Monday, March 10, 2008
You may remember that I experienced grief with the so-called high-speed Internet connection at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, Texas. I’m currently staying at the Hilton in Jackson. The wireless high-speed is fast enough, but there’s another problem.
The service is apparently provided by Nomadix. I can tell because a small browser window that remains open all the time I’m online tells me so:
This graphic refreshes every couple of minutes with a very audible “click.” If the laptop volume is on, this click becomes part of what you’re listening to. Since I’m about to record my podcast over Skype with my co-host, that click will become part of the show.
Was nobody using their brains when configuring this service?
After a long stretch with nothing much to say about my travels, here come two posts, both arising from my current trip to Jackson, Mississippi. I’m here to visit my son, who is stationed at nearby Ft. Shelby and has a short pass before redeploying to Iraq.
My wife and I landed on time (thanks, Southwest) and got our baggage. Then I headed over to the Alamo Rental Car desk; I’d booked an online reservation with Alamo. The line was 10 people long and not moving. There was not one other person at any of the other rental counters. Only one employee was working the Alamo desk and, as it turned out, was also handling the National desk. Everyone in line, as far as I could tell, had made a reservation that included information on when their flights were landing. Alamo knew there would be a surge of customers at that time, yet made no plans for additional personnel to handle the load. I stood in line for 30 minutes—during which two customers completed their transactions—before deciding to pay an extra $100 for our four-day trip and got a car from Budget.
Question for Alamo: Have you ever heard of this concept called “customer service?”
Posted by Shel in
• Rental cars
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Wednesday, January 23, 2008
I’m part of a group that gets together semi-formally to talk about employee communications. Most of the members work for Fortune 100 companies and their travel is covered by their employers. There are a couple of us, though, who were invited to participate based on our expertise; we were also involved in creating the group. So, when the group meets, I pay all expenses on my own nickel.
This time around, the meeting was in Atlanta. It was a lock, a set date. I even coordinated a presentation with another participant. Then, last minute—that being today, with the meeting on Friday—the meeting was postponed. Too many people canceled due to illness or work or personal emergencies.
Rescheduling my flight was one nightmare, costing me about $500 in change fees and fare differences, but that was offset by the unused portion of my original itinerary being put in a bank for my use any time during the next year. With my schedule, I’ll probably use it within the next week. The real killer was the hotel. I booked with the Hilton Suites Atlanta Perimeter. Since I’m using my own money, no reimbursement, I opted for the special non-refundable web rate, pre-charged to my credit card. I called to cancel and found there was no accommodation at all. No putting the money in a bank for another night. No points to my Hilton Honors account (I’m a Silver HHonors VIP, whatever the hell that’s good for), no nothing.
I’m not blaming Hilton, mind you. It was clear when I booked it that it was non-refundable. But I will never, ever, avail myself of that option again. This meeting was a sure thing and yet it isn’t happening, and I’m out $250.80, just because I wanted to save $20 or $30 over a refundable rate. I’d rather pay the higher rate and be able to cancel than risk losing it all. My advice: Stay away from these offers. Under the circumstances, I have to question why the hotels even offer them.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Monday, November 12, 2007
Note to American Airlines: When you change the boarding gate for a flight, it’s a good idea to let your passengers know.
I arrived at O’Hare from SFO and was pleased to find out that the gate for my connecting flight was very close. The gate was announced by the purser. I checked it again with the gate agent. And it was on the departure video screen. So I planted myself at the departure gate, powered up my laptop, and started answering email.
A plane arrived, but boarding didn’t start. The boarding time came and went. I finally went to the desk...and found another flight listed there. I rushed to the video monitor to find my flight had moved to another terminal...and it was already boarding. I ran to the gate and asked if an announcement had been made at the original gate. The gate agent shrugged. The person behind me, panting, said she had been at the other gate, too, and no announcement had been made. Again, the gate agent shrugged.
If other companies treated their customers the way the airlines do, they’d be out of business.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Either people are getting ruder and more thoughtless, or I’m getting less tolerant the more I travel. Here are two recent tales of fellow passengers who deserved to be bitch-slapped for their behavior with their seat backs.
You heard me. Seat backs.
Last week Michele and I were returning from England on a British Air 777 that was less than half full. There were completely empty rows of seats. In fact, there were rows of empty seats with rows of empty seats behind them.
In front of us, the lone passenger in the row moved to the middle seat, obviously relishing the ability to stretch his elbows to the left and the right without hitting a seatmate. But as soon as the pilot turned off the seat belt sign, a woman changed her seat to the aisle seat next to this poor guy, then reclined her seat all the way back, practically into Michele’s lap leaving her about as much room as a sardine has in a tightly packed can. She chose this seat despite the fact that there were at least six or seven rows where she could have had an aisle seat with nobody next to her and nobody behind her.
During the flight, any time I had to stand up, I couldn’t avoid jarring her seat back in my effort to squeeze by. Each time, she turned and gave me a nasty look for disturbing her. She kept the seat reclined for the entire 9-1/2-hour flight, including a good 10 minutes after the announcement asking all passengers to return their seats to the full and upright position.
Right now, I’m on a a US Air Airbus 320 from Phoenix to Kansas City. I’m in the second of three first-class rows, having been upgraded without asking for an upgrade. (This never happens on United, where I’m a million-mile flyer and where I have my miles, but US Air, United’s Star Alliance partner, does it routinely. But I digress.) As soon as the pilot asked flight attendants to take their seats for takeoff, the asshole in front of me reclined his seat as far as it would go; we were still a good seven or eight minutes from takeoff, but he clearly figured that if the flight attendants couldn’t see his seat reclined, then it was just fine to go ahead and recline it.
Update:On landing, Mr. High Regard for My Safety kept his set all the way back, and nobody from the cabin crew looked back to check.
Is it me? Am I getting cranky? Or am I right in thinking people wouldn’t behave to incredibly selfisly 25 years ago and that this kind of cavalier self-centeredness is a relatively new development among travellers?
When I was at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas last week, I paid $10.95 for high-speed, broadband Internet access, a hard-wired ethernet connection in the room. I needed it to record my podcast—my co-host, Neville Hobson is in the U.K., and Skype is our method of recording.
The Net connection was so bad, so slow, that we could not hear each other over Skype, and we finally gave up. Then I tried to get my email. The connection was so slow that I couldn’t get one message. I disconnected from the hotel line and popped in my Sprint wireless broadband card and got my email with no problem.
When I checked out later, I told the clerk at the front desk how awful the connection was. “I’ve heard that,” he said. “Sorry.” He did not offer to refund the $10.95.
The Hilton Anatole is a nice hotel. I won’t be staying there again.
And can somebody explain why the pricier hotels charge for Internet access while the cheaper ones (like Fairfield Inns) do not? Especially when they’re managed by the same groups (Hilton, Marriott, etc.)?
Sunday, October 14, 2007
I had just deplaned from my flight to Denver from Oakland and checked my email on my Treo. I was delighted to see a message from United confirming that I had been upgraded to first class on my flight from Denver to Washington, D.C. (A screen shot of the salient part of the email appears below).
I got to my gate and waited my turn, happily ready to exchange my coach boarding pass for one in first. I told the gate agent about the email. She shook her head, tapped a few keys, then shook her head again. “I have no idea what that’s about,” she said. “First class was booked full and has checked in full.”
Now, understand: Even though I’m a United million-mile flyer, I have no expectation of upgrades. I book my seats in coach and am happy to sit there. But sending me an email telling me my upgrade request has been fulfilled raised my expectations, only to have them dashed a short while later. It is, in my opinion, inexcusable.
How could such mixed messages happen? Is it that one system doesn’t talk to another?
In any case, I called Customer Relations when I got to my hotel, but they’re closed on weekends. (I guess nobody flies and needs customer relations if it isn’t Monday through Friday.) So I tried the Premiere Executive number, where I was told to wait until tomorrow to talk to Customer Relations.
So I’ve spoke today with a gate agent, a flight attendant, and the Premier Executive desk, each of whom passed the buck and none of whom offered an apology. We’ll see what happens tomorrow when I call Customer Relations to ask for (a) an explanation, (b) an apology, and (c) assurance that the system-wide upgrade certificate is put back into my account. I’m not hoping for much.
In any case, I have learned a couple lessons about United today:
- Never rely on or trust an email from United. They could be completely false.
- The loyalty involved in flying a million true miles with United doesn’t matter to United.
- When you get screwed over by United, nobody at United seems to care very much.
It’s true what they say: You have a choice of carriers when you fly. To be honest, I’ve been avoiding United for the last year or so when I can. Today’s experience only confirms that this is a good idea.
Special note to Craig Jolley: Yeah, yeah, I know, I know…
Michele and I were on our way to San Francisco International when the programmed call came from Orbitz: “This is Orbitz calling with a flight cancellation alert.” Our early-morning flight to Dallas had been cancelled.
This was more of an issue than it usually is. We were on our way to the UK, primarily so I could speak at the annual meeting of the Society of American Travel Writers. Because the SATW negotiated ridiculously low air fares for attendees, there were a number of rules we had to follow, one of which was leaving from and returning to the same airport. Since I had to be in Dallas immediately after the SATW gig, we had to fly from Dallas in order to return there. Our British Air flight was set for fourish, so I had arranged the American flight to Dallas in order to ensure we had enough time to make the connection.
I called Orbitz first, which referred me to American, since this was the actual day of the flight. American told me the next flight to Dallas was oversold (a practice I despise, by the way); the next available flight was a connection through Orange County, arriving about 45 minutes before the UK flight departed. Any delay would cause us to miss our flight, and it would be iffy for our bags making the connection even if we did get there on time.
By the time we arrived at the airport, I was on the phone with British Air to find out what would happen if we missed the flight. Because the fare was so low, the answer was simple: The ticket would be cancelled. I called American again to see if they could put us on another carrier, but none got to Dallas any earlier than the one going first to Orange County.
Waiting in line at the American ticket counter, a thought struck me. I called American again and asked, “What about Oakland?” Oakland International Airport is just across the bay from SFO. Indeed, it turned out there was a flight that would get us there more than two hours early, and there were seats available. Why, I wondered, did I need to think of this?
I got to the counter where an American Airlines ticket agent very kindly helped make the change, ensuring we still had our return flight from Dallas to SFO. Then she handed me a taxi voucher, explaining that it was American’s fault the flight was cancelled (the plane had been removed from service) and that American would pick up the tab for the cab ride across the bay. That’s Michele holding the voucher below. (We had to leave our car at SFO for a couple reasons: We were returning to SFO and we had arranged 12 days of free parking at Park ‘N Fly using points earned from participating in the loyalty program...not transferable to Oakland.)
We got down to the cab line where not a single cabbie would honor the voucher. Each one had a different reason. There was no amount on it. They hadn’t seen one before. Their dispatcher wouldn’t let them. So it was $90 to get from SFO to Oakland.
We did make our flight to the UK, but it was no thanks to any of the travel providers involved. And if American ever gives you a taxi voucher, think twice before thanking them. It isn’t worth the paper on which it’s printed.
Posted by Shel in
• Cabs
• Online travel services
• Planes
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Tuesday, August 21, 2007
If you live in the San Francisco East Bay, your options for a shared-ride shuttle to either Oakland International or San Francisco International is East Bay Connection. I’d rather walk. Hell, I’d rather not go. Three terrible experiences are all I need to make sure I always have another way to get to the airport.
Strike 1: I had a reservation on an East Bay Connection shuttle to get home from Oakland Int’l. I got to the shuttle to find one other passenger slumped in the back seat looking glum. I settled into the van and waited...for nearly two hours. Other passengers with reservations were on delayed flights and the driver was not allowed by his dispatcher to take us home. They could easily have sent another driver to wait for the delayed passengers, but that evidently would have cost them too much, so the decision was made that it was better to make their customers suffer.
Strike 2: I had a reservation on a shuttle to get me to SFO. The reservation agent gave me my pickup time and the shuttle driver was waiting, right on time. I got into an empty shuttle. “Just me?” I asked? “No,” he said, “I have to pick up five more passengers.” He told me where they all lived. I did some calculations, then asked, “Will you get me to the airport by 6 a.m.?” That would give me an hour to go through security and get to my flight. The driver shook his head. “Not a chance.” I had to have him turn around and take me back home so I could drive myself to the airport. On the way I called East Bay Connection and asked, “What the hell?” “Sir,” I was told, “this is a shared ride service.” “I know that,” I replied, “but I should have been picked up early enough to ensure I wouldn’t miss my flight. What good is a shared ride service if it can’t get me to the airport in time to make my flight? Why do you even ask what time my flight is leaving when I make my reservation if you’re not going to schedule my pickup in time to get me there??” I just got belligerence from the shuttle representative.
Strike 3: On my way home from Chicago last week, I ran into a friend on the same flight. He had an East Bay Connection reservation to get home, but I offered him a ride. It would be faster (he wouldn’t have to wait while the shuttle dropped off four other people) and it would be fun to catch up. We got down to baggage claim at SFO and he called East Bay Connection to let them know he wouldn’t be riding with them. “We’ll charge your credit card anyway,” he was told. He was flabbergasted. “What if my trip got extended? What if my flight was cancelled and I had to spend the night in Chicago?” “We’d charge your card for the missed reservation,” he was told. He wound up taking the shuttle.
Some companies just don’t understand the advantage of making your customers happy instead of miserable. With all the flights I take each year, East Bay Connection is out probably $1,000 in revenue this year alone, and I’ll bet I’m not the only one who has decided it’s better to pay exorbidant airport parking that suffer another experience with these losers.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Boston’s Logan airport needs a better security system.
I was in line today (after having to leave Terminal C and go through security again to make my connection at Terminal B) when a uniformed employee (not TSA) let two people into the line in front of me. I gave her a “What the hell?” look and she said, “They’re in first class.”
I pulled out my boarding pass and showed her that I, too, was in first class.
“Well, you’re in line, aren’t you?” she said. Yeah, but these two passengers were now in line in front of me. And I’d been waiting in line for 15 minutes at that point. And there was no sign or any other indication that first class passengers could get a closer spot.
This is fair? Reconsider your system, Logan.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
The Hilton Garden Inn in Kimberly, Wisconsin has a nifty service. Visit the PrintOn website, select the right hotel, and print any document to the business center. Which I did. I went down to the business center to get my documents, but the printer was out of ink. When I mentioned this to the front desk, and they told me they wouldn’t get new cartridges for two more days. Slick.
Monday, July 16, 2007
I’m at the Embassy Suites in downtown Minneapolis, which has free high-speed WiFi. Except they don’t; it’s not working. I called the number for tech support and got a message informing me that all the tech support reps were busy. I was asked to leave a message with my number and they’d call me back as soon as they could. That was four hours ago. Thank goodness I have my Sprint wireless broadband card. Not as fast as a true broadband connection, but it works. Embassy Suites does not.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
I’m sitting at DFW biding my time. My flight from SFO was delayed with not one but two electrical problems. First, a battery failed, and it took 45 minutes to replace it. We then taxi’d out to the runway when the flight speed indicator failed, so it was back to the terminal for another 45 minutes to fix that. I missed my connection to New Orleans, so now I’ll fly at 7:55 p.m. and arrive at 9:30 or so. Assuming, of course, that the flight is on time.
I’m online with my Sprint wireless card and saw that Neville posted that he assumed I’d have something here about my recent travels, so I figured I’d better not make a liar out of him.
I got home yesterday from St. John’s, Newfoundland. That flight started at 6 a.m., which meant I had to be up at 3:30 a.m...which was 11 p.m. at home. (I can never get used to locales where the time change is in 30-minute increments instead of 60. I was also befuddled at having to go through customs upon arriving in Montreal from St. John’s; isn’t Newfoundland part of Canada?) I got home around 2 p.m. and spent the rest of the day preparing to leave again today. But that’s not the part you want to hear about. This is:
I flew to St. John’s last Wednesday from Toronto, where I’d been since Sunday. We got to St. John’s, went through two aborted landings due to heavy fog, then diverted to Halifax. From there, we flew back to Toronto. I rebooked on a later flight, and instead of arriving at 1:30 p.m., I got in at 12:30 a.m. How many people fly from Toronto to St. John’s in one day?
On our way to the gate in Toronto, the pilot came on the PA and asked passengers to contact their MPs about St. John’s’ airport. It is, according to the pilot, one of the few commercial airports in North America that is not equipped to handle instrument landings, even though the plane was so equipped. Considering it’s the first North American airport many flights originating in Europe encounter—where planes land in an emergency—and since St. John’s is often shrouded in fog, it seems to make sense to have it equipped to handle low-visibility landings. If I were Canadian, I’d write my MP.
Anyway, this month I’ve been in London, Chicago, Vegas, Toronto, Montreal, St. John’s, and now I’m off to New Orleans, then Dallas next Thursday. Enough!
Monday, June 04, 2007
Andy Abramson has a business travel blog, “Working Anywhere,” and posts a list of his requirements for amentities hotels should offer business travelers. The list is good (if a bit food-heavy), and the comments offer even more ideas to which hotels would do well to pay attention.
One item missing—even from my own comment to Andy’s post—would never have occurred to me until last night. I’m at the Marriott Courtyard in Zurich, Switzerland. I got into bed and prepared to set the clock radio alarm, until I discovered the room had no clock radio! An automated wake-up call system works fine, but what I missed was the glowing LED readout of the time. When you wake up in the middle of the night and it’s dark, you want to know whether you should just get up or go back to bed. The absence of the clock radio made it hard to do that, and by the time I was able to fumble for the button that lights up my watch, I was more awake than I wanted to be (and it was only 3 a.m.).
If you travel a lot, scoot on over to Andy’s blog and add your own requirements to the growing list.
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I travel for work. I have no fear of flying. I have a paralyzing fear of baggage claim. No matter how successful any given trip may be, there's always some travel provider -- an airline, a hotel, a cab company, somebody who will add a bit of misery to the experience. It's inevitable. I need a place to vent, to kvetch, to complain. This is it. Welcome to my life on the road. If you need to know any more than this, I have a business web site and a blog dedicated to the work I do, and you're welcome to visit either or both. But this blog, this blog is just about business travel. And it isn't pretty.
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