Jet Blue Tour De France Promo.. Music to a Cyclists Ears

"Your bike rides free!".. yep, thanks to Jet Blue, they are offering a special deal for the duration of the TDF (all of July actually).

Jet Blue usually charges $50 for checked bikes on domestic flights and $80 for international. Some airlines - Delta IIRC - charge in the neighborhood of $200-$300 ONE WAY, so Jet Blue's promotion is an awesome deal and shows they are paying tribute to the best sporting event and race on the planet. And as an additional bonus, the airline will be showing the race on its seat back TVs.

Now, to bad they do not fly to Europe :(

It's TDF Time!!

Here we get, get ready for the 2010 installment of the greatest race on the planet! Yep, I said it. It is greater than the Super Bowl & the World Cup & Wimbelton & the World Series and any other sporting event you can think of. I mean, what is harder, more challenging and more sporting than +200 of the best cyclists in the world racing 3 weeks with ONLY 2 days off covering +-2300 miles with no time outs, no pits-stops, no half-times, no TV time-outs, no huddles, and each race each day (20 to be exact) an average longer than of the 1 day sports durations I just mentioned.... just go go go go go. THAT is true grit, stamina, and a sporting event to watch.

GO Team Radioshack!! Vive Lance.. The Tour De France is here!!!

Cell Phone To Estimate "Real Time" Security Wait Times? Cool or Big Brother?

A recent story on the interwebs talks about a new TSA feature being tested that would allow passengers with smart phones, laptops, PDAs to avoid long lines at security checkpoints by tracking how long people are stuck in security lines with the end goal of posting said wait times on websites and in airports across the country.

It works via the airports having tiny receivers near checkpoints which detect the serial numbers "chirped" by some electronic devices every 10-15 seconds - like smartphones - being carried by passengers. The receivers can then record the time when a passenger entered a security line and the time when the same passenger cleared the checkpoint.

"But civil-liberties experts worry that such a system enables the government to track people's whereabouts. "It's serious business when the government begins to get near people's personal-communication devices," said American Civil Liberties Union privacy expert Jay Stanley." - even though the developers say only part of each serial number is recorded, which if course could change, and the numbers are claimed to be "quickly deleted", which could change, and that travelers can set their devices so they don't chirp this info, which many likely have no idea how to do.

We are big techi fans here, so the idea seems like a good one. Maybe if it could be posted on a web site like Google traffic flow map with yellow, red, green indicators indicating wait times.

The Threat of Fines Gets Things Done!

Reported recently that that airlines "virtually wiped out three-hour tarmac delays in April before huge fines for holding passengers on the runway went into effect."

SO, threaten them with a little cut in their profits ad they find a way to get things done? Before it was like, "well, we are doing all we can" and bah blah blah. But guess what, threaten them with fines and viola.. shit gets done.

According to MSNBC, "The 18 airlines that report statistics to the Transportation Department were on-time 85.3 percent of the time in April, compared with a rate of 79.1 percent a year earlier and 80 percent in March. Most delays were caused by late-arriving aircraft and aviation system delays, which include bad weather, heavy traffic, or airport and air traffic system slowdowns." U.S. Airways posted the best on-time rate while American Airlines reported the worst on-time rate of big U.S. carriers.

Since delays from airports in NYC are know to cause ripple effect across the nation, it was reported that "the on-time rate for New York's LaGuardia airport rose to 84.2 percent from 67.4 percent the month before. At JFK, the on-time rate improved to 83.5 percent from 67.3 percent the month before, despite the airport's longest runway being shutdown for repairs." Wow, some of these are pretty significant jumps.

I Will NEVER Fly Spirit Airlines! Part 2!

Wow, these guys did it again. And quickly. Not only are they charging you to put a carry on bag in the overhead compartment, they are now adding non-reclining seats to new planes! That's right.. they are purposefully installing what they lamely call "pre-reclined" seats, which means there isn't an option for passengers to pay for reclining seats.

The airlines claim is that the decision was made since the new "pre-reclined" (i.e., not reclinable - come on, let's call it what it is) offer greater fuel economy due to a lower weight, and maintenance costs are less with stationary seats.

Spirit's A-320 aircraft have 178 seats, with most having a 28-inch pitch, the shortest in the industry. In contrast, it was reported that most low-cost carriers feature an average pitch of 29 to 30 inches, so they can fit additional seats in the plane and charge less. So, imagine, they can now (1) reduce your reclining (2) fit more seats (3) charge same price (4) make more money and (5) make your trip less comfortable.

And, as 1 blogger posted on the web elsewhere, "If they reduce the pitch, doesn't that mean that the room for your legs and feet is also compromised? If so -- then how can they expect you to put your "Small - no additional charge carryon" under the seat in front of you if they reduce that space to nothing?" Because remember, they now charge you to put something in the overhead.

I Will NEVER Fly Spirit Airlines! They Take The Cake.

Just when you thought the airlines couldn't charge you for anything else, Spirit Airlines is taking it to the next level.

They are now charging travelers to carry-on a bag!

They recently announced plans to start charging travelers if you want the privilege of putting a bag in the overhead storage bin! Personal items that fit under the seat will still be free. BWa ha ha ha hhaaa ha. Whatever.

You will pay a whopping $45 for this privilege at the gate, but "just" $30 if you prepay.

Spirit's twisted logic is that it claims a recent fare reduction means most customers won't really pay more to fly and it says having fewer carry-on bags will help empty the plane faster. Do they think customers will really see it this way? And if that is true, why did they reduce fares to just jab people at the gate? Because they know they will advertise the new "reduced" fares and make no mention of the new fees, or put it in tiny print, so by the time the customer finds out, it is to late. Sneaky and despicable tactic.

BOTTOM LINE: Although Spirit Airlines promotes it's low cost tickets, but when you add up the additional charges, tickets are nearly the same as a premium airline.

Here We Go Again.. Another Bag Fee Increase

Baggage fees first came on the scene several years ago and many of us were understandably upset at the newest "fee". As we all know, the fee - among others - became the standard and most all but a small few airlines charged passengers to check their luggage.

Well, Delta Airlines announced that they are increasing their baggage fees. Previously, Delta's customers were charged $15 for the first bag and $25 for the second. Well now, travelers will be asked to pay $23 for the first bag and $32 for the second!! WOW! Not to shocking, as this always happens as each airline watches the others lead, Continental Airlines has announced that they are also increasing their luggage fees to match Delta's.

A little Googling turned up another blog - The Buzz Log - that had a great list of current baggage fees by airlines:

• Alaska Airlines: $15 for the first bag, $25 for the second.


• American Airlines: $20 for the first bag and $30 for the second.


• Continental Airlines: $23 for the first, $32 for the second.


• Delta Airlines: $23 for the first, $32 for the second.


• JetBlue Airlines: first bag free, second bag will cost you $30.


• Northwest Airlines: first bag $23, second bag $32.


• Southwest Airlines: two bags for free. Really.


• United Airlines: when fees paid online, $15 for the first bag, and $25 for the second. When paid at the airport, $5 more for each bag.


• Virgin America: $20 for the first, $20 for the second.

United.. The Up Sell King

Have you ever noticed United's method of constant up selling they do on their website when you buy tickets or go to check in? Jeez.. You can't get out of there without like 5-8 clicks, and most are to get past all of their up sell offers: send luggage ahead or upgrade class or get added leg room, maybe rent a car or add a hotel. AND, have you ever noticed that the button you would normally press to move on and finish the transaction are an "Accept the offer" button and not the "skip this offer" button? They are very tricky in that they do not make the "skip this offer" or "no thanks" a prominent button, but instead, they make it smaller less obvious text based link while the only buttons - what we all associate with moving forward to the next step - are the "accept the offer" buttons.

** RANT WARNING ** Thanks United... NOT!

I want to thank you United.. thank you for screwing up our reservations and starting off our holiday travel on a sour note. I really appreciate it! I paid an outrageous amount - despite buying well ahead - for me and my fiancé to fly for the holidays, only to find out today that your system erased our seat selections and left us no seats together and not in the front half of the plane where I picked so we could move fast to our next gate as we only have carry on luggage. So thank you, thank you for throwing us to the wolves to fight for a pair of seats together on a busy travel day. Thanks, thanks for not helping me fix this on the phone before we got to the airport and thus, the expectation of agitation and having to waste our, and the gate persons, valuable time which is better spent on something else. Thanks, thanks for not keeping up your end of the bargain and honoring my selections I made long ago with your system. And finally - thanks, thanks for giving me no recourse but to just accept it.

ps - I loved that rather than wanting to fix your error, you saw an opportunity to charge me more money and offered to upgrade us.. for $80 per flight :(

UPDATE: to be fair, though we had to show up earlier then desired and stand in line at a counter to talk to a rep, versus just taking our carry-on straight to the gate and get on, it ended up working out okay. It cost us extra time and effort, but the United reps were cool & helpful once we explained and worked it out easy. We got to sit together, not really where desired, but together none-the-less. Just wish we could have hashed it out via phone days before and not the day of.

In-flight goes cashless... but people using CC's less

Interesting clash of stories in the news today. Kind of shows, IMHO, how once again the airlines are a day late and a dollar short in their decisions.

So, a story on MSNBC today talks about the fact that due to all of the recent credit card changes as CC providers scramble to make sweeping changes before the looming deadline allows them to, has caused consumers to get fed up with shocking rate increases, rising fees, new lower limits imposed, and accounts in perfect standing closed. The result, consumers have decided to counter this attack by paying cash and ditching their cards.

At the same time, juxtapose the fact that this past week, Continental, Delta and Northwest reportedly joined United, AirTran, Virgin America, Alaska, Frontier and Midwest in the movement to stop accepting cash for in-flight amenities in favor of credit cards. Flight attendants are now solely equipped with card readers, cash is no longer accepted for onboard purchases.

What's the point? While many consumers are cutting back credit card use given the mostly negative sweeping changes by the CC industry, working to get their debt in line and stopping the carrying of revolving credit, the airlines, on the other hand, already in known financial peril, not only institute fees for everything under the sun, but then decide the way to take payment for said fees will be done solely by CC.. the method people are actively cutting back on. Makes it easier on the airlines, but expect revenue to further drop with this move as people already opt not to buy offers onboard, even less so now if they MUST use a CC.