Triangle Trip

Following up on previous post regarding how to check status, SPG has responded with email notifications.

Previously, the only way to find out the number of free weekends awarded was to call SPG’s award winning customer service.  The e-mail I finally received was a pleasant surprise.  Another reason to bank at Starwood (more reasons why hotel points are more valuable than airline miles), they respond to demand and answer!

I spent the better part of my Sunday trying to figure how to best sync my calendars on my Mac and my phone.  And I think I finally found the magic formula using Google’s free services.  Here’s how to better sync your life:

Google Calendar Setup:

1) First create your calendar(s) on your Google account.

2) If you have multiple Google accounts, pick one to be central point of access and on that account add any calendars on your other Google accounts.  For example, I have a personal Google account and another one for my work through Google Apps.  I chose my work Google account to be the central account and added my personal Google Calendar via its email address.  You will first have to give full read/write sharing permissions to the central account on your other Google Calendars.  If all goes well, your central Google Calendar should list out all your other Calendars under “My calendars”.

Mac iCal Setup:

1) Download the Google Calaboration utility.  This tool helps automate the setup of your Google Calendars on the your Mac iCal application.  Before, it was a tedious process but this definitely make it a whole lot easier.

2) Open up Calaboration, sign in to your Google account, select the calendars you want to add, and click the “Add to iCal” button.  Quick, simple, and efficient.  If everything went well, you should now see your Google calendars on your iCal application.

TIP: If you have multiple Google calendars on iCal, you can easily move an event to a different calendar by dragging the event to the respective Google calendar in the Calendar List view.

Phone Setup:

1) Follow the instructions for you specific device listed here.  I, for example, followed the instructions for the iPhone OS Version 3.0.  Regarding the iPhone setup, note that you can only setup Microsoft Exchange account, hence the importance of the “central” Google account.

NOTE: If your Google account is on a different domain via Google Apps, please have your administrator enable Google Sync on the domain.

2) After the Google Calendars have been configured for your device, go to http://m.google.com on your phone.  If your Google account is via Google Apps, there’s link towards the bottom that says “Google Apps user?”; click on that link to add your Google Apps domain.

3) Click on the link labeled “Sync”.  You should now be able to manage your calendars on your device.

AND presto!  Your entire life is now synchronized.

Clear was a good concept. Pay $199 for membership to quickly get through airport security. So what went wrong? (aside from not fixing issues highlighted by yours truly from a previous post). Below are the reasons:

1.  Clear was trying to be something they are not. Clear wanted to participate in TSA-related activities but didn’t have the authority to do the job. Clear couldn’t get you pass security any faster than a traveler with airline status because Clear personnel couldn’t perform screening like a TSA agent. Clear only allowed you to skip the first TSA checkpoint – the TSA person matching  your boarding pass against your driver license/ID. You still had to go through the same TSA scanners, take off your shoes, remove your belt, show liquids, etc. And you’d have to wait for the leisure travelers to get their acts together after the screening process to repack. So Clear probably saved you 2 minutes tops – not to mention you may lose a few minutes because the fingerprint authentication machine didn’t work properly.

2.  Too much talk (marketing) and no execution. I have been getting spammed by Clear since its inception. I was also  spammed as a Clear member to get other members to join Clear. I also see tons of Clear marketing people handing out flyers at airports where Clear operates (mostly JFK). What’s the point of handing out flyers at airports when most of the people there are either Clear customers already or will never pay $200 a year because they are vacationers. Spending all the money on ineffective marketing campaings as opposed to focusing on launching airports led to Clear’s failure (see my previous post regarding issues). All that money in the bank should have gone to launch LAX and other important airport hubs which can ultimately drive membership (aka: revenue). I had a Clear membership but couldn’t use it half the time because I am a frequent traveler out of one of the busiest airports in the world (LAX and ORD). What’s the benefit of being a Clear member when I can quickly get through Indianapolis airport security when there are no lines?

3.  Poor leadership and management. What’s the point of gathering all my personal data when it is not necessary? Why do I see 4 to 8 people at Clear kiosks when the registration process and check-in process should be easy and straight forward? I found the registration process to be extremely cumbersome and unnecessary. Clear did not need my fingerprints to validate my identity. I believe two government issued IDs is sufficient proof. Investment in the fingerprint and eye scanning machines were a waste of shareholder funds. Furthermore, it took two people to register me at SFO.

Instead of wasting all the money and closing up shop now, Clear had a perfect chance to save itself. All Clear management had to do was read Triangle Trip and my open letter to the US Homeland Security Chief and TSA (see post). We sincerely hope the airlines are reading our posts as they are important feedback to the industry. I am sure Clear will also be a business case study at some B-school down the road… here’s a free research paper for the kiddies!