As a frequent traveler I appreciate that the NYT travel section has widened the scope of coverage. All aspects of moving from A to B are interesting and newsworthy. Since I started checking in more frequently, I note that it rarely reads like paid placement destination adverts, though my suspicions were heightened in the past.
Just got back from a flight from DCA to Las Vegas, returning from LAX to DCA. The "innovation" of requiring passengers to pay more to pick a seat is a big, big change and not at all welcome.
I took American out and back. First, you pay more to enter the class of people who are allowed to then pay more according to the seat you pick. On some flights, this first upcharge was double or nearly double the base fare. (It includes the sacred right to use the overhead bin and check one bag. Gee, thanks.) Then, you pay another fee according to the seat you pick.
This is the ordinary practice of American business in deceiving their customers, getting them to pay more while, at the start, they think they are getting a bargain. I spent hours online trying to find the right flights at the right price because I wanted to avoid a red eye, the brutal all night flight, and I would never pay double just to have the right to pay more to pick a better seat.
American Airlines, you've lost me, for good. Whatever loyalty once attached to adding up the travel miles is gone, gone, gone. Now, I don't even want to fly, if I can help it. I carefully priced out the flights in Spirit, too, and with all the options, the flight would have been only about $15 less. No thanks.
Why haven't these changes in pricing been covered more widely? In five yrs., everyone will just accept this as normal. The airlines have decided they can't make money honestly and must treat customers like marks to be taken.
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I wish I could just drop AA, too. As a QANTAS Club member, the AA club and service standards are so much lower than what the other One World members, particularly QANTAS, offer. And AA is one of the founding members!
I remember when AA offered me my first “drink coupon” many years ago, but the memory stuck. That wouldn’t go over well
here.
Great, more stinky, greasy food - and the associated trash it generates - in cramped coach cabins. Gross.
As for the biometrics, no thanks. Facial recognition, to believe some studies, has a lot of false readings, so you will either allow people on who are not really who they say they are, or, as is more likely, legitimate passengers will stall the line while the "system" cannot recognize them and the then have to dig out their ID. Another great "improvement", using technology where we don't really need it.
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The passport process is way too complicated and expensive. I had to renew my son’s passport this year since they’re only good for 5 years. (why are we being penalized another $10 for under 16 years old?). There’s the passport fee (which is really a couple different rates combined), the fee for the post office, the cost of the photos, the expedite fee (if trying to fit this in between threatened govt shutdowns), standard/priority mail return, passport card fee if desired (useful as a RealID), and probably more I missed.
Why is this even something they charge that much for? Isn’t it a basic function of government to give us a passport to allow us to leave the country? Since we can’t just head over to Mexico or Canada anymore, why should it cost a family of four nearly $500 just to get a set of passports? (Not to mention the pain in the rear to collect all your documents for all the kids and parents). They must be making money off this since I can’t imagine it should cost $110 to verify my birth certificate and make a passport book.
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I would have appreciated some other information on what's new and unavoidable this year. Anything new in security? Anything we newly are or are not allowed to take through? Also, an update on what to expect various "services" to cost in addition to the ticket price. I don't expect detailed airline by airline, though a few examples would be nice, but the things to expect and watch out for. I've just bought my summer Europe to USA ticket and for the first time discovered I had to pay to reserve my seat unless I wait for boarding. The cost of the trip went up by $100, but when you are traveling 18 hour days and alone, you don't want to be stuck in a middle seat between two strangers. I also saw for the first time an airline that now charges for the 1st checked bag on a Europe-USA flight, though the one I chose for the itinerary still offers one suitcase. New restrictions on cabin baggage. Etc. Makes it very complicated to compare tickets...
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Food is often searched at security now, and may need to be scanned separately.
All the people on a plane have been strangers! Don’t find a real difference between being stuck in the middle seat, or window, or aisle since everyone around me is a stranger. The extra charges have been going on for many years so if you rarely travel it is very hard to anticipate which you haven’t yet experienced. Just be aware I’ve found US customs and passport officials to be less ‘customer oriented’ than those in Europe where you don’t even go thru customs.
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Margaret, I don't know if this will help or not but US security and many international checkpoints are now forcing passengers to remove ALL electronics from carry on bags larger than a cell phone. Whereas many people are used to placing their laptop in a bin, tablets now must also be put in bins. TSA Pre participants are exempt from that offering yet another reason to become a Trusted Traveler. It's kind of a hassle but the best way to determine your total flight cost is to look on each airline's web site about their policies. Usually tabs such as At the Airport or In the Air will have info on luggage allowances and a la carte costs for things like advance seat assignments or early boarding for those without elite status with that airline where all such costs are usually waived. You can then add those costs to the ticket price. Other times those perks get included in a more premium seat in ticketing that doesn't cost much more than a cheaper seat with the add ons you want. Finally, because elite status does have its benefits, even if it means paying a small bit more for some tickets to keep all of your flights within one global alliance, you will hit status at 25,000 miles in a year especially when booked in slightly more expensive fare classes in coach instead of the very cheapest ticket and you won't have to worry about hidden fees for things like baggage or seat assignments ever again--while usually getting treated like an actual human being.
I sent my passport for renewal by Priority Mail on March 16, 2018, with delivery date scheduled for 3/19. USPS tracking states it got to Texas, but has been in Texas for a week without being delivered. Fortunately, I do not have any trips scheduled, but keep this in mind.
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Slightly off topic but delivery of a returned purchase to Eddie Bauer also took a long time. Tracking indicated it was picked up by ‘agent’ same day but nothing more. In conversations with Bauer’s customer service my inmpression was the problem lay with Eddie Bauer.
Like another reader posted, given the chance of government shut downs and other nonsense, you should always bite the bullet and pay for the fastest delivery possible to and from the passport agency.
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