Category Archives: Air travel

AIRLINES: Same as it ever was

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Boeing 747 | Photo courtesy of Singapore Airlines

Travel+Leisure magazine readers make their annual choice of the world’s top 20 airlines. Asian, Pacific and Middle Eastern airlines dominate the top spots. European carriers fill out the rest. US airlines? Barely there.

There are certain things in life you can always count on. Water will be wet. The sun will rise in the East. And Asian airlines will be deemed the best in the world by those who fly.

I know Singapore Airlines only by its reputation, but that reputation is solid enough to make Caesar’s wife look like Paris Hilton.

The latest evidence comes courtesy of Travel+Leisure magazine, which annually asks its readers to name their favorite 20 airlines worldwide, based on cabin comfort, food, in-flight service, customer service, and value.

This year’s winner, for the 17th year in a row: Singapore Airlines.

The nation and people of Singapore are teased and mocked somewhat as allegedly being rigid, emotionless and anal-retentive to the max. But when some of the world’s most experienced and discerning travelers name your airline the best in the world for 17 years running, you clearly are doing something right.

And that’s not the only consistency revealed in this latest T+L airline survey. Of the top ten spots, six are held by airlines from Asia or the Pacific region:

  • Singapore Airlines
  • Air New Zealand
  • Korean Air (South Korea)
  • Cathay Pacific (Hong Kong)
  • Asiana (South Korea)
  • Thai International Airways (Thailand)

Two of the remaining four spots go to Middle Eastern airlines — Emirates and Qatar. The last two positions are held by a European airline, Virgin Atlantic, and its US spinoff, Virgin America.

(NOTE: T+L counts Virgin America as a US airline. IBIT does not.)

The rest of the list looks like this — Taiwan, Japan, Australia, Japan, Tahiti, Switzerland, Israel and Finland.

The one and only true US carrier (for my money, anyway) to crack this list — JetBlue, in 16th place.

I’ve flown a handful of these airlines myself — Cathay Pacific, Japan Air Lines, Air Tahiti Nui — and I can tell you they have their spots in T+L’s top 20 on merit. Likewise, I know a lot of folks who have flown JetBlue and swear by it, so I suspect their place in the top 20 is legit.

The question that always comes to my mind is, why is the rest of the US airline industry utterly unable to join the company of the world’s elite airlines?

Because the most surprising thing about the T+L list is that it’s no surprise at all. Virtually every credible survey taken of the world’s air travelers for the last two decades yields pretty much the same results, year after year after year.

The Asian, Pacific and Middle Eastern airlines dominate. The European airlines represent. US-based airlines will show up somewhere toward the middle of the pack at best, depending on the survey’s format.

When it comes to naming the world’s best, America’s airlines barely show up at all.

This is not an aberration. This is not a fluke. Flukes don’t last 20 years. The question is, why?

The clue lies in the categories on which T+L readers based their ratings — cabin comfort, food, in-flight service, customer service, and value.

In all these areas, there is a common thread among the top airlines. They go above and beyond the call for their passengers, both in the air and on the ground. They may not always be the cheapest seats in the sky, but you know you’re always getting your money’s worth, and then some.

I stil have vivid memories of trying to get out of a hopelessly overcrowded Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris one cloudy fall morning.

Six different jumbo jets from six different airlines, including Air Tahiti Nui, had been scheduled to take off from the same terminal at more or less the same time. That meant funneling close to 2,000 passengers simultaneously through exactly three security gates.

The lines of people checking in and then trying to get through security barely moved, backed up so badly that they merged into one another. Some people spent a half-hour or more before realizing they were in the wrong line. Airlines were announcing imminent departures. French airport security was totally indifferent.

The businessman in from of me was trying to get back to Toronto. Air Canada literally had left him at the gate the day before under these same circumstances. Now, he was back for Round Two, fearing he was about to be left again.

All the while this nightmare was in progress, a check-in clerk from Air Tahiti Nui was running — and I do mean running — up and down the different lines, shouting at the top of her lungs:

“If you are flying on Air Tahiti Nui, do not worry! We will not leave without you!”

By now, Im wondering if I can get back to my hotel in time to reclaim my old room.

That Air Tahiti Nui flight pushed back from the gate an hour late, but it left Paris with every one of its passengers. I was among the last six to board.

How many US-based airlines do you think would have gone that far for its last six passengers — and Coach passengers, at that?

Yeah, right.

By and large, US airlines are not horrible. They’re just not great, either. Worse, they seem to be okay with their middling status, as long as they can show a profit.

Being mediocre is not a crime. Being content with it is, or it should be.

Maybe it wouldn’t be so galling were it not for the fact that this is the country that not only invented the airplane, but invented the airline business itself.

What would it take for America’s airlines to raise their game in the eyes of the world’s travelers? Any ideas?

the IBIT TRAVEL DIGEST 11.4.12

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The good, the bad and the bizarre from the world’s best travel media

Liverpool | ©IBIT/G. Gross

DANCING WITH HURRICANES
For most of the last week, travelers have been coping with the chaos created by Hurricane Sandy. Clem Bason, president of the Hotwire Group, offered some really helpful tips for travelers to get through it.

But it doesn’t require a “storm of the century” to unleash havoc on the US aviation grid. All it takes is a strong storm lasting a day or more that hammers an airlines’ hub airport city like Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta or New York.

If nothing else, Sandy’s swamping of East Coast airports may get travelers thinking about how to deal with such crises in the future, and that’s a good thing. Because the realities of climate change mean we probably haven’t seen our last superstorm around here.

Bason recommends keeping your airline’s phone number in your smartphone. In addition to that, make sure you have one or more good travel apps in your phone that give you fast access to airlines, hotels, rental car agencies, whatever you need to get through the crisis.

But really, the best thing you can do for yourself during a travel emergency is to have a previously established relationship with a travel agent and keep that person on speed dial. A good, experienced travel agent not only can find alternative flights and lodging for you, but can book them…and probably a lot faster than you can.

Just a little something to think about, especially if you travel a lot — and before one of Sandy’s meteorological siblings shows up.

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“F” IS FOR FEES
As in airline add-on fees, those extra charges for checking your bags and even the “privilege” of sitting in an exit-row seat. The airlines drained an extra $22 bilion out of your collective pockets last year on fees alone.

We all know and loathe them, but we don’t know all of them.

Until now.

The crew at SmarterTravel, one of the best travel Web sites going, has produced a guide listing every single add-on fee charged by every domestic airline in the United States. Fourteen different fees — and their varying amounts — from 14 different US airlines.

It’s a PDF entitled “Ultimate Guide to Airline Fees.” To download it, click here.

Bookmark that link on your computer. Keep it on your smartphone. Print it out. If you fly a lot, this is one list you definitely want to keep handy.

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JAL SELLING COMFORT
For many years now, Japan Air Lines, that nation’s original national flag carrier, has been flying in the jetwash of rival All Nippon Airways. It looks now as if JAL is trying to take the fight to ANA with a promise of more comfort in the sky.

It’s giving their extended-range Boeing 777s a major interior makeover. When done, its cabins will be divided into four classes — Economy, Premium Economy, Business and First.

The latter two classes will be lie-flat seats in their own self-contained shells, but JAL is promising that all the seats will be more comfortable, even in sardine class.

They’re calling these reconfigured 777s “Sky Suites,” and the first of them will go into service next Janunary between Tokyo Narita and London Heathrow. Eventually, however, they will be coming to America.

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ALL ABOARD FOR BEER
You may have heard of the Napa Valley Wine Train up in the Northern California wine country. It’s a great experience, and IBIT will have more on that in a future blog post.

Meanwhile, have you heard about the Beer Train in San Diego? It may sound like the punchline to a bad joke, but it’s anything but.

Unlike the Napa Valley Wine Train, the Beer Train doesn’t have its own rolling stock. Instead, it turns a Coaster commuter train into a rolling pub. Pub grub and short walks are part of the package.

Sounds like a sweet ride, does it not?

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CARIBBEAN SPRUCE-UP
Travel Weekly reports that both Barbados and Martinique have plans in the works for new cruise terminals capable of handling the largest cruise ships out there. Which means that, in a year or so from now, passengers will be able to step off the ship directly onto the dock and head straight into town.

Caribbean ports need to do this, for the same reason that the world’s major airports have to build larger terminals to accommodate the Airbus A380 super-jumbo jet.

Some struggle to handle the larger new super-cruisers. Others can’t dock cruise ships at all. They have to use small, cramped tenders to ferry cruise ship passengers to and from shore, a time-consuming and somewhat risky process disliked equally by the ports, the cruise lines and their passengers.

Meanwhile, Caribbean cruise ships have been growing almost exponentially in size since the 1990s. Royal Caribbean International and Carnival, the two largest lines going head-to-head for the Caribbean cruise market are both building seagoing behemoths that would make the Titanic look like the SS Minnow.

It’s hardly a coincidence, then, that one of the principal partners in the new Barbados cruise terminal is Royal Caribbean. One look at their Oasis of the Seas will explain everything.

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AND FINALLY—
Travel media just love making lists — best this, cheapest that, coolest whatever. If you look long enough, you’ll probably find someone making a list of the best travel lists.

But the prize for the most counter-intuitive travel list goes to Budget Travel. Its “winning” entry: the world’s 25 must-see tourist traps.

Normally, when travel writers say anything about tourist traps, it’s to advise you — usually with great disdain — to avoid them. This slideshow does just the opposite. It lists the top 25 destinations that invariably are crawling with tourists, but worth a visit, anyway.

To look at it another way: These places are all teeming with visitors for a reason.

So if a certain sight or destination really piques your interest, don’t automatically let the travelerati put you off from it.

And now, here’s the Digest:

AIR
from SmarterTravel
from CNN Travel
Window or aisle: What does your choice of airplane seat say about you?

from SmarterTravel
Eight airline perks that are — are you sitting down? — still free. SLIDESHOW

from the Los Angeles Times
First, airlines started tapping into celebrity chefs. Now, American Airlines will let passengers in First and Business Class reserve their choice of in-flight meals. The biggest shock? There’s no fee attached.

from Travel Weekly
JetBlue plans to offer satellite-based wifi beginning early in 2013, which it says will be better than the ground-based airborne wifi being offered by their competitors. It also plans to offer at least a basic version of it…wait for it…at no charge.

from Travel Weekly
Lufthansa launches a new low-fare carrier in Europe, Germanwings.

LAND
from SmarterTravel via USA Today
Five tips to make the most of that carry-on bag.

from Budget Travel
When it comes to unexpected travel costs that can ambush your wallet, we all know about the airlines and their hated baggage fees. But there are at least a half-dozen more that BT wants you to know about.

from Reuters
The streetcar, thought to be obsolete a half-century ago, is making a comeback in New Orleans. One more reason to visit the Crescent City.

from Associated Press via Yahoo
From bike-sharing programs to building bicycle “superhighways, European cities are embracing cycling like never before.

SEA
from Travel Weekly
Norwegian Cruise Line doing away with its discounts for children under age 2. A money-making idea, or a way to force parents to leave their babies at home with grandma?

from Travel Weekly
The Love Boat in unfamiliar waters. Princess Cruise Line’s Pacific Princess will offer a 10-day Caribbean cruise next January.

from Travel Weekly
New cruise industry safety rules now require cruise ship crewmembers to do lifeboat drills that involve actually putting the boats in the water and maneuvering them while being filled to capacity. If you’re guessing this is a consequence of the Costa Concordia disaster, you’re right.

AFRICA
from The Guardian (London UK)
A few days in the bush in Zimbabwe.

from Le Monde (France)
African migrants are increasingly abandoning dreams of reaching Europe or America. These days, the “promised land” is increasingly becoming South Africa. But while the dream destination may be different, the hardships and sorrows of the journey are the same.

from Monkeys and Mountains
Shark diving in South Africa — with camera and without a cage.

from Capetown Festival of Beer
When the world thinks of alcoholic beverages and South Africa, it automatically and for good reason thinks of South African wines. These guys would like to change that.

AMERICAS
from the New York Times
Like some sort of post-apocalyptic epiphany on wheels, New Yorkers living in the wake of Hurricane Sandy are rediscovering their bikes…and liking them.

from Travel Weekly
Government bureaucracy plus consumer confusion is making a muddle of new rules governing legal U.S. travel to Cuba.

from Travel Weekly
The Imperial Palace hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip is undergoing both a year-long makeover and a name change. When it’s all done, some time around the end of 2013, it will be known as The Quad.

from the Associated Press via SFGate
The San Ysidro border crossing between San Diego and Tijuana is often touted as the world’s busiest world crossing, and often cursed as the world’s most congested. It’s now getting a makeover intended to streamline the traffic flow going south. Northbound travelers…*shrug.*

ASIA/PACIFIC
from CNNgo
Vietnam puts its own spin on fast-food dining. It usually involves two motorized wheels and some seriously fresh and tasty eats.

from Travel Weekly
What it’s like to tour quake-shattered Christchurch, New Zealand. Just one example of “dark tourism.”

from Travel Weekly
Get ready to rock out in in the Middle Kingdom. Hard Rock International is bringing its rock ‘n’ roll-themed hotels to China starting in 2015, including one on the island of Hainan.

from Travel Weekly
China’s on-again, off-again issuance of permits for foreign tourists to visit Tibet is off again.

EUROPE
from The Guardian (London UK)
Missed Halloween last week? No worries. You can always catch up at the Witches Night festival next spring in Prague. Parades, witch burnings (in effigy only, mind you) and some of the world’s best beer.

from Travel Weekly
The British travel company Trafalgar is planning a 13-day tour of European battlefields from both world wars. Included is a visit to the Belgian cemetery that inspired the famous World War 1 poem, “In Flanders Fields.”

from Typically Spanish
Spain has long been a traditional warm-weather refuge for British tourists. These days, they’ve increasingly got company, from an even chillier Mother Russia.

from the BBC
Paris for lovers…of chocolate.

Edited by P.A.Rice

the IBIT DIGEST 10-28-12

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The good, the bad and the bizarre from the world’s best travel media

awash coffee ceremony

©IBIT/G. Gross

HIT THE COFFEE ROAD
In addition to wildlife safaris, history and heritage, you now have a new reason to visit East Africa: coffee. An outfit called ET African Journeys is offering a 14-day tour next month called Ethiopia & the Birth of Coffee.

Don’t expect a lot of “down” time on this trip. The package includes visits to a coffee cooperative and at least three different local tribes — the Erbore, Kanso and Woito peoples. You’ll also head into the Great Rift Valley for 4×4 drives and boat rides on valley lakes, as well as the Blue Nile Falls. You’ll also be seeing two different UN World Heritage sites, the castles of Gondar and the rock churches of Lalibela.

Lest you drop from sheer exhaustion and sensory overload, they’ve also worked a couple of resort and spa stays into those 14 days, as well.

Ethiopia is where coffee was born and there are those of you who will swear it’s the best in the world. It spread east into the Arab world and then to Europe before finally making its way to the Americas and the rest of the planet.

I’ve never been a big coffee drinker, but after getting my first taste of it during San Diego’s African Restaurant Week, I can tell you this: Ethiopian coffee is the only coffee I’ve ever had that I would willingly drink black. It’s smooth, it’s flavorful and it won’t bite your tongue off.

I’ll make my apologies to Juan Valdez later.

The tour departs Washington DC’s Dulles airport on Nov. 30 aboard a long-range Boeing 777 jumbo jet from Ethiopian Airlines. For more information, go to the ET African Journeys site here.

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TRAINING FOR VACATION
These days, Amtrak has jumped with both rails into the package vacation business.

Amtrak Rail Journeys last from seven to 13 days and combine multiple destinations. Some feature famous sites like the Grand Canyon. Some are regionally focused — the Northeast, the Deep South, the West Coast, the Canadian Rockies. At least two combine rail trips with cruises.

Costing from about $1,000 to $4,000 per person, none could really be called cheap, but considering that your transportation, lodging, meals aand tours are all included in the one price — not to mention the experience of train travel itself — you may find it offers real value for the money.

Amtrak also offers much shorter (and much cheaper) Rail Getaways to individual cities in the United States and Canada, as well as national parks and attractions like Hearst Castle in California and several national parks. These tend to last no more than three days and run from about $300 to $600 per person.

If the idea of a vacation on rails gets your blood racing, check out the Amtrak Vacations page.

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AMERICAN DELIVERS…SORT OF
Think of this as a kind of pre-emptive strike from American Airlines.

We all know how much travelers resent those airline baggage fees. We also know that travelers are starting to turn toward air freight companies and luggage shipping services to get their bags picked up and delivered, thumbing their noses at the airlines in the process.

Well, before too many more folks opt out of letting the airlines handle their bags, American has decided to partner up with one of those services to offer its own baggage delivery. For a fee, you can now bypass the luggage carousel and let American deliver your bags to your home or hotel.

You can read about it here at Travel Weekly.

Sounds like a great idea, and a pretty slick move by American…until you learn that you pay for this extra service on top of the airline’s checked bag fees. That, I suspect, will be a deal-breaker for a lot of travelers.

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AIR ALTERNATIVE TO PARIS
OpenSkies is a small upscale subsidiary of British Airways that flies trans-Atlantic routes with smaller Boeing 757 narrow-body jets set up to be more comfortable for travelers willing to pay for a pricier ticket.

In addition to offering more legroom, nicer meals and seats that don’t leave you feeling you’ve spent six hours in a vise, the airline is now offering flights from New York into Paris’ other major airport, Orly.

Most international travelers, especially from North America, usually fly into Paris via the massive, chaotic and perpetually packed Charles de Gaulle international airport. If you’ve experienced CDG in the past — and would do anything to avoid a repeat of it — this may be your chance.

And now, here’s the Digest:

AIR
from SmarterTravel
You know those controversial airport X-ray body scanners? The TSA is quietly replacing them with scanners believed to be less potentially harmful. But the old machines aren’t going away, just being moved to smaller airports.

from Yahoo Travel
Coming soon to an airline near you — personalized airfares. Individual airfares based on your personal profile data and travel history. Good deal or something sinister? Read and decide.

from Smarter Travel
Eight foods and beverages to avoid when you fly. Some, like beans and garlic, are no-brainers. Others, like alcohol, are no surprise. But sugar-free gum?

from Travel Weekly
With Orbitz, you may not always know: the federal government fines the online travel agency $25,000 for failing to properly disclose airline baggage fees.

from USA Today
Feel like living dangerously? North Korea’s Air Koryo, judged by aviation experts around the globe as the world’s worst airline, launches a Web site. Apparently, the site is about as functional as the airline it represents. Pyongyang, anyone?

LAND
from the Travel+Lesure via the BBC
The five best neighborhoods in America for authentic ethnic food — and you won’t see a lot of “the usual suspects” on the list. If you have dissenting opinions, list your own nominees in the Comments section. SLIDESHOW

from SmarterTravel
Was it something you said? Five phrases never found on the lips of a good traveler. SLIDESHOW

from Travel Weekly
There’s a little less competition in the rental car business these days. Hertz is buying up Dollar Thrifty. Good news for Hertz. For the traveling consumer, probably not so much. But the feds still have to bless this merger, and there’s no guarantee that they will.

from the United Nations
UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, adds 26 new locations to its list of world Heritage Sites. Meanwhile, the crew at SmarterTravel picks its ten favorites. Your bucket list may need a bigger bucket.

from USA Today
Few visitors to New York City have reason to hit Staten Island, even with the lure of a free ferry ride from Manhattan. That could change by 2016 if plans go ahead to build the world’s biggest Ferris wheel in the Big Apple’s most ignored borough.

SEA
from Travel Weekly
This from Carnival Cruise Lines: No more saving deck chair for someone who’s not on deck.

from Travel Weekly
For those who plan ahead: The Cunard line has already set its world cruise itineraries for 2014 The cruises can last three months — but Cunard will let you buy much shorter segments, as short as eight days.

AFRICA
from CNN Travel
If unique wildlife is your thing, then Tanzania may be your place. Who’s up for a safari?

from Bulawayo 24 via Travel Comments
Ahead of next year’s big general assembly of the UN World Tourism Organization in Zimbabwe, three African airlines are adding more flights to Victoria Falls. You don’t have to be a UNWTO attendee to take advantage.

from Gadling
Forget trick-or-treat. If you want to see something truly spooky, check out the annual migration of 8 million African bats. Relax, they only eat fruit.

AMERICAS
from the BBC
New entry fees and visa requirements going into effect in Argentina and other South American countries. If you’re planning a trip to South America, don’t wait until departure day to get yourself up to speed on the new requirements. If you do, you may never get out of the airport.

from Agence France Presse via France 24
You know all that stuff you’ve been hearing about how the Mayan calendar forecasts the end of the world in 2012? Well, the Mayans say it’s all bogus and they have one word for all the folks out there pushing this myth: STOP.

from the New York Times
Want to really go New Age in Santa Fe, NM — and get healthier at the same time? Explore it by bike.

from The Guardian (London UK)
El Vilsito. Auto mechanics by day, wonderfully fixed up tacos al pastor by night. Only in Mexico City.

ASIA
from Xinhua News Agency via CNNgo
China is taking not quite $1 million to turn its first atomic bomb test center into…a theme park? Swords into plowshares is one thing but, uhh…wow. This is one new tourist hotspot that could be just that.

from China Daily
For decades, travelers from around the world have descended on Hong Kong in search of bargains. Now, te Chinese are doing it, too.

from The Province (Vancouver, BC, CANADA)
There’s a lot to see and do in Hong Kong. There’s even more to see and do outside one of the world’s most densely crowded cities. Venture out.

EUROPE
from The Guardian (London UK)
There are lots of good reasons these days to visit the Czech Republic. Here’s one you may not have heard about — good skiing, incredibly cheap.

from the BBC
In Paris, the Seine is getting a 35 million euro makeover that will make the riverbanks more pedestrian friendly and even more attractive to locals and visitors alike. It comes at the expense of daily commuting motorists, who are less than thrilled.

from CNN Travel
Ten cool and free things to enjoy in Paris, including your own guided tour with a local. Did I mention that it’s all free?

The IBIT Travel Digest 10-22-12

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The good, the bad and the bizarre from the world’s best travel media

James Bond Island, Thailand

© Ihar Balaikin | Dreamstime.com

The latest James Bond movie, “Skyfall,” is now blowing up (almost literally) in theaters worldwide. 007 has been a lot of places for Queen and country these past 50 years — which locations were your favorites? London’s The Guardian offers up a slideshow of their must-sees. Does their list match yours?

The one that really set my imagination racing was Khow-Ping-Kan on Phang Nga Bay in Thailand, seen above. This was the climactic location for “The Man with the Golden Gun,” one of the lesser flicks in the Bond series. These days, a lot of people just call it “James Bond Island.”

A sight like this could make me happily forget all about Bangkok, at least for a day or two.

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In its ongoing efforts to swallow the Earth whole, Google has bought up the Frommer’s travel brands — all of them — for an undisclosed price. This after buying the Zagat restaurant review publishers.

What all that means for the traveling consumer remains somewhat unclear. It’s unlikely that what you see online or on book shelves from these two well-known travel publishing names will look or feel any different in the near term. But as we all know, things change.

Will Google insist on putting its stamp on its new travel possessions, or will it be content not to fix what wasn’t broken? Stay tuned.

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IBIT doesn’t offer a Travel Outrage of the Week feature. If it did, this might top the list.

There are reports out of San Francisco that the local Travelodge motel recently refused the credit cards of famed New Orleans funk band The Meters Experience on the grounds that they are black.

And no, that’s not a misprint, nor did you misread it.

You can read the entire story yourself at SFWeekly here. For a more detailed report on the incident, go to the NOLA.com story here.

It really shouldn’t make any difference, but it’s not as if we’re talking here about some garage band composed of a bunch of high school kids with delusions of grandeur. The Meters are a New Orleans institution known around the world. Its guitarist, Leo Nocentelli, is a nominee for the 2013 class of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame.

I have emailed the Wyndham Hotel Group, which owns the Travelodge chain, asking it for clarification and its side of the story. Whatever I get in response will be published here.

There’s no indication that the motel clerk or manager even tried to verify whether the credit cards were valid, a swift and simple process that hotels and motels conduct routinely with all hotel and motel arriving guests millions of times a day around the world. Instead, if the initial reports are correct, the Travelodge people took one look at these black musicians and said, “Forget about it!”

Why are we still having to deal with this kind of treatment in 2012?

ADDENDUM
I emailed Christine DaSilva, a spokeswoman for Wyndham Hotel Group, about this situation. Here’s a portion of what she had to say:

“Hi Greg,
Thanks for checking in with me – not everyone that’s written about this allegation has done that, and it’s greatly appreciated.

As you can imagine, we are deeply troubled by this allegation. We invite every individual regardless of ethnicity, culture, gender, sexual orientation or generation to experience our products and services, and we are troubled that the guests’ experience didn’t reflect our values.

“Please rest assured that we have been looking into this situation and are handling it directly with the franchised property’s owner as well as the guests.”

Sounds like Wyndham’s on the case. I suspect that a certain Travelodge property manager in San Francisco is going to be put in check…bigtime. And that’s exactly as it should be.

And now, here’s the rest of The Digest:

AIR
from ABC News
This is the sorry state to which US airport security has sunk: A list of the 20 airports in this country where a TSA inspector is most likely to steal something out your luggage. It sounds like the punchline of a bad joke, but it isn’t. The joke’s on us.

from SmarterTravel
Seven simple ways to get yourself kicked off an airplane. SLIDESHOW

from Travel+Leisure
If you’re flying out of any of these ten US airports, you’d be well-advised to a) get there early and b) not schedule your connecting flight too tightly. These Tardy Ten are notorious for flight delays.

LAND
from Travel Weekly
According to the numbers the US Travel Association fished out of the US Labor Department, travel has become a major source of new jobs in America. Guess you can’t outsource Disneyworld, can you? It’s also a growing source of cash. Foreign visitors dropped $82 billion in the US in the first half of 2012, an 11-percent increase over last year. So when you see that foreign tourist in your town, be nice. Be very nice.

from the New York Times
In Manhattan, home to some of the priciest hotels on Earth, a decent room for $150 or so a night constitutes a good deal. This guy tells you where and how to find seven of them.

from Travel Weekly
Which would you rather pay for at your hotel — your breakfast, access to the hotel gym or your in-room Internet access? US hotels are making the choice for you.

from Travel Weekly
At the San Francisco Airport Marriott Hotel, they really give a hoot. Lots of hoots, in fact. Nesting barn owls, it seems, love the place.

SEA
from Travel Weekly
Here’s an idea from Carnival Cruise Lines. Want to get your cabin early, have priority dinner seating aboard ship, be first in line to embark or debark? Easy. Just pay an extra $49.95 per cabin. And you thought the cruise industry wasn’t paying attention to the airlines and their add-on fees.

from Travel Weekly
Bermuda is starting to fall off the cruise ship industry’s radar. Royal Caribbean is the latest to cut back.

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AFRICA
from Travel Weekly
Egypt reopens a major stretch of the Nile River to cruise ships.

from Wilkinsons World
Sitting off the coast of Namibia, Shark Island today is a wildlife preserve and resort. But a century ago, it served a very different purpose. Long before the Nazis came into being, the Germans created the world’s first death camp on this island…to exterminate Africans.

AMERICAS
from Travel Weekly
Go to Mexico, get well? Mexican tourism officials are pushing the nation’s capital, Mexico City, as a medical tourism destination. Meanwhile, they’re also looking at giving small groups of visitors exclusive access to historic sites like Chichen Itza — for a fee, of course. Ever dreamed of having a pyramid all to yourself?

from the New York Times
In Portland, OR, the gritty old industrial area on the east side of Willamette River is going upscale. Check it out while it’s still both fun and relatively affordable. SLIDESHOW

from the Los Angeles Times
Before it was America’s 50th state, Hawaii was a sovereign state, an independent kingdom with its own royalty. The LAT’s Catherine Hamm shows you where to go to dive into the Hawaiian history your mainland teachers left out of their lessons.

ASIA
from Travel Weekly
Europe isn’t the only part of the world where river cruising is taking off. Aqua Expeditions, which operates Amazon River cruises in South America, has its sights fixed on the Mekong River in Southeast Asia.

from the Los Angeles Times
A generation ago, Da Nang was known to the world mainly as a gigantic US Marine base during the Vietnam war. Today, it’s Surf City East.

EUROPE
from Travel Weekly
The competition for the European river cruise market is heating up. After watching the Viking line add fresh new ships left and right, Uniworld is firing back with plans for two new ships of its own.

from the New York Times
The Belgian city of Antwerp, which first gained wealth and power as a 16th-century port city, is undergoing a revival.

from the New York Times
Wine lovers know all about Spain’s Rioja region, and for good reason. But there’s a lot more to Rioja than just great wines. There’s great food to go with them.

Edited by P.A.Rice

Going to Africa, not leaving home

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Ethiopian sampler

Sampler plate of Ethiopian dishes — © James Camp | Dreamstime.com

Cultural events in African communities around the United States can introduce you to the Mother Continent right here at home.

With Africa lying on the other side of the Atlantic and being the world’s most under-served continent by the global airline industry, direct flights to the Mother Continent from the United States are both very few and very pricey, which puts the dream of connecting with Africa completely out of reach of most of us.

Or is it?

There are communities of African expats all over the country. What’s more, they hold festivals and other special events during the year that can serve as your gateway into a range of African cultures — without ever having to pack a bag and for a lot less money than you’d spend on a trip to Accra or Nairobi or Capetown.

I’m going to checking out one of them myself: the first annual African Restaurant Week in San Diego. It’s the first year that the event has been held in San Diego, home of the the largest East African community on the West Coast and the second largest in America.

For two decades, newcomers from Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and Eritrea have made their way to San Diego to restart their lives. This week, they will be putting their cultures of their homeland on offer through food, drink, song and teaching.

Today through Oct. 28, six East African restaurants (and one Jamaican) in the City Heights neighborhood will be offering special $15 prix fixe meals, including an appetizer, main course and dessert. In addition, the various restaurants will be offering free cooking classes in Kenyan, Ethiopian and Somali cuisine, traditional music and dance, and formal tea and coffee ceremonies of East Africa.

The seven restaurant taking part in African Restaurant Week are:

  • Awash Ethiopian
  • Fatuma
  • Flavors of East Africa
  • Island Spice
  • Asmara
  • Leyla’s Patties & Jerk
  • Red Sea

You won’t find City Heights in many San Diego travel guides. It has no beach. It’s nowhere near the Pacific Ocean or San Diego Bay. It has no purpose-built tourist venues like the San Diego Zoo or Sea World. Nor is it a pre-planned foodie hub/nightspot like the Gaslamp Quarter.

You come to City Heights to see a living, rainbow-colored slice of the world, growing, striving and thriving before your eyes. A dynamic mix of family-oriented, self-starting entrepreneurs from Africa, Asia and the Americas. At times, you may not be sure if you’re in Mexico City, Mombasa, Mogadishu or Macau — and it’s all good.

But you don’t have to come all the way to San Diego to get a taste of Africa — although the sponsors of African Restaurant Week wouldn’t mind a bit if you did.

There currently are roughly 1.5 million African immigrants in this country, with most having settled here only since 1990. Roughly half live in seven US states — New York, California, Texas, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts — but you can find them almost everywhere now, if you look.

The ten largest African communities in the US are in:

  1. Washington DC
  2. New York City
  3. Atlanta
  4. Greater Los Angeles (defined as the city of Los Angeles and five surrounding counties)
  5. Detroit
  6. Houston
  7. Chicago
  8. Dallas
  9. Boston


As you can tell from that list, communities of African expats have sprung up more or less across the country. So unless you live in Alaska or Hawaii, odds are you’re no more than a day’s drive from one.

These newcomers come from nearly all of Africa’s 54 countries, but five countries account for nearly half of them — Nigeria, *Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana and Kenya.

(*A lot of Egyptians take exception to being called Africans, despite the undeniable fact that Egypt is in Africa. The way I see it, that’s their problem.)

Both New York and Atlanta are home to large numbers of expats from Senegal. If you’re ever in Brooklyn’s “Bed-Stuy” neighborhood, check out the Yolele African Bistro, run by friend, Senegalese expat and super-chef Pierre Thiam. It’s pulling consistently high praise from diners.

A visit to one of these African communities during their special events can serve as your introduction to individual cultures of Afican nations and peoples. Sample the food and drink. Check out the music. Strike up conversations. Ask questions. You can learn a lot, and have a great time doing it.

And if you express some interest in traveling to Africa, you may find your new acquaintances sharing insights with you about their homelands that no travel guide can offer.

So check out the event calendar in your area for events being planned in the African expat communities near you. You just might find that Africa is a lot closer than you think.

Africa’s airlines — going UP, going DOWN

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Boeing 787 Dreamliner of Ethiopian Airlines

Imagine courtesy of Boeing

While some African air carriers are rising in class and reaching across the oceans, others are struggling to serve their own domestic markets.

There are sad and wonderful things happening these days with African airlines.

We’ll start with the wonderful.

Ethiopian Airlines, which earlier this summer took delivery of the first Boeing 787 Dreamliner to serve Africa, has announced it will begin regular flights between Washington–Dulles and Addis Ababa,the Ethiopian capital, in October.

That’s one week away, folks.

As the first African airline to fly the 787, Ethiopian, as you might expect, is mightily proud of this, but the implications of this announcement extend far beyond any one airline.

With their ability to fly passengers much farther on a single load of fuel, Boeing’s state–of–the–art Dreamliner — as well as the competing Airbus A350 now in development — are going to change the game for travel to and across the Mother Continent.

Longer range means less need for intermediate refueling stops. That means shorter, more comfortable flights for long–distance passengers and lower fuel costs for the airlines.

And Ethiopian is stealing a march on the rest of the airline industry by being the first to put the 787 in trans-Atlantic service to Africa.

To fly to Africa on an African airliner crewed by Africans is a feeling every black American should experience at least once in their lifetime, and the arrival of longer-range airliners in Africa is going to make that prospect a lot easier in the years to come.

Once more African air carriers certified by our FAA start buying their own Dreamliners, Americans who dream of Africa may may more flight options — and with that competition, one hopes lower fares — to the whole of sub-Saharan Africa.

It’s once they get there that they may well start running into problems — and that’s the sad part. The kindest word with which to describe the state of Africa’s regional air travel network may be “problematic.”

The most recent examples of that have been in Nigeria.

First came the June crash of a twin-jet Dana Air MD-83 that killed 169 people — six on the ground and all 163 on board. After a brief government-ordered stand-down, the airline is being allowed to fly again — despite the fact that the cause of the crash is still unknown.

Then came word last week that Arik Air, Nigeria’s largest airline, was canceling all of its domestic flights after the government raided its operations in Lagos, the country’s largest city.

The airline blamed government corruption. The government blamed the airline for failing to pay its employees. Caught in the middle, anyone holding an Arik Air domestic ticket.

Arik Air has since announced it’s resuming domestic flights today, but that’s cold comfort to anyone who needed to fly on Friday — or for that matter, to anyone accustomed to Africa’s erratic domestic air service.

Because none of this is unique to Nigeria.

Talk to veteran African travelers, especially those on international business on the continent, and you’ll hear more than once that they simply refuse to fly directly from point to point within Africa.

It’s actually common for such travelers to fly north instead to Europe — usually on a European airline — and then south again to their African destination city.

You don’t have to be a professional industry analyst to know that when people feel more comfortable flying from Abuja to Accra by way of London or Paris, something is seriously wrong.

There’s a great deal of prestige to be won — and money to be made — flying international routes. It probably is not by chance that, for all the pulling and hauling between Arik Air the Nigerian governmebt, Arik’s international flights went on unaffected.

But for Africa’s airlines, the real market is within the Mother Continent itself, for Africa has the potential to easily become the largest and most lucrative regional air travel market in the world.

It won’t happen, however, until the continent’s 54 countries, and the airlines serving them, start to take that market seriously and treat it with the respect it deserves.

ALSO CHECK OUT
AFRICA — The air game changes
New wings over Africa, Part 2
Africa can’t wait

AFRICA — The air game changes

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Boeing 787 Dreamliner of Ethiopian Airlines

Image courtesy of Boeing

Ethiopian Airlines is set to become the first airline to operate Boeing’s new cutting-edge 787 Dreamliner on the Mother Continent.

A week from today, about the middle of lunch hour, an Ethiopian Airlines flight will push back from its gate in the main terminal at Washington Dulles international Airport, taxi out to the runway and take off, bound for Ethiopia.

When it arrives at 9 o’clock the following morning at Bole International Airport in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, it will have made history.

Because the aircraft making that flight will be one of Boeing’s new state-of-the-art 787 Dreamliners, the first to be operated in and from Africa.

That will be the flight that formally delivers the Dreamliner to EA. Regular service is set to begin some time in the fall.

It’s fitting that Ethiopian be the first African airline to fly the Dreamliner, since it claims the honor of being the first airline to bring jet airline service to Africa back in 1963.

The 787 may not be the biggest nor the fastest airliner coming into service, but it still figures to be a travel game changer, especially for the Mother Continent.

Where the now-retired Concorde supersonic transport was all about speed and the Airbus A380 super-jumbo jet is all about size and passenger capacity, the Dreamliner is all about range, i.e., how far you can fly without needing refueling stops, which eat up both passenger time and airline profits.

Ethiopian already is flying the extended-range versions of Boeing’s 777 jumbo jet, enabling it to reach virtually any major city in the world on one tank of gas. The Dreamliner, made super-light with the wide-scale use of composites instead of aluminum, is designed to go farther still.

Like I said, game changer.

Airbus is furiously pushing ahead with its own ultra-light long-distance jet, the A350 XWB, but it’s not due to come online for another two years. Until then, Boeing will have the long-range airline field pretty much to itself, and Ethiopian will be the first African airline in the game.

That’s important, especially when you remember this week’s African visit by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in which she pushed for more US-Africa trade.

Right now, the only African airline flying directly between the United States and the Mother Continent is South African Airways. On the other side of the Atlantic, only two US-based airlines are flying to Africa, Delta and United.

If the US and African nations are serious about stepping up trade between them, both business and leisure travelers need to be able to move more easily and cheaply back and forth.

As more major African airlines like Kenya Airways and Nigeria’s Arik Air acquire their own Dreamliners, African carriers will have a greater ability to connect with North America.

If America’s airlines aren’t willing to fly to the Mother Continent, Washington should encourage Ethiopian, KA and Arik to pick up the slack.

ALSO CHECK OUT:
A Dreamliner of Africa
Delta does Africa
Africa can’t wait
New wings over Africa, Part 1
New wings over Africa, Part 2

Edited by P.A.Rice

The clueless traveler’s guide to airport security

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© Outline205 | Dreamstime.com

Following these tips will make every trip to the airport a memorable experience — for all the wrong reasons.

Anyone who travels by air these days knows what a hassle it has become. I’ve tried in the past sharing tips on how to make things easier on themselves, but judging by what I see going on in airport security lines, I’m not sure it’s working.

So this time, I’m going to go 180 degrees the other way, and tell you how not to go smoothly through the lines.

This advice especially applies for those of you out there who crave attention every moment of the day. Follow these tips and you’re guaranteed to draw the fixed gaze of every other traveler behind you — not to mention every TSA inspector in sight:

1) Be spontaneous
The first step in every airport security check-in these days is a security officer who will ask to see your identification and boarding pass. You could have these documents in hand, ready to be quickly scanned and then be sent on your way — but how boring is that? Wait until you’re standing directly in front of the inspector — with scores of other travelers lined up behind you — to start fumbling about for your docs.

2) Dress to impress
You know you’re going to have to go through metal detectors, of course. Less imaginative travelers will have made sure that their flying clothes have nothing metallic on them anywhere. They’ll wear belts with plastic instead of metal buckles, or maybe even choose clothing that requires no belt whatsoever.

But not you. The airport is the perfect place to wear every piece of metal you own. Belt buckles the size of steaks. Hoop earrings big enough to drive a Scion through. Metallic baubles, bangles and beads over every inch of clothing.

And don’t forget those ultra-fashionable boots with all the metal buckles up to your knees, each of which you’ll have to undo to take them off — and yes, you will have to take them off to go through security.

But of course, you already knew that.

3) Load up
Remember those metal detectors? Who cares! Make sure your pockets are stuffed with spare change, your house keys, cell phone, anything with metal. I mean, you never know when you might need your house or your car keys on the airplane, right?

You could follow the example of the travelers who go through their pockets and put anything metallic in their carry-on bag before they even get in line, but who wants to bother with all that, right?

After all, once you’ve reached that walk-through metal detector, you’ll have plenty of time to fish and fumble through your pockets and purse as scores of other travelers — all of whom are as eager to get to their gates as you are — wait for you to do something you could’ve done already.

4) Attitude is everything
Some travelers bring a positive spirit and energy with them to the airport, understanding that airport security is shared suffering, a necessary evil that we have no choice but all get through together as best we can, with a minimum amount of hassles and drama. But that’s not you, right?

Airport security is the perfect place to get your swag or your diva on.

Forget all those thousands of other folks at the airport, trying to get on planes just like you are. The moment you step into the terminal, it’s all about YOU.

Don’t worry about keeping control over your bags. For that matter, make sure you bring suitcases the size of small cars as carry-ons. Bump into the folks in front of or behind you with your oversized carry-ons, the better to show off your traveling style.

Make terrorism and hijacking jokes in the presence of airport workers, airport police and TSA inspectors, none of whom have a sense of humor when it comes to this kind of humor.

Complain long and loudly about how slowly the line is moving, knowing that you yourself have done nothing to help accelerate the process. I mean, who are they to hold you up?

And when you’re traveling abroad and being held up by airport security screeners in some foreign airport, be sure to emphasize to them that you’re not just any old passenger. You’re an American citizen, by God!

Follow these tips and you’ll to make every trip to the airport a truly memorable experience, whether you want to remember it or not.

Coffee, tea…sharp metallic object?

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Delta is trying to figure out how needles found their way into six sandwiches served to its passengers.

A half-dozen sewing needles have become the focus of law enforcement investigators on two continents. That’s what happens when they wind up in peoples’ food aboard airplanes over the Atlantic Ocean.

By now, you’ve heard the story. Six turkey sandwiches, served in Business Class aboard four different Delta Airlines flights from the Netherlands, had sewing needles in them.

The flights were bound for various destinations in the United States and all left Amsterdam on the same day.

Three passengers found those needles the hard way, taking a bite from their tampered sandwich. Among them were a father and son, who each found a needle in their sandwich, while flying on two different Delta flights out of Amsterdam that day.

One passenger was stabbed in the roof of his mouth. Authorities have since put him on HIV medication as a precaution.

The sandwiches came out of an Amsterdam flight kitchen belonging to Gate Gourmet, an airline catering company that provides meals for roughly 10,000 airline flights from nearly 30 countries…a day.

You can pick up more details on this incident from this National Public Radio story here.

The incident is casting a glaring light on something few of us ever really closely examine— airline food. We may love it, hate it or be utterly indifferent to it, but few of us have a clue about how it finds its way to our seat. We have no idea who’s producing this stuff, how or where.

Have you ever seen an airline chef? Neither have I. Airline catering serves hundreds of millions of people 24/7, but from the consumers’ point of view, it may be one of the world’s most invisible industries.

The companies have names like Gate Gourmet, Servair, Dnata. Together, they’re among the world’s largest employers. Gate Gourmet alone has 22,000 employees.

Their flight kitchens, located on or near the grounds of major airports, are more like factories than kitchens, each preparing thousands of breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks around the clock.

That may not sound too appetizing, but it has to be that way. You can’t cook fresh on airliners.

Never mind the time constraints of trying to prepare 300 to 1,200 meals for a single flight in the cramped confines of an airplane galley. Open flame in a pressurized cabin equipped with oxygen, seven miles above the Earth?

Not happening.

Enter the caterers.

Several airline catering firms are owned, though not necessarily operated, by individual airlines, while others are independent contractors. All of them serve multiple airlines.

So when the flight attendant asks you “beef or chicken?” on that American Airlines flight, nobody tells you that your dinner may be coming to you courtesy of Lufthansa, the national airline of Germany.

Lufthansa owns LSG Sky Chefs, the world’s largest airline catering outfit, preparing some 500 million meals a day for American — and about 300 other airlines around the world — from 200 flight kitchens in 52 countries.

So who’s Number Two? Gate Gourmet. The needle guys. And this is not the first time there have been issues with its airline food.

Eight years ago, the Food & Drug Administration zeroed in on a Gate Gourmet flight kitchen in Honolulu after 45 travelers were exposed to carrots contaminated with Shigella bacteria.

Shigella causes dysentery, which at best is miserable and at worst can kill. But that incident was about lax food safety procedures, not a deliberate attempt to hurt somebody.

It gets better. Gate Gourmet actually belongs to a family of companies, including one called Gate Safe, which is dedicated in part to…

…wait for it…

…airline catering security.

Gate Gourmet says it’s conducting its own investigation. Delta, in turn, says it’s taking its own measure to protect the food aboard its aircraft. Dutch authorities and the FBI are already on the case.

Everybody…and I do mean everybody… is taking this one seriously. Believe me, this one’s going to get interesting.

Edited by P.A.Rice

Airline upgrade?

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An online company promises Business Class fares at up to 70 percent off. But almost as intriguing is how they claim to do it.

Do you truly suffer as I do in Coach — or as I like to call it, Sardine Class — on long-distance flights? If so, there’s this outfit that you and I both may need to check out.

The company calls itself Wholesale-flights.com, and it claims it can sell you Business Class airfares at rates 40 to 70 percent below regular prices.

Apart from that claim, however, what really intrigues me about these guys is the way they go about it.

As with airline Web sites, online travel agencies and other reservation sites, you can book flights yourself online. But if you want the best fares at Wholesale-flights.com, you’ll have to put down the keyboard, pick up the phone and call them.

That’s right. In an era when virtually all online commerce seems almost totally automated, these guys actually insist that you talk to a real human being.

There are airlines nowadays that will actually charge you extra if you try to book a flight with them over the phone.

Wholesale-flights has its reasons for doing this, which it spells out right on its Web site:

“Live agents can find lower fares!”

You know what? It’s true. It’s the reason why bargaining-hunting travelers are rediscovering the travel agent. And this company seems determined to make the most of it.

As always, a few words of caution.

Each level of service aboard an airliner — First Class, Business Class, Economy (or on some airlines, Premium Economy as well) — is broken down into multiple fare classes, each with its own price.

You’re unlikely ever to see them all broken down for you on your consumer-level airfare site, but the airlines and travel agencies, both the online and live–human variety, do.

The “discounts” that outfits like this one offer are most likely to be for one or more of those discounted fare classes. And the discount itself will be a percentage of the highest rate charged for that particular seat.

Second, the more deeply discounted the fare, the more restrictions that come attached to it, covering everything from when you can travel and how long you can stay to whether you have to pay penalties to change or cancel your reservation.

And third, nobody is ever going to sell you a Business Class seat at a Coach Class price. You’re still going to end up paying substantially more for the upgrade, no matter how deep the discount.

But you know what? This isn’t really about finding the rock-bottom-cheapest airfare. This is about finding the best value for your travel dollar. Specifically, it’s about paying the best price you can get for the comfort you deserve.

Believe it or not, there was a time, back in the infancy of the airline Jet Age, when the majority of passengers were treated and seated more or less the way only Business and First Class passengers are now.

You had legroom, hip room. You didn’t feel as if you were sitting in a space capsule, or a torture device. You could recline almost in splendor, and the passenger in front of you could do the same — without threatening to break your nose.

Those were the days when air travel was much more pleasure than pain.

The “cattle car” treatment didn’t really begin until the 1970s, when the emergence of jumbo jets, coupled with the 1973 Arab oil embargo, meant that the airlines had to fill as many seats as possible per flight to break even.

That meant maximizing the number of seats — and minimizing almost everything else.

Anyway, give Wholesale-flights a look and let me know what you think of it. And if you can actually score a bargain on it, come back and let your fellow IBIT readers know about it.

Edited by P.A.Rice