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Volume 5, Issue 36, September 4, 2007 |
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The International Air Transport Association, which counts more than 240 airlines among its members representing 94 percent of all international air travel, has placed its final order for ticket paper. As of June 1, 2008, all member-carrier tickets will be processed electronically.
IATA began a drive encouraging all its member carriers to switch to e-ticketing a little more than three years ago, when only 16 percent of tickets were issued electronically. Today, 84 percent are electronic.
Although the main intention of the changeover was modernization and simplification of processing systems, the paperless ticketing initiative is also environmentally friendly. IATA carriers had been issuing 400 million tickets a year, and for the last nine months 16.5 million paper tickets are expected to be used. According to an IATA spokesman, 50,000 mature trees a year are being saved by the changeover.
Financially speaking, each paper ticket winds up costing the airlines $9 per passenger; total anticipated savings for the airlines will be about $3 billion annually. 
At the recent National Business Travel Association convention and exhibition, global data-processing software company TRX Inc. used its booth to survey attendees — mostly business travel managers — about the industry’s “villains” (with a comic-book-style campaign casting the travel managers as the heroes). Most of the “heroes” named “Compliance” as their nemesis: 28 percent said that gaining travel policy compliance is the hardest part of their job. Names suggested for non-complying “villains” were Maverick Mike – “He does whatever he wants” — and Prime Donna – “Travel policy rules bounce right off her.”
Huge is the word for the brand-new Venetian Macao Resort Hotel, touted as the second-largest building in the world. Grand Opening festivities took place last weekend, and the massive property is now ready for business. Under one L-shaped roof are 3,000 guest suites, more than 350 shops, 1 million square feet of convention and meeting space, a 15,000-seat arena, a spa and multiple swimming pools, and more than 30 restaurants. Hotel rooms are in the shorter leg of the L, with corridors arranged in a hub-and-spoke system and various atria and courtyards for interior light. Guestrooms, all suites, range from 750 square feet to over 1,800 square feet, and start at $298 a night.
A pilot program at Sea-Tac International Airport (SEA) allows you to drop your car and pick up your boarding pass at the same time. Check-in kiosks are located on the fourth floor of the main parking garage, at the entrances to Skybridges 2 through 6. Passengers of Continental, Northwest and United can use the kiosks to obtain boarding passes and proceed to their gates if they have no luggage to check; ticketholders on Alaska Airlines and Horizon can pick up a pass and then go direct to the airline’s bag-drop area if necessary.
Luxury can be in the eye of the beholder. Here’s a chance to go green, meet the people of Mali on their own level, and have a once-in-a-lifetime experience — all from the seat of a bicycle. International Bicycle Fund’s Bicycle Africa: Mali Sahel Journey program runs from Nov. 25 to Dec.8, and costs $1,390 per person for everything except airfare. The tour averages 40 miles of moderate cycling a day, a riverboat trip on the Niger, and the opportunity to meet and stay with people of five different ethnic groups ranging from nomads to fishermen to farmers. Sights range from the historic market and mosque in Djenne to the isolated Dogon country.
Two young airlines are expanding, with new flights on popular routes. Virgin America launched transcontinental service from Los Angeles (LAX) to New York (JFK) last week, flying twice-daily nonstops in addition to its SFO-JFK thrice-daily flights. Coming in September: one additional flight on each of those routes, and twice-daily service between SFO and Washington Dulles (IAD). Maxjet is now flying four times a week between LAX and London Stansted (STN), its first service on the West Coast.
Hilton Garden Inn at Albany Medical Center
62 New Scotland Ave.
Albany, NY 12208
tel 518 396 3500, fax 518 396 3535
www.hiltongardeninn.com
My flight arrived at Albany Airport (ALB) at 1 a.m., and I followed printed directions to Albany’s newest hotel property, the Hilton Garden Inn at Albany Medical Center. There are several hotels right at the airport, but I wanted to wake up downtown, rather than deal with rush-hour traffic. After 20 minutes of driving through some older neighborhoods where the houses were dark, and then along streets where bars and outdoor cafes were still busy, I entered the park-like University Heights district, where I found the hotel — an attractive seven-story structure conveniently wedged into a corner lot next to the Medical Center, and attached to the hospital’s covered parking garage.
The first thing I noticed after check-in was that this was obviously not a typical budget-style Hilton Garden Inn. My room was filled with upscale amenities you would normally find at a more costly property, including a high-definition flat-panel LCD TV, a clock with built-in CD/MP3 player, a microwave and a mini-refrigerator, a sitting area with a big easy chair and ottoman, free high-speed Internet access with remote printing capability, two speakerphones with data ports, an ergonomic Mirra desk chair, and a “Self-Adjusting Garden Sleep System” bed. I tried to get the “revolutionary” bed system to adjust the firmness of the mattress, but I couldn’t tell if it actually worked. In any case, it made for a comfortable sleep.
The next day, I explored the hotel. Off the lobby is the Great American Grill, where breakfast and lunch are served (room service is also available). One flight down is the aptly named Recovery Room, a sports bar and restaurant covered with 15 wall-mounted TV screens and enough sports memorabilia to mistake it for some sort of hall of fame. There’s also a 24-hour business center, a 24-hour convenience mart, a fitness center and an indoor pool.
I must have been totally focused on “find room, must sleep” the night before to not have registered one hard-to-miss feature: the 355-pound, roped-off meteorite sitting on a pedestal by the elevators. Discovered in 1576 by Spanish explorers wandering through Argentina, the meteorite somehow ended up at the Albany Medical Center, from which the hotel’s owner purchased it. It’s a nice touch that adds personality to the property’s businesslike ambience and efficiency.
Score: ••••• Ron Bernthal
Buy tickets by Sept. 6, by phone only, to lock in LTU International Airways’s fall sale prices. The tickets are good for travel through Oct.31; sample round-trip fares are New York (JFK)-Dusseldorf (DUS) $478, Miami (MIA)-Berlin (SXF) $547, Los Angeles (LAX)-Munich (MUC) $547. Fares include fuel surcharge and are only available by calling 866 BOOK LTU (866 266 5588); press 4 and use promotion code TZFALL. And Delta has announced it will begin the first nonstop service between Salt Lake City (SLC) and Paris (CDG) in June 2008, but is selling introductory fares of $998 round-trip if you buy by midnight Sept. 6.
February 2008 marks the 50th running of the Daytona 500. To celebrate the serendipity of that anniversary with its 50-millionth membership, AAA is holding a Celebrating 50 sweepstakes, with the grand prize a trip for four to Disney World and the 2008 Daytona 500. Plus, if the car that AAA is sponsoring in the race wins, the grand prize will include an extra $50,000. A first prize of a Magellan GPS unit, and 48 additional $100 prizes, will also be awarded. There is a limit of one entry per person; you have until Nov. 30 to enter.
September is officially California Wine Month, and all over the state, wineries, restaurants and other venues are offering special wine-related deals. Promotions range from waivers of normal tasting fees to discounted case purchases to free seminars and cooking classes. For a complete list, go to the California Wine Month Web site.
Golfers can play the world’s top courses, virtually, right in the heart of a major metropolis by playing the Peak Health Club & Spa’s golf simulator at the Jumeirah Carlton Tower hotel in London. Two special packages tie in golf: the Stay Putt package, including an hour on the simulator and a glass of champagne for each of two people plus guestroom, at $664, and the Golf Widow package, including room, simulator time for one person and a massage or facial for the other, plus a $100 Harvey Nichols shopping voucher, for $764.
Airlines are battling for passengers along the California Corridor, to the benefit of travelers’ pocketbooks. Soon after Virgin America began flying between San Francisco (SFO) and Los Angeles (LAX), Southwest returned to SFO after a six-year absence, undercutting Virgin America’s introductory fares, and JetBlue also began serving SFO recently. With Southwest and Virgin America both currently charging $99 round-trip between San Francisco and L.A., and JetBlue charging $102 round-trip between Oakland (OAK) and Long Beach (LGB), the major airlines are also getting in on the act, not only cutting fares but flexing their frequent-flier muscle. United is awarding double miles for flights between SFO and six southern California airports, while American is doubling miles between SFO and either LAX or Orange County (SNA). Most of these deals are good through early October.
