Travel

By Robert McGarvey

Voice calls are coming to airplanes – rather they are coming back.

Loud – protesting – voices are getting raised but, really, this is progress, baby, and it won’t be derailed by people with no memory of history.

First: here’s why I am convinced we will soon be permitted to make voice calls inflight.  The US Department of Transportation has issued a proposed rule to protect passengers “from being unwillingly exposed to voice calls on aircraft.”

DoT is not seeking a ban on such calls. Quite the contrary.  What DoT is seeking is “to require airlines and ticket agents to disclose in advance to consumers if the carrier operating their flight allows passengers to make voice calls using mobile wireless devices.”

The Federal Communications Commission, by the way, has sway over cellphones’ cellular radios and the FCC continues to ban voice calls inflight.

DoT is looking instead at WiFi calling – available via Skype, Google Voice, What’s App, many more apps, also T-Mobile and at least some other cellular carriers.  Said DoT: “As technologies advance, the cost of making voice calls may decrease and the quality of voice call service may increase.”

Meantime, the big air carriers have been pushing WiFi providers – mainly GoGo – to up their game.  There is every indication that will happen and, truth is, WiFi calling with What’s App, Skype, et. al. is not bandwidth intensive anyway.  Skype, for instance, says the minimum bandwidth for voice calling is 30kbps. It recommends 100kbps.  That is not a high hurdle.

DoT admitted that the last time it raised the topic of inflight voice calls – in 2014 – the people spoke and they weren’t happy.  “In February 2014, the Department had issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) regarding the use of mobile wireless devices for voice calls on commercial aircraft.  In response to the ANPRM, a substantial majority of individual commenters expressed opposition to voice calls on the grounds that they are disturbing, particularly in the confined space of an aircraft cabin.”

This ire puzzles me.  I recall getting a call from a business associate who was inflight in the mid 1980s.  He was using Airfone – the inflight system birthed by John Goeken, founder of MCI. It debuted in the early 1980s and was still in at least some planes until 2006.

Airfone never enjoyed much use.  We all saw the phones – usually in the seatback of the middle seat in coach; in every seatback up front. But high prices – in 2006 calls cost $3.99 plus $4.99 per minute – seemed to stall usage.

Publicist Richard Laermer in fact said the price of an Airfone call was why the service triggered few complaints. “With Airfone, it was so expensive you made it and hung up.”

He’s right. Airfone calls generally were minimalist.

Laermer said that won’t be so with WiFi calling.  “The Wifi calls are going to be ‘Hey. Hi. Just calling to see how you are.’ And that’s going to eat people up inside. It’s bad enough listening to someone drone on and on with their seatmate, but to listen to half a conversation will start a revolution in the air. I think this is a very bad idea. Coming from someone who travels every week…it’s going to cause people to start knocking phones out of people’s hands.”

San Diego PR executive Antoinette Kuritz said similar: “For many of us, plane time is time to read, relax, disconnect.  Others are prepping for the meetings to come when they land.  Then there are those who nap.  The chatter rampant cell phone use will allow makes all of that impossible.  We will be subjected to the often inane one-sided conversations of those who need to display their connectivity to others.”

I can’t disagree with those who wish phones would stay off planes.

But here’s the deal: Satellite phone calling already is available on at least some flights. 

Then, too, WiFi calling already is happening inflight. Yes, the air carriers and their WiFi providers seek to block access to the known WiFi calling services such as Skype. But the Internet is ever inventive and new services multiply like cockroaches in a New York tenement.  A whispered reality is that calling already is happening, maybe mainly in hushed tones inside a locked bathroom.

My belief: inflight calling will come to airplanes, probably by 2020, very possibly via captive services and with high tariffs involved.  It’s unlikely that carriers – who seek to shake a dime out of every passenger interaction – would let this opportunity pass.

Couldn’t it still be an annoyance? You bet. That’s why frequent flyer Andy Abramson has said for this to work, there will have to be guidelines monitoring when calls can be made and more. His list – which includes a ban on profanity – is here.

Abramson also wants no calling rows so those who want silence can find it.

Read Abramson’s suggestions because – bet on this – calling is coming to planes.

There might even be a plus in this for all of us, whether we personally make and receive calls at 30,000 ft. or not.  If enough revenue comes in from calling, the carriers just may – really – seek real upgrades in inflight WiFi.  And that is something I can applaud.

By Robert McGarvey

This is the season when publications spray us with stories that purport to tell their readers what frequent fliers want to smooth their lives on the road.  Word of advice: these stories generally are so very wrong.

In 40+ years of travel, mainly on business, I have consistently aspired towards one end: traveling with less.  Nowadays much less.  

Tell me what bag check is again? It’s been a while since I used it.

So I board with a bag small enough to fit in the overhead bin and that bag is a constant whether I am on the road for a night or a week.  If it’s the latter, you know how stuffed the bag is. I don’t have room for travel gear, no matter how novel.

And I haven’t been able to bring my personal alltime favorite travel gadget on board for years: an old Leatherman tool with all the tools, pliers, a knife, a file, etc.  That was ruled a potential weapon many years ago and these days it sits in a drawer somewhere in my office. Yes, I know some multi tools (including some Leatherman) are TSA approved and now as I am writing this, I really have to buy one.  It will fit fine in my pocket.

What about my briefcase – is there room in it for gadgets? It’s stuffed too, with a laptop, an iPad, a couple phones, miscellaneous chargers, an umbrella, maybe a newspaper or two to read inflight. Forget about jamming in new gizmos.

So I frown when I read that I might want flannel PJs.  I don’t and even if I did, there’s no room.

Then there’s a $65 wireless speaker from Yatra.  Bluetooth powered you can also connect it to your phone to create an instant speakerphone.  7” long, less than a pound.  Eye catching, I’ll admit. But, no, there’s no room in my bag for such a device.

I don’t know  what to say about a suggestion that frequent fliers crave coloring books and no roll pencils, Here’s another vote for coloring books.  Personally I have hundreds of backlogged books – unread – on my Kindle app. Netflix now is permitting downloading of some movies for watching where WiFi is bad or non existent (as on a plane).  There is no lack of entertainment for me inflight.  I haven’t used a coloring book since I was about six and am happy to leave it that way.

I suppose the suggestion of a carryon kayak – $599 – is a bit of a joke (caused me to smile at least) but, listen up, if you are shopping for me, I don’t want the damn thing and can’t think of anybody who would.

More absurd, and less funny, is the tip that long-haul travelers would crave a $450 dash cam – because, really, the first thing I always do when I fly to Bali or Bangkok or Budapest is run to the rental car counter and hop in a car.. No. I don’t. I have never driven in those countries, doubt I ever will.  Travel enough and one thing you learn – ideally as a passenger – is that you don’t want to mess with the motoring gods in distant lands where prevailing rules of the road won’t compute in your jet-lagged noggin.

The list could go on but you get the point: these round-ups are crammed with what we don’t want.

Understand: in years past I have written such articles. Maybe I even wrote articles about gifts for business travelers in particular.  I am not blaming the writers.  It’s really just a system that requires such fluff.

My advice now is ignore such stories – and hope that those who give you gifts also ignore them.  The latter is the stickier bit.

Where I have gotten my best tips about gear to carry has always been other travelers.  Years ago, somebody told me about Leatherman.  Someone else told me he always carries a slim flashlight and I still carry that.

I also bring a sleep mask and earplugs on longhaul flights.  

But I can’t say I have ever craved gear in any of the year-end roundup gift stories. 

Isn’t there anything new and techy that I like? There is but it’s not for sale.  Sign up with Google’s Project Fi and you will get a gift box that contains a solar charger that really is just the thing when you are somewhere on the planet that requires a plug adapter you don’t have.  Put the gizmo in the sun for a few hours and you have the juice to power your phone or tablet.

Google isn’t selling those gizmos but Amazon sells a range of similar models, in the $20 range.  

Buy one especially if you travel overseas.

As for the rest, less is more for anybody who travels more than occasionally.  And that means nix the stuff no matter how cute, no matter how cool it might to have it every so often.  

Less definitely is more on the road.  

How I Will Travel in 2017: Six Rules To Fly By

By Robert McGarvey

 

The past year made it plain: the old rules for succeeding as a frequent flier are repealed.  The legacy carriers have done to their loyalty programs what President elect Trump has said he wants to do to Obamacare.

I don’t agree with Trump on the ACA or the legacy carriers on loyalty but, you know what, I don’t think they are listening to me.

At least with the carriers I know exactly how I need to behave in 2017 to make my best of a changed travel landscape. Here are the six rules I plan to fly by in 2017.

Rule 1: Show no loyalty to any carrier.  Buy on price and convenience only.  The carriers have no loyalty to us (well, they do but only to our money), so show none in return.  Do research on a Google type search engine to get a broad array of flight possibilities and prices.

Rule 2: Barring extraordinary price differences, I will continue to book with the carriers with whom I have credit cards that bring perks like priority boarding and free bag check.  In my case that is United and American but you may choose otherwise.  The programs are largely similar, what matters is where you fly from and to and in my case United and American work. But I am no longer in search of elite status which I have not had for several years.  It means so little now, it’s just not worth the bother unless you can qualify for the highest bracket.  Those with, say, United Global Services status – that’s 1K plus – swear their treatment is utterly unlike mine. They are probably right but I don’t have clients that will fork over the dough to pay the premium fares needed to win entry.  So I am determined to just ignore the “secret” elite programs offered by carriers to their very best customers and as for the well known elite programs they offer so little they are easily scorned.

Rule 3: If I don’t see the inside of an airline club in 2017, I will pat myself on the back.  Those clubs are stuffed too full with flyers and the carriers are racing to upgrade the offerings but to me this is too little, too late. Understand, I am a huge fan of American Express’s Centurion Lounges.  That’s why I have a Platinum Card which, as a bonus, gets me entry to the Priority Pass network of airport lounges (and, yes, I know many are in fact airline clubs doing double duty but the ones I have been in are operated by international carriers and have also been quiet, relaxing).  If legacy carrier clubs truly improve, tell me and I’ll check them out. But I am not optimistic.

Rule 4: I won’t succumb to the new “Basic Economy” fares.  I am a cheapskate when it comes to air but I have my limits and these stripped down programs – basically stuffing bagless pax into middle seats – is not for me.  You are on a very tight budget? Check them out. Just don’t expect me to write about them.

Rule 5: I will continue to maintain a cache of miles (in my case in an Amex account) to use for last minute travel – generally for family emergencies such as ill relatives.  With “Bereavement Fares” no more, the smartest way to pay is with miles.  Do likewise. Set aside a bank of 50k miles, more if you have them, and save them for the emergencies that will arise.  

Rule 6: In 2017 I will buy business class seats and that means I won’t count on free upgrades. Longtime air travel expert Joe Brancatelli has persuasively documented that business class seats nowadays are priced at rates that genuinely look affordable.  In many cases the going rate is maybe half of what the stated rates were a year or two ago, when airlines sold few such seats and mainly doled them out as free upgrades to elites. Today the airlines want to monetize the front of the plane – meaning sell the seats – and that has led to sharp price cuts as well as many fewer seats for free upgrades. If you want to sit upfront in 2017, even if you are an elite, be prepared to pay for it – and expect to get multiple tempting offers from your carrier prior to boarding.  Don’t tune the pitches out. You just may hear great deals.  

Is Your Email Spying On You? – Secure Thoughts http://bit.ly/2eXaJ9R My reporting

By Robert McGarvey

If you already are signed up with Global Entry, stop right here. You probably don’t need the Mobile Passport app (available for both iOS and Android).  But if Global Entry was too pricey – or getting in was too cumbersome (in-person interviews) – Mobile Passport, a free app, may be just the thing for speeding your way back into the US.

Writing in Travelpulse, Melinda Crow said: “I recently tested the app at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport and was overwhelmingly surprised. Three international flights arrived in my terminal at about the same time, creating an enormous crowd in the arrival hall. Signs directed me right past the long lines to a designated area with no line at all. Zero waiting.

“I simply showed the code in the app to the officer and proceeded to the luggage claim. After retrieving my luggage, I did have to stand in the normal customs line, where I presented my passport and the code on my phone was scanned. Total time saved was most likely twenty minutes given the length of the lines.”

How cool is that?

In the Wall Street Journal, Geoffrey Fowler said; “Stumbling off a 13-hour flight from Hong Kong a few weeks ago, I dreaded the long queue at border control. But instead of joining hundreds of other weary travelers in the cattle drive, I launched an app. Like an angel from on high, an airport employee whisked me to an empty—yes, empty—line reserved for tech-savvy travelers.

I waved my phone over a scanner and was done in two minutes. Maybe one minute. It’s rare to find a government technology so efficient it makes you do a little dance of joy.”

Writing in the Boston Globe, Christopher Muther said of Mobile Passport: “It sounds too good to be true, but I promise I’m not trying to sell you a tap dancing unicorn or a rusty bridge.”

Muther continued: “Mobile Passport is an appealing stopgap and a promising option for those who break out into hives at the thought of standing in long, snaking lines to re-enter the United States.”

The app is developed by the Airports Council International – North America, in association with US Customs and Border Protection.  

Here’s how easy it is to use: “When a traveler is preparing to enter the U.S., the traveler completes the ‘New Trip’ section of the app: selecting arrival airport and airline, taking a ‘selfie’ photo, and answering standard CBP customs declaration questions. Upon arrival, the traveler uses the app to submit this information along with the profile data to CBP.”

What’s the downside?  Right now, Mobile Passport is good at only 20 airports: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Ft. Lauderdale, Houston, Houston Hobby, Miami, Minneapolis, NYC Jfk, Newark, Orlando, Raleigh Durham, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle. Tampa, Washington Dulles.  

Obviously there are some glaring absences – LAX, PHX, Las Vegas to name three.  But new airports are in process. Maybe yours, if now missing, will be on the list.

How hard is the app to set up? Piece of cake.  You can scan a US passport – that did not seem to work for me. Or simply key in the identifying information, which took just a few minutes.

One (niggling) negative: the app does not replace a paper passport which still must be available for presentation as you enter the US.

Even so, this is a huge step towards digital identification, a kind of Holy Grail geeks have clamored for for well over a decade.  

Note: I have yet to use the app but I have it queued up on my iPhone and am eager to test drive it on my next international return. (I am enrolled in TSA PreCheck, not Global Entry, mainly because in recent years international flights have been rare for me.)

Are there security risks? Not especially,  The data collected by the app mainly is already in your passport.  PIN protect your phone. Encrypt the data on it (a separate step on Android). Probably that’s about all that needs to be done to secure the data.

My advice: check it out. It looks indeed like a step into 21st century identity authentication.

The Death of the Bereavement Fare and What You Need to Know Now – TheStreet http://bit.ly/2fxW5L1 My reporting- TheStreet http://bit.ly/2fxW5L1 My reporting

How to Score the Frequent Flier Plan Best for You – TheStreet http://bit.ly/2efIyDT My reporting

The Best Carryon Bags for Business Travelers – TheStreet http://bit.ly/2efFYxI my reporting

The New Rules to Getting Upgraded on Your Next Flight – TheStreet http://bit.ly/2dZsiHb My reporting

 

By Robert McGarvey

 

There are important matters involving travel that our Senators and Representatives could be poking into – everything from sometimes deceptive resort fees through the absurdities of frequent flyer mileage programs — but, no, apparently they would rather do the bidding of the American Hotel and Lodging Association and sponsor legislation aimed at stopping the menace of online hotel booking scams.

That is, rogue sites pretending to be an actual hotel.

Say what? You are unfamiliar with this being much of an issue?

Likewise here.

Ditto other reporters.

And yet several senators have sponsored a bill to stop this purported menace and that is a companion to a House bill.  

Everybody insists this is not aimed at Expedia, Booking.com, et. al.  

The House bill says: “This bill amends the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act (ROSCA) to prohibit a third party online hotel reservation seller (an online seller that is not affiliated with the person who owns the hotel or provides the hotel services or accommodations) from charging a consumer’s credit card, debit card, bank account, or other financial account for any good or service sold in an Internet transaction, unless the seller discloses all material terms of the transaction.

“Before the conclusion of the transaction, the seller must describe, and disclose the cost of, the offered good or service.

“The seller must also disclose, in a manner that is continuously visible to the consumer throughout the transaction process, the fact that it is not affiliated with the person who: (1) owns the hotel, or (2) provides the hotel services or accommodations.”

AHLA is adamant that “there is a mushrooming problem of ‘affiliates’ or rogue vendors using false advertising and other scams to trick consumers into thinking they are booking directly with the hotel.”

AHLA has in the past said bogus hotel bookings scam consumers for upwards of $200 million annually and that is indeed a bad thing. There are said to be instances of consumer credit card info stolen, and of sites that charge consumers for hotel bookings and don’t in fact have rooms to sell. All bad. All should be stopped.

But is this the stuff of legislation?

Why?

Pretty much everything cybercriminals may be doing on bogus hotel websites already is illegal under various federal and state laws.   New legislation is unnecessary.

Pretty much from the beginning of the web savvy companies have continually searched the web for bogus iterations of their sites – and they have gotten good at initiating takedown actions.

All those defensive actions are happening without the need for new federal law.

Why do hotels insist they need a special law that targets alleged counterfeit websites?

AHLA has said: “The legislation makes it easier for consumers to tell the difference between the actual hotel website and fraudulent ones masquerading as name brand sites. It requires third-party hotel booking websites to clearly disclose that they are not affiliated with the hotel for which the traveler is ultimately making the reservation.“

Wait, however. Assume I am a criminal who has erected a counterfeit hotel website with the intent of stealing credit card info and applying bogus charges.  Am I going to be bound by a law that insists I notify consumers I am not such and such legit hotel operator?

Uh, of course not.

Are you beginning to suspect that just maybe this bill is some kind of a Trojan horse in the hotel industry’s so far unsuccessful campaign against Online Travel Agencies and their commissions ranging up to 30%?

Hoteliers scream in continuous pain as they contemplate those OTA fees. Sometimes you honestly want to reach for ear plugs, the din can bet so loud.

Which is why you have to think that just maybe this legislation is a backhanded slap at the OTAs.

Even though the Senate legislation very specifically says: “Platforms offered by online travel agencies provide consumers with a valuable tool for comparative shopping for hotels and should not be mistaken for the unlawful third-party actors that commit such misappropriation.”

When was the last time you were booking at Expedia and in fact thought you were booking direct with Hyatt?

Right, that has never occurred, not to you, possibly not to anybody.  

I never thought I’d express support for more Congressional gridlock but in this case I am. We just don’t need this law.

Now, if Congress wanted to attack resort fees – legislation in fact championed by Senator Claire McCaskill — count me as a supporter.

But as for this superfluous scam website bill, nah, not so much.