El Al Frequent Flyer Stealth Program

No – El Al is not using stealth technology on their planes, but they are trying to use  stealth sneaky shady methods to steal poach the competition’s frequent flyer data. And they were not very shy about this disgraceful business tactic.  From the Jerusalem Post:

El Al reached out to the travel agent community last month, requesting hard information on the frequent fliers of several airlines.

Their request was simple: “Send us your list of frequent fliers on the following airlines: British Airways, Continental, Delta, Lufthansa and Turkish Air. Send us their ID number, mailing address, cell phone number, email address, and birth date. Send us their complete travel plans rom 2008, indicating to where they flew with dates and cities.”

Now to be fair to El Al, the airline made it a competition among the travel agent community. The agent who sent the most names could win big money – $1,000.

The story was picked up quickly by international frequent flyer community.  The general sentiment was that El Al was “Doing business the Israeli way”. And that link went out to 190,000 FlyerTalk subscribers. Just when our PR machine was recovering from an accused rapist President, a war that BBC did not find to their liking and a Prime Minister under investigation for more shady dealings than Spiro Agnew and Richard Nixon put together.

I guess the marketing guys forgot to ask the lawyers for their opinion beforehand (hey, at $300/hour can you blame them?) but the lawyers did put an end to this plan.

Hats off to:

1. The lawyers

2. The travel agents for not cooperating (they would have lost their licence)

3. Turkish Airlines (and others) for not making a shwarma out of ElAl’s management.

4. The Jerusalem Post for reporting this, and

5. You, for reading my blog and for using TripCart’s Road Trip Planner to pick up some New York City family vacation ideas for the summer.

Discount Orlando Disney Tickets from UK Website

Yes, you read that right – contributed by an avid reader who just bought 77 days of disney!

Getting discounts on Disney Orlando tickets are almost impossible. Prior to this post we knew of two ways – 1) Be a Florida resident and 2) Spend a day in a time share presentation (and a lifetime getting out of it). Now the third:

BUY TICKETS ON THEIR UK SITE WHEN THE EXCHANGE RATE IS FAVORABLE!

Example:

Seven Day park hopper adult ticket is $328 on their US site and 219 GBP on their UK site, which is equal to $306 at the pathetic rate of 1 GBP = $1.40 ( a few weeks ago). So, monitor Forex 24/7 and save yourself  some money in these recessionary times.  No need to monitor the Euro or the Canadian Dollar – they only sell tickets in dollars and pounds (maybe Yen, also).

Also note that not all types of passes are offered on both sites.

El AL Nonstop to Brazil, South America

ElAl just GRU! (GRU is code for Sao Paulo, Brasil)

Starting May 2, ElAl flies 3 time a week non-stop to Sao Paulo.

Through interline agreements, passengers can continue on to most main South American destinations. That means you have one ticket and your bags are checked all the way through. It is not a code share.

SCHEDULE - Flights leave Israel on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday evenings arriving early the following morning. Returning flights leave Brasil on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday evening (715p) arriving in Israel the next day at 310p. (Schedule is similar to TLV-JFK-TLV).

COACH PRICE – $1000 to Rio and Sao Paulo, $1100 to most other destinations.

FREQUENT FLYER MILES -120,000 American Airline miles will get you an economy seat to Sao Paulo, Chile or Peru on ElAl.  ElAl Matmid members flying economy class earn between 65 and 250 points one way, depending on type of ticket.  That’s the same as flights to Los Angeles.

The flight is one of ElAl’s longest at 14.5 hours. The following will be the route in the New Middle East – but until Libya and Chad are willing to have us  in their airspace the routing is a bit longer, via Spain.

Finally – it is interesting that the flight is aimed at the religious pilgrim market originating in Brazil. Another notable entry in this field is Travelujah.

The Old “Western Union Hold” Trick

This is a good one – I  just discovered it in the blogosphere. My readers are invited to try it out to see if it really helps.

The problem

Booking flights online often require immediate purchase. Buy it or lose it.

The solution is – WESTERN UNION

Scroll down for this amazing, life changing discovery, also known as “The Stealth Hold”

Book the tickets online and when it comes time to pay – place reservation on hold for CASH payment. AA’s website explains how. Continental works as well and I guess most airlines have a similar process.

How do you pay cash for a ticket booked online? Western Union. You get 24 hours with your reservation (and fare!) guaranteed. Now, unless you are a Bangladeshi worker stranded in Dubai or a world class money launderer (off to a Long Island romantic getaway) or Ehud Olmert, you won’t be hauling envelopes of cash to the nearby Western Union office.

What you will be doing is call the airline (within 24 hours) and tell them you decided to pay by credit card after all. You have succeeded in buying time. Time to:

• Decide if that is what you want to do
• Wait to see if fares change

This technique is also good to speak to an agent without paying the fee that often comes with that privilege. And to get the online booking mile bonus.

Summing up – the “Steath Hold” works by

1. Booking the flight online
2. Selecting the “pay by cash” or “place the reservation on hold” option
3. Recording the record locator code (PNR)
4. Call within 24 hours (may vary) to pay by Credit Card

Shocking Media Reports about Commuter Airline Safety

UPDATE – May 12 – Full 3407 Buffalo FAA Transcript released – here.

In light of last weeks tragic crash of a Continental Connection Dash 8 near Buffalo, I decided to tackle the issue of  commuter airline safety. First, the good news:

• The planes themselves have good safety records. They may be claustrophobic and bounce around a lot, but they are as safe as the big (Bar Refaeli painted) jets. This was the first crash of a Dash 8.
• Turboprop planes are a key part of the hub and spoke model of modern air travel and are held to the same high standards as the big jets.

That’s about all I could say on the positive side. The fact is that there have been 7 fatal crashes of incidents involving US commuter airlines in this decade, alone. Fasten your seat belts and read:

• The big airlines kind of outsource these flights to companies that may not live up to the reputation of the Delta’s, American’s, etc. of the industry. Pinnacle Airlines crashed 3 turboprops since 2000, including Continental Connection Flight 3407 .  You might not be aware that these brand names are often Pinnacle Airlines, or its subsidiaries (including Colgan Air)  flights:
  • Northwest Airlink
  • Delta Connection
  • Continental Connection
  • US Airways Express
  • American Connection

• The pilots may not be as good in a field where experience and disciple count:
  • They may be inexperienced - Capt. Marvin D. Renslow had only 110 hours flying time on the Dash 8.
  • They may be overworked -   In his 3 1/2 years at Colgan, Capt. Renslow flew the maximum number of hours allowed.
  • They seem to be underpaid -  The New York Post reported that Capt. Renslow was moonlighting as a part-time produce stocker at a Tampa, Florida market.
  • They are often entry-level.  First officer Rebbecca Shaw, the more experienced (on Dash-8) pilot in the cockpit,  graduated high school in 2002. Sully, by comparison, has 40 years of experience and was a US Air Force Academy graduate and top flier in his class. He landed a fully loaded Airbus A320 in the Hudson River.
  • Have you heard about  Captain Jesse Rhodes and First Officer Peter Cesarz?  -  pilots of Pinnacle Airlines flight 3701, operating as Northwest Airlink , who “decided to have a little fun” and see how high their plane could go. They did. At 41,000 feet the engines flamed-out. Then they lied to air traffic controllers trying to find them a place to land. They crashed and died. No one else was on the plane.

• The airline whose name is painted on the plane accepts only limited responsibility. Continental says that “it left safety oversight to the F.A.A”.  And the F.A.A. sited Colgan Air six times in as many years for maintenance or operational violations. So much for Continental’s “due diligence”

I would bet that at least some of that was surprising and even troubling.

With over 20% of all passenger boardings on commuter planes and with some regional airports  served only by commuters, TLV2JFK readers end up on these flights from time to time. Since each and every reader of this blog is dear to us – consider avoiding these airlines, if possible. Besides not flying to hick towns, we suggest looking carefully at the flight you are booking.

For the major airlines, commuter flights are generally those with high numbers, but not always. High numbers can also mean codeshares or special flights. Here is the best list of flights that are commuter flights that I could come up with:

United - 2830 – 3899, 5280 – 8099

Delta - 4365 – 6949, 7755 – 7829

Continental - 1200 – 1299, 2000 – 3159, 3180 – 4049, 4750 – 5993, 7425 – 8059, 8635 – 8960, 9491 – 9595 (whew!)

Finally, I apologize in advance if I hurt a billion dollar industry with my very limited knowledge of aviation. And I did not mean any disrespect for the dead. All I did was read a few newspaper articles, and flyertalk. And share my feelings.

And, if anyone knows why Continental flights 4950 – 4999 are reserved for SNCF French Rail, please do let me know!

Bar Refaeli – Not A Cheap Publicity Stunt

Unlike Southwest Airlines, TLV2JFK will not stoop so low as to use an Israeli supermodel to sell our product. We  simply want to solicit snappy captions for this picture.   Or intelligent comments. Or in Sully-speak – “ACKNOWLEDGE”

If you are offended by this picture of a repainted Southwest Airlines 737 – in the past we have featured Shaul Mofaz,  Bill Gates and Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi or just a Sequoia Tree on the Lower East side.  TLV2JFK is an equal opportunity publicity-seeker.  And yes, we have stooped lower.

YAPTA.com – For Award Travel on UA, Delta??

There has been a lot of buzz about a new service offered by Yapta.com. Yapta stands for “Your Amazing Personal Travel Assistant”. Most of the buzz seems to be regurgitation of their press releases.

Besides their basic (airline site only) meta-search, they offer a airfare tracker. Not a predictor, like farecast. They claim that millions of $$$ can be saved. You bought a ticket (on the airline site), the price went down and you get a refund. Sounds great, and it may even result in a refund to the very lucky traveler whose price went down, and tracked it and acted fast enough and did not lose the refund to change fees. Definitely worth a shot – BUT, this post is not about that.

This post is about the little check box they added that says:

“include award tickets”

So, if an award ticket opens up on the flight you want to book – BINGO!

But, we all know that you are more likely to win the lottery. Anyone using free tickets these days has to be very flexible with dates of travel, destination, airlines, # passengers, award type, etc. It has become an art form that few can master. It a great idea – a tool that will find you free flights. So is cold fusion. Let me know if I am wrong and Yapta really does find people free flights. Until then, I will be on my Vonage with Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago and Bangalore trying to find out how I can use my half million miles.

Expedia, Kayak or Delta – You need all of them – Part 1

I am often asked – whats the best way (meaning schedule and cost) to book flights online. The field is crowded with Meta-search (Kayak, farecast), Online Travel Agents (Expedia, Orbitz, Priceline, Travelocity) and the Airline sites.

The answer is usually a combination of all three. Todays post is about debugging a high priced domestic ticket.

STEP 1: Use the OTA (online travel agent) site to find the best fare and airline. The OTA sites work on round trip pricing.

STEP 2: Go to the airline site and find the same flight. The airline breaks the cost down per segment. You may find out that one leg is disproportionately more than then others.

STEP 3: Search for alternatives (different dates of airports) for the expensive leg.

STEP 4: Book the fixed itinerary at OTA site or airline site.

Case study: New York to Los Angeles Round trip Dec 17-> Dec 24

• Cost on Expedia $350 to $400
• Cost on Airline site is the same, broken down to $125 NY to LA and $250 L A to NY. It turns out that Dec 24 is an expensive day to fly out of LA.
• A few minutes of research on the airline site showed that flights on Dec 24 from Las Vegas were $125. So, we save $150/ticket = over $1000 overall and get to spend time in Las Vegas as well. We were able to find a one car rental from LA to Las Vegas with no extra fees. But that is a different post.

The lesson is again in knowing how to combine the information from the OTAs (cheapest airline, even nearby airports) with the airline site info (fare classes for certain dates)… Stay tuned for next post and an eventual PhD thesis on this.

FAA safety ranking lowered for Israel? – I doubt it!

Readers may be concerned about todays reports that the FAA plans to downgrade Ben Gurion Airport’s safety ranking to level two (the official term is air safety oversight category).

According to the FAA – a category 2 rating means:

A Category 2 rating means a country either lacks laws or regulations necessary to oversee air carriers in accordance with minimum international standards, or that its civil aviation authority – equivalent to the FAA – is deficient in one or more areas, such as technical expertise, trained personnel, record keeping or inspection procedures.

And:

Expansion or changes in services to the United States by such carriers are not permitted while in category 2.

First of all, there is no mention of this in any FAA or official site and nothing in the international press. Here is their press release for when they downgraded Indonesia. And here is the updated file not showing Israel. In fact, looking at the list the only countries flying into the US that are category 2 are:

Bangladesh, Ivory Coast, Croatia, Ghana, Guyana, Indonesia, Nauru, Philippines, Serbia and Ukraine.

Second of all, the aviation forums are think this is nonsense. Comments such as Even SQ (Singapore) would be banned … OR how are any of these small incidents any different than what every other airline experiences… etc.

So, unless this is really true (and we will find out definitively in a few days), someone is using this for some serious political spin and scaring millions of flyers and dozens of airlines in the process. That somebody just might be Shaul Mofaz, Minister of Transportation. Last year the Lapidot Committee released a report (news article) outlining safety problems at Ben Gurion (there are real ones). The report was delivered to Shaul Mofaz in Aug of 2007, who accepted all the findings and said he would implement by early 2008. I will leave it to my readers to try to guess who is willing to kill a few airlines and terrify millions of people for some personal gain.

Of course, if this report does turn out true, I apologize. And then we should be scared.

Want to throw away $10,000,000?

Here’s a deal from ElAl right in line with the current financial reality:

Invest $10,000,000 in a low interest uninsured bank account and get more ElAl points then you can ever use. Don’t believe me? – here is the link. I am also interested in knowing how I got on the mailing list for this offer. And if there is a connection to the 50,000 people Citicorp fired today

Oh, and yes – offer expires Dec 31, 2008 – better act fast and start emptying those piggy banks.

• Shopping in Denver, Colorado Springs, Boulder, Cheyenne Wyoming and the Eastern Rockies
• Shopping in Richmond, Virginia Beach, Williamsburg, North Carolina’s Outer Banks
• Shopping in Philadelphia, Lancaster, the Poconos, Eastern Pennsylvania
• Shopping in Myrtle Beach, Hilton Head, Charleston, South Carolina, Atlanta, Savannah, Georgia
• Shopping in Hilo, Kona, Waikoloa, Kohala Coast and Volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii