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| Volume 5, Issue 21, May 22, 2007 |    |
If you’ve ever wondered just how much mileage you’ve covered in your travels — or, conversely, if you’re one of those people who still has every boarding pass you’ve ever been issued — there’s a new Web site that’s drawing a lot of interest from the very-frequent-flyer crowd. Called FlightMemory.com, the site launched in Germany last year and has just introduced its English-language version.
Once you join FlightMemory.com, which is free, you can enter any or every flight you’ve ever taken, with as much or as little detail as you recall. The site automatically computes your mileage and time in flight, and tracks your travels on a map on your personal page within the site. If you enter additional information, it will track that too — telling you what percentage of the time you’ve spent in window seats vs. middle seats, for example, how many different aircraft (both models and individual aircraft) you’ve been on, your longest and shortest flights ever, your top 10 airports, and so on. You can add a banner to your own home page that shows your overall flying miles and hours and is automatically updated as you update your flight information, or share links to your personal page with others.
Quite a few chat groups, including pilots, have discovered the site and begun to participate. If you choose, you can even search for someone else who’s online at the same time who was on your same flight at one time or another — the site will identify them (anonymously) for you.
Helpful tips from some users include digging out old frequent-flyer program reports and expense reports, finding old passports, and using the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics database to get your departure times and tail numbers.
Results can also be turned into colorful posters, which cost from $29 to $129 depending upon size. Right now, that’s the only way the site makes money, other than from advertising. Information can be uploaded from spreadsheets, but at this time there is no way to download the info you enter onto the site — so if you seriously get into it, it’s probably a good idea to keep a spreadsheet copy.
Getting a child or teenager to enter your flight info for you could be a good way to make them feel closer to you and your travels — and save you some keystrokes while you’re at it. 
Briggs & Riley Travelware, known for its innovative, high-quality luggage collections and lifetime guarantees, has recruited more than 20 celebrities to raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation via an online auction that will take place on eBay for about a month, beginning June 14. Celebrities from the world of TV, movies, sports, music, comedy and cuisine have each hand-decorated one of Briggs & Riley’s 22-inch Baseline Carry-On Uprights, which normally retail for $395; online bidding will start at $9.97. Some of the famous names involved are Morgan Freeman, Bryant Gumble, Kelly Ripa, Ray Romano and Tony Hawk. Before the start date, Briggs & Riley’s site is hosting a sneak preview of each celebrity’s design; on June 15 and 16, the public can view the actual bags at the Grant Gallery on Mercer St. in New York’s Soho district. The actual bidding will take place at www.ebay.com/briggsriley. For more about the company, which has raised more than $100,000 for its local branch of the charity in the past, see our interview with its vice president of marketing, Jim Lahren, in the June issue of Global Traveler.
A new ferry service connecting the various Hawaiian islands, called Superferry, will launch in July with catamaran-style ferries carrying both passengers and vehicles. Initial service will be from Oahu to either Maui or Kauai; service from Oahu to the Big Island is due in 2009. The three-hour crossings on the initial routes start at $44 — less expensive than a sightseeing cruise. Amenities include on-deck recliners, indoor leather sofas, movies, TV, a game arcade, a children’s play area, two snack bars and a dining area.
Czech Airlines has just introduced a new program for children, called Jetsters. Children who are registered for the program, are privy to entertainment online and in flight, and earn points based on flights flown, just like the grownups. As they move to each higher level, children get a bonus such as flight goggles or a pilot’s belt; at the highest level, they get training on a real B737 flight simulator. Jetsters kids also get gifts of toys or games for every flight, plus magazines that present geography, history and foreign languages in entertaining format. The magazines and toys come in two levels, for kids 2-6 and 6-15; there’s also a Baby Kit, with disposable diapers and rattles or other baby toys.
Westin Hotels & Resorts has formed a Renewal Council of experts to advise on “initiatives that will help guests lead happier, more fulfilling lives.” The council members represent expertise in fitness, nutrition, psychology, trends, design and productivity. Initially, guests will find a new in-room TV channel featuring lifestyle and renewal-oriented program, and anyone can go to the program’s Web site, www.findrenewal.com. A few ideas we see on the site, notably “unwind” tips that could make the frenetic traveler stop to recharge, seem worthwhile. There's potential here, but we'd like to see more in-depth information.
El Al, the Israeli airline known for the excellence of its security, has begun a new service to make life easier for its local residents and visitors to Tel Aviv. Those whose homes, offices or hotels are within about a 20-mile radius of Ben-Gurion Airport (TLV) can request offsite check-in at their venue of choice, including home or guestroom. An El Al staffer and a security representative will come and carry out the airline’s full security check process, issue boarding cards, and take the baggage for direct transfer to the airport. Passengers can then head directly for Passport Control when they arrive at the airport. Requests for the service can be made by calling *2678 within Israel, between six and 24 hours before flight time. The cost is $49, for up to four passengers traveling together; groups of six or more are charged $15 per person.
KLM New York (JFK) to Amsterdam (AMS), economy class
www.klm.com
It is possible to breeze into JFK and check in for an economy-class flight with no lines, no waiting. I know, because I did it for my recent KLM flight to Amsterdam.
Terminal 4 was perfectly sedate at 4 p.m. on a Wednesday. Even the security check didn’t take long. Of course the plane still spent the seemingly requisite 45 minutes on the tarmac waiting to take off, but at JFK that’s becoming standard operating procedure, even on such a clear, sunny evening.
My seatmate and I arrived nearly simultaneously at row 17. “How cozy,” we observed to each other upon seeing our accommodations for the seven-hour flight. She was from England, I’m from the United States, and we didn’t know each other before the flight, but close quarters made us comrades.
The B777-200 aircraft is narrow. And the seat pitch? The guy in front of me nearly wound up in my lap when he reclined. This being economy class, there was no linen napkin spread before me upon which to dine, no champagne, no painstakingly hand-written menu. Dinner choices were simply “chicken” or “pasta” (on most airlines you’re lucky if you can tell them apart). I opted for chicken — easily identifiable, I should note — and the curried lentil salad that accompanied it was an indication that KLM was taking seriously its obligation to feed the commoners. For some reason, the beer and wine was all from China.
Service was adequate, if perfunctory, and the flight attendants didn’t seem entirely comfortable maneuvering in the narrow aisles (particularly the one who showered me with powdered non-dairy creamer at breakfast). It would have been nice to receive an amenity kit for the flight. Plenty of airlines provide them, even in economy — Virgin, Malev and LAN, to name three. A sleep mask and earplugs would have come in handy, although the flight was smooth and the passengers well-behaved.
Score: ••••• Leslie Gilbert Elman
Delta Air Lines is offering heavily discounted Business Elite airfares on its nonstop flights to Europe out of New York (JFK). The catch: You must book and buy the tickets by midnight May 24, for departures between July 1 and Aug. 31 (return can be as late as Sept. 30). The fares, which start at $1,580 round-trip JFK-Brussels (BRU) and go no higher than $2,400 — to Istanbul (IST) or Moscow (SVO) — are lower than many current coach fares and represent a savings of about 50 percent over current Business Elite fares. The main catch: You must stay over a Saturday night. If you enter dates that represent a Saturday stayover during the sale period into Delta’s online booking engine, and choose the First/Business class option, the sale fares should show up automatically.
Here’s a “mancation” — the trendy term for male-bonding vacations — that has some muscle: The Fairmont Miramar Hotel’s Harley-Davidson Man-cation Package. The deal at the Santa Monica hotel starts at $379 a night single or double, and includes a Harley-Davidson joyride with the Route 66 Riders, the world’s only private collection of Harleys available for rent. Motorcycle rentals are extra, but discounted; you must have a motorcycle license to participate. The package is available Thursdays through Sundays until July 31.
Heading somewhere by train? Make your first stop at Amtrak’s weekly specials page, where tickets are sold anywhere from a couple of days to a month in advance for up to 90 percent off regular fares. There are also a few seasonal promotions getting ready to expire on May 25 that can save you money: Between cities on routes in the Pacific Northwest, try code H656 for a free companion ticket; the code for the same deal inside California is H641.
Some hefty prizes are available to members of any Star Alliance airline frequent flyer program, if they fly at least once before Nov. 30, register for the alliance’s 10th anniversary promotion, and answer up to four questions. Depending on how well you do with the questions, you can be entered for a chance to win the grand prize of up to five “experiences” (from a list of 10 Star Alliance member destinations), including first-class tickets, lodging, activities and $5,000 spending money. Other entries through October can win a business-class trip for two each month.
American Airlines on May 17 unveiled its redesigned AAdvantage eShopping Mall at www.aa.com/eshopping, and to promote it, is offering bonus miles for purchases through June 14. The new site lets users personalize their accounts with preferred merchants, see their shopping and awards histories, and comparison-shop with a single query. First-time shoppers can earn 500 AAdvantage miles for purchases over $150; return visitors earn 1,000 bonus miles when they spend more than $500 in total.
