November 2005

Getting a cell phone that works in Japan or the Netherlands. Making sure you don’t fry your computer when you plug it into that ragged looking outlet at your hotel in Frankfurt. Checking your e-mail from China. Those are just a few of the many problems that The New York Times’ J. Alex Tarquino discusses in his recent article about the technical issues surrounding the digital shrinking of the globe.

A few good tips from the article:

• Get a prepaid SIM card in Europe instead of buying a European cell phone. Most American phones will work on Europe’s frequencies.
• Bring an internet connectivity tester (about $20) with you when you travel to make sure that jack in the wall at your hotel won’t completely destroy your laptop’s modem.
• Make sure to get your power adapters for your trip from your computer’s manufacturer, instead of from the electronics store.

But I’ve got a tricky little trick of my own. If you want to get a reliable used cell phone for your destination, look no further than your alma mater. Call up your alumni association and find out whether any students have listed their cell phones from recent semesters abroad for sale on the campus digest. Oftentimes you can find the phones for dirt cheap because college students just want to get rid of them.

I have worn my iPod shuffle (minus headphones) around my neck when walking through many of the pickiest airport security detectors and have never triggered any alarms. Not only is it incredibly light and can store a ton of reading material, but it also reduces the pain of getting to your departure gate.

The NYTimes reports on the popularity of travel blogs, which keep travelers in touch, offer tips, advice, and photos. The popularity of travel blogs, just like any blog, is that they’re so easy to do. Considering in-flight productivity and connectivity, a business traveler can also blog their trip reports live, instead of trying to remember the details once they’re back in the office. I blog much of my travels for that reason, to keep a record of what I was doing and communicate about the trip with my office mates and colleagues.

All of us at InflightHQ and the Blog Business Summit wish you a very happy - and dyspepsia free - Thanksgiving.

USAToday [warns that](http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2005-11-21-late-to-gate-usat_x.htm), “Airlines are increasingly enforcing stated check-in times . . . leaving disgruntled fliers at the gate waiting for the next flight.” They’ve graphed the airlines policies in a [late to the gate chart](http://www.usatoday.com/money/biztravel/2005-11-22-late-to-gate-chart.htm).

I missed a flight by minutes earlier this year, when I was held up in security and the gatekeepers we’re not sympathetic at all.

At Seatac, wait times in security are random and I grew weary of just making it. I’m now showing up 2 hours ahead and working if I’ve got the time. While Seatac is publishing [Travel Tips](http://www.portseattle.org/seatac/traveler/traveltips.shtml), they don’t include a security line wait time.

We may just be paying a few more dollars per airline ticket in the near future, folks. Forbes reports that French President Jacques Chirac has written a letter to 145 world leaders asking them to stand in solidarity with him on a new airfare tax whose proceeds would go directly to development aid in the third world.

Being a leftist, an idealist and a Francophile, I couldn’t agree more with Chirac’s plan. A few more bucks for a plane ticket in exchange for a better world? I think it’s a fine sacrifice to make.

Here’s a cool trick: Try typing two city names into Google (don’t use quotes). It will bring up a way to quickly price airfares using a variety of services including Priceline, Orbitz, Hotwire and Expedia.

We posted a few a few weeks back about how the online service FlightStats can tell you the historical record of specific flights and airlines regarding cancellation and delays. What we’ve been waiting for is an online booking service that incorporates this info when you are booking your ticket. Well, wait no more, as Gridskipper reports that Pricegrabber now lets you see this info when comparing iteneraries for specified flights.

And speaking of things that are available on international flights that we all just can’t wait to have Stateside, The New York Times reported today that British Air has raised the ante in its battle with Virgin Atlantic for the hearts and minds of business class passengers on trans-Atlantic flights. British Air will spend £100 million over the next year to totally revamp its business class cabins.

The contest between the two airlines started five years ago when British Air introduced lie-flat beds in business class and Virgin Atlantic responded with even more comfortable ones.

I’m so glad that communism didn’t win the Cold War, because where would we be without all this competition? Stuck in sardine cans with 10″ of leg room, no doubt. Now if only an airline would introduce reclining seats on domestic flights, we’d all be in hog heaven.

Picture this: you’ve just flown across the country for the big meeting with the big client, or the big interview for the big promotion. You’re prepared, you’re pumped, you’re…jetlagged as all hell. And that tickle at the back of your throat? That’s the first sign you’ve got a cold coming on. Now you get to give that exhaustively researched and rehearsed presentation while struggling to suppress a coughing fit.

It’s no secret that if one person on your flight has a virus, then you will too by the time the wheels hit tarmac. Recycled air on jetliners, travel fatigue, jetlag, and the lack of nutrition outside of that available from peanuts can make taking care of yourself while on a business trip all but impossible.

But don’t dispair, because I’m about to share with you my rules for staying healthy while traveling. Some of these might seem silly, but if there’s one thing we princesses know, it’s how to take care of ourselves. So recline your seat back, pull up a tray table and learn from the best. These seven little rules will get you to your destination in tip-top shape:

Rule One: Get extra vitamin C for a week before your flight, and during your trip. I like Emergen-C. Dissolve a packet in two fingers of water and you get a huge hit of vitamin C, plus vitamin B12 for energy. You can get Emergen-C in the supplement aisle at just about any drug store. Don’t take it every day though, as too much vitamin C has serious health drawbacks. But using it only while traveling will make sure your immune system is humming right along.

Rule Two: Bring along a bottle of zinc lozenges or tablets. Zinc is killer for viruses. Get some in your system the second you feel a cold coming on and you might just head it off at the pass. I prefer the tablets, as zinc lozenges taste like lemons would if they were made out of tin.

Rule Three: Make sure to get enough sleep the week before your flight. Nobody ever sleeps as well or as much as they tell themselves they will on the airplane. Don’t kid yourself. Plan ahead with the sleep.

Rule Four: Get a scrip from your doc. Most doctors will write you a prescription for five or six tabs of Halcyon or another common sleep aid such as Ambien if you’re going on a red-eye or changing a lot of time zones. Take the dose a half an hour before you would normally go to bed at local time in your destination and wake up with no jetlag. But don’t use sleeping pills if you don’t have a full, uninterrupted 8 hours to sleep. And whatever you do, don’t mix the pills with alcohol - you’ll be asking for an attack of the zonks.

Rule Five: Pack goodies. I never go to the airport without face wash, chap stick, moisturizer, eye cream, hand lotion, a toothbrush and yummy toothpaste in my carry on bag. I like Tom’s of Maine apricot toothpaste for flying. You can get it at your friendly neighborhood Trader Joe’s. It’s my personal belief that a fresh mouth and moist lips and skin make all the difference in your personal comfort level on a flight. And comfort reduces stress, which increases your immunity to disease.

Rule Six: Walk around when the fasten seatbelt light is off. This prevents your muscles from cramping up and can keep blood clots from forming in your legs - which can happen when you fly for a long time. Stand up and stretch as often as you can. Your fellow passengers may think you’re a bit odd, but it’s better than feeling like a sardine or worrying about having an embolism mid-flight.

Rule Seven: Drink plenty of water. The altitude, pressure changes and dry air of the airplane cabin can dehydrate you fast. Make sure you bring a water bottle along and take advantage of in-flight drink service to get some ice. There is also nothing wrong with politely asking the flight attendant for an extra drink of water even when it’s not time for drink service.

Finally, don’t deny yourself the guilty pleasures you usually avoid outside the airport. If you’re one of those people who chronically reads the tabloids in line at the grocery store but refuses to be seen actually buying one - go ahead and pick one up at the airport. There’s nothing to distract you from a case of mid-flight jitters like Paris Hilton’s latest escapade. Of if you usually skip dessert, bring along a sweet treat for midflight. Airports and airplanes are a little like Las Vegas, what happens there stays there. Breaking a few of your minor rules for everyday living will bolster your spirits and counteract the traveling blues.

Fly safely!

Some estimates put the number of Americans who are clinically obese at one in five. And in a country where people are growing bigger and bigger, airplane seats seem to be shrinking at an alarming rate.

According to Fromers.com’s Sascha Segan, the standard U.S. airline seat is now 17 inches wide, with between 30-32 inches of legroom. That causes a lot of problems for taller and wider folks, as well as their seat mates.

But don’t despair, Segan gives her readers a hefty list of the last secret places where you can still get decent leg room, even in coach. I’ve picked the best tips below.

For $299 a year, you can join the Economy Plus club at United. The seats are still 17″ wide, but they have 35″ of leg room. And once you hit the 25,000 mile mark on United, membership in the Economy Plus club is free.

Rows 13-25 on most JetBlue planes are 17.8″ wide with 34″ of seat pitch.

When in doubt, snag the exit row.

For international flights, Air New Zealand, Asiana, Malaysia Airlines and Thai Airlines all offer 34″ of seat pitch in coach.

Check with SeatGuru before booking any flight. You’ll be sure to get the best seat on the aircraft, no matter where you’re flying.

Wall Street Journal Reporters Nick Wingfield and Brooks Barnes report that they anticipate an announcement from Tivo today that the company will soon provide a way for users of their DVRs to download captured programs to video iPods.

Apparently the process won’t be a direct link. The idea is that users will first transfer shows to their PC and then from PC to iPod. There is no mention of Macintosh support in the article, and Apple is not officially involved in the plan.

In a recent NPR segment, Kenneth Button, director of George Mason University’s Transportation Policy, Operations, and Logistics Center told NPR’s Scott Simon that, “getting human beings onto an airplane is a little bit like herding cats.”

According to Button, the best feline wranglers in the airline business are Southwest and JetBlue. Southwest boards its planes by zones, while JetBlue allows passengers to board the aircraft from both the front and the back. JetBlue’s fleet also features larger overhead bins to cut down on the time it takes for passengers to load their bags and have a seat.

But that’s not where the commonalities end. According to Right Reality executives at both airlines are required by company policy to assist flight attendants, baggage handlers, and other airline personnel whenever they fly. Even JetBlue CEO David Neeleman has been known to tote suitcases and serve drinks. Now that’s doing business at 30,000 feet!

Mere coincidence, or meaningful correlation? Does corporate egalitarianism automatically spawn efficiency and innovation? Apparently so. Southwest and JetBlue both say they want to keep their top decision-makers in touch with the issues facing personnel in real-world situations. The theory is that their observations may just result in new insights that could increase efficiency across the entire airline. It’s entirely possible that the innovative boarding strategies that Button is so fond of are a result of these very policies.

NYTimes reports on high-tech hotels that change room conditions to guest’s preferences, like a Tivo for your hotel. As the chief technology officer for the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group says,”technology is up there with the spas, rooms and food and beverage.” Hotels have long offered customize settings. I filled out a Kimpton inTouch questionnaire that specified juice instead of beer in my room, but the Mandarin is customizing further by using a digital profile that captures data on what a guest watches on TV, orders, and does.

I stayed at a Kimpton earlier this year and what I’d like personalized is no minibar because of the compressor sounds. Kimpton puts much into room design, but the ambience of a comfortable, relaxed room can be ruined by the high-pitched hum of a compressor. Even worse, is the fan in the bathroom you can’t turn off. So, if I’m being digitally tracked, I hope they can turn off fan noise in my rooms.

Robert Scoble says:

These headphones are — by far — the best I’ve ever heard. If you travel a lot you should check them out. I’ve had babies crying next to me in the airplane and with these on you can hardly even hear them. Their top of the line pairs are very expensive at $900 (they are custom made for your ears specifically) but they have a new pair that Ken tells me are almost as good for less than 1/3 the price.

Charge 2 Go is a nifty little gadget that can provide up to 3 extra hours of talk time when you don’t have a convenient way to plug your phone into a wall outlet. It costs $24.95 and offers connectors for phones by Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Siemens and Sony-Ericsson.

Just pop in an AA battery and plug the device into your cell phone.

This survey, compiled by Forbes Magazine from data provided by Skytrax, gives some very specific (and useful) data for over 31 airlines, both domestic and international. No surprise–there was no U.S. domestic airline in the top 10. The beautiful images of some of these first class cabins have me drooling……and determined to find out how I can volunteer to be one of the 26 ‘auditors’ that must suffer thru the testing…..

An interesting note: of the 31 airlines surveyed, there are 10 airlines that do not provide Laptop Power (and to be avoided for that reason alone, I believe). Here are the one’s that do:

Air France,
All Nippon Airways,
American Airlines,
British Airways,
Cathay Pacific,
China Airlines,
El Al,
Emirates,
Gulf Air,
Japan Airlines,
Korean Air,
Lufthansa,
Malaysia Airlines,
Qantas,
Qatar Airways,
Singapore Airlines,
South African Airways,
Swiss,
Thai Airways,
and United Airlines

Clearly, skiing can be an expensive sport….and with an estimated $30 billion in annual global expenditures, there appears to be endless opportunities for anyone with a few (make that lots of) extra dollars and the time to spend it. Check out this ranking of the World’s Most Expensive Ski Resorts…..and make (or change) your plans accordingly……

My choice would easily be the Hotel Hermitage at Valle D’Aosta, Italy…..no doubt the best Apre’ ski of the bunch….not that I’m picky, mind you.

And check out the Kempinski Hotel Mall in Dubai…..with the world’s 3rd largest indoor ski resort, and the world’s largest shopping mall outside North America–now there’s a scary combination…..

Delta Air Lines, which filed voluntarily for reorganization under Chapter 11 in September, recently announced plans to stop free membership to its airport clubs for its top frequent fliers, as well as raise fees for other tier levels.

Randy Petersen, Editor of InsideFlyer magazine was quoted in the Wall Street Journal as saying that Delta was removing the one perk that helped Delta make its elite flier program better than others and at a time when Delta “needs every bit of goodwill from its best customers.”

Delta said it was just conforming its policies to be more in line with other major airlines……Lets just hope this is not an indication of things to come for this great Air Line.

Other information in regards to Delta’s restructuring and how it might effect you can be found here.

I’ve used this easy online Mileage Converter to help me decide if I should transfer some points I have in a little used Hotel frequent travel program to an Airline program…..in hopes of accumulating a few more miles and get to a specific tier level a bit quicker. Try it out and let us know what you think……