Last week’s column about a woman and her family who were removed from a Delta Air Lines flight sparked outrage among readers. Many wrote in to criticize the carrier for the way it handled the incident, but others e-mailed to say the ejected passenger isn’t alone. Here are just a few of the responses:
Q: Did [...]
From the yearly archives:
2000
The only thing that can be said about online travel with any certainty is that nothing is certain. Believe me. I’ve been writing about this business since the very beginning, and just when I think I’ve got it all figured out, fate makes a fool of me. So as this year winds to a close, rather than gazing into my crystal ball, I’m taking a look back at some of the boneheaded things I’ve recently predicted. Read on and laugh with me. You may learn something from my mistakes.
Upgrade anxiety. Neo-laptop phobia. Computer complacency. Call it what you want, but the fear of a new computer afflicts us all. Specifically, the distress we feel when faced with the prospect of transferring all of our files from the old PC to a new one. Admit it: a new computer intimidates you. At no time of the year is the notebook trepidation more severe than now.
Q: I have never been in trouble with the law or experienced any problems with authority in my entire life – until I flew from Orlando to Allentown/Bethlehem/Easton, Pennsylvania via Cincinnati on Delta Air Lines last month.
I was traveling with my six-year-old daughter, my mother, my sister, my niece and two nephews. We were returning [...]
Poor Mike Foster. A public speaker, consultant and consummate business traveler, Foster harbors a secret he would reluctantly share with a client, let alone a columnist: he’s homeless. “I literally travel all the time,” he admits. “My mailbox is in Dallas, my telephone is in Cleveland, and my fax is in Seattle. I haven’t had to make a bed or wash dishes in over three years. I have no home.” How’s that?
Of all the coveted domain names in the online travel business, one has stood above all others for the better part of the last decade, not only in terms of recognition but also in its elusiveness: Travel.com. Since 1992, when St. Louis entrepreneur Rik Brown registered the memorable moniker, suitors have tried unavailingly to secure this holy grail of URLs. They’ve schemed, plotted, and even begged for a piece of Travel.com. He didn’t budge. “There’s always the offer of the week,” he says. “Even now, with things the way they are.”
You just found out you can get away for a few days around the holidays but fear it’s too late to plan an exciting, affordable trip. Don’t worry. Several Web sites can help you plan a getaway at the last minute. These sites, which specialize in booking trips at the 11th hour, buy airline tickets and hotel rooms that would have gone unused – known as “distressed inventory” in the travel business. You could end up getting the best price possible.
When you think of destinations that are off-limits, places like Beijing’s Forbidden City, Cuba or even Roswell, N.M., probably come to mind. Not Stockerau, Austria. But take a Web site and a few wired expatriates with a taste for adventure, and anything can happen. The attraction in question is a relatively small patch of national park between the Danube River and Stockerau (pop. 15,664), a quiet town that’s about a 20-minute drive northwest of Vienna. It’s promoted as a weekend destination for hikers, boaters and bikers – the so-called “soft” adventure crowd that accounts for the majority of trips in the adventure segment.
If you believe everything you read, you probably think wireless Internet access is the first technology miracle of the 21st century and that it’s coming soon to an airport near you soon. Well, don’t believe everything you read. For example, when the ubiquitous Associated Press proclaims that new wireless technology promises to “soothe delayed passengers,” don’t buy it. Those of us who use wireless technology day in and day out know the things it does, and soothing us is not one of them.
Last week I promised yet another column of holiday gift suggestions. I’d been talked into reviewing three digital video cameras as possible presents for business travelers. But never mind. No sooner had I received one of the products did I get a frantic e-mail from a publicist that the gizmo was “in high demand” and insisting I return it in a flash. The other device arrived without a disk, while the third is apparently not being used by anyone right now, so what does it matter?
The International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame (ISHF) may not have a site on the Internet or even a permanent home in the real world. But that didn’t stop it from inducting its first members amid much fanfare this fall. Neither did it temper the proclamations that the new hall of fame would become one of the Cayman Islands’ biggest tourist draws within a few short months. The hall of fame’s got two things going for it: the Cayman’s legendary reputation in the Scuba community as one of the world’s premier places to dive. And a flashy, informative Web site for divers.
Unless you’re an avid golfer and reasonably Web savvy, you’ve probably never heard of TravelGolf.com. For good reason. TravelGolf.com has only been around since August, and it advertises its URL sparingly, if at all. The golf travel niche isn’t enormous: One in eight travelers, or about 17.4 million adults, played golf while on an extended trip, according to the Travel Industry Association of America. Of those, less than a third would consider buying their trip online, according TravelGolf.com’s internal research. But hidden under the site’s two-tone markup is one of the online travel industry’s most fascinating success stories.
Last week, I reviewed some of the less expensive holiday gifts you can give the wired traveler in your life. For those of you who dismissed my suggestions as too cheap, don’t fret. Here’s a chance to show your love by reaching deep into your pockets and plunking down serious cash for one of these gadgets.
Q: Thanks for sticking up for us childfree types by pointing out that people are ultimately responsible when their children scream on airline flights.
It was especially gutsty to add that people who don’t realize this shouldn’t be having children. I expect your computer will melt down from the blistering flames that ensue from incensed breeders.
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It should come as no surprise that one of the best-kept secrets in the online travel business is the takeoff of a new company called iJet. What else would you expect from a venture piloted by a former National Security Agency operative, staffed in large part by retired spies, and headquartered in Annapolis, MD, a magnet for current and former intelligence workers? “I guess intelligence professionals know how to stay below the radar screen,” says Paul Stiles, iJet’s founder and chief executive. “We wanted to keep a low profile until we had something to talk about, until we were ready to go public.” The time is nearly there.
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