Wow – a crazy weekend of impromptu mileage running, crossing the country twice, and mayhem in Berkeley with the old college pals. Goodness gracious – I’m still sick with a bad cold and recovering from three midterms in seven days. Much, much, needed.
A rundown and commentary are coming tomorrow! For now, I need to pass the hell out. Happy Halloween!
Ever-cool Virgin America launched their “Treats not Trick” sale yesterday, offering frighteningly low fares between Washington or Boston, or New York, and San Francisco and Los Angeles. Fort Lauderdale has been added to the mix, as well. I thought nothing of the sale, being discussed here, on FlyerTalk, until United and American did the classic fare match dance, and lowered their fares on these routes, as well.
As a study break, I poked around and was happy to report there are still many fares and routes available, especially on United. For a transcon, you’re looking at about 150, all in, for flights between JFK, SFO, or LAX, with Boston and Washington, Dulles working as well! The deal only appears valid on October 30, 31, and November 1, and allows one to get creative with routings. For flights out west, there exist a myriad of options, including leaving from both La Guardia and JFK, and returning the same day, the next day, or redeyeing back. One can even depart from JFK and return to Dulles or Boston. Look around for the best options, but hurry. Availability may be dwindling. According to the FlyerTalk thread, there are still some same-day transcon turns on American available. Try playing with the “Search Alternate Cities” feature on United.com, the multicity booking feature, and trying a number of days. You must book, at least for Virgin America, by midnight, October 29th, 2009.
A wonderful option for a quick trip, or end o’ the year mileage run (remember – it is the second double elite qualifying [DEQM] promo of the year).
I may just have to grab one at some point . . . there’s nothing like heading to Boston on Saturday from New York, via San Francisco 
Click here for the Virgin America sale information, and for terms and conditions.
I just called United, trying to place an itinerary on hold, because, for the last, oh, six months, one can no longer place an itinerary on hold using United’s website.
But - the surly agent with whom I spoke, who seemed better suited for a barmaid-type character in a Shakespeare play, told me that I cannot place holds, period, over the phone, and, it’s a new policy, “as of two weeks ago.” I thanked her for her time, and executed rule numero uno: Always, always, always call back. Some United agents are so inconsistently trained, apprised of changes, and are sadly, wont to make up rules and corporate policies. There are, of course, many wonderful United phone agents, who will work diligently on whatever you need, and spend time crafting your crazy mileage itinerary, say, to Iraq, with humor and grace, but some, just do not know the rules.
I called back, reached an international call center for some reason, and the guy had to ask his supervisor whether he could place an itinerary on hold, but ultimately, he was able to lock down my desired flights for 24 hours.
And, all of this ballyhoo after placing an itinerary on hold for three days a few weeks ago, simply by calling once, and asking.
(BTW – cripppppes, are flights full for this weekend! I’m currently booked in 24F on a 777, O’Hare – SFO). Goodness gracious.
I’m a sucker for these airline reality-TV shows. I’ve seen the EasyJet series, and have great memories of sitting around and watching Airline with my roommates junior year of college, the reality show about the daily haps of Southwest Airlines. (As a quick aside, on a Southwest flight from Seattle to Oakland my junior year, I actually saw one of the Southwest employees portrayed in airline, and took my picture with him. I’d post it here, but I am ashamed of my garish and goofy grin. I was really excited to see him).
Thus, I was pleased to find, while doing some research on low-cost Asian and Oceania carriers (yes, I am that cool!), I was pleased to find that Australian low cost carrier, and QANTAS subsidiary, JetStar, had a little reality series of their own in 2007! I’ve begun to watch, and it’s really fun. The producers have done a great job to capture that Airline feel – complete with passenger trials and tribulations, and them mouthing off to the camera about how evil JetStar is after they’ve missed their flight. Even better, everyone has an adorable Australian accent.
Click here for a link to the YouTube playlist that features the episodes (there are only eight) cut into smaller clips. For some reason, I couldn’t find the first episode anywhere.
If you have some time, it’s a cool way to find out about the inner workings of JetStar – or, should I say, with my Australian accent, Jiyyyytttt-Stahhhh.
We’ll be back at it tomorrow. Gracias.
Goddammit – it feels like high school again – something major happens (like, so-and-so are going to prom together – look, I went to a 400 person high school, and had 100 kids in my class. That kinda thing was major news), and I, for some reason, am the last to know. Perhaps I am just oblivious, in this case, but according to this article, dated September 29th, 2009, US Helicopter has shut down their ultra-cool (and ultra expensive) helicopter shuttle service between Manhattan and JFK. For those who wanted to avoid the mostly excruciating trek to JFK, one could plunk down 159 bucks for an eight minute helicopter ride from Wall Street or the Midtown Heliport to the Delta terminal at JFK.
Why wasn’t I informed of this?
I’m not so bummed because I had booked 12 US Helicopter rides in advance, and now I have to wrestle with my credit card company to obtain some sort of refund, but, because, I had planned, as a gift to myself for finishing my postbacc pre-med studies in August, I was going to enjoy those eight minutes of helicopter ride between Midtown, and JFK. By golly, I was going to slurge on an almost criminal form of excess, and happily fork over the $19.88 per minute to escape the Manhattan hell-hole in speed and style. Luckily, US Helicopter’s website (whose URL, by the way, flyush.com, sounds as if it’s being uttered by a man whose had a few too many happy hour Tom Collins-es), reports that the rotors should be turning over the island by late November. Excellent – that’s plenty of time before next August.
According to numerous reports, US Helicopter suspended operations because of the hefty pricetag, which, obviously, makes sense. Although, if you’ve ever had to take a 3am A-train ride from Harlem to JFK that takes an-hour-and-half, and then make the loop to your terminal in that AirTrain, it’s enough to make you sign your life savings over to US Helicopter for a bit of relief.
Oh, well. For now, we’ll simply have to rely on this report of someone who has actually used the service, and dream.
While some dismiss them as “out-there” and “too progressive,” (mostly because they don’t really offer the ego-erection of a free upgrade, a vile salmon salad, and people paid to pretend to be nice to you because of some free upgrade), Virgin America has performed excellently as one of the newer carriers on the market, with their commitment to equality, service, and for god’s sake, being nice to people. So, when Virgin America announced a nice little fare sale recently, I, who had been waiting to purchase my ticket home from school for winter break, decided to buy a ticket, at about 100 bucks cheaper than any other airline.
When I return from Thanksgiving, I’ll have already flown my 125,000 thousand miles on United for the year. I’ll have my 1K status for next year, and my systemwides. There really existed no reason for me to fly United this year after 125K, except to try to accumulate a few more miles for another award ticket. I’ll plan to fly those few miles next year, but, truthfully, I’m thinking of not hanging around with United for much longer. Of course, I will rely on my maxim of preaching patience with their new upgrade scheme that launches in the second quarter of 2010. Perhaps they will listen to customer feedback, and either return confirmed regional upgrades, and/or include the SFO/LAX – JFK p.s. (Premium Service) flights with the unlimited upgrades. As it stands now, now more CR-1s, come April 1, and, unless you want to pony up with miles and cash, or a systemwide upgrade, no more sitting beyond row 15 on a p.s. airplane. As someone who doesn’t really mind flying in Economy, and doesn’t need a first class seat as some sort of ersatz-recognition with society that I am truly important individual, I actually really did like p.s. upgrades, and tried to upgrade allllllmost every time I flew the route (I’ve actually voluntarily sat in economy, twice!) I did like the international biz class seats, and the media players, while unwieldy and slow, did provide some good options from United’s usual in-flight-entertainment crud offerings of horrendous sitcoms (although, I am the only person on earth who will attest to the fact I think Parks and Recreation is brilliantly done – I’m just a sucker for deadpan humor), and terrible movies that make me want to asphyxiate myself with the air sickness bag. Truthfully, I think I am going to venture to another airline – American Airlines, perhaps, and see what they have to offer. I’m kind of excited at the fun of trying to rebuild status with an airline. I still remember vividly my first mileage runs as a general member with United, and the thrill of seeing my first Premier Status post, as I was rebooked, in full Y, on the last row of a 757, from SFO to Boston when my US Airways flight canceled. Some fear starting anew with an airline, because they can’t suffer the indignation of a few flights in economy. Me, I really don’t care. It’d be fun.
I am, therefore, super excited to try two flights on Virgin America. I’m already a fan of their desire to break the mold from the stodgy model of other legacy carriers, and inject a little fun and flair into flying. I’m already a huge fan of their wonderfully sarcastic, deadpan safety video. I don’t watch much TV, now, and, I am a huge advocate of just bringing a book for in flight entertainment, but I do love live TV in the air, having tried it many-a-time on JetBlue. There’s nothing like watching a baseball game or The Daily Show while crossing the country, although, accidentally coming across an episode of Hip Hop Harry on a 6.10am JetBlue flight from JFK to Boston actually made me wonder if someone had spiked my orange juice with LSD, and I was having a bad trip. (Check out the video – you’ll wonder if there’s something a little stronger than the caffeine in your coffee playing with your neurotransmitters). I’m excited to try a refreshing flying experience. It’ll certainly be odd, though, heading to a different terminal at JFK.
And, besides – being afraid of progressiveness reminds me of leaders as their revolutions start to fail – and they have to start removing lines from operas, color from magazines, and text from books, and all the songs from The Sound of Music, to try to gain some control. We wouldn’t want people flying an airline with mood lighting, and thinking too much, now, would we?
For those who haven’t yet tried inflight wireless, why not give it a test on Virgin America from November 10, 2009 until January 15, 2010? Virgin America will feature it on all flights, courtesy of Google.
This announcement only sweetens the incentive to fly Virgin America home for my holiday break. I’m looking to try a carrier other than United. I may just have to lose my virginity . . .
(Thanks to One Mile at a Time).
Well, faster than you could utter “Bob’s your uncle,” British Airways has announced it will not honor its recent 40 – 100 dollars mistake fares from the United States to India. Instead, passengers will receive 300 dollars off any “real” fare to India, booked in World Traveler (British Airways fancy name for economy class). According to the article, British Airways’ fare filing people (I have no idea of the more technical term) intended to enter a 40 dollar increase in the base fare, and, omitting a key plus-sign keystroke into the system, entered the fare as 40 dollars, plus taxes.
Oops!
It’s no Valley Forge for fortuitous travelers who managed to grab the mistake fare. British Airways joins the handful of airlines and travel companies in recent years who have actually decided not to honor a mistake fare, and have either canceled passengers’ travel entirely, or offered some sort of, uh, conciliatory deal. Truthfully, if I had found a 40-dollar base fare mistake to India, booked it, and British Airways reneged, I’d be rather miffed. 300 bucks ain’t really a worthy compromise, especially for their mistake. 300 bucks will net you a slight decrease in the overall cost of your ticket to India, whose fares regularly run from 1,000 to 1,500 dollars, including taxes and fees. It’ll be intriguing to see how passengers react. Last year, when Swiss Air tried to act as if their 300 dollar mistake fare from the US to India in business class (yup, business class) never happened, irate fliers involved the authorities, and Swiss Air honored the fare.
Of course, I’ll leave the ethics and legal aspects of whether and how airfare constitutes a contract to my brother, who is in his first year of law school, and enjoys that kinda stuff.
(A Queen Elizabeth type wave of acknowledgment to Brett for the article).
After seeing some of the rather blurry close-up meal service photographs from my most recent trip report (yeah, yeah, we don’t need to make any comments about that trip report and how it’s almost months overdue now), a reader wrote me and advised me to try my close up shots using the macro mode on my camera. Macro mode is the button marked with a little tulip pictograph, of which I, until now, I had no idea of its function, and was too scared to press it. The reader suggested I try taking closer images using macro mode, in order to achieve crisper, more focused results.
I haven’t yet had a chance to try it on an airline meal, but I figured I’d try it on the next best thing. I brought my camera into the biology lab this morning, and used it to spend time photographing close-ups of the insides of my fetal pig. Yes, that makes me sound like a very sick man, but in my defense, we have a lab practical exam next Thursday, and my lab partner and I wanted to have some images to help us study and memorize the structures of our fetal pigs we’ve used for dissection.
How did I do? Well, see for yourself! I think they turned out rather well. And, I can fully bet, with confidence, that macro mode on my camera will work just as well in photographing airline meals (although, somewhat ironically, it’s very weird to photograph those, as well – at least to non airplane nerds).
Here I am prepping the liver:
Here’s a shot of the separated jaw, showing the anatomy of the tongue (yup, we have to memorize the names of all the little bumps on the tongue for next Thursday’s exam). The hard palate is visible at the right.
And, here I am with my hands deep within the urogenital system of a male fetal pig. If you’ve ever wondered what the penis of a fetal pig looks like, folks, well, look no further than pin A.
I’d pronounce my test of macro mode a complete success.
Everyone’s favorite taciturn PR-rep United PR, made an official announcement on FlyerTalk yesterday that United plans to change its domestic upgrade procedure in the second quarter of 2010, by offering unlimited upgrades to elite members. You can read the official announcement, written in typical United Airlines PR-dreck, here, on FlyerTalk.
The change indicates a marked departure from United’s current upgrade scheme, in which any passenger wishing to upgrade must support their upgrade request with an actual upgrade instrument, including 500 mile certificates, regional upgrades, systemwide upgrades, or good old fashioned frequent flyer miles. In the current system, upgrades, therefore, were limited by the number of upgrade instruments one had at their disposal (the more one flies, the more they earn), and further limited by the passenger’s status with the airline, available upgrade space, and whether one could confirm the upgrade immediately. In 2010, United will morph into a more, dare I say, conventional upgrade system. If we define conventional as the way in which most other airlines process upgrades, United joins the group of most other large, legacy carriers (American, Continental, Alaska [not really a legacy carrier, but that smiling eskimo hands out complimentary upgrades], Delta, the erstwhile Northwest) by offering unlimited upgrades to their passengers, by simply entering them into an upgrade queue at the time of booking. In accordance with fare class, status, and space availability, upgrades would be processed automatically. Now, United makes the change.
I’m going to start my thoughts by saying, let’s not panic, people. Let’s try to refrain from rampant speculation, prophetic decrees, and the histrionic calls of the airline apocalypse. Currently, the discussion thread on FlyerTalk has reached over 300 posts, with cries of doom that rival those on Sproul Plaza on the UC Berkeley campus. There’s more drama and woe-is-me type raillery in the thread than in your typical FlyerTalk “I had to sit for more than 15 minutes on a regional jet and I am sooooooo upset” type posts. Remember, folks – we don’t actually know the specifics and the details of the change yet. According to the syrupy PR announcement, we should expect some sort of announcement today from Mileage Plus with more specifics. Until then, let’s try to control ourselves. We may actually be pleasantly surprised by the details of the announcement. I’m having flashbacks to when Southwest announced their decision to bid for Frontier, in which almost every single blogger (yours truly excepted – yes, I am very smug), lambasted and pilloried the deal, generating blog posts and podcasts that deemed Southwest crazy and illogical. Then, when Southwest actually announced some details, and there actually existed some uh, what’s that word – facts available, then, most bloggers reversed their stances, lauding the logic and craft behind the business decision. Is it too much to wait until we have some actual information?
Let’s return to the old maxim of “Don’t just do something – stand there!”
People are reacting to the inkling of news without any real facts with more fervor than a cable news channel.
But – let’s consider some reasons why people might be worried about the decision. Note – these are not speculations, but logical and reasonable questions based on the facts of the current upgrade schemata over various airlines.
1. Will United preserve any iota of their instrument-based upgrading? Instrument-based upgrading allowed (theoretically) instantly-confirmable upgrades, instead of throwing themselves in an auto-queue to fight against other passengers for an upgrade. Some people are wondering whether 1Ks will still earn CR-1 (regional upgrades – and my personal favorite type of upgrade instrument) for every 10,000 miles flown. Preserving instrument upgrades to allow elite members the chance to confirm an upgrade would certainly be a boon for those who rack up the upgrade instruments with thousands upon thousands of flight mile, and provide a bit of personal peace knowing one does not have to enter the upgrade fray.
2. How hard will securing an upgrade become? With unlimited upgrade systems, general logic exists that it’s extremely difficult to secure upgrades, even as a top-status passenger, on transcontinental flights. Continental Airlines is often cited as the primary example – unless you’re buying first class, or their reasonably-priced full fare tickets, you generally ain’t gettin’ an upgrade on the Newark – San Francisco flight. I might be heading into the speculation department, here, but, I could really foresee difficulty upgrading on p.s. flights, Boston – SFO or Chicago – SFO flights, typical flights in United’s sytem that are quite difficult to upgrade, as is. Moreover, with about two billion new 1K members based on what seems like ten months of DEQM promos this year, how adversely will Premier Executive and Premier members be affected by the upgrade lottery? Those folks face a tough-enough upgrade battle currently. It may only get worse for ‘em.
3. Gee, what will it be like if United actually has full F-cabins on all domestic flights? Yeah, I’m wondering how United’s flight attendants will react by having to contend with a full F-cabin on pretty much every flight. With staffing levels cut to FAA minima on most flights, they’re already chugging to handle an even three-quarters full cabin. Man, imagine a full cabin with whiny 1Ks fresh off their unlimited free upgrades. Work will only be harder for already overworked FAs (well, the ones that do actually serve an F-cabin, instead of sitting sour-faced on the jumpseat with the latest issue of US! Weekly and an emery board).
3. Reciprocal upgrades on Continental? Some seem to think that UA is begining to align themselves more and more with Continental as a true partner, as opposed to simply a codeshare buddy, as Continental readies to join the Star Alliance on October 29th. Gee, what can Continental take from UA in the form of reciprocity? Starnet blocking?
4. Will United actually have to start whipping up more of those horrendous omelets? One major gripe from people flying in full first class cabins during breakfast flights, is that United’s catering doesn’t provide enough of those horrendous omelets, the ones made from egg powder, filled with a substance of dubious provenance, and then cooked to the texture of a potholder. Gee, with the amount that 1Ks whine about not receiving first choice of breakfast when flying F (god forbid you might have to eat the more healthful fruit plate), United may have to ramp up their omelet cooking. With United, you can be sure that cooking more of something will mean lowering costs somewhere – and the quality of omelets will become even lower. Yecccch.
5. Can Gary Leff Survive? Everyone’s favorite New Zealand cabinet minister Gary Leff, writer of View From The Wing, very nearly became permanently disfigured as he had to sweat out a transcon from New York on Delta with the masses in economy class. What happens if he can’t confirm an upgrade instantly on UA? As Thomas Jefferson once said, “If Gary Leff must sit in Economy Class, I tremble for my country.”
Most of all, let’s await today’s announcement.
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