I Might Not Be Home For Christmas

December 23, 2016: … Don’t completely plan on me. Because 45.2 million people are expected to be flying for the holidays, finishing off the busiest year of air travel in American history. Flights are more than doubling in cost across the country for the holidays — in some places costing as high as 4 times more! And for those premium costs, you can expect more delays, longer security lines, and losing your seat to overbooking. How exactly is this the most wonderful time of the year?

Alaska And Virgin America Now One — Almost?

December 21, 2016: It’s official — Alaska has fully taken over Virgin America! The combined operation is now the 5th largest US carrier with over 1,200 daily departures to 118 destinations that include the United States, Canada, Costa Rica and Cuba. The newly combined carrier has more daily non-stops from the West Coast than any other carrier. Yet to be “clarified” — will the Virgin America name disappear?

 

Hotels and Inns Paying More Attention to Online Reviews

December 19, 2016: According to a recent New York times feature, hotels are paying more attention to online reviews on sites like Yelp, Travelocity, Trip Advisor and others. Sometimes negative reviewers even receive a phone call from the offending property asking how they can make things better.  Be aware though, most sites tend to refuse to run really negative reviews and sites keep track of “repeat negative” reviewers. Trip Advisor says they have over 300 people in seven countries who monitor negative reviews.

Travel Curmudgeon Not Invited to World’s Most Expensive “Destination” Wedding!

December 5, 2016: The wedding took place in Mumbai, India, with more than 50,000 guests attending — supervised by 3,000 security guards. The extra lavish 5 day wedding celebration was hosted by a mining baron to celebrated the wedding of this 21 year-old daughter. The gold plated wedding invitation featured an LCD screen that not only included the soon to be wed couple but top “Bollywood” stars singing and dancing. Estimated cost — around $70 million — but what bride ever stays on budget!

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