Showing posts with label frequent flying. Show all posts
Showing posts with label frequent flying. Show all posts

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Keep Calm and Panic Later

Hoxton Station, way out there. 

Update - Hyatt has honored our reservation at their other property without any intervention on my part. I love the AndaZ and will talk about why in a new post. 


What to do when the hotel you have reservations at suffers an unfortunate kitchen explosion and has evacuated all guests until they can determine if it is safe or not.


  1.  Be happy that they didn't just say, oops and laugh it off and blame it on a pot of beans 
  2. Be relieved they have moved all guests into neighboring hotels and will not allow for occupancy until the hotel checks out to be safe 
  3.   Be relieved that while one person was seriously hurt, very few suffered injuries 
  4. Realize that your stay is two weeks away and a lot of things can happen in two weeks, so you should chill
  5.  Make alternative plans because even though you know they'll take care of you, you want to take care of yourself 
  6.  Not call the Customer Service line to bitch and moan because you applied an upgrade to your reservation and you will not accept a downgrade 
  7.  Read the frequent flyer thread on the incident with some amusement and realize everyone thinks their crisis is more important than their fellow travelers 
  8. Keep abreast of changes through the hotel's social media streams 
  9.  All of the above I

I'm going with all of the above.


There is too much other drama in my life and I can wait a little longer to make sure my stay details are going to change. Follow @hyattconcierge and @hyattchurchill on twitter to track the status of the Hyatt Regency Churchill reopening.

Monday, November 10, 2014

Expect the expected



Tomorrow is the first time in nearly  20 years I am flying British Airways westbound in Economy.  I'm not complaining, it was of my own choosing.  I wanted to get home fast. I have equipped myself with a good book, earplugs and a chocolate eclair from La Marquis de Laduree. I hope this and a decent cup of coffee at the airport will see me through.

I've flown American Airlines many times in the same class and with long layovers and survived. I've grown accustomed to the declining service, lack of edible food, vastly long layovers and non-personalized attention from my airline of choice. I think that is part of the problem - I have no expectations, I just expect meh service and to be exhausted when I get to Seattle.

I'm moving into new ground here with British Airways, wish me luck.


Thursday, November 06, 2014

Guilty Pleasures


I'm sitting in the Skyteam Lounge at LAX waiting to board my flight to Paris. It is a really nice lounge, light and airy and spacious.  It is also very quiet, which is very unusual in this day and age.

It is also place with free wifi. I'm working but I'm also doing something else  - I'm catching up on my vapid television watching. I do a lot of that these days.  I have become somewhat of a tv watcher. I'm not proud of it, but instead of reading tattered copies of Redbook at the gym, I'm catching up on British shows and U.S. popular culture in 45 minute chunks.

What is my guilty pleasure? Picking a series and downloading a full season to watch on the trip.  The rest, I'll pick up on netflix or hulu, but spending that 19 bucks for 19 hours of entertainment is my guilty pleasure.

What is yours?




Thursday, May 03, 2012

Travel Thursday - Why bother engaging? American Airlines and Status Matching

Magnolia stellata
Magnolia Stellata on Rue des blancs manteaux, Paris, March 2011.

Your words can speak louder than your actions. Think about it before you put anything out there onto
the interwebs. I had to leave a conversation on twitter with @americanair because they were starting to make me cranky and it was not going to be pretty in the end.  To their credit, they do attempt to be proactive and engage with their best customers. In this case, they were just spouting the company line.

I am not currently very pleased with American Airlines, the legacy airline to which I have been chained to for what appears to be an eternity.  I originally stayed with them because they acquired TWA and all their elites.  They treated us well. I traveled a lot, some for work, and much for pleasure. I was lucky, I found  some decent fares, usually got upgraded and rarely was disappointed, until now.

The airlines have been hit by high fuel costs, high salaries and benefit costs, and shrinking networks. The results are downgrades to basic amenities such as clean toilets and nourishment on flights and fewer and more crowded flights.  Flying is really no longer fun, even in premium classes. I approach each trip as if I am going to Alaska to do field work. I pack plenty of snacks and carry an extra book. I make sure I have my phone charger and an extra pair of underwear in my carry on because who knows if I'll end up with an unexpected overnight in Cold Bay.  I am  grateful if my bag makes it to my final destination.

It is sad to see something that used to make me so giddy with excitement now fill me with dread. The new developments make it even more irritating. 

American Airlines is offering status matches to United Airlines/Continental fliers at a tier to tier match up.  I know this sounds like Urdu to some of you, but they are giving the same level of elite recognition to fliers with high elite status on one airline to another, including free domestic upgrades and eight international upgrades.  The fliers can choose to fly or not after being granted these perks.  While the perks are not allowed to be traded or sold, they can be "gifted" to friends and family; so there are now eight more opportunities for you to give your parents the trip of their lifetime. In the past, they have had to challenge (fly a certain number of miles or earn a certain number of points) to prove their mettle and dedication and still only granted the mid tier of status.  Matches have also been granted on a case by case basis, or done very quietly .  Social media and community forums have put an end to that -- everything is fair game and everyone can get in on the deal if they are eligible.

Its all so awesome, right? Bonus! Score! How nice of them! Fraternity! Equality! Liberty!

So what happens to the schmucks that either fly weekly for work, monthly for leisure or try a little harder and pay a little more to fly American?  They wait in the same queue as your newly minted elites and their families or "friends" for those upgrades that may or may not clear because there are now x% more of them than there were a month ago.

There as far as I can tell, no way to distinguish between the minted elites and the earned elites, unless AA's crack IT team can flag the reservations and the gods of revenue and seat management can work their magic and move them up in the priority queue. I don't have an answer. I would ask (nicely) that American Airlines think about how to retain their best customers by engaging them on or off line to figure out a way to keep them happy while courting the unhappy UAL/CO customer base.

It's just good business.

Sunday, December 03, 2006

CMR and other things

Yesterday I went on a Comfort Mileage Run (CMR). This term is coined by a Flyertalker, RTWStarAlliance. It basically means that you go on a mileage attaining trip with confirmed upgrades.

In my case, only my loong return cleared. My outbound was marvelous with an exit row with no one between myself and my seat opponent, a mocha extra dark from Dilettante, satsumas and roasted veggie enchiladas precooked from TJs.

I managed to snag gratis a new snack box served in coach.

  • Bumblebee Sensations Lemon & Pepper Tuna
  • Late July Organic Classic Rich Crackers
  • Stacy's All Natural Pita Chips
  • Tree Top Natural Apple Sauce
  • Bear Naked All Natural Granola Peak Protein
  • Brown & Haley Almond Roca
  • Emergen—C Super Orange Nutritional Supplement
Just needed to snag a yoghurt from the Board Room and bring my own lemon and I would set be the flight. Can I also applaud Alaska Airlines for actually providing milk for a flight? No creamer, dairy or non dairy, but real milk. I enjoyed it in my coffee.

Way better than most snack box options as analyzed by the Diet Detective.

Back home in just under 14 hours (time in transit was shorter, it is the drive to and from and waiting that sucks) and I'm done (sort of for the year).

Today, I went on my first true training walk for the Rock and Roll Half Marathon that I'm doing next month (yikes). We survived. Next week, one more mile gets tacked on.

nm

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

the heavens opened

Seriously, like three times today. I even went out to check on Ernest to see how he was doing when we had lightning and thunder.

He was asleep.

I love Seattle, I even love this weather, but today, I could use a little sun.

I passed 2,000,000 miles on American Airlines today. I guess my miles from my Tmobile account posted. I guess I'm relieved and as much as I know JK and others won't believe me when I say --I'm taking a break from this game.

I'm pooped.

I may even fly on miles this winter and give TH all my upgrades.

Lucky girl.

nm