Travel plan idea blog

Snowmageddon spreading delays and snowballs

If you don't have to travel or if you got lucky and your plans did not get interrupted, I suppose the snow (snowmageddon) could be fun:

For many people, however, the snow meant trouble. I know I have a friend here in Korea who waited at the airport for 7 hours for her boyfriend's flight to get going. He was going to Washington DC.

This article mentions that this is a case when having a travel agent could be a huge help. Good luck trying to get one of those online companies to help you out but a good travel agent might be able to do something for you. I do like Orbitz some since they invited me to Chicago and fueled my ego a bit but what could they do in a situation like this? And we've heard the stories about travelocity...

Anyway, I hope all of you made it to wherever you're going safely. big vacation or just a Super Bowl get-together, enjoy!

Posted by James Trotta at 10:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Christmas day disaster averted

Thankfully we haven't seen something like this on the front page of Yahoo for a while and thankfully a quick-acting passenger averted disaster this time. The bad guy flew from Nigeria and caught a connecting flight in Schiphol airport in Amsterdam (the same airport I'm flying into in a few days). He tried to detonate an explosive as the plane was descending in Michigan. Crazy stuff.

Posted by James Trotta at 2:55 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

787 Dreamliner takes off

"For the first time, a passenger jetliner with a body and wings made of super-hardened plastics took wing" - from this article on the first flight of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner.

Some anticipated changes in airline travel based on the 787:

More humid air in the cabin (something about the composite plastics replacing metal allows this).

The mid-sized 787 enables carriers to economically link smaller cities.

Posted by James Trotta at 7:49 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Great quote: I would've done anything to have Travelers Aid at Charles de Gaulle Airport

This article about volunteers helping people in airports (when you need help in an airport it tends to be pretty serious) had a great quote: I would've done anything to have Travelers Aid at Charles de Gaulle Airport.

As you may recall, my biggest airport stress ever happened in Charles de Gaulle and while I mostly blame my wife (for not listening to me) I also blame the airport because too many workers didn't speak English, directions to the tax refund office were the worst directions ever, and because of the guy with a gun who wouldn't let us up the escalator to go through security to catch our plane.

Can you believe they blocked access to the terminal half an hour before our flight and there was no "detour" so we had to scramble trying to find another way to get to security? Information was no help, the guy with the machine gun was no help, finally a construction worker was able to show us a back way.

Yeah a volunteer (heck even someone working at information who knew something) who could have solved the problem (either finding the tax refund place or getting back to the terminal) would have been nice.

Posted by James Trotta at 11:51 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

US aviation in shambles

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, said the country's aviation system is "in shambles". This after a circuit board failure caused delays and cancelled flights all over America. "If we don't deliver the resources, manpower, and technology the FAA it needs to upgrade the system, these technical glitches that cause cascading delays and chaos across the country are going to become a very regular occurrence."

No doubt that something needs to be done. A while back I mentioned one plan the FAA had to stop taxing airline tickets and instead tax fuel and impose fees on commercial and private jets. I'm not an expert bu that sounded good to me as I asked Why should my economy class ticket help pay for the air traffic control helping some rich person's private jet take off?

And one way or the other we do need to fund an FAA overhaul because the air traffic control system does need work.

Posted by James Trotta at 10:41 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Buying and selling airline miles?

I didn't know this was a legal battle until reading this article but apparently airlines prohibit buying and selling frequent flyer miles in their terms and conditions. For example, Alaska Airlines just sued (and won) Brad Carey, who runs Carey Travel Inc. The judge says carey can no onger sell Alaska Airlines miles.

Carey asks valid questions. Are flyers led to believe they own their miles? If you own them why can't you sell them? Why is Alaska Airlines allowed to say that Points International's points.com is allowed to sell their miles but not anyone else?

Related: Using Delta miles and Using miles.

Posted by James Trotta at 7:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Another Airline Controversy / South of the Border

Guest entry by mancunian

Here is the latest of these stories that seem to happen all too often, about a passenger being denied boarding, usually for some silly reason. This article reports that an executive with Best Buy, who used miles to upgrade to first class, was denied boarding by United at Washington Dulles airport because he was wearing a track suit. There is also a photo of the offending clothing. When I worked for an airline and flew standby, I had to wear a shirt and tie even in coach, as I was representing my company and that I can understand, but if you are paying for your ticket, I think you should be able to wear what you like. Especially if you were lucky enough to be able to actually use your miles! According to United's own information, the only reference to a dress code is that passengers must not be barefoot.

This blog has highlighted several similar stories in the past, perhaps the most infamous being this Southwest story about the scantily dressed girl who was almost removed from her flight.

Has anyone been to South of the Border in South Carolina? And would you admit it, if you had? It has nothing to do with the above airline story, and I can't even think of a vague link between the two things. OK, they would probably let you in with a track suit on; in fact, you might look rather out of place with a suit on. I mention it only because I drove past it yet again last week on my way home and next year it celebrates its 60th anniversary. Even if you have not been there, if you have driven down Interstate 95 from the Northeast to Florida, you probably know more about it than you want to.

South of the Border is a rather kitschy theme park with a Mexican theme on the border of NC and SC (hence the name) and is as famous for its highway signs - some almost 200 miles from the place itself - urging you to stop there, as for the actual park itself, which is not particularly exciting. One of the highway signs even reads: "Keep yelling kids! They'll stop." (Which sadly, is probably true!) If you missed some of the interstate signs while driving, they are all on this site and some are actually quite clever. Anyway, you can get some good Mexican food there, (I admit it, I have been there - but only once) take an elevator to the top of the huge Mexican hat sign and even get married there, if you want to.

Posted by James Trotta at 9:11 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

New airline controversy: Southwest kicks 2-year-old off flight

Not too many details in the story as of now. Before I judge I need to know more. For example what was the mom doing about the kid's screams?

Parents who ignore screaming babies deserve to get kicked off if you ask me. But if mom was trying to comfort her kid what else can you ask for? Sure it's rough on other passengers but if you let babies fly you have to expect some noise.

Reminds me of this situation although in the older story, the kid wasn't screaming from what I understand.

Posted by James Trotta at 1:57 AM | Comments (10) | TrackBack

Baby born on plane over Malaysia, an old story, and the Northwest plane that wouldn't stop

This is kind of an amusing story. A mother gave birth on an AirAsia (a budget carrier I had never heard of before) flight and everyone's doing fine (lucky they had a doctor on board). And now mom and baby get free flights for life.

Somehow the story of giving birth on a flight reminded me of the breast feeding story. A couple of years ago I took a healthy does of criticism for saying that I had no sympathy for the people who got kicked off a plane when a mother was breastfeeding her child and the husband wouldn't hold up a blanket to keep things private.

While we're on the topic of controversial airline things, what do you guys think about that Northwest flight that flew right past the airport they were supposed to land at (and then about another 150 miles be4fore turning around)?

I'm pretty amazed actually - this seems like a real dangerous situation. What if they had overflown an airport near a big city and then not responded on the radio? They could have been shot down as everyone would have suspected a terrorist takeover.

Maybe they overflew the airport cause they were busy talking. It's bad but kind of understandable. But no radio contact?

Posted by James Trotta at 12:45 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Blank pages in your passport and social networking for airlines

I don't know if it's big news, but a former US congresswoman was not allowed to board a South African Airways plan recently because she didn't have enough blank pages in her passport.

There are plenty of comments, including a bunch who say that Cynthia McKinney should have checked South Africa's immigration rules and that the airline did everything right. I'm in that crowd.

Searching for online opinions about airlines led me to this interesting article on the social networking battle between Virgin Atlantic and British Airways. Virgin Atlantic seems to be winning:

"With BA's more expensive seating, passengers now have the option to choose a better value-for-money airline like Virgin Atlantic. We do not charge for pre-assigned seats and have no plans to do so."

This statement has attracted 115 "likes" and 70 comments, many of which praise Virgin and/or criticize BA. The statement appeared on Virgin America's official Facebook fan page, which currently has 19,847 fans. The airline has also built up an impressive 34,123 Twitter followers. This compares with BA's 4,352 Facebook fans and 6,969 Twitter followers.

Posted by James Trotta at 12:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Does anyone know the ebay accounts that sell TSA confiscated items?

This article talks about how many state surplus agencies sell confiscated items from airport security on Ebay (after the Boyscouts get all the good stuff). Anyway, I was curious to see what kind of stuff we're talking about - does anyone know the ebay accounts that sell these TSA confiscated items for the states?

And, who's the lucky duck who got the confiscated kitchen sink? Not sure why it was being carried on or why TSA thought it was a threat but according to that article it happened.

They mentioned some people crying about things they had to part with (although if you have time you can have the stuff put in your checked baggage according to the article). Anyway, that part reminded me of my missing clock hands and broken motor. The difference is that this stuff was taken from my checked baggage and I have no idea why the stuff was taken out.

Posted by James Trotta at 11:59 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Sleep aids for and after the flight

So normally after a long flight I am tired. If I arrive home at 10:00 PM I go to bed around 11:00 PM. The jet lag problems start when I wake up - usually at 3:00 or 4:00 AM. Then my whole schedule gets destroyed.

When I arrived in America in July I took Champion Nutrition Sleep Aid. I don't work for them or anything so this is an independent review. I slept 7 or 8 hours and had no problems adjusting to American time since I got off to a good start.

Just recently, I was flying from New York to Seoul. We left New York about 1:00 AM Thursday night / Friday morning and arrived after a 14 hour flight in Seoul at 5:00 AM. After the first meal on the plane my wife and I both took the Champion Nutrition Sleep Aid and we're convinced we slept much better on the flight than we usually do.

Now it's 10:30 PM in Seoul. I am tired and I'm going to bed. I'm taking Sleep Aid again. Hopefully tomorrow morning I'll be blogging about what a great night's sleep I had and how I'm back on schedule.

If you want to try an over-the-counter sleep medicine, the only two I've used are Champion Nutrition Sleep Aid (I feel weird plugging them so much in this article when I'm not getting paid) and Nocturnabol. They both usually work for me.

Has anyone else had success with some sort of supplement for sleeping through long, boring, uncomfortable flights or for overcoming jet lag? I've heard of people using melatonin - I've never tried just plain melatonin but I think all the sleep supplements have it.

Posted by James Trotta at 10:23 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Waiting on a plane

This story about passengers spending 6 hours on a plane going nowhere reminded me of a couple of my own experiences.

First, back in 2001 when I was flying to Korea for the first time I spent over 20 hours on a plane. It's a 13 hour flight anyway, but Gimpo airport in Seoul (this was before Incheon became Seoul's primary international airport) was foggy so we flew an hour south to Jeju. Because of immigration and customs, we weren't allowed off the plane (although Jeju does have international flights).

So after 14 hours on the plane we had to sit there on the plane a few more hours in Jeju. Eventually we took off again and flew to Gimpo in Seoul. It was over 20 hours. Then I got to try to sort out the connecting flight to Jinju I had missed...

Second, my wife and I were flying to Houston to visit my sister in 2005. It was raining so our flight was delayed taking off. The captain was bragging about how other planes were turning back to refuel but they were smart and had tons of fuel so we could wait for clearance forever.

He did warn us that it was going to get hot because the plane was too old for him to put on the air conditioner while it was on the ground. That didn't make us feel safe. I think we sat on that plane about 3 hours and it did get pretty hot and uncomfortable.

Anyone else have a story about getting stuck on a plane?

Posted by James Trotta at 8:03 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Question / rant about Delta Airlines ticketing and frequent flyer miles

Hey all,

I was interning in Bombay until I came down with pneumonia...to make a long story short I had to cancel my and my mother's plane tickets with Delta.

We managed to get ourselves on a flight on the 19th...however I would really prefer to fly earlier and so does my mom.

We asked the local Delta office if we could be put onto a flight next week..wed, thurs, or even friday. However they told us the flights were "full" and that we would be put on the waitlists. We've called every day to see if we've been moved on but no luck.

I just recently checked Delta online however, and there are plenty of business class seats available- from what I understand the problem is that we currently have Coach "m class" tickets, which we used our miles to upgrade to business class...but since there are no coach seats available on the earlier flights, they can't put us on those flights.

This makes no sense to me..as customers we are willing to pay a change fee, and we are not bumping anyone off of their seats- simply taking an empty business class seat where we wouldve sat any way.

Does anyone have experience with Delta and their ticketing services? Is there some way to get around this- maybe by cancelling our tickets and getting credit, then buying new one way flights? Is there a better number than just the general world-wide number to call?

I realize there may be no other way, I'm just feeling pretty frustrated right now. Was wondering if anyone has experience with Delta or could explain why they have such annoying ticketing rules.

Thanks

Answer:

The issue with mileage upgrades is that they are based off a coach class fare, then ticket into business class after. In order to change a flight in which you are redeeming a reward upgrade, you first need to have availability in the coach fare class you originally purchased, M in this case, and availability in the business class upgrade bucket.

If there are no upgrade seats available in business class, there is no way to do a mileage upgrade into the cabin, even if seats are still available for sale.

Delta will argue that you have only purchased a coach class fare, and as such can only rebook you into coach on another flight. From there, you may start the upgrade process (or waitlist) again, but you cannot make a parallel move in flights without starting essentially from scratch. The good news is that you are due back any mileage or fees you paid to secure the upgrade in the first place, minus a redeposit fee in some cases. However, if you are already paying a change fee on your ticket, I would refuse to pay any further mileage redeposit fees, and they will likely comply.

FYI, Delta is dropping its nonstops from the US to BOM as of October 21. They'll keep the one-stop via AMS that is a legacy of Northwest, though.

Posted by James Trotta at 8:14 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Fees for minors flying unaccompanied

When we talked about flight attendants a while back we also talked about unaccompanied minors. Here's an article about just that. The author thinks the fees for flying unaccompanied are unreasonable.

I'm not so sure. If the child gets supervision then someone has to pay. The flight attendants might not do anything extra in the air, but if the groundstaff has to get the kid on and off the plane...

Posted by James Trotta at 11:35 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Correction or update to the recent TSA story (TSA profiling complaint)

I recently wrote a blog about what I called unreasonable complaints against TSA. I emailed the author of the story I linked to in that article to make sure I had interpreted the story correctly.

Turns out that I hadn't. I thought the other was angry that TSA wouldn't let her fly with the liquid (4 ounces of hair stuff). In the email reply I received, the author said she was really complaining about the profiling - someone had written 4 liquids on her ticket, warning the searchers to focus on her little plastic bag of travel bottles.

The complaint was that they profiled me before I stepped near the scanner. The woman who sat behind a podium and checked drivers licenses or passports as the case may be wrote "4 liquids" on my boarding pass. Hence, the scanners searched my bags.

There is no human reason for me to be profiled other than appearing of the age and income, perhaps, to be carrying beauty products. It was shocking to find that notation. Had we not been boarding the plane, I would have gone back out and asked her why.

I understand about the rules and was irritated about that because it is insane, but I understand it is the rule. I am upset about the loss of comfort, personal rights, etc. reflected in the airline system. Again, the complaint was the profiling.

So, that's the story.

Anyone know about this 4 liquids business used by TSA in this story? Would TSA profile someone they thought more likely to be carrying extra liquids? If so, that's pretty silly when they should be focusing on people more likely to threaten the plan, not one more likely to have some extra hair gel or toothpaste or whatever.

By the way, I was searched more thoroughly than usual once with an SSSS mark on my ticket. Making a last minute reservation set off the warning system - not sure it makes sense since an attack would probably be planned and the bad guys would be more likely to buy the ticket well in advance.

Posted by James Trotta at 7:27 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Unreasonable complaints against TSA

I'm not a big fan of TSA. I've found security people in airports all over the world to be more friendly with the possible exception of the Dominican Republic and the Philippines. And I think TSA probably threw out parts of a clock that I inherited from my grandparents.

But just like we had some unreasonable complaints about flight attendants recently, here's an article where the author complains about TSA because they wouldn't let her fly with a 4.2 ounce bottle of hair stuff.

It seems to me that she knew the rules and wanted to cheat to avoid paying $15 to check in a bag. Then she gets angry when they catch her trying to cheat? And angrier still when they won't bend the rules for her?

Like I said, I certainly think TSA can improve but in this case it seems that they were both fair and polite. Let's save our complaints for when they really do screw up in hopes that someone might actually listen (because our complaints will be valid).

Posted by James Trotta at 11:33 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

What flight attendants hate about passengers and vice versa

Interesting pair of articles here. First came flight attendants complaining about passengers. Then came passengers complaining about flight attendants.

Some complaints make sense. On western airlines the cart or the attendants bumping into seats seems common and it is annoying. On Asian airlines it rarely happens and they would apologize.

And I don't know why but it bothers me when I see people who don't put their own bags in the overhead bin. Flight attendants shouldn't be expected to do that if you ask me.

Some complaints from the passenger side seem unwarranted though. Passengers complained that flight attendants didn't keep children under control - if a passenger wants an unaccompanied minor to stop doing something then s/he should ask. Why would you expect the flight attendant to do that?

Posted by James Trotta at 8:52 AM | Comments (13) | TrackBack

I can't think of a title

Have I been blogging too long? Are there no more good blog entry titles? Or is this one too disorganized? Or am I still not recovered from all the work I did this weekend plus the exams I listened to yesterday and today?

Well I wrote about a North Korea travel experience a few days back. The American reporters now in jail reminds me why I won't be going myself...

Here's an article on how a travel agent can save you money. Strangely, they try to prove their point by giving as an example a website, rather than a regular travel agent. Something about the website requiring you to use the site's travel agent but it still sounds like booking online to me.

Here's a New York Times article on new rules for buying airline tickets that are coming this summer or fall:

While the T.S.A. has announced Aug. 15 as a target date for the airlines to begin asking for each passenger's full name, gender and date of birth, and has already begun publicizing the program, called Secure Flight, the agency acknowledged that it would go into effect in phases as the airlines update their systems.

Posted by James Trotta at 10:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Bad travel rules and missing flights

Christopher Elliott talks about a few unfair travel rules in this article including one traveler who got to the airport two hours early but missed her flight because American Airlines didn't have enough ticket agents and wouldn't let her move forward in line. Then American wanted $2600 more a flight the following day. Maybe American Airlines really is evil.

I usually like to arrive many hours early - I can't relax until I've gone through security and am waiting at my gate 3 or more hours before boarding time. My wife is the opposite - She doesn't like waiting so wants to arrive at the airport as late as we can get away with. I blame her for us missing our flight from Paris to Seoul. She was so determined to get the tax refund before leaving Europe that we missed our flight. The funny - scary - thing is that she still argues with me when I say we need to get to the airport extra early. That situation was slightly different since it wasn't about when we arrived at the airport but still - 30 minutes before departure and she thought we could leave the security area and find the tax refund people and get back in time (not exactly in time but she was confident the flight wouldn't depart on time anyway).

Apparently in Korea (and she is Korean) at least for domestic flights you arrive 30 minutes before takeoff and run around like crazy. If you miss your flight they put you on the next one at no extra charge.

Posted by James Trotta at 10:29 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Should airlines charge travel agents to sell tickets?

I've got a lot of midterm grades to sort out so let me just revisit an old topic of discussion with this article. Actually the old topic is the value of travel agents but I'm not sure that's really related to the current question: Should airlines charge travel agents to sell tickets?

Apparently some airlines have talked about charging travel agents to sell airline tickets. The president of ASTA, Chris Russo had this to say:

They don't call me looking for an airplane seat. They call me to help them plan their vacation. They call me because they have a last-minute business meeting in London. They call because they want me to plan their family reunion next summer or because they have a funeral to attend. They call me for my assistance, for my expertise and for the value I provide them, and they are willing to pay for my services. They know they can go online and find out the price of everything. I sell them on the value of everything.

Posted by James Trotta at 12:04 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Bad news

Sadly, the big news today is about planes crashing. 14 people died as a small plane crashed in a Montana cemetery. That article has a picture of the flames with gravestones in the foreground.

And on TV news I saw the disturbing footage of the FedEx crash in Narita. Apparently wind caused the plane to hit the runway extra hard and probably at the wrong angle / speed. The cargo included flammable liquid and that caused a fire pretty much immediately as the plane hit the runway.

Since the FedEx crash was on one of Narita's 2 main runways, there are lots of delays for people flying into and out of Tokyo. My wife is a tour guide in Seoul and her tour for tomorrow was canceled because the travelers are now stuck in Japan.

Posted by James Trotta at 8:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

How many people have access to your luggage?

When I read about the baggage handlers that stole stuff from people's luggage I thought about my own mysteriously missing clock motor. I guess no one in their right mind would steal a broken clock motor and 2 hands for a 20 year old clock but still, maybe I was too quick to blame TSA or the security people in Japan. Seems like a lot of people can can get to your luggage.

Posted by James Trotta at 11:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Airbus 340-600 ADAT crash rumor: hoax or actual news?

I got the email with the convincing pictures:

The brand spanking new Airbus 340-600, the largest passenger airplane ever built, sat in its hangar in Toulouse , France without a single hour of airtime. Enter the Arab flight crew of Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies (ADAT) to conduct pre-delivery tests on the ground, such as engine run-ups, prior to delivery to Etihad Airways in Abu Dhabi .

The ADAT crew taxied the A340-600 to the run-up area. Then they took all four engines to takeoff power with a virtually empty aircraft. Not having read the run-up manuals, they had no clue just how light an empty A340-600 really is.

The takeoff warning horn was blaring away in the cockpit because they had all 4 engines at full power. The aircraft computers thought they were trying to take off but the aircraft had not been configured properly (flaps/slats, etc.) Then one of the ADAT crew decided to pull the circuit breaker on the Ground Proximity Sensor to silence the alarm.

This fooled the aircraft into thinking it was in the air. The computers automatically released all the brakes and set the aircraft rocketing forward. The ADAT crew had no idea that this is a safety feature so that pilots can't land with the brakes on.

Not one member of the seven-man Arab crew was bright enough to throttle back the engines from their max power setting, so the $200 million brand-new aircraft crashed into a blast barrier, totaling it.

The extent of injuries to the crew is unknown for there has been a news blackout in the major media in France and elsewhere. Coverage of the story was deemed insulting to Muslim Arabs. Finally, the photos are starting to leak out.

I had my doubts. I think what we have here is an example or racism - the email claims that the news is being suppressed because it is insulting to Muslims. That makes me think this is a hoax designed to insult Muslims.

A web search turned up this page on snopes.com. They claim that the photos are an actual Airbus 340 that crashed during ground tests on November 15th, 2007 but that the information in the email is made up or, at best, unconfirmed. According to Snopes the media blackout is an outright lie - although that does make me wonder why my Google news search didn't some up with anything. Maybe because it's such old news?

If anyone has some real news - not just from a random travel blog - please share. If I'm wrong I'll admit it but I just don't believe this email is real - even if the photos might be.

Posted by James Trotta at 5:08 PM | Comments (39) | TrackBack

New airline fees are coming. What do you think about paying to buy a ticket and paying to use the bathroom?

We knew it wouldn't end with paying for a pillow (when they actually have one on the plane).

Ryanair is talking about charging people to use the bathroom. Normally I would say that this has to violate some sort of health code, but pay toilets are actually pretty common in Europe.

And Spirit has had their own brainstorm - this one is being implemented soon - a fee to buy a ticket. Apparently if you don't buy your ticket at a Spirit counter you'll be paying an extra $5 to $10. Between the fee to buy a ticket, the fee to reserve a seat, the nonexistent customer service, and the milf ads, I still don't like Spirit.

Posted by James Trotta at 5:37 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack

Lost your job – JetBlue can help! / Micronations

I thought this was rather a nice gesture by JetBlue given the state of the economy, and the number of people out of work. The airline has promised to refund passengers’ tickets if they have purchased a plane ticket and then lose their job before they fly. This policy applies for up to nine people traveling together and for flights booked between February 1st and June 1st of this year. Other airlines, take note!

Some time ago, this blog reported that the world’s smallest country was up for sale although a quick look at the official website of the Republic of Sealand doesn’t give any further info on this. (However, there seems to be an interesting development in that a German who calls himself King Marduk has now declared himself the true sovereign of Sealand).

I was so intrigued by this concept of the micronation, that I ordered the Lonely Planet guide to micronations, called “Micronations” and was amazed to find that there are dozens of these places. Apparently, according to the UN, anybody can declare their island, town or piece of land to be a country as long as they have a permanent population, a system of government, defined territory and the capacity to enter into relations with other states.

Some of these micronations sound quite nice, like the Hutt River province in Australia; and the Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands.

Has anyone ever been to any of these micronations? I have been to what is probably one of the most famous – the hippy commune in Christiania, in Copenhagen, Denmark. That was about 25 years ago, but apparently, Christiania is still a thriving community as well as a tourist attraction. The whole subject of micronations seems to me as though it would make a fascinating and rather offbeat documentary for the Travel Channel..? Send Samantha Brown!

And talking of Denmark, apparently the famous (but rather unspectacular) statue of the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen is to leave Denmark for the first time to be exhibited in the World Exhibition in Shanghai, China next year.

I hereby declare my living room to be a nation (called the Republic of Mancunia) as it seems to meet all of the above criteria. Visitors are welcome, although there is a charge of $2 for a visitor’s visa. Immigration is open from around 8am to 10pm, depending on what’s on TV. Mancunia is easy to get to; it’s located in and entirely surrounded by the US state of North Carolina, with which it enjoys cordial relations.

Guest entry by Mancunian

Posted by James Trotta at 9:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Buffalo plane crash witnesses

I'm sure most of you have heard about the crash near Buffalo by now. As far as I can tell this is the latest, some eyewitness accounts of the crash. The speakers quoted in this story seem to know quite a bit about airplanes, far more than I do.

Posted by James Trotta at 1:18 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Flying overseas to adopt a baby

I found this article on special airline fares for people who are adopting overseas because they recommend using a travel agent and I'm always following the "when is it best to use a travel agent?" debate.

Anyway, apparently it's not uncommon for people adopting overseas to need to change their plans. In fact I've heard stories about people dealing with crazy rules and things when adopting their third child from Thailand. I remember thinking that it's pretty insane - adopt 2 babies from Thailand with no trouble but then it takes weeks to get the third one. Anyway, that makes buying a ticket more complicated:

"Given how complex some of the airline policies can be, the best bet in some of these situations is to pay a travel agent to handle this for you," Perkins said. "He or she will have access to consolidator deals and will know which airline is offering the best fare. This is one case where it makes sense to pay someone to deal with the hassles for you."

Posted by James Trotta at 12:31 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

One or more evil airlines: American & JAL

We flew from Seoul to Tokyo on JAL and and from Tokyo to New York on American. They were American Air tickets - they don't go to Seoul but they have a codeshare with Japan Airlines. We were planning to fly back to Seoul the same way, leaving on the 15th.

Then my grandfather passed away. I called American to see about changing my flight to depart a few days later. They wanted $1,150 each to change the departure date. That is more than we paid for the round trip ticket. They said there was no bereavement fare or change fee exemption. They blamed it on Japan Airlines, saying JAL was very expensive those days (we checked 18, 19th, 20th, 21st).

We called 072.com, the Korean website where we bought the tickets. They said it should be about $60 to make a change but that airlines can pretty much do whatever they want. They would see what they could do for us.

So we think we're flying out 5 days later and we paid $60 plus $15 for the travel agent's commission per ticket. Sure beats $1,150 per ticket.

So was it American being evil? Was it JAL? Both? I'm not sure, but our Tokyo to Seoul trip is now on United (probably a codeshare with Asiana we think) so maybe it really was JAL screwing us. Then again, how could they possibly screw us in the $1,000 plus range? We're talking about a 1 hour 40 minute flight that never costs anything close to a grand.

All I know is theses 2 airlines just dropped way down my list. 072.com went up a few notches.

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Virgin Atlantic upper class experience

So returning to New York from London was interesting. We first did our tax free shopping refund stuff at the airport. Unlike our experience in France it was very easy in Heathrow - no problems at all.

Check-in was also no problem. We were there 6 hours before our flight I think but certainly there were other flights as well. The check-in area was not crowded at all. We asked about upgrading to premium economy. Over 200 GBP each. We said we'd fly economy but that on the way over we got a 2 for 1 upgrade special. If they could do that for us we'd like to upgrade. The lady made a phone call and got us the special deal so we paid $360 or so to upgrade the two os us.

So instead of spending $1,000 on the 2 round trip tickets we spent more like $1700 - a big difference but we liked the premium economy seat width and comfort.

We decided to have lunch before going through security so we opened up the bag that had our sandwiches from the Costa Pure Coffee I mentioned earlier. To our surprise the Italian owner had given us 4 instead of 2. 2 parma ham on rolls and 2 parma ham, sun dried tomato and provolone on white bread.

We were definitely leaving England with a good feeling thanks to that nice, old Italian guy. I'll probably do a whole entry on his coffee shop later.

We did some shopping in the airport's duty free stores. I saw an Armani sweater I liked on sale but it was an XL. I usually wear small or medium. I tried on a large (different color, same design) just for fun and it fit like a small. It had some damage so I didn't consider that one but I figured I might as well try the XL since the large was so tight. So I tried on the XL and it fit like a medium. My first Armani sweater!

We also bought a Harrod's tea bag tidy for my parents (there were actually lots of Harrod's shops in the airport). That and a coffee used up the last of our British currency.

Then we headed to gate 40 and on entering the gate were told we had been upgraded to 15k and 16k. With only one seat per row I knew it would be good so I put on my Armani sweater. With all that extra room I knew I could manage not to spill anything on it.

We ended up in Virgin Atlantic's upper class. The seats were the new kind some airlines are advertising that can be made into beds. It was a glorious 7 hours from Heathrow to JFK. The food was excellent (choice was roast vegetables, lamb, Indian chicken), laying down was nice. Sitting at the bar (eating fresh fruit and drinking a balck russian at no extra cost) and chatting with the flight attendant Virgin had recruited in Japan was great. We loved it. It was far superior to JALs business class - our only other comparable experience. That was closer to premium economy although the JAL business seats were bigger / cushier and there was free Hagen Das or Ramen whenever you wanted.

They didn't have the ice cream on Virgin Atlantic's upper class but the seats were way better and the bar was a very cool touch. They flight attendants were not actual bartenders so I had to tell them how to make a black Russian (I said equal Kalua and Vodka which was a little strong but not bad).

It was by far the best flight experience of my life. I just wish I had the money to throw around to do it again. I guess I'll be hoping for more upgrades in the future...

By the way I was going to link to my JAL business class review but I can't seem to find it. I did accidentally find this old one about problems on Virgin Atlantic. Even without the upgrde I'm certain I'd have been happy with them (because I was on the way to London).

Posted by James Trotta at 9:27 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

In London - Virgin Atlantic not bad

My first experience with Virgin Atlantic was pretty interesting. On checkin, we asked about seat assignments and they said they had a 2 for 1 special if we wanted to upgrade to premium economy for about 230 GBP (normally the price for 1 upgrade but which would buy us 2 upgrades).

We were pretty tired and it was an overnight flight so we sprung for it. The seats were not business class but certainly wider and more comfy than economy. We were pretty happy with our choice. We tried the Virgin lounge at JFK but premium economy doesn't get you in - doesn't make you "upper class".

Still the seats were much comfier than economy, wider and more cushy.

When it came time to take off, they made us put all our pillows, blankets, and things under the seat in front of us. I was shocked when they made me take off the blanket that I had under my buckled seatbelt. What kind of stupid rule is that? Could takeoff somehow turn my blanket into a lethal weapon that would break the seatbelt and start attacking other passengers?

My only other complaint was that we took off late and they never gave us on update or told us what was going on.

So overall we were happy with Virgin Atlantic and are hoping they have another upgrade special for our return flight.

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Leaving for London soon

What can I say? I'm excited. Virgin Atlantic seems pretty fair as far as bags go (2 bags under 50 pounds per person). Our Korean B&B is letting us check in as soon as we arrive (probably reaching the hotel at 9 or 10 in the morning) so I'm willing to forgive them for not accepting credit cards.

The only problem is jet lag. I mean it's 6:00 PM in New York and I don't know how much longer I can stay awake. Flying to London before adjusting to New York time might mess me up even more.

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Airport Karaoke

I noticed this article on Karaoke in a Houston airport on Yahoo's front page and thought it was worth sharing. I guess the idea is to sing Christmas songs while you wait for your flight. Sounds like fun to me - I've never noticed anything special for the holidays at Incheon or Narita airports but I'll be on the lookout tomorrow.

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Want to ride a zeppelin?

A lot of times when we travel we like to try new stuff so this article's first line caught my eye: "The universe of people who have been there, done that narrows considerably when we're talking about sightseeing in a zeppelin."

Apparently your choices for a zeppelin ride are flying over "Lake Constance in the breathtaking beauty of Southern Germany." Or hovering above some Japanese islands.Or, beginning soon, flying over California's wine country.

I wonder how close I was to Lake Constance when I was in Munich. I also wonder why I haven't mentioned California in such a long time on this blog.

I have a few more interesting articles to share but I need to go do some work on that textbook I mentioned a few days ago. I should have more for you soon.

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Bereavement or compassion fares

This article talks about the writer's search for a bereavement fare. Some US airlines have stopped offering bereavement fares but that may not be a huge loss since in this writer's experience, an online search beat the least expensive bereavement fare.

Posted by James Trotta at 9:38 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Qantas: laptop arrest obscuring more serious problems

This "laptop idiot" seems to be a big story in Australia. According to this article, he was escorted off a plane by counter-terrorism police after refusing to turn off a laptop as the plane landed. Later he was released and not charged. Here they say he could have been fined $2750. If you're wondering about he "laptop idiot" I did not come up with that.

This seems to be getting as much or more attention that more serious issues. This article talks about cancelled and delayed flights. Qantas isn't doing so well.

It wasn't that long ago when Qantas flight attendants expressed some concern over the safety of the airline. Here's the old blog entry, but the Yahoo article i linked to back then is gone so it may not be much use.

It seems Qantas hasn't quite recovered from a spat with their mechanics. Scary.

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Should airline passengers pay by weight?

I never seriously thought that it would be cheaper to fly a little 140 pound guy like me around compared to someone heavier.

However, it seems that times are so tough for airlines that every pound counts. This article talks about how one airline is removing life vests from the planes - they will make each flight about 50 pounds lighter...

They won't want to pay for storage, so if you need an airline style life vest, I'd start checking Ebay.

Anyway, it's a topic we've covered this before but the cost of flying will increase. And although Continental made a nice gesture by not charging travelers who are affected by Tropical Storm Gustav for itinerary changes, the airlines are charging for just about everything these days.

And apparently they have to. Alitalia is in trouble again. Spanair should be in trouble if they aren't already. Zook failed (screwing hundreds of people in the process). The workers for American Airlines are making noise.

The extra charges trend has been devloping for a while. Recently we talked about pillows. One of the only things they don't charge you for is your body weight...

Posted by James Trotta at 4:46 PM | Comments (21) | TrackBack

Would you pay $7 for a Pillow or take a 2 minute flight?

Those annoying extra charges that the airlines keep adding on are in the news again. JetBlue announced a few days ago that they would begin charging $7 for a blanket and pillow on their flights. (You can take your own pillow and blanket if you don’t want to pay $7, but would that then be considered to be your carry on item or personal item?)

You can keep the blanket and pillow, presumably to take with you next time you fly JetBlue; and you also receive a $5 voucher to Bed, Bath and Beyond – a major home furnishings store. And apparently, this isn’t just any old pillow – it features a new kind of fabric technology that helps to keep out pet dander, mold, pollen and dust.

This is just the latest in a series of fees imposed by nearly all the airlines in recent years, initiated to offset high fuel prices. Virtually all the major airlines now either charge for checked bags, or for checking more than one bag. And the standby policy may be the next perk to disappear - Frontier Airlines recently announced it is doing away with its policy of free standby for same day flights, as well as raising the amount of the change fee from $100 to $150.

You probably don’t need to bother with a pillow for some of these flights, which are among the shortest scheduled flights in the world. I discovered that Newark to Allentown/Bethlehem takes just about ten minutes and Flint to Detroit is about 11 minutes flying time. I wonder who takes these flights when it seems as though it would be quicker to drive, especially with the time it now takes to check in for a flight. It’s now easier to take the train from Paris to London, rather than fly – Eurostar trains now make the journey in just over two hours.

But the shortest regularly scheduled flight seems to be the service between Westray and Papa Westray in Scotland’s Orkney Islands, which apparently takes about a minute! I can’t find anything to verify this..has anyone taken any of these short flights or know of any others?

Guest entry by Mancunian

Posted by James Trotta at 10:35 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

Is Qantas safe enough?

This story made Yahoo's front page - apparently Qantas flight attendants aren't confident that the planes they're flying on are safe. Pretty scary...

Posted by James Trotta at 3:53 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Wifi in Seattle's airport

Don't get confused by verb tense; I wrote this over a week ago but forgot to post it. I'll try to find something more interesting for tonight and tomorrow I hope to publish my comprehensive NCL cruise review.

So the cruise is over. We got off the boat around 10:00 and headed to Seattle Art Museum where we spent the day. Now it's around 6:00 and we're in the airport (our flight leaves at 9:45). I figured I'd pass the time blogging and while I'm able to write, I have no internet access. I thought most airports had free wifi, but in Seattle you have to pay AT&T:

High-speed wireless Internet access, provided by AT&T, is available to laptop users everywhere at Sea-Tac except the subway and upper floors of the garage. There is a $7.95 fee for 24 hours of access for non-AT&T subscribers.

Posted by James Trotta at 12:39 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

By the way, there's an extra charge for reading this!

This site has commented before on the various extra charges and fees imposed by US airlines – a trend that seems to be becoming even more noticeable. One of the latest tactics is to charge for checking an extra bag, or even to check any bag. American Airlines became the first major US airline to begin charging a fee for a checked bag ($15) closely followed by United and US Airways. This will surely have the effect of making people take even larger and more unwieldy carry on bags.

If you fly, you may not get a meal, although you can usually be assured of at least a free drink – now even that is changing. US Airways recently announced that they are going to start charging for drinks in the main cabin – meaning non-alcoholic drinks such as coffee and soda. The charges for non-alcoholic drinks will apparently be $2. US Airways is also going to begin charging to redeem frequent flyer miles. Many airlines charge a fee to redeem miles within a certain timeframe, (for example, three weeks) but this fee is regardless of the timeframe.

Pre-reserved seats are not exempt - Spirit Airlines is already charging for pre-reserving a better seat - $15 for a highly coveted exit row seat, $10 for window and aisle seats, and $5 for a middle seat (Why anyone would pay to reserve a middle seat is puzzling – if you don’t pay, you are probably going to end up with a middle seat anyway!)

And we are all used to having our bags weighed, but what about having ourselves weighed when we check in? Apparently, some airlines are considering a plan to add on extra charges based on the weight of the passenger. (If nothing else, this policy would be a great incentive to lose weight!)

And if you have changed your airline reservation recently, you may have noticed that the standard change fee has gone up from $100 to a staggering $150 in many cases – this blog points out that the actual cost of changing a ticket in terms of the labor involved is estimated to be perhaps $10 – the rest is just profit.

Can it only be a question of time before you need a major credit card to be able to use the airplane lavatory...?

Guest entry by Mancunain

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What comes next for airlines?

The US airline industry is in trouble. US airlines saw a combined profit of $5 billion in 2007- not bad but not enough to make up for the $32 billion lost over the previous six years...

And turning a profit in 2008 looks like it will be tough: routes are being cut and prices are going up.

United Airlines is making cuts. 1,400 to 1,600 jobs and 14% of domestic flights.

Continental Airlines is making cuts - 3,000 jobs and 8% of its flights.

Silverjet has failed. The article blames the business model of "low fare business class airlines" where "attracting passengers was not a problem but obtaining sufficient revenue from those passengers to make a profit was." Customers who don't have a credit card company willing to fight for them will lose their money (but doesn't everyone pay by credit card?). It reminds me of this Mancunian article.

So what is next for the airline industry? Industry analyst Michael Boyd expects U.S. fares overall to rise 15 percent this year. Many people expect mergers, but this pilot says they are no the answer. So what is the answer?

Posted by James Trotta at 11:53 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Air travel to get even worse thanks to charging for checked bags?

This article talks about how American Airlines' new policy to charge for every checked bag could screw up your next flight experience. There may be longer security lines and more people with ridiculous amounts of carry-on luggage delaying takeoff.

Posted by James Trotta at 8:59 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

Bangkok, Colombo, Istanbul and Mumba are among the cheapest places to buy round-the-world tickets

Here's an interesting travel Q & A from the International Herald Tribune. They say round-the-world tickets are too complicated to buy online and that you should start your round-the-world (and get your tickets in) the least expensive place on your itinerary.

There are also a few tips on frequent flyer miles - using them is too complicated if you ask me (although Mancunian did offer some help).

Posted by James Trotta at 12:01 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

A Challenging few weeks for Airlines!

It has been a challenging few weeks in the airline industry – just a few weeks ago, we had the horrendous problems at London Heathrow’s new terminal 5, with British Airways canceling flights and losing an estimated 28,000 bags. (Although the airlines claim that bags are never lost, just delayed).

Several small US airlines have declared bankruptcy in recent weeks – Aloha Airlines, Frontier, Skybus and ATA. The reasons are basically rising fuel prices (oil hit a record high of $119.90 a barrel a few days ago) and falling ticket prices. ATA’s bankruptcy especially hit passengers hard – the airline literally suspended operations overnight, leaving thousands of passengers stranded in Hawaii.

American is still the only large US airline that hasn’t declared bankruptcy at one time or another, so they must be doing something right. However, AA had horrendous problems a couple of weeks ago when they were forced to ground most of their Super-80 aircraft due to a safety recall notice by the FAA. American canceled over 2,000 flights over several days, leaving thousands of passengers stranded.

And it didn’t come as a big surprise that two of the biggest US airlines, Northwest and Delta announced plans to merge. (Perhaps in an effort to avoid some of the above problems!) If approved, the new airline would be the largest in the US in terms of number of planes and passengers carried) One potential problem with the merger could be opposition from the pilot unions for both airlines, even though a merger wouldn’t necessarily need their approval.

And virtually all the major US airlines recently announced huge losses for the first quarter of 2008. United Airlines lost a staggering $537 million – and the other airlines didn’t do much better.

If only the airlines could use alternative fuel, as an increasing number of car manufacturers are doing...

Guest entry by Mancunian

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Pilots underpaid and overworked?

This article talks about how becoming a pilot is not all that it used to be as pay decreases and working hours increase. The result is a little scary for frequent flyers:

Poor pay and fewer big-airline jobs to move up to have led to fewer applicants, creating a pilot shortage that is most acute overseas but also felt in the United States.

Regional airlines have had to reduce their hiring standards drastically. Earlier this decade, they could insist on candidates having a minimum of 1,500 hours of total flight time before an interview. Today, that minimum is 500 hours at many regional carriers, and the decline is contributing to safety concerns among some experts.

Posted by James Trotta at 2:12 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

TSA SPOT: Screening Passengers by Observation Techniques

TSA has received a good amount of criticism on this site and in the news generally. This article (which made it to Yahoo's front page) takes a pretty objective look a the SPOT or Screening Passengers by Observation Techniques program.

TSA has been doing this for the past 4 years and has picked 104,000 people out of lines for a more thorough investigation. They've gotten a few with fake IDs and a guy that had pipe bomb-making materials in his checked luggage.

So far it sounds like they haven't actually nabbed anyone who could have really messed with their flight, but I don't see how we can blame TSA for that since we haven't had any terrorist attacks. There hasn't been anyone for them to catch.

The ACLU has expressed its doubts, but Homeland Security is happy enough to greatly increase the number of behavioral detection officers in US airports.

Posted by James Trotta at 8:47 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Open Skies Agreement / Heathrow Terminal 5 Problems

Flying between the US and Europe should be easier (and cheaper) this summer, with the announcement of the so-called open skies agreement, which came into effect at the end of March. The agreement means that more airlines are allowed to fly between the US and Europe; and that airlines don’t necessarily have to originate in their own country – for example, British Airways can fly from Paris to New York.

Several airlines have already taken advantage of this agreement and are announcing new routes from the US into London Heathrow – Air France, Northwest, Delta and US Airways. And American Airlines is switching almost all of its London flights from Gatwick to Heathrow, in an effort to improve onward connections to Europe, Asia and Africa.

Ryanair which offers one way fares from the UK to Europe for around $20 one way, also has plans to fly to the US, with fares as low as about $16 one way, although I couldn’t see anything about that on their website.

If you are flying to Heathrow you may find yourself arriving at the newly opened Terminal 5, which has been having all sorts of problems since the Queen opened it recently at a cost of around $8 billion.

The state of the art baggage handling system has not been working properly, leading to a backlog of almost 28,000 delayed bags at one point last weekend. And British Airways, which have exclusive use of the terminal, also canceled over 200 flights during the first few days of the terminal opening.

And don’t take the overpriced Heathrow Express train from the airport into London. It’s much less expensive to take the Underground, or tube as it’s called.

Guest entry by Mancunian

Posted by James Trotta at 12:51 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Discrimination in the air?

Christopher Elliott, the well known Travel Troubleshooter and National Geographic Traveler's ombudsman, has this article on discrimination by airlines. He suggests that most cases of discrimination go unreported. Of course even if you do report it, the airline "can contest the complaint and have it removed from their record."

Well even though I'm happy to be back and want to keep writing I do have to go to the bank and to a graduation ceremony at the university. But I will be back.

Posted by James Trotta at 12:43 AM | Comments (9) | TrackBack

Does a Delta + Northwest merger mean trouble for US air travelers?

This article contains some speculation about how US airline mergers might be a bad thing for travelers. Basically, fares are expected to increase and service is likely to get worse.

Posted by James Trotta at 11:14 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Hard to find a seat?

I know from experience that flying between New York and Tokyo gets difficult during summer. This Australian article talks about some other situations where they expect a shortage of seats on planes.

Heading to Beijing for the Olympics is one. Late July when Pope Benedict XVI goes to Australia for World Youth Day is another.

I was thinking about heading to Beijing for the Olympics this summer, but I've decided not to. Since I went to Europe this winter it has been a while since I've visited New York and that's where my family is.

Posted by James Trotta at 10:20 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Airlines offering "hotel rooms" in the sky

Whereas most of us are looking for the cheapest airfare when we fly, some travelers can afford to pay the first class fares and travel in comfort. Flying first class isn't cheap, (although there are some bargains to be had) A quick check on various web sites found a first class ticket from JFK to Tokyo for about $11,000 and a ticket from London to Sydney for around $7,000.

Airlines make most of their money from the people who are prepared to pay for first and business class and are going out of their way to make the experience even more comfortable for those who can afford it.

The latest trend seems to be towards offering actual cabins in first class, instead of just a seat.

Singapore Airlines is now offering suites with double beds on their new Airbus A380 - the suites boast such extras as wardrobes, sliding doors, window blinds and turn-down service. And Singapore Air is well known for the quality of their service as well as the food and drink, even in coach.

And Virgin Atlantic also offers a first class seat that's almost a suite - including a guest seat and an extra large table for eating or working. The seat is the longest flat-bed seat - almost 7 feet long and almost 3 feet wide, offering plenty of room for a good night's sleep.

Virgin Atlantic also puts an emphasis on service and amenities on the ground, as well as in the air. The airline's Upper class (or business class) passengers receive such extras as free ground transportation and an airport clubhouse with dining, showers and internet access.

And for the rest of us stuck back in coach, our biggest concerns are probably not getting stuck in the middle seat and not having the person in front lean their seat too far back into our lap. But there may be hope for economy passengers - Lufthansa is said to be considering offering an all sleeper-seat coach cabin with triple bunk beds.

Guest entry by Mancunian

Posted by James Trotta at 5:49 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Craziest airline stories of 2007

2007 may well be remembered as one of the worst years for airline delays as well as the year of record high oil prices. But there were also some rather odd and humorous stories from the aviation world. At least, they seem humorous now – they may not have seemed so funny at the time.

Approximately twenty passengers argued and fought with each other aboard a flight from Nigeria to London in June. It all started when a passenger didn’t like the person in front reclining their seat and making it difficult for him to eat and sleep. The situation was so bad, the captain had to make an emergency landing.

A British Airways flight from Delhi to London was delayed for 13 hours after the pilot complained about not getting enough sleep in his noisy hotel room.

A 19 month old baby was kicked off a flight for being deemed a security threat after saying “Bye-bye airplane” The baby may have been the only person to actually pay attention to the safety demonstration.

A man in his 60s was admitted to hospital in Germany after drinking an entire liter of vodka, rather than having it confiscated at security. Perhaps nobody had told him about the carry on liquid rule.

Officials in Sioux City, Iowa gave up trying to change the airport’s rather unappealing three letter code of SUX http://www.travel-plan-idea.com/archives/004158.html and decided to make the best of it – the slogan “Fly Sux” was born.

Southwest Airlines had a couple of well-publicized incidents in which passengers were almost kicked off their flights for wearing clothes that were described as being too provocative. If you are wondering what that means, here’s a picture!

A squirrel that had somehow stowed away on an American Airlines flight from Tokyo to Dallas caused the plane to make an emergency landing in Hawaii. The critter was caught and killed - and didn’t even get any frequent flyer miles.

And perhaps the two most disturbing stories of 2007? The case of the coughing girl who was evicted from her flight and the case of the dead body that a passenger discovered occupying the adjoining seat. http://www.travel-plan-idea.com/archives/003966.html - Fortunately these incidents were not both on the same flight.

Most of my flights seem routine compared to these stories! Happy New Year!

Guest entry by Mancunian

Posted by James Trotta at 7:24 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

How do you book flights for Europe online?

So I need to get from Zurich to Madrid and I guess the train ride would be long so I figured I'd just find one of those great inexpensive European flights I always hear about. A French woman told me to check out Kelkoo.com and Opodo.com but I didn't like either of those sites. I had to choose the UK versions to get English so the prices were in British pounds and pretty expensive.

So I went to Kayak.com where I had some success. I found a Spanair flight for $96 on Orbitz but I seem to remember some people having bad experiences with them so I thought I'd pay a little more and go to the Spanair.com site. As I was booking the flight the website told me there was an error...

That was a 1 stop flight anyway so we figured we'd try Airberlin which is nonstop. Kayak sent me to wegolo.com for that flight. I've never heard of them and while Kayak said it was a 1 way for $215 a person the actual site said it was not direct and $147/person.

So basically I've been confused everywhere I looked. Are there any easy sites you know of for booking flights around Europe?

Posted by James Trotta at 10:05 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

Is TSA lucky or good?

I'm afraid I didn't have much time to check the new today - I was busy trying to save an expensive coat that my wife gave me last year. Somehow I managed to get chocolate protein shake all over it. I scrubbed for a while but I think I just made it worse. Maybe the dry cleaner will bail me out. Otherwise I could be in trouble for a long time...

The one thing I do have for you is a critical piece on TSA. The main argument is that flying isn't particularly safe because TSA is not very good at stopping people from getting weapons on planes:

Unless you’ve been living for the last few years in a cave that is much more remote and much less technologically sophisticated than Osama bin Laden’s, you know that government investigation after government investigation has shown that it is just as easy today to sneak deadly weapons past screeners as it was on 9/11. Just a few weeks ago the T.S.A. was defending itself against the latest such report - one from the Government Accountability Office - finding screeners at 19 airports around the country to be inept. (The G.A.O. added that it would likely have found similarly dismal results at other airports.)

Posted by James Trotta at 12:39 PM | Comments (9) | TrackBack

Which airlines charge your surviving relatives a cancellation fee if you die before you fly?

A while back, Mancunian gave us some information on airline tickets and extra charges. Recently, a reader commented on my post about the US - London British Air sale noting that extra fees basically doubled the cost of a ticket; the sale was no bargain.

Continuing that theme, we have an article from Christopher Elliott. There's some very good information and some very bad omissions. For example I think it is worth noting which airlines charge a cancellation fee when you die but CNN doesn't give us that information:

When a passenger dies, airlines usually cut them a break. Sort of. Their next of kin can apply for a refund. But even in death, airlines have figured out how to make a little extra money. Check out this clause in one airline tariff: "NOTE -- IN THE EVENT OF DEATH OF PASSENGER AN ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE CHARGE OF USD 50.00 WILL BE ASSESSED IN ORDER TO PROCESS A REFUND." The airline doesn't want passengers to abuse this "perk" so it adds, "PROOF OF DEATH MAY BE REQUIRED."

Anyway, it's an article worth reading.

Posted by James Trotta at 12:15 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

US airlines prepare for the busy Thanksgiving travel period

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and that means not only turkey, pumpkin pie and all the trimmings - but also extra travel headaches. Airlines estimate that around 90 million Americans will travel by air this Thanksgiving – and it may seem as though most of them are at the same airport as you! US Airways even anticipates that around 60% of its flights will be late – if they know that already, perhaps they could start to reschedule them now? The Wednesday and Friday before and after Thanksgiving Day are usually the busiest travel days. The government is trying to help by allocating extra airspace, as this site reported a couple of days ago.

If you are flying somewhere over the holidays, here are some tips:

Arrive early – at least 90 minutes if you are traveling within the US, and at least 2 hours before if you are traveling overseas. Take advantage of such things as self service check in, on-line check in, pre-printed boarding passes and flight delay notification. Reconfirm your flight with your airline and make sure that they can reach you at your destination in case of delays.

Pack lightly – if you are only going for a couple of days, you can probably manage with just a carry-on bag. The airline cant lose your bags if you don’t check any! You are also allowed to carry on a personal item such as a laptop or purse, but the restrictions on taking only certain amounts of liquids on board are still in place.

If you do have to check your bags, make sure your name and address is clearly marked inside the bag as well as outside. This way, if your luggage is mislaid, it’s a little bit easier for the airline to reunite you with it in a timely manner. And try to make sure that the ticket agent who checks you in puts the right 3-letter airport code on your checked bag – you don’t want your luggage going to SCL (Santiago, Chile) instead of SLC! (Salt Lake City)

Leave your gifts unwrapped, even if you have them inside your checked bags. The TSA may unwrap all your gifts, delaying you at security. Airlines suggest taking wrapping paper etc with you and wrapping everything up when you arrive.

And if you are traveling by car over Thanksgiving, expect to encounter almost as many crowds on the roads. But you may encounter some seasonal generosity – on Wednesday the coffee company Maxwell House will pay the cost of the toll for drivers at 8 big American cities as well as paying the fare at select New York subway stations.

However you are traveling this week, happy Thanksgiving!

Guest entry by Mancunian

Posted by James Trotta at 11:43 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Kyla Ebbert's clothing, Southwest airlines, and Playboy

Kyla Ebbert says she was wearing this outfit when she was removed from a Southwest airlines flight and told she was dressed to provocatively for a family airline:

She was able to take the flight by pulling up her top and pulling down her skirt so she didn't actually get kicked off the flight. However it was a painful experience as she felt humiliated.

Personally, I've seen more revealing outfits on planes and the only thing I wonder is if they get cold (I always wear long sleeves on a plane). What makes Southwest's behavior really weird is that they say the have no dress code as long as the appropriate places are covered (they seem to be in this photo) and a Southwest flight attendant complimented the same outfit on the return flight.

Of course, it wasn't all bad news since Kyla Ebbert made a bunch of money taking off that outfit for Playboy. Don't worry - that's a family friendly link from your family friendly travel blogger.

So was Southwest out of line or is the outfit inappropriate?

Posted by James Trotta at 9:17 AM | Comments (20) | TrackBack

Be nice to the rest of the herd

This article is a plea for all of us to be more considerate when we fly economy:

The number one problem with air travel, according to an exhaustive survey by the polling staff at the Peoples Weekly Brief, is self absorbed, inconsiderate passengers who act as if the entire transportation system should bend to their will.

Posted by James Trotta at 4:14 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

Funny preflight instructions

I thought this was pretty funny. You'll need the sound turned on to appreciate it.

Posted by James Trotta at 12:50 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Don't be cheap, be on time

The author of this article has a convincing argument for why you shouldn't shop for the cheapest airline ticket this winter: "Saving a few dollars on a flight will seem a hollow victory if you spend Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or New Year's Eve in an airport terminal."

Seeing as how the summer was pretty bad (this article also has some advice for avoiding delays) and the Christmas / winter holiday season could be worse, this is an important article.

They offer some good advice. The airline hub is important. As Jetblue learned, if your hub is in New York, and New York is buried in snow your ability to get customers where they want to go on time is limited. So an airline with a hub somewhere nice and warm is a good choice.

Different airports in the same area can also be an important factor. That means you need to think about where you depart from and where you arrive. It might be worth going to an airport a bit further away if you avoid a delay.

Posted by James Trotta at 9:41 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

What do you do when the airline loses your luggage?

This is not from me - but someone needs advice from savvy travelers and hopefully some of the readers here can offer some:

Delta lost my luggage from the plane to the baggage claim or someone just stole my luggage. I was flying back from Boston, connecting through JFK. My girlfriend and I were sitting on the plane, and we see our bags as the last ones sitting on the carts, and we actually saw them go up the ramp and onto the plane, so I know they were put on the plane at JFK. She got her bag here in Lauderdale, but mine is mysteriously missing. I was standing and watching where the bags first come out onto the baggage claim, so I don't think anyone could have taken it. Delta only insures up to $2800, and I know there was much more than that in value in that bag. I'm in an extremely bad mood now.

I was in Boston and Connecticut for my niece's christening, so I had a Hugo Boss suit, my dress shoes, a few dress shirts, plus I was visiting friends as well so I had all of my nice jeans, more shirts for going out, my north face fleece, sneakers, my shaving case (Christmas present from my sister last year and it was coach so not cheap), and my suitcase was even a Travelpro I got on sale at the time for $200, but is worth over $500... that and my girlfriend stuck a bunch of her makeup in my bag. Oh all of my chargers (ipod, phone, camera, etc.) were in there too.

So what do I do now?

And by the way, my brother traveled on Delta from Tulsa to Atlanta last Christmas season. He packed presents and his clothing in a golf club bag. The trip from Tulsa to Atlanta was fine. When he was returning to Tulsa the bag checker said he could not use this type of bag for anything but golf clubs. Delta ended up confiscating the bag and they were supposed to ship it to my brother. My brother had Christmas presents that were given to him in the bag (Digital video camera, and some other things). To this day he has not received his belongings. I will never fly Delta again.

Posted by James Trotta at 12:15 PM | Comments (9) | TrackBack

Airlines become entirely ticketless + airline collectibles

If you have a paper ticket to travel by air, you may want to hold on to it – paper tickets may well become a collector’s item. IATA recently announced that all the major airlines will stop issuing paper tickets, effective next summer. Most airlines are already almost entirely electronic – American for example, now estimates that around 98% of its tickets are "e-tickets".

Electronic ticketing is much less expensive for an airline – on average, an electronic ticket costs less than $1 to generate, as opposed to between $10 to $17 for each paper ticket printed. In addition to being less expensive, electronic tickets also make it easier and quicker for the airlines to measure revenue and balance the books. In the past, entire bundles of paper tickets had to be packaged, counted and sent to a processing facility where the data was collected.

Most passengers prefer e-tickets as well – they don’t have to worry about losing their ticket. If you have a paper ticket, airlines generally charge you a fee to replace it or even make you buy a completely new replacement ticket. If you lose the copy of your faxed or e-mailed electronic ticket, the airline will replace it for you – although as the airlines now charge for just about everything, there may be a small charge for that.

If collecting plane tickets doesn’t seem exciting, how about collecting air-sickness bags? You would have to rack up a lot of air miles to surpass the collection of over 5000 bags, by Niek Vermeulen, from the Netherlands, who apparently has collected the most. I was amazed to find just how popular this is; of the many web sites devoted to collecting air sickness bags, http://www.airsicknessbags.com is one of the most intriguing. Fortunately, I have never had to use the air-sickness bag on a plane, but neither have I had the urge to take it with me when I landed.

And how about someone looking into the possibility of electronic passports...? Given the delays this summer in issuing passports, that may be a good idea...

Guest entry by Mancunian

Posted by James Trotta at 8:52 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

BOB, FAT, MOO and SIN – all about airport codes

If you have flown, you have probably noticed the 3 letter code that’s put on your baggage label that the airline attaches to your checked bags. The point of this is so that the baggage handlers know where your bags are going to – although the system doesn’t always work! These standard 3 letter codes are also widely used by pilots, controllers and others in the aviation industry.

If you had the above codes on your checked bags, they would be going to Bora-Bora, Fresno (California), Moomba (Australia) and Singapore respectively. But be careful of airport agents putting the wrong code on your checked bags – a bag going to Salt Lake City (SLC) can easily end up in Santiago, Chile! (SCL) And Madrid (MAD) can be confused with Chenai, India (MAA).

Airport codes are designated by IATA and there are over 10,000 airports around the world with designated codes – they range from primitive landing strips to major international airports.

Some of the codes are obvious and are familiar to people who don’t work in the airline industry - JFK (Kennedy, New York) and LAX. (Los Angeles International) But some codes aren’t so obvious unless you know the story behind them...

The code for Chicago O’Hare (ORD) comes from the airport’s old name. An aircraft factory known as Orchard Place once stood on the spot, later it became an airport and the name was changed to Orchard Field. And MCO (Orlando) doesn’t stand for Mickey and Company – the code comes from the name of the Air Force base that once was on the spot – McCoy Field. Cincinnati (CVG) airport isn’t in Ohio at all – it’s actually in neighboring Kentucky, near the town of Covington.

Canadian city codes are the most illogical and confusing – apparently, when it came to assigning codes, all the obvious ones had already been taken! So Canadian city codes all begin with the letter Y – Calgary is YYC, Vancouver is YVR, Winnipeg is YWG and Montreal is YUL.

By the way, many airline jobs require you to commit to memory a long list of the most commonly used airport codes, which can be quite a challenge!

Guest entry by Mancunian

Posted by James Trotta at 11:47 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

Switching from planes to trains or driving

I suppose terrible airline experiences shouldn't be too surprising these days, considering that this has been the worst summer for delayed flights in the US, but this one still amazes me:

Things seemed fine when she arrived at the gate for the first connection. They still seemed fine — the sign at the gate still brightly proclaimed that her flight would be on time — when she and other passengers noticed that the flight after theirs was boarding, and they weren’t.

Somebody had the temerity to ask, and was told, “Oh, we canceled yours.” No apology, and apparently no intention of making an announcement....

“So I’m not flying any more,” she said with that dangerous emphasis that I know not to contradict. “They don’t care how much they inconvenience you, or how much they lie to you. I’m just not doing it any more.”

Of course not, dear. Especially since, between her experiences and my own, this was the third trip in a row that could have been completed more quickly by driving. That haul up interstates 77 and 81, passing through six states, is a stroll in the park compared to these aeronautic nightmares.

Some may blame the air traffic control system, and no doubt better infrastructure would help, but I have to blame this on the airlines. This reminds me I owe you a Spirit Airlines review. I gave up looking for my notes...

Posted by James Trotta at 8:07 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

US air traffic system to be overhauled?

My flight from JFK to Seoul was an interesting one. A 14 hour non-stop is always interesting, but this one left at 1:00 AM New York time and arrived in Seoul at 3:30 AM local time.

I've never been at an airport at 3:30 AM. Incheon airport was more corwded than I expected and had fewer transportation and food options available than I was hoping for. The first buses started running after 5:00 AM so if you wanted to leave right away you would have to pay substantially more for a taxi. The only places to get food were a convenient store and a McDonalds.

There was a Korean Air information counter open, so we were able to arrange a flight to Jinju where we are now (visiting with my in-laws who were watching our dogs).

I'll be back to blogging normally (with the promised reviews) soon. For today, here's a guest entry by Mancunian:

We recently talked about how horrendous the delays have been for air travelers in the United States this summer. US airlines are having their worst summer ever for delayed and canceled flights, as many of us can probably verify.

This summer, the average delay was supposedly 51 minutes and in general, air travel delays cost passengers $9.4 billion every year (How do they calculate these figures, I can’t help wonder) And by the year 2014, air travel delays are forecasted to be around 60% higher than 2004 levels.

Part of the reason is the fact that there are more planes and passengers flying – today, around 45,000 flights occur over the US in a typical day. By 2016, that figure is expected to rise to over 61,000 flights, according to Smart Skies. And more passengers are flying in the US than ever before – in fact, the numbers are now over pre 9/11 levels.

The US air traffic control infrastructure was basically designed in the 1950s and is now too antiquated to keep up. Many air traffic facilities are understaffed and many of the busier ones are staffed by junior controllers, with little experience. And starting salaries have been cut for air traffic controllers – making a stressful job even less appealing.

The antiquated air traffic control system is potentially dangerous as well. Last week, there was another near miss at Los Angeles International airport – the 8th such incident at the same airport this year. And in July this year, two planes came close to colliding at Philadelphia International airport.

There are proposals to overhaul the entire air traffic control system in the United States with a comprehensive system using global satellite positioning technology – basically the same thing that is in many newer cars. This would both improve efficiency and also help make air travel safer.

But of course, it all costs money. Modernizing the entire air traffic control system across the US comes with an estimated $40 billion price tag and the FAA has yet to persuade the airlines and congress to pay for it. So, you probably shouldn’t expect the delays to improve any time soon!

Posted by James Trotta at 1:24 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

More reasons to hate Spirit Airlines

Most of you know why I hate Spirit Airlines. But now I have another reason.

To check in a bag (pretty much a necessity since you can't take so many things in carry-on) you have to pay $20 each way, $10 if you do it in advance online.

Naturally I prefer $10, so for the last few days I've been trying to register a checked bag online. But Spirit Air's website is broken and all I get is the following message:

Spirit Airlines is currently unable to retrieve the baggage inventory available for this itinerary. You can still get advance-purchase checked bags before your flight(s). Just log in to My Reservations any time up to one day prior to your departure date. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

Posted by James Trotta at 8:24 PM | Comments (20) | TrackBack

U.S. Airlines having their worst summer for delays - tips for finding flights that arrive on time

If you have flown this summer, you may have experienced delays or canceled flights. In fact, airlines in the U.S. are having what is considered to be their worst summer in terms of delayed and canceled flights. The average delay this summer is apparently around 51 minutes – five minutes longer than the same time last summer.

American Airlines has had one of the worst records for delays, mainly because of the weather in the Dallas area – American has its largest hub in Dallas/Fort Worth. In fact, the period from May 1st to June 30th was the wettest period at the airport since 1898 with almost 20 inches of rain.

Sometimes it seems the airlines can’t win – they are just as vulnerable to potential bad weather during the winter months in hubs such as Chicago, Minneapolis and New York. Some airlines are making it a little bit easier to assist passengers affected by hurricanes as well – American introduced a “hurricane policy” last week which offers more options and flexibility to passengers whose flight is canceled in the event of a hurricane.

There may be some relief in sight. The FAA has devised a plan to restructure the airspace over the major airports on the east coast – a move that would supposedly reduce delays by about 20%.

It’s even difficult to define a delay – officially a flight is delayed if it arrives more than 15 minutes from its scheduled arrival time. Airlines also tend to adjust their schedules or “stretch” the flying time to ensure that flights will arrive within 15 minutes of the scheduled time.

There are some things you can do to minimize air travel delays. Firstly, you can obtain statistics on how often a particular flight is delayed. All airline reservations agents have this information and must supply it when asked. (The Department of Transportation imposes big fines on the airlines if they don’t tell you this when asked) For example, the airline may tell you that the 11am flight from Chicago to Miami arrives on time between 71% and 80% of the time).

Experts also advise that you avoid connecting flights if possible, and book yourself on a flight early in the day. The early flights out are generally less prone to delays – which tend to occur later in the day, especially during the summer in the form of late afternoon or evening thunderstorms. That way, there’s more chance of you – and your bags – making it on time.

Only another few weeks of summer to go – before we know it, all the delays will be caused by winter weather!

Gues entry by Mancunian

Related entry: Are US Airlines broken?

Speaking of flying, in two days I have a 6:40 AM flight with Spirit Air from New York to Punta Cana (via Miami). Wish me luck!

Posted by James Trotta at 12:06 AM | Comments (10) | TrackBack

Finding good deals on flights and flying to outer space

Jet lag is catching up to me so it's 10:20 and I need to work out and get some sleep. All I have for you is a bit of information on finding good deals on flights and finding the most expensive flights possible.

This article goes into some depth about saving money when you book a flight.

Related blog entries:

Are US airlines broken?
I hate Spirit Airlines
Extra charges on airline tickets

I don't think that applies to booking space flights, but if you have $200,000 to spend why be a bargain shopper?

Related entries:

Outerspace weddings
Space flight costs

Posted by James Trotta at 1:39 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Korean Air flight was fine (plenty of water but not quite enough food)

My flight went fairly well - thank you for all the comments on my preperaing for a long flight blog entry. I wasn't really able to sleep much but I was mostly comfortable.

Water was no problem. I think it helps that I actually drank water instead of soda or wine. Also, I was probably awake every time they came around with drinks since I couldn't sleep. I'm sure the people around me, who all seemed to sleep annoyingly well, were more thirsty than I was.

There was less food than I expected for a 14 hour flight. We had a meal shortly after takeoff, then a banana several hours later, and then a while later breakfast (I was pretty surprised that choosing eggs actually meant getting a salmon omlette - I don't really like salmon). Luckily I had some hard boiled eggs to snack on, but I was still pretty hungry. I think I'll bring more eggs plus a protein bar or shake (well I'd bring the powder and the mixer and have them fill it up with water on the plane) for the return flight.

We did have personal monitors and could start, stop, and pause movies whenever we liked. I saw Bridge to Terabithia (not so good, sad), 300 (not so good on a tiny screen but probably good on a big one), and Wild Hogs (had a few funny moments). Sure I'd have been better off sleeping, but it didn't work out that way.

Anyway, now I'm at my parent's house trying to stay awake late enough to take my little sister (the one getting married) to a Harry Potter premeir event at midnight tonight. Since it's 10:00 PM Friday night now, I'll probably work from 10:30 to 11:15, take a shower, and then go to the Harry Potter thing.

Meanwhile, I have a couple of articles for you.

Brazil's politicians are still facing criticism following the recent plane crash there. This is a topic I'll have to research more since a friend of mine and I are actually planning a business venture involving tours of Brazil.

Here we have an article on family resort vacations. These are all resorts in the US.

Speaking fo traveling with kids, I can take one more question about traveling with kids in Europe for my upcoming interview with an expert.

Normally I run these things through a word spellcheck, nut my parents' computer is acting funny and spell check doesn't work. Please forgive any typos...

Posted by James Trotta at 1:29 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack

What do you do before a long flight?

Tomorrow I fly 14 hours from Seoul to New York. It's a Korean Air direct flight. In the past I never really paid attention to the day before the flight, but as I become more health conscious, I think more about how to prepare.

So today I did some weight lifting. They say that your body needs sleep to build muscle and I plan to get plenty on that 14 hour flight. Not that I ever sleep real well on flights, but there's not much else to do...

Tomorrow before the flight I'll probably go for a run and do some yoga. Hopefully that will make it easier for me to sleep somehow.

I also hope that I won't get too restless. The theory is that if my body needs lots of rest to recover from all the exercise it had to handle, I can rest without thinking about how much happier I'd be if I had more space, somewhere to walk to, etc.

Here's an article on how most people gain weight on vacation. That's actually what I want, but of course I want to gain muscle, not fat.

Speaking of adding muscle, I plan to bring some hard boiled eggs on the plane. I'm sure Korean Air will feed me but I'm on a high protein diet and I don't think that's one of the special meals you can request...

What do you think of my plan and what tips do you have for getting ready for a long flight?

Posted by James Trotta at 4:55 AM | Comments (11) | TrackBack

Are US airlines broken? Delta sure failed one US soldier...

This blog author users a recent travel nightmare (thanks largely to Delta) to argue that, in the US at least, airlines are broken. The worst thing about the whole experience (for me anyway) was this part: "I shared the van with a soldier just back from 14 months in Iraq, also the victim of a cancellation, who was watching his 10-day leave tick away, his wife and two daughters awaiting him at home."

I understand that cancellations happen. And I know that everyone has an important reason to get where they were supposed to go before the cancellation. But stealing even one day from a soldier with 10 days to see his family before going back to Iraq where he's spent 14 months is just sick. The airline has to do something to make sure this soldier gets home as soon as possible. Put him on another airline or something.

Posted by James Trotta at 3:09 PM | Comments (19) | TrackBack

Code shares and flight costs

I remember thinking how strange it was a few years ago when I was flying from Seoul to Rome on my honeymoon. We were flying Korean Air, but we booked through Alitalia because it was several hundred dollars cheaper than buying the Korean Air ticket. Same flight, same service, different price.

Here's an interesting article on how this works. Apparently airlines are not permitted to cooperate when they set prices for code share flights; this is what sometimes results in big price differences.

Posted by James Trotta at 6:11 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Trying to find that elusive frequent flyer seat

If you have tried to use your frequent flier miles recently, you’ll know how difficult it can be to try to cash them in. When American Airlines introduced the world’s first frequent flier program back in 1984, it had little idea how popular the innovative program would become.

The program became a victim of its own success – there were not enough ‘free’ seats for people, a problem which most of us are only too well aware still exists today. So here are a few tips for trying to get that elusive mileage seat...

Make sure you are talking to the right person! Most airlines have a specialized mileage reservations department – if you call to cash in your miles, or have general questions make sure you are speaking to that department. If you feel you aren’t getting good service, call back and speak to someone else.

Book early! Try to book as far ahead as you can; most airlines can book almost a year ahead. It’s almost impossible to get mileage seats to Europe during the summer or the Caribbean at Christmas unless you book a long way ahead. Consider booking dates that are close to those that you want - there’s usually no charge to make date changes to mileage tickets once booked. However, airlines are starting to use extra charges more often.

Try to be flexible with your dates and times; sometimes the least popular times of day may have mileage seats available. Mileage seats may be available on connecting flights – even if you have to change planes twice. You may want to also look at flying to an alternate destination; if flights to Los Angeles are full, try flying into Burbank or Long Beach. Try Oakland instead of San Francisco.

If all else fails, try calling the airline back in a few days – mileage availability can constantly change as airlines may make available more seats on a flight. You can also easily check mileage availability on line with most airlines.

Don’t forget to ask about using your miles on partner airlines. Most airlines also have mileage ‘partners’- for example if you have American frequent flier miles, you can also use those miles to fly on British Airways, Qantas, Cathay Pacific and a dozen other major airlines. So if you have miles on a particular airline and they don’t fly where you want to fly – or they don’t have mileage seats – maybe they can get you there somehow.

Compare mileage programs, get tips and keep up with the latest news at http://www.frequentflier.com.

Finally, keep in mind that it doesn’t always pay to use your miles; you may want to compare it against the cost of the ticket. Many people accrue their miles over years (on JAL they expire after 2 years) and use them for a once in a lifetime trip overseas.

Guest article by Mancunian

Posted by James Trotta at 5:30 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Why I hate Spirit Airlines and will never fly them again after going to Punta Cana

Not long ago I blogged about visiting Costa Rica to review some hotels in Manuel Antonio National Park.

I went to Kayak and did a search there. They showed me American Airlines as the cheapest option. I was surprised to see Spirit Airlines was more expensive than American until I noticed that they were searching only Orbitz, not the actual Spiritair.com website.

I went to the website, found Spirit Air a little cheaper than American, and made my reservations to San Jose. So I thought.

I got my itinerary in my email a few minutes later and it said I was going to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. I immediately went to their website and found that changing my reservations would cost $60/person. This seemed pretty ridiculous considering the reservations were only a minute old...

So I tried calling SpiritAir to inform them about the error but I never get through on the phone. After two recordings telling me to visit the website instead of calling, I get to the touchtone menu. After going through the motions they always hang up on me due to "unusually high call volume" and no available representatives.

Well I tried calling several times over a few hours and their recording always told me to try back later.

I replied to the email that had my reservations from Spirit Airlines explaining the problem and my inability to get through on the phone. No response.

So that's why I hate Spirit Airlines even though I've never flown with them. The non-existent customer service and the $60/person charge for changing reservations that are less than a minute old really make me angry. I will never fly Spirit Airlines again - they have officially become my least favorite airline.

However, going to Punta Cana will be fun (I'm too cheap to spend $120 to change the reservations back to San Jose) and my time is too precious to continue calling Spirit Air (it seems pretty obvious Spirit Airlines will never answer the phone).

So where should I stay in Punta Cana? Are there any resorts you would like to see reviewed here?

Posted by James Trotta at 9:57 AM | Comments (20) | TrackBack

Buying airline tickets & figuring out extra charges

By the way, there’s an extra charge for reading this.

Most of us are confused of course, by airline fares and pricing structure – it has been complicated for so long that it just wouldn’t be the same if it were any other way. But recently, the airlines seem to have introduced a lot of extra charges and fees – designed, of course to make some much needed extra money – but with the inevitable result of confusing the rest of us.

Extra fees and taxes are not uncommon. The price of your plane ticket contains all sorts of taxes – security, customs, agricultural, etc. Most of us don’t notice or care – after all, we all have to pay taxes. But some airlines have started to quietly add on extra charges for checking more than one bag, for buying alcoholic drinks in the main cabin, for having a ticket mailed rather than sent by e-mail. What next, I wonder - extra charges for pillows, a glass of water or a magazine?

One of the biggest changes in the last decade or so has been the increase in customers booking and paying for plane tickets on line. The airlines want us to book our tickets on line, rather than with a real live person over the phone – obviously costs are a lot less that way. The service fee or phone booking fee can add up quite a bit – typically, its $10 a person, so for a family of four, that’s $40 on top of your ticket price.

There are several problems with this system. While most of us are used to the internet, there are those of us who still don’t feel comfortable giving our credit card or other personal information on line. And – perhaps hard to believe – but not everybody has a computer, especially the elderly.

Booking on line is all very well if you are doing something simple – traveling from point A to point B and back again. But many business trips are more complicated than that, of course. You can book a so-called “open jaw” (flying into and out of two different airports) on most airline web sites, but not a trip that involves several stopovers.

And mileage tickets involving partner airlines cannot be booked on airlines’ web sites – which means a call to the airline and a booking fee. Speaking of mileage tickets – book yours with at least several weeks notice, otherwise you will be faced with yet more charges for booking late.

American for example charges $100 for the first ticket and $25 for each additional ticket if mileage tickets are booked within a week of travel. That’s assuming the tickets all come from one mileage account – it’s even more if they come from different accounts.

Several of the airlines also now impose a charge to make changes to an existing ticket if that ticket was issued by an outside source or a travel agency. So if you book and pay for your ticket on Expedia, Travelocity or Priceline – to get it for a cheaper price – you may pay $15 per person if you then call the airline to change it.

And recently, at least one major airline has imposed the $15 fee to make a change to the seat assignment. That’s causing quite a few problems as often, travel agents don’t have access to exit row seats or other “blocked seats”. It seems the trend towards extra or service fees is only going to continue.

Thanks for reading; please let us know if you come across any other annoying little extra charges.

Guest blog entry written by Mancunian

Posted by James Trotta at 1:40 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack

16-year-old girl kicked off plane for coughing + dead body in first class

I'm not sure I understand why Rachel Collier, a 16-year-old girl, was not allowed to fly after a fit of coughing. If a doctor says you're fine, then you're fine. The only think I can think of is that the Continental pilot was afraid that people would complain about hearing someone cough, kind of like Paul Trinder.

If you missed the story, Paul Trinder, was the first class passenger who woke up with a dead body next to him and the dead person's family members wailing and whatnot. He complained.

Now it's easy to criticize the guy for being insensitive, but I'd be complaining too. I mean who wants to sit next to a dead body or people crying? The airline simply must have a better place to keep the body. For example when I fly on 747-400s, I notice they have a little room with 2 beds for the crew. There must be some place like that where the body can be kept.

Now certainly the crew need their rest, but so do the first class passengers. If that's not an option, take 3 people in coach and move them to 1st class. Then you have an entire row for the dead body. And then all the passengers in first class are living.

What's even more amazing is that the crew didn't tell him what was going on. He had to ask. That just blows me away. You absolutely have to tell the guy and give him a chance to move. British Airlines said sorry, but we did the best we could.

In the end I guess I don't understand the airline's decision in either case. The girl who coughs because she has a cold gets kicked off a plane. Good job Continental. The dead woman is moved to first class and the passengers nearby kept in the dark. Good thinking British Airways.

What do you think? Am I being too harsh when I criticize the airlines in these two cases? Does anyone think that Continental or British Airways did the right thing?

Posted by James Trotta at 11:06 AM | Comments (43) | TrackBack

Travel's "final fronteir" - space flights

Here's an article about $200,000 flights into space where you get a good view of the stars and the curve of the Earth. If you can wait a few years the price is expected to drop and might be as cheap as $50,000...

Posted by James Trotta at 2:04 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

JetBlue hurt by bad conditions at JFK

Here's a good CNN article that talks about the mass of recent JetBlue cancellations. I think the company has the right attitude:

Thursday, JetBlue CEO David Neeleman repeatedly apologized for the airline's recent wave of cancellations and delays. "I think the best thing we can do is say we're sorry and give them their money back, and give them a free ticket and then kind of plead with them to come and fly again," he told CNN.

Posted by James Trotta at 12:22 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack

Flying to Europe this July & finding better fares to London

So my wife and I want to vacation in Europe this summer, likely in July. I went to Kayak.com and did some searching, but haven't found any really good deals. If you're curious, here are the airfares I dug up (all non-stop):

JFK - London on Air India is $789
JFK - Amsterdam on Delta is $1031
JFK - Rome on Alitaia is $841
JFK - Madrid on Iberia is $955
JFK - Barcelona on Delta is $1080
JFK - Prague on Czech Air as CSA is $1275

So it looks like Londond is the place to be in Europe (except that hotels there are expensive). We could always fly into London and then take the train somewhere else. This list of UK travel brochures also has some good ideas. From tours of Londond to British Gran Prix stuff, there are lots of brochures you can get for free. I'll probably request at least the "14 Day Scotland & Ireland Castles & Pubs Discovery Tour".

Some other possibilities: In Search of Sherlock Holmes
Perhaps no other literary figure is so firmly associated with their surroundings as the famous fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. Think of Holmes and you conjure up a vision of 19th century London, at the time the largest metropolis in... Posted on June 24, 2006 9:05 AM

On the Trail of the Da Vinci Code
First there was the book, and now the movie. The phenomenal success of Dan Brown’s hugely popular book has meant an increased number of visitors to the places mentioned in the book. Visitors come in search of secret codes... Posted on June 16, 2006 9:02 PM

In Search of Robin Hood
If you plan to visit the UK this summer, and your travels take you outside London and the usual tourist spots, an underrated and fascinating place to visit is the Midlands town of... Posted by Martin on June 2, 2006 11:07 AM

Posted by James Trotta at 6:55 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Finding budget airlines in Europe

I have a very cool website to share with you today. Low Cost Airline Guide shows you which budget airlines fly where you want to go in Europe. All you have to do is click twice, once on the airport you're leaving from and once on the airport you're arriving in. For example I tried a search where I was leaving from London Luton (LTN) and arriving in Amsterdam (AMS). The website told me that I shoudl try the budget carrier easyJet.com and linked to their site for me. There I found a flight for 23 GBP which seems like a great price to me.

Clearly, if you'll be flying within Europe and you want to make sure you check the budget carriers, you should search this site. If you want to see how many budget carriers there are in Europe, visit the page of low cost airlines this site covers. I thought this was pretty interesting because there are a number of low cost carriers I had never heard of.

The page on budget airline routes was also pretty interesting. It lists the airports in Europe and you click on where you're leaving from or going to. For example I clicked on flights to Vienna, Austria (VIE) and then saw a list of flights from various ariports in Egypt, France, Greece, Malta, Spain, Turkey, etc.

I can definitely see some vacation itineraries taking shape after using this site. It should be no problem to fly to London, then to Amsterdam, then to Vienna, then to Istabul, then back to London. Interestingly we end with kind of a circle as the only discount airline listed on the Istanbul departures page to London is easyJet going to London Luton...

Posted by James Trotta at 11:17 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

I'm in New York after another good JAL experience

We flew from Busan to Tokyo (1 hour 20 minutes) in business class seats. Apparentl Japan Airlines had decided to sell a section of business class seats as economy fares and we (possibly because we checked in early) got lucky and flew in the big comfy seats.

We arrived in Narita around 4:00 or so and made it to the Nikko Narita Hotel by 5:00 or so. We had just missed a shuttle into town and the next one was an hour away so we took a cap to Aeon shopping Center (2100 yen or so but not complaining when the hotel is free). Here we had an interesting shopping experience and I don't even like shopping. But Japanese malls are colorful and filled with wild boots. The food mall was good too - they call it the picnic area. I put my yen in the machine, got my card and my change, handed in the card, and a couple minutes later got my pepper steak and bean sprouts. Good stuff.

We got the last free shuttle back to the hotel and went to bed. The next morning we had an excellent free breakfast buffet. My breakfast included eggs, noodles, ham, Swedish meatballs, bread, miso soup, tofu, yogurt, cereal, and fruit.

The plane ride from Tokyo to New York was more like 11 hours but we checked in early enough to request seats on the second level by the emergency exit. We had lots of legroom and a big area for standing up and stretching right in froont of us. Plus getting into and out of our seats was easy. If you have to fly economy, these are my favorite seats.

The flight was painless, the service excellent, and the food good; it was a typical JAL flight. Tomorrow I'll blog about New York a little bit but right now it's 11:00 PM and I'm exhausted. But I was able to resist the temptation to nap today so hopefully I'm overcoming my jet lag...

Posted by James Trotta at 12:49 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

I fly home in a few hours

Pretty soon I make my way to Busan, fly to Tokyo, spend the night, and then fly to New York on JAL. My vacation begins! It may be a few days before my next post.

Meanwhile, I was able to see The Holiday, which has Arthur Frommer gushing about the greatness of this money-saving vacation tactic. The movie itself was OK - I'm a sucker for happy ending love stories I guess.

Speaking of holiday romance, here's an article on blind dates in the most natural element possible, the airplane. Someone needs to tell me if this works better in economy class where you're all scrunched up (shouldn't be too hard to make a move look like an accident) or in business class where you can relax a bit and turn to face each other without spraining your neck... Of course maybe on a shorter flight than the one I'm about to take it wouldn't be so bad.

Posted by James Trotta at 1:54 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

New security measures in the US and UK for airlines

Here's an article about what you need to know to fly in light of new US restrictions aimed at increasing airline security. The biggest news is that no liguids or gels of any kind are permitted (with milk for babies or insulin possible exceptions). In England security is even tighter.

Of course, these rules are quite new and enforcement may vary at different airports. Airlines are trying to hire more baggage handlers to cope with the increased number af bags being checked. Air travel seems to be holding steady. Passengers are unafraid it seems.

This interesting article quotes a number of travelers and gets their thoughts on what the new travel restrictions mean to them. A number of people mentioned bottled water and reading materials as the things they would miss most.

Posted by James Trotta at 4:38 AM | Comments (0)

Rude passengers looking for unfinished puzzles

For those of you who don't read Peter King, here is his Aggravating/Enjoyable Travel Note of the Week:

Aboard a Continental flight from Jacksonville to Houston last Wednesday, the 19ish woman in 8E sat down, leafed through her in-flight magazine and rang her flight-attendant call button as travelers filled the aisle getting to their seats.

When a male flight attendant worked his way through the crowded aisle and got to the woman, she held up the mag and said, "I need another in-flight magazine.''

"OK,'' the polite guy said. "What is the problem?''

"The puzzles are already done in this one,'' she said. "I want one with the puzzles blank.''

The flight attendant, I'm sure, wanted to say something like, "Are you out of your cotton-pickin' mind to bother me with something so pathetically insignificant?'' Instead, with fliers squeezing around him to get to their seats, he said, "Have you tried the magazine in the next seat pocket?''

"No,'' she said, still holding the magazine out to the guy, like it had cooties and she wanted to get rid of it.

So he reached into the next seat pocket, leafed through it, saw the puzzles hadn't been done and handed it to the woman.

AND SHE DIDN'T SAY THANK YOU!

I'm not sure, but I believe that woman is a dean's list student at Clueless University, majoring in Inconsideratology.

Posted by James Trotta at 2:57 AM | Comments (4)

Delta Airlines Manchester vacation contest

If anyone wants to win a free trip to Manchester from New York, then this is the contest for you.

Speaking of contests, a few more entries have been submitted for my winter vacation plan contest so stay tuned. The next one is for the Riviera Maya in Mexico. Some readers may remember Riviera Maya from my previous posts like retiring around Riviera Maya, travel tips for Riviera Maya, and Ikal Del Mar and the Shangri-La Caribe.

Posted by James Trotta at 12:41 AM | Comments (1)

Tips on flying with a 2 year old?

Someone recently asked for tips on flying with a 2 year old? "Any good ideas to keep the dude occupied and not have THAT kid on the flight?"

One decent suggestion involved lots of lollipops, but apparently this kid is already too hyper. Another suggestion was a portable DVD player (hopefully that would put the kid to sleep).

Timing a flight for the baby's naptime was a good suggestion as was getting the kid a seat of his own. And I never knew that sipping warm water was good for the ears.

Probably more effective than warm water would be a set of Earplanes for the child. They are pressure regulating plugs for their ears that prevent inner ear pain from cabin pressure changes. You can find them in a lot of airport shops, or you can order them online. Look for the children's size.

Other suggestions included juice cups, food, a favorite blanket, a car seat, a pacifier (obviously), some toys, numbing ear drops (from a pediatrician), and waiting until the last minute to board the plane (this gives the baby more time to run around).

And I was saving this for last: many people suggested cough syrup to knock the baby out. One person even had a related story to tell: he was flying with his son and "Baby Benedryl was offered and we declined. Stare Daggers from the offerers for the rest of the flight."

Posted by James Trotta at 1:41 AM | Comments (6)

Stuck in Cleveland due to poor security

A while back I wrote about the SSSS security flag. It showed up again in Peter King's Aggravating/Enjoyable Travel Note of the Week:

My brother Bob had one of the all-timers last week in Cleveland. We were flying home after our baseball trip, Bob to Hartford and the other three revelers to Newark. We got through security, parted and were on our way. After I landed at Newark, Bob called and said, "I'm still in Cleveland! At the Ramada Inn South! They wouldn't let me on the plane!'' Seems Bob had a special code (SSSS) on his boarding pass, which meant he should have special random screening at the security checkpoint. When he got to the boarding door, he was told he had slipped through the cracks and somehow was not checked randomly. He had to go back through security to get checked again, this time with his bags being searched.

"We'll check the tapes and see who let you through,'' Bob was told, implying there would be discipline to whoever blew it.

"Fat lot of good that'll do me!'' Bob said.

And so Bob had to pay for a night at a hotel and fly the next morning.

Makes you feel real secure about our security.

Posted by James Trotta at 3:16 PM | Comments (4)

�Can the plane still fly if one of the engines fails?�

How many of us have ever wanted to knock on the cockpit door and ask the pilot something like �What was that noise I heard just now?� or �How do the pilots know the landing gear is actually down�?� There is a fascinating book that is a collection of such obvious and not so obvious questions that � let�s face it - most of us who have ever flown, have wondered about from time to time.

The author of "Ask the Pilot", Patrick Smith, is - of course- an airline pilot as well as a freelance writer. His book is based on a series of questions and answers originally posed on the web, by regular passengers. His style is informative yet humorous, never condescending; and the complicated topics such as the mysteries of aerodynamics are presented in an easy to understand manner.

The book is divided into several sections, dealing with different aspects of the flying experience: airports, the mechanics of flight, how an aircraft actually gets off the ground with all that weight, security, the ups and downs of a career as a flight attendant or pilot.

Much of the fascination of the book comes from the offbeat questions that everybody secretly wants to know the answer to: Where exactly does the lavatory waste go to? What happens if the aircraft is struck by lightning? How much money do pilots really make?

In case you are wondering, the lavatory waste is vacuumed into a huge airtight container and is emptied upon landing. It doesn�t fall from the sky as some people would tell you. And planes are regularly struck by lightning; to a pilot it is as routine as running over a small pothole. And yes, pilots are well-paid for the most part, although you will agree it is well deserved.

Interspersed with the fascinating questions and answers are some of the author�s personal observations on flying in general and the not so glamorous job of being a pilot. The book was written after the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and includes a lot of useful information about security on planes and at the airport. There�s also a good deal of discussion about the general financial state of the airline industry.

Much of the information in the book will reassure nervous or first-time flyers - although if you fall into either category you may want to skip the section that lists the top 10 worst air disasters of all time. Whether you fly regularly for business, or you are just about to board a plane for the first time, this is an indispensable book.

Ask the Pilot, by Patrick Smith published by Riverhead Books.

Posted by Martin at 8:54 PM | Comments (0)

Should I be Concerned if my Airline has Declared Bankruptcy?

With virtually all the major airlines having declared themselves bankrupt, it is a question that you, your company or someone you know may have asked yourself recently. Most passengers are blissfully unaware that their airline is strapped for cash or simply don�t care � they are more concerned about the things that we all consider important � an on-time departure, a comfortable seat, a tolerable meal, affordable tickets and those all-important frequent flyer miles. And indeed, if you are flying on a bankrupt airline in the near future, you probably won�t notice anything different.

Bankruptcy � which is also known as �Chapter 11� or �reorganization� doesn�t necessarily mean the end of business for an airline. However, there are many famous names in aviation that have gone bankrupt and are with us no more � notably Pan-Am, Eastern and Midway. And statistically, most airlines that declare bankruptcy sooner or later do go out of business, although this whole process may take several years. Bankruptcy for an airline generally means a restructuring of its debts and a loss of control over the daily running of the business.

In many cases the airline does not need to pay back all its debts, meaning ironically that even though bankrupt, the airline can offer lower fares than its competitors. This in turn, means that the other competing airlines � which may not be in bankruptcy � generally have to offer those same low fares, often losing money in the process. A bankrupt airline may cut back on non-essential services and extras such as meal choices and other on-board amenities. If you own shares in an airline that declares bankruptcy, those shares may become worthless.

So even though bankruptcy should not be a huge concern, there are some things you can do to protect yourself. Firstly and most obviously, avoid booking tickets on bankrupt airlines, although admittedly that is difficult these days. If you do book on a bankrupt � or struggling � airline, always pay for your plane tickets with a credit card as under the Fair Credit Billing Act, credit card customers have the right to refuse paying for charges for services which were not provided. Consider taking out additional travel insurance, but be sure to check with your travel agent or airline that this would be applicable in the case of your airline going under and ceasing service. Unless it�s a particularly important trip, it probably doesn�t justify doing this.

If you have purchased a ticket on an airline that has ceased operations, you are generally entitled to protection on another airline, under the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, although there is no guarantee that the schedule will be the same, or as convenient as the one you had. Most larger US airlines have ticketing agreements with other airlines, meaning the airlines will accept their tickets in the event of bankruptcy or ceasing operations. Smaller airlines may not have a ticketing agreement with other airlines � passengers holding Independence Air tickets, a small airline which ceased operations at the beginning of 2006, found it difficult to use their tickets on another airline. And of course, you have the option of getting a full refund on your ticket, although this may be a lengthy process,

And what happens to all those frequent flyer miles you have? You know, those miles you get every time you fly, rent a car, stay in a hotel room, and buy flowers. Even though you can never seem to use your miles when you want to, you still don�t want them to be taken away from you because your airline is in the b-word. Airlines assure you that your miles will still be honored and can still be used, and most miles are valid for several years from the date they were earned.

If you are concerned, ask your airline about redeeming your miles on one of their partner airlines, thus giving you added flexibility and insurance. Most airlines have several mileage partners, offering flights to the same destinations as themselves, as well as to places they don�t fly. Airlines also allow you to cash in your miles for anybody you like � it doesn�t necessarily need to be for yourself or even for a family member.

Many frequent flyer miles can also be transferred between different airline accounts, or traded in for hotels and car rentals as well, in order to �protect� them. There are also various companies that offer to �insure� your miles - for a charge, of course. And a final word of advice � just go ahead and use your hard-earned miles for that vacation you have promised yourself � most airlines can book seats up to 11 months ahead of time, so you have no excuse.

Posted by Martin at 9:20 PM | Comments (0)

Searching online sites for cheap fares from New York to Seoul

A friend of mine living in New York City wants to visit Korea this summer and couldn't find any airfares under $1350.00 from JFK to ICN (ICN is Incheon Airport, which serves Seoul). He asked me to do some searching. Not having exact dates, I used July 6 - July 18, 2006 and got the following results on different online travel sites.

Kayak.com = $1406.00 on American Airlines
JAL.com = $4,000.00+ on JAL (this is pure insanity - I've flown JAL on the same route many times and never paid more than 1,000 US)
Travelocity = 990.00 on AA and 1,040.00 on JAL (using flexible dates to search for any flight in July).
Sidestp.com = $1,072.00 on multiple carriers (AA to and from Tokyo, "major carrier" from Tokyo to Seoul - the flight number is 959 and that I'm positive is Korean Air - and United from Seoul to Tokyo)
Skyauction.com = $1,561.00 on United
Airtreks.com (partnered with onetravel.com) = $1,075 on multiple airlines
Mobissimo.com = $1,068 on multiple carriers and $1,069 to $1,075 on American Airlines.

I also suggested he try the New York Times and call a few travel agents.

Posted by James Trotta at 12:14 AM | Comments (4)

Q-up fly first class cheap

To fly first class without spending a fortune, you have to know about Q-up, Y-up, Z fares. Many Airlines have a ticket class that few people know about but that many people would want to take advantage of. This type of ticket is less expensive than a normal first class ticket (it is technically a coach or an economy class seat so business persons forced to fly economy can take advantage). According to one Wall Street Journal article:

Jim Whitehurst, chief operating officer at Delta, says airlines also use the fares to help their most loyal business travelers avoid roughing it in coach, where empty seats are scarce. Because these fares technically buy a coach-class seat, they allow travelers to maneuver around any corporate-travel department rules against first-class tickets.

At FareCompare, for example, there is a note on the homepage: Due to the high demand for Y-Up Q-Up Information - A new tool/section will be online in a few days which will allow you to view all Y-Up Q-UP deals touching your favorite departure. In the mean time you can download the Airline How To Guide for Y-Up Q-Up (here's the web page) which explains how to book these deals on major airlines.

Using Expedia, I did a flight search departing JFK May 25 for Seattle and returning May 30. The cheapest seat on coach (non-stop) was 478.00, but 833.00 roundtrip flying first class and that was with a stopover. Non-stop fares seemed to be over 1,100 dollars. I couldn't find the "Additional Options" that the Wall Street Journal article told me to select.

If you can find "Additional Options", then "check the box to search for seats in business class or first class." The article also says that Expedia's Q-up fares can be seen by clicking on "Rules and Restrictions."

Posted by James Trotta at 10:54 PM | Comments (0)

Flying, pollution, and clicking to save the environment

Keeping with the pollution theme, here's an article on the debate between the British airline industry and environmentalists. The question is how much damage does the pollution from airplanes really cause?

Personally, I tend to side with the environmentalists - I believe that airplanes do cause lots of pollution. Since I'm not about to stop flying, I feel some responsibility to conserve in other ways. I also go the rain forest site every day and click "Preserve endangered land". Then it's off to Ecology Fund for a few more clicks. Red Jellyfish and Care2 also have click to donate sections. One day, I'll start my own click to donate business (all the sites I link to above, with the possible exception of Care 2, are in business for themselves - they probably each make a fortune).

Posted by James Trotta at 2:27 AM | Comments (2)

Flying to Europe

This article from the Chicago Tribune on traveling to Europe has advice (mainly for Americans) on finding hotels, currency exchange and flying. I always knew that flying in the summer is more expensive, but how much more expensive is it?

Here's an example of how fares rise and fall. If you were to fly Chicago-London round-trip on British Airways April 26-May 3, the fare, including taxes, fees and a fuel surcharges, would be $587.39. Fly the same route June 13-27 and the fare totals $978.39, a $391 difference. If you were to do the trip from Sept. 2-13, the fare would be $738.39, $240 less that the peak season summer fare.

Posted by James Trotta at 12:44 AM | Comments (6)

The polite way to put your seat back when flying coach

From Peter King of Sports Illustrated:

Aggravating/Enjoyable Travel Note of the Week I

Could I give every coach air traveler a piece of friendly advice? It has to do with reclining your seat. I wish no airplane seat reclined, because as comfortable as such a thing might be to the passenger reclining his or her seat, it's borderline torturous for the person behind the recliner -- particularly if the person is 6-foot-1, which I am, or taller. But if you are going to recline, please do it slowly and deliberately. Say the person behind you has a cup of coffee, or some crackers, on the tray table. What do you suppose happens when you jerk the seat back hard, without a care in the world? I'll tell you what happens. The person behind you hopes you trip on the jetway and sprain your head on the way off the plane.

Posted by James Trotta at 12:39 AM | Comments (31)

Advertising inside airplanes, around windows

I wanted to show you this interesting Fiat ad placed inside an airplane. Of course to show you anything I'll have to use a picture, something I've never done before on this blog:

Here's a more closeup view:

I could see that being entertaining for about 5 minutes, then getting annoying. Could you get used to that on a long flight?

Thanks to Creative Brain for the first picture and Adfreak blog for the second picture.

Posted by James Trotta at 11:45 PM | Comments (3)

US Airways evil contract of carriage

An airline contract of carriage is a legal agreement between you and the airline you're flying. Normally, when an airline cancels a flight, passengers have the right to phone cards, meal vouchers, and hotel rooms, not to mention the next flight to your destination (on any airline).

US Airways has changed all that so that one unlucky US Airways passenger ended up with only 200 dollars compensation after he spent hours in a plane sitting on the runway (I hate that), had his flight cancelled, waited two days for another one, and was promised 600 Euros compensation.

The travel troubleshooter can't do anything about it since US Airways has revised their contract of carriage so that it let's them get away with pretty much anything. We are issued this word of warning, however:

I'm concerned that passengers' rights are being eroded with each revision of an airline's contract of carriage. I suspect US Airways is hardly alone in rewriting its responsibilities to better suit its bottom line. And I wonder if the day will come when the contract will allow an airline to wiggle out of its obligation to fly us anywhere at all.

Posted by James Trotta at 3:20 AM | Comments (6)

Aadvantage member: Pudding Guy, David Phillips

Pudding Guy, David Phillips, a civil engineer at UC-Davis, says he spent just over 3,000 dollars in purchases (most of which he donated to charity and wrote off on his taxes) and added 1,037,000 miles to his American Airlines account.

Surpassing the million-mile mark, gave Pudding Guy Aadvantage Gold status for life. Aadvantage Gold members get a special reservations number, priority boarding, upgrades and bonus miles. He had already gotten enough to fly to Europe 31 times, but a few extra miles never hurt anyone. Here's what pudding guy had to say:

For the record, counting the soup and other miscellaneous products I bought and ate, I received 1,253,000 miles from the Healthy Choice promotion. Does pulling off this venture get me into the frequent flyer hall of fame?

Isn't it strange to think that the million-miler sitting next to you in first class got there solely by buying chocolate pudding?

Bone, James. "Pudding Buyer Can Fly Free for a Lifetime."
The [London] Times. 26 January 2000.

Costello, Jane. "Shopper Turns Lots of Pudding Into Free Miles."
The Wall Street Journal. 24 January 2000 (p. B1).

McManis, Sam. "Pudding Cups Win Engineer Creamy Miles."
The San Francisco Chronicle. 14 April 2000 (p. 1).

Robertson, Blair Anthony. "Road to $25,000 Worth of Air Travel Was Paved with Pudding Purchases."
The Fresno Bee. 26 January 2000 (p. A13).

Posted by James Trotta at 10:41 PM | Comments (0)

Aeroscraft: the future of air travel?

California-based Worldwide Aeros' Aeroscraft is a 174mph, 400-ton craft. The Aeroscraft is more than an acre in size. The prototype should be completed by 2010. The inventor, Igor Pasternak, says "You can land it on water or snow," and "It's a new vision of what can be done in the air."

This "cross between an airship and a plane" will be able to "ferry passengers across continents and oceans". The picture in this Popular Science article is worth a peek if you're curious.

Posted by James Trotta at 4:31 PM | Comments (2)

Airline and hotel reward program experiences

Peter King from Sports Illustrated complains about: frequent-flier and hotel-reward programs.

I tried to make some arrangements last week for a June wedding and a King brothers Midwest baseball trip. I was taken aback by how many restrictions there are on travel and hotel rewards for some non-holiday dates. Flights have so many restrictions, it's almost worthless to get all those points. How about this one: I could not redeem any Northwest points unless I stayed over a Saturday night. That probably means I'll have those points a long, long time. I'll probably die with them in my account. And in some case, like on Continental, I can book a free trip, but a round-trip ticket in the U.S. basically costs what it takes me about 14 months, flying regularly, to earn. I give credit to the Hyatt Gold Passport program: A three-night stay at the Park Hyatt Chicago took exactly half the points it took to stay at a nearby Marriott Fairfield Inn in Chicago. I don't know whether to applaud Hyatt or to tell Marriott it's out of its mind.

Posted by James Trotta at 12:48 AM | Comments (2)

How hard is it to find good fares online?

A recent investigation by Sophie Butler reveals some interesting things about finding low fares. The differences in price were larger than you might think. With a range of prices from 630 British Pounds to 1,038 Pounds, it clearly pays to shop around. The excuses different travel sites make are worth reading as well. What's the article about?

I was asking for the cheapest return ticket on a British Airways flight to Sydney, departing on February 27 and returning on March 21, and including all taxes and charges. Although I checked the websites, I confirmed the prices by phone to be sure I was being quoted for the right flights and airline.

Posted by James Trotta at 12:10 AM | Comments (3)

Singapore Airlines specials departing from SFO, LAX, or JFK

I can personally recommend Singapore and while Bangkok isn't one of my favorites, it is tops on some lists. If you are going to Bangkok you want to read my recent Bangkok, Koh Samui travel plan and my older Thai massage overview. Anyway Singapore Airlines special fares for February:

New York - Frankfurt from $430
USA to Singapore from $709
USA to Bangkok from $809
USA to Manila from $809
USA to Jakarta from $849
USA to Phuket from $849

These fares do not include government taxes and have variable ticketing and travel dates. Check fare conditions for details. Primary dates of travel availability on featured fares from the United States are between February 5 and May 23, 2006, and reservations must be ticketed by February 28, 2006.

Posted by James Trotta at 3:10 AM | Comments (0)

Where do items confiscated by TSA end up?

Have you ever wondered what happens to items confiscated by TSA at American airports? Sure things like mace get disposed of, but much of it ends up on Ebay! For example, Pennsylvania sold a 39-pound box containing 500 Swiss Army knives sold on eBay in 2004 for $595.00.

TSA makes no money, and state surplus property offices get first crack at the items (some are not interested, some states have no such office, and a few make good money selling the confiscated items). Unwanted items go to Science Application International,a contractor which collects and discards them under a five-year, $17 million government contract.

According to the article, this revenue stream may begin drying up:

Fliers can expect to surrender fewer scissors, nail clippers and tools this year. On Dec. 22, TSA started allowing passengers to carry through checkpoints scissors with a cutting edge of 4 inches or less, and tools such as screwdrivers, wrenches and pliers smaller than 7 inches.

Posted by James Trotta at 5:55 PM | Comments (3)

AirTran domestic US flight sale

Fly AirTran to top US cities for $83.00 or more (roundtrip) through May. Get away to popular US cities this winter or spring with reduced fares from just $83 round-trip on AirTran. Valid for travel through May 24, you'll find: Boston-Philadelphia $83; Chicago-Orlando $173; DC-Atlanta $163; New York-Dallas/Fort Worth $213; Savannah-Atlanta $83; and more. Just be sure to book 10 days in advance, and no later than February 14. Here's a link to the AirTran specials page.

Posted by James Trotta at 2:32 PM | Comments (1)

It pays to travel light

Ryanair, the low cost European airline, has an interesting experiment planned. Next month, the no-frills airline will charge 5 GBP (British Pound) for every bag passengers wish to check in. Anything over 10 kilograms must be checked.

Passengers on Ryanair can also check in online. Travellers will only pay half the new fee if they pre-book their luggage via Ryanair's website. Ryanair is also increasing each passenger's total luggage allowance by 5 kilograms to 30 kilograms.

Posted by James Trotta at 2:10 AM | Comments (7)

Trouble with easyJet

Guardian Money did a little trouble-shooting before the European court of justice dismissed a challenge yesterday to European Union rules covering compensation for air travellers whose flights are overbooked, cancelled or delayed.

Peter Ashworth was among 180 passengers stranded at Bratislava airport after easyJet cancelled its return flight to Luton on December 30. EasyJet said it could only offer a replacement flight six days later.

Mr Ashworth and his wife, Maureen, queued for two hours to be told that the plane would not be flying. No reason was given. The pair were offered a flight on January 5 but told they would have to pay the intervening hotel bills. Contrary to EU regulations, he said they were not handed a leaflet detailing their rights or offered any food or drinks. "It was utter chaos. There was one member of staff to tell 180 passengers they wouldn't be flying, and she knew nothing. No help was offered."

The pair were lucky to buy the last two seats on another flight offered by rival airline SkyEurope and flew back at 7.15pm, but to Stansted. "The extra flights cost us �440 and we had to get a �50 taxi back to our car. When we complained to easyJet on our return they just offered us the cost of the unused return proportion of our tickets - just under �60 each. We've since been told our holiday insurance won't cover it," said Mr Ashworth.

EasyJet said weather problems across Europe on that day caused disruption to the fleet, causing aircraft to be grounded at airports which were snowed in and resulting in the cancellation. It has since confirmed that it will pay for the Ashworth's replacement flights and out-of-pocket expenses.

Posted by James Trotta at 10:30 AM | Comments (4)

Bad experience on Virgin Atlantic

A writer wrote to the Miami Herald trouble shooter about a flight that was delayed due to a late passenger, turned around due to engine trouble, would not let passengers use cell phones or toilets while back on the runway, and was piloted by a captain who made some mistakes during passenger announcements. I can almost understand everything except not letting people use the bathroom. That's crazy.

Posted by James Trotta at 6:31 AM | Comments (5)

Accident in Chicago

National Transportation Safety Board and FAA officials from Washington are on their way to Chicago to investigate a plane that slid through a fence in Chicago's Midway Airport onto a road. A 6 year old boy died and at least 10 people were injured.

The airport area had 7 inches of snow, but Aviation Department spokeswoman Wendy Abrams said runway conditions at the time were acceptable.

James Burnett, a former NTSB chairman, said the weather would be a focus of the investigation: "When you're looking at a runway overrun, it almost always involves a runway condition that's improper," Burnett told WFLD-TV. "But that's not the only thing."

Posted by James Trotta at 4:07 PM | Comments (13)

Airlines and lost luggage

I just finished reading an interesting article on how to handle lost luggage problems when you're flying. First an interesting stat - the chances of a problem are aout 1 in 200. If you fly often enough those odds are going to catch up with you.

Some of the tips I already new, like putting a change of clothes in your carry on, or being able or describe your luggage. Other tips were news to me: Put ID tags insude your luggage in case the external ones are torn off. And finally the biggest problem:

Pay attention to your bag's destination. Check your luggage check tag to insure it's checked through to the right place. Believe it or not, this is the biggest single miscue when checked luggage doesn't arrive at the proper airport. With more and more travelers checking luggage at curbside, the chances for errors have been compounded.

Posted by James Trotta at 1:50 PM | Comments (3)

Getting through security in American airports

Check in early, because a trip through airport security checkpoints may take a few minutes but sometimes takes 30 minutes or more. The longer waits can be expected at bigger airports like JFK.

To help you get through security faster: Lighters are now prohibited. Older advice includes: Don't wrap gifts, even in checked luggage, because screeners may need to examine them. Lock luggage only with TSA-approved locks, and prepare to remove coats and jackets for X-ray before proceeding through a checkpoint. (Shoe removal is optional, but recommended for footwear with metal or thick soles or heels to avoid additional screening.)

Actually shoe removal is not always optional so if you see everyone in front of you removing their shoes it's a safe bet that you'll have to as well.

Posted by James Trotta at 11:54 PM | Comments (2)

Business class sale

AirTran Airways, a subsidiary of AirTran Holdings, Inc., today launched a sale for
seats in Business Class on flights to and from Atlanta and many of the airline's destinations with fares starting as low as $149 each way. Travelers must purchase these sale fares at http://www.airtran.com.

These special fares are available for purchase until September 30, 2005, and are good for travel through November 2, 2005. Like all AirTran Airways fares, prices included in this sale are available for one-way travel and do not require a roundtrip purchase or a Saturday night stay.

Blackout dates are as follows: October 7, 10, 16, 21 and 23, 2005. Fares do not include per-segment tax of $3.20. A segment is defined as one takeoff and one landing. The September 11th Security Fee of up to $10 is not included. Airport Passenger Facility Charges of up to $18 are not included.

Posted by James Trotta at 8:05 PM | Comments (0)

Domestic flights in America

Peter King, who covers football for Sports Illustrated made this interesting digression in a recent article:

This is why Americans get ticked off at air travel.

Wednesday night, United (good airline, bad night) flight from Chicago to Newark, due to leave 5 p.m., arrive in Newark around 8. They board the plane, though they're not going to leave "for a while'' due to weather on the East Coast and air-traffic delays. After an hour sitting there, passengers are told the flight won't leave for an undetermined time, and passengers can de-plane. Passengers de-plane. Re-board at 7:45. Go to the end of the runway, wait out the air-traffic control delay. Sit. And sit. Guy in the row in front of me has some Internet device. He's calling out AL East scores. Yanks at Tampa. Sox at Toronto. "Ortiz just hit a two-run homer in the eighth,'' says Internet Man. "Five-3, Sox. Yanks are tied, 4-4.'' Brutally warm on the plane. It's got to be 88 degrees. "Are we at the point of cruel and inhuman punishment yet?'' I ask my neighbor.

Around 9:45, we take off. We get over Williamsport, Pa. Start circling. "We've been put on a hold,'' pilot says. Nice planning. You didn't know an hour ago planes would be stacked on top of each other? Forty minutes of circling. In turbulence. Lady a couple of rows back uses air-sickness bag. Land about 12:50. Walk in the front door at 1:45. For an hour-and-43-minute flight, it took eight hours and 15 minutes from the time I arrived at the gate to the time I stepped into the house. And I think: It would have been slightly longer but significantly more relaxing to have driven the 780 miles than to have flown.

Posted by James Trotta at 11:33 PM | Comments (4)

Cathay Pacific All Asia Pass

Cathay Pacific is offering an All Asia Pass starting at $1,099 that includes round-trip air between New York and Hong Kong, and travel to any or all 18 Asian cities, including Bangkok, Osaka, Seoul and Bali. The pass is good for 21 consecutive days through Dec. 1. Taxes are extra and vary depending on cities. Info: http://www.cathayusa.com/ . Purchase through a travel agent.

Posted by James Trotta at 5:58 PM | Comments (2)

SSSS

After making a last minute reservation online for tickets from Austin to Houston on American Airlines we were going through security when some TSA guy announced that we had been chosen by the airline for extra security checks. He showed us the SSSS at the bottom of our tickets.

They gave us yellow cards, told us to go to the front of the line and hand them in. We went through metal detectors as normal, but then we got to sit down while they scanned us with the little wand thing. My wife had to take off her sneakers but my sneakers were fine.

Then they patted down our torsos (a man did me and a woman did my wife) and inspected our carry on bags by hand after they had been x-rayed. The whole thing took about 5 minutes.

When it was over one guy asked me if I had any idea why American Airlines had selected us. I wasn't sure but I said it might have been because of the last minute reservations. The TSA guy agreed, saying that was one of their conditions for extra security checks.

Oh and for more American Airlines and Texas stories, keep reading. Over the next few days I'll be telling a few more...

Posted by James Trotta at 1:52 PM | Comments (7)

Hooters Air sued

I had never even heard of Hooters Air until a few minutes ago when I read this article about Hooters Air being sued for allegedly using a business plan without compensating the plan's creators. Frankly, I don't see any use for Hooters Air (I mean who cares if your flight attendant is wearing a Hooters T-Shirt?) so I don't mind if they get sued.

Posted by James Trotta at 5:27 PM | Comments (6)

Ryanair PR

I think the average frequent flyer in Europe must really like Ryanair. Today the Deputy CEO criticized travel agents for adding up to 87% charges on flights available from the airline's website.

This is the kind of languae that travel agents must hate but that the average consumer must love. Ryanair�s Deputy CEO Michael Cawley claimed "unscrupulous travel agents" were "fleecing passengers by selling our flights at vastly inflated prices".

�Consumers are entitled to be told if a handling charge is being levied on their ticket but unfortunately many travel agents are not informing their customers and instead are ripping them off," said Mr Cawley.

Posted by James Trotta at 1:45 AM | Comments (2)

Stupid mistake

I know it's better to err on the side of caution, but the U.S. Transportation Security Administration ought to feel pretty stupid after forcing a Korean Air flight bound for San Francsico to land in Japan so that it could question a passenger on its no-fly list. What happened was that someone made a big mistake:

"The man was the person on the no-fly list but he should not have been on it," the official said, but he did not offer details as to why the man should not have been on the list.

Posted by James Trotta at 1:18 AM | Comments (5)

Hard times for airlines

No wonder the airline industry is complaining about taxes if a 200.00 ticket in Amercia is taxed at 26%. Airlines are also complaining that low cost carriers get special treatment though I'm not sure what kind of special treatment.

I never realized that such a big chunk of ticket fares were tax. When my wife and I fly from Korea to New York I don't even want to think about how much tax we're paying.

Posted by James Trotta at 1:15 AM | Comments (10)

Flying this summer?

CNN Travel has an article about the possibility that flying in the this summer will be uncomfortable:

Aviation experts predict the upcoming vacation season could rival 2000, the worst ever for flight delays, cancellations and cranky travelers crammed into airports.

Posted by James Trotta at 4:31 AM | Comments (0)

JAL chairman resigns

Japan Airlines Corp.'s chairman will resign to take responsibility for a string of safety lapses, the carrier said Monday, and announced that it swung to a profit for the fiscal year as a recovery in international tourism offset a decline in domestic air travel.

The news that Isao Kaneko will resign May 31 came a day after a drop in cabin pressure forced a JAL flight from New York to Tokyo with 355 people aboard to make an emergency landing. There were no injuries.

The flagship carrier has been under mounting pressure amid a series of embarrassing safety lapses that drew widespread attention in January, when a JAL pilot in northern Japan attempted to take off without receiving approval from air traffic controllers.

JAL spokesman Teiji Murayama said Kaneko's offer to resign was accepted early Monday.

Posted by James Trotta at 2:02 AM | Comments (0)

JAL to begin internet access on long haul flights

This will soon be offered on some Tokyo - New York flights:

Connexion by Boeing is a satellite-delivered data service that enables airline passengers to access the Internet via wireless LAN-compatible PCs.

The connection speed is typically about 5 megabits per second downstream from the Internet to the aircraft, and 1 mbps upstream from the aircraft to the Internet. The service supports e-mail, Web browsing, and corporate network access via a VPN (virtual private network), among other features, according to JAL.

Access will be available throughout the aircraft and will cost $29.95 throughout the flight, or for $9.95 for the first 30 minutes and $0.25 for each additional minute. For the complete story, click here.

Posted by James Trotta at 1:57 AM | Comments (1)

Airline industry Q & A

USA Today has an interesting Q & A on the airline industry and they cover topics like JetBlue and Independence Air, delays in Atlanta, the Essential Services Act that should keep smaller airports up and running, regional jets, and more. It's a very interesting read.

Posted by James Trotta at 2:04 AM | Comments (0)

Airline price wars

The Boston Globe says it's a good time to fly on US carriers:

US Airways is offering fares as low as $118 across all its routes, including a $138 round trip to from Boston to Orlando. United Airlines has a worldwide fare sale, including roundtrip fares from Boston to Paris for $430. Not to be left behind, American Airlines is offering roundtrip flights from Boston to Los Angeles for $288 and Boston to Miami for $198.

Posted by James Trotta at 2:16 PM | Comments (1)

Air travel safety

The IATA says that 2004 was a very safe year for air travel:

"Over 1.8 billion people traveled safely in 2004. Tragically, however, 428 people lost their lives in commercial aircraft accidents. To put that into perspective, that is a similar number to 1945 when the industry carried only 9 million passengers," IATADirector General and CEO Giovanni Bisignani said in a statement.

Posted by James Trotta at 12:24 AM | Comments (0)

AA contest

American Airlines is having a contest - the very cool prize is free travel for a year, but it will probably be hard for non artists to win: you have to use words, pictures, or video to explain why you fly. Even if you don't win, 100 AAdvantage miles are donated to the Make a Wish foundation for every entry so that's good.

Posted by James Trotta at 1:04 AM | Comments (6)

Advice shopping for flights online

L.A. Johnson of the Post Gazette has some detailed advice about shooping for airline tickets online.

The idea is to start with big sites like Orbitz and Travelocity. Then check the web site of the airline with the cheapest price. Of course there are more sites to check including some of the searches like Mobissimo that check out a bunch of toher sites and the sites of low-cost carriers that don't get listed in the third party web sites.

There's also some advice about bidding on Priceline and a warning about buying travel online in general:

Travelers booking trips online also should be aware of a practise called fare jumping, when a particular quoted fare suddenly increases mid-booking, McGee warns.

Posted by James Trotta at 4:40 PM | Comments (1)

JFK security (TSA)

The TSA seems to go out of its way to hire annoying security people. JFK has the rudest security of any airport I have ever been to; these people really seem to hate their jobs.

And even though there was no one behind us they were trying to rush us. First some guy told me (not asked me) to take out my laptop. He said it a few times before I had gotten mine out.

Then he told me (getting even more rude) to take off my sweater. I put it in a box, but he took it out of the box and put it in the same box as my laptop. Why? And he was certainly not trying to keep it from wrinkling or anything.

Then they have me wait in some capsule that blasts air on me. Then I can go pick up my stuff. When the ladies there were not too busy talking about their Friday plans they rudely rushed me to pick my stuff up faster.

I do not complain about security people keeping me safe and I suppose I get spoiled by polite security in Korea and Japan, but seriously they were so busy talking to each other that I wonder how effective they really are.

Posted by James Trotta at 9:30 PM | Comments (2)

JAL business class - checking in

As usual, Japan Airlines is only OK on the ground in America. When checking in at JFK for our flight leaving at 9:00, we arrived at 6:15 and were told we could not check in until 6:30.

We actually checked in at 6:40 because they were a little late. Now we are in the Sakura JAL lounge where the old tiny IBM thinkpads are driving us crazy. The SK and KTF telecom lounges in Incheon are much nicer...

Oh and when we checked in they told us our flight would leave late because we do not even board until 8:40.

Posted by James Trotta at 9:19 PM | Comments (1)

Using JAL frequent flyer miles

JAL miles expire after two years so my wife and I needed to make sure we used ours. The nice thing is that you can spend the miles long before your flight. For example, our miles would have expired by January 15th, 2005, but we bought our tickets and spent our miles a while back. So on January 15th we'll be flying business class for the first time. Naturally, I'll let you know how it goes...

I still like JAL, but remember that it's not easy to use your frequent flyer miles last minute.

Posted by James Trotta at 2:17 AM | Comments (1)

Trip around the world

The October issue of National Geographic Traveler has a feature article on taking a trip around the world. This is something I've always wanted to do, so when I saw "Less than you think" I got excited. Until I saw totla estimated cost: 14,504.00 US dollars. 41.5% for hotels, 5% for insurance, 27% for airfare, 7% for ground transportation, and 19.5% for meals/incidentals.

An interesting alternative, was around-the-world freighter travel. One could spend as little as 9,000 traveling around the world by freighter, but there's no on board entertainment, so you'd better like to read. A "world-cruise" might be more entertaining; prices start at 20,000 US dollars for a windowless cabin.

Of all the advice offered, the one that seems most important to me is to travel light; no more than one duffel bag or backpack per person.

Posted by James Trotta at 11:23 AM | Comments (0)

American Airlines

I'm in New York because my grandfather passed away. When I learned about it, we started looking online at different airlines. Some were expensive (Korean Air, Asiana, Delta) and some were more reasonable (Continental, American Airlines, Japan Airlines, Singapre Airlines).

We usually fly JAL, but they usually make us stay overnight in Toky and there was no time for that. We called Continental and told them about the emergency. They weren't interested in helping us. We called American Airlines and they helped us. We got to New York the night before the wake.

The flight was pleasant enough too. Like JAL each seat had a persaonl movie screen and the food was good. There seemed to be fewer flight attendants and snacks, but that's not the end of the world. I'm not one of those people that makes a fuss on the airplane and needs lots of attention from flight attendants. And they were kind - finding us a new headphone since one of ours was missing the thing that goes around the plastic, bringing us the customs slip when we asked for it (we were sleeping when they were passed out), etc.

If I have a complaint it's that they messed up my wife's vegetarian meal (we expected them to be more efficient since the ticket said "vegetarian" on it). It has also been hard getting a straight answer about bereavement fares. We asked in Japan but they said there weren't any. I called the 800 number today and they said the only price break was that we got the rate for buying two weeks in adavnce even though we bgouht the day before. I should have asked in Korea, where they really really helped us and probably knew what they were doing better than any of the other AA people I've talked to.

Posted by James Trotta at 6:53 AM | Comments (0)

Air travel security in America

CAPPS II has been delayed because of privacy concerns:

The Computer-Assisted Passenger Prescreening System, or CAPPS II, would check personal information against commercial and government databases. Passengers would be given one of three color-coded ratings based on the likelihood of them being terrorists.

The program has been delayed because some U.S. airlines refused to turn over passenger data for testing, fearing that doing so could violate privacy laws. Critics also are concerned the government could mistakenly identify someone as a terrorist; they have also questioned the need to delve into the personal backgrounds of millions of law-abiding citizens.

Posted by James Trotta at 7:41 PM | Comments (0)

Cheap airfare in America this fall

Jetblue is announcing cheap fares for Fall travel in America. This is killing bigger airlines:

Pricing power in the industry has permanently shifted from the big airlines, which used to be able to drive out upstarts, to the low-cost carriers that can thrive at lower prices, he said.

"David knows how to make money," Parsons said, "and Goliath doesn't."

The older airlines, such as United, American and Delta, are saddled with higher costs for labor and planes and have suffered huge losses since 2001.

Fare cuts are "a continuing problem for the legacy carriers," said Ray Neidl, an analyst with Blaylock and Partners. "They are going to have to cut their costs to compete with the low-cost carriers."

Posted by James Trotta at 12:18 AM | Comments (0)

Dumb passengers?

Avocado's guide to air travel is a mildly amusing report of the author's experiences at Miami Airport. Their are a few "tips" for people who have never flown before.

Posted by James Trotta at 7:26 PM | Comments (0)

Search for cheap travel

mobissimo.com lets you search for airline prices at different booking services.

From the Jun. 28, 2004 issue of TIME magazine:

You can still buy tickets through Orbitz, Travelocity or any other site and get their fares and frequent-flyer miles. Mobissimo just does the research and lets you choose. Some flights shown are from overseas providers and may be listed in foreign languages, but Mobissimo converts everything to U.S. dollars.

I did a search from JFK to ATH and got results from Anyway, US Airways, Opodo, Travel Now, Travelocity, Destina, etc. The results are shown in order from cheapest to most expensive. I clicked on "Deatils/Book" for the cheapest one, and it sent me to the Anyway.com page which seems to be French. Still, I'm pretty sure I could figure it out if I wanted the tickets. Or I could return to the Mobissimo results and choose a slightly more expensive English one.

You could also check Travel - Directory of travel information and resources, discount ticket resources, hotel information

Posted by James Trotta at 6:36 PM | Comments (0)

Traveling is bad for the environment

Politicians in the UK are discussing what to do about the impact airplanes have on the environment. The fact is that when you fly you hurt the Earth. Now many times there's no alternative to flying, like when I travel from Seoul to New York.

However, if I'm going to contribute to global warming while flying, I'm going to do a little something to help mother nature. I've compiled a list of web sites where you can click in order to support a charity free. Now these web sites are not actually charities. If you buy something from them they make money. But they attract vistors by helping charities free. 5 minutes a day on these sites and you can save rainforest, feed animals in shelters, feed chimpanzees, fight hunger, etc. Knowing that you help these charities everyday should help you sleep better the next time you fly.

Posted by James Trotta at 9:47 PM | Comments (0)

Japan Arilines frequent flyer mile problem

I usually speak highly of Japan Airlines, as I do in this JAL review from a while back. Today, however, I have a complaint. We made reservations to fly back to America this summer (economy as always) with plans to use our miles to upgrade one way (27,500 miles for an upgrade to business class). We found out that there are only ten upgrade seats available/flight and none remain available this summer.

Now miles expire after two years, and a chunk of ours expire in December. We have to figure out a way to use them which means we could be at the mercy of JAL. Whatever they say we can spend them on is what we have to take. Too bad we can't get what we want or save them.

Posted by James Trotta at 11:38 PM | Comments (0)

Travel agents vs. the net / plane tickets

I just read an interesting article about a Canadian travel agent who was losing market share because his customers were turning to the internet. He has strated winning back customers with a web site of his own. I suppose this isn't just an issue for Canadian travel agents. The article mentions that nearly half e-commerce spending in the US and Canada is on travel. Here in Korea, I know I always search online (or my wife does) and when we find cheap plane tickets advertised or whatever we call up that agent. But that agent would never have gotten our business without their web site.

Speaking of plane tickets, I'm flying JAL again when I go visit my family this summer (I work in Korea; they live in America). Korean Air is the only airline flying direct from Korea to New York, and their service is excellent. But they are a bit pricey. We've also fflown JAL and Northwest. Prices are similar, but JAL's flight attendants are ten times better than Northwest's. I mean I only flew Northwest once, but never again.

Posted by James Trotta at 4:35 PM | Comments (1)

Japan Airlines

I'm at Incheon International airport, on my way to Bangcock. I'm flying Japan Airlines; it's not direct, but it's cheaper and I know the in-flight service (I fly economy) will be great.

I always recommend JAL. If you have an overnight stopover, they give you a free hotel room, with a free breakfast buffet in the morning and free shuttle bus to and from the airport. Plus they are usually cheap.

When I was leaving New York during the power outage (summer 2003), I missed my connection to Seoul because of the blackout (my morning flight was cancelled). When I finally arrived, JAL had a free steak dinner waiting, a free hotel room, and free breakfast the next morning. My wife and I don't eat meat (I am completely vegetarian), so they made her fish, but couldn't do much for me (rice and side dishes). Anyway, JAL will take care of you.

I have had problems with customer service in America, reserving special meals and confirming hotel rooms for overnight stopovers, but I still love JAL.

Posted by James Trotta at 2:44 AM | Comments (0)