I was midway through another chapter of Self-Absorbed Nonsense,  when I had a revelation of sorts - maybe I shouldn't talk about myself so much (Not to fear though,  I will finish "On Patience and Passion" hopefully in the next few days).  Maybe I should address something of interest that I know something about. 

One thing I know,  much better than  I ever hoped, is travelling.  In '85,  while visiting in Chicago,  I was asked to drive to O'Hare to pickup my brother's father-in-law,  and take him to a hotel in the Loop.  The entire way from O'Hare to the hotel,  I kept thinking how cool it was that Mr. Mongan got to travel all the time,  and get paid for it.  Oh Sweet Jeepers,  but I've never been so wrong in my life. 

"Position Requires Extensive Travel" - man,  I had to have this job.  It was fun, and exciting... for maybe 6 months.  I've been doing it now for the better part of 16 years,  and man,  does travel get old.  I believe I've mentioned my distinct hatred (hatred is too civil) for airports.  On the other hand,  I do still enjoy flying,  and sometimes hotel life can be bearable.  I've managed to stay at virtually all hotel chains of note,  from the aforementioned  Motel 6 (which actually could be a lot worse, up to recently a good value),  to Four Seasons,  and Ritz-Carltons.  I've also stayed at a few independent hotels,  normally fairly up-scale, so I'm something of an expert on the lodging biz. 



This time I'm talking airlines,  in the near future,  hotels.  First off,  I will not fly Northwest - old fleet (they still fly little-bitty uncomfortable very ancient DC-9's for goodness sakes),  they have major labor relations issues,  grouchy staff,  and their poor service is legendary.  I'm probably the only person in Phoenix who doesn't like Southwest.  It's probably because I'm spoiled,  as a Gold FlightFund member with America West (now USAir),  I get to fly 1st class a lot,  and Southwest doesn't have 1st class.  I'd probably love Southwest if I was paying for my own flights,  but I don't.  Their fares are cheap,  and out of Phoenix (their #1 "hub" they insist they don't have hubs, but in Phoenix,  it's a hub), it's non-stop to pretty much anywhere in the country.  But for spoiled fliers like me,  I like the movies,  the snacks,  and most important THE ASSIGNED SEATING!.  It used to be much worse,  back in the days of the plastic A,B,C boarding passes and the 3 lines,  but the cattle call still sucks.  Once we're under way,  Southwest coach is just fine. 

Flying on the "Big 3" (American, Delta,  and United) is pretty much interchangeable,  at least domestically.  They all have movies,  music etc. on their longer flights.  My preference of the 3 is United,  for 2 reasons.  1 is that on some of their flights they have "Economy Plus" which is a small section with longer "pitch' or legroom between seats.  You have to be flying on a full fare ticket (the Govt. contract fare is "Y" class or full fare),  and know to ask for it (you can never get it via the web for some reason).  The other reason is a little different.  Unlike any other airline to my knowledge,  you can listen to the air traffic control radio on Channel 9.  For some reason,  this is just fascinating,  and I often listen for the entire flight.  Sometimes you can hear some very interesting information you wouldn't know otherwise.  One night on the red-eye from Denver to Phoenix,  we taxied forever at the massive Denver airfield.  Finally,  a very embarrassed United Captain admitted to the ground controller that he was lost!  Thank god it was late at night,  I would have probably panicked! 

I've only flown JetBlue once,  redeye Phoenix-JFK,  and it was wonderful - 1/2 full,  so I had the entire coach row to myself.  It was really fun to watch DirecTV on board,  although in the middle of the night,  mostly infomercials.  

When I fly to Seattle,  I fly Alaska,  and for some reason still unexplained,  they usually upgrade me to 1st,  even though I only fly them a few times a year.  They used to be one of the best airlines in the US,  always had a meal on china,  friendly staff etc.  Now not so great,  no meals,  no in-flight services like movies or music,  and pretty ordinary 1st class.  Their service at Seatac is also TERRIBLE.  Slowest baggage handling in the business (not just my opinion,  but the FAA's as well),  and grouchy,  unhelpful staff for the most part.  (It's probably a good thing few people read this,  or it would be the end of my upgrades I'm sure.)

I haven't flown on Frontier,  or any of the other smaller airlines.  I flew on Airtran once maybe 7 years ago,  not memorable,  and since they don't fly out of Phoenix,  probably not gonna happen again anytime soon. 

I'm an expert on America West/USAir.  Their headquarters,  and primary hub are in Phoenix, and they're my airline of choice.  Thanks to my Gold membership in FlightFund now Dividend Miles (I'm never gonna qualify for Platinum,  you gotta fly like 5000 miles a week or 4 legs a week to qualify,  if it ever reaches that point,  I'll retire early),  I can call USAir 72 hours before departure,  and if there are any remaining seats in 1st class,  I get it absolutely free.  This happens almost all the time,  so I'm extremely spoiled.  They also have mostly new equipment.  I prefer Boeing to Airbus, and the old America West was about 60% Airbus,  but it's not a big thing. Now that they've merged with USAir,  the equipment is older,  but lot more Boeing that Airbus.  I admit I didn't like flying USAir at all,  almost as bad as Northwest (and I had to use them when flying to Philadelphia),  hopefully the merger will change things.  The only downside with America West was all their equipment is single aisle.  Newer Boeing dual aisle equipment (767,  777) usually have much nicer seating,  and it's just nice to be able to get up and walk around a little.  Also,  1st class is normally much nicer,  often w/ seating intended for overseas flights.  I've been lucky enough to get bumped to first from JFK to Phoenix on a Delta 767 recently,  and it was unbelievable.  The equipment had just finished a flight from Mumbai to JFK,  so it was fully equipped for transoceanic service.  Little individual TV's that come out of the arm of the seat,  with 30+ channels of movies,  great food,  free drinks (unfortunately I can't drink alcohol,  medication issue,  miss that glass of wine),  great service just unbelievable.  America West had some major service problems about 6 years ago,  but they've really turned around,  and I genuinely like flying on them.  Hopefully the merger won't screw that up. 

I've flown internationally on a number of airlines,  all in coach (First or even Business is really expensive flying overseas,  even the upgrades using my miles are pretty steep).  I love British Air,  and Virgin equally.  Al Nippon was ok,  not up to the usual Asian standards.  I haven't had a chance to fly Singapore Air which is always picked number 1 for service,  but next time to anywhere in Asia,  I'm going to fly Singapore if I can.  Not a big fan of Lufthansa,  BA / Virgin is so much better,  and they both have great European feeder service as well.  EgyptAir was actuallyb better than I expected,  but Royal Jordanian is very nice.  I love Mexicana,  but not a big fan of AeroMexico.  I few Air Canada once many years ago,  not great.  I have to admit,  as tiring as it can be,  one of my favorite parts of international travel is the flight.  There's something magical about flying over the ocean,  seeing Iceland or Greenland,  or maybe some Pacific Atoll you've never heard of from 6 miles up.  I've said before,  I'm still a kid when it comes to looking out the window,  and it's particularly wonderful on international flights.  I love to check the little maps on the personal video unit that tell you all about where you are,  how high you're flying,  how long's it been and going to be,  the temperature outside etc.  Leaving JFK early in the evening in a driving storm,  and then 12 hours later seeing the Great Pyramids on your approach into Cairo,  it's just hard to believe it's possible.  I do love to travel for my own pleasure,  and the constant drudge of business travel hasn't ruined that (yet).  There are so many places still on my list,  India,  Brazil,  New Zealand,  Vietnam, Moscow/St. Petersburg - I will eventually see them all God Willing. 

Next time,  my thoughts on hotels.