Speaking up
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 [...]
Help! My crystal ball is broken!
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.
Confronting transfer fears
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.
Speechless
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 [...]
Tech help for the homeless
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?
Travel.com faces post-new economy future
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.”
Great Getaway deals
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.
Forbidden adventures beckon travelers
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.
Will wireless airport access make us happy?
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.
Give us what we need
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?