doubt it had any surge protection capabilities (not sure I’d want to plug my laptop in, for instance).

Though Sydney is in general pretty strict about not permitting smoking in most public spaces, smoking was totally permitted in the lounge. I never asked why, but wonder if it might be that it’s considered technically ‘outside’ and just covered by a very high skylight?

Champagne was delivered to our room shortly after arrival. I had only made the booking the evening before – I had a place to stay for free but decided it would be nice to spend our last night in Sydney in the city. Still, they managed to put that small gesture together quickly. We’d sure racked up a bunch of complimentary bottles by this point.

This hotel had one of the best room service menus I’ve seen, and execution was excellent. I like that in Australian hotels, at least at the Intercontinental and the Westin Melbourne, there isn’t a percentage added on to room service orders – just a $3 or $4 delivery charge.

One thing that annoyed me about the hotel, though, was that they added an AU$1.30 charge to the bill as a donation to UNICEF. This tactic has been discussed often on Flyertalk. I really detest it.

I take my philanthropy quite seriously. I investigate organizations that I give to in order to understand their mission and their effectiveness. Giving to ineffective charities is worse than a waste – it’s counterproductive and harmful to the intended beneficiaries of service, because it crowds out better charities (most studies suggest that total giving is a fixed pie in any given year, driven more by economic conditions than events, and that specific solicitation tactics when successful simply shift which charities benefit).

Although I guess if I wanted to know more about UNICEF, I could have watched the dedicated TV channel they had at the hotel!

Since I want the charge removed, I make a trip down to the desk on my way out. They’re more than happy to take it off and do so instantly, but it’s an unnecessary trip. I actually stewed on it for awhile after receiving the bill under the door early in the morning.

Tuesday, June 14

3:00 pm Depart Sydney (SYD)
Qantas Flight 443
Coach Class Boeing 767

Left the hotel about 1:15pm and caught a cab to the Sydney airport (AU$30.50). There wasn’t any traffic at all and were there in no time flat.

At checkin I mentioned that I was flying international first the next day and the CSR didn’t charge an excess baggage fee. We had (4) pieces to check and would only have been entitled to (2) without fee. Our international segment was on a different ticket – this was a standone one-way red e-deal – so the ongoing flight technically shouldn’t have made a diference. But I guess was saved AU$20.

We were assigned seats 54 J, K. That’s the last row on the right side of the plane in coach. The flight was completely full with every last seat taken, and there was no opportunity to switch.

Our inbound aircraft was late arriving, so we boarding about 10 minutes late, pushed back at 3:15pm, and were in the air at 3:30pm.

UNICEF sure seems popular here, as the flight attendants were hawking for donations as well.

Snacks were apples and packaged cookies and drink service was whole ‘mini’ cans of soda, mini water bottles, and coffee/tea.

Flight was pretty bumpy but short. Bags came out in about 20 minutes, and we were on our way out of the airport.

Westin Melbourne

After an AU$39.50 cab ride to the hotel, checkin was smooth. I was given a slightly oversized room with a large (balcony-sized) bay window. There were chocolates in the room waiting for us. Bags were delivered to the room within minutes.

Just like the Westin SYD, there were electronic do not disturb signs. Very modern style.

Hotel’s bar, Martini Bar, seems very W-like, even broadcasting the name in colored lights on the sidewalk outside.

Room had a nice bathroom, a large double sink, mirror the length of the whole bathroom, and like the Westin SYD an overhead shower in addition to removeable standard-placed showerhead. Bed was comfortable.

These two Australian Westins seemed to follow protocol well, identifying guests respectfully by last name, and answering the Service Express line promptly and cheerfully (always responding to requests with “of course,” “certainly,” and “I’d be glad to”).

We ordered a pot of coffee at 6am, the room service delivery charge was $4 here rather than the $3 at the Sydney Westin and Intercontinental. So our pot of coffee – which wasn’t all that large – was $13 + $4 delivery charge. I guess they need to build the lack of a % add-on into the price. Heh.

We checked out of the hotel a few minutes before 8am and the bellman offered us a cab (~ AU$45) or a BMW (AU$65) to the airport. Since there was a cab right up front, we just took it. The cab stalled on the way to the airport, something about having just changed types of gas.

In Sydney

We stopped by the Sydney Fish Market on the way to my family’s place from the airport to pick up dinner, then Thursday went to the Taronga Zoo (let me know if anyone wants pictures, for the moment I’ll just share this sign which particularly amused me). Then lunch on the water and back to change for the evening.

My family had arranged a private tour of the Opera House, and then we had prime seats for a new play, Two Brothers. (Which was fine, some of the humor a bit too locally Australian for us really to get, but for a political play it was way too unsubtle for my tastes – in the very first scene we learn that conservatives are characterized by their heartlessness and desire to see immigrants die for their own ends.)

On Friday we went shopping and then we checked into the Intercontinental for the evening. We didn’t want to stay in the suburbs that night, as we had a dinner booking at Tetsuya’s.

On Saturday we walked around Manly, and on Sunday we had brunch at an enjoyable Sardinian restaurant, Pilu at Freshwater Beach. On Monday, for our last night, we decided to spend it in the city so I made an impromptu award booking online at the Westin Sydney.
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Monday, June 6

1:50 pm Depart Bora Bora Motu Mute Airport
Air Tahiti Flight 459

The night before we received a ‘departure letter’ with a printout of our folio, a Starwood Luxury Collection survey, and a departure time. We were scheduled for 11:30am which would have left us with 2 hours at the BOB airport – way too long with nothing to do. I went to the front desk and had them change our departure until an hour later, which I think caused them to make an extra airport boat run as there were a couple of other folks from our resort on the plane and they didn’t come over on our boat.

After approaching the airport dock by boat, checkin at BOB took 2 minutes tops. There was no line and the airport was more or less deserted. No comment about overweight bags, they didn’t look at my receipt showing I had prepaid the overweight fees.

There was no ID check. There was no security at the airport whatsoever. Nothing stands between the entrance to the airport and the gates. Inside the airport is a refreshment stand and two small gift shops. Bathrooms are nice with flowers but signs say the water isn’t drinkable. This is the gate area.

There were only 12 on the flight to PPT. We boarded 15 minutes early and were in the air at 12:45pm – the scheduled boarding time. Service again was a plastic cup of juice, no choices.
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Wednesday, June 1

11:10 am Depart Papeete Intl Tahiti Faaa
Air Tahiti Flight 452

Egads, we were about 45 minutes ahead of my planned schedule. After a 5 minute cab ride (1500 CFP) I went to check in.

There are 2 domestic terminals at Faaa and 1 international. Entering the airport, the first terminal is for Air Moorea, then the international terminal, followed by Air Tahiti (VT). Several shops, an upstairs restaurant, downstairs shops, Bance Socredo, McDonald’s, and business center.

Checkin requires you to first screen all bags, which then receive a tag. You take them over to checkin yourself after that (at least at LAX at the TBIT the bags are taken to checkin with you and you aren’t allowed to touch them after screening, couldn’t you put something dangerous in after receiving the tag? Maybe they aren’t worried about terrorism, but then what’s the point of the screening anyway?)

International passengers (I wasn’t asked to prove it, by the way) get 20kg checked luggage apiece. We were over, and were asked to pay an excess baggage fee. I was offered a 30% discount for paying the roundtrip charge up front – 6900 CFP by Visa for about 2 small roller suitcases worth of stuff roundtrip. I wondered if BOB would even weigh the bags, or if I could have gotten away saving money and just paying one-way? Given my experience on the return, I highly doubt I would have been asked to pay excess baggage charges on the way back. In fact, they didn’t even look at the receipt I was told to hold onto and present on the return checkin.

Carryons were limited to 3kg, they didn’t weigh ours which was good because they too would have been overweigh.

Checkin took no more than 5 minutes. Now I had about 2 hours to kill. We walked through the shops, grabbed a coke in the cafeteria, and sat down. I realized I was right next to a little girl with chicken pox – which I’ve never had! – so we moved and I started worrying about a ruined trip. Well, I didn’t catch it from a few minutes and the little girl probably wasn’t contagious any longer anyway.

We went through security and into the terminal. There are three gates which are really just separate lines/exit doors a la a domestic express carrier. Small snack shop inside security along with bathrooms, and flatscreen TVs above the gates showing promo videos of the islands.

The plane was an ATR 72 with 68 seats. Service consisted of pineapple juice of some kind. I was certain to be sure we sat on the left side of the plane – an important thing, actually, for the phenomenal view of Bora Bora on approach (here and here).

We get off the plane and enter the terminal and each major hotel has a desk. Bora Bora Nui is the first on the left. The woman asked if I was mr. gleff as I approached. Apparently we were the only Bora Bora Nui guests arriving on that flight, they had come to the airport just to get us. (When making reservations, you’re asked to email your flight information ahead of time.)

Bora Bora Nui Resort & Spa

The woman from the Nui handed me luggage tags that were pre-filled out with my name and room number on them. As I picked up a bag, a porter took it from me and made sure I just pointed to whatever was mine. (No other resort seemed to have a porter to handle baggage.) When they had all 4 bags we went to a boat that took us to the resort. We didn’t see our bags until we made it to our bungalow.

We arrived at the overwater checkin and they already knew who were were. We were greeted by Tahitian music and we were seated and were each given a small chocolate cake shaped like a heart and chilled rosewater as I filled out their paperwork which was primarily asking to confirm our departure flight (so they could ensure proper transport back to the airport).

After returning the check-in paperwork we were taken by golf cart out to our bungalow. We pulled up to #109 which I had mentioned in advance as my first choice (followed by 108 and then 104-106). I figured I must have misread the luggage tags at the airport which I thought said 105, but the woman from the hotel couldn’t open the door with the key, checked her paperwork, and backed up to Bungalow 105.

109 is known as private for being at the very edge of the resort and facing out at the water without really being seen by any of the other bungalows (108 is equally private, perhaps more so, but gets less sunlight). However, the resort’s boats cross in front of it all day long it would seem, so I’m not sure how much I would have enjoyed it.

It turns out that I was very happy with #105. The two common criticisms of the resort are that it isn’t very Tahitian (more opulence and American-style luxury, which for this trip I rather appreciated) and that it’s on the ‘wrong side’ of the motu facing away from the main island, thus having no view of Mt. Otemanu. To my surprise, #105 is unique in having a direct view of Mt. Otemanu! It has a nice sunrise view, not much of sunset, and in fact much of the day’s light is gone by noon. It isn’t a place to lay out tanning in the afternoon, but that was perfect for us – it was a refuge from the sun, and we were able to lay around coolly and comfortable for the afternoon, especially after spending time in the sun at the beach. In the end I wouldn’t have wanted any other bungalow (well, maybe Royal Suite 107, but even that would have been only the most marginal of improvements).
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I don’t plan to blog again until June 18th. See you in a few weeks!

QUICK PATHS TO STATUS

• American Airlines elite challenges, where you can earn status with only a little bit of flying.
  

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ADVICE

• Myths and Reality Obtaining Airline Upgrades
  

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  Why you should spend all your miles now, and then earn more
  

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• Tips for fighting terrorism
  

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LINKS

• KVS Availability Tool, searches airline schedules and fare classes
  

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• SeatGuru, always pick the best seat on the plane

This actually sounds like a fascinating way to spend a few days

Card Forum is the largest event in the card industry, with nearly 1,000 card issuers, banks and service providers converging at the Omni Orlando Resort for three information-packed days of educational sessions and networking that focused on loyalty and multi-channel marketing, stored value/pre-paid, and credit and debit.

Christopher Elliott writes in the New York Times about rental car companies claiming to be out of the class of car a customer reserves and attempting to charge an upgrade fee for the next level vehicle.

This has never happened to me, and it shouldn’t happen to anyone.

After all, that’s the very idea of a reservation, a point hammered home in an episode of Seinfeld

Agent: I’m sorry, we have no mid-size available at the moment.



Jerry: I don’t understand, I made a reservation, do you have my reservation?



Agent: Yes, we do, unfortunately we ran out of cars.



Jerry: But the reservation keeps the car here. That’s why you have the
reservation.



Agent: I know why we have reservations.



Jerry: I don’t think you do. If you did, I’d have a car. See, you know how to
take the reservation, you just don’t know how to *hold* the reservation and
that’s really the most important part of the reservation, the holding. Anybody
can just take them.

This hasn’t ever happened to anyone that I know, but if it should happen to you, first insist on receiving the next higher car class at the same price — the company has committed to provide you with X car type or better for Y dollars, that’s well what they should deliver. Second, call the company’s 800 number for assistance, you may get better help from the central office. Finally, consider taking the car and disputing the higher charge in writing with the car company and then with your credit card company.

The best prophylactic measure, as Elliott suggests, is to be a member of the car company’s frequent renter program (e.g. Avis Preferred, Hertz #1 Gold) which is usually free. By having your membership number in the reservation, a car should be pre-assigned and you should be able to skip the checkin process altogether.

Avis Preferred is always free, and Preferred Select is available to anyone with an American Express Platinum card. I have one, though Avis didn’t verify that fact when I called to upgrade my membership. Hertz charges a nominal fee for membership, but waives it for just about everyone (see here and here).

A life skill I just didn’t have before.

Here’s a story about a husband and wife who took a month for their honeymoon and traveled around the world in business class — all on frequent flyer miles, with most of the hotel nights paid for in Hilton HHonors points.

We saw the famed sunset in Key West, sandy black shores around Tahiti, the Opera House and governor’s mansion in Sydney, Bangkok’s ornate Grand Palace, the Ancient Agora in Athens and Sorrento’s Mediterranean Cliffs.



We even got a personal marriage blessing from Pope John Paul II at the Vatican five months before he died

I’m not making as many stops on my own upcoming honeymoon, but will travel to more than one part of the world over three weeks – in first class, not business, and also all on points.

Chris Elliott’s latest column, published in today’s New York Times is on airline status beyond the published benefits of elite frequent flyer programs.

The gist is that high spenders receive rewards greater than those provided to an airline’s 100,000 mile flyers.

On United and on other airlines, members of the secretive, invitation-only clubs are met at the airport by employees and whisked past the check-in line. They wait for their flights in unmarked V.I.P. lounges and are offered liberal upgrades and personalized attention by airline employees. And at a time when airlines are obsessed with improving their on-time records, it is not uncommon for a plane to be held for a super-elite member who is stuck in traffic.

Chris gets some of the details wrong. He says that the Global Services designation requires only $20,000 of spend in a year with United, but I know several flyers whose spending exceeded that amount but were not invited as UGS members.

He says that United Global Servics members get their upgrades confirmed at booking, which is only true when redeeming confirmable upgrade certificates or miles, a benefit no greater than that afforded to United’s 100,000 mile flyers. UGS members do see their upgrades using 500 mile domestic certificates clear at 120 hours before departure, 20 hours in advance of United’s 1K members.

He also mentions Continental’s Chairman’s Circle, but doesn’t mention the larger “Star” designation which is separate from Platinum elite.

This top tier status is compared to the American Express Centurion Card, though the piece incorrectly states:

And, like the super-elite status conferred by the airlines, the American Express Card is granted to those deemed deserving – never in response to a customer’s request.

In fact, historically customers who have spent $150,000 in a year on their American Express Platinum card can request an invitation to Centurion. I understand that the required spend level is increasing to $250,000 in July.

Update: Christopher Elliott responds:

Thanks for plugging today’s story about super-elites. I was a little surprised when I caught the line about inaccuracies in the story — until I read about my alleged errors.



- “He says that the Global Services designation requires only $20,000 of spend in a year with United, but I know several flyers whose spending exceeded that amount but were not invited as UGS members.”



Didn’t say that. I said “at least” $20,000 a year.



- “He says that United Global Servics [sic] members get their upgrades confirmed at booking.”



Straight from a high-level source at United. And since none of these rules are publicly available, a difficult point to argue.



- “He also mentions Continental’s Chairman’s Circle, but doesn’t mention the larger “Star” designation which is separate from Platinum elite.”



Reliable sources at Continental could only confirm the existence of Chairman’s Circle. Perhaps Star has faded?



- “In fact, historically customers who have spent $150,000 in a year on their American Express Platinum card can request an invitation to Centurion.I understand that the required spend level is increasing to $250,000 in July.”



I can only tell you what Amex tells me about the black card, on the record. It’s invitation-only.

There’s a vending machine in the Atlanta airport that sells iPods. I hadn’t seen this. Though I don’t like Hartsfield one bit, it’s long had the best vending machines, especially for ice cream.

Thanks to Marginal Revolution for the pointer.

I’m unsure how reliable my internet access will be over the next few days, so there may be little if anything new on this site until Monday.

Tyler Cowen doesn’t want to see cell phone use on planes. He has a strong opinion and is looking for academic arguments to support it:

Can I claim that cell phone calls are a socially wasteful means of signaling to your spouse that you care? Can I claim that commercial airplanes are modern (short-term) monasteries, and that markets undersupply such temples of silence?

Phone use is actually allowed onboard planes now — the phone is in the seatback and the cost is several dollars per minute. The change is making low cost calls available via personal cell phones. Tyler would presumably tax that useage substantially in order to maintain existing cost levels which prevent would-be phone users from invading his silence.

I think Tyler is incorrect if he’s imagining people on cell phones yammering on around him on planes with current seating configurations once regulations change.

Tyler’s dislike of cell phone calls around him is widely shared. He doesn’t believe Bryan Caplan that the market will successfully address the problem. And there might be a short transition period where Tyler’s nightmare scenario is real.

I don’t envision some enterprising airline voluntarily enforcing no cell phone useage and attempting to get people to book away from other carriers in order to gain peace. Travelers articulate desires for quiet, for better food, for non-stop flights but in their booking decisions they don’t pay for those things. I don’t imagine a ‘quiet plane’ business model would be successful.

More likely, one airline will slightly innovate and others will get in line, just like JetBlue adding satellite TV to its planes and Delta recognizing that its lowfare unit needed entertainment as well — meaning that its Song subsidiary offered more amenities than its mainline counterpart. Lowfare carrier Airtran then recognized the need to invest in entertainment, and brought XM Satellite Radio onboard.

Before the FAA banned smoking onboard US planes, airlines used to offer smoking and non-smoking sections. I don’t see why cell phone and non-cell phone sections wouldn’t arise. Amtrak currently offers ‘quiet cars’ along the Northeast corridor for folks who want their monastic peace. Certainly airlines, while not known as the most flexible business entities, can be as innovative as Amtrak.

In an environment where planes are often quite full, passengers may not have the option of assigned seating in the quiet section of the plane. So the non-smoking section model isn’t a panacea.

Technology can help here as well. Tyler can internalize his desire for a quiet plane by purchasing a noise-reduction headset ($40 – $300).

Many airlines give these out now to business and first class passengers on international flights (and sometimes on international-configured planes flying domestically).

A small investment can bring Tyler his peace and quiet, instead of relying on government or airline rules to subsidize his preference. This would carry the benefit of unbundling transportation from comfort, and Tyler could choose to purchase each separately if his effective demand really mirrors his notional demand.

It’s one of the times of year that all the programs push their flowers and gifts mileage partners. America West just sent out an email offering 20 miles per dollar with FTD, with Butterfield Blooms, with Gift Sense, and from the San Francisco Music Box Company.

The FTD offer says “Elite Members” but the offer was sent to me by America West, and I do not have elite status with that airline. I do have some experience with FTD offers originally targeted for elites, and everyone has always been able to earn full mileage with the offers regardless of status.

The best mileage offer has been around for a couple of years, FTD offers 30 United miles per dollar spent. The offer mentions United 1K members but everyone has been able to take advantage of it regardless of status.

One thing about a blog, you really do need to check it every day or at least every couple of days. Sometimes the really great offers last only a few hours, like airfare glitches or incredible mileage offers (10,000 Delta miles for playing a short online game, 100 Delta miles per dollar spent at 1-800-Flowers.com). But sometimes offers are around awhile — but if you don’t check the site frequently they’ll scroll down past the bottom of the page.

Naturally you should come to this website everyday.

But if you don’t, or if you’ve just found it, you’ll want to be aware of some recent offers posted such as free Gold status with Hilton HHonors, 20% off from Independence Air, and $25 free for opening an ING Direct savings account.

There are also some classic posts worth reading, like:

• How to find the best airfare deals
  

• How to find the best hotel deals
  

• Best mileage earning credit cards

Finally, there are some key websites everyone interested in travel should know about like

• Scott Carmichael’s fare alert email list
  

• Andrew Cram’s Mileage Mall Comparison Chart
  

• Free Frequent Flyer Miles
  

• Seat Guru
  

• DeskPort (for tracking your miles
  

• KVS Availability Tool for the superknowledgeable who understanding fare buckets and booking codes…

The author of the Denver Post piece I mentioned yesterday did extensive interview with Gary Steiger and with me about a year ago. That interview is posted on the story author’s website.

View from the Wing was mentioned in Sunday’s Denver Post. It’s nice to learn that you helped someone earn the miles for a trip of a lifetime, in this case case to Africa. Thanks for the shout out!

This blog has been covered in the Washington Post and I’ve been quoted in the Financial Times, San Francisco Chronicle and many other places. But it always feels kinda good. Even if I do get just a bit mention this time.

Business Travel News carries a piece on corporate travel departments pushing travelers to rent cars from off-airport locations in order to save on skyrocketing fees associated with airport rentals (hat tip to Tripso Daily).

While the piece documents the high taxes, some at truly bizarre heights, it mentions only a couple of companies pushing travelers to rent off-airport in a couple of circumstances — which seem to me about as much as convenience than cost savings, or at least both married together.

The trend that bothers me most is airports with ‘on-airport’ car rental facilities that are really off-airport, where you have to take a shuttle bus off the airport facility to a car rental facility. As long as off-airport rental companies pick you up at baggage claim as frequently as on-airport buses, or at least come quickly when you call them, they can be just as convenient and cheaper.

And in some cases you’ll find it quicker to take a shuttle to your hotel and rent a car from there at your leisure.

In any case, there certainly is a limit to the costs that a municipality can impose on airport car rentals.

A piece in yesterday’s StartupJournal explained credit card interchange fees.

Interchange fees, what credit card companies charge merchants when you use your card, average 1.75% for Visa and Mastercard and 2.4% for American Express. Larger merchants, naturally, negotiate lower feels than mom and pop businesses, but those percentages are the average.

If Chase, which issues the United Visa, pays United 1.25 cents per mile and awards a mile per dollar spent on the card then they’re making half a cent on each dollar transaction. That half cent, plus any annual fee, funds their operations and any additional perks that come with the card.

It also turns out that which prestige level card you use may now play a part in determining what the merchant gets charged.

If you’re using a ‘premium’ Visa (such as Signature or Infinite) or Mastercard (such as World), the interchange fee is higher as of April 1. And once a merchant signs up to accept Visa, they can’t turn down your Signature card and insist you pay with a Visa Classic.

Banks are starting to charge merchants a bit more for premium cards, which generally include reward and rebate cards.