Hotels, again profitable, are adding surcharges
The brochure of the Comfort Inn Oceanfront in Miami Beach, is awash in caveats about extra charges: a daily parking fee of $9.50, a pet surcharge of $25 a stay and $10 a night, a visitor parking fee of $6 for every four hours. But there is no mention of a $1.50-a-night fee for a safe in the room, payable whether you use it or not.
The tablet PCs are turning
Late last year, Cox Communications in Omaha, Neb., needed new computers for its field technicians. In the past, the telecommunications company had chosen laptops over newfangled tablet PCs, the so-called next generation of portable computing. But after inspecting the new Panasonic Toughbook CF-18 ($3,200) computer, a durable shock- and water-resistant gadget that resmbles an oversized personal digital assistant, the company had a change of heart. “As far as we’re concerned, the tablet represents the future of computing,” says spokeswoman Lisa Turner.
Traveling with your Tablet PC
Whenever Alan Pearlman fires up his Hewlett Packard TC1100 Tablet PC in court, he braces for the stares.
The Northbrook, Ill., attorney takes notes during a trial, schedules appointments, and even makes printouts of documents, thanks to a wireless printer at his desk.
“After court, I have to spend 15 minutes talking to the other attorneys about [...]
Baltimore — or Washington?
Q: My husband and I want to go to Washington in July. We checked prices on four Internet sites and found Priceline to be pretty low (we’ve gotten hotel rooms through them and have been very happy). But Hotwire was a little cheaper.
Yeah, right. I purchased the ticket and looked at the confirmation. Of [...]
Online travel, version 2.0
Finding an affordable plane ticket or hotel room used to be a no-brainer for Beth Bowers, a software trainer in Cassopolis, Mich. She would click on an all-purpose travel Web site like Expedia or Orbitz and routinely find the lowest rates. But lately she’s noticed that the bargains aren’t as abundant. “I can find the same prices - and sometimes better ones - when I go directly to the airline or hotel Web sites,” she says.
Practice safe Wi-Fi
The Internet can be a dangerous place, with viruses, worms and spyware lurking behind every URL and waiting to pounce on your PC every time you check e-mail.
But that’s nothing compared to what can happen with a wireless hookup. Connecting to the Web through Wi-Fi can make your laptop even more vulnerable to hackers and [...]
A cruise from hell to nowhere
Q: My parents went on a Carnival Cruise this winter that ended up being, as my mother puts it, “the cruise from hell to nowhere.”
On Feb. 22, there was a serious boat accident in the Mississippi river which blocked the port and delayed the departure of Carnival’s “Conquest” from New Orleans.
My parents arrived [...]
Finding balance on the road
It might be an exaggeration to say that salesman-turned-fishing guide Norm Weston experienced a career epiphany two decades ago.
But then, how else do you describe the lure of Southwest Florida’s back country, where the saltwater flats teem with redfish, snook and trout? And how else to characterize the way in which he brought his career [...]
Where’s my letter?
Q: I’m at my wits end over this problem. On October 31, 2002 we booked a trip to France with Grand European Tours through Far & Wide for the next fall. I charged the deposit of $700 on my American Express Card and wrote a check to the tour operator for the balance, $4,972. I [...]
Travelers feel pressure at car rental counters
Paul Hoppe dreads the wait for the keys at the car rental desk. The agent, he says, invariably tries to talk him into switching to a larger, more expensive vehicle and buying costly prepaid gas options and unnecessary insurance.
Selvaggio: ‘We’ll be just fine’
Song Airways, the low-fare startup from Delta Air Lines, celebrates its first anniversary on April 15. Despite positive reviews from many air travelers, the carrier has been singing a different tune recently. Its operations are under review by its corporate parent, and it just lost its biggest supporter, Delta’s president Frederick Reid, who left April 1 to help create a low-fare airline in the U.S. for the Virgin Group. Christopher Elliott recently spoke with John Selvaggio, Song’s president, to find out what was going on.
Take air rage to the polls
Here’s an election-year issue that hasn’t gotten anywhere near the attention it deserves: the sad, scandalous decline of air travel. The way we fly has changed more in the last four years than in the last four decades, and largely for the worse. Airlines have cut back on services and amenities, airports are guarded by a new federal agency, the humorless Transportation Security Administration, and passengers are rowdier and ruder than ever. Many once-robust mainline carriers are on the verge of bankruptcy or liquidation. The list of troubled airlines includes American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, which is already in bankruptcy. US Airways isn’t expected to survive the year.
No, no, no
Not every case that crosses my desk is solvable. But nearly every unsolvable case, it seems, involves an airline. It’s almost as if the carriers have hired my two-year-old son, Aren, to handle customer service. His favorite words are “no, no, no.” Here are two recent standouts:
Rules don’t apply to Northwest
Q: Two years [...]
Europe after March 11
After the March 11 train bombings in Spain, Bob Burke had second thoughts about taking his family on vacation to Ireland this May. The attacks reminded the newsletter distributor from Miami - and many other would-be travelers to Europe - that terrorists could strike “anytime, anywhere,” he says. But Burke shrugged off that threat: “I’m not going to let the bad guys win,” he says.