Time to ban cell phones at the airport?
Mike Marker can’t seem to get away from cell phones when he’s traveling. “Whether it’s in the public area of an airport, a frequent flier club or on a plane,” complains the Salt Lake City consultant, “I can’t escape the constant barrage of conversations and business deals being made.” He thinks wireless phone chatter is becoming like second-hand smoke, and he wants something done about it.
How dare you?
Q: I am a flight attendant for United Airlines. I have been flying for 13 years and I love my job and go out of my way to make our customers feel wanted and happy to have them with us. I resent your depiction of my profession as uncaring, resentful of my company and unconcerned! [...]
eGulliver’s travels end - but who’s next?
eGulliver’s travels ended swiftly last Friday when the money ran out. Seems one of the Atlanta quasi-agency’s investors got spooked by online travel’s Lilliputian returns and withdrew funding, bringing the site’s voyage to a sudden and unceremonious end. There goes another one. You can’t help but feel like an orderly in a Dutch retirement home these days.
It’s a phone! No, it’s a Palm Pilot! No, it’s both!
Stranded at Denver International Airport a few days ago in a freak blizzard, I did what any responsible business traveler would do: I whipped out my Palm Pilot for a game of blackjack. “Excuse me,” I hear, just as I’m down to my last $50. “Is that a phone or a Palm Pilot?” The guy in front of me is a road warrior, no question about it. He’s dressed for a business meeting. He looks like he hasn’t slept in days, but he’s too curious to let that get in the way.
Mean attendants
Q: Why are flight attendants getting meaner? Because the traveling public is getting meaner. It is a war of wills. The public thinks it is entitled to service when in reality the airline industry quit being a service industry long ago.
The airline industry is a commodity now, like orange juice, for example. The airlines know [...]
Confessions of a flying tech commuter
The fact that Steve Marra flies from one meeting to the next isn’t that unusual. Like many business travelers, taking a plane is the most efficient way of getting from point ‘A’ to point ‘B’ for the Santa Clara, Calif., marketing executive. It’s the length of the trips that are atypical. Marra, who works for a new company called Liquidprice.com, makes short hops between regional airports in the Bay Area. He pilots the aircraft himself.
If standards don’t fly, we all lose
The scene at last week’s CeBIT convention in Hanover, Germany, was enough to make any seasoned traveler chuckle. A group of Bluetooth developers tried to demonstrate their new wireless technology to a crowd of attendees, hoping to creating the biggest network for Palmtop computers ever. Instead, the exhibition fizzled and turned into what one reporter called an “embarrassing flop” for the emerging standard.
Miranda reads rivals his rights
What’s in a name? If you’re LastMinuteTravel.com, just about everything. That would explain the lengths to which the Atlanta travel site has gone to protect its moniker. LastMinuteTravel.com trademarked not only its name, URL and motto, “Just Released Offers. Just Go,” but guarded its rights with an uncommon vigilance. Consider what happened last month on the heels of several reports that suggested the market for spontaneous travel would take off. Competitor Priceline.com promptly declared itself the “home” of last-minute travel in an effort to capitalize on the emerging trend.
Freebasing points
Q: Why do we spend so much time and effort registering for every frequent stay/travel award under the sun? Is it just me or are these awards as useless as anything?
Next week I am taking a leisure trip to New York City with my wife and daughter. I booked three nights at a Holiday Inn [...]