Monthly Archive for August, 2009

Misnomered Meringues

We here at WAAP love blogger Gary Leff, writer of View From the Wing, mostly because of his unapologetic commitment to the tony lifestyle, luxe hotel rooms, and the numerous shout-outs to the W Hotel line of bedding products couched as subtle reminders that, well, your bed is not as nice as his.

Hey, though we at at WAAP sleep on a mattress stuffed with hay, in an apartment that doesn’t have a roof, use a plump rat as a pillow, and all we receive for Christmas is an orange and a tattered copy of Ulysses found soaking in a puddle by the subway tracks (which I cannot read, because I am illiterate, and but a poor chimney sweep), we can still hang with the best at times.

For instance, take today’s post about Gary’s adventures to Alain Ducasse’s restaurant, Adour, in Washington, DC. Gary heaps accolades on the petit-fours served with dessert, noting: “They served meringue cookies as petit fours alongside our desserts. This is my favorite type of cookie, and Adour’s rendition was quite good.”

Fair enough, but let’s let WAAP’s fact checking squad handle this one. Gary’s descriptions are mostly gravy, except for one glaring error: those ain’t meringues, Gary. Oops-a-daisy!

No, those rakish little confections are macarons – not macaroons – but, a traditional French pastry – which, has two halves that seem similar to a meringue (which, itself, is an entirely different item, fashioned from heavily-whipped egg whites). Macarons have a filling between the two light, slightly spongy cookie halves, with a slight almond flavor. You’d never, ever ask for one of these cookies by asking for a “meringue.” You’d get quite funny looks at La Duree in Paris (home to perhaps the world’s most famous macarons) if you confidently and assuredly strode to their counters and asked for an assortment of meringues while pointing to their extensive macaron section. (And, yes – for those still skeptical, I did some mega-searches to see if macarons ever could be considered “meringues” or one could legally refer to macarons as “meringues.” I couldn’t find a damn thing). Those are undoubtedly, and unequivocally, macarons.

Hey, we here at WAAP have to take ‘em if we can. We may not know much, but we know our meringues and macarons.

Published
by
G.Ro
on August 29, 2009
in Other Blogs
. 3 Comments

Made Sommmmme Progress on the Award Itinerary Changes – I Can Now Play Businessman

As about which I had written some days ago, I found myself stymied not by Starnet Blocking, but bitten by classic award seat availability issues, namely on two particular flights. I had wanted to change my departure from JFK to Dulles from La Guardia to Washington, National for more convenience in meeting a dear friend of mine in DC (or “The District” as the sycophantic-just-graduated-from-Georgetown-with-a-political-science-degree Congress interns call it), and I had wanted to change the final flight of my itinerary to a later Zurich – JFK flight to try to experience Swiss Air’s new first class product.

Still no dice on the Swiss Air changes. Those bastards are certainly holding out until the end – hoping that someone will buy those first class seats (which, of course, is perfectly logical, considering the new product is absolutely beautiful), or, they simply have exhausted all award availability that day. Mark my words, though, I’m going to be calling up until the minute my first flight departs to try to grab that elusive new first class seat. I did, however, find luck with changing my first flight from JFK – IAD to LGA – DCA, which will prove much more convenient for meeting my pal on The District (he’s not a sycophantic Congress intern), and I’ll only have to endure one purgatory-length bus ride from some stop in Virginia to Dulles. I’ll most likely grab the bus from Rosslyn Station, which, fun fact, is located near the very parking garage where Deepthroat sang like a canary). Excellent news.

I’m also very excited to try the US Airways Shuttle, if only for the cachet. Part of my travel philosophy with using miles to travel in first class is to simply enjoy the experience anthropologically (too many people think their use of miles to sit in first class actually elevates them to someone above everyone else – the entitlement and haughty air follows later. Get over yourselves. You’re using miles to travel in first class. You really haven’t accomplished anything special. But – I digress). In other words, it’s still little old me traveling in first class. But – I’ve always wanted to try the Shuttle, because it carries the appearance of that important and consistently-timed business machine, shuttling important people from one of the busiest cities in the world, to our nation’s capitol. I’ll do my best to pretend I’m a business man on that flight. I’ll flip open my laptop with some stupid Powerpoint presentation at the ready, and consistently type words such as “market share,” “client needs,” “being proactive,” “synergy,” and “repurpose.” On the ground, I’ll make sure I shout these words as loudly and obnoxiously as I can to some client into my phone. I’ll also wear a button down shirt, jeans, a horrendous 1970s tweed blazer, and those stupid boat-shaped shiny loafers that every United gate lice seems to wear as he tries to box every other passenger out from boarding on the red carpet. It’s their official costume.

Well, kudos to myself for being proactive, reaching out to United, find some synergy, and repurposing my itinerary. It’s great they’re award of their client needs.

Published
by
G.Ro
on August 28, 2009
in Award Bookings and Star Alliance
. 0 Comments

Virgin America Knows Their City

I’m at the Giants game, and Virgin America has a huge advertisement between the first and second decks of AT&T park that reads, “We’re proud to be your hometown airline.”

Love the SF pride, I must say.

Published
by
G.Ro
on August 27, 2009
in Virgin America
. 0 Comments

Might Have to Play Some United Standby Roulette on the Return to NYC

I’ve slowly come to realize that my return to dear old New York City poses somewhat of a gamble, in terms of my next day of travel. Essentially, I’m traveling back to NYC for one night, then departing early the next morning to begin the Eastern Europe and Iraq extravaganza. As of right now, I’m booked on an afternoon flight from San Francisco (SFO) to Denver (DEN), connecting to La Guardia (LGA), and arriving at about 11pm.

There exist several issues with the itinerary that make my travel-problem-barometer right knee act up – like the old man whose pain in his knee heralds a nor’easter. With the current booking, I have a 30 minute connection in Denver. With the vagaries of air travel, and traveling from two hubs that can become cold-cocked with weather issues during the summer, something tells me that 30 minutes just ain’t enough to breathe regularly. Moreover, my connecting flight is the last flight of the day to LGA. Miss it, and I’m spending the night in Denver. I suppose, should those unfortunate events occur, I could finagle myself onto a Dulles redeye, from where the next day’s flight to departs – that is – if Dulles itself isn’t stymied with its own weather issues.

I think the best recourse is to arrive at SFO much earlier than necessary, and try to standby for a nonstop to JFK – or, grab an earlier flight to DEN, just to hope for a more comfortable connection time, or to grab the earlier flight to LGA. Look – I don’t really care what time I get back to NYC – as long as I can get back in advance of the next day’s first flight, from JFK to Dulles.

Of course, being the individual that takes pride in preparedness (uh huh), I’ve packed the things I need for my trip in the suitcase I took home for my summer “break.” As long as I can get to Frankfurt on time to catch my connections, I won’t whine.

Published
by
G.Ro
on August 26, 2009
in Trips/Ventures/Sojourns and United
. 2 Comments

Time Running Out to Make Some Desired Flight Changes

With all the whining concerning United’s Starnet Blocking, their insidious practice of blocking partner award travel seats when booking with Mileage Plus miles, one can usually find their desired seats and routings – eventually. Unfortunately, as well, sometimes it’s not Starnet causing problems – it’s good ol’ fashioned lack of award availability. For my upcoming Eastern Europe and Iraq trip, I’m very happy and appreciative of the route I have now – but, greedily, would like two more changes made to the itinerary before I depart. Yes, I fully concede these changes border on nitpicking, and greedy clamoring of someone booking with award miles (why is it the entitlement always inflates when we book first class awards essentially for free and when we have our truly hard earned miles as currency) – but, man – these two desired changes have become a smoldering campfire in my mind – omnipresent, and guaranteed to elicit a few resentful thoughts when I head through the airport and see my desired flights on the departure monitor.

The first leg of my journey takes me from New York (JFK) to Washington, Dulles (IAD), where I pick up my connecting flight to Frankfurt (FRA). At this point, I have about a six hour layover in IAD. While I could certainly kill a few hours at Dulles, there are only so many rides on the mobile lounges, walks to remote terminals, drink chit runs, and consuming pieces of cheesecake in the Lufthansa Senator lounge I can stand before astonishing boredom sets in, and I want to head into Washington, D.C. to see my dear old friend Matt to have lunch. Dulles, unfortunately, has no convenient connections into the city (it’s a long bus ride to some Metro station in Virginia with any option one chooses), and therefore, wanted to change my first flight to a US Airways Shuttle flight from La Guardia (LGA) to Washington, National (DCA). I’ve always wanted to try the US Airways Shuttle (guaranteed to make you feel like you’re somebody on a business trip), and DCA is the airport with perhaps the most convenient connections to a city in the world (except for Tashkent, Uzbekistan). And, despite repeated calls to United, there exists no availability from LGA to DCA at any time during the day, on my day of departure. I guess I’ll be humping it to Falls Church or to Rosslyn if I want to head into the city. Not a terrible inconvenience, yes, but one that certainly would curtail my time inside the city.

Perhaps even more irritating have been my searches for Swiss Air flight 14 from Zurich (ZRH) to JFK. Currently, I am booked on flight 16, which departs at 9.55am. I’ll be arriving on an early morning flight from Vienna, that, as of now, only allows for an hour connection in ZRH. Flight 16, as well, is the old Swiss Air first class configuration, which, while I am wont not to complain, I would certainly like to try the new configuration offered on flight 14. I would also like more than a rushed hour trying the Swiss ground services at Zurich, as well. Of course, I have been calling every day for perhaps the last month, and Swiss 14 has absolutely no award availability, in any class, on that day. I’m hoping some will pop up even a few days before departure (believe me – I’ll keep calling), but as of right now, it looks like a very rushed stay in ZRH.

Again, gripe as I may, I’m still very happy to be able to do some traveling in just about a week.

Published
by
G.Ro
on August 24, 2009
in Award Bookings and Star Alliance
. 1 Comment

Wow – I, Like, Have a Trip Coming Up – Maybe I Should Plan For It

In the midst of final exams and simply decompressing from the summer term, I realized I’ve completely neglected to plan for my upcoming trip, my Eastern Europe and Middle East adventure, that commences September second. Oops!

I’ve changed the shape of the trip a few times, first booking a trip to Brussels, then to Oslo, and a few weeks ago, realizing that one needs a credit reference and a second mortgage just to survive comfortably in Norway, decided to head back to one of my favorite places on earth, Eastern Europe. I had always wanted to visit Macedonia, and on a whim, called United, and changed my routing to have three days in Skopje. I’ll be able to visit Kosovo and Serbia, as well, and keep my quick trip to Northern Iraq, as well.

Mostly, I haven’t booked any hotels. I’ve been poking around online for hotels in Skopje and Erbil, Iraq, and found a few options. Let’s not freak out, people – there exist no real hotel chains in Skopje or Erbil, so, yeah – I’m not going to be able to collect points in either of those places – and, yup, will need to stay in a boutique hotel – and idea which freaks some travelers out, because unlike chain hotels, boutique hotels don’t provide the same bland, sterile comfort from city to city (but they do have executive lounges to make you feel like a big man!) Yes, there is a Holiday Inn in Skopkje, but I am certainly not paying 280 dollars a night all of the privilege of picking up a few Priority Club points.  But, fear not, readers: I do plan to stay at the Hilton on my one night in Vienna, so I will succumb to air-conditioned sterility (and get a chance to superficially inflate my ego with my comped Gold status, but then fall victim to the terrible, terrible crash when I realize that no one cares about my Gold status outside of the hotel, and I’ll contemplate how empty my life is with a pint of schnappes on a street corner).

In terms of flights, I’ll fly from New York to Frankfurt via Washington on United (get to try the new first class), then on to Skopje on Austrian Airlines via Vienna. I’ll fly from Skopje to Vienna via Zagreb on Croatian Airlines (ah, one of United’s somewhat bastardized “regional partners”) then onto Erbil on Austrian. Then, it’s a turn back to Vienna on Austrian, then on to Zurich, and finally, back to New York on Swiss Air in their old first class (I admit – I’m clamoring for the new first class. I’ve been jealous of all the people who’ve gotten to try it, lately). Hopefully, availability will open up.

I’ve got to get actually planning.

Published
by
G.Ro
on August 22, 2009
in Star Alliance and Trips/Ventures/Sojourns
. 3 Comments

San Francisco – Seoul: 499 Bucks Roundtrip, on Singapore Airlines (With Some Reservations)

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m of somewhat mixed opinion on the Travelzoo Top 20 Deals (sadly, I only occasionally find deals in a city in which I am currently in, or in which I will be visiting), but this particular alert caught my eye. Singapore Airlines (SQ) is offering roundtrip airfare from San Francisco (SFO) to Seoul, Korea (ICN) for 499 bucks, including taxes. A truly amazing price.

Pretty sexy, eh? But, like most other travel deals, SQ is slapping on a major purchasing restriction that this particularly delicious fare is only good when purchasing two tickets. In other words – you ain’t going alone on this one – find a friend, buddy, significant other, or person you just met at happy hour to come along. Moreover, with SQ’s other nifty deals, they do not offer any sort of mileage accrual on their discounted fares. Unfortunately, you aren’t going to be able to turn this into a romantic couples mileage run. As for the fine print, the sale runs until September 1, 2009, and you must depart SFO for ICN by October 31, 2009, and fully complete your travel by December 31, 2009. There exists no minimum stay (wonderful for those who have a tight schedule), and no minimum advance purchase (perfect for those travel purchasing whims with your new friend from happy hour). And, best of all, like some other amazing fare deals,  SQ isn’t making this prim0 deal hard to find – they’ve even constructed their own fare search page specific to the deal.

To reiterate: the price is utterly brilliant for service from SFO – ICN, but the deal cannot be parlayed into a Korean getaway by all. But – if you have two people who’d like to see Seoul from San Francisco, and don’t mind not earning frequent flyer miles, this, dear readers, is one helluva fare.

Published
by
G.Ro
on August 21, 2009
in Offers/Promotions and Singapore Airlines
. 0 Comments

Updates Coming Soon!

My apologies – I’ve just been dealing with some rather stressful logistical issues concerning next year at school, that have unfortunately, taken most of my time. I’ll have more actual travel posts later this afternoon.

Gracias.

Published
by
G.Ro
on August 20, 2009
in General Blog Blather
. 0 Comments

Welcome to Yugoslavia!

Just a funny quick bit – I was looking for a hotel for my upcoming trip to Skopje, Macedonia on several aggregator/consolidator booking sites (because one can’t simply pop over to Hilton.com for hotels in Skopje), and one site listed Skopje as still in Yugoslavia.

For a country that hasn’t existed for almost fifteen years, you would think they their sites would’ve had more current information.

Sorry – I just found that little bit hilarious.

Published
by
G.Ro
on August 17, 2009
in Trips/Ventures/Sojourns
. 1 Comment

Was I Supposed to be Flying IAD – SFO This Morning

I received an EasyUpdate text message last night at around 2am, or so, informing me that United Airlines flight 187 from Washington, Dulles (IAD) to San Francisco (SFO) was to depart on time that morning. Huh? At that point, I had already landed in San Francisco.

Hmmm, perhaps I was actually supposed to fly Saturday morning instead of late Friday night. Did the agent offload me from the flight, and put me on the morning flight, when I was inquiring about bump opportunities? Or, could it just be some of EasyUpdate’s usual wackiness?

Regardless, I’m not sure – except, that perhaps, I should try to submit a claim for the frequent flyer miles of flight 187 ;) .

Published
by
G.Ro
on August 15, 2009
in United
. 0 Comments

Ruff One for United

I touched down at SFO at 12.16am last night on runway 28-Right, on the smoothest landing I have ever experienced in an airplane. It was, I imagine, how an angel would land on a runway. I flew from Washington, Dulles (IAD), after leaving a sweltering New York city in the fading evening light.

I’m back home in San Francisco for two weeks. I’m utterly elated to be here – that chill to the air of SF summer, the much-preferred lack of humidity, my family, and friends from college and various jobs. Mostly, I confess, I enjoy the fact that SF summer doesn’t have contain many damn critters running around – rats, cockroaches, all sorts of flying bugs – I can turn on a light in a dark room without seeing some colony of vermin scatter.

My two United flights yesterday rated pretty highly – nothing at all about which to complain. The flight from LGA to IAD was wonderfully quick, as usual – a rapid-fired climb, cruise for two minutes at 20,000 feet, then descend. I somehow managed to stay awake, despite crushing fatigue.

Upon arrival in Dulles, I hustled from the D concourse to the C gates, knowing that my flight to San Francisco was oversold, and hoping that they would need volunteers. I was on vacation, I figured, it was the last flight of the night, and reckoned I could easily take a flight the next day. The departure monitors prominently displayed their need for volunteers, and filled with adrenaline, I charged my way towards the gate agent working the flight, and breathlessly handed here my boarding pass, excited like a kid who has had a bit too much cake and ice cream, and told her I would be happy to volunteer my seat. She looked absolutely relieved, saying she had no more seats, and a number of people to load onto the flight. There were also three first class seats remaining, and I was number three on the upgrade list.

I waited for about a half hour at the gate. The agent made a call for volunteers, and I felt my chances becoming better and better. She began to board the flight, cleared an upgrade, and then, I heard my name over the PA. I confidently strode to the podium, and she, almost regrettably, let me know that they would not need volunteers this evening. Not a problem, I thought. I wasn’t sorry at all – I was simply too happy to be heading home, and  I could have easily volunteered, or gone home. It’s all ingrained in the volunteering game for United – often, though the monitors indicate a need for volunteers, the need becomes overblown, and no one heads home with VDB vouchers in their pockets.

On the flight, solid service from an extremely attentive purser. The FAs got a kick out of my “Glenn’s Gotta Go” t-shirt. The audio on channel one failed for the entire airplane, and I thought, oh, what the hell, I might as well go try to ask for a Skykit (perhaps I was feeling a bit greedy after not landing VDB compensation). The purser did one better – I think she filled out Skykits for the whole damn airplane, and seemed truly apologetic and almost upset that one channel of audio failed for the entire airplane. Channel one is an important one for people who unabashedly rely on the cruddy programing that United offers – it’s the English movie soundtrack. Of course, should you feel so inclined, you could also listen on Channel 10, for the Spanish soundtrack.

Perhaps, though, even of greater magnitude than the audio issue, was an allergy issue for my gigantic seatmate. As I always say – with all the times I’ve flown United, I always think I’ve seen everything – but, this incident was a new one for me – there was dog hair, everywhere – and not just a few strands, but a thick carpet of fur, on the walls, the floor, the seat, and my seatmate was allergic. Apparently, to him, it smelled heavily of dog, as well. The purser, ever apologetic, offered a lint brush, and even a surgical mask – but, he brusquely refused each item of assistance, and perhaps ironically (I can’t tell), read his Bible the rest of flight. Yup, I had certainly never seen dog hair before strewn on a United airplane. Certainly a new one.

As for me, I passed out until landing. I was dog tired.

Published
by
G.Ro
on August 15, 2009
in Trip Reports and United
. 2 Comments