More Flexibility, More Fees

Yesterday American Airlines announced a new program: the Boarding and Flexibility Package. This fee, anywhere from $9-19, allows passengers several new 'options.' Read today's CNN article here: 'Latest Airline Fee? Early Boarding.'

Here are the included features:

• Be placed in a priority boarding group. You don't get on the plane before Elite status members or special needs passengers, but before everyone else.


• Half-price on flight change fees. Instead of a hefty $150 to change a flight, it's only $75 and free stand-by on earlier, same day flights.


• This applies to everyone in your 'reservation per-person charge', whatever that means.

Christopher Elliot, writer of the Elliot bog, consumer traveler advocate and affiliated writer with National Geographic, MSNBC, and The Washington Post, made a few comments about these new fees and how ridiculous they are. He compared this decision to the overwhelmingly popular 'charge for the first checked bag' fee that American Airlines also pioneered.

The biggest problem is air travel is a financially irresponsible business to be involved in. The costs of planes, equipment, fuel (astronomical thanks to BP), crew members, ground crew, maintenance crew, the list goes on, are incredibly difficult to manage in a consumer climate where we expect to pay a lot less for the same products. At least with Ryan Air in Europe you know you're going to pay for every extra thing.

The best bet for American airline companies is to go the Ryan Air route: advertise that you charge for everything. And make flight prices accordingly. So congratulations airline executives of America. You're slowly training a new generation to look for hidden fees instead of expecting everything to come included.

Buenos Dias

Buenos dias. For some reason this morning (4.30 in DC, 10.30 local time) as we were landing, I thought it was strange that that was hello in Spanish. I kept stopping myself from blurting out in Italian 'bon giorno!' or stumbling through questions in French: "j'ai a Malaga, q'esserai l'hoeur?" That's definitely not right.

It has been an interesting trip over to Spain. On my overnight, I sat in the very last row which was incredibly noisy. The flight staff did not encourage sleeping either. Just as I was settling back for bed, dinner came around and all the lights came on. Then this morning, I was harshly awoken by splashing orange juice all over myself. I was completely unaware that my tray table had been lowered and breakfast left out as a hazard. My fluffy purple blanket was immediately streaked like a splatter painting, and I hung it up behind my seat to dry before my next flight.

In security, I met a lovely woman named Mrs. Fritter, mother to two Foxcroft girls, class of 2007. How fun. Both Stephanie and Ali are studying abroad this semester and the family is traveling to Athens to try to catch a cruise boat that they missed due to the unpronounceable Icelandic volcano. I am jealous they're going to San Torini, an island that isn't very January-friendly, so it'll have to be on the next Greece trip.

I even made the mistake of running through the terminal, my flight to Malaga was delayed 20 minutes so I could have saved my energy. Ali is meeting me at the airport, and who knows how far we have to go to get anywhere.

I've made a few goals for this week: visit Sevilla, Grenada, and Ronda, and take the ferry to Morocco. Then I'll have visited 4 continents in 2 months, with a 5th in November when I go to see Adam. Hopefully that isn't too much trouble. Regardless, I'm happy my next trips are to visit Elon and a BGC reunion in Delaware. No airports for me for a while!

PS - my bag didn't arrive in Malaga with me. The funny thing is, I even asked the gate agent at Dulles if my bag would automatically switch planes. Clearly I had a reason to be worried. Nonetheless, it showed up the next morning at Ali's apartment downtown. Such bad luck.

Practical Traveler Reviews Flight Meta-Search Engines

The Practical Traveler, NY Times own travel blog, has sent out a nice piece reviewing several 'meta-search' engine sites in the post 'Sites That Do Your Fare Digging.' Anyone who has asked me for travel advice has been to Kayak.com, and my new favorite TravelZoo.com. I love Kayak because it tells you where to look for the best price, and TravelZoo sends out a weekly alert filled with fantastic travel deals as well as last-minute alerts. Something to sign up for if you're looking for quick deals or last-minute getaways.

I was unaware that TravelZoo also runs meta-search engine Fly.com, and equally unfamiliar with Momondo.com. After conducting my own search, I found a ticket $300 cheaper on Fly than on my traditional favorite Kayak. So perhaps it is worth looking at a few sites. Thankfully now you only have to search three, instead of thirty. Please let me know if you have a favorite search site that has been helpful for you to find great travel deals. Then we can all fly somewhere sunny, at least until spring really sets in!

Christchurch and Beyond

The last few days of my traveling have been a bit hectic. On Thursday I took a cheap bus from Dunedin to Christchurch, which was an express route as opposed to the laborious two-day trek with a stop over in Queenstown on the Stray bus. The plains were relaxing with their endlessness and I devoured Lipstick Jungle by Candace Bushnell.Pulling into Christchurch, I lugged my new rolling duffel bag to my hostel for the first of two restless nights. It seemed like every truck and souped up Honda in the city drove under my window.

It took me about five hours to do everything in Christchurch: wandering the huge botanical gardens with the magnificent peacock fountain, poking through the Canterbury museum and browsing the art gallery. There was a great exhibit on perceptions of nudity. I even picked up a cheap chicken wrap from a street vendor before returning to relax in front of a movie at the hostel.

My much-anticipated TransAlpine ride through the southern alps was literally derailed. A freight train blocked the track, so our spectacular ride concluded with an hour bus ride and a late arrival. While the mountains were stunning, the gorges deep, and the 20-plus tunnels impressive, I'm sure it would have been much prettier with a thin layer of snow to sparkle in the sun. Luckily, I took an InterCity bus to Nelson. The driver was more than happy to wait for the delayed train passengers. I'm not so sure a Naked Bus driver would have done the same.

We took the same west coast road as the Stray bus, and it was nice to see the Tasman sea rocking against the island in the sunlight instead of gloomy rain. I checked into a cute hostel in Nelson Saturday night anticipating another sleepless night. My flight to Auckland was at 7.30 am on Sunday. The counter agent for Air New Zealand gave me an earful about trying to carry on my backpack (too long, they said) but no one checked my liquids, gels, and aerosols for the three ounce limits. There was no security at all, just a bubbly lady checking my ticket (without anyone asking me for an ID) and pointing me towards the runway to climb up into the plane. Luckily it was a nice one-hour flight across the Cook Straight and up to the top of North Island.

I will be the first to admit, I do not function well on sleep deprivation, especially when there is nowhere to get a fresh sandwich on top of that. When Naked Bus sent me several texts saying various buses I was supposed to be on were late,I was not a happy camper. Bronson finally came and picked me up. I popped myself into a bar in Mount Eden and called home while I waited for him. Then we drove around the city, visiting a park on one of the nine hilltops of Auckland and splitting pasta and pizza for dinner before heading back up to Paihia.

It was so nice to sleep in all morning and watch TV all day while doing my laundry. The past few weeks had been exhausting, though I had a fabulous time with my new British friends glacier hiking and bungy jumping. Bronson took today off from work and we're going to Rainbow Falls in Kerikeri with a picnic. It's a perfect day, just overcast enough that the temperature is comfortable. I'm so grateful to have these last few days with him. Somehow we really became friends.

My flight home is Thursday at 3.40 pm, I'm excited to watch some new movies on the flight and get back home. But it is sad to be leaving this place. The fairies and hobbits have transformed this magical little country into an ultimate fantasy world. Perhaps someday I can take a few months off, hide away in the mountains with the snow and my imagination. Perhaps I'll be back here to write my novel, my contribution to humankind.

The Official Classy Packing List

Tomorrow, I'm heading to California. I've spent the last 2 days trimming down my iTunes collection so it'll fit on my iPhone and copying whatever files I want onto my flash drive. I'm doing one load of laundry tomorrow and buying a new Too Faced mascara from Sephora. So I finally figured out everything I'm going to pack.

I'm bringing 5 shirts: yellow blouse with bow, J. Crew white crew neck t-shirt, pink J. Crew v-neck tissue tee, white flowy J. Crew tank top, emerald tight tee



2 J. Crew polos and a going out top: white ruffle neck polo, black J. Crew v-neck tee, black polo with custom turtle



2 medium weight tops (3/4 sleeves) and 2 long sleeve tops: Lilly Pulitzer fish tunic, Polo Ralph Lauren white oxford, Elon University long-sleeve tee, J. Crew yellow rugby 3/4 sleeve shirt



3 J. Crew cardigans, 1 long sleeve, 2 3/4 sleeves: navy ruffle cardigan, teal stripe cardigan (3/4 sleeves), black chiffon trim cardigan (3/4 sleeves)



3 tee shirts (one from Adam, and two of my fav Alpha Chi shirts!):



an Under Armor shirt and 2 work-out shorts, pink and navy:



yoga/exercise pants, a second pair of J. Crew matchstick jeans, and full-length leggings:



3 pairs of shorts: J. Crew khaki shorts, J. Crew salmon shorts, Lilly Pulitzer patchwork shorts



dress pants and a J. Crew khaki skirt:



two J. Crew bathing suits: (sadly, the New Zealand Breast Cancer Society's Bikini Downhill Race is on the 26th, the day before I leave!)



two pairs of J. Crew boy's boxers (so comfy!):

C

a fun day dress and a little black dress: white and navy mini dress, black Ann Taylor dress



and finally, two scarves and two big belts as accessories: snake skin waist belt, blue/yellow/purple neck scarf, yellow paisley long scarf, white/black/beige block waist belt



So, now that you have the list, here's a bigger picture:



I decided the best way to pack would be by rolling all my tops and carefully making sure none of them had any wrinkles. my bag is so huge, it was hard to not get things wrinkled while dragging it up and down the East Coast. All my tops are folded in 3's, like in a store display. The ones with collars are rolled starting with the bottom so the collar doesn't get crushed, while everything else is rolled from the shoulders so the fronts stay smooth. I'm also throwing in a dozen pair of socks and as many underthings as I own (you can always throw them out later). I just put it all in my pack and used my dad's new luggage scale - can you guess: [polldaddy poll=2036750]

There are a few other things that will be coming down under with me:



Brown leather gloves, a pink neck pillow, a first-aid kit, Kleenex, one of two NZ guide books, a teal Coach clutch, an Elon baseball cap, Elon rain jacket, a garment bag for dirty clothes,  electrical converter plugs, South Carolina playing cards, Ralph Lauren pillow case, and a gold Coach clutch. Someone has to have it all together or that 14 hour plane ride will be miserable. Let me know what you would or wouldn't take with you!

Airplane Air Pain

The day after I arrived at Shannon International Airport, Ireland back at the beginning of June, Sky News reported an Air France flight had gone missing off the coast of South America.  This was great considering my international flights were on Delta.  The two airlines have interlocked their flight plans together so closely, it can be difficult to tell if the operator of the plane and the logo splashed above the tail wings are the same company.  My tour group thankfully drove around in our motor coach while waiting to hear what happened to the 200+ people missing in flight and to see if our flights home would arrive on the tarmac  in one piece, or in pieces across an American beach.

Just this summer there have been over a dozen plane accidents, and in the past week three alone.  This morning a plane skidded off the airstrip in Thailand.  I was planning on going to Thailand to visit my friend Sarah doing missionary work there in November, now  I'll make sure not to fly Merpati Nusantara Airlines.  I'll also make sure to postpone my trip to Indonesia (plane missing since Sunday morning) and not fly light aircraft when traveling through Kenya.  Clearly looking through the list of "100 Worst" on www.planecrashinfo.com is not helping my nerves. Luckily, nothing came up when I searched for Quantas, the airline taking me to New Zealand, or JetBlue, my American carrier of choice, on this site.  Hopefully, the most I have to worry about in September would be my backpack being stuck in Brisbane while I'm jetting across to North Island.

One of the interns I work with has never flown.  I flew for the first time at age 8, while moving from Boston to Phoenix.  We took a decent sized plane to somewhere in Pennsylvania/Ohio then a prop plane to St. Louis to visit my childhood friend Renee.  The worst part of the trip was discovering I was not tall enough to ride the new Batman roller coaster at Six Flags.

I told intern Michael about my layover in Brisbane and the hassle I was already anticipating two months out from my flight.  "What's so bad about a layover? Can't you just leave?" he asked.

This is an interesting question.  I've been in a lot of airports, and I'd have to say most of them are not traveler-friendly when you have hours to kill.  The Dallas airport has a full-sized Disney store that I enjoyed during the layover from Phoenix to Washington-Dulles when I was 10.  Charles de Gaulle in Paris is so confusing my group found our way out of security without even realizing it when I was 16.  Palm Beach International has a putt-putt course in the waiting area, but not by the terminal.  In Athens, all of the gift shops are before the  American security checkpoint, so even if you wanted to bring home 0.8% acidity olive oil that you couldn't find in the grocery shop like I did two years ago, sorry but no such luck.  JetBlue's T5 at JFK is probably my favorite, since they do have a platform in the middle where yoga classes are held, and even though I hate flying in and out of New York, it does leave my home base Dulles with something to aspire to.

So yes, Michael, layovers are a pain.  They are even worse than finding out you have to pay an extra $50 to check your bag because it's 57 pounds and you can't bring that bottle of wine you bought in Napa Valley in your hand luggage.  Maybe if TSA lightened up on liquids, gels and aerosols, I could pass the bottle around the plane so we all wouldn't have to worry about the runway tires not retracting or the turbulence that will keep your headache from check-in going.  When you fly for the first time Michael, don't call me while you're waiting at the terminal.  Can someone pass me a Dramamine so I can pass out for this flight already?!