Sunday, July 27, 2008

I can hardly wait for winter!

No I have not gone completely over the top on a beautiful July morning.

But it is early in the morning and I am writing this entry as I sit at my cottage overlooking the reflections on the lake from the rising morning sun. And it is reminding me of how much I enjoy getting up early when I am on vacation escaping the frigid temperatures we must endure each January and February and March.

No work to think of. No particular plans. An unhurried breakfast. A walk around the pool as people start piecing off their small territory of beach chairs and towels.

I love our summers and don't even like to miss a weekend 'at the lake'.

But August will bring shorter days, along with longer and cooler nights. Even this morning I am contemplating where I want to go this winter. Back to Mexico. Perhaps to Cabo or Huatulco, both destinations I have yet to visit. Punta Cana was lovely. And even though it means an overnight in Toronto, after seeing Curacao on my last cruise, I promised myself I would return to explore it more fully.

My brother-in-law went with his son to Costa Rica and spent a week on the beach and a week in the rain forest. He said it was the best place he ever visited in winter. Maybe that's the idea for this year.

But for now the loons on the water and the hummingbird that's hovering over my flowers in the hanging pot remind me that I am in paradise. I will start planning my winter vacation over the next couple of weeks but I think I'll go back to bed for an hour or so and let visions of winter travel send me into a blissful sleep.

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posted by That Travel Guy @ 6:04 AM  |  0 Comments

Naked Man in Airplane Poses Terror Threat

At first it seemed like a sad but funny story. A man disrobes completely and starts running up and down the aisles of a plane in the United States.

Obviously disturbed, the flight attendants convince him to put his clothes back on. Then the real trouble starts as he tries to open the emergency door, giving new meaning to wanting a breath of fresh air.

Members of the Boston professional soccer team take him down, tie him up, and the plane is diverted to the nearest airport to turn the crazy guy over to police.

Now the greater debate emerges. Had he succeeded in opening the door would that have endangered anyone else in the aircraft, particularly those who were not buckled in? Could the aircraft have landed safely?

And is this an education for terrorists who might find a way of getting seats in all the emergencey exit rows.

This week the plane that had an engine explosion that caused part of the cabin to buckle did land safely...And the pilots are supposedly locked in to their section of the aircraft.

But the question arises still. What are the dangers and should we be worried. More importantly is there a message to the secutity people at both the airlines and the government levels.

I for one will be casting a questioning eye at the people seated in these aisles for the next few trips I take by air.

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posted by That Travel Guy @ 5:52 AM  |  0 Comments

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Would you Bus it instead of Paying to Fly

There are reports that Greyhound and Amtrac, the train service in the United States, are significantly up in passengers with the increase in fares and fees imposed by airlines.

Would you be one of those ready to save a few dollars by adding time to your journey?

I don't get it. Amtrac in the U.S. is a good service and weill connected, but for the time. You certainly would have difficulty doing this on business although I have found the time spent on trains conducive to work.

But by bus! How about an overnight stay in one of those out-of-the-way bus terminals where unsavory characters seem to make their home? How about the discomfort of not being able to get up and walk around much for 30 to 40 hours?

These are tough times to take an air flight at a reasonable cost but either I'll bite the bullet and spend the cash or stay at home thanks.

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posted by That Travel Guy @ 11:10 AM  |  0 Comments

Flight Attendants will fight for jobs

It seems that with all the cuts, two cities in particular will be hit hardest. Both Winnipeg and Halifax will see all of their flight attendant services lost with the closing of their stations.

Now their union CUPE is trying to make a stand. They have approached the Feds on the basis of a law that was in place which the airlines are trying to circumvent. The interpretation of the particular paragraphs relating to safety seem to be what the union is hinging its arguments on.

Considering the fact that in the future all our flight attendants may be coming from a different city to start work here does not give me confidence in the kind of fatigue they may be starting their shift with.

I don't know if that will compromise safety but if you have ever had the experience, I am sure you'll agree there is not much worse in the air than grouchy service.

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posted by That Travel Guy @ 11:03 AM  |  0 Comments

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Airlines Call for end of Speculation on Oil

Free market be damned say airline executives in America as oil crashes through the $140 barrel barrier.

Speculation in oil futures has always been around but apparently it is now at the 60% level, with the people buying never intending to take delivery.

So as airlines ponder ways to avoid bankruptcy by adding new charge upon new charge, they are also appealing to a higher power - the government of the United States - to put limits on speculation.

As it turns out we should likely all back their initiative since we have an economy going down the tubes, and we now find out much of it due to speculators, not real supply and demand.

If the governments of North America stepped in wouldn't the specualtors just move to a different country to make their purchases?

The idea the executives have may be sound but can it be delivered by any government? And at some point don't the speculators start to lose with a crash in oil prices? I think I need a lesson in world commodity realities because if it can happen in oil can't it happen in pork chops, and corn, and water?

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posted by That Travel Guy @ 10:04 AM  |  0 Comments

Is The Need for Flight Attendents Gone?

Over the past week we have seen a continuation of cuts at airlines, including Canada's own flagship, Air Canada. Many of these were directed at flight attendents across the country, with fatal cuts to those stationed in Winnipeg.

There is a proud history attached to the role of flight attendent. Before it was decided that identification of the job with the name Stewardess should be dumped on the garbage heap of history, came decades of quality service by highly qualified personel.

In the early days of consumer aviation and through all those decades, one had to come to the job with the designation of Registered Nurse attached to your resume. It was an epoch of consumer confidence that comes with the kind of service that is inherent in the nature of so many of those who chose the nursing profession; that of putting others first in a genuine desire to provide care and comfort.

But the word Stewardess obviously implied female, and it seemed that the male Stewards were management while the Stewardesses, mostly female, seemed to report to the guy in the tie. And more males were applying to become Stewardesses as criteria evolved. So flight attendant emerged as the new nomer.

And there were lots of them on each flight. In a long era of service imperatives, airlines strove to outdo each other in how far they could go to provide in-flight comfort and care. But somewhere along the way that changed. And it was long before the oil crisis.

Profitablility, management surmised, could be increased by cutting many of those high paid hostesses out of the loop while still providing a satisfactory level of service to the lower class fare customers, while keeping the levels up for the cash cows seated in the business and first class sections.

With this latest round of service cuts we wonder if the day of the flight attendant, as we know it, is gone forever. The meals left quite some time ago, the blankets and pillows were removed a short while ago, and now even peanuts and pretzels are on their way out.

So what's a self respecting flight attendant to do? What is the value? There is now, and will always be, a need to keep passengers calm in case of an emergency to hopefully selflessly help them in a time of crisis.

But the high pay that is deserved for those who deliver a quality service may be left only for those in the forward cabin. And even those customers are shrinking as their companies insist they also look at low cost carriers for their business trips.

If you can get an airline executive to be honest with you they will tell you that most of the people who are sitting in business class today have not actually paid the tariff for being there. They are mostly frequent flyers whose frequent flyer status shows up on front desk computers as they are checking in. They come with upgrade passes earned by their status, or are just placed up front because of that designation.

That distiction earns them the exclusive doting of the last remaining, truly high service, flight attendant care.

So why pay the high wages for a job description that has long gone by the wayside and has been more permanently mangled over the past months?

Nothwithstanding the current job cuts, the next round of negotiations with the bosses will not be pleasant for them. The results I fear will lead to an era of applications from those who still hold on to a perception of what the position was. But as each month passes applicants will realize that the role has been marginalized to that of a car hop in the sky. The quality of those applicants will deteriorate along with the even greater deterioration of what was once proudly called in-flight service.

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posted by That Travel Guy @ 6:55 AM  |  0 Comments

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Pay Less for the Gas Guzzlers

I found it an interesting footnote to the comments I made about car rental upgrades a few days ago ,when a friend who travels on business regularly was shocked at the increase in costs for renting a compact car.

She regularly books small cars and found the jump in price to be shocking. When she inquired as to why, she was informed that the increase was essentially because of supply and demand. Demand for the compacts that are so much more fuel efficient has risen dramatically as the desire for full size gas eaters has fallen like a rock off a cliff.

While more compacts are on back order some car rental companies are charging for the small ones today what they charged for the big ones before, and the bargain prices are now on the models that were once at a premium. Lots of supply in this category now apparently.

Notwithstanding the fact that the consumer can't seem to win, it is reflective of a changing economy brought about by the commodity that made the Clampits rich in the old sitcom, Beverly Hillbillies. And its not Texas Tea but the strongest doses of Arab coffee you can find.

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posted by That Travel Guy @ 3:23 PM  |  0 Comments

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

The Saturday Night Stay is Back

It seems so long ago that some may not even remember when, in order to get the best price for airline travel, you needed to buy a ticket that included a Saturday night stay.

In this way the airlines could continue to fleece the goose that laid the golden egg, the corporate customer who seemed not to mind paying full fare. This was fine for a long time, but as corporate belts tightened, companies started insisting that their high flying employees stay over the weekend at their destinations. The cost of accomodation and food was still bringing significant savings to the bottom line.

Travellers with families hated these policies and looked for ways around the rules. With the help of willing and clever service-oriented agencies the idea of back-to-back tickets emerged.

In those days major carriers did not sell one-way tickets. Most fares were for return flights, so business travellers going to the same destination frequently just changed originating destinations in their ticketing alternately. By doing so from an airline perspective it seemed like they were always staying over the weekend, even though they were simply using a pair of tickets with staggered dates, thus enabling them to be home weekends and still procure their head offices the savings they insisted on.

Now once again the majority of U.S. airlines, like American, Continental, Delta, and UAL (Air Canada's most frequent code share partner) have re-institued the Saturday night stay. While at first blush it would seem that our own Air Canada will be quick to jump on the money grabbing bandwagon, in the States where the majors find themselves going head to head with low cost carriers, they have not instituted the policy.

So in Canada, with Westjet a constant thorn in the big guys' sides, we may not see that same broadstroke maneouver. Let's see what emerges out of the clouds over the next few weeks.

South of the border travel agents are already pouncing on the solution. One way tickets are now available on almost all flights. Forget the return fare and start buying two one way tickets. And when that is foiled, return to the back-to- back tickets the airlines hated.

The time has passed when there is a goose with a golden egg. the airlines just don't realize that yet.

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posted by That Travel Guy @ 6:14 PM  |  0 Comments