United Airlines has a short-term promo for those who want to ship their bags ahead, instead of checking them at the airport. Their “Door to Door Baggage” service, which transports your bags overnight via FedEx, normally costs $79 to $99 each way, but they’re cutting the price to $25. From their press release (emphasis added): For the low price of $25 per item each way, customers can send their bags, golf clubs and skis ahead to... 

It’s been a while since I’ve traveled through Washington Dulles, but the next time I fly through, it’s not going to feel the same. I’m going to miss the mobile lounges. Since January 26, the airport has changed the way passengers move from terminal to terminal. Out with the old, in with the new. In: The Aerotrain, an inter-terminal subway. Out: The moon-buggy-style mobile lounges, oversized buses on hydraulic lifts that... 

Downgraded: Catastrophe Management SNCF, the national railway of France, publicly posted that 104 passengers had died in an explosion of the high-speed TGV. Thankfully, the news was false — completely fabricated, as an internal crisis management simulation. But alas, the test went awry, and the notice actually hit the newswires. Downgraded: Meals on Continental Continental Airlines has finally thrown in the towel and is giving up the free... 

Both American and United have expanded their paperless boarding pass programs within the United States in the past week. If mobile boarding basses are your cup of tea, you’ll be able to check in wirelessly and receive an e-mail containing your boarding pass, which is scanned right off your phone at the gate. American’s announcement brings their count of cities to 27 airports. United&#…  Read More →

Is using video chat in-flight a security threat, inconsiderate, or neither? John Battelle was sitting onboard a wi-fi enabled cross-country flight on United Airlines, and fired up video chat to wish his wife and kids a good night. (He stresses that he used headphones and the in-laptop microphone.) Then, mid-chat, a flight attendant told him to shut it down : “Security. Cameras not allowed!” …  Read More →

Upgraded: Wine you can bring onboard a flight It’s not the original intent of winemakers, and I’m sure the airline industry doesn’t advocate this, but 50ml wine sample bottles may soon be put into regular production. 50ml? 50ml is certainly below the TSA’s 100ml cutoff… Downgraded: Continental exit row seats Starting March 17, exit row seats will cost you extra money , unless you’re a Continental OnePass elite... 

Priceline has rolled out two new short-term features: A searchable display of winning bids for their Name Your Own Price hotel product, and an increased payout on its best-rate guarantee. Both are visible on the same page of their site, called the “ Big Deal Guarantee .” The display of winning bids is nice, but given that the BetterBidding or BiddingForTravel message boards exist to catalogue winning bids with greater precision,... 

In a world of a-la-carte pricing and fees for … everything… it’s always been an irony of sorts that economy hotels have continued to be as all-inclusive as they are. Free internet, free local calls, and free breakfast are commonplace at the lower end of the hotel spectrum, while at the luxury end, you’re paying for each of those. (The sweet spot may…  Read More →

Update 10:00am EST: An update on site uptime: After much wrangling, and hours on the phone with tech support, I’ve been able to restore the site fully to its state as of Friday afternoon. For those who tried to leave a comment, browse the archives, or do anything other than viewing the (cached) homepage over the weekend, welcome back. Things should be working normally again. Posting to return to normal soon. And thanks for your patience.... 

Beginning May 7, Marriott will start offering Gold and Platinum elite members free internet, but only in the US (excluding Hawaii and US territories) and Canada. Obviously they’re following Hyatt and Starwood’s lead here, although both of those chains provide free internet globally. This is better than nothing, although Marriott has a long way to go before they have a competitive loyalty program, in my book.  Read More →

Upgraded: Kids taking charge in aviation When I was a kid, I loved — loved! — going up to the cockpit during the flight. I remember sitting in a Pan Am 747 cockpit somewhere over the northern Atlantic, and the captain pointed out some icebergs floating below us. I suppose Dwight Schrute and I have the Pan Am experience in common. But in today’s security environment, kids can’t get that experience… but they can direct... 

A couple days ago, I received a “FareCatcher” airfare alert e-mail from FareCompare , and I noticed a pair of very similarly priced fares: Similar price, enormous difference in distance. Charlotte to Greensboro is 83 miles. Charlotte to Spokane is 2060 miles. A nearly 25-fold difference. Let’s look at that on the map, courtesy of the Great Circle Mapper , for laughs: Yes, yes, yes, airlines price tickets on more than just distance... 

It’s a good-news/bad-news scenario. American Airlines’ regional carrier American Eagle is upgrading the interiors of its Canadair CRJ-700 regional jets, to include 9 first-class seats. 25 existing planes will be converted; 22 new planes are on order. All are expected to be online by July 2. Putting a first-class cabin on regional jets puts them more in line with the “exPlus” product United has been offering …  Read More →

Toilet Wars: They’re on. Japan’s ANA has announced (pdf) that their larger aircraft on international routes will feature one lavatory reserved for women only. Seriously. The image above shows the pink signage that will demarcate the testosterone-free zone on the restroom doors. I’ve been skeptical of airline marketing targeted to a single gender for a while. (You may recall my skepticism of the efforts by American Airlines... 

I received an odd message today from the general manager of a Crowne Plaza Hotel. She asked me to delete a hotel review I left on TripAdvisor nearly five years ago, well before the current management took over the property. Putting aside the author’s horrible, HORRIBLE grammar and spelling, I can sympathize and understand why a hotel manager might want to have old reviews deleted. When I stayed at the property, it …  Read More →