Yet another new travel startup

by Jerry Guo on

I just came across this little website: flyhere.com. It’s a really simple tool that does just about one thing. Flyhere tells you, well, which flights you can take to get somewhere. You type in a destination, and it’ll tell you all the nonstop flights to that city. Likewise, you can type in a departure point, and it’ll tell you all the places you can fly to from there.

But perhaps most helpful is when you type in both your destination and departure airports, in which case, the site will visually display all the different routes between the two points as well as a list of itineraries for your particular day.

Yes, this is pretty much a single-trick startup. You can’t really hold it up to something like Kayak, but Flyhere could be useful if you’re interested in finding out where you can visit on a direct flight, or if you want to know how to get between two out-of-the-way places.

Holiday Travel Hell Part 3: If you book with Payless Car Rental, make sure your flight is on time

by Catherine Bodry on

As I’ve written over the past few days, my and my sister Ali’s trip to Tampa started about fairly rocky. There was the disinterested and blatantly untruthful American Airlines customer service agent, and then the lost car rental reservation with Expedia and Payless Car Rental (we still don’t know who to blame, but Exepedia eventually worked it out for us).

But while I sat around the Payless Car Rental office, watching a TV blaring Fox News and learning new swear words from Ali, I witnessed half a dozen clients come to Payless to pick up a car, only to learn that their reservation had been cancelled because the customer was late. Payless employees maintained that reservations are only held for four hours after the original booking time. No cars were left once the reservation was cancelled, so travelers had to take the shuttle back to the airport and start over with a different agency. This was December 28th, right in the middle of the holiday season, and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for travelers that were late for their reservation through no fault of their own — flights were delayed and connections missed, as I knew well. One couple was late because their luggage was lost, and they had even called Payless to let them know they’d be late.

On the other side, I witnessed Payless employees take abuse after abuse, when I’m certain many of the situations weren’t directly their fault. To their credit, they handled each outraged customer well, moving on to deal with the next one after the previous stormed out. That’s got to be a job that requires a strong cocktail at the end of the shift just to get your blood pressure down near normal.

So what’s going on here? It’s hard to say — Payless cars seemed to be the cheapest, and judging by my experience there, it’s a bit of a fly-by-night operation. I doubt the employees were getting paid enough to handle the kind of abuse they received — but it also seems completely ridiculous to cancel a reservation if a customer is late. I can’t imagine how many reservations were lost in 2007 when flights were delayed.

Is it possible that Payless profits from canceled reservations? That’s definitely worth looking into.

Has anyone out there had this kind of experience with Payless Car Rental? We’d love to hear about your experience.

Engagement ring allegedly stolen by LAX security

by Catherine Bodry on

Here’s a true and sad Christmas story:

The day after Christmas, my best friend CJ called to tell me she got engaged to her long-time boyfriend Rosendo. “How did he propose?!” I asked. “It’s a bittersweet story,” she said. Here’s how it went:

On Christmas morning, Rosendo was late for his flight from L.A. to Seattle, where he was traveling to celebrate Christmas with CJ. He had been planning on proposing for a while, and had taken the time to have a ring specially designed. As he traveled, he kept the ring in a box in his jacket pocket — inside two boxes, actually. He was pulled aside at security, where he had put his jacket on the conveyor belt to be scanned. TSA quickly went through his stuff, and afterwards Rosendo sprinted to his gate. He put on his jacket, and felt for the ring box, which was there.
He made his flight, and the next morning — Proposal Day — he randomly decided to look at the ring one more time. He opened the ring box — and it was empty. No ring. Rosendo started hyperventilating and staggered into CJ’s parent’s living room. Nobody knew what was wrong — they thought they might need to call an ambulance. All Rosendo said was, “It can’t be possible!” When he could say more than those four words, he ‘fessed up his plans, and he and CJ went shopping for the cheapest ring they could find.

The only time the ring was out of Rosendo’s possession was at airport security. He’s filed a police report, to no avail.

How’s that for a heartwarming holiday travel story?

It seems there’s no shortage of people who hate the TSA. Here are some other reasons to be annoyed with the agency:

What to do?

Why you should ALWAYS use online checkin

by Grant Martin on

It strikes me that while most people these days know what online checkin (OLCI) is, many people still don’t use it. Largely it seems that this is because people have concerns about how or when they’re going to check their luggage in and are worried about its integration into the system. A few people are even still afraid of the technology altogether.

Besides the obvious benefits of having your boarding pass up to twenty four hours in advance though, there are other benefits to using OLCI.

The most important is that it tells the airline that you’ve thought about your itinerary and that you’re coming. This prevents them from kicking you off the flight and selling your ticket at the last minute to someone else. See, most airlines have a rule that you must be checked in thirty to forty five minutes prior to departure; if you’re not there before, then they have permission to boot you from the flight and cancel your itinerary.

By checking in online, however, the airline can’t close the flight and move on without you. Even if you make it at the last minute or even if you don’t make it at all, they should hold your seat until the very last second. Only then, if you haven’t showed up at that point and they need the spare seats will they substitute someone else in.

This is particularly handy if you’re only traveling with carry-on luggage. You can show up well inside the forty five minute window, blitzkrieg through security get to your gate five minutes before pushback. As long as the jetbridge is attached and the door is open they should let you on. This is the only way that I’ve made several of my flights.

10 tips for smarter flying


You don’t even have to print your boarding pass. If you haven’t got a printer around prior to departure, you can always scoot online and check in without printing your particulars. Once you get to the airport you can reprint it and go on your merry way. Last week on a return flight from New York to Cleveland I showed up at La Guardia 10 minutes before pushback (in my defense the M60 was crawling). Asking the Continental Airlines gate agent to print my boarding pass she refused, saying that it was too close to departure. I told her that I was already checked in and she reluctantly agreed to reprint the pass. Result? I made my flight by about 30 seconds.

But what if I am checking luggage, you ask? When time is critical, checking in online still holds an advantage. Most carriers have separate lines at ticketing for “full” versus “luggage only” check-in. The “luggage only” line always moves faster because all you have to do is scan your boarding pass, drop off your bags and head through security. And when you’re close to that forty five minute cutoff (it applies for luggage as well), a fast moving line is critical.

And if you lose or forget your boarding pass? No problem. Just ask an airline agent to reprint it, give them your ID and they’ll oblige. Really. I lose boarding passes all of the time.

Another advantage to checking in online is the flexibility in seat assignments. The last seven days prior to departure are full of seat changes, as travelers jockey around the plane getting upgraded and finding the best seats. At the twenty four hour window (when OLCI opens), better seats on the plane can also open up. So if you’ve been pining to sit in the exit row or even next to your travel companion, you can do this from your home computer early rather than begging an airport agent to help you out later.

So take it from the frequent traveler. It’s always a good idea to check in online before you travel. That faithful day that you run into traffic, a parade or a revolution on the way into the airport and make it to ticketing at the last second with your boarding pass you’ll thank yourself.

Holiday Travel Hell Part 2: If you need anything from Expedia, scream at them for an hour

by Catherine Bodry on

After Ali and I finally made it to Tampa, a good 18 hours later than we should have, we took a shuttle to Payless Car Rental to pick up a car Ali had booked through Expedia. The night before, when we knew we were stuck in Dallas for the night, she immediately called Expedia to let them know we wouldn’t be able to pick the car up until the next day. The Expedia representative put her on hold for several minutes, then returned and told her he had spoken to Payless and that the company would hold the car for us. We just had to show up between noon and 4:00 p.m.

When we arrived at Payless, there was no record of the reservation change, and the Payless rep told us he had no car for us. After a bit of a go-round, the rep explained that when Expedia supposedly called the night before, the Payless offices were closed — so no reservations could’ve been changed. Ali called the customer service number listed for Expedia on her reservation, where an Expedia rep told us that there was nothing the company could do for us. She maintained that Expedia had called Payless, and even had a contact name. It didn’t matter — Payless didn’t have any record of it, thus they didn’t have a car. It was the height of the holiday season, and finding a replacement car, let alone a cheap one, seemed unlikely.

After about 20 minutes of going back and forth between Expedia and Payless, trying to make one company take responsibility, Ali got angry. I watched her from inside the car rental office as she screamed out in the parking lot, her face red, hands flailing, and occasionally her high-pitched voice carrying through the glass. The Expedia rep continued to tell Ali there was nothing she could do.

“Oh, yes there is,” Ali replied. “You can find me a car right now, and honor your rate.” “I have no way to do that,” the rep maintained. “Yes, you do,” Ali said. “Here’s how: pick up your cellphone, start calling rental companies, and find me a car within an hour. I’ve got nowhere to go since I don’t have a car. Put me on hold — I’ll just wait right here.”

After an hour of this back-and-forthing, the rep did just that. She transferred Ali to someone else, who in turn found us a car at Enterprise. I don’t believe she used any Expedia magic, and I think had we called Enterprise, we might’ve been able to find the same deal. But as it was, we were able to get a Volkswagon Jetta for $50 less than our original quote at Payless.

Lesson learned? Get a confirmation number when a reservation has been changed. We thought we had covered our bases by calling to change our reservation (the number for Payless Car Rental was not listed on Ali’s confirmation email, only Expedia’s), but we needed to ask for more information. I can tell you that Ali will not be booking through Expedia ever again, although I’ve got faith that patience and a bad temper just might get you what you need.

What do you think? Were we right to demand that Expedia honor our reservation and price? Or should we have taken it up with Payless (who had no cars left)? I think we were correct to call Expedia on it, and I’m proud of my sister for doing what I don’t always have the guts to do: get mad.

Want to read more of my holiday horror stories? Check out Holiday Travel Hell Part 1: American Airlines really doesn’t care and Holiday Travel hell Part 3: If you book with Payless Car Rental, make sure your flight is on time. Got any holiday horror stories of your own? Be sure and leave a comment!