I recently had the opportunity to fly American Airlines between New York’s JFK and Seattle. While it’s true that one flight does not an airline make, impressions do count and can make or break an airline in today’s competitive market. Let me know if you agree or disagree with my observations. What I found: Old [...]

UPDATED 10/1/08: Now valid through December 12, 2008 (Including Thanksgiving!) A small and likely short-lived airfare skirmish is providing a nice Fall travel opportunity.  I hope that some of you who have been asking about Chicago to Hawaii deals can take advantage of it.  Act quickly if you are interested. Airlines:  American, Northwest, United Dates:  [...]

Yesterday I gave you my advice on what to do when your hotel room does not live up to expectations. Normally I complain immediately if I’m unhappy. On my recent trip to New York I was stuck with a bad room for 6 nights. Here’s what happened at New York’s Millennium UN Plaza Hotel: I [...]

THIS IS A SUPERIOR ROOM ON THE HOTEL’S WEB SITE: THIS IS THE SUPERIOR ROOM I WAS GIVEN: I was expecting multiple windows, a corner room, and updated furnishings, based on the superior category I reserved. This is the first of two parts on what to do if your hotel room does not meet expectations. [...]

I received this travel insurance promotion from American Express: Protect your travel plans for a more relaxing vacation….$28.95 per covered person per covered trip. The maximum benefits offered: Cancel due to illness: $500 in non-refundable expenses. Airline baggage loss: $1,500. Stolen articles: $1,500. Flight overbooked: $250 a day for two days for expenses. Accidental death [...]

Coming home yesterday from the mainland, we were struck by the ever more blatant and sometimes annoying commercialism of Hawaiian Airlines. The other airlines we used on this 10,000 mile trip, United and American, were nowhere as bad. Before I go on, let me just say that overall we like Hawaiian, have flown them for [...]

Yesterday afternoon we had the opportunity to visit three of Hawaii’s airports, Kahului, Honolulu and Lihue. The reason is that we were returning from Seattle, and this was the only routing available. Sunday afternoons are traditionally a very busy time at our airports.  However, the photo is a frighteningly accurate depiction of what we found [...]

I received an email from a reader this morning: Hi Jeff, Read your comment to “It’s not a bird. it’s a gecko.” You said, (you) have pretty well gecko-proofed (your) house. Want to know how you did it. They are all over the place, dropping their poop everywhere. Can you tell me how (to) gecko [...]