Lessons from Alaska Air's meltdown

If I were grading Alaska Airlines on how it handled a digital meltdown that disrupted travel for thousands in October, I'd give the airline a D for communication and a B+ for compensation.

When its computer system was brought down by two severed fiber-optic cables, the airline suffered a communications breakdown with its own staff that drew almost as much flak as the delays and cancellations that affected nearly 8,000.


When it came to compensating passengers for the disruptions, however, it smartly decided to let customer goodwill trump its standard policies. Hard to believe, but there are no U.S. laws requiring airlines to do anything other than offer refunds for canceled flights or rebooking on the next available flight. 

As I explain in this week's Travel Wise column for The Seattle Times, written into some Contracts of Carriage, legal documents posted on U.S. airlines' websites, is a promise to provide a hotel room if a flight is canceled for a mechanical problem or other routine reason. But when problems are due to weather, riots, strikes or any unforeseen event the airlines consider out of their control, they're off the hook.

Alaska bent its rules.

"In the case of a traveler needing to get where they were going that day, we booked them on another airline," Lindsey said. "If a traveler had to overnight to catch a flight the next day, we provided accommodations and meals. If a traveler had a long day at the airport, we provided a free meal." Others got vouchers fordiscounts on future travel.

One couple I talked with first received a $100 voucher, but Alaska increased it to $300 after they sent a letter outlining complaints about rude treatment and lost luggage.

Situations such as this are frustrating, but the approaching holiday-travel season makes delays and cancellations more likely. 

Some strategies for minimizing the hassles:

• Airlines hardly ever shell out cash compensation, except as a refund for a canceled flight or for involuntary bumping. Travel insurance is best for recovering monetary losses (for prepaid hotels or tours, for example).

• If you've got a smartphone, use it. Call a reservations agent at the same time you're standing in line to rebook. Check on what other airlines fly the same route. Having that information can save time and make it easier for an agent to rebook you. Check Twitter and Facebook for updates and what other passengers are saying.

• Take a carry-on bag with essentials, such as medication, in case of cancellations of missed connections. • Be patient. "Being nice" advises the consumer organization Flyersrights.org, "will get you better treatment."

Best bets for Mexico travel advice

Thinking about a trip to Mexico? If so, you'll be joining 10 million other Americans who traveled there during the first half of this year, almost twice as many as flew to Europe, according to the U.S. Office of Travel and Tourism Industries.

Crime and drug-related violence are real, but they affect mainly cities and neighborhoods where tourists rarely go. Still, travelers would be foolish to plan trips without doing their homework.

I point out in my Travel Wise column for The Seattle Times this week that government travel advisories are a place to start. But when it comes to a more general finger-on-the-pulse feel for what it's actually like to be in Mexico, I like many of the websites and blogs written by expat Americans and Canadians living there.

One of my favorites is Mexconnect, an electronic library with a searchable and cross-indexed database of more than 4,000 articles on Mexican travel, food, arts, culture and history.

Click on "Culture & Arts" and you'll find stories on Oaxacan handicrafts and "lucha libre" (pro wrestling). Go to "Cuisine" to learn about the yucca, a starchy tuber that appears on menus in many forms including tamales, yucca pudding and meat pies.

Travelers interested in current social issues will find well-researched stories on ethnic diversity, the Mexican water crisis and rural education.

Jim Johnson, an artist, former New Yorker and author of "Mexico City: An Opinionated Guide for the Curious Traveler," uses his blog to offer insights into life in Mexico City, where he has lived since 1997.

Johnson's blog is a go-to site for off-the-beaten-track arts happenings such as the recent reopening of the Museo Rufino Tamayo in Chapultepec Park. He wanders the city, searching for the best tacos, and points visitors to bookstores and galleries in his favorite neighborhoods of Colonia Roma and La Condesa. Look for links to a food blog written by his partner, Nicolas Gilman.

With the end of the Maya calendar coming on Dec. 21, visitors to Merida, Cancún and the Riviera Maya will find useful information at Yucatan Living. Click on "Yucatan Primer" for info on cenotes, the underground freshwater pools that dot the peninsula; bird-watching, diving, flamingos and eco-resorts.

John Barreiro, a retired English-as-a-second-language teacher from El Cerrito, Calif., has rounded up information on getting around Mexico by bus at www.larpman.com. Most helpful is the way he has organized the info to display travel times between cities serviced by three first-class bus companies.

Author Julia Taylor, who grew up in the Pacific Northwest and moved to Cuernavaca, weighs in on safety issues at www.home-sweet-mexico.com, a website aimed mainly at those thinking of relocating to Mexico, but also useful for travelers.

The country remains under a U.S. State Department travel warning advising Americans to exercise caution, and to avoid some areas completely.

The specifics about areas to avoid are far more detailed than in previous advisories (in Acapulco, for instance, travelers are told to go no more than two blocks inland of popular beach areas). The problem is that the information hasn't been updated since February.

Politics and trade relations can sometimes influence government travel advice, so I like to round out the picture by also checking the latest advisories from Canada  and Australia  Both have been updated recently.

Cuba Now

I visited Cuba a year ago this month, and blogged extensively about the time I spent with a group organized by San Francisco's Global Exchange as well as the week I spent traveling on my own after the trip ended. 

The "print'' version of the story appears in the Sunday, Oct. 21 issue of the Seattle Times Pacific Magazine, along with some excellent photos by Times photographer Erika Schultz. Schultz and I traveled to Cuba at different times, but somehow the story and the photos ended up matching perfectly. 

I'm happy to see that most the "people-to-people'' trips approved earlier by the U.S. government are now going ahead despite some problems with license renewals this fall. Those problems seem to be resolved, and most trips are back on.

Past the political divide, Cuba invites us with rich traditions and small delights. Enjoy!

Romping around the Northwest

Apps, guidebooks, websites? There's always lots of talk about one replacing another, but I rely on all three.

I start with the guidebooks, usually from Lonely Planet, Bradt or Rough Guides for foreign travel. On the road, I use iPhone apps to check flight information and map routes to destinations.

When it comes to planning weekend getaways around the Northwest, a handful of websites win my vote for the buzz on local neighborhoods, new restaurants and unique and affordable places to stay.

Here are a few of the favorites I mentioned in a recent  Travel Wise column for  The Seattle Times. 


Northwest Trip Finder: I like this hyperlocal site for its fresh ideas on day-trips and weekend getaways in Washington, Oregon and Vancouver, B.C.

No guidebook could stay up to date on all the deals author Lauren Braden unearths as she and her family travel around the Northwest. Tired of tent or yurt camping? How about spending the night in a re-purposed shipping container? Braden found one for rent at King County's Tolt-MacDonald Park.

Braden, the former communications director for the Northwest Trails Association, is on top of not only the best hikes but where to find pie and coffee in Forks or tea in Victoria.

Eater Pdx: Portland deserves its reputation as a destination for food-focused travel. Find your way out of downtown and the Pearl District and you'll discover neighborhoods filled with artisan ice-cream shops, indie coffee houses, gourmet-sandwich shops and cozy wine bars.

Eater Pdx is my go-to guide for keeping up with what's new. I love its "Cart Talk" section and its tips for late-night dining. See www.pdx.eater.com, and sign up for the weekly email newsletter. Check out the Seattle version at www.seattle.eater.com.

Vancouver City Buzz: Food, arts, entertainment, events, sports. This website and blog will keep you up to date on last-minute happenings in Vancouver, B.C.

Recent entries included a post on $5 (or under) food-truck finds, news that the ABC Book & Comic Book Emporium will be closing in November, and an update on a gathering of nature artists at Grouse Mountain Oct. 13-21.

BootsnAll Indie City Guides: A new series of online Indie Travel Guides scoop up information on Seattle, Portland, Victoria, Vancouver and other West Coast cities into an organized, readable format useful to travelers on a budget.

The Vancouver guide offers advice on how to see the city by public transit. San Francisco travel tips include where to find a rotating Friday night collection of food trucks. 

Priceline: It pays to get comfortable with Priceline, the site that lets you to name your own price for hotels, but doesn't reveal the name of the hotel until after it accepts your bid and charges your credit card.

I landed a room last January at the Marriott City Center in downtown Portland for $60 (vs. $129 on its website), and I've used Priceline to snag similar deals in the $100-a-night range on four-star hotels in downtown Vancouver, B.C.

Check out the user tips at Bidding for Travel. 

Airbnb: Thousands of listings for spare rooms in private homes, apartments and condos in more than 8,000 cities from Brussels to Berkeley.

I've used Airbnb in San Francisco and Los Angeles and look forward to trying it out in Portland, where the offerings include urban farms, English cottage apartments and waterfront condos in the $65-$90 range.

The site includes pictures and bios of the owners, customer feedback and filters for searching by room type, price and neighborhood. 

TSA to relocate Sea-Tac PreCheck lane

The Transportation Security Administration's fast-pass PreCheck security lane in Seattle will be moved from Checkpoint No. 5 in the north end of the Sea-Tac Airport terminal to Checkpoint No. 3 (Central checkpoint) on Oct. 21, according to TSA spokeswoman Lorie Dankers. 

Checkpoint No. 5 is used mainly by passengers of Alaska Airlines, the first carrier to be approved for PreCheck in Seattle. TSA has since expanded the program to include eligible fliers on American, Delta, United and US AIrways. Checkpoint No. 5 is more central. 

Those eligible to participate in PreCheck — for now, those considered low security risks either because they are high-mileage frequent fliers invited by those airlines to apply for PreCheck or members of the Global Entry, Sentri or Nexus (U.S./Canadian/Mexican border-crossing programs) — can use the special lane to pass through security without removing jackets and shoes, or taking liquids and laptops out of carry-ons. They also walk through metal detectors instead of full-body scanners.

Relocation of the PreCheck lane comes as Sea-Tac plans changes to its terminal and gate areas as it prepares to turn over the north satellite "N" gate area to Alaska Airlines.

Seat talk

Seven months after Delta Air Lines took over Air France’s nonstop service between Seattle and Paris, we’re finally about to get something close to what we deserve on an international flight.

Delta has spiffed up its fleet of Boeing 767-300s to include new in-seat video systems in coach; larger overhead bins; new carpeting; and, in Business Elite, flatbed seats. This is welcome news for those who saw service going downhill after Delta replaced the Air France Airbus A330s with older 767s that included just a single screen showing three movies.
See details in my Travel Wise column in The Seattle Times.

Delta starts operating the new equipment on flights to Paris beginning Oct. 28. Flatbeds will also be available on Delta flights from Seattle to Beijing, starting Oct. 27 and to Osaka, Japan, beginning Oct. 30.

Thinner seats coming

Thinner, slimmer seats are on the way as airlines devise new ways to cut fuel costs and squeeze more passengers onto a plane.

United Airlines will begin installing seats made by Germany’s Recaro Aircraft Seating that the Los Angeles Times reports will make room for an additional row on its narrow-body Airbus planes.

Seattle’s Alaska Airlines will be installing Recaro seats on 22 new Boeing 737-900s, scheduled for delivery through 2014.

“In theory, yes, the seats could allow us to add extra seats to certain aircraft types. However, the only aircraft that will have the new seats, the 737-900ER, is already optimized for passenger seat capacity,” said Chase Craig, manager of product development. The planes will seat 181 passengers.

The Recaro seats will have slimmer backs and bottoms but will allow for an additional inch of legroom, without decreasing pitch (moving the seats closer to each other).
Alaska will improve comfort by adding custom cushions and six-way adjustable head rests, Craig said.

Checking up on PreCheck

The Transportation Security Administration has done much to improve the ease of getting through airport security, one likely reason why a recent Gallup poll reported that most Americans (54 percent) view the TSA as positive rather than negative.

Business travelers aren’t as easy to please. Another survey conducted by the website Frequent Business Traveler and the online travel community FlyerTalk found that 90 percent of respondents think TSA has been doing only a poor to fair job at managing security screening.

Why do business travelers feel differently? Perhaps because they fly more, suggests the Frequent Business Traveler. Forty-eight percent of the Gallup poll’s respondents had not flown in the past year.

Business travelers did give high marks to PreCheck, the TSA’s new expedited security-screening program for high-mileage frequent fliers and members of the Global Entry, Sentri and Nexus border-crossing programs.

Qualifying passengers can use special PreCheck lanes at 26 U.S. airports, including Sea-Tac Airport, where most are not required to take off their shoes or jackets or to remove liquids or laptops from carry-ons.

Seventy-two percent of PreCheck users reported satisfaction, despite TSA’s policy of randomly pulling out some for full screening.

Among the converts is Seattle doctor Michael Stewart. Stewart said he was fed up initially with PreCheck after being selected for random, full screening three times out of eight.

 “Just a quick update,” he emailed the other day. “On three recent passes through TSA screening — two at Sea-Tac and one at (Chicago’s) O’Hare — during the past two weeks, PreCheck worked!” 

TSA’s Seattle spokeswoman Lorie Dankers says the agency is working on refining the system. In the meantime, she urges patience. “I’m even randomly excluded sometimes,” said Dankers.

Holiday travel bargains in Victoria

If you're not planning a fall or holiday season weekend in Victoria B.C., you're passing up one of the best budget getaway offers I've seen so far this year. Isn't off-season travel fun?

Clipper Vacations is offering round-trip transportation on the Victoria Clipper between Seattle and Victoria plus an overnight stay in a top hotel for $226 for two, taxes included, for travel between Oct. 8 and January 2. I did a little checking and the website showed availability on the (American) Thanksgiving weekend.

The hotel is the Harbour Towers Hotel & Suites which gets high marks on Trip Advisor. The location is excellent - right on the Inner Harbour, but for a few dollars more, $17 to be exact, I'd opt for the Royal Scot Hotel and Suites (indoor pool).

Victoria is the ideal destination to get in the mood for the holiday season. Think twinkling lights and horse-drawn carriage rides. From November 20 to January 3, the Fairmont Empress Hotel celebrates its annual Festival of Trees, an annual fundraiser for BC Children's Hospital. Local businesses, organizations and individuals sponsor and decorate dozens of Christmas trees that deck the halls of the hotel. 

Starting November 24, visitors can feast their eyes and noses on creative gingerbread inspirations at the 2012 National Gingerbread House Showcase at the Inn at Laurel Point. Professionals and amateurs will vie to produce elaborate, decorative gingerbread creations using all edible ingredients. 

Butchart Gardens presents its 25th season of The Magic of Christmas starting December 1.