Credit Card Foreign-Exchange Fees Update – Discover and Other Cards

Despite the fact that the Discover credit card does not have as much international presence as does Visa, MasterCard, or America Express (it’s only accepted internationally in Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, China, and Central America), it was one of the few cards that did not add foreign currency transaction fees when converting purchases made in other currencies. No longer. According to Discover’s terms and conditions, the card will begin charging 2% beginning with billing periods ending after May 1, 2009.

Thus, the only credit cards we know of not charging any forex conversion fees (0%) are Schwab and Capital One. There are several cards from small banks and credit unions that charge 1%, but realistically for most consumers, practically all popular Visas and MasterCards charge 3%, and Amex charges 2.7%. (FlyerGuide Wiki has an overview of credit, debit, and ATM forex fees, but we have not independently verified all their information – it is a user-edited Wiki, after all.)

Technically, the 0% that Schwab and Capital One advertise means that those banks are absorbing the 1% that Visa and MasterCard tack on above the Interbank exchange rate for ALL foreign-currency conversions. Those 3% fees from most banks means that in addition to Visa/MC’s 1%, those banks are adding another 2%.

(This is part 1 of a short 3-part series of updates on international credit card and ATM use. Part 2. Part 3.)

Hilton American Express Card Changes

It looks like it’s official. The Hilton HHonors American Express card has changed its reward ratios. The new terms offer “6 points for Hilton Family Hotels, Supermarkets, Drug Stores, Gas Stations, Home & Wireless Phone, Cable & Satellite TV, and Internet Service Providers.” 3 points for other purchases. This is up from 5 points previously in several categories, but Restaurants and the Post Office have been eliminated from the higher reward tier.

This doesn’t seem like a big deal to us. We still think the Hilton Amex is one of the best reward cards available, and an extra reward point is always a nice thing. The big unfortunate change is the elimination of restaurants from the top 6-point tier. It’s getting harder to find reward credit cards offering more than 1% for restaurant purchases. (The Costco Amex and the Chase Business card both still seem to offer 3% at restaurants.)

The Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act

A bipartisan bill (HR 874) that would allow Americans to travel to Cuba was introduced in the House of Representatives on February 4, 2009. The Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act would prohibit the President of the United States from regulating or forbidding travel to or from Cuba by U.S. citizens and legal residents, except in times of war between the two countries or of imminent danger to public health or the safety of U.S. travelers.

Americans have been forbidden to travel to Cuba since the 1963 travel ban. And in 2004, former President Bush tightened the ban on Cuban-American travel.

Americans without family on the island are not permitted to travel unless sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, with a few exemptions for researchers and journalists. During his campaign, President Obama said he would ease back on Bush’s restrictions on travel to Cuba. “We’ve been engaged in a failed policy with Cuba for the last 50 years,” Obama proclaimed to a crowd while in Miami. He also promised “unrestricted rights” regarding travel to the island for Cuban-Americans – but it was unclear as to whether that would apply to other Americans. The Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act takes Obama’s promise one step further. The bill calls for ending the ban for all Americans, not just for those of Cuban origin.

Old Postcard: Havana, Cuba, in the 1930s

Travel Photography

We recently received an email note from a friend in Sweden, and he asked about the photo gear we travel with, and what we use for our books and websites. Which got us to thinking (a dangerous precedent). Here are our preferences for travel photography equipment.

Francesca has a “big” Nikon digital SLR, with 18-55, 55-200, and 70-300 zoom lenses. Despite its significant bulk and weight, she takes it on pretty much all trips. She loves photography for its own sake, as well as being inspiration for her paintings.


Back in the slide-film days, Kenneth used to be a “semi-pro” photographer, selling numerous photos to magazines to accompany his articles. He still has several useless film camera bodies as well as too many nice lenses that he’ll never use again. Yet in this digital age, he’s become enamored of “amateur” cameras. His two digital cameras are an older Olympus Stylus waterproof model, which is used primarily for skiing, hiking, and anywhere around water. In addition, he uses a small Nikon Coolpix that will fit in a shirt pocket, and it sees a lot of use in restaurants (without flash) for food and wine photos as well as being a general travel camera.

Kenneth is also addicted to video and filmmaking, and has three video cameras: A small Canon mini-DV video camera for travel; an old Sony Hi-8 video camera with amazing low-light capabilities and for intentionally capturing a grainy, “old-video” look; and a “big-gun” Panasonic DVX100 for filmmaking. (Weirdly, we’ve never been interested in producing or posting online video.)


We carry a passel of camera chips (and video tapes), because we generally don’t travel with a computer except on driving trips. We take spare batteries for every camera, and chargers for everything.

When we return home, we make sure every image is stored in at least two places – usually our main computer and an external hard drive – before we erase any camera memory chips. Trust us, this is important. We have “accidentally” deleted whole photo files and were very glad to have had another backup.

We’ll discuss composition, lighting, and other techniques in future articles.

Hilton Hotels for Lufthansa Miles

We seriously doubt that Hilton and Lufthansa have been reading our blog for ideas, but something we mentioned several months ago has actually happened.

According to this Hilton web page, members of Lufthansa’s Miles & More frequent flyer program can book Hilton hotel rooms with miles. The entry page states that a minimum of 13,500 miles are required.

At least some companies are thinking outside the box – a necessity in these current economic times.

Flight Attendants’ Main Responsibility

And you thought it was customer service.

(Spoiler alert: We know, we know. We said we were going to be less grumpy on this blog. But this news got our attention.)

The New York Times recently ran an article about the roll-out of new Wi-Fi services on planes, noting that some travelers appreciate it while others find it a distraction. But the really weird part of the article is a quote from Corey Caldwell, a spokeswoman for the Association of Flight Attendants. Caldwell said the union “views Wi-Fi as a potential threat to flight attendants’ ability to keep order in the cabin.”

“Our duties involve securing the safety of the cabin, not acting as censor police,” Caldwell is quoted as saying. “It just adds another layer of duties inside the cabin, which take away from the main requirement that flight attendants are on board for.”

In addition, Caldwell said the flight attendants’ union also feared that terrorists plotting a scheme on a plane could use Wi-Fi to communicate with others on the plane or on the ground. “Right now, their ability to do that on board is limited,” she said. “But we can see an instance in which this becomes a potential threat.”

What????? Isn’t the TSA supposed to be keeping terrorists off airplanes? Don’t we have air marshals on most flights? Aren’t flight attendants supposed to be on board for customer service? The “MAIN REQUIREMENT” that flight attendants now have is “securing the safety of the cabin”???

The Times article finishes by noting that “airlines in the United States are catching up to many foreign carriers, like Lufthansa, which has offered [Wi-Fi] service for the past several years.”

Oh, sorry, Ms. Caldwell, I guess we forgot about all the terrorist activities on Lufthansa that have occurred since they installed Wi-Fi.

Does anyone wonder why fliers dislike just about everything regarding travel on domestic carriers?

Premium Economy Overview

Does anyone remember when airlines offered “Coach” seats instead of “Economy”? Prices were at one time regulated, seat pitch was usually 34-36”, the word “Coach” held a modicum of cachet, and in-flight service was actually personal and attentive. Airlines (and their employees) still had the words “customer service” in their vocabulary back then.

SAS DC-6. Hats, suits, service. Photo by L'Écolier on Wikipedia.

Today, there aren’t many travel experiences worse than Air-Sardine-Can. Yes, we know there wasn’t any in-flight video back in Coach days, but most U.S. carriers don’t offer anything more on domestic flights now anyway.

If you are as dissatisfied with airline Economy seats and service as we are, yet can’t seem to justify the cost of Business Class tickets, there’s an in-between option you may want to consider. Called various names by the different airlines (Economy Plus, Premium Economy, Economy Comfort, etc.), this between-Economy-and-Business service aims to provide more leg room, better in-flight amenities, and sometimes additional on-the-ground benefits that can make life easier at check-in and boarding. We’ll call it PremEcon.

The PremEcon concept is well established, but changes are always ongoing (some airlines are adding the service, amenities change, etc.), so do your specific research to confirm all this with the airline you’re planning to fly.

Prices for PremEcon vary widely, from as little as $15-30 additional (some United and JetBlue flights, depending on route) to as much as four times regular Economy. In many instances, PremEcon seems to be about twice as expensive as regular Economy. By comparison, Business Class fares can easily be five times or more the cost of Economy. As for amenities, the best PremEcon products today are roughly comparable to what international Business Class was a dozen years ago, and the best PremEcon is often very similar to current domestic First Class seats.

In the broadest terms, we have found three different “flavors” of PremEcon: 1) Just more leg room (and the same physical Economy seat), with no added amenities over regular Economy; 2) The opposite, with quite a few amenities (including better seats themselves) but not much increase in leg room, and; 3) Airlines offering both significantly increased leg room and added amenities. Most of the airlines in the latter two categories offer a physically separated PremEcon cabin, while in the first category the seats are generally within the main Economy section.

Seat pitch numbers (the distance from one seat anchor to the next, which is not the amount of leg room) were compiled from the airlines’ websites as well as from independent seat-rating resources such as SeatGuru. We have not taken tape measures to any seats ourselves. As for seat width, we do not mention it unless it exceeds the industry standard of 17-18” for most Economy seats.

For comparison purposes, most domestic First Class seats today have seat pitch of about 36-38” and are 18.5-21” wide. International Business and First seats are much bigger and more luxurious than that. Note that, in general, domestic flights on U.S. carriers have two cabins: economy and business/first. The domestic PremEcon seats listed in the first section below are pretty much just regular Econ seats with a bit more legroom. International flights, especially on international carriers, may have as many as four classes in separate cabins: economy, premium economy, business, and first.

In the first category (more leg room only) are:
United – Economy Plus offers 34-36” seat pitch (roughly 3-5” of additional legroom over United’s and the industry’s standard Economy seat pitch of 31-32”). The upgrade price varies by route and distance.
JetBlue – All seats have at least 34” pitch (on their primary aircraft, the A320), and some seats with pitch up to 38” are available for additional fees.
Midwest – Signature Seats have 34-36” seat pitch and are 22” wide, at an up-charge from the standard 32”-pitch Econ seats.
Virgin America – A few 38”-pitch seats are available for an additional charge. These Main Cabin Select seats also offer complimentary food and drink, priority ground services, and other extras. (We couldn’t decide if Virgin America should be in this category, or below where we list airlines offering enhanced services. We left it here because it’s only a few seats in exit rows, and not a separate cabin.)

The second category (better seats and added amenities, but not all that much more leg room) includes: (Amenities might include extra baggage allowance, lounge access, priority check-in, complimentary beverages, better meals, better entertainment systems, or refundable fares.)
Icelandair – Offers a PremEcon product that has only 33” of seat pitch, but the seats are 21” wide and amenities include lounge access, priority check-in, enhanced meals, and more. This appears to be their Business seat but with less leg room than in the Business cabin.
Virgin Blue – PremEcon seats offer only 33-34” of pitch, but amenities include lounge access, better meals, more entertainment options, extra baggage allowance, and more.
Air Tahiti Nui – Air Tahiti doesn’t claim to have a PremEcon product, but their standard Econ seats and service may offer comfort and in-cabin amenities equivalent to that of the above two airlines. These standard Econ seats have 33” pitch and are 19” wide.
(Like Air Tahiti, above, Thai Airways seems to have several planes with up to 34” pitch in their standard Econ seats. Thai’s regular services and amenities are reported to be exceptional.)

Finally, the third category of additional leg room, better seats, and added amenities: (We have emphasized a few of the amenities each airline offers, but many have additional perks – priority boarding, better meals, lounge access, comfort kits, complimentary drinks, better entertainment, extra frequent-flyer miles for booking PremEcon, extra baggage allowances, and more.)
Open Skies/L’Avion – This British Air subsidiary has the greatest seat pitch of any PremEcon product at 52”, with a seat width of 20”. Excellent seats, easy boarding (the airline only offers PremEcon and Business classes), but not lounge access. (Some reporters have speculated about the future of Open Skies with the falloff in business travel in the current economic environment.)
British Airways – Seat pitch 38”, width 18.5”. Average number of added amenities, mostly in the cabin.
SAS – Seat pitch 37”, width 18.3”. A few extra amenities, but mostly just a better seat. SAS’s product has seemed to be on the high-end price-wise in our research.
bmi – Seat pitch 49”, width 21”. Not as many “other” amenities beyond the seats, but look at that seat pitch and width. (bmi has recently announced reductions in U.S. service.)
Virgin Atlantic – Seat pitch 38”, width 21”. Nice in-cabin amenities, plus lots of other perks, including check-in, lounges, etc. A long-established, well-respected product.
EVA Airlines – Seat pitch 38”. Benefits seem mostly in the seat itself, but typical Asian airline on-board amenities appear excellent.
Air New Zealand – Seat pitch 38-40”, width to 18.5”. Additional amenities (many) appear to be on the plane, not at the airport with check-in, etc.
Qantas – Seat pitch 38-42”, width 19.5”. Priority check-in and boarding; wide range of in-cabin amenities. (Not available on all planes nor all flights. SeatGuru reports the 42” pitch as being on some seats on the new A380.)
ANA – Seat pitch 38”, width 18.5”. Benefits seem mostly in the seat itself (including leg rests!), but normal Asian airline on-board amenities appear excellent. This seems to be only offered on some routes.
Japan Airlines – Seat pitch 38”. JAL has added their PremEcon product to more North American routes. Incredible-looking PremEcon seat design and in-flight amenities, plus lounge access.
Air France – While a different type of PremEcon product is currently available on a few non-U.S. routes, Air France is adding a new PremEcon section to nearly all aircraft in late 2009. Seat pitch for the new product is announced to be 38”.
V Australia – Keep an eye on this new one from the Virgin folks. PremEcon seats are 38” pitch, 20” wide. Better seats, better on-board amenities, but no on-ground benefits. The first flights from Australia to the U.S. are scheduled for early 2009.
Thai Airways – Only on the Los Angeles-Bangkok route with their A340 aircraft. 42” pitch, 19” wide, many extra perks.

Air Cubana does not appear to offer Premium Economy. Photo by Chalmers Butterfield on Wikipedia.

There may be other PremEcon products out there, but it may take some digging on your part to find them, especially as some are only regional products. As examples: China/Mandarin Airlines appear to offer a PremEcon product on some inter-Asia flights, but we can find no details. LAN has introduced PremEcon on some flights within South America – it appears to offer a lot of amenities but also seems very expensive. KLM offers Europe Select seats with 2” more legroom and additional perks, but only for inter-Europe flights.

We’ve written enthusiastically about Premium Economy before, and remain convinced that it can be a high-value product for travellers seeking more comfort without the expense of Business Class. We’d also love to hear of any updates, additions, or changes that our readers are aware of.

Some Good Airline News

We’ve previously mused about how provincial Americans can be. Even experienced world travelers can get stuck in the mode of assuming that the only airlines out there are U.S. or European, and that they’re all in financial trouble. So we’re pleased to note that elsewhere in the world, some airlines are making a go of it. The four most recent headlines from Alternative Airline News:

Ethiopia looks set to get a new domestic airline.
Mon 2-Feb-2009

Air Ethiopia is the brainchild of Capt. Abera and will operate Ethiopian domestic slights, possibly later this month.

BOA Bolivian airlines set to take off.

Mon 2-Feb-2009

New Bolivian state owned airline BOA looks good to go, at last....

Indochina Airlines flies high.

Mon 2-Feb-2009

Indochina Airlines of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam has an encouraging first two months of operation.

Adria Airways fleet now complete.
Fri 30-Jan-2009
Adria Airways take delivery of fleet completing CRJ900.

Three Chimneys Restaurant, Scotland

We’re not ones to usually post restaurant reviews on this blog, but we recently had a dinner that was so far over the top that we thought we’d share our experience.

On the Isle of Skye, Scotland, is a totally out-of-the-way restaurant that embraces local ingredients and offers a multi-course dining experience such as what one might find at famous Michelin-starred restaurants in New York, Napa, London, or Paris.

Dinner at The Three Chimneys restaurant can be either a traditional three-course meal, or the spectacular Seven Courses of Skye. We had the seven-course dinner (which with appetizer, cheese, and dessert turned out to be more like 9 or 10 courses), and would suggest that if you’ve traveled that far for a meal you might as well go with the best.

Not on the list of the seven courses is an amuse bouche (appetizer) of the day. This was followed by ...

Loch Dunvegan Langoustines with Tattie Scones & Glendale Organic Mesclun

Colbost Crab risotto with Shellfish Essence and Truckle Wafer

A Selection of Broadford Cold & Hot-Smoked Fish with Croft Quail Eggs

Sconser King Scallop with Hazelnut Crust, Pickled Winkles, Split Pea & Ham Hough Purry, Claret Jus

Three Loch Harport Oysters with Cucumber & Mint Jelly, Homemade Crème Fraiche, Smoked Herring Roe

Roast Glenhinnisdal Lamb Loin with Kidney, Heart, Liver & Hairst Bree

Highland Cheeses with Our Oatcakes

Three Chimneys Hot Marmalade Pudding Soufflé with Drambuie Syrup & Mealie Ice Cream

When we were there, this menu was £65 per person – an astounding bargain. We started the meal with a half bottle of Domain Seguin Pouilly Fume 2006 (Sauvignon Blanc) ...

... and continued with a premier cru white Burgundy as our main wine – a Marie & Marc Vincent Santenay Beaurepaire 2003 (Chardonnay). Both wines were excellent, and good matches for the primarily seafood menu.

The wait staff are young and reasonably knowledgeable, and asked each diner if there was any part of the seven courses that they couldn’t eat, as a substitution or two was available. Francesca declined the lamb course, and thus had another fish offering.

Pan-Fried Mallaig Hake & Razor Fish with Root Vegetable Dauphinoise, Puy Lentils,
Cumin Cauliflower, Orbost Herb & Garlic Salsa

Overall, we’d say it was one of the best meals of our lives.

You'll definitely need reservations very far in advance at the Three Chimneys Restaurant.

Surviving a Crash

The news about the US Airways flight that landed in the Hudson River has begun to abate. It’s miraculous that all survived, and we began wondering what we’d do in such a situation, and what we’d like to have with us if we had to make an emergency exit.

For many years we were involved in wilderness search-and-rescue, EMT work, and firefighting. In addition, we’ve been around water, ropes, injuries, and emergency situations in our own adventuring.

If we were to survive a crash, the things we’d really like with us afterward would include:
EMT Shears – These can cut through straps, light sheet metal, clothing, and more. And they’re TSA legal.
Flashlight – Just a tiny keychain LED light would suffice.
Glasses – Reading glasses, prescription glasses, whatever we normally needed.
Wallet – Yes, we know not to grab our stuff in an emergency exit. But life would be immensely easier in the days following a survivable crash if our passport and credit card were in our pocket rather than in an underwater carry-on bag.
Cell Phone – As long as the battery lasts and you have a signal, probably the most useful “survival” tool.

There are probably many other items that could be added to this list, but the longer a list becomes the less likely one is to carry what’s needed. Most of the above items can be kept in a case not much bigger than a wallet. Better yet, you could use one of those dorky-looking money-purse things that travelers always have hung around their neck. And as for clothing:

Shoes – We have seen survivors from a winter plane crash walking through snow in their socks. We’re going to keep our shoes on during takeoff and landing.
Jacket – We have never worn our coat or jacket during flights, but may reconsider doing so during takeoff and landing, despite the inconvenience.

I don’t think we’re overly cautious, yet we have chains in our car in winter, we carry a first-aide kit when we’re hiking, and we keep a shortwave radio in our home. A little bit of emergency planning may not just save your life, but could help with saving another’s as well.

Training with New Zealand firefighters

Feeling Fat In London?

Instead of taking the tube (subway), why not just walk? And if you’re planning on eating 3,000 calories of scones and fish & chips, you’ll want to know how to burn off those calories. Now you can know how many steps it takes to walk between tube stations.

A new map of the London underground has a convoluted scheme to let you figure the number of calories you can burn by walking between tube stations instead of taking the tube itself. It does not tell you how long it will take, nor what the neighborhoods are like (we think most London areas are quite safe). And it certainly does not tell you the actual route between stations, as the London tube map is “representational” and not literally accurate.

The Business Traveller Magazine website has this to say about how to use the map:
“The map, compiled by volunteers on behalf of the insurance firm Pru Health, records the number of steps needed to walk between neighbouring tube stops. As example, 2,780 steps are needed to walk from London Victoria to Green Park. Research suggests that roughly three calories are burned for every 100 steps taken, meaning the walk will burn just over 80 calories.”

While it’s totally more gimmick than useful, London is a surprisingly walkable city.

How Many Passengers Can You Get on an A380?

From Alternative Airline News (January 16, 2009) comes this tidbit.

Air Austral (on the island of Reunion, in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa) has “signed a memorandum of understanding” to buy two of the new double-decker Airbus A380 aircraft. The airline said it plans to outfit the planes as all economy, with 853 seats, to service the Reunion-to-Paris route.

Which would be an interesting contrast to Virgin Atlantic’s plans for “double beds, private rooms, masseuses and manicurists, bars, showers, and in countries where we’re allowed to, roulette and blackjack,” according to Richard Branson in an interview back in December 2007.

Book Review: Art Safari Sketchbook, Volume II

The Art Safari Sketchbook is the creation of Mary-Anne Bartlett, who leads art safari painting holidays to Malawi, Zambia, Kenya, and Namibia. Its conception came about as a way to sponsor an orphan-care and arts-&-craft project in Malawi. The sketchbook contains drawings and writings by some of the creative adventurers who have traveled with Mary-Anne.

Mary-Anne Bartlett is the great-great-granddaughter of Sir John Kirk, the physician and botanist who accompanied Dr. Livingston on his explorations in Africa during the 1850s and 1860s.


The first volume was published in 2005 and funded the Mtendere Orphan feeding & day care center at Ulongwe near Liwonde National Park in Malawi. The orphanage was created by Danger, a guide at Mvuu Camp within the park, who started the small orphan feeding project in a local church. Within 6 months of publication, the book was instrumental in raising money to build a permanent base for his dream. The new home for the orphanage made possible the arts & craft project, where the teachers and helpers are encouraged to supplement their income by making craft items for sale.

All the proceeds from this publication will go to support food for the school and teacher salaries for the next two years. If additional money is raised, a fund to help introduce a new rhinoceros into Liwonde National Park will be started.


The publishing company, Hakim & Slater Publishing House, donates all profits from book sales to charitable purposes throughout the world. If you would like to purchase this art book, please contact them at www.hakimslater.com.

Best Reward Credit Cards (Especially for Travel)

After our recent rant-and-rave against the so-called credit card rating websites, we figured it was time to update our list of our favorite travel/reward credit cards. There are MANY reward credit cards out there, and your personal financial situation will have an effect on the cards you choose. Remember, unless you pay off your cards every month, go for the lowest-rate credit card, and ignore reward cards (which usually have much higher APRs).

In the broadest terms, we strive for at least a 3% reward ratio for all our purchases – whether that’s cash-back, airline miles, hotel stays, or for international purchases. We have also generally refused (with one exception, see below) to pay an annual fee on any card. And although it makes for a fat wallet, we don’t mind using multiple cards for different purposes.

CASH BACK
We have three current favorites:

Chase Freedom Visa – This card offers 3% cash back on your “top 3” (from 15 different) categories of spending each month, up to $600 (after that, it’s 1%). Even when only used for the $600 spend/month, we get more than $200 in cash rewards each year.

We also have a Chase Business Visa that gives us 3% cash back at hardware/building supply stores, office supply, gas stations, and restaurants (1% elsewhere). We use it only for those purchases. (Especially as it’s getting harder to find cards that give good rewards at restaurants.)

Schwab Bank Invest First Visa – This new card (it’s only been available since November) offers 2% cash back on everything. Domestically (see also International Travel, below), we use it for purchases that don’t give us our 3% or better with some other card.

[We are somewhat concerned about the future of cash-back cards. For example, we’ve heard that new Chase Freedom card holders are seeing different reward terms than for the card we have. There was a recent Wall St. Journal article on the topic. The Schwab card is new, so we wouldn’t expect any changes soon. Nonetheless, confirm reward schemes before applying, and be ready for possible changes in the future.]

HOTEL CARDS
We still believe that the Hilton American Express is one of the best cards available. It offers 6 Hilton “points” if used in certain categories and for Hilton hotel stays, with 3 points for other spending. The way we value Hilton’s points, and based on hotel room rates, the 6-point level represents to us about a 5-6% reward. But it’s really only useful if you plan to stay in (and otherwise pay for) Hilton chain hotel rooms.

[The above has been UPDATED to reflect Hilton’s new 6-point reward level.]

We continue to hear wonderful things about the Starwood American Express card, but simply have too many other cards that we currently use to be intrigued enough yet to acquire the card (which carries an annual fee).

[An advantage of the hotel cards is that your points are held in a system that is probably more stable than an airline, and that are less likely to change in value than a bank’s cash-back structure.]


AIRLINE CARDS
We believe that signing up for airline cards can be a worthwhile deal, if you can get some big initial miles bonus and if the (usually high) annual fee is waived for the first year. The choice of card(s) will depend on the airlines or alliances you fly. Every major U.S. airline offers such a card, as do many international carriers. The value of airline miles varies by how you use your one-mile-per-dollar spent on the card. We generally value most airline miles at about 2 cents per mile, equivalent to 2%. That said, we seldom use an airline card except....

The only airline card that we’ve been willing to pay an annual fee for over the past couple of years has been the Alaska Visa, which offers a generous initial sign-up bonus; a $50 companion ticket every year; and 2,000 bonus miles every year. We’re torn about renewing it each year, though, because of the $75 annual fee. But the companion ticket seems to make the fee worthwhile, especially if you use it for something like a pair of $800-each Hawaii tickets (with the second ticket therefore “costing” only $125).

As with the Starwood card, we’re intrigued by a couple of airline cards that we don’t have – as they’re offered by airlines we fly less frequently. Those include the JetBlue Amex, the Virgin Atlantic Amex, and the Virgin America Visa. If our travel patterns change to where we fly those airlines more often, their credit cards might seem much more appealing. (The JetBlue and Virgin Atlantic cards carry annual fees.)

[There have been innumerable articles about the decline in value of airline miles. We’ve touched on the topic a few times, but it’s too long of an issue to go into here. That said, carefully evaluate the value of your miles, as well as associated redemption fees – either for “free” tickets or upgrades.]

INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL
With one exception, we only use a card that does not charge foreign-exchange fees. The best offerings for us right now are:

The Schwab Visa, mentioned above, that charges 0% forex fees, and offers 2% cash back. It’s like getting the equivalent of a 5% reward for foreign purchases (as nearly all other credit cards tack on foreign-exchange fees of 3%).

Capital One has many cards, all of which charge 0% forex fees. There are many different reward schemes (cash, miles, points – all usually translating to about 1% reward). In general, we don’t find their rewards very appealing, but with the lack of forex fees and a 1% reward, it’s still equivalent to 4% value.

The exception is the Hilton Amex (mentioned above) which charges 2.7% in forex fees, but does give us 3-6 Hilton points for purchases. But we use it internationally for one purpose – car rentals. It (and other Amex cards) has available an inexpensive car-rental insurance policy that offers primary CDW insurance. We consider the forex fees/points/insurance paradigm a worthwhile trade-off.

[As with other bank-based cards, discussed above, it seems that some of Capital One’s reward schemes may be changing.]

OTHER CARDS
In addition, we have an Amex FreedomPass Business card that has a reward ratio of only 1.33%, but offers discounts of 3-5% with JetBlue, Delta, Marriott, Hyatt, and Hertz (and quite a few other non-travel discounts, such as 5% with FedEx), simply by purchasing with the card. Those purchase categories, therefore, give us at least a 4% reward. It, too, offers the same optional primary CDW car-rental insurance coverage as does the Hilton Amex.

We still have no problem juggling cards – using one card for something and a different card for another purchase category. But, after considering all of the above, and all the various reward factors and card use for a wide variety of travel patterns (and if companies like Chase do indeed reduce their reward options), and if we were limited to only two cards, our two top choices would currently be....
Schwab Visa – No forex fees for international purchases; 2% rewards on everything.
Hilton Amex – Points go into as much of a “fail-safe” program as possible; bonus points for selected categories of spending; car-rental insurance.

There are many other cards out there. As we mentioned in our rant against the so-called card rating sites, it’s really hard to get unbiased information. So it’s doubly important for you to determine what’s important to you – cash, miles, points, other benefits. What we have presented above are only our opinions.

This photo has nothing to do with this article.

Europe Ski Tips

It’s prime ski season in Europe, and the snow this year is some of the best in several seasons. Here are our Top 15 Europe Ski Tips.

Pick Your Resort Carefully
Ski resorts in Europe can be far bigger than even the largest North American resorts (such as Whistler or Vail). Conversely, they can be small, intimate places ideal for relaxation and romance. Just don’t go to Val d’Isere, France, expecting a quiet, cozy French village; likewise, don’t go to Murren, Switzerland, if you’re looking for vast slopes and great nightlife.

Most Resorts Cater to Week-Long Vacationers
Europe ski weeks are usually Saturday to Saturday. Many, if not most, resorts cater almost exclusively to those time frames – thus, lodging is harder to find day-to-day (or more expensive); trains, taxis, and transfers are more frequent on the Saturday and weekend in/out days; even airfare can vary between midweek and weekend. On the same theme, if you prefer uncrowded slopes, avoid the UK half-term and the French school holidays. There will most assuredly be more crowds in Europe than at North America resorts, but still, the European school breaks are like U.S. spring breaks on steroids.

Ski Lodging Options
Lodging varies widely at European ski destinations. You’ll have your choices of “self-catered” vs. catered chalets (condos); large vs. small hotels; slopeside vs. village lodging; hotels with meals (usually in the hotel dining room) and without; and several other permutations. Make sure you understand the options. We’ve stayed in “self-catered” lodging where not even the toilet paper was included.

Bring Your Boots
And your goggles, helmet, gloves, and one pair of ski clothes. Rent skis and poles. Your feet are the engines of your skiing. Rental boots in Europe can fit just as badly as rental boots in the U.S. For skis, you should have excellent options of some of the best and latest models.

Rent the Skis You Want
Don’t be talked into renting a ski too long, too short, too old, not suited to your ability, or badly tuned. European ski shop employees are no different than in the U.S. – underpaid and indifferent.

Consider Skiing with a Small Day Pack
Stuff it (lightly) with snacks, an extra warm layering garment, and maybe shoes. At the big resorts, weather can change on one part of the mountain and you might easily be half an hour or more from getting back to your starting point. Also, many resorts are strung out along a long valley, and you might start at one end but finish your day several miles away. A pair of walking shoes/boots in your day pack can make the bus/taxi/walk back much more comfortable.

Take a Few Little Repair Items
We always travel with zip ties, a Leatherman tool, and duct tape. As with weather and resort layout, you may find yourself a long way from a ski shop (even one on the hill). A small kit can come in handy.

Adopt the Euro Long-Lunch Attitude
Lunch at most European ski areas is seldom a sandwich-in-the-cafeteria situation. Go native. Also remember that most resorts have an actual town at their base – you can easily eat lunch in a real restaurant (yes, in your ski clothes) almost as conveniently as on the hill.

Euros Start to Ski Late In the Day
Since many skiers stayed up late the night before, many resorts don’t start getting crowded until 10 or 11. Join the fun at night, or have an hour to yourself by being on the lifts when they open in the morning. A surprising number of skiers close the hill, too. Maybe it’s those long lunch breaks they take.

Lift Lines
The renowned unruly lift lines (queues) of the past are mostly fading with high-speed lifts, but be ready to be shoved a bit. Start early; ski while everyone else is taking lunch; ski the lower mountain when other skiers are up high; etc.

Out-of-Bounds Skiing
If you ski out of bounds (off piste) be aware that it’s perfectly legal, but if you screw up you’ll be charged for rescue. Buy the optional rescue insurance (which usually only costs a few Euros) with each day’s lift ticket.

Luggage
You’ll almost certainly have to check a bag with your airline, but make sure your boots are in your carry-on. In your checked bag, bring just one pair of pants, parka, etc. Spare or replacement clothing can be purchased anywhere. (Besides, it’ll be Euro-trendy. And we guarantee you will neither be the dorkiest nor the trendiest-looking skier on the hill.) Considering the transportation hassles and the ridiculous airline baggage fees, we suggest not traveling with checked skis.

Everything Ski-Related is Available, But...
While you can find just about everything at European ski resorts, the shops may not have your favorite sunscreen, energy bars, or personal items. If you really want something specific, bring it from home.

Bring a Few Passport-Size Photos
They’re necessary for multi-day lift tickets. Most ticket booths have photo kiosks, but it’s a lot easier to bring your own photos.

Partake of the Regional Culture
If you’re skiing Les Trois Vallees, spend a few days wining and dining in Paris before or after your holiday. Or if you’re skiing in Austria, spend time with Mozart and opera in Vienna on the same trip.

Val d’Isere, France

If Airfare Drops, You May Be Entitled to Credit

We’ve never paid too much attention to drops in airfares after we’ve purchased our tickets. We figured that was just the way it was, or that any refund amount would be too minor to be worth the hassle (and change fees). Maybe it’s time for us to change our attitude.

A recent article on USA Today notes that many airlines will issue a travel credit or voucher if the fare drops (usually by more than a certain amount) since you purchased your tickets. Some airlines add their ridiculous change fees to the “new” ticket, others don’t. As the charts on airfare search site Yapta (see image below) and accompanying the USA Today article show, the best airlines (no change fees) are Alaska, JetBlue, Southwest, and – gasp! – United.

So with those 4 airlines, if the fare drops much at all, apply for the credit. On most other airlines, you’ll need to see a bigger fare drop to cover the change fee – up to $150 in the case of American, Continental, and USAir; $100 for Delta, Hawaiian, and Midwest. And according to Yapta’s chart, change fees are even higher for some international tickets.

You’ll have to decide if the change fee outweighs the credit, but the way the airlines treat us, and with their opaque pricing system, we don’t see any reason to give them a dime more of our money. Claim that credit.

Airline ticket change fees, per Yapta.com website, December 2008

Reviewing Our Frequent Flyer Reward Programs, Travel Patterns, and Goals for 2009

As much as we complain about the decline in the value of frequent flyer miles, we have to admit they’ve worked for us. Over the last five years, just about half of our airline tickets have been obtained with frequent flyer miles. A few have been from credit card spending on “fake miles” credit cards (such as Capital One, Amex FreedomPass, or Merrill+). A few more were obtained from points in hotel programs (especially Hilton HHonors, back when you could redeem points directly for airline tickets, rather than just transferring to/from an airline program). Other tickets have been obtained directly with miles in an airline’s program (mostly United or Alaska, even if we used those miles with other airlines, such as Alaska’s partnership with American). Nonetheless, more of those miles were probably obtained from credit card sign-up bonuses and spending than by flying.

In addition, we’ve obtained about half our hotel stays over the past few years for free by using points for rooms (again, mostly Hilton points obtained from credit card spending).

We’ve been whittling down the balances in our frequent flyer accounts. Currently, we each have about 30,000 miles with Alaska; Ken has roughly 60,000 with United, 25,000 with Delta, and 30,000 with USAir (we wiped out Francesca’s United miles on our last international trip); we have a bit more than 160,000 Hilton points; plus there are some miles scattered around other airline programs.

So despite our skepticism, we still have to say that the game works. Consider getting those airline credit cards to obtain the initial bonus miles. Work the system for points with other credit cards or other points programs such as hotels. Make every purchase count – assuming you pay your card(s) in full every month, use a credit card for every purchase and either get cash back or miles/points of some sort for every dollar you spend. Work the angles for sign-up bonuses, contests, surveys, and the like – for example, every one of our combined 28,000 bmi miles have been obtained that way.

Our miles/points goals for 2009 are pretty modest: 1) bump up the Delta miles significantly, to get to the next award/upgrade level, 2) use up those USAir miles that we think of as just “sitting around,” 3) concentrate on using cash-back credit cards as much as possible, yet, 4) no matter what, continue to take advantage of every opportunity for free miles, even if we’re skeptical of their value.

As for related goals, we vow to only use 0% foreign-exchange-fee credit cards overseas (Capital One and Schwab are our current favorites); to never pay an ATM fee again (possible with several banks, especially Bank of Internet and Schwab); hopefully never fly less than Premium Economy again; and finally, for foreign travel, try to fly a “good” domestic carrier (JetBlue, Virgin America) to a U.S. gateway city, and then fly a real airline (an international carrier) overseas.

As for specific travel plans, we’ve moved to a space in our lives where we are “non-planning” more vacations, and being more spontaneous. We have our list of desired destinations, and the general timeframes when we can travel. Then, we’re going to wait for airfare deals, specials, and other offers much closer to our actual travels. For example, just in the past month we saw several incredible airfare deals to New Zealand, Scandinavia, France, and Asia. If we had been “ready” to take advantage of those offers, we could have jumped on a good deal. In general, we’ll have a few destinations in mind where we’ll be ready to pull the trigger in a 30-day window. This also makes sense with the myriad schedule changes the airlines are making nowadays. A recent trip that we planned several months in advance had more than half-a-dozen flight changes (we stopped counting) before our departure.

We’ll be traveling from Jan 1-10, and do not plan any posting or moderating comments during that time. We thank all our site visitors during 2008, who came from 88 countries this year (see map below). See you all next year.

Exposed – Credit Card “Rating” Websites

We’ve previously discussed websites that supposedly “rate” credit cards, especially reward credit cards. These sites purport to review cards, and pretend to tell you about the best card offers for cash rebates, frequent flyer miles, or other rewards. We’ve almost always felt that these were self-serving affiliate marketing sites first, and unbiased review sites a far-distant second.

For those unfamiliar with affiliate marketing, it means that every time you click on a link or ad to ABC credit card on the XYZ card review site, XYZ gets a commission for a successful transaction. (Many blogs also participate in affiliate marketing programs, yet most blogs still seem to be fairly unbiased. We do not participate in any affiliate program on this blog. Thus, we have no incentive to recommend one card – or other product – over another.) That said, in many cases affiliate marketing is a legitimate revenue source for many blogs and websites. But it has never seemed appropriate to us with the “card-rating” websites.

The reason for this post is that it now appears (according to CreditMattersBlog) that Chase, Citibank, HSBC (and possibly American Express) have pulled some or all of their card products from the affiliate marketing channels. Guess what? All of a sudden nearly all of the so-called “unbiased” card-rating sites no longer display any United Airlines credit cards (Chase), American Airlines cards (Citi), HSBC cards, and many others.

If you find a rating site that no longer shows these and similar cards, you can be assured they do NOT have YOUR best interests at heart in ANY of their recommendations. Our least-favorite, self-serving “review” site no longer even lists Chase or HSBC on their credit-card-issuer’s page – you’d think that those companies no longer issue cards. The good news is that this can be a “canary-in-the-coal-mine” test for card review sites. If a card review site still lists a full range of Chase, Citi, and HSBC cards, it may pass the unbiased test. Unfortunately, in our recent tests, NONE have passed.

We are really saddened that several sites which we had previously considered relatively unbiased have suddenly stopped listing certain cards. For example, the Chase Freedom Visa, which we have recommended several times, has disappeared from most card-rating websites. Its 3% cash rebate is still one of the absolute best returns we’ve seen, but since the affiliate-dependent sites no longer get a commission for recommending it, the card has disappeared from their reviews.

What you have, then, is another “Buyer Beware” moment. If you want unbiased credit card reviews, you have to do your homework. As of now, we have NOT FOUND A SINGLE SITE which hasn’t changed its “recommendations” since Citi, Chase, and HSBC pulled out of the affiliate channels. Therefore, there isn’t a single comparison site for reward credit cards that we can recommend. When (or if) we find a comprehensive, truly unbiased card review site, we’ll rush to post that information.

[UPDATE: 12/31/2008. The buzz over on CreditMattersBlog seems to indicate that more card issuers are pulling out of the affiliate market. According to CMB, those include most Advanta credit cards, all Bank of America cards, and Discover business cards. Already, several of those so-called unbiased credit-card “rating” websites have pulled those cards from their sites. Which obviously confirms our opinion that they do NOT have any real interest in presenting objective reviews.]

Solutions for Problems that Don’t Exist?

The French government has unveiled a new logo and brand message (see below). As marketing/branding consultants, we actually like the image. But is it really necessary? France has been the world’s top tourist destination for the last 15 years.

The Pittsburgh airport authority will spend $600,000 over the next two years promoting a new Delta Pittsburgh-to-Paris flight. This is in addition to up to $9 million in revenue guarantees to Delta if the flight’s load factors don’t meet certain estimates. If real demand for the service isn’t there, no amount of money will help when the revenue guarantees run out.

We’re all for being as environmentally friendly as possible, but the news that Discover is now producing some credit cards with biodegradable plastic just seems odd. We applaud Discover for this move, but was there really a demand for this? Landfills will be just as full and just as massive, no matter what type of credit-card debris is dumped into them. Aren’t there other environmental initiatives that Discover might have taken that produce more benefits to the world?

The TSA announced expansion of its “popular” Family Lanes at security checkpoints to every airport in the nation, saying this will “allow families, individuals unfamiliar with air travel procedures and travelers with special needs to go through security at their own pace.” This is about as useful as saying “if you don’t drive very well, stay in the slow lane on the freeway,” or “if you’re a beginner skier, stay off the black runs.” Every Texan skier in the universe thinks they’re a black-diamond skier. Do we think travelers are any different?

Airport Websites

Unlike some travel writers, we don’t think of ourselves as airplane/airport/airline geeks. We are more interested in the ways that the air experience impacts our travels. So it was interesting when we saw a recent article on Yahoo travel about The World’s Top 10 Airport Web Sites. Not airports, but airport websites. Which got us to thinking that, yes, we do sometimes consult airport websites, but usually during the travel research stage.

The article points out some good pieces of information that are available on some airport websites, such as flight delays, current parking-lot conditions, and gate information.

So what’s important in an airport website? We have only used a few of the airport websites listed in the article, but have visited several other sites that we find helpful, and others that we find useless. Our suggestions for what we want to see from a good airport website include:

When Planning Your Travels
What airlines fly from the airport?
Are there airline route maps for each airline serving the airport?
What non-stop routes (especially internationally) are available from the airport?

After Ticketing but Before Traveling
Where are the gates in relation to the ticket counters?
Are there multiple security lines (so we can find a less-crowded one)?
Where are connecting gates?
What shopping and other services are available?
What are the restaurant and dining choices?
Where are the airline’s lounges (if your ticket allows access)?
Are there links to airport hotels, in case we have a long delay?
Information about ground transportation.
Parking lot information and parking costs.
Maps. We want lots of maps of terminals, gates, parking, etc.

Day of Travel
Delays, gates, updates, and other flight information.
Weather at the airport.
Parking lot updates – what’s full, what’s open.

General Website Features
Ease of navigation of the website.
Clearly defined sections, areas, tabs.
Easy-on-the-eye fonts, colors, graphics.
Fast loading (we don’t always have high-speed internet on the road).

The original article’s Top 10 includes five U.S. airports and five international ones.

Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport
Chicago O'Hare International Airport
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport
Denver International Airport
San Francisco International Airport
Copenhagen Airports
Frankfurt Airport City
London Heathrow International Airport
Singapore Changi Airport
Tokyo Narita International Airport

What airport sites would you add? What other information would you like to find on an airport website?

Why Use an Airline Credit Card?

We actually can’t think of any good reason. Frequent flyer tickets are becoming harder to obtain, and the miles needed are being increased, thus devaluing your reward per mile.

Airline frequent-flyer-mile credit cards generally cost in the neighborhood of $75 or more per year in annual fees, and then you end up with miles usually worth 2 cents each, or less. The old logic was that you received good value if you could use 25,000 miles for a domestic ticket that you’d probably pay about $500 for (less real value, though, because of that annual fee).

But as miles became devalued, the argument then became that you would get better use of miles for upgrades from economy to business or first class. With premium-class tickets sometimes 3 or 4 times the price of economy, that made some sense, even though you had to purchase the economy ticket itself first.

But now, several airlines are imposing fees of up to $300 to upgrade domestically, and up to $1,000 to do so internationally. The biggest abusers so far appear to be American, Continental, and United. Plan on the other majors following the herd.

This seems to be another squeeze-the-customer moment that the airlines have imposed without much thought to its consequences. If this, as we suggest, means that people will simply stop using airline credit cards, the banks that pay the airlines for those miles will begin to see customers migrate to other cards, and the airlines stand to lose one of their few reliable income streams.

In today’s environment, we can’t recommend an airline credit card anymore. There are several cash-back credit cards that offer 2% or better for purchases, and which have no annual fees. We remain convinced that over the long run, most consumers will be better off with the Chase Freedom Visa (3% cash back in several categories), the new Schwab Visa (2% cash back on everything), or the American Express Blue Cash (up to 5% after reaching a spending threshold).

Put that cash reward in a piggy bank, and buy yourself the airline ticket you want – any seat, any time, no extra fees for using cash, and probably inexpensive if you watch the airfare sales.

Airfare Watchdog has a good chart of the latest frequent-flyer fees.

The Best Merger Plan Ever

The Italian government is bailing out Alitalia, while the U.S. government seems poised to throw billions of dollars to the Big 3 automakers. The December 9 Wall St. Journal reports that Italy’s Fiat is seeking an alliance/consolidation to stay in business, and the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram just ran a story about the CEO of American Airlines suggesting that the U.S. air travel industry should get in line with hands out to the government.

We have a better idea. Combine General Motors, Fiat, Alitalia, and United into the world’s biggest (and first) Fly-and-Drive company.

The top executives at the U.S. airlines and in Detroit are so well known for understanding customer service, and are so humble and financially under-rewarded. Italian quality and efficiency is famous the world over. What better fit could there be? Wait! How about a new GAUF (GM, Alitalia, United, Fiat) credit card – pronounced “gaffe” – issued by financial partner Washington Mutual!

We can already see the advertising:

• Buy a Fiat and get free airfare on United for a year (although there will be fees for baggage, drinks, snacks, seat cushions, in-flight magazines, and use of the lavatory)!
• Fly Alitalia and instead of frequent flyer miles get points that can be redeemed for auto-parts purchases!
• The new GAUF credit card offers rebates that can be applied toward CEO bonuses!

Great-Looking New Schwab No-Foreign-Exchange-Fee Visa

We’ve mentioned in the past that the Schwab checking account is one of our favorite travel tools. It offers an ATM card that rebates all ATM fees, worldwide.

Now, it looks like Schwab has introduced a brand new Signature Visa card that should make a great foreign-travel credit card. In the simplest terms, the Schwab Bank Invest First Visa Credit Card (whew, that’s a mouthful) claims to offer 2% cash back on all purchases, and 0% foreign exchange fees.

The cash rebate goes directly into a Schwab One brokerage account (no fees, no minimums to open), the same as you needed to link to for the checking account.

This Visa is very new, so we don’t have too many details yet. All we can say is, “Watch out Capital One” – their 0% forex fees just got some competition. And the Schwab 2% cash rebate with the new card is better than Capital One’s points/miles/cash-back schemes.

We’ll be applying for the card and will report our results after we’ve had a chance to use and evaluate it.

Not Flying? - Fees Anyway!

We’ve never been ones to post “see-what-this-other-blogger-wrote” pieces, but this – ahem – “News Story” from The Onion is priceless. But shouldn’t they have saved it for April 1?

Zagat Best Airline Survey; Lonely Planet Top 10 Cities

Regular readers of our babblings on this blog know our love/hate relationship with “Best Of” surveys. Well, another one’s out, this time from Zagat. We’ve never been impressed with Zagat – their signature restaurant reviews full of breathless quote snippets from everyday consumers just seem to creep us out.

To us, the 2008 Zagat Airline Survey provides insights not so much into the airlines themselves, but into Zagat readers, subscribers, and survey participants. According to Zagat, “This year’s Survey included 17 domestic airlines and 68 airlines that fly internationally. Each surveyor took an average of 16.3 flights per year, for a total of 162,000 annual trips; 38% were for leisure, 62% for business.”

You can find the full survey results on the Zagat website, but a few highlights and comments. First is how well Southwest did in a variety of categories – in itself not too surprising, but it is surprising to us when nearly two-thirds of survey voters are reported as being business travelers.

On another note, if an airline is in the news a lot (Delta/Northwest, United, American) it’s conspicuously absent from the Zagat results. The domestic airlines most honored in the survey are Southwest, Continental, jetBlue, and Virgin America. On the international side, the airlines appearing at the top of the results most often are Singapore, Virgin Atlantic, and Cathay Pacific.

The reason we question these surveys is exemplified by the votes (in order) for Best Frequent Flier Programs:
Southwest Airlines
Virgin Atlantic Airways
Continental Airlines
Cathay Pacific Airways
Alaska Airlines

Southwest may have a good frequent flyer program within its own system, but it has no airline partners and a very limited number of other partners. Virgin Atlantic seems to have a great program, but what travel patterns do survey respondents have that would put it in second place? After Southwest in first place? We can’t imagine two more different programs. Also, it would seem to us that earning and redeeming miles with Cathay Pacific – a member of the OneWorld alliance – would be on the more challenging side. And Alaska? We love the airline and the partners in its frequent flyer program, but it surprises us that enough survey respondents are familiar with it for it to make the top five.

Anyway, we love these surveys and the insights, opinions, and absurdities they sometimes reveal.

BONUS: Lonely Planet Top 10 Cities

And just in case you were planning to visit some of the world’s great cities this coming year, Lonely Planet has your shopping list. Forget Paris, Prague, Hong Kong, San Francisco, or Rio. In Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2009, the “Top 10 Cities” are, alphabetically:

Antwerp, Belgium
Beirut, Lebanon
Chicago, USA
Glasgow, Scotland
Lisbon, Portugal
Mexico City, Mexico
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Shanghai, China
Warsaw, Poland
Zurich, Switzerland

They must really need to drum up book sales for those destinations.

A Modest Frequent Miles/Points Suggestion for the Travel Industry

Joe Sharkey reports about the collapsing hotel travel marketplace. Airlines are reporting record losses, even with dramatically lower fuel prices. Because the American public (and pretty much the rest of the world) is hunkering down.

Our modest suggestion to the travel industry – especially airlines and hotels: Combine your frequent-flyer/guest programs. The airlines, especially, have global marketing alliances, the Big 3 being SkyTeam, OneWorld, and Star.

What if travelers were able to use a combination of Delta, Air France, and (maybe) Alaska miles? Or British Airways, American, and Qantas miles? United, bmi, and Lufthansa? This could send a dramatic message and be an incentive for travelers to cash in some miles for flights. Sure, the airlines would still probably restrict seats, but most travelers would perceive this as a two-for-one offer: They’re probably going to pay for a second ticket to go with their frequent-flyer freebie.

And what if hotel chains joined with the air alliances to offer rooms for airline miles (instead of just transferring points at poor ratios)? Or dramatically reduced room reward rates (maybe as part of a multi-night-stay deal so they’d be getting revenue instead of just giving away the free room nights)?

The other benefit to all this is that airlines and hotels could greatly reduce the number of banked miles/points (financial liabilities) on their books. Thus, when the recovery does happen, and folks start spending for travel again, more flights and hotel stays will then be full revenue producing. And we’d bet there will be a lot of pent-up demand for travel when the purse strings finally open again.

I imagine lots of folks smarter than me can offer reasons why this wouldn’t work. Fine. Several folks allegedly smarter than me are running General Motors, Ford, Merrill Lynch, AIG, United Airlines, etc. In this financial environment, it should be time for out-of-the-box thinking within the travel industry. Don’t hold your breath.

Travel Credit Cards in Today’s World

With the current financial situation, we’re suddenly seeing changes in many different areas of consumer credit. Yesterday we received a notice that our American Express card’s foreign-exchange fee would raise from 2% to 2.7% (pretty close to the Visa/MasterCard standard of 3%). We have a Washington Mutual Visa that has offered 1% forex fees, but who knows what that card’s future is now that Chase has bought WaMu (we don’t have a lot of hope that 1% will survive). We do hope that Capital One stays ahead of the crowd, and continues to differentiate itself with its 0% forex fees. But nothing’s sacred today.

We are also just as concerned about airline frequent flyer miles, and the credit cards that accrue them. Travel writer Peter Greenberg has jumped on the “dump your miles” bandwagon, feeling that United is most at risk of going under. Which makes us suggest even more strongly than we have in the past that you forgo any airline miles credit cards, and especially any that charge annual fees. This is an environment for cash-back or (maybe) travel-reward or hotel-points credit cards. (Note that one of the somewhat-better travel-reward cards was the Merrill+ Visa. Merrill Lynch has been absorbed by Bank of America, and that card’s future is unknown.)

We get change-in-terms notices weekly – many are announcing higher interest rates, higher late-payment penalties, etc. In the past, we (like most folks) just dumped these notices in the trash. Now we’re reading them. So as of now, our thoughts for your best bets in this changing environment are Capital One for foreign travel; a good cash-back card for your general rewards (we like the Chase Freedom); and maybe even the JCB credit card – 1% forex fees; 1% rebate; and backed by a non-U.S. (Japanese) bank.

And, as always, ignore all the reward cards if you carry a balance. Simply go for the absolute lowest APR you can find.

A Letter to the New President-Elect

Dear President Obama:

You were right. You said that America needed change, and a majority of voters agreed with you. We’d like to humbly suggest a couple of things in the travel industry that could use a dose or two of change.

The Airport Experience: Some day, when no one is looking, head to a big airport yourself and stand in the cheap-seats check-in line. Check a couple of bags. Stand in the security line. Remove your shoes, place your belongings on the conveyer. Watch as a myopic, humorless, brain-dead worker-bee tries to decipher the strange shapes in your carry-on bag. This is “security”? I’m sorry, Mr. President, but this is theatre. If the TSA won’t even be screening 50% of all air cargo until February 2009, the 4 ounces of liquid in the grandmother’s purse is not the issue. If the people of this country felt that airport security really was about deterring terrorists, citizens would be behind it all the way. But the current system just insults our intelligence and our dignity.

International Relationships: We applaud your campaign words to actually talk to foreign leaders, even ones we don’t “like” very much. We suggest you take it a step further, and allow Americans to travel anywhere in the world they desire. Specifically, we’re talking about Cuba. Now that the “we-hate-Fidel” Florida Cuban vote is less of a political issue, please consider resuming normal relations with the island. Better yet, why not visit yourself? You might find it as beautiful as your home state of Hawaii, with people just as open, friendly, and interesting. Remember, whether it’s Cuba or Croatia, the more of the world Americans see, and the more we can share our values with other people, the more we can become knowledgeable and compassionate citizens of the world.

We could go on about other things we feel need “change” in America (especially the health-insurance industry). And let’s clean up our financial house of cards. To us, anything that changes our world view – both internally in the U.S. and of the world itself – would be the most lasting and positive change possible. And anything that snaps America out of its naval-gazing rut will be good for the country, for travelers, and for the world.

We applaud your victory, and hope the next four (or eight) years under your leadership bring a new era of enlightenment to our country – in travel and many other areas.

Trinidad, Cuba