Is automated personal transport the future?

by Abha Malpani on

No, it’s not a gigantic toaster on wheels nor an alien’s toy car, it’s Britain’s answer to rail-free, time-table free, emission-free personal transport.

Planned for launch sometime after the opening of Heathrow’s terminal 5, these pod-shaped capsules will transport people from the car park to the new terminal, and on demand, will be available within 12 seconds!

The battery run capsules take four people at a time and are pre-programmed. You will be able to pick them up at designated spots where they will be waiting, or you can call for one. You then select your destination on the touch screen and the capsule will mark out the best possible route to take you there. (GPS taken to a new dimension?) They will have their own paths, so congestion and traffic lights will not be an issue.

The main selling point of these Personal Transport Systems (PRT) as they are called, will be their convenience: you will no longer have to wait in queues, nor share transport with strangers, and your transit time from car to airport will be reduced to 4 minutes. The capsules are as green as they can get: they use less than half the amount of fuel used by public or private transport making them at least 50% more energy efficient, and have zero local emissions.

Once tried and tested, the plan is to expand their use as valuable complements to mass transit systems in big cities. I wonder how much a trip in these would cost?

Automated parking systems, and now this, Heathrow seems to be on a roll for setting new standards.

Flu shots at the airport: It only takes a minute

by Jamie Rhein on

Here’s news I found out about through Intelligent Traveler who got the heads up from the Winging It blog at the denverpost.com. who got their info from the Associated Press. If you happen to be passing through several U.S. airports, right before you hit the gate, you can get a flu shot. Airports in Denver, Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco and Newark, N.J are participating so far.

This has turned out to be the biggest success for business types–frequent fliers who have no time to hit the doctor’s office between business meetings and traversing the globe. In the future, according to the AP article, cholesterol tests and blood pressure screening may be added to the list of things to do that you have no time for. Get your shoes shined and a little health fix. In the future, you also might be able to get other shots. A bit fuzzy on just how long ago that tetanus shot was? Maybe you can get that booster without putting it on your to-do list. Seeing the shot kiosk will remind you.

I wonder though if you’d need to have your shot records with you in that case? Someone with a hazy memory, like myself, might get a little too booster happy just “to be sure.” Maybe all the way to Cincinnati or somewhere else, people who didn’t stop to get the shot will fret and wonder if they should avoid rusty pieces of metal at all costs. Certainly, I can see how when the person sitting next to you is wadding used tissues and shoving them in the seat pocket or coughing particles, that flu shot you passed up might come back to haunt you.

Flu shots cost $15 to $35, only take a minute or two to get, and take 2 weeks to go into effect. Get one now, and you’ll be ready for flu season. With the recycled air on planes, that’s probably not a bad idea.

Gadling’s guide to mileage running — Elite status and frequent flyer tiers.

by Grant Martin on

Most people know that by subscribing to a frequent flyer program, one can accumulate miles over the duration of several flights, ultimately saving up for a free ticket or upgrade. What many people don’t know, however is that there are rewards for accumulating those miles fast enough – usually over the period of one calendar year. For example, if you earn 25k, 50k or 75k miles in a particular airline program over the course of the year, you’ll be rewarded with “perks” at each tier.

These perks come in a variety of different flavors, from preferred seating to quick routes through security lines to upgrades into first class. That’s right, often if an airline has space in first class and they know you’re an elite member they’ll upgrade you to the front of the jet, where (depending on your carrier and flight) you can enjoy free meals and bottomless drinks.

In addition to the perks, it’s also sometimes worth it to earn the miles that you make on your journey. Take this example: as a top tier member of Northwest Airlines, I get a 125% bonus on miles for every flight I take. So while a flight I might run between Detroit (DTW) and AMSterdam may normally earn 4k miles, I would earn 9k miles. And if I have a TOLedo-DTW-AMS-Barcelona(BCN) round trip flight (like I made last Wednesday), I would earn somewhere around 24k miles. Considering that a domestic economy award ticket costs only 25k miles to redeem, I’ve pretty much earned a free domestic ticket with my international journey.

Thus, booking inexpensive long haul flights can often pay off other perks pretty quickly – as long as the fare is cheap enough. You just need to calculate the price per mile (PPM) ratio. Usually if that’s in the 0.01 – 0.02$ or below range, you’re on the line of effective vs. ineffective. A great tool to do this is Farecompare, where you can sort destinations from your departure city by the PPM earned.

Continue reading to Elite status and frequent flyer tiers, page 2

Gadling’s guide to mileage running — Elite status and frequent flyer tiers page 2

by Grant Martin on

You can also earn elite status by flying a certain number of segments. In another example, if you have frequent business between Minneapolis, MN and Saint Louis, MO, each flight on United Airlines earns you two segments: MSP-ORD and ORD-STL. After taking that flight a few weeks in a row, you’ll start to accumulate some serious segments. Usually these tiers are at multiples of 25 segments, but you’ll have to check with your favorite carrier for specifics.

As a result, if you look at your miles or segments balance near the end of the year and you’ve earned almost enough miles or so along the way, it may be worth it for you to schlep around and earn another 5k to bump you up to the next tier. Usually, your status lasts through at least the next calendar year; the platinum status that I’ve earned on NWA lasts until February of 2009.

Why not just take the money I spent on a mileage run to book the ticket that I would use miles to book later? Well, for a couple of reasons. To begin with, one of the few areas in which miles are advantageous to use is in the short term. Ticket prices usually drastically rise in the last two weeks prior to booking. Award tickets, however, usually don’t. So one can book a last second ticket out for the weekend on Thursday and still pay the 25k award fee.

Another reason is because the benefits go beyond simply miles. Elite status, first class upgrades, bump vouchers and airline debauch await anyone willing to go on a mileage run. Part of the whole beauty of mileage running is the logistical bonanza that comes with any booking. It’s part of the fun.

Continue reading to Should I book a mileage run?>>

Gadling’s guide to mileage running — Should I book a mileage run?

by Grant Martin on

Mileage runs aren’t for everyone. Most obviously, you should be within reasonable distance of an elite tier (or your own personal goal – 2k miles short of a 50k reward ticket comes to mind) before you consider pulling the trigger.

If you’re doing it to achieve or maintain elite status, you need to be a frequent enough traveler such that you can enjoy the perks of elite status and extra miles. If you’re a twice-a-year-to-visit-the-parents sort of flyer, it may not be worth your effort.

You also have to consider the time, financial and ethical ramifications of your decisions. Yes, you are burning money to go somewhere you don’t need to go just to earn miles. You’re also dumping tons of carbon into the atmosphere along the way (even though the plane would still fly without you). Carbon offsetting can help you allay those concerns.

For me, the formula happens to work out pretty well because I have a relatively flexible schedule, friends all over the country, a little disposable income and nothing to do on the weekends. I also enjoy the beauty of travel, making new friends in strange places, people watching and working the system. And I take sadistic pleasure in riding around in airplanes.

But everyone has their own motivations. If you find that you happen to fit into some these categories, follow along while I show you how to book the best mileage runs.

Continue reading to How to find a mileage run >>