Arthur Frommer's Blog, page 2

Change Fees Waived by Airlines for Those Flying Into or Out of Boston

[This is a guest post by Pauline Frommer]

This is just a quick blog to point you towards a helpful article by USAToday. In light of yesterday's horrific attack in Boston, all of the major carriers have waived change fees for those scheduled to fly into or out of the city in the next few days. They're doing this not because service is being disrupted--it isn't--but because they know that many people's plans have probably changed.

For full details, please click on the link above.

Those Photographs of Beyoncé and Jay-Z on the Streets of Havana Have Re-Ignited a Raging Controversy About the U.S. Travel Embargo Against Cuba

They were standard flashbulb shots by ordinary paparazzi of two married musical stars--Beyoncé and JayZ--strolling on the streets of Havana, and yet when they appeared two weeks ago in various U.S. newspapers, they touched off a political frenzy. Various members of Congress--most from South Florida--instantly claimed that the celebrated duo must have been illegally in Cuba, violating the U.S. embargo. And each such claim was accompanied by arguments that we Americans should continue in our resolve not to visit that forbidden tropical island 90 miles south of Miami.

Turns out that Beyoncé and Jay Z were legally in Cuba; they were clients of a licensed travel agency authorized to operate "people-to-people" tours to Havana, and were following--so it was claimed--the rigid, hour-by-hour itinerary of such licensed visits. Nearly a dozen U.S. tour operators are now selling such tours for outlandish prices--as much as $4500 for a mere week, including round-trip air between Miami and Havana--and the reason for the high price is the highly-organized nature of the tour. Participants must swear in writing that they will be carted from place to place to meet with members of various Cuban organizations who will be trucked in to meet with the exhausted tourists. Arrangements must be made through a Cuban intermediary earning top dollar, and the whole week is so meticulously planned and operated as theoretically to justify the $4,500 price. A company called Insight Cuba, headed by Tom Popper, operates the most numerous array of such tours, and they are selling well among affluent Americans.

These costly American-licensed tours of Cuba are in sharp contrast to the cheap air-and-land packages to Cuba offered in Canada, to Canadians, by various Canadian tour companies (like SunWing, Air Canada Vacations, WestJet, and others). I write a monthly round-up for The Toronto Star of travel bargains to all parts of the world available to Canadians flying out of Toronto, and I always start the list with Cuban packages, because they are the top value of all. Currently, for the amazing price of $660 per person, a Canadian citizen can purchase a package consisting of round-trip air between Toronto and Havana (including all government fees and taxes), airport-to-hotel transfers, a seaside Cuban hotel for seven nights, three meals a day for the entire week, unlimited drinks for the same, and unlimited non-motorized sea sports. All for $660 in Manzanillo de Cuba. Pricier packages to high-rise hotels on Varadero Beach, a short distance from Havana, cost around $860 per person, and again include round-trip airfare, beachfront hotel for a week, all meals and all drinks, and round-trip transfers between airport and hotel.

Read it and weep.

What's infuriating about our policy requiring highly-regulated, highly-limited, American tours to Cuba--ringed about with so many restrictions as to be unavailable for an affordable price--is that Cuba appears to be the only country subject to that treatment. Americans can presently travel, unregulated, to North Korea, of all places. Americans can go to Communist China, they can go to Vietnam, and to all sorts of other places having authoritarian governments. The next time you meet a defender of the travel embargo against Cuba, ask them how they explain the lack of such an embargo against North Korea.

What's worse is the abject failure of the policy. We have maintained a travel embargo against Cuba for more than fifty years--and it has had no impact whatsoever on the political situation there, other than to infuriate the citizens of Cuba and get their backs up. Those Cuban citizens are surrounded by tourists from every country in the world--Italians, French, English, Chinese, Brazilian, and more--other than from America. And those Cubans resent that blockade (I've seen that reaction in my own two legal visits (as a journalist) to Cuba in recent years). Moreover, countries from all over the world, especially the Spanish, are building hotels in Cuba, but no American companies are permitted to compete. A more loony policy you could not devise if you tried.

Anyway, I'm repeating myself. But the adventures of Beyoncé and Jay-Z have once again reminded us of the issue.

Buckle Up, It's Going to Be a Bumpy Flight...Literally! The Effects of Pollution on Air Turbulence Plus More Bad Sequester News

[This is a guest post by Pauline Frommer]

I'm sorry that this blog has become a parade of lousy news lately, but here comes some more. Scientists are predicting that as carbon dioxide levels rise, so will air turbulence for transatlantic flights. The bumpiness will have to do with the jet stream moving ever farther north. Scientists, in a study published by the journal Nature Climate Change, are saying that both the frequency of turbulence and its strength will increase significantly in coming years.

To read the Associated Press account of the study, please click here.

Those bumps in the, er, road will be coming in the coming years. But the sequester is happening now, and we're starting to see more and more fallout from it. In the latest news, the Navy has announced it will be cancelling Fleet Week this year. So, no well-deserved break for our men and women in dress-white uniforms this year; much less business for restaurants and night spots in those cities that host this 39-year old event (most notably New York City); and civilians won't have that yearly (and pretty thrilling) opportunity to tour working naval vessels. 'Tis a shame.

Apparently, the Blue Angels Flight Demonstration Squadron have been forced to cancel all their appearances at air shows in 2013, as well.

Even worse (arguably) has been the rash of vandalism at Joshua Tree National Park. The Park Service has been forced to close several of the park's most popular hiking trails because vandals have defaced 17 areas with graffiti. Most are blaming social media for the increase in vandalism. Apparently, the perpetrators have been posting photos of their hits, spurring others to do the same. But one has to wonder if the decrease in ranger patrols--something that's happening at strapped National Parks around the country--is also to blame here?

And that's the news from country woebegone. Hopefully I'll have some happier news for you soon.

There's a Guy Charging $100 for Credentials Enabling You to Profit from Threatening to Submit Fake or Biased Revews to TripAdvisor and Yelp

I am so amused by this next report that I can't refrain from "blogging" about it, even though I'll be accused of having a self-interested bias against the so-called "user-generated" websites.  The topic was brought to my attention by David Lazarus, a consumer affairs writer for The Los Angeles Times, who has come upon one of the most ingenious dubious schemes in commerce today.

Lazarus discovered a man who has now created a website advertising the sale, for $100, of a snazzy-looking, black, plastic, imitation credit-card identifying the holder as a "reviewer" of hotels and restaurants.  You buy the card, and the next time you check in at a hotel, you display it to the assistant manager or general manager and advise them that you will be writing a review of their hotel and submitting it to one of the well-known user-generated sites.  You broadly hint that they will get a favorable review if you are given either a discount off the room price or an upgraded room.

Or else you show the card to the maitre d' of a restaurant, advising that lady or gentleman that you will send in a favorable review to TripAdvisor or Yelp if you are given a free meal or one that's heavily discounted, or one replete with free wine or a free dessert.  And lo and behold, according to the creators of this scheme, it works!  You're treated like a important guest when you flash your impressive-looking, black, reviewer's card.

I am not making this up.  The website can easily be found on the internet, and the author of the scheme was actually named by David Lazarus in his write-up for The Los Angeles Times (which probably brought an avalanche of $100 orders for the card).  And amazingly enough, according to Lazarus, the promoter had no qualms about what he was doing and stoutly denied it was unethical.

By simply advising the hotel or restaurant that "I write reviews" and flashing the card, you are advising them, according to this mastermind, that you want spiffy service--or maybe an expression of gratitude (in the form of a discount or free lodgings or free meals).

Using the card, the promoter was once able to obtain a 400-Euro room at a European hotel for only 200 Euros. Having once been made to stand at the end of a long line to a celebrated restaurant, he flashed the card and was immediately permitted to skip the line.

Isn't what he is doing akin to blackmail--blackmail of the hotel or restaurant, forcing them to "deal" for fear of obtaining a bad review sent to TripAdvisor or Yelp?  Absolutely not, replied the "card-shark"; I am simply dramatically advising them that I frequently write reviews of the hotels and restaurants I use.

So there it is.  And wasn't it to be expected that some types of this sort would proceed to "game" the system operated by the user-generated sites?  And how would you like to be in the position of a hotel or restaurant confronting a character who threatened a devastating review of your services unless you, in effect, paid him off?

You'll notice that I haven't named the website, or the person who operates it and issues these flashy, slick, jet-black, credit-card-looking announcements that they are "reviewers".  And, given the system operated by user-generated sites, and their total inability to distinguish fake reviews from honest ones, wasn't this bound to happen?

Lessons to Take Away from Yesterday's Pickpocket-Inspired Shut Down of the Louvre in Paris

[This is a guest post by Pauline Frommer]

Last May, I hosted a tour of France for the listeners to my radio show. We had days of touring together, and days when we set off on our own. On one of the free days, a group within our group headed to Versailles. Though they came back raving about the grounds, and the hall of mirrors, they also had some serious negatives to report about the experience, on two topics: pickpockets and crowds.

The two are, of course, inextricably linked. Where there are crowds, there often are pickpockets. Our group felt they had two close calls at the museum, dealing with men who were obviously tailing them and at one point, shoved a member of the group into another stranger. Thankfully, nothing was taken from that person, but they were shaken up. Constant announcements, by guides, about looking out for pickpockets, also made the experience a less-than-relaxing one.

The problem isn't confined to Versailles. Yesterday, the staff of the Louvre expressed their worries about pickpockets in that institution in a highly European way: they went on strike! Would-be visitors to the Louvre were told that the staff had walked out, forcing the museum to close, an extraordinary turn of events (and  that must have been intensely frustrating for the visitors). A union representative for the staff told the Guardian newspaper that workers were afraid of the organized gangs of thieves in the museum, many of whom used children as distractions (children enter free). Staff members had reportedly been spat upon and insulted when they tried to intervene.

So, a new spotlight on the age-old problem of pickpockets at tourist sites. But it's an issue that Bruce McIndoe, founder of the travel security firm I-Jet, feels has gotten more serious in recent years thanks to worsening economic conditions in Europe.

Obviously, travelers shouldn't skip the Louvre or any of the other crowded-but-important sights of Europe. But they should take precautions. Here are a few suggestions, from McIndoe:

Keep your passport, the majority of your cash and other important documents, in a safe at your hotel when you can.When you have to carry a large amount of money, do so either in a money belt or in a wallet that can hang from your neck and tuck under a shirt. Keep a small amount of money in your pocket so you don't have to dig into your hidden stash in public.Men who don't want to wear one of these devices should keep their wallet in their front, not back, pocket. They also are advised to put a thick rubber band around it, which will make the wallet much more difficult to extract from the pocket.If you feel like someone is barging into your personal space, heed the red lights that sets off. Generally pickpockets work in small gangs, with one or two people distracting the victim while another lifts their valuables. So keep a zone of space around yourself when you can, and if you think someone's approaching you for a phony reason, walk away.Be careful about flaunting your cell phone in public. Pickpockets are increasingly grabbing those. 

Travel safe, friends!

By the way, the Louvre re-opened today.

It Appears That the Airlines Are Quoting Wildly-Differing Airfares to You Depending on Their Assessment of Your Personality

You're about to read one of the most startling, but probably accurate, new discoveries about airline shenanigans in recent travel history.  A book by USA Today reporter William J. McGee, called Attention All Passengers:  The Airlines' Dangerous Descent, is claiming that numerous airlines have begun collecting data on their passengers and would-be passengers--their previous purchases, the extent of their cost-conscious attitudes, their race, income and gender, whether they make impulse purchases or else "shop around"--and then tailoring the prices offered to them according to those personal characteristics.  Two passengers requesting the same flight at the same time are quoted different prices on the airlines' websites!

In other words, according to McGee, you are being watched.  Tracking what you have earlier purchased, and your pattern of purchasing, the airlines "tailor" their airfares to your personality.  An outright invasion of your privacy is occurring.  And this accounts for why other people accessing the airlines' websites at the same time as you, are being quoted differing fares.

It's an amazing indictment--but it seems to be supported by the anecdotal evidence that all of us have chanced upon.  I've been surprised, for example, to find differing ads appearing on my laptop in a particular website, at the same time as someone using a different laptop is seeing other ads.  I've encountered this too many times to doubt that ads are being chosen according to my own past history of accessing them and clicking on certain ads.

Though many airlines are already engaging in these maneuvers, according to McGee, the International Air Transport Association is, remarkably, petitioning the Department of Transportation for the right to quote different airfares to different classes of people.  In other words, they want to do legally what other airlines are already doing without regard to legality.

To repeat:  they want to quote one set of prices to people whose history is that of making quick, impulse purchases, and another set to people who shop around.  They want to engage in "dynamic pricing."  They want to deal in "customized fares."  They want to quote one level of prices to low income people and another to higher earning people.  If all this seems out of a science fiction novel, it isn't; the department of Transportation has actually announced it is accepting comments from the public by May 7, responding to IATA's petition.

Have any of our readers had experience with the airlines' "dynamic pricing"?  Have they noticed such customized pricing in their use of computers to buy other products?  Have they actually noticed that the advertisements appearing on their computer are different from those of friends using another computer?  I'd be fascinated to hear of your experiences, and will be voicing in a later blog my own reactions to this (disturbing) development.

With flight times increasing, and more and more passengers getting bumped, serious airline complaints are much more numerous than in recent years

[This is a guest post by Pauline Frommer]

Did your latest flight arrive early? Mine did and that's not necessarily a good thing. As a recent analysis in USAToday showed, airlines are padding their flight times to improve on-time stats.

That means on-time and early arrivals, yes, but also more time spent just sitting on the darn plane. In fact, the paper found that 93% of flights are now longer than they were in 1995. 

Combine that increased time with the fact that planes are flying much fuller than they were a decade ago, and with more seats crammed on to them, to boot,  and what do you get? Complaints. A massive surge in complaints.

According to the Associated Press, complaints are up by a full 20% from a year ago. It's basing its reporting on statistics just released by the Department of Transportation.

An additional source of friction has been the increase in involuntary bumping (with fewer planes in the sky, fewer passengers are volunteering to wait for the next plane when flights are overbooked than in the past. Why? Does so could mean getting to one's destination days rather than hours late).

It's all an ugly brew, and frankly, there's not much to do. But forewarned is forearmed right?

Are Travel Providers Changing Prices Based on Your Browsing History?

[This is a guest post by Pauline Frommer]

I'll be interviewing Bill McGee for our radio show tomorrow about a provocative article he posted in USA Today on whether travel deals change based on your browsing history. Though all of the major travel sites have long claimed this idea is sheer paranoia, McGee tested his hypothesis, using different computers in the search for airfares. His conclusion: travel providers are tracking consumer purchases, and raising the prices on those who spend most.

So what does one do with this bit of intel? McGee's advice may be a bit unwieldy for many, but he recommends using more than one browser and even switching computers when possible. Shopping around is also key, he writes, as is using sites that don't respect your privacy. Towards that last point, always make sure the site you're about to use has a privacy policy posted and don't use sites that say your information will be "held", "shared" or "sold".

Alas, McGee (and I) think this situation is about to become worse, thanks to the airline's stated intention to start customizing fares for their passengers (click here for my blog on that). This will require passengers store past travel purchase history with the airlines in order to be eligible for specialized "discounts."

Hey, any of you potential airline customers in the market for a bridge? I have just the one to sell you.

Flying From Abroad into a US Airport? Bring a Book...and Lots of Patience

[This is a guest post by Pauline Frommer]

The sequester's effects have been sneaking up on travelers, slowly but surely.

I've blogged here before about this governmental snafu's potentially devastating effect on our National Parks--their staffing, services and programming.

Happily another travel crisis has been averted...for now. The Department of Transportation has decided to put off shutting down air control towers until June, citing safety concerns. Summer should also be when security lines slow down, due to a hiring freeze at the TSA.

But for those flying  into the country, the ugliness has already set in. According to USA Today, understaffing at customs has slowed down entry into the US to a crawl. New York's JFK has it worst, with passengers waiting up to three hours to get into the US. (Note for travelers: lines are the worst in the morning. From personal experience, I can tell you that they don't seem to be too awful in the evening. We waited just half an hour last week when coming back from Morocco). Miami has also seen 3-hour plus waits, according to the newspaper, while at Los Angeles Airport, officials have held passengers aboard planes for a full hour because the customs area has gotten dangerously crowded. Sadly, Washington Dulles, which just added a third more customs booths (at the cost of $180 million), has seen its wait time increase by half an hour or more, despite the expanded facilities.

Cuts to employee overtime are the reason behind the increased waits.

What a sad welcome for foreign visitors coming to the United States! Heaven knows we can use their tourism dollars. According to the White House, foreign tourists spent $14 billion in the United States in 2012, an increase of 8% from 2011. That translates into tens of thousands of jobs at hotels,  attractions, airports, restaurants and other sorts of facilities that cater to tourists.

Tourism has been a bright spot in an economy that seems to be getting better only in fits and spurts. With the sequester, and its devastating impact on the comfort of our visitors (and on their options, should they be coming to visit our national parks), we could see that increase in visitor numbers evaporate in 2014. The US has a good amount of competitions when it comes to travel.

So what to do? Remind your legislator that you haven't forgotten about the sequester and you realize these inconveniences--some serious ones--are the direct result of their inaction. Travel cuts are just one small part of the impact of the sequester (my heart goes out to all those whose unemployment benefits have been slashed). It's time to kick up a ruckus! Email your Congressperson, email your Senator and tell them we expect them to do their jobs, now, not later! 

The U.S. Tour Operators to Costa Rica Are Falling All Over Themselves to Present You with Compelling, Bargain-Priced Trips There

To the surprise of many, Costa Rica stands high in the list of favorite destinations for American travelers. That little Central American country is receiving strong numbers of American vacationers, and almost all major tour operators now include it in their products, and especially in their lists of bargain products. Three particular programs to Costa Rica stand out.

Probably the most popular is a 10-night escorted tour of every important place in Costa Rica from the long-established Caravan Tours of Chicago (www.caravan.com or 800/CARAVAN). Departing on a frequent basis throughout the year, it sells for $1,095 per person in May and June (plus $234 in taxes and fees) plus round-trip airfare to Costa Rica (and airfares there are exceptionally moderate in price). For that sum, you get quality accommodations throughout, all three meals daily, all transportation within Costa Rica, and daily escorted sightseeing via a big and modern motorcoach. (May and June are not the months for the heaviest tourism to Costa Rica, and there are only five departure dates in May and seven in June, but they're so well-spaced that you'll always find one such date suitable to your needs.)

A somewhat different "hosted" (which means actually independent), 10-day tour of Costa Rica is offered for $1,149 per person (plus round-trip airfare to Costa Rica) by the estimable Gadventures of Toronto (catering mainly to U.S. travelers). It provides you with transportation from place to place, and accommodations for 9 hotel nights in the capital city of San Jose, in Tortuguero on Costa Rica's Caribbean coast, near the Arenal Volcano, and on the Guanacaste Beaches on the Pacific Coast. You also get 9 full-scale breakfasts, 2 lunches and 2 dinners; and you book that assortment of features by going to gadventures.com or by phoning 800/800-4100. Look for "The Best of Costa Rica" in the tour operator's catalogue or website.

Finally, there are always bargain-priced tours to Costa Rica, this time including airfare, from Gate1Travel.com, in a large variety of itineraries and tour features (including self-drive tours of Costa Rica). They are best viewed at the tour operator's website, because the offering is rather complicated (and also constantly changing).

So if you're looking for an interesting vacation in the coming months, you might give a thought to finally viewing and experiencing a Central American country, easily reached from almost any part of the United States.