August 1, 2005

Duty Free at Baghdad International Airport

Via Brad DeLong, Iraq's transportation minister has ordered a ban on alcohol sales at Baghdad International Airport.

The airport's duty-free shop is not complying, in spite of threats to have their $800,000 inventory destroyed. Alcohol makes up 85% of duty free sales at the airport.

Oddly enough, the decision to ban alcohol is influenced by how it would look to the outside world.

Jabiri expressed concern about Iraq's image if alcohol continues to be sold. "And this could corrupt the employees also," he said. "Foreign travelers might not even realize this is an Islamic country when they see alcohol in the airport."

Oh, yeah, if we didn't go to war in Iraq because of weapons of mass destruction that didn't exist, it must have been to create a secular, democratic state in the Middle East...

Posted by gleff at 12:05 PM | Comments (0)

July 26, 2005

Frequent Flyer Miles as Debt in Need of Devaluation

Tim Harford asks what would be the best way for frequent flyer program to devalue their currency?

Last year I explained why a devaluation is inevitable, and why that doesn't mean you should stop collecting miles.

The simplistic version of the problem is too many miles chasing too few seats. Problems have been exascerbated the last couple of years as airlines pulled down capacity. Now, with flights running especially full, getting a nominally free seat can be tough. Award redemption (at least at the usual mileage pricing) is predicated on giving away only those seats that are likely to go unsold. That pot of inventory isn't growing, but mileages balances are.

Given the need for devaluation, how should airlines do it?

The first option Harford gives is rejected, but not strongly enough:

Airlines could simply repudiate the debt, but this seems unnecessary.

"Seems unnecessary?" It would be suicidal to the viability of the programs. Not only do the programs drive loyalty, they are a huge databsae of consumer behavior, and they actually make a profit. The Air Canada program has a market value of about $2 billion. Large US domestic programs are worth some multiple of that. Why kill the goose?

British Airways seem to have decided on the latter: they are making it nearly impossible for me to book frequent-flyer tickets, rectify their errors or coordinate with my wife's bookings. But this is a puzzle - a simple devaluation would go unnoticed, but the current shenanigans are hugely irritating.

For transatlantic crossings, I've actually found award availability on BA to be pretty good. But that aside, devaluations are far from unnoticed! Devaluations 'move the goalpost' while your customers are earning. Some may strive harder, certainly others will become angry.

It's true that an inability to redeem seats is a frustration felt by many, Capital One exploits is through their David Spade TV spots to hawk an inferior credit card.

Several explanations are offered:

1) They have devalued already and I didn't notice, but they still had too much debt outstanding.

Bingo. A good example is Northwest, but BA devalued substantially a couple of years ago. And Qantas nearly double the cost of some premium awards.

2) The frequent flyer contract makes devaluation illegal but obstructiveness legal.

Hardly, both are legal and ongoing.

3) Never attribute to conspiracy that which is adequately explained by incompetence.

Another good theory. Never trust airline websites to tell you about availability. Never trust the CSRs either. If you don't like the answer you get, hang up and try again. Not everyone is sufficiently diligent to find seats that do exist.

I've never walked away empty handed, but it takes trying each gateway one by one, flight by flight.

Technology will solve this in the short run, but without greater devaluation the problem will return as more miles are successfully redeemed, eating up available seat inventory.

Now there are inefficiencies and some award seats do go unoccupied. Once technology wrings those out, the problems will be even more acute and more demanding of further devaluation.

Posted by gleff at 4:16 PM | Comments (0)

To boldy go...

Boldly going where another travel site has gone before, SideStep has brought on Patrick Stewart as its spokesman.

In the online travel world, one of the biggest battles for new customers has come down to this: Captain Kirk vs. Captain Picard.

Patrick Stewart, who played Captain Picard on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," is the new company spokesman for travel search engine SideStep. That's a direct challenge to rival Priceline.com, whose ads have long featured William Shatner, Captain Kirk on the original "Star Trek."

(Via Tripso Daily.)

Posted by gleff at 5:25 AM | Comments (0)

July 25, 2005

Junk fees

We all have certain fees that travel providers charge which drive us up the wall, usually because they offer an explanation that's especially absurd.

I'm usually bothered by award 'expedite fees', a charge that some airlines impose for issuing an electornic award ticket within a certain number of days of travel.

I'm similarly bothered by hotel resort fees (just include it in your room rate!) and charges for ticketing at the airport when that's the only option available, such as issuing an open-jaw award on United for someone with a different last name (since it can't be done online and if it isn't, it must be signed for in person).

Perhaps the most offensive, albeit small, fee I've heard of was recently reported at Flyertalk.com. Apparently American Airlines is now charging $3 to e-mail a replacement travel itinerary. I'm speechless, truly.

Posted by gleff at 6:10 PM | Comments (0)

July 24, 2005

A pillow to rest on

Probably the best marketing bang for the buck in hotel history was Westin's introduction of the Heavenly Bed. Travelers came to trust the brand to provide them with a good night's sleep.

A more recent trend in hotels is paying attention not just to the best but to the pillow in particular. The trend started at the Benjamin hotel in New York and has spread, there's now a recognition that people sleep differently and different types of pillows can enhance or detract from a night's sleep.

The New York Times piece on the subject could have been made really useful with an added discussion on what pillows best match which sleep habits, a subject about which I know little.

I understand the entire bed effect, and while I like the Westin Heavenly Bed I find that some properties may need to replace their beds more often. Since the oldest beds are now six years old they're not as comfortable as they once were.

Intuitively I know that pillows matter, but here I need some expert input. Fortunately better hotels have concierges or butlers versed in the subject, but I haven't yet acquired their knowledge.

Posted by gleff at 7:30 AM | Comments (0)

July 23, 2005

A new wrinkle in the debate over daylight savings

Airlines oppose the move to extend daylight savings time to March and November because if the rest of the world doesn't go along the timing of their flights will be out of sync with limited landing slots in foreign airports. One estimate I've seen is that this will cost US airlines more than $170 million per year, though I presume the figure is somewhat self-serving and likely lower in reality.

Perhaps the cost argument isn't the only place to focus. Tyler Cowen asks whether daylight savings time is dangerous, because the moving the clock forward is equivalent to imposing a mild case of jetlag on the whole country. Some data suggests that automobile accidents go up after the change to clocks, although the data is far from conclusive (Tyler observes a lack of data on whether Indiana, which doesn't observe daylight savings, is safer during parts of the year).

Posted by gleff at 5:36 AM | Comments (0)

Multilevel Marketing for Credit Card Rewards

Colloquy reports on a new program in the United Arab Emirates where cutomers receive a 1% rebate on their spending and a 1% rebate on the spending of everyone they refer for the credit card.

I haven't seen anything like this in the U.S. (though there are certainly one-time referral bonuses for getting someone to sign up for a card) but I certainly expect to.

Posted by gleff at 5:26 AM | Comments (0)

July 22, 2005

Be careful whom you trust

USA Today reports on bloggers on the payroll of government tourist bureaus.

Blogs tend to criticize other blogs, and many blogs permit comments (my current technical difficulties notwithstanding) so the blog's culture of critique should limit the harm from this. Blog content should stand on its own, regardless of funding. But be aware of potential shading, influenced by financing of blogs.

This isn't new, surprising, or all that different from traditional travel writers whose perspectives may be colored by the advertisers at their publications or the free trips and upgrades handed out by travel providers. It's always worthwhile using a skeptical eye towards travel writers.

I want to know, though, how to get my hands on some of this money -- then you could hermaneut my own writing all you want!

Posted by gleff at 8:53 AM | Comments (0)

Travel and weirdos

Tyler Cowen wonders whether airplanes make weird people seem less weird. More broadly, travel brings different types of people together and that kind of mixing tears down frames of reference that allow people to judge others weird.

If his hypothesis is correct, he then wonders

Does this mean that weird men are more likely to have foreign wives?

Posted by gleff at 7:39 AM | Comments (0)

July 20, 2005

Wedding Crashers

Last night I saw Wedding Crashers. I don't usually comment on movies here, but the opening scene features Dwight Yoakam and Rebecca DeMornay fighting over Yoakam's frequent flyer miles in their divorce settlement conference.

This was a raunchy, funny movie. Senator John McCain with a very brief appearance in the film has been all over the media, getting asked why he's in this kind of movie when he spends his time railing against Hollywood for producing just this kind of product? The answer, which he won't give, is that he's a cynical politician who exploits anti-Hollywood sentiment but frankly enjoys these movies. Maybe McCain is a Straussian after all.

While funny and creative, the opening of the film was absolutely brilliant taking the main characters through a series of different ethnic weddings each one funnier than the last, it's as if the writers stopped somewhere in the middle and realized that they had left out all of the cliches'. Perhaps the producer demanded that they be re-inserted?

How can a wedding movie possibly be made without a climactic interruption, I tried to tell you how much I love you but I was misunderstood!

I put up with the tired cliche's -- every "plot twist" was thoroughly predictable -- because the chemistry worked and the movie was funny. That and the early scenes with Christopher Walken were priceless.

Though I'm confused by the ending, the main characters depart a wedding that's presumably at the National Cathedral and then drive into Washington, DC. Why do I look for consist editing in a cliche'-laden yuk-fest?

Posted by gleff at 5:02 AM | Comments (0)

July 17, 2005

Wynn Las Vegas Doesn't Appear to Live up to Expectations

The travel section in today's New York Times carries a review of Wynn Las Vegas... as though the property didn't get enough press when it was opening.

This $2.7 billion hotel seems far from offering a flawless experience, and most folks seem disappointed. TripAdvisor reviews are decidedly mixed. I haven't stayed there yet.

Now, no 2700 room property can possibly be a luxury hotel. Personal service seems impossible. Complexes are sprawling. Wait times will occasionally seem interminable, no matter how well the property is designed, when unusually large cohorts of guests decide to make us of the same thing at once (pool, elevators, checkin/checkout).

I have nothing against large resorts per se. I have an upcoming stay booked at the Westin Diplomat, and I enjoyed a trip to Wyndham's El Conquistador in San Juan last year.

And the sprawling kitsch experience is what I actually want in Vegas. Sure, there's a Four Seasons, and in most cases that might be more my preference. But when in Vegas I'll want Vegas. And though the Bellagio is probably the nicer property, I have a particular strange affinity for the Venetian.

Since I'm not a gambler, I don't have much juice in Vegas. So I like that all the rooms are suites (one one sort or another). And I like themes a la Paris, New York, etc.

The Venetian comes cheap, too. One trick to Vegas is to sign up for the various hotel newsletters to receive their special offers. The Venetian frequently offers midweek rates of $100/night. I often see offers from the Venetian below the rates that people are winning the hotel for on Priceline, and the Venetian offers might come with a room upgrade, match credits, or other benefits.

(Side note, for reliably inexpensive accomodations, The Orleans is a pretty good standby. It's a basic, clean casino hotel and I've seen midweek rates on the hotel's website as low as $13.)

Posted by gleff at 5:47 AM | Comments (0)

July 15, 2005

Oops... bad timing

A new Destiny's Child pre-paid Visa debit card was introduced last week.

It's probably been in the works for awhile, so I'm sure there were plenty of groans when the executives involved learned that Destiny's Child is breaking up.

Posted by gleff at 4:42 PM | Comments (0)

Threats to National Security

Steven Levitt studies terrorism as an academic and realizes this makes him a threat to the state. It's dangerous to carry pictures of 9/11 terrorists when you fly...

It's also dangerous, by the way, to claim not to have a bomb or to carry a bible through a security checkpoint.

Posted by gleff at 10:03 AM | Comments (0)

July 11, 2005

Reading the fine print for breakfast

Brad DeLong points to the fine print in a hotel's complimentary breakfast offering

Fresh Fruit Parfait--Granola and yoghurt topped with Fresh Fruit OR Two farm fresh eggs, scrambled (Only) with choice of Bacon or Sausage. Served with country potatoes and a Croissant. Toast is not included with Hotel breakfast, Nor can it be substituted for the Croissant, however it can be purchased for $1.95. Coffee, Tea, Milk, Lemonade, Orange Juice, Apple Juice, or Pass-O-Guava Juice Only Is included with Hotel Breakfast Please No substitutions on Hotel breakfast. A $3.95 credit will be applied to other entries on the breakfast menu if you choose outside the box.

Two comments.

First, as Brad DeLong observes, the hotel squanders much customer goodwill through its complicated rules.

Second, this hotel has to be a good candidate for a six sigma project. Their rules are so complicated that the costs of enforcing them have to be higher than any incremental revenue the policy brings.

Posted by gleff at 1:31 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 7, 2005

Food poisoning in the air

Joe Turner got food poisoning on a JAL flight. Not fun, and I can relate -- I picked up salmonella last month on Qantas (in first, flying Melbourne to Los Angeles).

Doesn't discourage me from flying, though, I'm just not sure how to 'be more careful' and avoid such things in the future. Thoughts?

Posted by gleff at 11:11 AM | Comments (0)

July 3, 2005

Where I'd like to Stay

I've had fabulous oceanfront rooms and rooms with the neatest gadgets imaginable. I've stayed in suites at Ritz-Carltons.

Though not the largest or most technologically advanced I'm probably happiest with my room at Bora Bora Nui, if only for the view from my deck (here's the view to the right). The ability to feed fish from the tub isn't bad, either. The sunset, the view from the spa, and the incredible colors of the water made this the most beautiful physical property I've ever seen, though service at the property was a bit lacking.

Recently I've been musing over what properties are on my 'must see' list.

While reserving the right to change the list at any time, the hotels I'm meaning to see in the near future include:

• Cala di Volpe on Sardinia's Costa Smeralda, and while in the same part of the world I figure I'll stay at Hotel Villa Cirpriani in Italy and Hotel Grande Bretagne in Athens, this last is one it's hard to believe I haven't visited yet -- several friends have been and it doesn't take that many Starwood points to stay there either.

• Four Seasons George V in Paris

• Banyan Tree Phuket in Thailand

• Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur

• Peninsula Bangkok in Thailand

• Four Seasons Chiang Mai also in Thailand (a theme is developing here)

• Little Nell in Aspen (since it's supposed to be far nicer than than the Broadmoor)

• Parrot Cay Resort in Turks and Caicos

• The Montage in Laguna Niguel - I've been to the Ritz there, admittedly pre-renovation, but this is supposed to be a lot better

• Four Seasons Resort Bali at Jimbaran Bay in Indonesia

The nice thing is that I'll be able to redeem Starwood points to stay at the first three hotels I've mentioned.

What hotels are on your list?

Posted by gleff at 5:41 PM | Comments (0)

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Posted by gleff at 5:02 PM | Comments (0)

June 30, 2005

The economics of frequent flyer program spinoff

The cover story of the July, 2005 Inside Flyer is on airlines spinning off their frequent flyer programs in public offerings.

David Rowell thinks United could be worth $15 billion. Randy Petersen says "greater than $2.5 billion."

According to the piece, airlines sell $3 billion worth of miles annually. United's spinoff of Mileage Plus into a wholely-owned subsidiary in 2002 was a $1.4 billion transaction. Mileage is clearly a big business:

In 2003, ULS accounted for 5 percent of UAL's 2003 revenues. In 2004, United recognized more than $400 million in revenues related to ULS, which would not reflect the entire business revenue of ULS for that year. In 2000, revenue for third-party mileage sales reached $220 million during the first six months alone.

But American AAdvantage is clearly the king of frequent flyer programs, with annual revenue related to third-party sales of miles exceeding $1 billion annually.

Airlines sell miles, and buy seats redeemed with those miles (or merchandise, etc.) at a discount, earning money on the spread.

Randy thinks a spinoff would make miles safer, since a loyalty program could simply buy seats from another carrier if the one to which they're linked goes under. And since the largest programs redeem millions of free seats each year, they should have the buying clout to negotiate sufficiently discounted tickets (likely maintaining heavy restrictions) that they could remain profitable.

Posted by gleff at 7:45 AM | Comments (0)

June 23, 2005

Returning Home

Wednesday, June 15

10:25 am Departure Melbourne (MEL)
Qantas Flight 93, MEL-LAX
First Class Seats 2E, 2F

We arrived without further incident about 8:20am and walked right up to the 2 dedicated Qantas checkin counters for First Class on MEL-LAX. No wait. Bags were tagged to Seattle and boarding passes were issued all the way there – even though LAX-SEA was on a separate e-ticket purchased from Alaska directly. I simply showed my itinerary to the CSR and she didn’t have any difficulties.

There was a short line for passport control, and then we walked through duty free. Would they let me bring in Aussie beef jerky into the states? It was on sale at duty free, but when I arrived at SYD there was a sign specifically saying that beef jerky was prohibited. I guess that must be a common item? :confused: I skip the duty free, even though there were the largest liquor bottles I’d ever seen on offer.

We went through security with no line and then over to the QF club downstairs. We checked in at the desk and were sent down the hall on the left to the F side, which had showers, 4 computers with internet (a tad slow) and printers. I found the club lihht and airy for a downstairs lounge with no views. The food selection wasn’t impressive, just some pastries and pretzel-type snacks, perhaps it was because of the early hour. The coffee machine made a decent cappuccino, though.

We boarded 20 minutes late due to late arriving aircraft and were in the air at 11am. Captain said we’d make up the time.

Once at our seats, FA came around for drink orders and brought nuts and olives (the latter distributed with a separate plate for pits). Amenity kits and PJs were distributed on the ground. I changed in the lavatory, which is nice as it’s larger than the standard lav not to mention having a window!

After takeoff, menus were presented...

LUNCH
Our extensive Rockpool designed menu allows you to enjoy a completely personalized dining experience. To complement your choice of main meal, select your own side dishes as accompaniments. Alternatively, your Flight Attendant will be pleased to assist you with your selection. As your flight continues, feel free to snack from a variety of lighter sweet or savoury refreshments at your convenience.

Canapes

Entrees
Cauliflower and Gruyete Soup with Herb Crème Fraiche
King Prawn and Celery Salad with Celeriac Remoulade

Salad
Our signature salad of Baby Cos, Radicchio and Frisee is available to accompany your main course or can be enjoyed as an entrée, dressed with your choice of Aged Balsamic Vinaigrette, Palm Sugar Vinaigrette or Blue Cheese Dressing

Main Courses
Szechuan Pepper Crusted Spatchcock with Star Anise Dressing
Slow Roasted Rib Eye of Beef with Mustard Seed Jus
Seared Blue Eye with Herb Salsa
Pumpkin Kofta Curry with Rice Pilaf, Spinach and Dhal

Side Dishes
Egg Noodles
Enoki Mushroom Salad
Sweet Potato Puree
Steamed Broccolini
New Potatoes
Green Beans, Semi Dried Tomato and Pine Nuts

A choice of mustards and condiments is available

A Lighter Main Course Choice*
Seared Blue Eye with New Potatoes, Steamed Broccolini, Fresh Lemon Juice and Olive Oil
* For your health and well-being this dish is Heart Foundation Tick approved

Cheese
Blue, soft and hard cheese, hand selected by Will Studd, Maitre Fromager Calendar Cheese Company, served with accompaniments

Dessert
Yoghurt Bavaros with Red Wine Poached Pear
Mediterranean Almond, Walnut and Hazelnut Tart with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
Sliced Fresh Seasonal Fruit

Petits Fours
A selection of Kennedy & Wilson chocolates and petits fours

Refreshment
Available throughout your flight

Seafood and Coriander Wonton Soup
Winter Vegetable and Cheddar Pot Pie
Steak Sandwich with Tomato and Chilli Relish
Raspberry Friand
Manna from Heaven Organic Chocolate Biscuit
Fresh Whole Fruit
Maggie Bear Ice Cream Tubs

Breakfast
Create your favourite breakfast from our full range of dishes. You may also wish to pre-order your meal with your flight attendant to allow maximum rest time.

Orange juice
Apple juice
Sunraysia cranberry juice
Sunraysia mango liquid fruit
Sunraysia pear liquid fruit
Mango and Lime Energiser drink

Fresh fruit salad
Bircher Muesli
Toasted Muesli
Cereal selection
Yoghurt and honey
Pain au Chocolat
Croissant
Toast

Selection of conserves
Strawberry jam, Orange marmalade, honey, vegemite

Scrambled Eggs
Bacon
Sausages
Roast Vine Ripened Tomatoes
Sauteed Field Mushrooms
Potato Cakes
Toasted bagel with smoked salmon and cream cheese

Hot beverages

Coffee
Espresso, Long Black, Café Latte, Flat White, Cappuccino, Mocha, Decaffeinated, Individual Bodum

Black Leaf Teas
Assam – a fine, neat leaf exhibiting a tannic-fruity aroma and flavour
Darjeeling – a fruity tea, with uplifted aromas and flavours of muscatels

Herbal Teas
Peppermint Blend – a mixture of peppermint, menthol mint, lemon myrtle, elderflower, rosella & roseship
Lemon Citrus Blend – a mixture of lemon myrtle, liquorice, lemongrass, & rosella

Other teas are available on request

Hot chocolate

Wines
Champagne
Moet & Chandon Millesime Blance 1999

White Wine
Penfolds Reserve Eden Valley Riesling 2003
Pierro Semillon Sauvignon Blance LTC 2004
Henschke Lenswood Croft Chardonnay 2002

Red Wine
Farr Rising Geelong Pinot Noir 2003
Castagna Genesis Syrah 2001
Wirra Wirra The Angelus Cabernet Sauvignon 2001

Dessert Wine
Mount Horrocks Cordon Cut Riesling 2004

There was heavy turbulence about 1h 30m into the flight and the FAs had to suspend meal service for a bit, just as it was starting.

Service on this flight made me appreciate TN even more. The Qantas seat is better, but there’s something nice about TN’s small F cabin of only 6 seats, generally excellent service (outstanding on the LAX-PPT segment), and proper cutlery presentation and clearing between courses in contrast to QF tossing down flatware with plastic knives wrapped in a napkin.

We both had the ice cream and tart for dessert, and the ice cream was rock hard. In fact, it was still hard after 15 minutes but I chipped away at it anyway.

The FA made my bed, I watched Hitch, and then ordered a steak sandwich while watching a tape of Zissou, then went to sleep until breakfast.

At breakfast I learned a fairly basic lesson: it’s really hard to cut a stale bagel with a plastic knife. Breakfast choices were bountiful, but as with lunch the food quality was average at best. I had a smoked salmon bagel (salmon was really bland, they could try to ratchet it up a notch maybe with some belly lox), bacon, potatos, and a chocolate croissant (hot and rubbery, like it had just come from the microwave).

Shortly after breakfast service was through, and I had changed back out of my PJs, we landed – right on time at 7:25am. However, upon approaching the terminal we had to wait for a LanChile flight to get towed into its gate before we could move. That took about ten minutes. We pull up to the gate and everyone gets up. We’re set to disembark from the door between J and Y – so J and some of Y gets off the plane before F. :( While waiting for the door to open, an announcement comes on that immigration was crowded and we weren’t being permitted off the plane until things cleared up a bit. That’s another 10 minutes.

I was starting to get a bit nervous. My AS connection to SEA had moved from an original flight time of 10:30am (3 hour connection) to a 10am flight to a 9:30am flight and new flight number with change of seats (2 hour connection). The 20-25 minute delay was further eating into our international to domestic connection.

Fortunately, we had arrived at Terminal 4 rather than the Tom Bradley terminal. I can see how immigration would back up, there isn’t much space in there to begin with. Walking up there’s something vaguely disturbing at the smiling portraits of President Bush and Vice President Cheney staring at you in an otherwise colorless long hall.

The line for US citizens was short. F and J bags were on a separate carousel and were all out when we got through to pick them up (no bags were up from Y yet). There was no hassle at customs, but a bit of bedlam with the TSA rechecking bags. I waited until our bags were properly in queue for screening rather than haphazardly dropping them as some other folks were doing.

Then we walked outside and around to terminal 3. There was a backlog at the first security checkpoint at the bottom of the escalator up to security screening. In fact, the line to show IDs there was outside the terminal. I’ll admit that we just cut in line somewhat inside the terminal, and in the confusion that abounded no one noticed. The woman checking IDs was slow, stopping passengers while she people watched. At the top of the escalator we had to show our IDs again, I have no idea why. Then the whole checkpoint stopped for a drill, we all had to stand in place for a few minutes. Oh well, at least there was no requirement to take off our shoes.

We made it to the Alaska boardroom by 8:30am, it’s pretty close to the Alaska gates and boarding was set for 9:03am. I was pretty full from breakfast, and I had already had two cappuccinos on the flight, so I just had a glass of water.

9:33 am Depart Los Angeles (LAX)
Alaska Airlines Flight 281, LAX-SEA
First Class Seats 1D, 1F

We came down from the Boardroom just as boarding commenced. Everyone crowded in and Alaska was taking the opportunity to train a new gate agent to take boarding passes. This caused quite a backup as each passenger took about maybe 15 extra seconds to process.

Some people even boarded the flight who were supposed to be on the 3pm departure, the gate agent didn’t catch it and no one figured it out until there were multiple pax looking at the same seat. It was doubly confusing because the 3pm pax didn’t speak English and the FAs didn’t speak Spanish, another passenger had to translate.

The flight was completely full with every seat taken.

I didn’t eat the breakfast snack of fruit and a muffin, still too full from Qantas.

Coach passengers kept coming up to use the F lav despite the lead FA making a ‘security announcement’ not to at the beginning of the trip. The FA didn’t say anything at all to these passengers, in fact when asked if it was alright she told them to go ahead. Security, indeed. Why not just say ‘we don’t permit it’ (even though we really do) instead of lying about security?

As with most domestic flights, this one was short and uneventful. The only difficulty came after we disembarked and headed down to baggage claim.

Passengers from several flights arrived at the two AS baggage carousels, but no bags were coming. Nothing came out of either shute for at least 40 minutes, and the hordes were growing.

Finally some bags started coming down, but they were pieces that had just been checked to fly SEA-DCA! The staff at the baggage office tried mightily to collect them and send them back, but there was no way these bags were making their flight.

After 65 minutes of waiting, bags for our flight started coming out -- split between the two carousels, seemingly at random. Three of our four bags arrived, we waited awhile but no more for our flight were on their way. I filed a missing baggage claim and we went off to the Westin.

Westin Seattle

We arrived by cab and no one was available to greet us or help with luggage. We drag our bags upstairs to check in and I’m told that it would be awhile for assistance and I’m best off taking the bags up myself.

As with my last stay here in September, the person checking me in seemed to view the process as a pain and me as an obstacle to something far more important that she could be doing.

While, I was happy to receive a room with a nice view of the Sound, I’m left wondering if I’d have done just as well to Priceline a 3* room at the airport for $35 since I’m just heading back there the next day anyway.

A call to the AS baggage office at about 7pm determined that our errant bag had been sent to RNO instead of SEA, and that it would be arriving on a flight ~ 10pm that evening. They sent it over to the hotel, and in the morning I called down to the desk and it was sent up to the room promptly.

On checkout my folio listed a room rate in spite of the fact that I was using points, presumably it was the SPG internal reimbursement rate. As always, the lines at the front desk were long and I almost took off to the airport resolving to correct things later, about 2 more minutes of waiting and I would have. The clerk at the desk fixed this quickly, however, it seems I was dealing with someone pretty senior who knew what they were doing.

I hadn’t been feeling too well since the night before, it turned out to be salmonella and I can only imagine it was either from the QF lunch or the smoked salmon at breakfast.
That made the final few hours of our trip pretty miserable.

Thursday, June 16

1:05 pm Depart Seattle (SEA)
Alaska Airlines Flight 2, SEA-DCA
First Class Seats 2A, 2C

Since I wasn’t feeling too well, my memory of our last flight is pretty sketchy at best.

We arrived at the airport and checked in. Despite being on the same record and having booked the flight months earlier, my seat assignment had been changed. We were no longer seated together, for the very last flight of our honeymoon trip. I had been in 2B, and it was pretty clear what happened (or as the CSR at SEA said, “it looks like it was changed for a reason that can’t be discussed” Ahem.) … Air Marshall.

F was already checked in full, so no chance to move around, but I asked again in the boardroom anyway. No luck. Then I asked at the gate. The CSR there tried to switch us, going so far as to call up a couple other pax to the podium to ask if they’d switch, but she got too confused over the fact that she couldn’t sit us together in the bulkhead since we had our 8lb dog in the cabin with us. She handed us back our original boarding passes and onto the plane we went.

The FA was quite helpful. She asked a couple of pax to switch and they obliged, so now we were back in row 2, just on the other side (the passenger who took my seat seemed mighty pleased to talk non-stop with Jennifer Dunn the whole flight, the former Congresswoman who had been seated next to me).

This really did turn out to feel like more or less the longest flight of my life. Feeling miserable, I wasn’t able to watch anything on the DigE Player and I couldn’t even read a sentence out of my book. I just sat and sat the whole time, counting down the minutes until I could get off the flight.

One good thing about this flight was that Y pax weren’t permitted to use the F lav, I say it’s a good thing because I was the lav’s primary consumer this time. How did they accomplish it? By drawing a screen between F and Y. Not one of the old fashioned screens, but a new see-through screen that didn’t cloud vision between the cabins but that gave the clear signal that the line between them wasn’t to be crossed.

We made it to baggage claim, caught a cab home, and I fell into bed. Didn’t make it to work the next day, either, though by the afternoon the sickness had passed for both of us.

It wasn’t the best way to end a truly amazing trip, but we both figured that it was good that we waited until the very end of the trip to get sick, and we had the whole weekend to slowly recover. I spent much of the weekend alternating between catching up on an enormous amount of email, and laying out by the pool.

It was sure nice to log into MileTracker though and see all the points that had posted in my absence. :) I’ll never understand, though, why it takes Alaska ~ 4 days for flight miles to post…

Posted by gleff at 4:09 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack

June 22, 2005

Aeroplan Goes Public

Air Canada successfully sold a stake in its frequent flyer program today, and based on the price paid for a 12.5% stake Aeroplan has a market value of CAD$2 billion.

Posted by gleff at 6:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 21, 2005

On to Melbourne

Monday, June 13

Westin Sydney

Westin is built around an old Post Office (the Intercontinental was built on top of the old Treasury building).

We checked in about 1pm and were given a ‘deluxe room’, number 1806. The door has electronically-controlled signs for do not disturb and service room – you flip a switch inside the room by the door, and the appropriate note lights up outside.

Our room certainly had a fantastic bathroom. It wasn’t the Nui, I couldn’t feed the fish from my tub, but it had a large glass window between the bathroom and the room (with an electric-controlled screen between the two) and separate toilet and shower rooms housed in frosted glass. Here’s the sink. The shower had two heads – one directly above from the ceiling, and one coming out of the wall as is standard, the latter being removeable/moveable.

Here’s the entryway to the room, the room as seen from the bathroom, and a shot of the room itself.

The room had a power converter by the desk, not just the standard ‘shaver only’ 115V outlet in the bathroom, although it felt a bit light and I doubt it had any surge protection capabilities (not sure I’d want to plug my laptop in, for instance).

Though Sydney is in general pretty strict about not permitting smoking in most public spaces, smoking was totally permitted in the lounge. I never asked why, but wonder if it might be that it’s considered technically ‘outside’ and just covered by a very high skylight?

Champagne was delivered to our room shortly after arrival. I had only made the booking the evening before – I had a place to stay for free but decided it would be nice to spend our last night in Sydney in the city. Still, they managed to put that small gesture together quickly. We’d sure racked up a bunch of complimentary bottles by this point. ;)

This hotel had one of the best room service menus I’ve seen, and execution was excellent. I like that in Australian hotels, at least at the Intercontinental and the Westin Melbourne, there isn’t a percentage added on to room service orders – just a $3 or $4 delivery charge.

One thing that annoyed me about the hotel, though, was that they added an AU$1.30 charge to the bill as a donation to UNICEF. This tactic has been discussed often on Flyertalk. I really detest it.

I take my philanthropy quite seriously. I investigate organizations that I give to in order to understand their mission and their effectiveness. Giving to ineffective charities is worse than a waste – it’s counterproductive and harmful to the intended beneficiaries of service, because it crowds out better charities (most studies suggest that total giving is a fixed pie in any given year, driven more by economic conditions than events, and that specific solicitation tactics when successful simply shift which charities benefit).

Although I guess if I wanted to know more about UNICEF, I could have watched the dedicated TV channel they had at the hotel!

Since I want the charge removed, I make a trip down to the desk on my way out. They’re more than happy to take it off and do so instantly, but it’s an unnecessary trip. I actually stewed on it for awhile after receiving the bill under the door early in the morning.

Tuesday, June 14

3:00 pm Depart Sydney (SYD)
Qantas Flight 443
Coach Class Boeing 767

Left the hotel about 1:15pm and caught a cab to the Sydney airport (AU$30.50). There wasn’t any traffic at all and were there in no time flat.

At checkin I mentioned that I was flying international first the next day and the CSR didn’t charge an excess baggage fee. We had (4) pieces to check and would only have been entitled to (2) without fee. Our international segment was on a different ticket – this was a standone one-way red e-deal – so the ongoing flight technically shouldn’t have made a diference. But I guess was saved AU$20.

We were assigned seats 54 J, K. That’s the last row on the right side of the plane in coach. The flight was completely full with every last seat taken, and there was no opportunity to switch.

Our inbound aircraft was late arriving, so we boarding about 10 minutes late, pushed back at 3:15pm, and were in the air at 3:30pm.

UNICEF sure seems popular here, as the flight attendants were hawking for donations as well.

Snacks were apples and packaged cookies and drink service was whole ‘mini’ cans of soda, mini water bottles, and coffee/tea.

Flight was pretty bumpy but short. Bags came out in about 20 minutes, and we were on our way out of the airport.

Westin Melbourne

After an AU$39.50 cab ride to the hotel, checkin was smooth. I was given a slightly oversized room with a large (balcony-sized) bay window. There were chocolates in the room waiting for us. Bags were delivered to the room within minutes.

Just like the Westin SYD, there were electronic do not disturb signs. Very modern style.

Hotel’s bar, Martini Bar, seems very W-like, even broadcasting the name in colored lights on the sidewalk outside.

Room had a nice bathroom, a large double sink, mirror the length of the whole bathroom, and like the Westin SYD an overhead shower in addition to removeable standard-placed showerhead. Bed was comfortable.

These two Australian Westins seemed to follow protocol well, identifying guests respectfully by last name, and answering the Service Express line promptly and cheerfully (always responding to requests with “of course,” “certainly,” and “I’d be glad to”).

We ordered a pot of coffee at 6am, the room service delivery charge was $4 here rather than the $3 at the Sydney Westin and Intercontinental. So our pot of coffee – which wasn’t all that large – was $13 + $4 delivery charge. I guess they need to build the lack of a % add-on into the price. Heh.

We checked out of the hotel a few minutes before 8am and the bellman offered us a cab (~ AU$45) or a BMW (AU$65) to the airport. Since there was a cab right up front, we just took it. The cab stalled on the way to the airport, something about having just changed types of gas.

Posted by gleff at 4:36 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

In Sydney

In Sydney

We stopped by the Sydney Fish Market on the way to my family’s place from the airport to pick up dinner, then Thursday went to the Taronga Zoo (let me know if anyone wants pictures, for the moment I’ll just share this sign which particularly amused me). Then lunch on the water and back to change for the evening.

My family had arranged a private tour of the Opera House, and then we had prime seats for a new play, Two Brothers. (Which was fine, some of the humor a bit too locally Australian for us really to get, but for a political play it was way too unsubtle for my tastes – in the very first scene we learn that conservatives are characterized by their heartlessness and desire to see immigrants die for their own ends.)

On Friday we went shopping and then we checked into the Intercontinental for the evening. We didn’t want to stay in the suburbs that night, as we had a dinner booking at Tetsuya’s.

On Saturday we walked around Manly, and on Sunday we had brunch at an enjoyable Sardinian restaurant, Pilu at Freshwater Beach. On Monday, for our last night, we decided to spend it in the city so I made an impromptu award booking online at the Westin Sydney.

Intercontinental Sydney

We arrived about 2pm and were given a room with harbor and botanical gardens view. We could see the Opera House to the left, but didn’t have a direct view. After our arrival the hotel sent up champagne (Trilogy), chocolates, water, and fruit.

I had heard that the hotel was more old style but rooms must have been recently renovated as they were quite modern and electronic. There was a power window screen controlled from the side of the bed, as actually much of the room was controlled from there.

There was a note in the room that said you had to call down for turndown service by 6pm. I rather like turndown service but feel cheesy about calling for it, so I didn’t. Upon return from dinner I discovered that turndown had been done anyway. Turndown service was chocolate and bottled water – but they brought those for only one and not both of us.

Room service was very prompt. We first called for coffee and it was there within five minutes. We called for breakfast some time later and it arrived within 15 minutes.

The bathroom had a frosted glass window into the bedroom. What I didn’t like about it was the when you turn the light on in the bathroom, it shines into the bedroom. That’s inconvenient when getting up in the middle of the night, since it means you may disturb someone that’s still sleeping. :(

Here’s the room, the desk and bed, the bathroom, and a view of the doorway and bath from the room.

Tetsuya’s

We caught a cab from the Intercontinental over to Testsuya’s. The bellman hailed the cab and knew the address to give to the driver.

Restaurant Magazine recently named Tetsuya’s as the 4th best restaurant in the world in their annual list of 50 best restaurants. Now, surveys like these are notoriously unreliable, but this honor is a pretty strong indication that the restaurant is well-regarded (though opinions have been somewhat mixed here on Flyertalk).

About AU$10 later we had arrived. There’s an entrance driveway, and you come in through gates. It creates a nice effect of entering a different world, and a contrast to most of downtown where everything seems right up on the street.

I won’t be able to comment on cost this evening, the booking was made for us as a gift.

We were taken into a dining room off to the side of the main dining room, this one was quiet while the larger room seemed somewhat loud. We were seated in the corner beside a cabinet full of beautiful china and next to floor to ceiling glass looking out over a Japanese garden.

The waiter came over and described the menu for the evening and asked if we had any preferences or concerns. We were happy to put ourselves in their care for the evening, and so we proceeded with the set menu.

Bread and truffle butter were brought to the table, and I ate more bread than I should have consider what was in store because the butter was by far the best I had ever tasted.

Wine Courses
2004 Brian Barry Judd’s Hill Riesling, Clare Valley, SA
2001 Perro Chardonnay ‘For Tetsuya’, Margaret River, WA
2001 Tarrawarra Pinot Noir ‘For Tetsuya’, Yarra Valley, Vic
2002 Mosswood Cabernet Sauvignon ‘For Tetsuya’, Margaret River, WA
2004 Wellington Iced Riesling, Southern Tasmania, Tas

Dinner Menu
Snow Egg and Caviar Sandwich

Tartare of Tuna on Sushi Rice with Avocado

Tuna marinated in Soy & Mirin
Spring Bay Scallop with Wakame & Lemon
Cold Corn Soup with Basil Ice Cream

Confit of Petuna Tasmanian Ocean Trout with Konbu, Daikon, & Fennel
Seasonal Green Salad

Ravioli of Lobster and Crab with Shellfish Essence

Twice Cooked De-Boned Spatchcock with Braised Daikon & Bread Sauce

Grilled Wagyu Beef with Asian Mushrooms and Lime Jus

Lime Sorbet with Feijoa
Strawberry Shortcake

Blue Cheese Ice Cream with Pear & Sauterne Jelly

Floating Island with Praline and Vanilla Bean Anglaise
(there was a surprise once we bit in, see here)

(not on the menu, we were brought some additional special treats)

Coffee and Petit Four

During the meal I asked the waiter if we could have a tour of the kitchen and he replied, “of course, anything you like, it’s your night.” So as the meal neared an end the front of the house manager, who had taken our picture earlier came over and brought us into the kitchen.

It was better than expected when he then took us upstairs to Tetsuya’s experimental kitchen and the show kitchen were he gives presentations for food writers and for photographs. I was most impressed by the induction stoves, they didn’t feel hot if you hovered just above them but heated instantly when anything was placed upon them.

On the way back down we passed Tetsuya coming out of his library.

At the end of the meal we were brought a gift bag with Tetsuya’s book, which he had inscribed to us, along with his truffle butter mix, oyster sauce, and salad dressing.

In the end, I’d say that the food was phenomenal and the service from the waiter was fine – not stuffy, rude, or inattentive – but not exceptional (at least compared to my best dinner of 2004, the Inn at Little Washington though I think I actually enjoyed the food more at Tetsuya’s).

The evening was truly capped off wonderfully with the tour we were given, and it was nice to receive parting gifts. We had actually asked about purchasing the book, but I learned that our booking had already been arranged to include the book with a request that it be inscribed to us. Still, the truffle butter salsa and oyster sauce and salad dressing was a real surprise. I wonder why more restaurants (and businesses generally) don’t do little things like that? Any time I’m given something I don’t expect it’s touching and extra special, even if it’s a small and inexpensive item. Small investments like that go a very long way.

Posted by gleff at 4:29 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Heading to Australia

Monday, June 6

1:50 pm Depart Bora Bora Motu Mute Airport
Air Tahiti Flight 459

The night before we received a ‘departure letter’ with a printout of our folio, a Starwood Luxury Collection survey, and a departure time. We were scheduled for 11:30am which would have left us with 2 hours at the BOB airport – way too long with nothing to do. I went to the front desk and had them change our departure until an hour later, which I think caused them to make an extra airport boat run as there were a couple of other folks from our resort on the plane and they didn’t come over on our boat.

After approaching the airport dock by boat, checkin at BOB took 2 minutes tops. There was no line and the airport was more or less deserted. No comment about overweight bags, they didn’t look at my receipt showing I had prepaid the overweight fees.

There was no ID check. There was no security at the airport whatsoever. Nothing stands between the entrance to the airport and the gates. Inside the airport is a refreshment stand and two small gift shops. Bathrooms are nice with flowers but signs say the water isn’t drinkable. This is the gate area.

There were only 12 on the flight to PPT. We boarded 15 minutes early and were in the air at 12:45pm – the scheduled boarding time. Service again was a plastic cup of juice, no choices.

Sheraton Tahiti

It took a whole 2 minutes for bags to arrive at baggage claim after landing, and we headed straight out of the airport to grab a cab. Turns out we had the same cab driver who took us to the Intercontinental upon first arriving in Tahiti a week earlier. Ride to the Sheraton was 1900 CFP (day rate).

It’s hard to get used to normalcy after the Nui, we got out of the cab and started bringing our own bags to the desk ourselves when the bellman came up to stop me, realizing that he should have been attempting to help.

That said, I did enjoy the nice familiarity of a Sheraton – checking in and being told about the Sheraton Service Promise. We were given an ocean view room above the pool. The hotel has a little strip of beach and a small infinity pool. Here’s another shot of the hotel.

The property itself felt a bit aged and dark, perhaps Four Points-ish especially due to the peeling wallpaper. The room was a bit spartan except the bathroom and shower which was nice (by normal standards, but I’d just been at the Bora Bora Nui and had a suite at the Ritz by LAX) – it’s one of the better Sheraton bathrooms to be sure. Nice balcony and a complimentary bottle of water. Here’s the entry to the room.

Shortly after our arrival an amenity was delivered of a nice pareo (wrap) and a Sheraton Tahiti t-shirt, along with a personalized note from the hotel G.M. and his business card.

Prices were so much lower than the Intercontinental and the Bora Bora Nui in the restaurant. Mrs. gleff and I ordered 3 main courses from the lunch menu at 3:30pm (after the restaurant technically was closed, I think, but they accommodated us) – a gourmet topping pizza, a burger, and pasta with mussels. The bill came to just 4800 CFP. Food wasn’t great but not horrible.

Our meal was cut short though and we felt the need to excuse ourselves. Birds were walking around the restaurant, not unfamiliar having spent time at the Tamure Grille at the Nui. However, one flew onto the table next to us and sat there pooping on a plate. Yuck!

Overall the grounds weren’t as nice and were much smaller than the Intercontinental, and the food had less of a gourmet pretension. This is much more of a hotel than a resort. And though I recall it appearing closer to the airport on the map than the Intercontinental, it took longer (though not much) by cab and was slightly more expensive of a ride.

Hotel was fine for a night, but I felt a little closed in. If I had it to do over, while I’d only spend one night at the Intercontinental on the way in I might choose that hotel on the way back for a night (if necessary) as well. Then again, my lack of enthusiasm for the Sheraton may be more a function of arriving after my stay at Bora Bora Nui.

Tuesday, June 7

8:05 am Depart Papeete (PPT)
AIR TAHITI NUI Flight 101
First Class Seats 1K, 1L

We left the Sheraton at 5:45am and were at the airport just shy of 6am. I recall the ride back to the airport was 2500 CFP (rates are higher before 6am, though my memory could be off by 100 or so CFP).

The first step upon arriving for an international departure is screening of luggage, just inside the terminal from curbside. Tickets are inspected and carryon bags are tagged. Interesting that security actually tagged the carryons by class of service, at least interesting to someone so used to the TSA and domestic flying.

My carryon was flagged for extra screening. The agent removed several items but couldn’t figure out how to get everything back in properly. She was very apologetic and finally gave up (which I wish she’d done several minutes earlier, just leaving it to me to repack as I wished).

There was one person ahead of us in the business/first class checkin line. We got our boarding passes and baggage checked all the way to SYD without difficulty (QF interlining is not a problem for TN), then we passed through passport control and finally security. At security the plastic bin holding items from my pocket got stuck and the screener told me just to reach into the machine and get it. In the states I’d be put in prison for that!

We went upstairs to the lounge (we walked up the short staircase, the elevator didn’t seem to be working properly, at least it was taking awhile). Lounge is shared with JAL, Air New Zealand, etc… everyone except Hawaiian as I understand it, which won’t pay for its premium customers to have access.

There were pastries, coffee, a self-serve bar, and a television. Lounge was small, decorated with Tahitian artwork, with a nice view of airport operations (such as they are).

We boarded at 7:30am. TN was using gate 60 for coach and gate 61 for J/F. Premium cabins boarded from the front of the plane and Y boarded from behind the biz cabin. Given tiare flowers upon boarding, drinks, newspapers (day old USA Today and Los Angeles Times) and magazines, followed by amenity kits.

First had only one other passenger, so it was loaded 3/6. J wasn’t full. Coach seemed heavily packed based on the hordes at gate 60 during boarding, but I didn’t look back at the cabin once onboard. I believe the Australian soccer team was on our flight. They stayed at our hotel the night before as well, and had just bested New Zealand – or so I had been told at checkin at the Sheraton.

Flowers were removed from the front display for takeoff and then returned once we were in the air (on the LAX-PPT flight they were left in place), so procedures aren’t all that regimented and regularized I suppose. There were no complaints from the FAs when the other F pax used the lav while taxiing back from the gate. The restroom had linen on the table next to the sink with flowers and Evian soap and lotion.

We are airborne at 8:20am after a long takeoff roll using every last inch of runway. FA passed out pajamas for this six hour morning flight, something curiously missing from my evening LAX-PPT segment. Flight time was actually announced to be just 5 hours 20 minutes.

Flight attendants changes into Tahitian garb, a bit odd for this crew actually because they were predominantly French rather than Polynesian. Then they passed out headsets. TN gives sealed headphones that have white covers to go over the earpieces, which are also sealed in a plastic package inside the headphone package, presumable for sanitary reasons. I had a bit of a struggle getting them on the earpieces each time.

Hot towels were passed out, but they weren’t even warm and weren’t wet.

Menus were passed out at 9:05am, and offered one of the best breakfasts I’ve had on a plane (at least for my peculiar tastes). The meal wasn’t as good as the wonderful dinner served on the way to Tahiti, but I’ve always found breakfast to be the hardest and most disappointing plane fare.

BRUNCH

Stuffed beef olive with tarragon, smoked salmon quiche and foie gras canapé, or
Mahi mahi fillet with mushroom duxelle and tomato coulis

--

Cheese and mushroom crepes and veal sausage, or
Cheese omelete, chicken nugget and grilled tomato, or
Chestnut and pineapple crepes

--

Vegetable frittata

--

Salad of fresh tropical fruit

--

Fruit juice, coffee, tea, chocolate and herb teas

--

Butter, jam, selection of bakeries, fresh bread roll, yoghurt and cereal

WINE SELECTION
Chateau prieure Lichine, Margaux, 1997
Chassagne Montrachet, Bourgogne blanc, 2002
Domaine du Tariquet Sauvignon, Cotes de Gascogne, 2003
Clos Des Menuts, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru, 2000
Champagne Moet et Chandon, Brut-Millesime blanc, 1999
Champagne Nicolas Feuillette, Brut-Reserve particuliere
(Note these were the same wines as PPT-LAX)

Here’s the place setting. I had the stuffed beef and foie canapé, the crepes and the frittata, and the fruit.

As before, proper silver service was provided. Each course brought a replacement of silverware with just what I would need for the coming course.

Service expectations are fairly high for TN crews, apparently. When the FA struggled to climb around the papers and books strewn at my feet, magnified by the position of my footrest, she insisted that I not move at all when I offered and was very apologetic (sincerely) about her failure. Mrs. gleff reported going to the lave and finding the curtain to the FA rest area not fully pulled shut. The FA was extremely apologetic for being seen eating.

Still, service disappointed for awhile and another FA from J took my water glass without offering another or a refill. I could see the FAs reading and chatting through the galley (I imagine they didn’t realize they could be seen, or the embarrassment was limited to the one FA assigned to F). I simply got my own drink from the center cabin display. This was a real contrast to the incredibly hardworking FA on my flight to PPT, where she seemed not to stop working the entire flight in spite of having lost a pearl earings during the boarding process. She wouldn’t even look for her earing until she was done with meal service!

After brunch I played a few games. The ones on offer were solitaire, slots, poker, chess, backgammon, trivia. This time chess but not trivia allowed playing against another passenger.

We arrived in Auckland on time. Having crossed the international dateline it was now Wednesday just past noon.

Wednesday, June 8

1:25 pm Depart Auckland, New Zealand (AKL)
Qantas Flight 190
Business Class Seats 2J, 2K

After landing in Auckland we headed over to the Qantas Club at the far end of the terminal. We had come into gate 7 and would be departing next door at gate 8, so the club was a bit of a schlep in both directions. We had some snacks and killed half an hour before heading back over to board. The club offered 4 salads, cheese and crackers, trail mix, and mushroom soup.

Limited drink service was offered and newspapers were passed out. Jackets were hung. Seeing jackets was a bit of a shock after French Polynesia, as mrs gleff and I were still in island mode. Hot towels were passed out.

The cabin was a bit dated but far better than I expected. I flew a similar length flight (SYD-CNS) on the same plane type, a Boeing 767, on Ansett 4 or 5 years ago and this was much much better. Ten directional controls on the seat, reasonable pitch for a short flight – I don’t know precisely but would guess 42”. Configuration was 1-2-2, definitely better than US domestic first. Coach was standard 2-3-2. Load in J was 17/25.

I did notice some variation where I prefer US flights – announcement was no electronic devices for a full 20 minutes after takeoff, and that cell phones couldn’t be used until actually inside the terminal.

In taking drink orders, FA addressed us by name without the manifest in front of her. Very nice touch. Some have denigrated Aussie short-haul on these boards but as someone used to riding UA it seems quite nice. Printed menus for a 3 hour flight left UA a long time ago…

Entrée
Antipasto of Prosciutto, Semi Dried Tomato, Artichoke and Bocconcini

Main Course
Butter Chicken with Basmati Rice
Beef Fillet with Roast Vegetables and Thyme Jus
Salad of Smoked Salmon with Green Mango and Citrus Dressing
Seasonal Salad with Herb Vinaigrette

Dessert
Cheese selection, dried fruit and water crackers
Ice cream with Almond biscuits

The meal was served on a tray without china, but still in proper courses rather than all at once. Ice cream was accompanied by a choice of chocolates. Coffee and tea service was presented from a French press. Personal video screen was about 5”, perhaps half the size of the screen on the TN flight.

Sydney arrival was a few minutes early. I was intrigued by the huge promotion for the duty free shops on the way out, all promoting a new increased limit for bringing in alcohol. Line was short at immigration, there really aren’t that many international flights coming in just shy of 3pm, and our bags were on the carousel when we made it through. It seems QF fully recognized TN’s priority baggage tags and honored them.

Posted by gleff at 4:24 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

June 18, 2005

On to Bora Bora

Wednesday, June 1

11:10 am Depart Papeete Intl Tahiti Faaa
Air Tahiti Flight 452

Egads, we were about 45 minutes ahead of my planned schedule. After a 5 minute cab ride (1500 CFP) I went to check in.

There are 2 domestic terminals at Faaa and 1 international. Entering the airport, the first terminal is for Air Moorea, then the international terminal, followed by Air Tahiti (VT). Several shops, an upstairs restaurant, downstairs shops, Bance Socredo, McDonald’s, and business center.

Checkin requires you to first screen all bags, which then receive a tag. You take them over to checkin yourself after that (at least at LAX at the TBIT the bags are taken to checkin with you and you aren’t allowed to touch them after screening, couldn’t you put something dangerous in after receiving the tag? Maybe they aren’t worried about terrorism, but then what’s the point of the screening anyway?)

International passengers (I wasn’t asked to prove it, by the way) get 20kg checked luggage apiece. We were over, and were asked to pay an excess baggage fee. I was offered a 30% discount for paying the roundtrip charge up front – 6900 CFP by Visa for about 2 small roller suitcases worth of stuff roundtrip. I wondered if BOB would even weigh the bags, or if I could have gotten away saving money and just paying one-way? Given my experience on the return, I highly doubt I would have been asked to pay excess baggage charges on the way back. In fact, they didn’t even look at the receipt I was told to hold onto and present on the return checkin.

Carryons were limited to 3kg, they didn’t weigh ours which was good because they too would have been overweigh.

Checkin took no more than 5 minutes. Now I had about 2 hours to kill. We walked through the shops, grabbed a coke in the cafeteria, and sat down. I realized I was right next to a little girl with chicken pox – which I’ve never had! – so we moved and I started worrying about a ruined trip. Well, I didn’t catch it from a few minutes and the little girl probably wasn’t contagious any longer anyway.

We went through security and into the terminal. There are three gates which are really just separate lines/exit doors a la a domestic express carrier. Small snack shop inside security along with bathrooms, and flatscreen TVs above the gates showing promo videos of the islands.

The plane was an ATR 72 with 68 seats. Service consisted of pineapple juice of some kind. I was certain to be sure we sat on the left side of the plane – an important thing, actually, for the phenomenal view of Bora Bora on approach (here and here).

We get off the plane and enter the terminal and each major hotel has a desk. Bora Bora Nui is the first on the left. The woman asked if I was mr. gleff as I approached. Apparently we were the only Bora Bora Nui guests arriving on that flight, they had come to the airport just to get us. (When making reservations, you’re asked to email your flight information ahead of time.)

Bora Bora Nui Resort & Spa

The woman from the Nui handed me luggage tags that were pre-filled out with my name and room number on them. As I picked up a bag, a porter took it from me and made sure I just pointed to whatever was mine. (No other resort seemed to have a porter to handle baggage.) When they had all 4 bags we went to a boat that took us to the resort. We didn’t see our bags until we made it to our bungalow.

We arrived at the overwater checkin and they already knew who were were. We were greeted by Tahitian music and we were seated and were each given a small chocolate cake shaped like a heart and chilled rosewater as I filled out their paperwork which was primarily asking to confirm our departure flight (so they could ensure proper transport back to the airport).

After returning the check-in paperwork we were taken by golf cart out to our bungalow. We pulled up to #109 which I had mentioned in advance as my first choice (followed by 108 and then 104-106). I figured I must have misread the luggage tags at the airport which I thought said 105, but the woman from the hotel couldn’t open the door with the key, checked her paperwork, and backed up to Bungalow 105.

109 is known as private for being at the very edge of the resort and facing out at the water without really being seen by any of the other bungalows (108 is equally private, perhaps more so, but gets less sunlight). However, the resort’s boats cross in front of it all day long it would seem, so I’m not sure how much I would have enjoyed it.

It turns out that I was very happy with #105. The two common criticisms of the resort are that it isn’t very Tahitian (more opulence and American-style luxury, which for this trip I rather appreciated) and that it’s on the ‘wrong side’ of the motu facing away from the main island, thus having no view of Mt. Otemanu. To my surprise, #105 is unique in having a direct view of Mt. Otemanu! It has a nice sunrise view, not much of sunset, and in fact much of the day’s light is gone by noon. It isn’t a place to lay out tanning in the afternoon, but that was perfect for us – it was a refuge from the sun, and we were able to lay around coolly and comfortable for the afternoon, especially after spending time in the sun at the beach. In the end I wouldn’t have wanted any other bungalow (well, maybe Royal Suite 107, but even that would have been only the most marginal of improvements).

I was glad to have received one of the specific bungalows I had requested, especially since the reservation process wasn’t all that smooth. Awards at the Nui can’t be reserved online, since they’re all suite awards and two levels of suite awards are offered at that. I don’t imagine CSRs are that familiar with the property. I booked an overwater bungalow, the proper number of points were deducted, but it turns out that two rooms were reserved rather than one! This only came out by chance in an email exchange with the Front Office Manager.

We were shown the room and were very impressed. It’s my favorite hotel room ever by a wide margin. The bedroom, the bed, the living room, and couch were all great. But it was no understatement when the woman who brought us to our room described the bathroom as the best part of the room (complete with separate shower room and room for toilet and bidet. Bath products were Aveda and Ashford & Hall. Paolo, the Front Office Manager, called a day later to make sure I was happy with my choice – I was!

We were left alone briefly to unpack and there was a knock on the door, complimentary welcome fruit and champagne. The half-bottle of champagne was Pommery and was on the room service menu for 5360 CFP. Eleanor, the assistant front office manager, called wanting to arrange a surprise for later as well and asked whether we’d be staying in for dinner or going out. We found out later that evening that the surprise was a large plate of canapés and a large bottle of Evian, a nice treat for spending some late evening time on the deck our first night.

Some items to note. At checkin we were given a copy of the boat schedule to and from Vaitape, the main town on Bora Bora. The boat is complimentary during the day but there’s a 500 CFP charge per person each way for boat rides after 6:15pm. I imagine this is to encourage people to stay at the resort and spend money on dinner, but it’s such a nominal charge that it isn’t much of a discouragement. It’s not hard to avoid the fee, though. It seems that you’re charged only if the hotel knows in advance that you’re going to town and puts you on the schedule (for instance, if they make dinner reservations for you). But there’s no checking your voucher/receipt on the way back and no attempt to discern who is on board. So if you make your reservations yourself, and depart the hotel on the 6:15pm boat (which is free) I imagine you’d return free on, say, the 9:45pm boat which would otherwise come at a cost. It wasn’t worth it to me to test the theory.

Golf carts are available whenever you want them, though there may be a short wait. Just call the front desk and someone will pick you up and take you wherever you want to go at the resort. This wasn’t ever necessary except for the spa at the top of hill (we walked down, but honestly didn’t want to walk up). I imagine that guests in any of the 300-numbered bungalows might use the carts quite often though.

I had heard that the airport transfer, which has been free in the past, was now being billed. It isn’t, at least until this point that was just a rumor.

There was also some question in the past about the cost of the breakfast buffet. The guidebooks list a price, but reports in the past here were that guests weren’t charged, and speculation was the complimentary breakfast was being provided to platinums. The hotel doesn’t tell you this in its literature or at checkin, but full American breakfast buffet is indeed complimentary for all guests at the Tamure Grill, the hotel’s beachfront restaurant. Out of curiosity I confirmed this in advance with the hotel by email.

The odd thing is that each morning I was asked for my room number, so I wondered if there was going to be a charge even though I never was given a bill. Best I can figure they’re just checking to see whether we’re in fact guests to know whether we should be charged or not. (One could come over on the hotel’s free boat shuttle from another resort and have a breakfast for free, I imagine…)

We made a morning routine out of breakfast. Since we woke up early each morning, we ambled on over to the Tamure Grille and had coffee and sat and talked and looked at the ocean for a couple of hours, and then got around to eating breakfast. Coffee by default comes with some kind of 2% or fat free milk, but they managed to find cream for me each morning. Once I was told they were out of cream, but Stephan – the maitre d’hotel who is outstanding – found some for me.

When we arrived the stereo was tuned to 88.8 FM, which has commercial free music much of which is in English. A very pleasant station, and we never changed the channel. I brought a few CDs but never used the CD player. We did watch a movie on DVD the day it rained. The TV had both CNN International and Turner Classic Movies in English, but we really didn’t watch either.

Around 11am each morning complimentary fruit was brought to everyone laying out on the beach. I was never there at the time, but I understand refreshments (cookies?) are brought around in the afternoon as well. Past reports on the beach suggested that there was a paddle with “I’m thirsty” in English and French, and that guests need only raise the paddle and someone would come take a drink order. The paddle wasn’t there, but receiving service on the beach was never a problem. Frankly, I never did see very many people at the resort. It’s the largest property in French Polynesia, the bungalows are wonderful so people spend lots of time in them, and there are plenty of activities, etc. And the service we received was good – unlike most resorts where once you finally chase someone down to help you, you’re offered something off a limited cocktail menu, here they’ll come up with whatever you wish.

Turndown service each night included a bottle of water at each nightstand, which is a wonderful touch in this warm climate.

Early on in our stay we lost power a few times, but only for a few seconds and everything came right back on. I did have to reset the bedside clock each time, though.

Bugs – you really do need to bring bugspray. I googled “vanilla with deet” and found bugspray.com which had some that was good and quite reasonable. We probably only used 4 ounces of the stuff, but it was invaluable. There are bugs everywhere. At the Tamure Grille (beachside restaurant) they would be on some tables too (we’d just switch tables) and occasionally wind up in the juice (we’d ask the waitstaff to switch our glasses). We got bitten in the mid-afternoon sitting in front of the library when we hadn’t put on any of the spray. Incidentally, the library was near the business center which has two computers with complimentary internet access and US-style keyboards.

Sunscreen. You need more than you think. My first day on Tahiti, laying out at the Beachcomber, I missed a spot on my stomach and had a pretty bad burn in that one spot. We each used at least an ounce of SPF45 each day, more when we were out in the sun for longer periods of time.

Service. This isn’t a Four Seasons, a Ritz-Carlton, or even a St. Regis. There are two conflicting stories over how this hotel is flagged. There were some Sheraton items around, such as napkins, and I understand when it first opened it was often referred to as a Sheraton. It was supposed to become a St. Regis. I read one story that the owner of the hotel visited the St. Regis in NYC and the St. Regis Monarch Beach and was horrified and refused to put the name on his hotel. The other story, which I find more likely after my stay, was that the hotel simply didn’t meet the service standards and amenities that are specific to the St. Regis brand. In any case, it’s part of the Luxury Collection and not any of the other brands.

People forget requests, apologize, and smile. One day a bathrobe was taken by housekeeping but not replaced. A requested replacement wasn’t sent, but the second call took care of it. One of two sinks in the bathroom didn’t drain properly. After my first mention didn’t elicit any response, I just took out the stopper and it worked fine. The real disservice happened with the spa.

One morning after breakfast we walked to reception rather than back to our room. They called the spa at 9:30am but no one was available to take an appointment. Sarah suggested we call back in an hour. At 10:45 we were heading back to our bungalow and Sarah saw us, stopped her golf cart, and asked if the spa had called me (addressing me by name, as most everyone from the front office did throughout our stay). I got back to my room, they hadn’t, so I called at 11. No spa appointments were left for the day. There are only 3 treatment bungalows, so I imagine slots do fill up. I made an appointment for the next day at 1pm.

At 11:30 the next morning I called to confirm the appointment, and also to confirm our pickup. (The spa has its own van, separate from the front desk’s golf carts.) Everything was set, and they were picking us up at 12:30. I was glad I called, as I had remembered them telling me we’d be picked up at 12:45. 12:30 came and went, and at 12:45 I called. They told me, “Sorry, we don’t have a van at the moment, there’s nothing we can do.” If they had called to let me know they couldn’t pick us up (nevermind that they had just confirmed the pickup an hour earlier) we could have just walked. But at this point it was getting late, and they advise you to be 15 minutes early and that being late will reduce treatment times.

I called the front desk and asked for a pickup (why couldn’t the spa have just called the desk?). It was 1:10pm before the cart turned up. We were 15 minutes late for our appointment, and it took firm insistence and help from the desk to insure that we received our full treatment time, though the pre-session rituals were more than a bit rushed.

Still, the ve’a ve’a (hot stones) massage was wonderful and I quickly forgot all of my cares.

The view from the spa is of the whole resort and is incredible. There are three treatment bungalows, I believe each is set up to accommodate two people for treatments.

The culinary highlight of French Polynesia was a trip to Vaitape for a relatively new small restaurant called Villa Mahana (see here and here. It has only six tables inside and two more outside upstairs, so several days’ advance reservation are a must. I emailed the chef a couple weeks ahead of time and got my preferred booking. We took the resort’s 6:15pm shuttle which arrives at Vaitape around 6:30pm and the restaurant had a cab waiting for us at the dock (they added 300 CFP each way to our bill for the cab). This was the best shuttle for us – for some of the other restaurants the 7:15pm boat would be better (in fact very few people took the 6:15pm boat), but either way we were going to wind up coming back on the 9:45pm and Villa Mahana is a meal worth savoring. In fact, at the end we were even a bit rushed.

When we arrived we were offered cocktails and the waitress recommended a special champagne fruit drink they offer, which we accepted. It tasted like grenadine and we didn’t enjoy it. I was rather surprised to see that we were charged 1900 CFP apiece for it. Otherwise everything was perfect.

The chef comes out after you arrive to discuss the menu. Since we were the first diners of the evening (though in the end, hardly the first to leave), he had a bit of extra time to chat with us.

We ordered the five-course ‘degustation menu’ which they call the Menu Royal. It was 10500 CFP apiece, but well worth it.

Sea Food Salad and Caviar

Foie Gras in Sweet Spices Crust

King Rock Lobster with Exotical Flavor

Roasted Beef Tenderloin, Red Wine Vanilla Sauce, Creamy Gnocchi

Warm and Creamy Chocolate Cake with Tiare Flower Ice Cream

The foie gras crusted in spices was the absolute best foie I’ve ever had. The chef asked how the meal was after our second course, and I told him the foie was wonderful. He sent out seconds (the initial serving was in a copper pot).

Everything else was good, but I didn’t finish the gnocchi that accompanied the beef tenderloin – a bit too rich after more than one serving of foie gras.

One table near us did just two courses, I thought what a waste as the lady ordered the chicken – something the chef didn’t even mention as he discussed the menu with us. Another table asked what foie gras was and didn’t like the sound of it. My goodness, they missed out.

The décor of the restaurant is nice local artwork (though I’m not personally a fan), though lots of it and it strikes me as a bit kitsch. Frankly I was there for the food and it didn’t disappoint. Our best meal of the trip so far.

Less wonderful for food was Iritai, Bora Bora Nui’s formal dining ‘panoramic’ restaurant. (Formal dining in French Polynesia means a clean pair of shorts and perhaps a short sleeve shirt with a collar.)

Iritai is a beautiful restaurant with rather nice service, more attentive than we had in most of French Polynesia. The view is amazing. There’s a piano player. The food, though, is worse than mediocre. Someone needs to introduce the chef to salt. They conserve on ingredients by using the same things over and over throughout the menu – their amuse was very similar to one of the appetizers. The sauce from the shrimp and crab soufflé appetizer was the soup in the bouillabaisse (!). The fish in the bouillabaisse had scales left on and some bones were in it too. My tuna was overcooked and dry, despite ordering it mid-rare, probably as a consequence of the thin slices of fish. As an apology they brought a complimentary dessert. We didn’t really want to stay, so they sent it to our room.

Here’s the walkway from the 100-numbered bungalows to the rest of the resort.

Here are some hillside bungalows.

This is the resort’s pool.

Facing the Tamure Grille from the Beach and looking out from the Tamure Grille in the evening.

The public restroom by the pool.

Some photos of the sunset:
Here
Here
Here
Here

Some more fabulous photos:
Here
Here

Honestly, this is the most beautiful physical property I’ve ever seen. There are some occasional service limitations, this is common in French Polynesia. It did grate at me a bit at times but then I’d just gaze out at the magnificent water. My pictures don’t capture it, but it’s just awe-inspiring. In person it looks airbrushed, it doesn’t even look real.

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May 26, 2005

Hiatus

I don't plan to blog again until June 18th. See you in a few weeks!

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May 22, 2005

A Repository of Information You'll Find on This Site and Elsewhere

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May 20, 2005

I'm Such a Geek

This actually sounds like a fascinating way to spend a few days

Card Forum is the largest event in the card industry, with nearly 1,000 card issuers, banks and service providers converging at the Omni Orlando Resort for three information-packed days of educational sessions and networking that focused on loyalty and multi-channel marketing, stored value/pre-paid, and credit and debit.

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May 17, 2005

Forced Rental Car Upsells?

Christopher Elliott writes in the New York Times about rental car companies claiming to be out of the class of car a customer reserves and attempting to charge an upgrade fee for the next level vehicle.

This has never happened to me, and it shouldn't happen to anyone.

After all, that's the very idea of a reservation, a point hammered home in an episode of Seinfeld

Agent: I'm sorry, we have no mid-size available at the moment.

Jerry: I don't understand, I made a reservation, do you have my reservation?

Agent: Yes, we do, unfortunately we ran out of cars.

Jerry: But the reservation keeps the car here. That's why you have the reservation.

Agent: I know why we have reservations.

Jerry: I don't think you do. If you did, I'd have a car. See, you know how to take the reservation, you just don't know how to *hold* the reservation and that's really the most important part of the reservation, the holding. Anybody can just take them.

This hasn't ever happened to anyone that I know, but if it should happen to you, first insist on receiving the next higher car class at the same price -- the company has committed to provide you with X car type or better for Y dollars, that's well what they should deliver. Second, call the company's 800 number for assistance, you may get better help from the central office. Finally, consider taking the car and disputing the higher charge in writing with the car company and then with your credit card company.

The best prophylactic measure, as Elliott suggests, is to be a member of the car company's frequent renter program (e.g. Avis Preferred, Hertz #1 Gold) which is usually free. By having your membership number in the reservation, a car should be pre-assigned and you should be able to skip the checkin process altogether.

Avis Preferred is always free, and Preferred Select is available to anyone with an American Express Platinum card. I have one, though Avis didn't verify that fact when I called to upgrade my membership. Hertz charges a nominal fee for membership, but waives it for just about everyone (see here and here).

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May 16, 2005

Learning

A life skill I just didn't have before.

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