August 2006

I was just a kid when cell phones first came out, but I remember thinking to myself, “someday, I’ll be able to use my cell phone as a modem.” That day is today.

For the first time ever, I was able to connect my Samsung T509 to my Macintosh iBook G4 and move along the Web at almost-DSL speeds from anywhere I get cell service. I’ve got a post up with more details over at the Blog Business Summit.

One of the issues that this raises is that I can’t talk on my cell phone while I’m using it as a modem because the Web connection slows down to unacceptable speeds, but I soon was able to overcome that. I simply paired my bluetooth headset with my computer and forwarded my cell phone to my SkypeIn number.

I love technology.

I’ve had to deal with about a dozen multi-hour layovers and delays this year, and I usually enjoy it until I get tired of playing FreeCell. Then comes the boredom.

However, if you know in advance which airport you will be spending a few hours in the near future, a little research on the airport may make your time considerably more enjoyable. Many large airports now offer entertainment services ranging from wireless internet to art exhibits to saunas, and list their services on their websites.

It’s no secret that the air inside an airplane cabin during flight is dryer than the Sahara. Back in the good old days before the liquids and gels ban, I’d bring on a liter of water, a tube of Burt’s Bees and enough moisturizer to make a sharpei’s skin look like Joan Rivers’.

Now, I don’t expect that airlines are going to start passing out travel-sized tubes of Laura Mercier Mega-Moisturizer (princesses prefer it) on the jetway. But what of the coveted bottles of water that we must now chuck before boarding?

The New York Times asked the same question and was met with a “you’re making mountains out of molehills” response from the airlines. But I have to agree with intrepid Times reporter Michelle Higgins. The airlines need to pay more attention to keeping passengers hydrated in the face of all these new restrictions.

And it’s not just to keep my skin looking fresh, it’s primarily a health issue. People get sick on airplanes not just because of the re-circulated air, but because the arid environment causes their mucus membranes to crack and be more susceptible to a germ attack. For travelers with compromised immune systems or other health issues, this can be a major problem.

Update: I forgot to note that Jetblue passengers can enjoy moisturizer kits from Bliss during travel. Lemon and sage body butter…yum!

An increasing number of flights have been delayed over the last few months, and travelers are becoming increasingly frustrated. There are some things a traveler can do to try to avoid delays, such as scheduling flights in the morning or the middle of the week.

However, if a delay does occur, it is not necessarily a cause for dismay. Nearly all airlines have something called Rule 240, which is a guarantee of certain accomodations they must make if a passenger is delayed or stranded. These may include free meals, hotel stays, vouchers, etc. Awareness of your rights could turn that two-hour delay into a free meal and 50-dollar voucher for the well-informed flier, and nearly every airline offers their Rule 240 information online.

Travelocity and Expedia recently released services allowing travelers to make a tax-deductible donation to The Conservation Fund, a nonprofit organization that plants trees.

The oxygen released by the trees offsets the fuel emissions given off as a result of your flight and rental car use. For example, a ten-dollar donation can make a two-day trip “carbon zero“. This service is just starting, but is expected to take off very quickly.

My fiancé Andy Sparrow, who will be blogging about business travel now and again. Andy has logged a lot of hours in the sky this year and he knows just how grueling it is.

Let’s give him a big IFHQ welcome!

If you plan on doing business overseas for an extended period of time, be wary of the charges you may rack up on your cellphone. International calls can cost over a dollar per minute, and service may be spotty. Renting or buying a new phone may prove a cheaper and more reliable option. However, if you are planning on spending a long period of time in an area with good service, one way to save money is to buy a local SIM card. With a local number, you are charged for sending calls but not receiving them, as opposed to an international number, where you are charged for both. Local SIM cards can be purchased very easily and cheaply off e-Bay, and have the potential to save hundreds of dollars in phone bills.

Because of the recent spate of exploding Dell laptop batteries, Quantas Airlines has announced new rules for Dell Laptops.

Travelers with Dells must remove their laptop batteries. If they wish to run their computers, they must upgrade to first class where they can plug into outlets.

This only exacerbates what has been a terrible year for Dell. When the airlines start treating your product as a security risk, you know you’ve got a real brand implosion.

Farecast is a really cool service that provides information (based on previous airfare fluctuations) about whether airfares are going to increase, decrease, or stay the same on a particular route over time.

For my upcoming flight to Los Angeles, I see that I should buy tickets now, as they’re at their lowest point and will likely rise 50% in the next week.

I’m definitely adding this to my list of travel tools. It’s a really fun toy even if you’re not planning on hitting the skies anytime soon.

I hate it when the plane starts rocking and rolling right after the flight attendants have passed out drinks. I usually wind up spilling my cranberry juice all over whatever I’m wearing and I wind up getting off the plane looking like a mess.

I wonder if the device, which is scheduled for launch in 2008 would work for turbulence…

I’ve been meaning to post this for a few days, but Stowe Boyd beat me to it.

With the ending of Boeing’’s Connexion service, some have presented the idea that travelers want to “get away” from their computers while on a plane, and that in-flight Web access is somehow undesirable. I find this to be absolute nonsense. Forbes quotes analyst Doug McVitie who said “When the doors close on the airplane, there’s normally a sigh of relief–people want to be unreachable.” McVitie totally misses the point. Boeing’s key differentiator from other services was that they offered the ability to surf the Web, which (for those who know their way around a browser) is liberating, not constraining.

I just ordered a Verizon wireless card for my powerbook, and know many others who have done the same. I bought mine so that I could be online anywhere — boating, in the car (with the wife driving,) at the neighborhood pool etc. Verizon sells a ton of these cards, and according to Claude Mitchell at Verizon they are seeing “seeing considerable growth in all categories” of cellular broadband. This wouldn’t be happening if significant numbers of people didn’t want always-on access. Ask the many thousands who buy these cards “would you like them to work on airplanes in flight?” you’d get a resounding YES.

Even Glenn Fleishman, one of the smartest guys in the industry said “he was surprised as anyone to see the poor uptake numbers in this story and elsewhere.” I think the answer is simple. For one, (as Scoble mentions) battery life was a constraint. Why pay $27.00 for a day of access when your battery poops out after 2 hours? Another reason is that configuring yet another account and figuring out how to log into yet another access point was daunting. I know that Scoble says some MS managers say they liked being off the grid, but I think they are an anomaly. For every overworked Microsoft middle manager playing catch-up to a competitor, there are 20 real people trying to get stuff done or want to download a TV show off iTunes. EVDO card sales prove it.

It’s sort of like saying after the Apple Lisa failed (I used to sell them BTW) that “people don’t want to use a mouse or a graphical user interface.” Lunacy. Like the Lisa, Connexion was too early, wasn’t transparent enough, and wasn’t cheap enough - period. Now we have to wait for the Macintosh and/or Windows of inflight Internet…

Sorry to the folks at AJC news, but I had to steal the very clever title on this very clever article about what female travelers should and should not bring on board.

The bad news: there’s no moisturizer that will get around the restrictions. For the time being, you’re just going to have to fly with dry skin.

USA Today’s Business Traveler David Grossman has several excellent money-saving tips for business travelers.

My favorite tips are:

• Use public transit to and from the airport whenever possible.
• Avoid airports at city centers.
• Take your laundry down the street to the laundromat instead of paying the hotel to do it.
• Stay at a suite-style hotel and use the kitchen to prepare your meals instead of eating out.

It appears that ASiQ has issued a press release touting how they are a logical “Boeing Connexion Replacement” and how “the recent decision by Boeing to close down the Connexion by Boeing Internet Service, creates more opportunities for ASiQ’s low cost alternative.”

Founder Ron Chapman says ASiQ has signed Saudi Airlines as a client for their new service.

We’re eager to find out more, but Glenn Fleishman says there is no promising in-flight broadband alternative on the horizon:

“There’s no other service in the running yet to offer global Internet access. In fact, there’s no other generally available commercial Internet service in flight at all right now. AirCell will blanket North America with broadband—they will eventually have permission and partners to deploy over not just the US, but Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean. OnAir and Aeromobile plan European launches by next year of cell service.”

At a handful of major airports across the United States, the Transportation Security Administration has been using a new program that focuses on stopping potential dangerous individuals rather than potentially dangerous cargo.

The technique doesn’t rely on racial profiling, but rather the universals of human behavior–facial expressions, perspiration, ticks and fidgeting–that give away fear, nervousness, and potential hostile intent.

The program is based on techniques that Mossad and the nice folks at El Al have used for years to determine who might be planning some dastardly deed. But the TSA version has been criticized by the Israeli innovators who came up with the original techniques because of modifications that put the focus more on what the agent observes initially and less on the follow-up interview with passengers that have been singled out.

A more long-term (and pricey) solution is to use an Israeli-manufactured device that uses a series of questions and biofeedback sensors to determine who should be brought aside for further screening.

It’s possible in a few years that in addition to having your bags x-rayed, and your body metal-detected and “puffed” for explosives, you will also have to sit in a small chamber and have your blood pressure monitored while a machine asks you whether you want to blow up an airplane.

Still, I think it’s better to be annoyed by security screenings than attacked by terrorists.

From the New York Times:

A federal bankruptcy judge ruled today that Northwest Airlines flight attendants have the right to strike, potentially paving the way for a crippling labor disruption at the nation’s fifth-largest airline.

If the flight attendants and the airline fail to reach an agreement on a reduced salary and benefits package by Aug. 25, the flight attendants would have the right to walk out, Judge Allan L. Gropper of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York ruled.

Northwest immediately said it would appeal. It said it has “a range of contingency options” in the event of a strike, and vowed to “take all necessary actions to continue to operate its normal flight schedule.”

The company’s chief executive, Doug Steenland, said the airline intended to continue talking with the flight attendants’ union. “Northwest’s continuing goal is to reach consensual agreements with all of its unions,” he said in a written statement.

The union, the Association of Flight Attendants, said the court ruling was a victory. “In upholding the right to strike, the court recognized that bankruptcy is not a free ride for rich executives. This levels the playing field,” the union’s general counsel, David Borer, said in a written statement.

The strike would be the second major labor action taken against the airline by one of its unions in a year. Last August, Northwest mechanics walked out after union leaders rejected wage and benefits cuts the airline was seeking in order to avoid bankruptcy.

We don’t need to tell you that a work stoppage on the part of flight attendants at Northwest could create major snarls and overload other airlines which are already experiencing unprecedented load factors. We’ll refer you back to the Frequent Flier Survival Manual’s work stoppage survival tips for more information.

Boeing announced today that it would be shutting down the Connexion by Boeing service (which sponsors this blog). It was a great service that got a lot of love from its customers, the blogosphere, and the general public. Unfortunately, the business model did not bear out and wound up costing Boeing some $120m each year.

Glenn Fleishman wrote today that Lufthansa has vowed to get the service up and running on their own. They currently have 80 planes 80% of their planes equipped to offer in-flight WiFi.

Obviously, we’re saddened to hear about the end of Connexion. They’ve been great clients and friends of ours. In-flight WiFi may have suffered a setback today, but it’s still going to become a huge part of the future of air travel.

Future businesses will look to Connexion–both its mistakes and its successes–when deciding how best to provide this exciting service to clients.

The Wall Street Journal reported today that so-called “killer” Africanized honey bees have been causing disturbances at airports across the Southwest. Apparently, the bees like the smell of jet fuel and the cleanser that technicians sometimes use on the engines. They’ve even been known to swarm through the engines and into the cockpit.

And speaking of icky creatures on a plane (so far, there have been mice and of course, snakes) we’ve found this hilarious tool that you can use to create a personalized “Snakes on a Plane” message for your friends and enemies from Samuel L. Jackson himself. We can’t guarantee that your boss will think it’s the best use of your airport downtime, but a road warrior’s gotta have a laugh sometimes, right?

Kingston Technology has this teeny tiny little gadget out.

I’m of two minds about these things. On the one hand, smaller does pack up easier. But on the other, smaller gets lost a hell of a lot easier. I’ve been known to lose small, valuable things (diamond earrings, drivers’ licenses) on airplanes before, so the idea of a flash drive so small that you could drop it into a tiny crevice without a second thought doesn’t really appeal to me.

What do y’all think?

Via Gear Live.

You’re constantly on the road. Sometimes you can’t even remember where you are when you wake up in the morning. And being a good employee, you’ve tried to help out the company’s bottom line by booking your tickets through one of the discount online travel agencies instead of through your company’s travel arranger.

But that can be a serious problem if disaster strikes while you’re on business, says The Wall Street Journal. In an article published yesterday, they explained that the key to your safety on the road is making sure that your employer knows exactly where you are at all times, particularly when you’re traveling internationally.

Next time you’re back at home base, chat with your boss about the system your company has in place for keeping track of you and your colleagues when you’re out and about. It could save someone’s life at some point.