Triangle Trip

Furthering my previous post highlighting issues with (Fly) Clear, below are two more missteps:

According (Fly) Clear, they would have Clear service at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) by winter 2009. To me, winter 2009 has come and gone. December 21, 2009 is not winter 2009, it is actually winter 2010 (just look at all the winter Olympics schedules if you do not agree). Here we are, spring 2009 and I do not see any signs of (Fly) Clear at LAX. I visited the Clear website today and noticed LAX is now off the map (not even a “coming soon” city). How can (Fly) Clear stay in business when they cannot service the second most populated city in the US.

(Fly) Clear also announced that they have launched Clear services at JFK’s terminal 4. I am a frequent flier out of JFK’s terminal 4 and only realized last week that I could use the Clear service. I have been standing on the regular line all this time because I don’t see any Clear signage. How I found out that Clear actually launched in terminal 4 was when someone cut my line last week. There is a Clear station after you pass the initial ID screening. I thought Clear was supposed to help you bypass the ID screening process as most airports have a Clear agent standing right next to the ID screening TSA agent.

If Clear executives read all my post regarding (Fly) Clear to date, their service would grow in leaps and bounces. I should send them an invoice for my consulting services.

The Westin snack and minibar sensors are way too sensitive. I was recently at Westin and accidentally knocked over a can of peanuts on the snack tray. I picked up and placed the peanuts back on the tray but apparently did not do it fast enough. The next day I noticed charges for peanuts and cookies on my hotel bill – apparently I also knocked the cookies off its place on the sensored tray.

I had to talk to the front desk to  straighten out my bill before I left the hotel. Due to the long line, I  wasted 15 minutes of my valuable time – luckily I didn’t have an urgent meeting or catch a flight. The front desk agent was very nice and removed the charges without question. However, this inconvenience gave me the feeling of Westin trying to tack on extra charges to my bill. Had I not reviewed the bill before leaving the hotel, I would have been charged $20 for the peanuts and cookies.

Westin could have prevented this inconvenience had they done the following:

1.  Had the front desk warn me about the minibar and snack sensors. The front desk should have to told me I had x seconds to put the snack or drink back or I will be charged for removing the item off its place. What if I only want to see the packaging or read the ingredients?

2.  Have a very large sign on top of the snacks and on the minibar door clearly stating that their is a sensor tied to the drinks and snacks. The tray holding the snacks had a sign on the edge of the tray which was way below eye level. The sign on the door was so small I couldn’t even read it with a magnified glass.

Virgin America is flying from point to point as opposed to using a hub and spoke model like the larger US carriers. The point to point flights work well on regional hops but don’t think they work as well on coast to coast flights. The coast to coast flights cost too much to operate when you have planes that are 1/4 full.

Virgin America flies from NYC and Boston to Los Angeles and San Francisco. I have been going coast to coast on Delta an United for the past four months, and the coast to coast flights are rarely full. Although I haven’t been on a Virgin America flight but I can’t image they are packed or even 50% full.

United probably has the most loyal business travele customers and they can’t fill up the United P.S. flights which has less seats than Delta and other airlines due to the larger business class cabin. If you have Virgin America miles (I am not even sure how it works), I highly recommend you use them now before they go under like the Virgin retail stores. I don’t see how Richard Branson and his hedge fund partners are making money here.