Triangle Trip

Many of you are probably thinking what is the real difference between National Car Rental and Alamo since their bus is half green (National colors) and half blue (Alamo colors).  The answer to this is simple:  they are the owned by same company — Vanguard.

I recommend you always book Alamo unless you you have the following with National:

1. Speedy checkout because you’re an Emerald Club Member (Alamo requires you to go through a person or their kiosks)
2. Rent from them so much that you are a National Executive Emerald Club member which allows you to select a nicer car
3. A Corporate account that offers discounts
4. Want to earn the 1-2-Free (rent two times, get one free) promotion
5. Want to return your car to a location that only has National

If you are using your own nickle, here are more reasons why you should rent from Alamo vs. National:

1. When you rent from Alamo, you usually get the same car selection from National as the two brands share the same rental facility.
2. Alamo is roughly 20% to 30% cheaper as they target vacationers vs. corporate travel. Alamo also has great weekend rates.
3. Ease of booking on its website. You do not need to register, etc. All you need to do is enter your name and email address.

In summary, Alamo offers you the cheaper and easier way to make your reservation if you don’t mind spending a little time at the counter before you pick up your car. National is for corporate impatient travelers and where you can leverage your corporate discounts and earn more perks.

“Earn 500 bonus Starpoints every night and an additional 5,000 every 10th night.”

Starwood Hotels (W Hotels, Westin, Sheraton) have been addressing the economic downturn with a strategy that I can only call a self-inflicted double whammy.  Because of falling demand, prices for a single night at Starwood properties have been falling.  While this is a normal business practice, what’s disconcerting is that at the same time, they are rolling out excessive point-earning incentives.

In exchange for short term solvency, they are guaranteeing a future “market correction.”  Will it be in the form of a bankrupt points program?  Will a Sheraton reward rise from 2,000 points to 10,000?   Will Westin rebrand as Le Meridien? For someone with a very generous balance of points, I’m downright worried.

If anything, SPG should be increasing their rates for this fairly inelastic market.  Yes, there are alternatives like video conferencing, but they’ll never replace the effectiveness of a face to face meeting.  On top of that, I’m guessing that SPG’s bread & butter business traveller is as greedy as I am.  The hotel stay is going to be reimbursed, so they’re not going to compromise their starpoints balance to save $20 a night by moving over to the Hilton.

I don’t care how bad the economy is, any self-respecting consultant won’t be found at a La Quinta.  What’s next?  Online coupons?

-Terminal D

Captain G and Statusmonger have been to all the major airports in the US. Below are our top 5 worst airports in the US. We only kept the list to major airports in major cities because it is not fair to the little airports with only a few flights a day.

We take the following into consideration during our evaluation:

* Getting to the airport from the city and leaving from the airport to the city
* Overall functionality of the airport facility – inside and outside
* Airport traffic control – number of delays, etc.

#5. Seattle Tacoma (SEA) – The airport is a pain to get to regardless if you are coming from downtown or eastern suburbs. From downtown, you can slug it through the 5 which is a mess or 91 which is a crap shoot. From the northeastern suburbs or better known as Microsoft land, the 405 south bound is the worst highway designed in the US – there’s a full time car pool lane in a metro area that doesn’t carpool. When you get to SEA, you’ll need to first locate your airline then identify the gate to go through security. Security lines are tied to the gates. Depending on which gate, you may need to take a train. Alaska Air is the major carrier there and they have gates all over the terminal. The train to gates make announcements in different languages which is a positive but it is awful when it comes to getting you to the gate on time. We have nearly missed flights due to the train. SEA is also notorious for weather related delays. How can a city that rains all the time be impacted by rain?

#4. Dallas (DFW) – The size of the airport is equal to Manhattan. It takes forever to return your car and hop on the rental car bus shuttle to get you to the airport. American Airlines is in 3 of the 4 terminals. However the terminals are not linked. American changes their gates all the time. This means you’ll need to go through security multiple times if your American flight has a gate change. In addition to going through security, you’ll also have to wait for the shuttle bus to take you for one terminal to another. The inside of DFW isn’t all that pretty with limited food selection. The baggage claim area is also very small and unorganized. This is a pretty depressing hub airport when you compare it against other hubs.

#3. New York JFK International (JFK) – The world flies to JFK as the airport supports most global airlines. However the airport is a shame compared to other airports around the world. Given the ease of public transportation in NYC, there’s no easy way to take a train to JFK. The Port Authority of NY and NJ who runs the airport botched the light rail project (we will have a separate post about this project later). For a tourist from NYC to get to JFK via train, they’ll need to take the MTA in the city to an Air Train which takes at least 90 minutes assuming you don’t get lost along the way. Another route you can take us via the Long Island Railroad which is very expensive and takes too much time to explain to a tourist. Taking a cab from the city can take up to 2 hours due to NYC traffic. If you’re a tourist or business traveler, you’ll be hassled by illegal limo drivers trying to rip you off. It is also impossible for your friends and family to locate you at passenger pickup area because it is so crowded and the people controlling the traffic flow is useless. Once you get to JFK, it will take you some time to identify your airline as there are 9 terminals and like 200 airlines. All the terminals are small and lines are long due to the traffic volume. Security lines are horrible, food selection and shopping inside the terminals are limited. Above all this, there’s no wifi and you have to pay $5 for a luggage cart. This airport is a complete shame.

#2. Los Angeles International (LAX) – LAX is still in the 1970s. Fighting traffic to the airport is one challenge, but having to fight traffic from the rental car return facilities is unacceptable. The rental car facilities are all over the airport, finding the facility is like a scavenger hunt. I won’t even mention public transportation from and to the airport (this is LA, where the concept of public transportation does not exist). Similar to DFW, you need to get on a shuttle bus if your airline has a gate change since only some of the terminals are interconnected. Aside from United, none of the other airlines has an express security line to allow you to bypass casual travelers. The inside of the airport is dingy and old. Restaurants inside LAX are decent, however.

#1. Dulles International (IAD) – What were they thinking when they built this disaster? Be prepared to miss your flight if you didn’t leave yourself enough time. First of all, there is only one main terminal building, one of the ugliest buildings in the DC area, for all passengers on all airlines to enter and leave the airport, causing massive security lines. However, supposedly they’re implementing newer procedures to improve this process. Secondly, all the concourses are way out beyond the main terminal building, creating a need for these ugly people-mover vehicles to drive people crammed in like sardines to their respective concourses, dodging airliners and fuel trucks along the way. So after you’ve waited in a long long security line, you need to get on one of these people-movers to take you to your gate, which are operated by people and very inefficient. But, supposedly they are finally building a monorail system to get rid of these ugly things. The traffic around IAD is probably the worst in the nation. And there is no decent public transportation to get you into DC (you could take a Washington Flyer bus to West Falls Church Metro station which is located near the end of the Orange line but I don’t consider that decent). The concourses themselves are crowded and dingy, and food selections are limited and lousy. United operates many shuttle flights and that concourse reminds me of a Greyhound terminal. Lastly, being THE international airport in the DC area, one would think they would name the airport after an important US president like FDR but they decided to name the airport after the US Secretary of State under Eisenhower. The only good thing I can say about this airport is that I liked Die Hard 2.