Get 2 to 5 Free Days on a Eurail Pass if You Purchase By March 31
Posted on 01/30/2014, 12:00 PM
Eurail is relaunching its popular "Early Bird" promotion for 2014, granting two to five free days on summer Eurail passes as long as they are purchased by March 31. In the words of Eurail Group, which manages pass sales for some 30 European rail and shipping lines: "This promotional offer applies to both first and second class Eurail Global Passes and are open to all travel categories: Adults...
Two Airlines Now Selling Wi-Fi for Just $2
Posted on 01/23/2014, 10:45 PM
This year is already shaping up to be the year that the major airlines finally caught up with earthbound Wi-Fi availability. This week, Delta announced a new in-flight product: It now sells Wi-Fi for tablets and smartphones for $1.95 provided the flight is two hours or less in duration. It joins Southwest, which began offering gate-to-gate Wi-Fi access for messaging for the same affordable ...
Ground Zero's 9/11 Museum Will Charge $24
Posted on 01/23/2014, 5:30 PM
If you're coming to New York City later this year, you will have set aside some more cash to see its biggest new attraction. The new 9/11 Museum at Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan will charge one of the highest admission prices of any museum in New York City: $24 for adults. "A general admission ticket of $24 will help fulfill our obligation to commemorate and preserve the history of 9/...
American Airlines Charges Twice What U.S. Airways Does—For the Same Flight
Posted on 01/16/2014, 1:45 PM
Buyers beware! The merger of American Airlines and U.S. Airways is not going as smoothly as we were told it would—and it is costing consumers already. Travel Weekly reports that when the two airlines codeshare flights, the exact same flight, when booked on American Airlines' website, AA.com, can cost more than twice what it costs on U.S. Airways' site, USAirways.com. American said that cust...
Airbnb Gives One Free Night to First-Time Users
Posted on 01/13/2014, 10:00 AM
Apartment and home rental has been, as most everyone knows by now, one of the booming sectors of the travel industry. And with good reason: It's often much cheaper than renting a hotel room yet gives you more space, plus it often puts you in the position of living in a real residential neighborhood and living like a local. Airbnb, one of the leading websites that matchmakes available homes wi...
Landing at LAX this Month? Look for the 407-Foot-Wide Vinyl Record
Posted on 01/08/2014, 12:45 PM
Now that you may finally use your smartphone camera on flights, let the marketing stunts begin! All through January, the Forum, a 45-year-old, circular concert venue about four miles east of the northern runway of Los Angeles' LAX, will be capped by a 407-foot-wide vinyl record of Eagles' "Hotel California." That translates to 5.7 acres of faux record designed to attract the attention of wi...
TSA PreCheck Not So Easy if You Enroll Yourself
Posted on 01/03/2014, 11:45 AM
Recruitment ad from the TSA website In the first phase of the TSA's PreCheck program, the airlines invited their elite members to enroll. That process worked well, since the airlines mostly facilitated the integration of passengers' membership numbers into their reservations, and the TSA requires number and ticket to me married before it allows passengers to use the service. But if you a...
Cooking with a Hotel Room Hair Dryer
Posted on 12/30/2013, 10:00 AM
Slow news week! Here's a little offbeat hotel room cooking tip that has been making the rounds. Both NPR and ABC have aired discussions about how to cook simple foods with a hair dryer. Apparently—did you know this?—the concept was introduced in the 1970s by a chef who discovered it helped make perfectly crispy duck skin. GMA went so far as to point one of the hair care appliances at a r...
Delta, JetBlue, and Southwest Will Not Allow In-Flight Phone Calls
Posted on 12/20/2013, 11:45 AM
The people are speaking—and the people don't want the people to speak. Both Delta and JetBlue have stepped forward to tell customers they despite loosened federal restrictions, they will not permit video or voice calling while in the air. "Our customer research and direct feedback tell us that our frequent fliers believe that voice calls in the cabin would be a disruption to the travel exp...
Best Western is Discounting until February 2, and That Includes the Holidays
Posted on 12/15/2013, 1:45 PM
Best Western has announced a sale that lasts until February 2, 2014, and surprisingly it includes rooms over the busy holiday period. A 20 percent sale in the middle of Christmas and New Year's would be a very useful promotion, but like so many publicized sales, it's a bit squirmy about the specifics. "Guests can save up to 20 percent off at participating hotels," it claims. Wording like t...
