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…

Posted by Shel in • Planes
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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.

Posted by Shel in • Shuttles
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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.

Posted by Shel in • Airports
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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.

Posted by Shel in • Hotels
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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.

Posted by Shel in • Hotels
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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!

Posted by Shel in • Planes
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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.

Posted by Shel in • Hotels
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Wednesday, May 23, 2007

I must be tired; it’s the only reason I’m so incredibly angry over what happened at the security checkpoint yesterday as I went to board my flight from Calgary to San Francisco.

A little background. I have bad teeth. (Hang in there with me; this is relevant.) I brush and floss like a madman to avoid another root canal, and have four cleanings per year instead of the usual two. I also rinse with a pre-brushing dental rinse (Plax, usually), all of which is designed to keep my teeth reasonably healthy. Now, Plax does not make a bottle that is 3 ounces or under; at least, I haven’t been able to find one. So, in order to be able to rinse before brushing when I travel, I bought a 3-ounce container from The Container Store and pour some Plax into that. That little plastic bottle goes into my Ziploc baggie. I have shown it at least 100 times, including my entries into and out of Canada. This includes my entry into Canada through SFO on Monday, my transfer from Calgary to Regina, and my trip back to Calgary from Regina.

Yet in Calgary, the Canada Air Transport Security Authority officer tossed my bottle of Plax. Why? It was not labeled by the manufacturer. Thumbs down, in this case, to CATSA.

Excuse me? Here is the exact language from the CATSA website:

Passengers will be permitted to bring liquids, gels and aerosols through security screening at Canadian airports provided that the items are packaged in containers with a capacity of 100 ml / 100 grams (3.4 oz) or less, and that the containers fit comfortably in one clear, closed and resealable plastic bag with a capacity of no more than 1 litre (1 quart). The approximate dimensions of a one litre/quart bag are 15.24 cm by 22.86 cm (6 in. by 9 in.) or 20 cm by 17.5 cm (8 in. by 7 in.). One bag per passenger will be permitted.

See anything there about the product needing to be in original manufacturer packaging? No, I didn’t either.

But, hey, I was entering the U.S., so I figured it may be a new regulation from the TSA. But no, here’s the language from the TSA website:

With certain exceptions for prescription and over-the-counter medicines, baby formula and breast milk, and other essential liquids, gels, and aerosols, the following rules apply to all liquids, gels, and aerosols you want to carry through a security checkpoint.

All liquids, gels and aerosols must be in three-ounce or smaller containers. Larger containers that are half-full or toothpaste tubes rolled up are not allowed. Each container must be three ounces or smaller.
All liquids, gels and aerosols must be placed in a single, quart-size, zip-top, clear plastic bag. Gallon size bags or bags that are not zip-top such as fold-over sandwich bags are not allowed. Each traveler can use only one, quart-size, zip-top, clear plastic bag.
Each traveler must remove their quart-sized plastic, zip-top bag from their carry-on and place it in a bin or on the conveyor belt for X-ray screening. X-raying separately will allow TSA security officers to more easily examine the declared items.

Again, not a word about original packaging or labeling being required.

When I tried to ask about this, the CATSA officer dismissed me, just tossed my bottle in the trash, turned around, and walked away. And no, they weren’t busy at security.

I have no objection to security requirements. I have expressed sympathy to TSA officers after hearing them take verbal abuse from passengers for doing their job. Any search of my luggage any security officer wants to conduct is aces with me—after all, if they’re checking me, they’ll check the bad guys, too.

But between the exercise of an arbitrary rule that does not exist (at least, is not communicated) and the rudeness displayed by the CATSA officer, I am still exercised about this a full day later. Protecting my safety is great. Making up rules and behaving like a martinet is not.

Of course, I’ll retract every word if someone can show me a rule or regulation that I missed.

Posted by Shel in • Airports
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Monday, May 21, 2007

I got a courtesy email yesterday from United Airlines reminding me I could check in online for my flight this morning to Canada. So I clicked the link in the email and completed all the required information, got a screen asking me to confirm details (e.g., my passport number), then clicked to get my boarding pass but got this instead:

EasyCheck-in: Unavailable
Check-in is experiencing problems at this time which are preventing you from using the system. Please try again later. 

So I tried again later. And again later. And again even later. And again this morning. Same result. (Insanity, Einstein said, is repeating the same action over and over again while expecting a different result.)

I have two questions for United:

1. How long does it take a big company like yours to fix a website problem?
2. Why can’t you let us know the site isn’t working before we go through the hassle of entering all the information rather than making us input all the data in order to find out it’s all been an exercise in futility?

Posted by Shel in • Planes
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Tuesday, May 15, 2007

I’ve been booking my flights on Orbitz for a few years, but after this morning, I’m going to become a loyal Expedia user—at least until Expedia screws up the way Orbitz did. Here’s the story.

Yesterday, I had to change my destination of my flight today. It was less than 24 hours before my flight—I called with the change at about 2 p.m. for a flight the next morning at 8:25 a.m. It took a while, but my credit card was charged nearly $300 for the change and I received a confirmation from the Orbitz agent who “helped” me.

I got to the airport early (thank God) only to find out I couldn’t check in at the automated terminal. When I talked to a ticket agent, she spent a confused five minutes with her computer, then told me I had to call Orbitz; they owned the reservation. So I did. What ensued was nearly an hour of frustration punctuated by about eight promises that things owuld only take five-to-10 minutes. Near the end of the call—most of it on hold—I was told I was going to be connected to the American Airlines representative.

“I’m going to miss my flight,” I said.

“You won’t miss your flight,” he promised.

“There’s a line for boarding passes and a security line and we board in 10 minutes,” I said.

“We’ll get you out on the next flight.”

I was put on hold again, then the American rep came on the line.

“Are you the Orbitz rep’s supervisor?” she asked.

“No, I’m the passenger.”

“What? I was waiting to talk to the Orbitz guy’s supervisor.” She had no idea what to do with me. “I’m with a group that works just with travel agents,” she told me. At this point, my flight was boarding in 10 minutes and I had no boarding pass. I went back to the ticket desk and two very helpful American ticket agents worked through the issue and got me my boarding passes. They explained that the original change was entered incorrectly by the Orbitz agent I called yesterday.

This is inexcusable. This should have been done right the first time, or at least caught before I showed up at the airport. If I hadn’t arrived early, I would have been hosed.

American rocks—at least, the two ticket agents who took the time to help me without ever losing their smiles rock. Orbitz, on the other hand, needs some serious attention paid to quality control.

Posted by Shel in • Airports • Online travel services
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Thursday, December 07, 2006

The fact that I have an affinity card with Park ‘N Fly means that it’s in my own self-interest to park there. It doesn’t take much to get free days, and free off-airport parking is something I can always use. It doesn’t mean I like Park ‘N Fly, though. At least, not at San Francisco International Airport.

For a while, I thought it was just bad timing, but after several years, I’ve come to accept that Park ‘N Fly sends its shuttles around to pick up arriving passengers about 50% less frequently than its competitors. I can see two or three shuttles from Park SFO, Anza, PCA, and several other parking lots before one Park ‘N Fly shows up. Coming home from Montreal the other day, I called for pickup (it was after midnight) while I was still in the terminal. “Three to five minutes,” the attendant told me. I got out to the curb and waited 15 minutes and called back. “Thirty seconds,” I was told this time. Five minutes later, the driver showed up.

I sat down and said nothing, but the other guy who’d been waiting was seething. He expressed whaqt I was thinking: “I’ve seen your competitors’ shuttles go by three or four times. What took you so long?” The driver gave a song and dance about a passenger on his last run who had lost his ticket—which tells the drive the row and slot where the passenger parked—so they had to drive around looking for his car.

That may explain the delay on Tuesday night. It doesn’t explain the 75 or 80 other times I’ve waited at the blue-and-white striped curb for Park ‘N Fly to finally get around to making a run.

Maybe it’s not worth the free points. Next time, it’s probably going to be Park SFO for me.

Posted by Shel in • Airports
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Friday, November 17, 2006

I was delighted to get an email from John Wolf, senior director of media relations for Marriott International, in response to my complaint about getting poker ads served up on web pages (including my own blog) while using the Superclick service that hotels like Marriott use to provide guests with Internet access. This occurred while I was staying at the Renaissance in downtown Toronto, both in my room and in the meeting room where I was presenting a workshop. These ads showed up despite the fact that I was paying for the service, and Ragan Communications was paying for access during the two-day session I was teaching.

John’s email first of all noted that Marriott follows my blog, which by itself puts them head and shoulders above most companies. They recognize that customers will talk about their experiences—good and bad—on their blogs. He then explained the circumstances that led to my getting those annoying ads:

Marriott’s relationship with the Internet service provider Superclick includes an agreement to exclude all popups on our high-speed service.  However,  Superclick explained to us that whenever upgrades are made to the system, pop ups are automatically activated and need to be manually turned off.  Apparently, we got upgraded and were unaware of it until you notified our front desk.  At that time, we notified Superclick and the pop ups were immediately turned off.  We are talking with Superclick to ensure that they alert us about all future upgrades.

John apologized, expressing regret for the inconvenience, and assured me Marriott is taking steps to ensure there is no repeat of the experience.

If I thought companies would pay attention to blogs, I would simply articulate my complaint and wait for a reply. But you can’t make that assumption (although now I can about Marriott). I like the idea, originally broached by Christopher Carfi in response to one of my earlier posts, that companies assign every product and service a tag that customers could use when posting items about their experiences, making it easy for companies to track what customers are saying about them—and to respond.

In the meantime, Marriott is back on my “good guys” list.

Posted by Shel in • Hotels
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Monday, November 13, 2006

I’m at the Renaissance Toronto Hotel Downtown, and until a few minutes ago, I was pleased with the hotel. I was upgraded due to my Marriott Rewards status to a nice split-level suite that overlooks an empty SkyDome. The food is good. The service is good. However, I am now disgusted with the hotel, and with Marriott in general. Here’s the story:

I noticed earlier that spam-like banner ads were showing up in my browser. I would navigate to a page that I knew had no ads, and one would appear anyway, mostly touting online poker. Curious, I clicked on over to my own blog, and the same ad showed up there (see image below).

I assumed I had picked up some adware. Since the laptop is new, I haven’t had a chance to install spyware/adware software, so I paid for AdAware Pro and ran it. The ads kept showing up. A little investigation determined that all these ads link to a company called Superclick. I visited their site and learned more than I wanted to, enough to get my blood boiling. Superclick provides a guest interface for hotels that includes in-room services, which is fine. But it’s also dishing up these ads. So anybody staying at a property using Superclick who visits my blog will see an ad associated with it. I would never take advertising from an online poker site, and if I did, I’d expect to get some of the revenues.

Instead, I’m paying $12.95 per day to see these ads.

That’s right; that’s what the internet connection costs.

The graphic below is from the Superclick site, listing presumably satisfied customers. Before I book a reservation at any hotel in any of these chains, I will ask if the broadband connection for which they will charge me is going to serve up any ads I don’t want to see. If the answer is yet, I’ll book elsewhere. I’ll stay at a freaking Motel 6 before I put up with this kind of crap.

Unbelievable. Talk about a lack of respect—even outright contempt—for your customer.

Posted by Shel in • Hotels
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Tuesday, September 26, 2006

$12.95 per day for high-speed access in your hotel room is outrageous enough, but it surpasses outrage when the “high-speed” access is more comparable to the speeds obtained through a 56.6 kbps modem.  Yet that’s what I’m paying here at the Eastside Marriott Hotel in New York. I just ran a speed test on the connection. In fact, my download speed was 200 kbps and my upload speed was actually better, at 246 kbps. What a promotion that would make: “Surf the web four times faster than with regular dial-up!”

What a rip-off.

Posted by Shel in • Hotels
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