Another Airline Fee?

We at Excelsior Limousine often marvel at the fees airlines are adding on to fares. Some fees seem worth it. For example: More leg room for a price. Others we’re not so sure about. Read below.

Airlines offer no-crying sections

Seating devoid of screaming babies — for a fee

By Catey Hill

Airplane seats are only slightly more pleasant than dentist’s chairs: There’s no elbow room, your knees end up pressed against your chest, and someone inevitably opens a tub of steaming, stinky food. And then the real kicker: An infant, expressing on the outside how everyone else feels on the inside, starts to scream. Back when smoking was still allowed on flights, fresh air could be found in the nonsmoking section. And on at least a couple of airlines, similar sanctuary can be found from babies in a non-crying section — for a fee.

Scoot Airlines — a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines — announced that it will let passengers pay about $14 to sit in a “child-free” zone. Children under the age of 12 are banned from sitting in this “ScootinSilence” area, which will span rows 21 to 25 on its flights. This area also offers a few inches of more legroom. Scoot offers flights to Singapore (its hub), Sydney, the Gold Coast, Seoul and Nanjing.

The airline joins Air Asia X, which also offers child-free zones. Air Asia X launched its “quiet zone” in February. Children under 12 aren't allowed to sit in this zone, which is composed of rows 7 - 14 in the premium cabin on some of its flights to Australia, China, Taiwan, Japan, Nepal and Korea.

Many travel experts and consumers say there is demand for “child-free” zones. “Most Americans are used to being able to buy certain kinds of seats,” says Michelle Weller, the vice president of sales and customer support for travel agency Travel Leaders in Houston. “Some would pay extra for child-free areas.” Kim Reicherter-Specht, a travel agent with New York-based Tzell Travel, says that business travelers in particular would pay for child-free zones, up to about $25. “I am constantly having discussions with my clients about kids on a plane and how they can be annoying,” she says. “Business travelers use Wi-Fi on the planes, they are working, they don’t want to be bothered.” Some consumers sing a similar tune: Atlanta resident Marissa Joyce says she’d pay $50 or more to sit in a child-free zone.

However, Anne Banas, the executive editor at consumer travel site SmarterTravel.com, says that while a lot of consumers like to talk about how annoying children are on planes, there probably isn’t going to be a ton of demand for this — and it could alienate many families and make it even harder for them to travel. Plus, “even if you have a child-free section, you can probably still hear kids crying from another part of the plane,” she says. “You could be spending extra money for not that much benefit.”

Experts are mixed on whether U.S. airlines will adopt something like this. Carriers will often consider new ideas that might make them money and enhance the customer experience, says Weller. “Some business travelers would opt for an airline that offers child-free zones over another airline.” Banas says she thinks that most larger U.S. airlines won’t adopt child-free zones, but that smaller ones like Spirit which she says often pioneers ancillary fees and puts out unusual promotions — might. (Spirit and Delta could not be reached by press time; American Airlines and Southwest say they have no plans to offer a child-free zone on their planes.) And if an airline does adopt this, they can expect some backlash, says Reicherter-Specht. In U.S. culture, “children are very highly revered by their parents,” she says. “It could be a big PR issue for airlines with people saying ‘I won’t fly this airline because of this.’”

 

We found this article on Aug. 24, 2013 at Yahoo News

 

PS: Excelsior Limousine chauffeurs, driving our town cars, SUVs and limousines have been known to cruise so smoothly that they lull the fussiest of babies to sleep.

Not Lost in Translation

We found this at article at budgettravel.com

If you've ever traveled abroad, you've done it. The improvised sign language and Hokey Pokey-esque gyrations in an attempt to buy a souvenir at a market or find a bathroom. Becoming fluent in a foreign language isn't really feasible for a one-week vacation, but what can you do to avoid embarrassing yourself? We spoke to language expert Benny Lewis, who runs the website Fluentin3Months.com, and asked him for his top advice for navigating a foreign language. Making mistakes is inevitable, but it's easier than you think to navigate a vacation without getting lost in translation. Even Lewis (who, by the way, is fluent in eight languages, including Portuguese, French, German, and Italian) has had some doozies, including accidentally announcing to a German friend that he was horny and telling a Mexican that he liked to shag the bus every day. (On that note, did you know that embarazada means "pregnant," not "embarrassed" en español?) Do something similar and you'll want to zip yourself into your own suitcase and never come out. Follow his easy tips and you'll never be embarrassed again.

Etiquette Goes a Long Way

Good manners are universal. If you're quick with basics like "hello," "thank you," and "you're welcome," people tend to be more gracious as you flub the rest of their native tongue. One of the best things you can do is to research etiquette expectations before you travel. In Paris, for example, call out "bonjour!" when you enter a shop; in the Middle East, don't admire an object in Arabic unless you want its owner to feel obligated to give it to you. For a primer on local politesse, look up the BBC's fabulous language-learning website with its quick guides to 40 different languages, including lists and audio clips of what not to say in French, Spanish, and Italian.

Learn These Five Phrases

The first thing Lewis does when he hits a foreign country is to learn these key phrases: "Where's the bathroom?"; "How much does that cost?"; "Excuse me"; "The food is delicious!"; and "Do you speak English?" "When you're starting off, grammar is not going to help you," Lewis says. "You need to set phrases so you can communicate the basics to people." Tuck a phrasebook into your bag so you can whip it out on the fly, or download a digital version with audio that tells you just how to pronounce "Where's the bullfight?"

Listen to Pronunciation Before You Go

Nothing gets you the "huh?" expression faster than mispronouncing a foreign word. To get a better sense of how things should sound, check in at Forvo.com, an online dictionary with audio pronunciation. Lewis also likes RhinoSpike.com, where you can upload text and a native speaker will read it out loud and submit a recording for you. How long it takes to get a response depends on how many requests there are for the language you are trying to hear (you can move your request up the queue by recording text for other users).  

Two Proven Tricks for Remembering Words

Visualize words. "I'm a very forgetful person," Lewis confesses, so he relies on old-school memory tricks like creating mental images to match words he's learning. For instance, the word playa, Spanish for "beach," reminded him of "player," so he envisioned a guy using cheesy pick-up lines on the beach. To remember prvni, the Czech word for "first," he broke it down into the sounds "pro van," then visualized winning first place at the Van Olympics. The mental images are bizarre, but you will never forget them! You can also try setting phrases to music. You know how you can still sing all the words to that Depeche Mode song from sixth grade? Music is a world-class memory aid, so put it to use while you nail a few foreign language phrases. To cram "Where is the bathroom?" in Italian, Lewis sang "Dov'è il bagno?" to the ding-dong ditty of the Big Ben chimes. "After a couple times it stuck," he says.

How Technology Can Help

Technology is a godsend for those trying to get by in a new language. Word Lens allows you to hover your phone over text to get an instant translation, even when it's offline. Google Goggles allow for point-and-shoot translation with your camera phone: Just snap a photo from a baffling menu and the app provides on-the-spot translation. Use the Jibbigo app to get a rough voice translation for whatever phrase a waiter or a shop owner says into your phone. The concept of old-school flashcards has also gone digital. "I'm a very big fan of Anki, a spaced-repetition flashcard system you can download onto your smartphone," says Lewis. Anki's algorithm figures out which words are hardest for you-and shows you those more often. You can download premade flashcards decks with the most common words in a language, or make your own with words you see around town. (No worries if you're a tech-phobe: paper index cards do the trick, too.)

The One Expert You Can Always Rely On

When the DIY approach to getting by in a foreign language fails, consult the concierge or desk clerk at your hotel for translations and phonetic pronunciations of stuff you'll need to say that day, such as, "Can I get a ticket to the 7 o'clock performance?" The staff at hotels usually speak multiple languages—and are happy to help.

 

Planning an international trip? Excelsior Limousine is happy to provide your ground transportation to LAX and nearby airports

Airplane Boarding--Ask An Astrophysicist

We found this article at Yahoo News. We relate. 

DALLAS (AP) — Getting people on and off an airplane quickly is so complicated that even an astrophysicist couldn't figure it out.

The astrophysicist, Jason Steffen of the University of Illinois, normally contemplates things such as axion-like particles. But after waiting in one boarding line too many, he turned to the mysteries of airline seating.

"I thought there had to be a better way," he says.

So, after a series of calculations, he deduced that the best system would be a combination of filling window seats first, then middle and aisle ones, while also spacing the boarding passengers two rows apart.

There was just one problem — passengers would have to board in precise order. Good luck with that. These are the same passengers who don't turn off their phones even after they're told it's a federal law.

"Well," Steffen observes, "I understand why airline people aren't calling me."

But the search for the perfect boarding process goes on.

Most airlines allow first-class and other elite customers to board first. After that, some fill the rear rows first and work toward the front.

Others fill window seats and work in toward the aisle. Some used to employ a hybrid called the reverse-pyramid. Southwest Airlines has random seating: There are no assigned seats — passengers sort things out themselves. They can pay extra to be near the front of the boarding line.

All of this matters more than you might think.

Passengers want to board early to find space in the overhead bins for their rolling carry-on bags. For airlines, every minute that a plane sits at the gate makes it more likely that the flight will be late, hurting the carrier's on-time rating and causing passengers to miss connecting flights.

There's an economic cost to running late too. Researchers from Northern Illinois University say that at one major airline, which they didn't identify, every extra minute at the gate added $30 in costs.

American Airlines, which uses a back-to-front system for boarding coach passengers after it takes care of elite customers, says that it takes about 25 minutes to board passengers on a smaller, narrow-body plane such as a Boeing 737 and about 35 minutes on a bigger plane such as a Boeing 777.

In recent weeks, United and American — the nation's biggest and third-biggest carriers — have rolled out new strategies for faster boarding.

— American is letting passengers board sooner if they don't put anything in the overhead bins. The idea is to get more people seated quickly before passengers with rolling bags clog the aisle.

— United reduced the number of boarding groups from seven to five while adding lanes in gate areas — from two to five at big airports. That's designed to eliminate "gate lice" — the name road warriors use for those anxious passengers with big carry-ons who cause a traffic jam by creeping forward long before their group is called.

American and United tested their new procedures in a handful of airports before rolling them out across the country in time for the peak summer travel season. United CEO Jeff Smisek says his airline's new method has helped cut boarding-related departure delays by more than 60 percent.

Boarding methods go back to the dawn of commercial flight, but they've gotten more complicated as the airlines have created different classes of passengers and sold the right to board early.

Since 2008, most large airlines have imposed fees for checking a bag, which encourages passengers to carry more on board. At the same time, airlines have reduced flights to control costs, making planes more crowded. The result: Space in the overhead bins has never been more valuable.

Recognizing the potential value in that coveted real estate, Spirit Airlines began charging for stowing a bag in the overhead three years ago — the fee now runs up to $100.

Spirit says the fee speeds up boarding by cutting down the number of carry-on bags. The big airlines haven't copied Spirit for fear of angering customers. They've looked for other ways to improve boarding.

In May, American began offering early boarding to passengers with just a personal item that fits under the seat. In a test at several airports, it cut boarding by two minutes per flight, according to Kevin Doeksen, the airline's director of customer planning. With about 1,900 flights per day on American, that adds up.

What's to stop a passenger from moving up in line by promising to put a personal item under the seat, then stuffing it in the overhead bin anyway?

"It would be a lie to say that never happens," says Tessa Letren, an American gate agent at Baltimore-Washington International Airport. "We can't always police that."

Still, Letren supports the new policy, which she says cuts the amount of time that planes spend on the ground between flights.

Before the 2010 merger of United and Continental airlines, United used the inside-out method of boarding — window seats first, then middle, then aisle — while Continental went back-to-front. After much testing, the combined airline kept the United approach. Earlier this year, United set up additional boarding lines in the terminals to attack congestion in the gate area.

The back-to-front system, still used by many airlines, seems logical. But some studies have shown that it's slower than windows-middle-aisle.

"If you're on the aisle and somebody sitting next to you in the middle seat shows up, you need to unbuckle and maybe get up," says Ken Bostock, United's managing director of customer experience. "That can take 20, 25 seconds, and that happens a lot during the boarding process."

Lou Agudo, a United gate agent who worked at Continental before the merger, says boarding by rows practically invited confusion. Just when he thought everyone in Group 2 had gone through, and he called Group 3 to start, "Twenty people would walk up and say they didn't hear the announcement." Some had missed the call for their group, while others decided to get in line no matter what, he says. The extra lanes have made his job easier.

Anything to tidy up the gate area will help, in the view of Yosief Ghirmai, an auditor for defense contractor Raytheon Co. in Frisco, Texas, who says foreign airlines make boarding much easier for elite-level frequent fliers like himself.

"The international airlines respect the priority boarding system," Ghirmai says, citing Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific as an example. "Here, you have to fight to get to the priority boarding line — all the bags, all the kids. The concept (in the U.S.) is the same, but the execution is much better over there."

Selita Garcia of Chicago wondered why anybody in the front of the plane would want to board first.

"We're always bumping into all those business-class people — if it's not my purse, then I'm hitting them with my bag," says Garcia, who manages a doctor's office and was taking her grandson to vacation in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, recently. "Why let them on first? The plane is not taking off until everybody is on the plane."

Others like to get settled before takeoff.

Kausalya Palavesam, a marketing manager for Texas Instruments who was coming back from a conference in Atlanta, says about 15 passengers on her American flight took the airline's offer to check their carry-on bags at the gate and board sooner.

"Why not?" she says. "There won't be room for the bag (in the overhead bin) anyway."

 

By David Koenig

 

PS: At Excelsior Limousine you're always first in line and there is always plenty of room for your carry-on luggage. :) Check out our Yelp reviews. We have five stars!

 

 

 

 

Vintage Anywhere

Interested in vintage markets when you travel? Now there's a national guide to vintage markets, specialty antique stores and salvage centers. Go to www.fleaquest.com to start your treasure hunt.

Did you know Excelsior Limousine has a special rate for shopping? Shop Rodeo, The Grove and Third Street Promenade L.A. Style. Find all details at www.excelsiorla.com under Special Rate Packages.

Burbank Bob Hope Airport--Thanks Again Program

As of July 26 Burbank Bob Hope Airport launched its partnership with Thanks Again. The Thanks Again Rewards Program is offering travelers one airline mile or two hotel points for every dollar they spend shopping, parking or dining at participating merchants and concessions at over 170 airports and thousands of neighborhood businesses and local tourist attractions across the country. Burbank Bob Hope Airport will be the only LA based airport offering Thanks Again for the next year.

Excelsior Limousine is always available to provide car sercice to and from Burbank Bob Hope Airport.