Passengers
This was supposed to be a column critical of US Airways’ rather peculiar Web site, which is unable to perform basic functions, such as retrieving valid and active tickets. But it also became an appreciation of the carrier’s willingness to explain some of those issues and even try to resolve them.
Every airline’s Web site has limitations and various quirks that annoy travelers — some offer odd routings when you search for flights, others show confusing or even misleading prices, and yet others try to get you to buy things you don’t need instead of taking you straight to the final purchase page.
However, if you simply want to display your itinerary by providing your reservation or ticket number, no major carrier will fail you. Except US Airways. In the past couple of years, I’ve had several tickets with flights on that airline that its Web site was unable to find…
Ever since electronic permits for foreign travelers to the United States who don’t need a regular visa became mandatory in January, I’ve been getting reports about confusion among both passengers and airport agents about some of the new rules. So I thought I’d try to clear things up.
It’s a particularly good time to do that, because after March 20, the Department of Homeland Security will impose fines on airlines that transport visitors with neither a visa in their passport nor approval by the new Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA).
The fines will be $3,300 for each non-compliant passenger, said Joanne Ferreira, a spokeswoman for the department’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP) division…
Continue reading about Airline agents make up U.S. entry rules
Washington Dulles International Airport is certainly taking its time to fully join the modern age of air travel, but the first steps in its journey are now complete, and they make an obvious difference. The most significant are the new international arrivals hall and the AeroTrain, which started running last week.
As readers of this column will recall, I have no love lost for Dulles. In the past, I’ve gone as far as to call it a disgrace for the capital of the world’s richest and most powerful country. Its many limitations include the archaic people-movers officially known as “mobile lounges” and the depressing interior of the “midfield terminal.”
The current management of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA), though, deserves credit for beginning Dulles’ long-overdue modernization — however slow the entire process may be…
It’s puzzling why in the United States, one of the most lucrative travel markets in the world, the concept of airport transit hotels is so foreign. There are signs that may be changing, but current plans seem more like baby steps than bold decision-making.
A recent trip to Asia reminded me of the lack of entrepreneurial thinking exhibited by many U.S. airport operators. Readers of this column may remember my praise for terminals in Hong Kong and Singapore earlier this year.
Beyond design, comfort and cleanliness, having such a time- and hassle-saving convenience as a hotel under the same roof as your departure gate makes a lot of sense at a large international airport. It’s not hard to imagine that it could be a moneymaking venture…
The practice of one airline selling seats on another carrier’s planes with its own flight numbers has been around for years, and many travelers are familiar with the term “code-sharing.” Yet even experienced fliers continue to be surprised by what amounts to false advertising.
It’s holiday time, and I’d love to write columns about how seamless and hassle-free travel is — which is true for me in most cases — but I keep hearing from readers about questionable airline behavior. In the latest example, LACSA, Costa Rica’s national airline, may have misled some customers.
Lance Cygielman, a travel agent from Jackson Hole, Wyo., wrote me after reading my column about British Airways’ refusal to honor fares from the United States to India it said had been published by mistake last month…
Continue reading about Hidden perils of airline code-sharing
