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That is if you are uninitiated with the service and/or at the airport when you decide to access a lounge (or at least a Continental President’s Club lounge…)

I’ve been intrigued with gosimply for some time and decided to try it today. The promise is inviting:

Relax in 1st class comfort and treat yourself to an executive airport lounge. From £13.50 per person
With 97 airport lounges across 38 countries we guarantee you’ll find the right lounge at the best prices.
Each airport lounge is uniquely designed and offers a haven of calm away from the airport crowds.
Enjoy some V.I.P treatment whether you’re on business or that much deserved holiday break!

I arrived at the airport a whopping 4.5 hours before my Alaska Airlines flight from Newark to Seattle was due to depart. (My intent was to get an exit row seat no matter what…) Due to weather issues, my flight from Newark to Seattle was delayed by 3.5 hours, so I had plenty of time on my hands. I thought it would be a great time to try out one of the services that (for a fee) can get you into an airline lounge. Here is my experience with gosimply:

1. Logged into gosimply.com and entered the airport and date/time of flight. The system responded with availability in one of the several President’s Club lounges. One was in the same building I was — and in the concourse adjacent to my flight. (2 minutes.)
2. Got a quote that for £20.00 (pounds?? wha…? No auto-detect of locale?) I could get a pass for 3 hours. Google tells me that converts to $32.00. I go for it. I enter my charge card data and I get a confirmation screen and an email of same. The system tells me repeatedly to “print” it. Hmmm. Might this be a problem down the road? I ponder… No matter, I can show them the email onscreen, and can forward it to them as required.
   (2 minutes.)
3. Headed for the Lounge. Wait in the security line. When I hit the point that they are reviewing my ticket, they won’t let me go any further since my plane departs from a gate on another concourse. They don’t care about what my laptop says. They insist I go back to the Continental desk and get a “gate pass.”
   (7 minutes.)
4. Waited in line at Continental counter.
   (10 minutes.)
5. Talked to counter agent. She had no idea what gosimply was or what I was talking about. Calls the President’s Club. They have never heard of me or my lounge booking. They think for some reason that I think that I have reserved a conference room. After some back and forth they say come on out, and I better bring a printout as pixels are meaningless to them. Forget emailing it, as THEY HAVE NO PRINTER(!) My impression is that they don’t get reimbursed unless I provide them with an atom-based representation. Luckily, I have an efax account, so I say “hey, can I fax you a copy?” They say that is fine and that I should bring my Pet Shop Boys cassettes with me. I head to the gate with my gate pass.
   (15 minutes.)
6. Show up at the lounge. Am greeted by what the Wall Street Journal used to call a “Bully Broad.” She has never heard of gosimply. As I get on wifi to fax my confirmation — she and her cohorts Patty, and Selma unceremoniously reject at least two other prospective entrants with a hearty “no lounge for you!!” Their Platinum cards are meaningless here. It’s clear to me that I better get her the damn printout. I send the efax email and sit down in a lobby chair.
   (5 minutes.)
7. Wait. After several minutes I realize they are not paying any attention to me, and may have even forgotten about my existence. No one is jumping up and telling me the magic fax has landed or not. I also notice that because of the weather, the lounge is starting to fill up. As I get up to inquire if the fax has arrived, I realize that if it has not, I will be forced back out into the utter hell that is the main concourse. Instead, I carefully slink unnoticed into the nirvana that is the President’s Club.
   (5 minutes.)

And here I sit. I have a glass of Stags Leap Artemis before me and am typing this in a well-lit luxury cubicle in a comfortable office chair. I have ample power and all the potato chips I can ingest. The internet access is fast and free. I believe I see a former T.V. newswoman sitting at the bar and have playful banter with what looks like a Fortune 500 CEO. In a nutshell, life is good.

The bottom line is that if you try gosimply, I suggest you:

• Buy your lounge time before you leave home, so you can print it.
• Realize that you may have to get in line to acquire a gate pass before you head to the lounge.
• Be prepared for no one in power having any idea what you are talking about when you show them the piece of paper that grants you access.

According to Reuters, on Wednesday, American Airlines started offering the option to buy in-flight Wi-Fi to passengers on some of their flights. The service costs about $13 for the flight, but doesn’t let you do VoIP, most likely just to keep the bandwidth use in check.

The service, which has been in the works for a while, is powered by AirCell and called “GoGo.” It’s only available on some routes so far:

The world’s largest airline said its passengers on Boeing 767-200 aircraft can pay $12.95 for Internet access on nonstop flights between New York and San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles, and New York and Miami.

Those cross-country routes don’t come up in my schedule too often (come to think of it, I barely fly American anymore), but I go where the Wi-Fi goes, so if I’m looking forward to checking it out the next chance I get.

I don’t normally fly Delta airlines, so I haven’t been tracking the number of redundant screens on their automated check-in kiosks the way that David Pogue has, but I do know that most airlines have a pretty mediocre check-in interface.

It turns out that a new Delta software system has been in development for months, and is now being rolled out to all 1,400 kiosks they have placed in 195 cities:

They actually sent me a PowerPoint deck that shows the new kiosk software, side-by-side with the old, and I can tell you for sure that they’ve streamlined the process a lot. (The kiosks are used 70,000 times a day for check-in, so that translates into a lot of saved time.)

The new software system offers a quick-print option that lets you swipe your card, select your destination and then immediately print your boarding pass.

It also gets rid of the “continue” button, since that’s a little redundant.

Sounds like a good start. If other airlines follow suit and start to streamline their digital check-in process, we could really see some welcome improvement in airport line-speed.

I’ve written before about how I hate to pack everything carry-on, even though there’s no logical reason to check your luggage if you can fit it into a small enough size to take it with you.

While my illogical habits still hold, business travelers at JFK who weren’t already making an extra effort to fit it all in carry-on were probably pretty disappointed as they were forced to choose between making their flight and staying with their bags.

From the Wall Street Journal:

Handlers are currently sorting baggage manually, and the airline is telling its departing passengers that they can choose whether to go on the flight or not, Wagner wrote in an email to the Terminal. “Once we have the issue resolved, we’ll get the bags that are left behind on their way to the customer’s destination and delivered to them. Until then, we appreciate our customers’ patience as we work through this issue,” Wagner said.

It’s interesting to think about how many of the things we do are enhanced by computers, and how much of a difference that really makes. Without computer assistance, we can’t load planes fast enough for them to fly on schedule.

Earlier today BoingBoing pointed me to this Ask the pilot column on Salon.com with the kind of TSA story everyone just assumes doesn’t apply to airline pilots:

“No, this is no good. You can’t take this.”

“Why not?”

“It’s serrated.” He is talking about the little row of teeth along the edge. Truth be told, the knife in question, which I’ve had for years, is actually smaller and less sharp than the knives currently handed out by my airline to its first- and business-class customers. You’d be hard-pressed to cut a slice of toast with it.

“Oh, come on. It is not.”

“What do you call these?” He runs his finger along the minuscule serrations.

“Those … but … they … it …”

“No serrated knives. You can’t take this.”

“But sir, how can it not be allowed when it’s the same knife they give you on the plane!”

“Those are the rules.”

But beyond the amusing front…in fact, largely on the second page of the article, Patrick Smith dives into an issue that does fall under the radar more often than it should:

Propped up by a culture of fear, TSA has become a bureaucracy with too much power and little accountability. It almost makes you wonder if the Department of Homeland Security made a conscious decision to present bureaucratic incompetence and arrogance as the public face of TSA, hoping that people would then raise enough of a fuss that it could be turned over to the likes of Halliburton. (Funny, how despite this administration’s eagerness to outsource anything and everything, it’s kept its governmental talons wrapped snugly around TSA.)

While I might not put it in such apocalyptic terms, I think we should all be wary of what powers we cede to the government in the name of “safety.”

It’s time for blogs and social networks to grow up. We’ve had our fun setting them up and marveling at how bright, shiny, and high up the Google search results they are, and now it’s time to figure out what they’re actually good for.

It turns out there are quite a few uses. Yesterday’s New York Times had an article about major travel companies rushing to build the social network for business travelers:

Word of mouse is the latest trend in online travel planning, and a variety of corporate travel companies are setting up networking sites in hopes of becoming the Facebook of corporate travel.

Both Expedia and American Express Business Travel are announcing their new offerings this month. The Internet travel site Orbitz had one of the first networking sites, but it, too, is trying to increase participation by sending out e-mail messages to members to promote its Traveler Update.

The idea is to crowdsource the tips and locations tied in with business travel to help “road warriors” squeeze every bit of efficiency out of each destination.

Frankly, it’s not a bad idea. Social networks have proven to be a great, inexpensive way to augment many kinds of real world planning. Facebook’s event system comes to mind as a wonderful tool for getting a bunch of people in one place at the same time.

It stands to reason that the same trick ought to work in reverse; let’s get a bunch of people to figure out how best to visit different places at random times.

The Wall Street Journal decided to test out some of the luggage services that have been gaining traction recently.

What luggage services? (you ask)

According to the Journal there are companies that offer to pick your bags up at your door and deliver them to your destination—the door, again—so that you don’t have to deal with airline surcharges, hassles of luggage claim, security, or anything else the FAA might invent between now and next Tuesday.

How did the tests go? Are the services worth it?

The good news: No service failed the point-A-to-point-B test. The bad: Prices were so steep, from $122.19 to $198.23, the services can’t really be considered practical for frequent fliers or families with lots of luggage. (Procrastinators should also take note: Even if you opt for the higher-priced overnight service, you’re still stuck with the issue of having to pack and ship your bags ahead of going to the airport.)

And the real surprise: Four out of the five companies sent Federal Express or UPS to pick up our bags. Which begs another question: Why not just call the carriers on your own instead of paying for a third party to handle the task? For example, for that same $198.23 fee that our priciest shipper charged for a suitcase weighing up to 55 pounds (and insured for up to $1,500), FedEx quoted us a rate of $38.58, and UPS, $70.08.

So if you’re thinking about skipping the $15 luggage surcharge, try a different airline first

It seems like just about every week there’s a new reason to avoid flying, and other industries are sniffing around for ways to take a chunk out of the market.

This week it’s the trains in Europe. Business Traveller reported recently that the York train station now boasts free Wi-Fi provided by National Express East Coast, which manages the station and also provides free Wi-Fi on all of its trains.

The quote from the station manager, Steve Soards, says it all:

“A major advantage of choosing the train over alternatives such as driving or flying is the ability to stay connected to the internet throughout the journey. For business passengers our wifi creates a productive mobile office, with the ability to send and receive emails as well as to access the internet. Staying online throughout a journey can mean the difference between clinching a deal or losing out.”

I’m think the airline industry needs to stop playing defense and start playing offense. Trying to tack little fees onto luggage and food is going to make people mad.

Offering productivity services, especially basic ones like free wi-fi (maybe you get to purchase extra or dedicated bandwidth?) is probably a much better approach to finding new revenue streams.

It’s no secret that the experience of flying is, with the exception of the ultra-luxurious, getting more and more frustrating. But when travelers have a bad trip, it’s not just the airlines that suffer.

Many Hotels and travel services like Travelocity are starting to pick up the slack in the travel experience by offering additional services or trying to provide information where the airlines have dropped the ball:

Affinia Hotels, with properties in New York, Chicago and Washington, recently began maintaining guest profiles so that its hotels can have things like yoga mats, laptop chargers and other items guests may want in their room but don’t want to lug on a plane. In response to American Airlines’ plans to charge $15 each way for the first checked bag, Loews Hotels is reimbursing guests this summer with bag fee receipts up to $30.

Or check out what Travelocity is doing to make sure you have a place to sleep:

After discovering a pattern of dropped reservations at certain hotels, Travelocity hired a company in India to call the hotels ahead of customer stays to make sure they were prepared for the guests. The company says this has reduced the incidence of dropped reservations in two years to less than 1 percent from as high as 20 percent.

The lesson here seems to be: If you can spare the change to do your booking through a service instead of just grabbing a credit card and heading to yourfavoriteariline.com, you’ll end up with a little extra padding for the bumps and hassles that almost inevitably go with air travel.

Like many people, I do several stupid, inconvenient things “on principle.” Things like always checking my luggage because after all, if airlines wanted you to carry all your luggage with you in the cabin they wouldn’t offer to check your bags.

And beyond that, it takes time to shove overstuffed canvas into bins above your head (probably the un-cited cause of many a delayed flight), and everyone usually looks stupid doing it.

But I think I’m going to have to swallow my pride and look like an idiot the next time I fly on American Airlines: they’ve decided to charge $15 for one checked bag (with some exclusions):

Today, American introduced a $15 fee for the first checked bag, given the increasing costs of transporting checked baggage. This fee, which is effective for tickets purchased on or after June 15, does not apply to: American’s AAdvantage program members who have achieved AAdvantage Gold, AAdvantage Platinum and AAdvantage Executive Platinum level; those who have purchased full-fare tickets in the Economy, Business and First Class cabins; and those with international itineraries.

To be fair, American Airlines does cite ridiculous fuel prices and a sluggish American economy as reasons for introducing new fees and dropping a significant percentage of their “available seat miles flown.” And I’m sure they are hurting for those reasons. The real question is how much of their business the new fees will kill, given that other Airlines may not follow suit.

Everyone knows that flights get delayed, canceled, moved, and now, airlines may also go bankrupt at a moment’s notice.

What’s the best way to make sure you aren’t caught with your pants down? Apparently the answer is to make sure you buy your tickets with a credit card.

What makes this different than a debit card, according to the New York Times, is that you can actually claim your money from the credit card company instead of from the airline:

Under the federal Fair Credit Billing Act, a credit card company is required to return your money for a service not supplied, like an airplane trip. Debit payment agencies are not.

In other words, by law, the credit card company can’t make you foot the bill for a canceled flight. This way they deal with the airline, and you keep your money and your time.

Had a chance to sit down with airport guru Harriet Baskas today, and learned a lot about how airports are (or are not) catering to the needs of business travelers. One of the topics I wanted to get into with her about was the dearth of power outlets in most airports. I wanted to ask if any facilities have caught a clue and have installed ample power sources. Regrettably, we ran out of time.

Lo and behold in her current column in USA today she answers my question:

Travelers passing through Austin-Bergstrom International Airport have access to 900 electric outlets along the 24 gate concourse. In Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport there are currently 2,100 free power outlets, including those inside eight airline-club-inspired Samsung travel centers. More power is on its way.

I have often wondered exactly how crushed things end up in the hold where my checked baggage goes.

I’ve done the usual bubble-wrap, packing paper, and soft clothes tricks in order to keep things alive during my trips, but they always take up a bunch of extra space and require a bunch of extra effort.

Which is why these micro cases look so intriguing. Look at what the promo copy on the site has to say:

The Pelican Micro Case Series™ is perfect for your cell phones, PDA’s, pagers and other personal gadgets and items. The new Micro Case Series are crushproof (withstands up to a 5,000 lb. Truck), watertight and have an automatic purge valve. Cases come standard with an impact absorbing inner liner.

I’m not sure that I’ll be checking my cell phone or PDA (OK, I have an iPhone now so they’re the same thing) anytime soon, but for a second camera, mouse, flash drive reader, or any other type of breakable electronics, It’d be nice to know that they’d have to find a truck weighing more than 5,000lb in order to crush it.

Yesterday, China and the Unite States announced an aviation agreement which will more than double the number of daily passenger flights by 2012. Under the new agreement, US carriers are allowed to operate 13 more daily flights to China, and China also plans to lift all limits on transpacific cargo flights.

The agreement is pretty historic, and should increase significantly increase business travel and economic relations between the two countries.

Effective on 1/23/07, all persons, including U.S. citizens traveling by air to and from the U.S. and Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean and Bermuda are required to present a ‘valid passport, Air NEXUS card, U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Mariner Document, or an Alien Registration Card, Form I-551, if applicable.’

Also, according to the U.S. Department of State, it is the intention of the Department of Homeland Security to extend this requirement include traveling by land or sea (including ferries), as early as January 1, 2008.

The passport requirement does NOT apply to U.S. citizens traveling to or returning directly from a U.S. territory, as they are not considered to have left the United States.
U.S. territories include the following: Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Swains Island, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

The bottom line: get a passport (sooner than later).

For more information go here, or call 1-877-487-2778 for assistance in applying for a passport.

I just saw an ad for Orbitz.com’s new TLC services. I like their TLC alerts service in particular, because it allows you to designate up to six people to notify if your flight is delayed or diverted.

Obviously I’m late to the game and the whole blogosphere is already going nuts over it, but the iPhone is a reality. A walking, talking, badass reality.

I have a two-year contract with T-Mobile, but I may just have to pay to get out of it, switch to Cingular, and buy myself an iPhone before I explode all over the place in gooey, fangirl fashion.

The coolest part of this whole thing for business travelers will be less crap in your pocket. No, that’s nothing new. There are other products out there that integrate camera, phone, mp3 player and calendar etc., but none that are as easy to use and integrate into your existing systems. If Apple built it, chances are it’s user-friendly and plays well with other devices. It doesn’t have EDGE like my current phone, but it looks like the internet feature will allow me to blog and access the Web directly from the phone, which is even better than having to drag out my laptop if I want to write a blog post on the go.

All in all, I’m pretty freakin’ excited about this thing. Can you tell?

If you often find yourself “warwalking” on business trips, then the Digital WiFi Detector from Hobbes Innovation might be for you. Not only does it sniff out WiFi networks, it tells you whether they are encrypted and if so, how. It’s also small enough to carry around with you.

Via GearLog.

In the event that its bid to be the latest airline to fly into Chicago O’Hare is rejected, JetBlue is considering the possibility of using Gary/Chicago International Airport as an alternative.

Located just across the Indiana border, about 26 miles from Midway and more than 40 miles from O’Hare, Gary is located ideally for those who want quick access to East Chicago.

But this geography also presents unique obstacles. Chicago has truly outstanding public transportation. Renting a car on a business trip to the area is for the most part unnecessary. But that all changes if you’re flying into Gary. Neither the Red nor the Green lines come even close to the airport. This means that travelers will have to rent, take an expensive taxi, or brave Chicago’s notoriously rough South Side by bus. By contrast, O’Hare has its own El stop: the terminus for the Blue line.

If JetBlue wants travelers to take the Gary option seriously, their prices will have to undercut those of other airlines by at least the price of a car rental or taxi fare. Otherwise, travelers will scurry for Midway, where JetBlue competitor Southwest Airlines reigns supreme.

It’s common knowledge among frequent fliers that departing earlier in the day will lead to fewer delays. According to Joe Brancatelli, statistics support what most of us have known all along.

Across the board, from major hubs like Atlanta to more remote airports like the Sea-Tac, an earlier departure time means a much higher likelihood of an on-time arrival. As the day progresses, airports get more backed up. For example, travelers arriving in Atlanta after 8pm have only a 50% chance of arriving as scheduled.

But sometimes you just can’t schedule a flight to leave first thing in the morning. And sometimes delays happen even when your flight takes of at 5 a.m. In theses cases, attitude is everything. My father likes to quote Kurt Vonnegut, who said that “unexpected travel plans are dancing lessons from God.”

Chances are that even with a delay or a cancelled flight, your business trip will still be a success. Keep cool, work with the folks from the airline and all will be well.