parking Archives - TravelSkills

“Free” airport parking, cheap rentals back at SFO, LAX

July 22, 2017

TravelCar will rent your car to another traveler while you’re away. (Image: TravelCar)

Remember FlightCar? It was a San Francisco-based start-up that solicited air travelers to rent out their cars from the airport while they were out of town, giving them free parking and a share of the rental revenue. It had 12 airport locations (and several fans among TravelSkills readers) before it went out of business last year. Another company called RelayRides is out of the airport business, but still working in the car sharing/renting space as Turo.com

Now another company is offering a similar concept, and it’s already available for Los Angeles and San Francisco travelers with locations near both airports.

The new operator is called TravelCar, and it’s not really a start-up; it’s a five-year-old company based in France and has 30 locations there. It refers to itself as a ”peer to peer car sharing platform.”

Customers can use the TravelCar lots simply as an airport parking alternative, paying market rates (e.g. $13 a day at SFO), or they can agree to let the company rent out their vehicle while they’re away, at prices lower than major rental companies (around $30 a day), and take a share of the revenue. (That’s how you get “free” parking.)

The company provides insurance for owners’ cars while they are rented, and it sells insurance to renters with various levels of coverage for $9 to $22 a day.

On the rental side, let’s say you were flying into LAX in mid August and needed a car. TravelCar lists seven types of cars available that day, and a Toyota Prius is going for just $37 per day plus tax for a total of $41.

Not bad considering a one day rental from Alamo prices out at a hefty $67 when you include all taxes and fees.

TravelCar prices at $41 including tax at LAX in mid August

Alamo comes in at $45 for one day including taxes and fees at LAX in mid August

Readers: Would you rent out your car to a stranger through a company like this in order to cut your airport parking costs? Would you rent someone else’s car to save? Please leave your comments below.

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Airports: Atlanta’s airport hotel + Speedier Boingo + New Oakland lounge + more

December 26, 2015

Rendering of the hotel planned for Atlanta’s airport. (Image: Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Airport)

In airport news, Atlanta officials have reportedly selected a brand for their new airport hotel; Boingo boosts Wi-Fi speeds at a number of U.S. airports; a new passenger lounge is coming to Oakland Airport; Chicago airports now offered reserved parking spaces; and Tampa adds a huge number of charging outlets for travelers.

The new hotel planned for construction near Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson’s domestic terminal is expected to be an InterContinental, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The 300-room high-end hotel is envisioned to be part of a $600 million “Airport City” project that will include commercial space, retail outlets and a travel plaza, and perhaps even residential space. The newspaper reported that renowned Atlanta architect John Portman will design the hotel, which will have meeting rooms, a restaurant, lobby bar and grill and other amenities. It is expected to be built within three years.

Boingo, the leading airport Wi-Fi provider, said that its paid subscribers can now select from options that will give them speeds of up to 20 Mbps at seven major airports, with more coming soon. The highest-speed airports include Baltimore/Washington, Boston Logan, Chicago Midway, Chicago O’Hare, New York JFK, New York LaGuardia and Newark. The company said all travelers can now get free Wi-Fi, and “power users” can select from a number of paid options, including speeds of 20 Mbps, bursting to 50 Mbps. “All Boingo subscribers, including those enrolled in the American Express Preferred Plan, will automatically receive the highest tier of speed when they log in,” Boingo said.

Oakland International Airport said that the U.S. subsidiary of U.K.-based MAG will develop a new passenger lounge at OAK that should open in June 2016. The 2,600 square foot Escape Lounge will be open to all passengers for a per-use fee, offering free food and beverages, Wi-Fi, and other amenities. Earlier this month, MAG opened its first U.S. airport Escape Lounge at Minneapolis-St. Paul International.

Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway airports this month introduced a new option of reserved parking spaces close to the passenger terminals. The reservation fee is $10 per space, per day (plus parking charges, taxes and fees). All spaces are inside the garages, and are guaranteed even when the facility is full. Parking spaces can be booked at https://ord.clickandpark.com/ for O’Hare or at https://mdw.clickandpark.com/ for Midway.

Tampa International Airport next year will make life easier for power-hungry business travelers and their devices. The airport is planning to install thousands of power outlets and USB ports for passengers — 4,683 of them, to be exact. Some will be at 299 new work stations the airport will install; the rest will be on towers wedged between seat rows at gate areas. Currently the airport only offers 237 outlets at work stations scattered around the terminal.

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How to park for free at the airport

September 18, 2014

FlightCar provides a free black car shuttle to the airport and back. (Photo: FlightCar)

Parking at the airport is a pain. And an expensive pain at that! How would you like to avoid it, and maybe even make a little money instead of spending it? If your car is less than 13 years old and has fewer than 150,000 miles, here’s what you can do:

Two years ago, three college kids created FlightCar, which now operates in Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco (and coming in a few weeks to Seattle). A similar service called RelayRides has also branched into many more airports, competing head-to-head with FlightCar.

But for this post, let’s focus on FlightCar.

The basic idea behind FlightCar is this: Instead of driving to an airport parking lot and paying to park your car, you drop it off at the nearby FlightCar lot instead. While you are away, FlightCar will try to rent your car to an inbound traveler. If it does, you’ll get paid. If it does not, you’ll get free parking and a free car wash! How does that sound?

Here’s how it works.

First, you’ll make a parking reservation online by filling in some basic information about your departure/return dates and your car.

On the day of your trip, you’ll drive your car to the FlightCar parking lot near the airport. There they’ll make copies of your proof of insurance and title, and a black car will drive you to the airport. (What makes Relay Rides different is that it uses airport hotel parking lots and hotel shuttles to get you to/from the airport.)

Back at the lot, FlightCar takes a photo of your car and posts it for rent on its website. You’ll receive an email advising you whenever your car is rented.

When you return, call for an airport pickup. Back at the parking lot, if your car was rented while you were away, you are notified that you will receive a check in the mail based on the number of miles your car was driven (here’s how payment is calculated). If your car was not rented, well, then as always–Parking is absolutely free, as is the mandatory car wash.

That’s the standard program, but FlightCar also has a program specifically for business travelers. It’s the same setup, except that you pay $15 a day for parking but make up to six times as much per mile on rentals.

So, if you live too far from the airport to take Uber or a cab, you might find yourself driving. If that’s the case, here are a few scenarios where FlightCar makes sense:

When you can’t expense parking. Lots of solopreneurs and business owners aren’t going to be putting airport parking on an expense report. Use the standard program and you’ll park for free. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to calculate this can be a huge savings depending on how long your trips are.

When you can expense parking but wouldn’t mind making some cash while you’re away. The business traveler program charges for parking but gives you back much more on rentals. So, your employer will be smiling as the parking fee is reasonable/average, but you’ll smile, too, as you drive away with a personal check. FlightCar claims the average business traveler returning from a five-day trip makes $120. And don’t forget the free car wash. “We are answering the demand and giving frequent business travelers who treat their parking as a business expense an opportunity to turn their unused vehicle parked at the airport into a personal revenue generator,” Rujul Zaparde, FlightCar CEO said to Travel Weekly.

When the trip is for leisure. You can put away your Platinum card when you’ve got the family in tow and pull it out instead for something more fun on your vacation. I first took advantage of FlightCar when embarking on a two-week vacation with my family. We saved $250 in parking during that trip and came home to a rental check for $60. Not bad! For leisure trips, use the standard program.

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Dropping off your car with FlightCar at the airport (Photo: FlightCar)

When you just really like the idea. I know, we have to be practical as business travelers, but there is a small subset of us that just wants to support a cool idea or the underdog. Consider FlightCar an underdog, since, like other sharing-economy companies, it’s having its battles over theoretically dodging the taxes rental car companies pay. Founder Kevin Petrovic told TravelSkills, “Right now, the only battle of significance is our lawsuit with the SFO airport. While we work to come to a resolution on that, our San Francisco operations are not affected and will continue as normal. We have been engaged in the litigation since May 2013.”

If your brain is flooded with “what if’s” as you read this, check out the company’s FAQ. They’ve got you covered in every way I could think of, from accident liability to parking tickets. While in my experience, FlightCar is subject to a few of the occasional missteps of airport parking—once I even had to wait because a car with manual transmission blocked mine and none of the employees knew how to drive a stick–I’m unabashedly a fan. In the right set of circumstances, it’s a brilliant idea that’s a money-saver, too.

For this post I’m only highlighting the parking program, but if you’re on a tight budget, you might also look into the rental side of things.

Certainly, if you have a new or expensive car you don’t want a stranger driving, FlightCar is not for you. But for some others, it can be a viable option.

Have you tried FlightCar or RelayRides? Would you, if it were available in your city?

–Nancy Branka & Chris McGinnis

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ATL Valet Parking + IHOP + SkyMiles downgrade + 717 delay + Double miles + Hot Nuts

October 24, 2013

The first ever airport IHOP opened last month at ATL (Chris McGinnis)

FIRST AIRPORT IHOP LOCATION OPENS IN ATLANTA…Need a maple or boysenberry syrup-drenched griddle before takeoff or a carb reload after landing? Well, ATL can now proudly proclaim that it is the first airport to offer an IHOP at its terminal. The restaurant is dubbed “IHOP Express,” and it’s open 24 hours a day. It’s located before security in the main terminal atrium with seating for 100. A “to go” section will be available for those that prefer their pancakes on the plane instead of having them in the restaurant to enjoy. IHOP says it plans to open other airport locations in the near future.

VALET PARKING ARRIVES AT ATL. Have you noticed the flurry of men and women in green blazers on the lower level passenger pick up areas at ATL? They are new parking valet attendants from GreenCoat Auto Concierge & Valet service. For $20 per day, you can now drive to the airport, leave your car with a GreenCoat at the terminal, and head off on your trip. The valet will drive your car to a secure, indoor, off-airport lot and park it. When you return, just call GreenCoat and let them know you’re coming, and an attendant will bring your car back to the airport terminal, hand it over to you, and you drive home. Nice! GreenCoat has just signed on as a sponsor of The TICKET so you’ll be hearing more about the service in coming months. Give it a try and let us know how it goes! NOTE: ADVANCE RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED. Special for TICKET readers: First timers get 1000 Delta SkyMiles! >>See ad…click on ad>>

DELTA BOEING 717 DELAYS DUE TO CERTIFICATION ISSUES…The Boeing 717s coming from AirTran to the Delta fleet were originally supposed to enter service in September, but snags with FAA certification of the aircraft have pushed the first flight into late October. (First flight to Newark was on Friday Oct 25) One of the problems that had arisen involved tray tables in the emergency exit rows, which needed to be reworked before approved. The rows were readjusted to accommodate for Delta’s Economy Comfort seating. The updated 717s will eventually replace many of Delta’s ancient DC-9s and cramped CRJs.

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SKY MILES AWARD BOOKING HOLDS BITE THE DUST…Delta quietly discontinued its policy for 48-hour courtesy holds on award bookings for elite members. This change was proposed to be a positive for customers since it will make more award space available rather than having it tied up in “holds” for customers. However, for many passengers, the reverse is true since it means that travelers will have to lock in their trip right away, and using the clunky delta.com reservation process makes that even more cumbersome since finding connecting flights on award partners and organizing hotels make things more complex. Just when you thought the Delta award booking process could not get more difficult, it got worse. If you don’t have free mileage redeposit as a Diamond or Platinum Medallion, how will this change affect you? Please leave your comments below.

Progress on Delta’s installation of flat bed seating

MORE DELTA UPDATES: Delta will soon add new flat bed business class seats on its 767-300 flights between ATL and Zurich. Currently 69% of Delta’s international fleet have lie-flat biz class seats. Delta’s once per week nonstops between ATL and Freeport, Bahamas starting Dec 19. Delta will test the waters in Haiti with a new nonstop 737 flight between ATL and Port-au-Prince starting next June, but the seasonal service will only run through August.

DELTA’S HOLIDAY SAFETY VIDEO. It’s not even Halloween yet! But with everyone already talking about the holiday travel season, Delta’s just released its new holiday themed pre-flight safety video. Check it out for a few cameos from familiar faces…and the same kinda cute ‘n corny antics from the current pre-flight video collection. Insiders say that Delta’s already working on a new round of in-flight safety videos…we’ve heard that some of Delta’s top brass ordered the update… stay tuned! What do you think? Please leave your comments below.

DOUBLE SOUTHWEST RAPID REWARDS POINTS…Between now and Nov. 21, Rapid Rewards members will receive double points on Southwest flights. To register for the promotion, visit www.southwest.com/nationwidedouble. New Southwest flights from ATL to Jacksonville, Kansas City, Philadelphia, Boston, and San Antonio crank up next April (replacing AirTran service), and sale fares as low as $99 one way are in place to kick off the new schedule. Travelers to or from San Juan can enjoy triple Rapid Rewards points for travel between now and Dec. 12 no matter what their destination or origination.

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No more hot nuts on Delta’s overseas flights (Photo: SFO777/FlyerTalk)

NO MORE HOT NUTS?…Delta has revamped Business Elite meal service again, and some customers may have strong feelings about the changes. In the new service, hot nuts have been eliminated from the cocktail service, and customers are pushed right into the appetizer along with their first drink. (However, packaged nuts are offered with pre-flight beverages before take off.) In addition, drinks and trays are delivered from an economy class-style cart cleverly disguised with a cloth to hide its industrial side. The soup and salad course are now served together. The overall change is meant to speed up meal service to allow for more sleeping time, which some customers may appreciate, but for others…the change could be perceived as a downgrade to the more robust offerings that the Business Elite brand was based upon when launched. What do you think about these changes? Have you noticed them yet? Please leave your comments below.

AMERICAN EXPRESS CENTURION LOUNGE OPENS AT DFW…Following a recent opening in Las Vegas, Amex has opened another Centurion Lounge; this time, at Dallas-Fort Worth’s international terminal D. The airport lounge is swankier than most facilities in the U.S. because it features its own spa (offering 15-minute treatments to all entrants for free), more substantial food menus in partnership with Dean Fearing of Fearing’s restaurant in Dallas, signature cocktails by Jim Meehan, and concierge services that go beyond just airline issues to extend to destination assistance. The best news of all is that American Express Platinum (Note: NOT SkyMiles Platinum) cardholders now receive free access to the Centurion lounge system (previously, it was reserved only for Centurion or “black” cardholders). Access comes with two guests or one’s spouse and children and includes all Centurion lounges in the system including Las Vegas. Day passes for $50 are open to cardholders of other American Express cards. Our sister publication The B.A.T. reports that a new Centurion Lounge will open at San Francisco International next summer, located in United’s Terminal 3. (Delta, Southwest & AirTran fly out of Terminal 1)

$100 HOTEL ROOMS IN NYC? YEP. Anyone who has traveled to New York recently has felt the pain of some of the highest hotel rates in the country. But that will change during the cold dark weeks of early January. From Jan 3-12, you’ll find rates of $100, $200 and $300 available at a variety of properties, (many of which currently go for nearly $500 a night), so the savings can be substantial. For example, the popular Affinia Manhattan is going for $100 per night; the hip and brand new Refinery Hotel (garment district) and Jade hotel (Greenwich Village) are going for $200 per night. For $300 you can squeeze in the trendy new Thompson LES (Lower East Side) for $300. For a full listing of participating hotels and how to get the discount see this.

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DELTA MOST PUNCTUAL U.S. AIRLINE IN SEPTEMBER…Would it surprise you to learn that Delta had the most on-time flights of any major U.S. airline in September? We here at The Ticket have been impressed with the smooth operation of our Delta flights over the past few months, and Delta’s 89.3 percent of on-time arrivals in September, according to FlightStats, is not surprising. On-time flights are defined as those that arrive within 15 minutes of schedule. Behind Delta was Alaska with 86.8 percent and Virgin America with 84.8 percent. Southwest had a poor showing with only 76.6 percent of its flights arriving on time in September. What have been your recent experiences?

DELTA DOUBLES UP TO SAO PAULO…Beginning in March 2014, Delta will place a second aircraft on the daily service rotation to Sao Paulo, Brazil. Like all other Sao Paulo flights, the second flight will feature full flat-bed seats in Business Elite and Economy Comfort seating in the main cabin. Delta secured the extra landing slot from the Brazilian authorities, and it is made even more beneficial for travelers thanks to the codeshare possibilities with Brazilian airline partner GOL

—Ramsey Qubein & Chris McGinnis

*****

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New SFO flights + United fee hike + SFO Terminal video + 787

April 29, 2013

Catching up on Bay Area Travel news: New flights to France & China; United hikes fees; video inside new SFO Terminal; flirt on Virgin America flights from San Jose; 787 Dreamliner update, new Routehappy booking site; FlightCar is back.

China Eastern’s A330-200 at SFO (Photo Peter Biaggi)

HUANYING AND BON VOYAGE. Last Friday (April 26) was a busy day at San Francisco International.

At 9:30 am, the first China Eastern A330-200 arrived from Shanghai to a water cannon salute and a welcome celebration at the airport. For now, here’s what we know: The Airbus A330 departs SFO at 11:30 am and arrives at Shanghai Pudong airport (PVG) the following day at 4 pm. On the return, the flight departs Shanghai at 1 pm and arrives at SFO at 9:30 am. Three days a week, the flight offers continuing service to Wuhan (pop 10 million), a central Chinese city many refer to as “the Chicago of China.” At the festive inaugural dinner at the Westin St Francis, I learned that China Eastern offers two types of business class seats on its Airbus A330-200—one type is the angled lie flight, the other is a true lie flat (180 degrees flat). China Eastern’s San Francisco manager Charlie Gu assured me that the San Francisco flight will always get the newer plane with the true lie-flat seats. It has to, if it plans on competing for business travelers with United since the deployment of its excellent new business class product on SFO-PVG nonstops. Every seat on China Eastern’s A330 (coach and business) has personal seatback entertainment systems and access to AC plugs. China Eastern is the second largest carrier in China (after Air China), and flies a relatively young fleet—with an average age of just seven years. SFO joins New York, Los Angeles and Honolulu as the fourth US city served by China Eastern—although, oddly, the airline does not have a US website. China Eastern is a member of the SkyTeam alliance, which offers Delta flyers a new way to earn and burn points on flights to burgeoning China. We’ll provide an in depth look at the new China Eastern flight to Shanghai in a future post.

Passengers on United's inaugural Paris flight greet by a 12-ft Eiffel Tower & free French inspired food & drink. (Photo: United)

Passengers on United’s inaugural Paris flight greeted by a 12-ft Eiffel Tower & free French inspired food & drink. (Photo: United)

On Friday afternoon, United recommenced nonstop service between SFO and Paris-CDG. (United discontinued SFO-CDG nonstops in Oct 2005.) Flight 990 departs San Francisco daily at 2:45 p.m. and arrives at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport at 10:45 a.m. the next day. For the return, flight 991 departs Paris at 10:05 a.m. and arrives in San Francisco at 1 p.m. the same day. United operates this new service with Boeing 767-300 aircraft, which offer 30 flat-bed business class seats, 49 seats in Economy Plus and 135 seats in standard economy. The BusinessFirst cabin (configured 2-1-2) includes 15.4-inch touchscreen monitors for personal on-demand entertainment, electrical and USB outlets, iPod jacks and five-course meals. Each seat in Economy features a 9-inch touchscreen with personal on-demand entertainment, and all rows (configured 2-3-2) include access to electrical outlets. Book and fly United to Paris by May 31, and you’ll earn some tidy Mileage Plus bonuses. Air France is currently the only other carrier offering nonstops between SFO and Paris. Paris-based XL Airways offers summer season SFO-CDG flights.

UNITED HIKES CHANGE FEE TO $200. In what appears to be a poorly timed slap in the face to customers just coming off a year a dismal performance by United, the carrier has increased its fee to make changes to nonrefundable tickets by a whopping $50. That means if you want to change a domestic ticket, you’ll now pay $200 (plus any change in fare) for the honor. Want to change an international ticket? That will now be $300, thank you. Shortly after United hiked its fees, US Airways matched, which likely means its future merger partner American will follow suit. That leaves Delta as the hold out, but it’s probably waiting a bit to hike fees after taking so much heat for changing its same-day change fee last week. As we all know, Southwest does not charge change fees at all, but passengers do have to pay any difference in fare if it has increased from the time of purchase. Alaska Airlines and Virgin America still charge a much more reasonable $100 change fee. Is the $200 fee enough to make you switch away from United? Please leave your comments below.

A LOOK AT TERMINAL 3 PROGRESS. SFO has produced a video providing a virtual hardhat tour of the new Boarding Area E at United’s Terminal 3, which is due to open earlier next year. Some interesting facts picked up in the video: The glassy new terminal should be as nice or nicer than SFO’s award winning Terminal 2 (home to Virgin America and American). Expect very wide corridors, high ceilings, giant picture windows with dramatic ramp views, a new “information terrace” at the entryway, environmentally sustainable design and local food vendors.

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MEGA-MILE BONUS SITES GET FUNDING. Remember when we wrote about mega-miles bonus sites Pointshound and RocketMiles last month? Seems like venture capitalists think the sites are on to something. This morning, TravelSkills received a note from RocketMiles announcing that the six-month old company raised $2 million in its first round of external financing.

GET FLIRTY ON VIRGIN AMERICA. You see that hottie in the boarding area and try to establish eye contact. Bingo! You got “the look” back! You get onboard and see the object of your desire a few rows ahead of you. Instead of posting a “missed connection” on Craigslist (and hoping for the best), a new service from Virgin America allows you to send a drink to someone via its seatback entertainment and food ordering system. Locate that hottie on the seatmap, choose a cocktail, and then send it over to them, then follow up with a text message via the system’s seat-to-seat communications platform. (Have a few minutes? Then check out this hilarious Asian animation of the new Virgin service.)

SPEAKING OF VIRGIN AMERICA. South Bay and Peninsula dwellers should be happy to note that Virgin America’s new four-times-daily nonstops between San Jose International and LAX crank up on May 1. Why suffer on another carrier’s cramped RJ when you can jump on Virgin’s mod A320 and send the hottie across the aisle a cocktail? Virgin will be entering the very crowded San Jose-LAX run, which is already served by five carriers: Low fare leader Southwest , United (which dominates the Bay Area) as well as American, Delta and Alaska Airlines. Southwest flies a one-class 737 on the hour-or-so long route, Delta, United and American fly regional jets, and Alaska uses a turbo-prop. Virgin is offering a two-for-one sale on SJC-LAX flights through May 31.

STATUS OF SFO’s LONG TERM PARKING LOT? From TravelSkills reader Damian: Chris, I love TravelSkills! Have you written about the SFO Long Term Parking garage? It has had floor closures for a couple years and is now empty. One parks outside or even gets a pass to go to short term parking at the same rate. Does the garage have structural problems? Seems like it should be a scandal. Perhaps this is old news but in poking around on the Web I didn’t happen to find anything.” Having noticed the same thing…and wondered, we contacted SFO, and spokesperson Doug Yakel helped clear things up. He said, “The level closures in the Long-Term Garage are part of an ongoing, pre-planned schedule to accomplish routine maintenance. This includes pressure washing, restriping of ground markings and light bulb replacements. Only one floor is closed at a time for this work, and the work is scheduled to ensure all levels are open during peak demand periods such as the holiday travel season. We also monitor occupancy rates to ensure the appropriate match of supply and demand, and modify closure schedules if needed.”

ANA’s expansive true lie-flat business class seat on its Boeing 787 (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

787 UPDATE. As you may recall, ANA’s important new nonstops from San Jose to Tokyo-NRT were waylaid by the Boeing 787 Dreamliner grounding, forcing all passengers to fly via SFO. While the FAA and Japanese authorities have given a conditional green light to new flights, ANA says it will begin by “replacing existing batteries with new batteries, changing to new battery chargers and installing new battery containment boxes and venting system. The improvements will require approximately one week per aircraft, with work on all seventeen aircraft scheduled to be completed by the end of May.” After that will be new crew training and a series of heavily monitored “proving flights.” This week, an ANA spokesperson told TravelSkills that it should have a firm date for the resumption of SJC-NRT by May 9. How would you feel about flying on a Dreamliner across the Pacific? Please leave your comments below.

GET AROUND SFO CEASE & DESIST. The smart guys at FlightCar have found a way around the airport’s recent cease and desist order pushing it and other new-fangled airport transport options such as Lyft off airport property. Now, instead of dropping your car off with a FlightCar attendant at the airport, you drop your car at its off-airport lot, and then a licensed black car brings you to your terminal. When you land, you call FlightCar and the black car is sent to pick you up and brings you back to your car. Have you tried FlightCar? Should unlicensed transportation serviced be allowed at SFO? Leave your comments below.

—Chris McGinnis

***

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Catching up on Bay Area Travel News, March 17 2013

March 17, 2013

In this issue: New flights to Newark; free mags at Bay Area airports; new lie-flat seats to Japan; more car sharing at Bay Area Airports; take our POLL about car-sharing!; how to jump in a seat on a private jet.

Jersey in Noe Valley (Chris McGinnis)

25% OFF JERSEYLICIOUS FLIGHTS. To celebrate its new nonstops between SFO/LAX and Newark, New Jersey (EWR), Virgin America is offering a nice 25% discount on a future flight to or from EWR. (somewhat restricted– no Fridays or Sundays). To get the discount, you must enter its “Fly Like a Boss” Facebook campaign. You can also win a chance to fly on the inaugural LAX-EWR run with Richard Branson and Mashable’s Peter Cashmore. Details here. Virgin says that since it announced the launch of EWR flights, fares on the EWR-West Coast routes have dropped by as much as 30 percent “and travelers now have an airline option that guarantees Wi-Fi, live TV and new aircraft on every flight.” Current roundtrip fares on the SFO-EWR run for mid-May flights are about $365. Virgin is also offering a double or triple points promo on flights between now and June 30, but you have to register to get the bonus.

FREE PREMIUM MAGS AT SFO/OAK/SJC. Here’s a helpful new app for TravelSkills Readers (BATs) who frequently find themselves stuck at the airport during delays, yearning for a good read, but hesitating to weigh down their bags with heavy magazines. The new Foli iPad app offers free access to premium magazine content (the stuff that’s normally behind a pay wall at glossies like Vogue, Car & Driver, GQ or Bon Appetit)—but it only works at the airport. Foli uses geolocation technology to limit access to Bay Area airports only—as well as a few coffee shops and hotels. Download the Foli app for free at the iTunes store. It’s definitely worth a download because you never know when the fog will roll in.

Delta's flat bed seating on a 767. (Photo: Delta Air Lines)

Delta’s flat bed seating on its Boeing 767s. (Photo: Delta Air Lines)

MORE LIE-FLAT SEATS TO JAPAN. Starting April 1, Delta will offer business class seats that recline to a full 180 degree flat bed for sleeping on its Boeing 767-300ER flights between SFO and Tokyo Narita. That means that all business class seats on all airlines (United, ANA, Delta) on the heavily traveled SFO-NRT route are now flat. Japan Airlines flies between SFO and the closer-to-downtown Tokyo Haneda Airport, but offers the less popular “angled lie flat” business class seat. (Did you know that JAL’s SFO-Haneda flights are numbered 001 and 002?) Headed to Tokyo? Then be sure and check out my latest dispatch from the Land of the Rising Sun for BBC: Business Trip: Tokyo.

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One of BMW’s electric DriveNow cars in SF (Photo: DriveNow)

DRIVING TO SFO. TravelSkills recently included mention of FlightCar’s car sharing service but we’ve heard from readers about other similar options. For example, DriveNow is a car sharing service that allows travelers to drive all-electric BMW cars from several locations in and around downtown San Francisco to parking lots near SFO or Oakland airports for less than the average cost of airport shuttle services and more than 50% cheaper than cab fares. The first 30 minutes costs $12 and then 32 cents for every additional minute. (There’s a $39 fee to join the car sharing service.) The service is part of BMW’s sustainable transportation initiative and currently only available in the Bay Area. A similar car sharing service for airport trips called Hubber is in the works, too, with locations at SFO and LAX expected to open this April.

DRIVING TO/FROM NYC AIRPORTS. Hertz on Demand has a similar service in New York City—members can drive a Hertz car between airports and several locations in Manhattan for less than half of what you’d pay a cab or car service…and with the Hertz plan, there is no membership fee. (Hertz on Demand has a location in downtown SF, but currently does not offer one-way drop offs at local airports.)

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A plush Gulfstream IV awaits private-jetsetters (Photo: Nima Pirzadeh)

PRIVATE JET SHARING, TOO. Since we are on the topic of sharing transportation, let’s take a look at a brand new service called Jumpseat, which has been billed as “the Airbnb for private jets.” Since many seats on private jets fly empty, Jumpseat is a new app that connects people looking to share those seats with those looking to fly, producing significant savings for both parties. Shopping is free and takes only a few clicks. Registered members can book a JumpSeat without paying a membership fee. For example, when I recently searched for flights from the Bay Area, I found several flights in March and April from San Jose to Santa Ana, CA available for $1000-$2,250 each way. In March, there’s a nice big Citation X jet flying from LA to Eagle (Vail), Colorado with two seats available at $5000 each. Eight seats on a March flight from New York to Aspen on a posh Hawker 4000 are going for $20,000 each. Flying private is not cheap, but there are few hassles—no airport security, for example, when using private jet terminals. Interested? Then check out this article about it on Forbes.com.

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Airline-Airport Update

December 21, 2012

Great shot of Virgin Atlantic’s swanky new Clubhouse lounge at New York-JFK (Photo: Virgin Atlantic)

WHAT WILL DELTA+VIRGIN BRING? With the deal so new, it’s tough to say much at this point, but let’s speculate: First, the Delta-Virgin tie-up is likely to have much more impact on New York than Atlanta. It would be nice, but unlikely, if Virgin would compete nonstop with Delta between ATL and London-Heathrow, but a man can dream, no? Like before, those who would like a taste of Virgin Atlantic using their SkyMiles will likely fly Delta from ATL to Washington, New York, Newark, Chicago or Boston, and then change to Virgin for the over water leg to London. From there, the Virgin partnership offers some interesting new options for flying to Africa, India, and Asia. Interesting aircraft, too—it has six Airbus A380s and 15 B787 Dreamliners coming online in 2014-15. Once Delta and Virgin are housed in the same terminal at Heathrow, we’ll all have access to Virgin’s swish Clubhouse there. The big IF in all this is Delta’s much-anticipated switch to a revenue-based frequent flyer program—many expect this new program to be announced in 2013, and then put into effect in 2014. If you are wondering what a revenue-based program looks like, just take a look at Virgin America’s Elevate plan…which of course opens up a whole new can of worms with everyone wondering if Delta’s going to enter into some sort of arrangement with the mod, very popular, but money-losing SF-based carrier. Would YOU like to speculate? Please leave your comments below…

DELTA.COM FRUSTRATION. Our post last month about Delta’s switch to a new website elicited a slew of angry, confused comments from readers expressing their dismay at a redesign that makes the site clunkier to load and harder to get around. Even purchasing a ticket seems difficult. The display sorting method is partially to blame since certain options are often left out and more desirable flights are often four pages deep. In addition, Delta has switched to a password-based login adding one more step to an already frustrating process. We’ve been unable to get Delta to tell us WHY it felt the need to change the website in the first place…but have received no reply. WHY do YOU think Delta has burdened us with this clunky new site? In the spirit of focusing on the positive… can you name a thing or two about the new site that is an improvement? Please leave your comments below!

DELTA FIRST CLASS FARE SALE. Delta’s offering a great deal on upgrades to first class on US and Canada flightsduring the busy holiday season– Dec 15 – Jan 5. Upgrades on the cheap! Details here. Not a bad idea to pony up a little extra cash as a gift to yourself (or others) for the Holidays!

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BUH-BYE CRJ-200s. Delta is (thankfully) accelerating its removal of the cramped, 50-seat, one-class CRJ-200 aircraft and has placed an order for 40 more CRJ-900 aircraft that will be fitted with first class, Economy Comfort, and wi-fi. These 72-seaters are more efficient to operate allowing Delta to deploy them on routes that are too big for a CRJ-200, but too small for a mainline aircraft.

SOUTHWEST OVER WATER. Starting in April, Southwest will fly nonstop from Orlando and Tampa to San Juan, its first over-water flights. For the time being, AirTran will continue to fly nonstop to San Juan from Atlanta, but the new SW flights offer a new one-stop choice for the Caribbean-bound.

ROLLOVER CONFUSION. TICKET reader B.R. reached out to us with an interesting issue that sheds light on confusion regarding rollover miles for those who have earned their status for life through the Million Miler program. It seems that customers who achieve Silver or Gold Medallion by earning Million Miler status instead of earning it by flying, do not carry over the extra MQMs into the New Year the way other travelers would. Let’s say you flew 35,000 MQMs in 2012 and are a two Million Miler (giving you lifetime Gold Status). Now it seems that the 10,000 extra MQMs over the 25,000 Silver Medallion threshold do not roll over since you technically did not fly up to the Gold Medallion level you have achieved to begin carrying over. You still maintain Gold status for life, but rollover seems to begin only above and beyond your current status level for the year. Delta helped The TICKET out with an answer to this, pulling this little nugget from its Terms & Conditions: Members who receive complimentary or gifted Medallion status [ie, Million Milers] are ineligible for Rollover MQMs unless they earn more MQMs than the gifted status requirement. For example, if a member is gifted Silver Medallion status in 2012 and also earns 30,000 MQMs in 2012, s/he will be able to roll over 5,000 MQMs since the Silver Medallion requirement is 25,000 MQMs.

(Have you scored your 500 Delta SkyMiles bonus for using TICKET sponsor Peachy Airport Parking yet?)

ATL’S DATA-DRIVEN SCULPTURE. Here’s another reason to go check out ATL’s new International Terminal F: The new AirFIELD liquid crystal sculpture hanging from the ceiling that is synched to real-time flight data. Each flight that lands or takes off at ATL activates small ripples in the sculpture for small plane and big ripples for jumbos. Go check it out! Or just get hypnotized by the video above.

FULLY FLAT DETROIT-SAO PAULO. Delta now offers its new flat bed seat in all Business Elite markets to Brazil. Until now, the Detroit flight was a notable exception.Speaking of South America, Delta’s celeb-chef Michelle Bernstein has overhauled menus on overnight flights to South America with more regional dishes. Have you noticed?

BAD BAG POLICY CHANGE. Starting January 15, Delta will no longer through-check baggage to its final destination if you are traveling two separate tickets… and the second ticket is not a Delta ticket. Delta will only check the bag through to your first stop, requiring you to exit the airport secure zone, fetch your bag at baggage claim, re-check it at the non-Delta carrier counter, and then re-enter the terminal via airport security. What a pain in the butt! How often do you buy two separate tickets for a single trip?

NEWEST AIRPORTS W PRECHECK: Atlanta was one of the first four airports in the country to get PreCheck back in Oct 2011, and TSA has been busy rolling out the program at the nations busiest airports ever since then, now totaling 35 airports. Some of the latest additions are: Anchorage, Nashville, Santa Ana (Orange County), Ft Lauderdale, and San Francisco. Note: Airports with multiple entry points may not support Pre-Check at all of them. For example, there are only two PreCheck lanes at SFO—one for United flyers at Terminal 3, the other for American flyers at Terminal 2. However, there is no PreCheck line at SFO’s Terminal 1 used by Delta, Alaska and USAirways, all of which participate in PreCheck. The following are airports where DELTA operates with PreCheck: Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall, Charlotte Douglas International, Chicago O’Hare International, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, Dallas/Fort Worth International, Denver International, Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, Honolulu International, Indianapolis International, John Wayne, LaGuardia Airport, Las Vegas’ McCarran, Logan International, Los Angeles International, Luis Muñoz Marin International, Minneapolis-St. Paul International, Orlando International, Pittsburgh International, Portland International, Ronald Reagan Washington National, Salt Lake City International, Seattle-Tacoma International, Tampa International, Ted Stevens Anchorage International and Washington Dulles International airports.

SHAPING UP AT ATL. Next time you are out at ATL’s Terminal E and feeling a little pudgy or bloated from too much travel, pick up a pack of Spanx to help keep your girly or manly figure. Spanx was invented by an Atlanta fax salesperson who started the company out of a rental house in Virginia Highland. Spanx at ATL opened this month. See the video for the interesting story!

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GOING GREEN. Delta has achieved status in The Climate Registry for its greenhouse gas emission inventory. As the first US carrier to do so, the award recognizes the numerous procedures Delta has put into place to save fuel including taxing on one engine (something that is unique to Delta). Over the past six years, Delta has lowered its greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent.

Check out that super shiny floor at Peachy’s climate controlled indoor lot on Sylvan Road.

Please say THANK YOU to our sponsor, PEACHY AIRPORT PARKING for helping keep The TICKET free for readers this year! If you have not done so already, give ’em a try, get your SkyMiles, and let us know what you think!

EASY 500+ SKYMILES BONUS. The holidays are the BEST time of year to avoid oversold on-airport parking lots…. so why not help out The TICKET, and our newest sponsor, Peachy Airport Parking, on your next trip? You’ll help yourself, too, since Peachy is offering TICKET readers 500 SkyMiles plus three SkyMiles per dollar spent. If you are tired of worrying about on-airport lot sellouts, long, dark walks to your car or the congested mess that is Camp Creek Parkway, just exit I-85 south at Sylvan Road, one mile north of the airport, and follow the signs to Peachy. Once there, you’ll find extra wide spaces in a secure, climate controlled indoor lot, a free car wash and a short two-minute shuttle ride to the airport. Daily rates are just $6.99 outdoor or$8.99 indoor. COME ON! Help keep The TICKET free by clicking on this link or on the ad to the right to learn more about ATL’s newest parking option. Note: You have to click on the link and print the page to get the SkyMiles!

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