Disabled on Delta
Q: I have been trying to get a flight from Tampa, Fla., to New York’s JFK with accommodations for my oxygen-dependent wife.
Delta Air Lines, going against all common sense, tells me we can’t avail ourselves of a direct flight but will have to accept flights with stopovers. This seems senseless and much more costly for [...]
Spring cleaning brings surprises
Nothing in the online travel business is as predictable as the annual spring-cleaning ritual. Every March, without fail, some of the best-known brands in our business give their electronic storefronts a once-over. But this year, things are different. The redesigns are still happening. Even the most casual observer will notice the new graphics, the subtle changes in background color, or the fresh logos that are popping up like crocuses all over the Web. However, the superficial alterations distract us from the more substantial changes that are taking place in the industry.
Stupid users? No, stupid technology
Ever heard the one about the traveler who kept getting paged by someone named Lucille? The despondent user phoned tech support for help. He wanted to call Lucille and ask her to stop beeping him, but she hadn’t left a return number. After a few minutes of back and forth, the technician finally asked: “How does Lucille spell her name?”
Card mill questions
Q: What do you think of travel agency certifications that charge you $495 to become a homebound travel agent? I would like to be able to book a cruise for my family and save money. I called around and talked to another company and its fee is $2,900.
– Anthony Keller
A: Don’t do it.
At best, these [...]
Blame it on the weather
When Charlie Leocha heard that the storm of the century had zeroed in on New England last weekend, he decided to cut short a meeting in Miami and return to Boston. He phoned American Airlines to get on a standby list and was told his chances “weren’t bad.” Then American, like most other carriers, began canceling flights. By the time Leocha arrived at the Miami airport, every flight home was overbooked. American blamed the weather.
Look before you book
How much cash can you save by booking travel online? Rob Argento saved more than $200 on an Alamo rental car in Los Angeles by clicking on Expedia. The Manhattan marketing executive shopped around online and even checked with the car rental company’s site, before finding a $100 weekly rate - for a convertible. Looking for a lower airfare, Sherri Pfefer, a consultant for a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., software company, checked out the Southwest Airlines Web site. That’s where she discovered she could whittle down to $161 the $361 fare her travel agent quoted her for a flight from Fort Lauderdale to New Orleans. “I used to call a travel agent first, but now I just go straight online,” she says. “The prices are almost always better.”
Breaking our tech-help dependency
Is it time to end the ‘break-fix’ cycle? You know, that corporate travel merry-go-round where your technology crashes, only to have it salvaged by someone on your company’s help desk? Over. And over. And over.
This is not a story about Orbitz
This is not a story about Orbitz. This is not a story about how the Chicago-based company is going to change the way we buy travel. If it were, then there would be a carefully scripted quote from chairman Jeffrey Katz, or at the very least, a sound bite from one of the dot-com’s proactive publicists. But there isn’t. Instead, this is about how the online travel industry is reacting to Orbitz. Overreacting, some might say.
X-rated honeymoon
Q: I had a travel agency book arrangements for my honeymoon, which I just returned from a few days ago. My husband and I wanted a trip to Cancun, Mexico, at a hotel without kids and near the beach. The agent suggested the Blue Bay Hotel and told us it was for adults only. We [...]
Killing Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
In a previous column, I all but accused Norton SystemWorks of pushing my computer to the breaking point, of being the very program that sent my PC into to the digital beyond. The software, which is supposed to keep a computer running efficiently and virus-free, seemed to do the very opposite when I installed it.
Security breach?
Last week’s column about security checkpoints drew an unusual number of responses. Most of them sided with my conclusion that airport security was lacking, but a few e-mails lambasted me - and last week’s letter-writer, Norm Gilbert - for having a short-sighted view of airport safety. Here are a few of the reactions:
Q: I have [...]
Online travel’s long, strange trip
Two cancellations didn’t kill it. Neither could a horde of furious suppliers or the flames of a thousand angry readers. As improbable as it would seem, this column - the Energizer Bunny of online travel - turns five this week. Hard to believe, isn’t it? This feature was there at almost the very beginning, documenting the rise of Internet travel, profiling the personalities behind the sites and analyzing the industry before there were industry analysts. And it’s a survivor.
Is Windows ME for you?
It’s not as if we have a choice. If we buy a new laptop computer, we’re stuck with Windows Millennium Edition, the operating system released by Bill Gates and company last fall. A few of us will buy a PC running Windows 2000, the sequel to Windows NT, while a few others will think different and get a Macintosh.
Turn it on
Q: Why do you have to turn your laptop computer on at an airport security checkpoint? It’s an insult being asked to turn on a PC and make the screen flash.
Does that prove the PC is benign? C’mon. Any terrorist worth his salt can design a PC that makes the screen flash and still has [...]