Cranky on the Web (March 15-19)

Mar 20, 2010

More Reading on This Topic: American, BNET, Maintenance, SFO – San Francisco

San Francisco Targets LAX In Fight for Connecting Travelers – BNET
SFO wants Aussies and Kiwis to connect there instead of LAX. Hilarity ensues.

Real Estate Developer Rick Caruso Eyes Expansion Into Airports – BNET
The man behind The Grove development in LA is now eyeing airports to improve shops and dining.

using miles for wedding travel – AntiBride.com
If you’re having your wedding, it’s a great time to try and use miles.

FAA Slaps American with $787,500 Fine For Lax Maintenance – BNET
The FAA is trying to step things up when it comes to enforcement. That latest is an American fine.

Pittsburgh’s European Connection Will Cost the City $5 Million – BNET
Pittsburgh is paying through the nose to keep Delta’s struggling flight to Paris at the airport.

The Cranky Flier: Booking Beyond Price – Sparksheet
I guest posted on the Sparksheet about the difficulty of encouraging people to book beyond price. (Hint: distribution makes life hard)

Brett

3 responses to “Cranky on the Web (March 15-19)”

KM

Mar 20, 2010 at 7:43 am

Re: SFO vs. LAX

There’s another segment worth looking at: the stopover traveler who decides to stay overnight on the West Coast before continuing on in either direction.

I’ve done stopovers at both SFO and LAX, and SFO was much more enjoyable. From Millbrae, I was able to take the BART into downtown S.F. on a whim and explore the city on foot for a few hours. Getting around was easy. It was a nice way of breaking up a long trip.

L.A. isn’t as conducive to that sort of thing, unless you plan in advance on where you want to go and how you’re going to get there.

Reply
Dan

Mar 22, 2010 at 7:54 am

Cranky,

Your “Booking Beyond Price” article was spot on. I’ve been planning a trip to Asia form the Eastern US, and in this instance, there are more factors than just price to consider. I will *not* fly on a carrier with 30″ of pitch in the back, no matter how cheap. And for 24 hours of flying or so in each direction, yeah, I want my in-seat AVOD system. United seems to be the best bet for getting more legroom, but they still have an outdated inflight entertainment system. As you’ve mentioned, trying to figure out which carrier provides me the best value hasn’t been easy. (And this is for an educated/informed consumer — imagine the “unwashed masses” who have no idea that differences exist.)

I do have one slight bone to pick with your phrasing on Kayak — I know you know this, but one doesn’t actually book a ticket on Kayak — Kayak simply redirects you elsewhere — even if it is yet another aggregator/online travel agency or the airline itself. To that end, I was able to redirect my search for an AC trip to YYZ and find the different fare options. However, while booking a random itinerary to DEN, the F9 options that showed up did NOT include a frontier.com option. (Interesting to say the least.) Your overall point does stand, however — and that’s that the aggregators/online travel agencies aren’t able to provide information beyond fare and schedule.

Reply
1. CF
  
  Mar 22, 2010 at 12:07 pm
  
  Oops, I think that part about Kayak got messed up in the editing process going back and forth. Certainly Kayak is not where you go to book.
  
  Reply

Cranky on the Web (March 15-19)

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3 responses to “Cranky on the Web (March 15-19)”

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