Work/Life: Say It Ain't So, Shoeless Joe "Shoeless" Joe Jackson got that nickname for taking off his shoes once in the second game of a doubleheader in 1908.One hundred and one years later, TSA is still making Shoeless Joes of us all with the apparently immutable requirement that we remove our shoes when entering the airport's walk-through metal detector.
Posted Wed Oct 21, 2009
Work/Life: What Are Your Chances of Getting Bumped From Your Next Flight? Bumping is the nemesis of the business traveler. Leisure travelers often have a certain amount of latitude as to when they need to arrive at a destination. Not so with the road warrior, who is a clockwork captive. While it is highly unlikely that any flier will be bumped from a flight for which they are holding a printed boarding pass, that pass, in reality, is no guarantee that you'll board your plane.
Posted Mon Oct 12, 2009
Work/Life: What Are the Chances for a Passenger Bill of Rights? When the founding fathers endowed us with certain inalienable rights I would have hoped they had the foresight to assume these truths would have been self-evident even when sitting on an airplane.Unfortunately, it seems like the folks who decide how long is too long to sit cooped up inside a plane on the tarmac never read the Bill of Rights. Following the high-profile flier imprisonment incidents of the past few years, it's clear that the policy which spells out travelers' rights once they cross the threshold of the jet way need to be formalized.
Posted Fri Oct 2, 2009
Work/Life: The Bus Also Rises Anne Marie Chaker of The Wall Street Journal wrote an excellent review recently of the new bus services that have come onto the scene to cater to business travelers. Her story includes a charming video of her trip to Baltimore on Greyhound.She calls her article "Planes, Trains ... and Buses?" I think it is beside the point to note that in the movie John Candy indeed boards a bus to get home — along with taxi, plane, train, rental car, delivery truck, semi, and subway.
Posted Wed Sep 16, 2009
Work/Life: Is the Cutback on Business Travel Cutting Into Business? Business travel is the oil that lubricates the wheels of business. I've always felt that companies that cut back on travel for business are cutting back on their business's prospects. Now several surveys say that while technology can help, nothing really can take the place of face-to-face meetings.
Posted Fri Sep 11, 2009
Work/Life: Take My Breathe Away I'm sure it comes as no news that spending time in a sealed, pressurized aluminum tube at high altitude is probably not the most healthful thing you can do to your body. For that reason, one would think that fliers might have something to say about the quality of the air up there.
Posted Wed Sep 2, 2009
Work/Life: I'll Never Find Another You...BlackBerry-Wise
As I head out to NBTA (i.e., the 2009 National Business Travel Association International Convention & Exposition) in San Diego...
... I have to admit I can't make it to California without my BlackBerry.
I'm embarrassed to confess to it, but number me among the countless CrackBerry addicts dotting the landscape of business travel.
Posted Fri Aug 21, 2009
Work/Life: Let's Make Fixing the Air Traffic Control System a Priority
It gets pretty cloudy in Juneau, Alaska. Constant overcast, plus the fact that the airport there is surrounded by mountains, has caused many flight delays and cancellations. Fifteen years ago Alaska Airlines (AA) came up with a better idea. The airline worked with the FAA and Boeing to design flight paths into the airport that curved instead of running in a straight line.
Posted Wed Aug 12, 2009
Work/Life: Carriers Need Wings. And Credibility, Too.
Enough is enough.
On July 17, I blogged about Ryanair's announcement that it was mulling the idea of requiring passengers to pay to for potty privileges.
Ryanair has now topped itself. It now is floating the trial balloon that it can lower prices further by squishing more passengers into cabins made roomier by ripping out two of the three toilets. Frankly, I cannot imagine the condition of that single restroom. Nor can I imagine the waiting list for that restroom. They'll have to hand out deli numbers.
Posted Mon Aug 3, 2009
Work/Life: Back Up There Okay, I have a confession. For the past several months I have been a "virtual" road warrior. Like many of you I, too, have been affected by corporate travel restrictions. As a result, today I crossed the jetway threshold for the first time in a long time. Even with the intentional emphasis on hyperbole here — it was a very interesting experience.
Posted Thu Jul 23, 2009
Work/Life: All A-Twitter About Airborne Pay Potties
Most travel experts think Ryanair's announcement that it is considering charging for bathroom access on the plane was purely a PR ploy. But I think it was more in the nature of a trial balloon.
Yes, Ryanair is justly regarded as a publicity hound; but it seems to me the carrier is merely carrying the ancillary revenue business model to its logical conclusion. Unfortunately, in this case their logic escapes me.
Posted Fri Jul 17, 2009
Work/Life: Travel Goes Bing When Farecast became part of Microsoft's Bing Travel, it instantly became one of my go-to Web resources for business travel. For one thing, its search function is much more logical than that of an online travel agency. For another, it fills the travel search niche much more capably than Google by providing me with information that actually helps in my travel decision-making process.
Posted Wed Jul 15, 2009
Work/Life: Carriers Continue to Cut Capacity
With no sign of a recovery in airline travel, and with aviation gas costs ramping up, the major carriers are continuing to cut capacity, led by Delta Air Lines and American Airlines. What this indicates is that we are not out of the woods. The travel outlook is continuing to deteriorate, although several indicators say the downward trend is slowing.
Posted Fri Jul 10, 2009
Work/Life: TripAdvisor Gets Down to Business
One genuinely good piece of news for business travelers in a generally bleak year for it is that TripAdvisor has launched a Business Travel Center to bring to business travelers the kind of customized services that leisure travelers have so long appreciated. The site may look the same, but under Quick Links you will see a heading "Browse by trip type" and under that there is a button for "business travel".
Posted Wed Jul 8, 2009
Taxes Are a Calling If you thought the government would tax the very air you breathe if only they could figure out how, you'll be unsurprised to learn that government wants to tax your talk too. Cell phone talk, that is.
More specifically, work-related cell phone calls.
Posted Fri Jul 3, 2009
Work/Life: Just Plane Kids
Before you criticize someone you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes. Yes, it's an old joke but I'm reminded of it when I fly with kids - whether the kids in the plane are mine or not. Unless you never see yourself being in the position of traveling with children, it is best to be careful what you say or do. You may one day be in those shoes.
Posted Wed Jul 1, 2009
Work/Life: Whole-Body Scanners Aren't a Peep Show
Whole-body scanners will replace metal detectors, in a little-noticed policy shift at the TSA (Transportation Security Administration). This means that instead of walking through the familiar security portals that stand next to the conveyor belts where your carry-ons, coats, and shoes are scanned, you will now enter a 9-foot-tall glass booth.
Posted Wed Jun 3, 2009
Work/Life: "Secure Flight" Takes to the Air in August
Travelers will see an added layer of security when the TSA finishes implementing "Secure Flight" officially on August 15, 2009.
Travelers will also see an added security hurdle because Secure Flight requires that all of your identification match. Yes, that's right: match.
Posted Wed May 6, 2009
Work/Life: If You're a Hotel, the "AIG Effect" Is Real
Reflecting concern at the thought of a road warrior indulging in luxury, corporate travel departments have cancelled an estimated $1 billion worth of industry conferences in the first two months of 2009.
Posted Tue Apr 28, 2009
Work/Life: Fleets Are Shrinking As Planes Are Mothballed
The downturn in air traffic is leading to a major makeover in air carriers' fleets. Flight capacity demand among cargo and passenger carriers has deteriorated faster than expected, according to the IATA (International Air Transport Association).
Posted Wed Apr 15, 2009
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