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Recent Observation Finds Nine ‘Good’ Things About Air Travel
This is going to be good. When I first saw this story, my first thought was, ‘like what?’
Forget the technology, all parent passengers want is an honest and caring airline crew and on time flights.
Forbes Traveler, Barbara Peterson
Hard to believe, but…
As airlines slap on new fees for everything from checked bags to blankets, it’s hard to imagine anything new about air travel that could shock or surprise passengers.
Actually, there’s one: Flying may be getting—gasp!—more pleasant these days.
Some of this may be due to the recession. Airports are less crowded, and airfares have stayed low because demand is down. Airlines have also loosened some of the restrictions on frequent flier awards. American Airlines, for example, has introduced one-way award tickets and United has dropped its fees on award flights booked within three weeks of departure.
And airlines are doling out bonus miles right and left, even for such basic transactions as bookings made through their web sites. Those benefits may vanish once the economy improves, of course. But the good news for fliers is that airlines are also rolling out services and technological advances that will make air travel more tolerable when the crowds return.
“It makes perfect sense: The airlines are cutting back on airport staff, so they’ve got to go to the self-service model,” Ira Weinstein, a New York-based consultant to airport managers. (READ MORE)
Airlines Tack On Ten Dollar Surcharge for Holiday Travel
This is just an FYI. Not too major, in my opinion.
We all know that times are tough for the airline industry, and with many families not going the airline route [which has more to do with how they treat families than it does with the air fare rates ] they are trying to milk it for all its worth. Book early to possibly avoid the surcharge.
Minneapolis Airlines/Airport Examiner, Marc Friedman
The three largest U.S. airlines – Delta, American and United – have all added a $10 airfare surcharge for holiday weekend travel at Thanksgiving and New Years. Specifically, the higher pricing applies to November of this year and January 2-3, 2010. This is an obvious sign that advance sales are looking good, at least during the peak holiday dates, and the airlines are confident that they can get a little more for those travel days.
For those of you considering a Thanksgiving or Christmas season getaway to visit family or friends, now would definitely be the time to make your plans and confirm your booking. In all probability this won’t be the last price increase for the peak dates if confidence in an improving economy continues.
This $10 increase is not retroactive to earlier bookings, so once you get your reservation confirmed the price will locked in. American Airlines led the way with the latest increase which also now been matched by US Airways.
Yikes! Hefty Baggage Fees to Accompany Iternational Flights
OMG! There’s no getting around this one. Flying from LA to NY, I could usually just stuff most things in my carry on luggage or ship my Very Important Things (VIT) ahead. Now, airlines are working in a way to add $50. baggage fees to international flights. There’s NO WAY I can get by with JUST taking a carry on to South Africa. I’m going to look into timeshare jets. This might be the route to take, just get your own plane.
Associated Press, Joshua Freed
MINNEAPOLIS — You can leave the U.S., but it’s getting harder to leave behind baggage fees.
Fees to check bags on international flights are creeping in and may be here to stay. In the past three months, all the big U.S. carriers have added $50 fees to check a second bag on flights to Europe. Delta and Continental are charging second-bag fees for flights to Latin America, too.
We’ve flown this route before, with domestic bag fees. United Airlines started with a fee to check a second bag last year, and other carriers followed. The wave of international bag fees got started July 1 when Delta began charging to check a second bag between the U.S. and Europe.
By limiting baggage fees to domestic flights, the U.S. carriers left out a huge chunk of their traffic. More than half of Continental’s traffic this year has been international. At Delta, which started the move toward international bag fees, almost 39 percent of its traffic is international. (READ MORE)
UPDATE: Congress Will Move to Enact a National Standard Allowing Passengers to Deplane After Three Hours
Three hours! I was thinking more of 20 minutes. I am pleased to hear that advocate organizations for airline passengers have made it this far in legislation. I can’t believe that they are OK with waiting three hours on a plane before passengers will be given the option to get off of the plane. That’s insane (Hey, I’m rhyming!) If this is passed, I’m 99.9% sure they’ll be back requesting that this time block be cut in half, at least. I’ll keep you posted on this one.
Travel Agent Central, George Dooley
FlyersRights.org and the Business Travel Coalition (BTC) conducted a Passenger Rights Stakeholder Hearing in Washington, D.C. yesterday before a packed hearing room of airline passengers, travel professionals, Congressional staff and media in the Rayburn House Office Building.
Experts, both for and against legislation to address a growing extended-tarmac-delay problem, were sharply questioned by aviation journalists and travel industry professionals. The BTC said the “clear outcome from the hearing is that legislation is urgently required to address a growing passenger health and safety problem that airlines are apparently unable or unwilling to fix themselves.”
The hearing was sponsored by the Honorary Chairwomen Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Representative Mike Thompson (D-CA) who have championed a three-hour national standard. The standard will allow passengers the option of deplaning, should a captain decide it is safe to do so. Their bills, S.213 and HR 674, were strongly endorsed by airline passengers, FlyersRights.org, BTC, other travel groups at the hearing. (READ MORE)
Quick Tips For Family Travel Road Trips
This was a tricky one. I was immediately drawn to this story only to find that it’s a plug for the Volkswagon Routan. I thought I should post it anyway. It might not bother you as much as it sort of bothers me 
Great takeaway: Embrace some low-tech time. I’m a huge believer in getting the kids in the back seat and having them count the passing cars, or get this, read a book.
www.napsnet.com, Emily Kaufman
(NAPSI)-If you find yourself saying “Are we there yet?” as often as your kids on road trips, you may be on the wrong route for family travel.
Today, with both high-tech and low-tech ways to keep the family entertained, kids can have as much fun in the car as when they arrive.
Here are some tips on how families can make the most of every minute and every dollar on the road this year:
1) Avoid high-tech disconnect-A number of cars today, including the Volkswagen Routan, have lots of great high-tech features such as DVD players and Wi-Fi. Instead of having everyone plug in and tune out, use this technology to bond. Have the kids research and learn more about where you’re visiting and what fun things the family can do there together. You can watch an educational DVD about your destination. On the way back, use your technology to make a slide show of your trip pictures and send it to friends and families. (READ MORE)
Sites Offer Easier, More Convient Way to Manage Frequent-Flier Points
Becoming a member of a discount program requires proper management to get the full value . When it comes to managing the dates at our timeshare, or figuring out if we’ve earned that roundtrip ticket, I usually breakdown. Now, I don’t have to. According to an article in the LA Times, there are websites that will do all of the managing those frequent-flier miles for me. This should be helpful.
Los Angeles Times, Scott J. Wilson
With 23 frequent-flier accounts in his household, Scott Wilson knew there had to be a simple way to monitor them. He test-piloted several websites that range from free to $15 a year. One came out ahead.
I’ve long collected frequent-flier miles haphazardly. With each flight, 1,000 or so miles go into one of several accounts I have with various airlines.
I don’t fly a lot, so the miles don’t add up fast. But it’s like putting loose change into a jar each night — you hope that someday it’ll amount to something.
Still, keeping track of my miles has become a chore. This is compounded by the fact that I also monitor the accounts of my wife and our two children. When I looked recently, I found 23 frequent-flier accounts in our household. The only way to keep track of the miles was to log in to each account online, one at a time.
There’s got to be a better way, I thought. And there is.
I recently tried out six online services that offer to track your frequent-flier miles for you. I wanted one that would show all my family’s miles, plus the expiration dates (it’s no use accumulating miles only to see them suddenly disappear). Ideally, all the information should be on one page. And if I could get it all free, all the better.
None of the six met all those criteria. But five of them will help simplify your frequent-flier monitoring. (The sixth is not ready for prime time.) The cost ranged from free to $15 a year, and in one case, whatever you want to pay. Most of the services also allow you to track miles earned through credit card, hotel and car rental reward programs as well as through accounts established directly with the airlines. (READ MORE)
Shift Focus to Effective Way to Pack Your Wallet for Your Next Trip
Talk about taking it to another level. So often we focus on packing our regular luggage that we don’t take the time to plan what’s in our wallets. This facet of traveling is important because there’s nothing like needing an important document or card and not having it. The key to a successful family trip is planning. Today’s feature should help.
Fox News.com, Paul Eisenberg
When the overstuffed wallet in his back pants pocket caused him to sit on a slant, George Costanza crammed some paper napkins into his other back pocket to balance himself out.
As a wallet-carrying culture, we really haven’t been the same since.
In the ensuing years since that classic “Seinfeld” moment, you’ve perhaps regularly cleared out the useless cards, receipts, and slips of paper from your wallet, purse, or European carry-all. And if you’re like me, you likely do this right before you leave for a trip.
Should you be on the verge of some wallet pruning, it may be time to think about what cards you really need on the road. (READ MORE)
Make it a Point to be a Good House Guest, Especially if the Kids Will Be Staying
It’s something you never really think about, but being a good house guest, especially when you’re bringing your kids along, has to be intentional. Honestly, I made it a rule a long time ago that when we travel to see relatives or friends, I will absolutely NOT stay at their house. We opt for the local hotel. I have certain criteria that the host must meet in order for me to take them up on their “stay with us” offer, and they are:
1. Your house must be clean (I won’t go into my definition of what “clean” is)
2. They must be willing to allow my children to be who they are, meaning, not micro manage their behavior in order to protect their sofa or the kitchen floor.
3. We MUST have our own space in the home. I need a place to hang bath towels, wash clothes, wash bottles, cook kid meals, etc.
There’s more to this list, but I’ll stop here to get on with today’s article. Check it out to find out if you meausre up to what it takes to be a good house guest.
Budget Travel, Brad Tuttle
Crashing with family or friends? Budget Travel asked etiquette experts to weigh in with tips on how to be the perfect houseguest—you know, the kind that hosts invite back. (See our article “The Delicate Art of Mooching.”)
The following three bonus tips are specifically aimed at families:
If You’ve Got a Baby, Use a Changing Pad
It doesn’t matter if you change diapers anywhere and everywhere in your own home. “When you’re in someone else’s house, use a changing pad, even on top of a bedspread or a rug,” says Norine Dresser, author of Multicultural Manners: Rules of Etiquette for the 21st Century. “Doing otherwise can be incredibly offensive.”
Keep Snack Time Sacred
If the host’s kids aren’t allowed snacks at certain times, do your best to make your own children abide—or at least sneak them something on the side, so as not to upset anybody. (Just don’t get caught!)
Don’t Spoil Everyone’s Good Time
Disciplining children is tricky business when you’re a guest in someone’s home. No one wants to hear parents yelling at their children non-stop. “Don’t scold your children in front of everyone else,” says June Hines Moore, author of Manners Made Easy for the Family. “Take them away from the game or the dinner table to make your point. But you must discipline them. Your hosts may consider it rude if you’re not correcting your children as to proper behavior.”
(READ MORE)
Back to School Means Fewer Lines and Lower Costs for Families Who Can Get Away
Now that America’s kids are back in the classroom and parents are getting back into the routine of things, this is a good time to take advantage of the less hassle you’ll find at airports, hotels and other travel destinations.
Today’s article lays out why planning your travel now is a smart thing to do. This fact is one of the reasons my husband and I decided to get married toward the end of August. Travel rates drop tremendously at this time, which allows us to travel on our anniversary year after year.
Tribune Media Service, Ellen Ogintz
If you’re toting a stroller and diaper bag or home-school assignments while everyone else is waiting for the school bus, your family may be ready for some low-hassle travel.
You and your kids can fly down the alpine coaster at Park City Mountain Resort, party with the “Sesame Street” gang at Beaches resorts in the Caribbean, explore nature with Appalachian Mountain Club guides in New England or learn crafts (ever see a barrel being made?) in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, the gateway to Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
The best part — besides the great deals everywhere: “There are no lines at anything,” whether you are heading to a theme park or a new museum exhibit, says San Diego mom and blogger Sugar Jones, who is homeschooling her 7-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son this year so that they can continue to travel, learning as they go at butterfly gardens, museums and mountaintops. (Follow their adventures at www.SugarJones.TV.)
See how much fun science can be at Kid City, designed for young children at San Diego’s Reuben H. Fleet Science Center. Also in kid-friendly San Diego, your kids are the ideal age for Legoland, the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park and SeaWorld, not to mention the beach. A number of museums in Balboa Park — where the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center is located — have special programs for young kids and, of course, there’s the park’s miniature railroad and carousel. SEA LIFE Aquarium just celebrated its first birthday and is especially geared toward younger children. Look for discount tickets at Costco. (READ MORE)
Remembering September 11th…
We mourn for those that were lost and we thank God for those who made it out alive. We will never forget.
