May 17, 2007
Premature planes and opaque booking engines
We sat chatting over coffee in a café no more than 40 yards from the gate at which our plane would depart. At 15 minutes before the flight's scheduled departure time, we casually strolled to the gate only to find that the plane had already closed its doors, pulled away from the gate, and was now taxiing to the runway. Having fully checked in, and holding valid boarding cards, my wife and I had missed our flight despite having appeared where the plane was to leave, a full fifteen minutes ahead! Hell-bent to achieve a record of on-time performance by departing in advance of schedule, some airlines are apparently forcing even prudent passengers to appear in the boarding area -- not the check-in counters -- as many as twenty minutes ahead of time.
I have now placed four phone calls to the public relations departments of major airlines in a fruitless attempt to determine whether these jump-the-gun departures are sanctioned by airline policies. Each time I encountered a runaround ("we'll call you back", "the person who knows is on vacation", "give us a few minutes to ask around") worthy of a C.I.A. press conference. And meantime, it behooves all of us to pass up the temptations of airport cafes or newsstands in favor of rushing to the gate. Have any users of Frommers.com experienced similar conduct on the part of the airlines? Love to hear about it.
On a happier note, it's good to report the return to relevance of Priceline.com (www.priceline.com). Though many smart travelers are reluctant to use the services of this "opaque" search engine for booking airfares (you make a bid and learn that you've committed to take a flight leaving at 6am or making several stops en route to your destination), a great many more are scoring coups in using Priceline for hotel reservations. That's because you're entitled to require hotels of a certain quality before you commit to accept a booking. Recently, using Priceline for a stay in Boston, I specified that I would only accept an elegant four-star hotel, and then bid an ultra-low $139 for the room (despite Priceline's ominous warning that the "median" price of four-star hotels in Boston was $259 for a room). Would you believe that my bid was accepted? Feeling pleased as punch, I proceeded to lodge myself at the upscale Wyndham Hotel Boston for only $139, by making a can't-lose bet.
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I have now placed four phone calls to the public relations departments of major airlines in a fruitless attempt to determine whether these jump-the-gun departures are sanctioned by airline policies. Each time I encountered a runaround ("we'll call you back", "the person who knows is on vacation", "give us a few minutes to ask around") worthy of a C.I.A. press conference. And meantime, it behooves all of us to pass up the temptations of airport cafes or newsstands in favor of rushing to the gate. Have any users of Frommers.com experienced similar conduct on the part of the airlines? Love to hear about it.
On a happier note, it's good to report the return to relevance of Priceline.com (www.priceline.com). Though many smart travelers are reluctant to use the services of this "opaque" search engine for booking airfares (you make a bid and learn that you've committed to take a flight leaving at 6am or making several stops en route to your destination), a great many more are scoring coups in using Priceline for hotel reservations. That's because you're entitled to require hotels of a certain quality before you commit to accept a booking. Recently, using Priceline for a stay in Boston, I specified that I would only accept an elegant four-star hotel, and then bid an ultra-low $139 for the room (despite Priceline's ominous warning that the "median" price of four-star hotels in Boston was $259 for a room). Would you believe that my bid was accepted? Feeling pleased as punch, I proceeded to lodge myself at the upscale Wyndham Hotel Boston for only $139, by making a can't-lose bet.
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Fifty years ago, 
Arthur Frommer is generally acknowledged to be the nation's foremost travel authority. He is the founder of the
