Whither the Fuel

A post from someone I know on Twitter (www.twitter.com ; a micro-blogging platform for those of you not familiar with it):

"Decline of airline industry, part 243,865: One working fuel truck at SFO, and it just ran out of fuel itself. Can only laugh.."

It's Up to the Flight Attendant???

You're probably aware that USAir/Dare/Scare has begun charging for soft drinks and water. Well, CNBC just reported that flight attendants have discretion to charge the full $2 or if the passenger balks, $1 or even free. This takes stupidity to a new level. In other words, I as a passenger now have incentive to get angry with the flight attendants??? I have long since stopped being surprised at the complete lunacy of airlines management but I've got to admit, this one takes it to a new level.

• We're going to piss you off by imposing a ridiculous fee.
• We're going to expose ourselves to lawsuits by people who get dehydrated.
• And if you get upset at this, well, we were only kidding.

I'd love to have been in on the meetings where they decided this one. If this were a Saturday Night Live skit, you'd think "this is really stretching reality" but this is the airline industry where truth is indeed stranger than fiction.

In-Flight Talking

Please pass this law. Please!!

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10004170-1.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

The last thing I want on my flight is someone talking on their cell phone, too loudly, for four hours. And you know someone will do that.

On the other hand, it can be a source of amusement...and value. Within the last five years, I was on a flight to the Pacific time zone (that won't help you identify the vendor). The guy seated next to me in 2D has his papers out on his lap and is talking on the airphone. Lawyer. He's talking strategy about the lawsuit they've got underway against the vendor I'm going to visit. Of course, I listen attentively...and when we land, call company executive and repeat the conversation. If he's going to be stupid enough to talk in public, I don't think I was under any moral obligation to keep his conversation in confidence. He didn't, so why should I. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

That said, no phones. And don't tell me we'll have phone/no phone seating. I remember when there were smoking and the-smoke-will-get-to-you-five-minutes-later sections. There was no no-smoking section. Just as there would be no quiet car. It works for Amtrak, not for airplanes. Where is that Get Smart cone of silence when you need it.

GPS Devices: Navigon 2100, TomTom XL 330

TomTom recently sent me an XL 330 to review. (Full disclosure: TomTom used to be a client when I was at Hill & Knowlton. I have no commercial relationship with them any more although I'd love for them to become clients.) I have been using this along side the Navigon 2100 that I purchased (for $100; a post-Thanksgiving special at Staples). I also have CoPilot software on my old Motorola Q (although it doesn't work on my new Verizon 6800; waiting for new version).

Here are some early impressions:

• The 4.3" screen is fabulous. For these old eyes, it makes a huge difference over the smaller GPS devices. You can actually read things on screen that on the smaller devices I have to squint or guess at.
• The TomTom routing algorithms are very good. This contrasts with the Navigon algorithm which, even after their firmware upgrade, is very poor. I can't really rely on the Navigon unless I'm desperate; the TomTom is good.
• Navigon's claim to fame is its visual display of road signs at major intersections. It's a nice feature but doesn't alone compensate for all of the other shortcomings of the device.
• TomTom has desktop software that makes device maintenance a pleasure. While the process of adding points of interest is a bit inefficient (after loading a POI set, you should return back to the download page), it works cleanly. By contrast, the Navigon has no ability to add POIs, its existing set is not great and the third party workarounds just serve to point out just how bad the situation is.
• TomTom has a great feature where when you plug in a USB cable, it asks you if you want to synch to a computer or merely use the USB for power. By contrast, the Navigon, unless you're using their special cable, assumes you want to synch to the computer and renders the device inoperable. Why do vendors force you to buy their specialized cables? I'm used to that in the cell phone world where even there, it's happening less and less. On devices like this, there's no excuse for it. Thank you, TomTom.
• The TomTom UI is fairly intuitive. There are some things I had to poke around for a while to find but ultimately I was able to do everything I wanted to (and only then did I read the documentation to see if I had missed anything; I hadn't). The Navigon is slightly worse in this regard; many options require an additional touch or two to reach which given that you might be doing this while driving -- I know; you're not supposed to -- is an issue.
• The windshield mount with the Navigon is this overly large contraption that works well but is too bulky for travel. The TomTom has a very nice ring-type device which I fear might grow loose over time but initially is a very compact solution.
• To keep the purchase price down, it seems no one at this low end category includes a carrying case for the device. You'll have to spend another $10-20 to get something.
• I'm disappointed in the battery life of all of these devices, routinely in the 2-4 hour range if you're not plugging in a car charger. I'll often spend more time than this in the car in the course of a day and thus, you have to figure out when you're going to charge the device unless you carry the car charger. I don't mind doing it in client meetings -- I'm the advanced technologies guy -- but for some people, this might be disruptive.
• TomTom has a nice community-based feature to provide interim updates to maps. Exploiting the power of the community is increasingly going to be a competitive differentiator for these companies and TomTom does it well, Navigon not at all.
• The good news about the Navigon: when I bought it, I got a free lifetime traffic subscsription. The bad news: I don't find much utility in these services. What I want out of a service (and on the radio, for that matter) is a binary judgment: it's better to stay on your route and plan for extra time, or you really should take this alternative; it's that bad. Right now I haven't seen a traffic service that offers that kind of simplicity.
• The TomTom acquires the satellite signal MUCH faster than the Navigon. From a cold start, it takes the Navigon around a minute to determine location.
• The TomTom is a little slow to do route recalculations. I have a few shortcuts I routinely take and after turning off on my own, the TomTom took sufficiently long to recalculate on that I would have missed my next turn.

For the reason of the lousy routing algorithm and the POI handling, I recommend strongly against the Navigon. TomTom isn't overly flashy. There's no "signature" feature. It just does everything the way you'd want it to.

Losing, and Finding, Your Car

JetBlue on Twitter (www.twitter.com/jetblue ) has a really useful travel tip for those of you (well, us) who have "lost" a car at airport parking: http://twitter.com/JetBlue/statuses/852759910 .

I actually managed to lose my car in the parking garage at Hartford Bradley Airport. I knew its general location but what I didn't realize is that the Hartford parking garage effectively has two symmetrical ramp structures under the one building. While I was going up and down one set of ramps, there was a complementary set of ramps further back doing the exact same angling. Of course, I didn't find this out until after calling security for help finding the car. When I finally went around a corner, I realized three things:

1. There was this other set of ramps that I hadn't been searching.
2. My car was precisely where I left it and where I thought it would be...only on the other side of the wall.
3. I was going to have fun explaining this one to the security guard. He actually laughed and said this happened about once an hour. I guess it was my hour.

This of course was in a car that did not have one of those key fob door openers. How many of you have gone around clicking that, listening for your car's horn? Let's just say I've done that more than once. Very effective.

JetBlue on the Phone

For some reason, my JetBlue TrueBlue number is associated with my full name, with middle initial, so that when a ticket is issued in my name without initial, JetBlue assumes I must be someone else and doesn't associate my number with the reservation. I have to call JetBlue to fi the situation each time. When I did so today, JetBlue's recorded greeting was all too happy to point out that my call was being connected to Salt Lake City. Good start. And the agent was great. Just did his job quickly and efficiently. Even upsold me on the premium seating; for $30 on the transcon, you get 38" pitch instead of the standard 34". Even 34 is good; most carriers' standard coach is 31". 3" and 4" doesn't sound like much but it's huge. 31 is cozy, 34 is comfortable, 38 is spacious. And I didn't even feel bad about that upcharge; $30 for 5 hours of improved comfort seemed like a reasonable trade-off. Like first class without the alcohol. :)

I'm not looking forward to the JetBlue JFK experience until the new terminal is open in the fall. I could park off-premises but it's an early enough morning flight that I'll take a car service (even if my round-trip car service isn't much different than my round-trip airfare; is it any wonder the airline business is in a world of hurt?).

Even when they're bad...

I was going to take the 8:35 Amtrak to Boston last night. It was listed as on time...but getting there early (7:50) as is my wont, I noticed that the 6:35 was just pulling in. I dashed out to the platform, asked the conductor if I could get on this train and after a moment's hesitation -- she said my train was going to be there in half an hour; I said "yours is here now" -- she said c'mon. Full train but comfortable seat and trying to make up for lost time, they were a few minutes faster than the regular train.

The only drawback to not having my car here in Boston is for grocery shopping. I can either take the T (or a long walk, not fun in the heat) and carry what I can carry or I can get delivery via Peapod (www.peapod.com ). Peapod has a $50 minimum, so it's not for my every shopping excursion but I think that'll be OK for most situations.

I May Have to Reconsider this Amtrak Thing

They give me no blogging material. Boston to New Haven last night. Train left on time, arrived on time. Comfortable. Clean. Even largely full.

OK, so the first half hour served as a cautionary tale for cell phones on airplanes. Is there really anyone who thinks this is a good idea?? The person in front of me was obviously from Podunk, Iowa. They went on and on and on about how big the buildings in New York and Boston were and could you imagine, the roads don't always have lane dividers painted on them, etc., etc. I fell asleep in self-defense. (Note: on trains, always set some kind of alarm. Unlike planes, they don't automatically kick you off at your stop.) But even here, Amtrak has an answer: the quiet car. No cell phone usage.

One downside: Amtrak's awards program is really feeble. At 5,000 miles/transcon roundtrip, I can earn a free ticket on the airlines every five trips (assuming, optimistically, you can find a flight at the saver award level). By contrast, I figure it will take me thirty round trips (at $100/round trip) to earn a free ticket on Amtrak. I guess I'll have to think about the Amtrak MasterCard which, if I use the card merely for Amtrak purchases, would reduce that threshhold to 10 round trips.

San Francisco Treats

Asides from being one of my favorite cities in the world, San Francisco is one of the great hotel cities around with a great range of properties from impersonal conference hotels (the Hyatt and Marriott) to grand old hotels (Fairmont and Mark Hopkins) to world class properties (Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton) to touristy places to boutiques. Of late, I've found myself gravitating towards the Kimpton properties (http://www.kimptonhotels.com/). I've now stayed at three of them -- the Monaco, Prescott and Serrano -- and they all share some great characteristics:

• They're relative bargains. (Under $300/night in San Francisco counts as a bargain.)
• They have character. Rooms all differ but they share a warmth and comfort level that make even standard rooms seem something nicer.
• The staff cares. Kimpton calls out its customer satisfaction and my experience has been that everyone, from front desk staff to bellmen, understand that this is the brand promise and that it's up to them to deliver on it.
• Location. They're all around Union Square, convenient to work, Moscone (if you're there for a convention), dining, transportation, etc.
• Dining options. I'm not sure if this formula was started in San Francisco but it certainly seems to be prevalent there. Pair up a boutique hotel with a trendy restaurant. The benefits if you're a hotel guest: room service that's way better than usual and preferred access if you want to dine in the restaurant. And the evening wine reception offers really good wine with the really eclectic Kimpton guests, always a good combination.

Kimpton has a rewards program though I stay at their hotels not because I can also earn loyalty points but because they're such a pleasure to stay at. And I've found that because I'm a member of their program, the properties have been very generous in giving me immediate recognition, with flexibility around room level (upgrades) and check-in/check-out times.

Negatives? In probably a dozen stays across several cities (SF, Seattle, Portland), I've never had anything that would count as negative. Predictably good stays at interesting properties at affordable rates? I like that formula.

It's Not Just Me

I was flying back Friday SFO-JFK in business class and started talking to the passenger next to me, indicating my complete disgust with the state of the traditional carriers today. He indicated that he was a 2+ million mile flyer on American and that this was his last flight on American. He too was so disgusted by recent moves and their counter-productive outcomes that all his flying going forward was going to be on Southwest or JetBlue.

It's one thing when the recent moves of the airlines drive dissatisfaction among the low paying leisure passengers and potentially cause them to pay more of their share as compared with business travelers. I don't agree with the approach even while I understand the objective. However, if their approach towards achieving that objective drives away the very passengers they need to retain, perhaps someone ought to be questioning their approach...and sanity.

Let's Play "Alienate Your Customer"

You'd think it's simple. I'm scheduled on a 1:30 flight tomorrow from SFO-JFK. I'll be done a little earlier. American has an 11:15 a.m. flight. As I write, there 11 seats available. No problem, you'd think. Pay a nominal fee and you can leave two hours early. Au contraire, mon ami. If I want to confirm something, it will cost me a $150 change fee plus a fare adjustment of about $200. $350 incremental (my entire ticket right now is $439) for two hours earlier. My other option is to go to the airport in time for the early flight and go standby. Get on, great. Otherwise, sit there an additional 2-1/4 hours.

The way I see it, my options are extortion or Russian Roulette. Neither of these is good business. If this weren't the airlines business, the government would say "can we wire you; those activities are illegal."

This is the same American that shows commercials about a business traveler wanting to get home to see their family. So now, instead of landing at 8:05, getting home by 10...and seeing my kids before they go to sleep...instead now, I land at 10:10, home by, oh, midnight. Thanks, American; put that in your commercial.

Yet another reason I'm flying JetBlue next time...

Taking the Train

I guess I'm not the only one who has noticed that the train is cheaper and more relaxing than driving.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/21/business/21amtrak.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin

The good news here for me I suppose is that as long as I can get a seat, I'm not terribly worried that Amtrak's success will diminish the travel experience. Trains are sufficiently comfortable that even full, it's a very good travel experience.

Depressing though that now that this country is perhaps finally ready for reliable, high speed, high quality train service...we're not in a position to meet the demand. Figures.

Putting My Money Where My Mouth Is

I'm taking American to San Francisco on Tuesday, returning on Friday. That could be my last transcon on American for the year. In July, when I'm back out in the Bay Area, I'm taking JetBlue from JFK. It's a shame their new terminal (http://www.t508.com/) isn't open yet. Parking's a hassle so I may well consider taking a car service back and forth to the airport. The other bonus for me: I'll be at the Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay and then in San Jose on this particular trip and JetBlue actually flies nonstop into San Jose (SJC) in addition to SFO. Saves 30-60 minutes of ground transportation. That said, the rental car situation at SJC is an absolute circus with inadequate ground space and inconsistent centralized shuttle bus service. Oh well. You'd think as they've been building out this airport over the years, they could have planned something around rental cars and roadways, but it has been a mess for years and years. It always appears to be in a state of construction...but that they're making things worse rather than better.

I always find it amusing that SJC is now officially Mineta San Jose International Airport. First of all, can you think of another airport that's named for a living individual? None come to mind for me. Second, when I was at Hill & Knowlton in a previous job, the firm hired Norm Mineta to be a senior strategic advisor. I worked briefly with him on a couple of new business proposals and so it's now always weird to fly through the airport being as I know the guy. Great guy and all...but is he really the first person you'd think of to name your airport after if you were willing to name it for anyone, living or dead? And having established this precedent, how long do you think it will be before airlines, like sports teams, start selling naming rights to their airline terminals? "Welcome to Pepto-Bismol United Terminal B here at LaGuardia..."

Musings on American: Why I May Be Done with Them for the Year

I'm a Platinum flyer on American. I've already reached 25,000 miles on them for the year. Here's why that may be enough:

• On my most frequent routes (transcon), Platinum isn't enough to get you upgraded. My upgrade rate is less than 20%, probably closer to 10.
• Given USAir's salvo, I expect that mileage bonuses will be eliminated. Therefore, there's no value to higher levels of privilege.
• At 25,000 miles, I already qualify for most of the priority/fee treatments.
• I don't expect to reach Platinum Exec.

If I've already got the key remaining benefits and the coach product sucks as compared with my transcon alternatives (JetBlue, Virgin America), why would I fly American any more?

Next Vista: Frequent Flyer Miles

USAir has eliminated bonuses for its preferred level members of its frequent flyer program (http://www.usairways.com/awa/Content/dividendmiles/preferred/benefits.aspx). USAir's rationale: the cost of mileage redemption is a cost they can no longer afford to incur. This is the death knell for "loyalty" programs. Given the monkey see, monkey do management style of the large American airlines, we can expect the others to follow suit. When this happens, I guess they're all concluding this is a zero sum game. For every passenger I retain, the other airlines are retaining someone else, so if we all lower our benefits, there's no net change. If you take JetBlue and Southwest out of the equation, that's probably true. American, United, USAir, Northwest = zero sum game. Lowering their marginal attractiveness just moves more business elsewhere.

I haven't booked my next flight to the Bay Area for July...but if I believe anything that I've written, it's going to be on JetBlue or Virgin America.

United Sucks

Joe Brancatelli, one of the deans of business travel, just wrote a column calling United the “Worst. Airline. Ever.” (http://www.portfolio.com/business-travel/seat-2B/2008/06/10/Worst-Airline-Ever ) I came to that conclusion a few years ago. (As an aside, when I subscribed to his newsletter, JoeSentMe, my wife thought a name like that had to be some porn I had subscribed to. “No, it’s a travel newsletter.”)

Anyhow, I used to be among the most loyal of United flyers. I would even fly through O’Hare to get to Dallas from New York instead of flying American nonstop. It’s not like United was a paragon of customer service but I could always count on finding an employee that cared enough to go above and beyond.

Things got even better when, around 1991, someone at United tested an interesting proposition: that the frequent flyer program didn’t reward profitable travelers. The year they did this was a year I flew to Australia twice, once on a $10,000 first class ticket and once on a $7,500 business class ticket. While I didn’t even make it to 100,000 miles, and hence was not noticed by the Mileage Plus gods, I was in fact United’s 7th most profitable flyer that year. As a result, I got the super secret phone numbers. They held planes for me, they made space…they valued my business. I looked forward to flying United. They treated me even better than I got treated at home.

A million miles later, United decided to institutionalize this level of service with its Global Services program. The first year, I qualified. The second year, however, despite flying as much as ever, I had the misfortune of flying on a competitive route where United slashed its airfares and as a result, I didn’t qualify for Global Services. Missing the safety net of the magic phone numbers, I had some "standard" experiences. As a result, I started flying nonstop on other airlines. Meanwhile, I corresponded with United brass, suggesting that terminating a user after one year of lowered revenue was perhaps a foolish attitude. They asked, obviously rhetorically, “how would you feel if you had qualified and we bent the standards for someone else?” I suggested to them that given the state of the US airline business, I would applaud their efforts to attract and retain profitable, high volume business flyers and that the health of the airline was an important consideration for a traveler like me. Of course, this didn’t sway them.

As I shifted my allegiance, perhaps not coincidentally United starting finding New York a difficult market. They downsized their transcon planes to remove capacity, they stopped flying to London and Tokyo and otherwise decreased their footprint in New York. Indignity of indignities, the "United" terminal at JFK became the British Airways terminal. Fewer flights. Labor problems. Gruesome customer “service” experiences. Net result: I think I’ve flown United once in the last three years. Has anyone from United ever called to see why not? I guess that would require that someone at United really care to understand why things have gone so horribly awry. Or care, period. They're just working on their golden parachutes. Or maybe they’re afraid that I’m going to ask “where are my lost bags?” United was slow in delivering my bags two years ago. In fact, as far as they’re concerned, they’re still lost. I spent several hours calling United's Indian lost baggage call center, getting conflicting answers and other answers I just knew to be wrong. Several hours later, I decided it was just easier to go back to the San Diego airport to see what was going on. I found them sitting unwatched in the baggage claim area and took them with me. No one from United was there to watch. If they have surveillance video, no one from United ever called to confirm that I’m the one who picked up the bags. As far as they know, my bags are still lost. And so is my business with United.

Good bye United. Going, going…and soon enough to be forgotten. (Note to self: use up the last of the frequent flyer miles before United goes under. On merchandise; I'm not going to bet that they'll still be flying.)

Where Will the Madness Stop?

Today it's USAir announcing that they're going to charge for all beverages and water (http://www.kyw1060.com/pages/2367256.php?contentType=4&contentId=2212779). I am going to go to my doctor's on Monday and get a note saying that if I go more than one hour on an airplane without fluids, I am risking my physical health. That ought to establish sufficient grounds for a lawsuit. And the bacteria count in the water in the washrooms? In the spirit of helping USAir out of our misery, here's a list of other things they should charge for. (As an aside...do you know their customer service motto? "We're not happy 'til you're not happy." They ought to be very happy today.)

• You know how they ask us for our window/aisle preference. Whichever it is, it will cost $10 extra. I'm going to change my profile to say I want a middle seat. First, that means I'll get a window or aisle free. Second, they're so screwed up, they'd never assign me a middle seat. (By the way, I still don't think they've merged my USAir and AmericaWest accounts. Probably Piedmont and PSA for that matter...)
• Seat bottom cushions that actually float: $10.
• A per transaction charge for the seat belt: Every time you click and unclick, it's a dollar.
• Much as data communications companies want to charge data plans by the megabyte, USAir will charge by the word for conversations with flight attendants, gate agents, customer support agents, lost baggage agents and the like. And there will be surcharges for effective outcomes: if they actually resolve your problem, there's a 20% premium. The good news: they'll never charge the premium.
• Here's one I think they'll really use: taking a cue from London (congestion pricing) and Houston (parallel roads, one free and one toll), security lines will have various length and price. Short lines, high price, getting higher as the lower priced line gets longer. Wall Street will enter this game since pricing will vary even as you wait in line so you can hedge your price.
• In flight entertainment: since there's very little to pay for right now, the Barney theme song and "It's a Small World" will be played over the PA system until the passengers have contibuted in aggregate $5,000. Bose headphones will be banned from use until such time as the ransom...er, fee...has been met.
• In the unlikely event of a water landing, egress from the plane will be on a first paid, first exited basis. Fees will be based on the size of your estate which must be verified before you exit the plane. For an additional fee, you can be pre-verified before departure, ensuring immediate exit from the plane. (No refunds in case of death.)
• Bereavement discounts will be replaced with bereavement surcharges. It works for funeral homes and after all, the travel experience is more like death every day.

What am I missing?

New York-Boston

The numbers look compelling: Acela from New York to Boston takes about 3:40. One of the airline shuttles takes 1:05. Clearly, therefore, if you're in a hurry, take the shuttle. Not so fast...

Let's look at door-to-door, assuming downtown to downtown:

(I apologize for the formatting; somewhere I'll figure out how to get this in tabular form. Even with entering spaces, it compresses them for some reason. No, I meant to type those spaces! Sorry.)

Acela Shuttle
Time to terminal 0:15 0:45
Time before departure 0:15 1:00
Time en route 3:40 1:24
Time to destination 0:10 0:45

Total time 4:20 3:54

In a best-case scenario for each, the shuttle is only about 20% faster. If you have to check your bags, you're now talking about virtual parity.

Then let's starting adding in subjective factors:

Hassle factor Very low Have you flown lately?
Likelihood of delay Low LaGuardia...5 p.m....weekday...
Impact of weather Low Hotel room
Leg space Spacious Specious
Food It's not Lutece It's not at all
Fare (5 p.m. same day) $150.00 $339.50
(And for $68 more, you can get first class Acela that includes meal and unlimited cocktails)
Work ability The whole ride 23 minutes
Noise Quiet car Why you paid $300 for Bose

Tell me again why you're taking the shuttle? See you on the train...

TripIt

There are a lot of "social" travel sites emerging. Dopplr is one popular one but my favorite, for one simple reason, is TripIt (http://www.tripit.com). That one reason: they've solved the data input problem. Most travel sites require that you enter full details of your trip (flights, hotels, reservation numbers, etc.). TripIt however has you send your confirmation email to plans@tripit.com and it automatically parses the email to figure out the relevant travel items in the email.

The social features on all of these sites are still evolving and TripIt's not the best of the breed but if only because it solves the data entry problem, TripIt is my first choice. Dopplr seems to have a lead, at least among my travel network, but I'm trying to move them all over to TripIt. At the very least, given the lack of data entry, it's reasonable to use it as your second travel site. There's minimal incremental effort and some added value.

Acela Tips

The last row of many Acela cars is a single seat, with tons of room in front of you. There's not a bad seat on Acela but this one is a cut above. As you might imagine, it's usually the first seat to go. The best way to get the seat: have a bellcap carry your bags to the train. In Boston and New York, they'll take you to the train before general boarding begins. You tip them $2-5 and voila, the best seat on the train. I sometimes get funny looks from fellow passengers who think "what's such a healthy looking guy doing have the bellcap carry his bags for him." Then they see me sitting in this seat and think "pretty smart (or obnoxious) guy."

This one qualifies as the greatest bargain in travel. $15 for your first bag on American or $2 for the best seat on Acela. Not much competition.