Air France's Reservation-Hold Fee

Airline booking procedures carry financial risk. A new way to mitigate it?

So you've snared a low fare to someplace you want to go. So you know about yield management, which results in air fare quotes that can change in a matter of hours, if not minutes. So you have to check with a traveling companion or the dogsitter to make sure traveling on those dates will work. So you stare at the screen, reading about sudden-death booking conditions -- once you've clicked to book a ticket with a well-priced fare, it's yours with no penalty-free refunds or changes.

UpgradeTravelBetter.com reported that "in some [Air France] markets, you can reserve a low fare for up to two weeks, without buying the ticket, for €10." That certainly should be plenty of time to get your proverbial ducks in a row before you nail down your ticket. Don't get excited yet. North America is not one of those markets -- yet. The site quoted the translation of a Dutch report with details on this innovation. (Why a Dutch report? Because the same holding company owns Air France and KLM.)

When reserving online, you can choose the Time to Think option*. Starting at €10 per passenger, this new option lets you hold your reservation and fare for up to 14 days**.


To purchase your ticket, simply visit the “Manage your reservations” section.

If you decide not to confirm the reservation, it will be canceled automatically when your Time to Think period expires.

* This option is offered on our flights within metropolitan France and from France to Europe and North Africa.
** The period allowed varies according to your reservation date, destination and travel fare conditions. Option non-refundable and in addition to your ticket price.

Is it a good idea? Probably for expensive long-haul tickets, but maybe not so great for (presumably) less expensive tickets for short flights. As for domestic "within metropolitan France," I wouldn't bother flying at all but would take the wonderful TGV. Why go through all the annoyances of airports and air travel these days when a high-speed train whisks you through the landscape?

Even though North Americans are not yet given Time to Think, Upgrade blogger Mark Ashley did offer a suggestion: "When I do a test booking of an itinerary between Charlotte and Paris (via Detroit and/or Atlanta), I’m given an option of holding the itinerary for over 24 hours — until 10 pm the next night — at no cost. It’s not 14 days of hold time, but it’s not 10 euros, either."

Travel within France and to nearby European countries aside, this is another add-on that other airlines are surely looking at and might copy.

Front Range Hotels: One Very Old, One Brand New

The Boulderado celebrated its 100th as Aloft was set to take off

On January 1, the Hotel Boulderado passed the century mark with a swank party New Year's party and then a Sunday open house commemorating 10 decades of hospitality -- luxurious, minimal and then luxurious again. All were welcome to visit the hotel, listen to live music, enjoy free hors d'oeuvres and punch and birthday cake -- and watch ballroom dancers in period costume performing dances popular throughout its long history.

















Dancers in period costume (above); Boulderado birthday cake (right) by Shamane's Bake Shoppe. By the time I shouldered close to it with my little camera, several of the top tiers had already been taken off, sliced and distributed to celebrants. The Daily Camera published excellent pix.

Meanwhile, as the gracious Boulderado was entering its second century, the cutting-edge aLoft Hotel (or is it the Aloft Hotel? or the aloft? or the ALOFT?) was getting set to open in Aurora, near Denver International Airport. There are 17 other hotels with this name, one of Starwood's brands, already open or about to open, and I'm thinking that images on the photo page of the website are of some other them. It brand's design seems hip, high-tech and super-cool with mid-century modern furniture and Technicolor hues in the public spaces and Euro-toned down (natural wood + white) in the guest rooms.

I haven't seen the Denver area hotel or received any press materials, so all I can do is quote its own prose:

stay & play: public spaces
Meet & mingle with friends at our w
xyz(SM) bar, grab a sweet, savory, or healthy snack from re:fuel by aloft(SM),
our 24/7 pantry, or play in our re:mix(SM) lobby. Plus, you can always stay
connected with complimentary hotel-wide wired and wireless Internet
access!

rest & refresh: aloft rooms
Breeze into one of our aloft rooms,
featuring our ultra-comfortable signature bed, an oversized spa shower, custom
amenities by Bliss® Spa, and more. Our plug & play connectivity station
charges all your electronics and links to the 42” LCD TV to maximize work and
play.

Colorado's first aLoft/ALoft/aloft/ALOFT is at 16470 East 40th Circle, Aurora; 303- 371-9500. Others are planned for the Arista complex in Broomfield (opening in May 2009) and Glendale (near Cherry Creek and opening March 2010).

May 1: BYOB Day For Airline Passengers

Consumerist website declares Bring Your Own Blanket Day

CrazyAirlineFees.com's home page features a chart comparing the myriad add-ons that airlines are now charging in an effort to "unbundle" air fares and, in the end, wring the maximum revenues from travelers. Now, the site has declared May 1 as Bring Your Own Blanket Day to encourage passengers to bring their own blankets on board. Pretty soon, Linus, who goes nowhere without his blanket, will become the patron saint of fliers.

American Airlines' new $8 blanket-and-pillow fee in domestic economy cabins inspired this new "holiday." Obviously, it's a great attention-getter for this website and will surely drive traffic to it, but every day needs to be BYOB day -- like every day is now BYOF (Bring Your Own Food) Day. If this catches on, I'm half-anticipating American, maybe Spirit or an other carrier to start charging for blankets that passengers bring on board. I'll just keep wearing a jacket when I board rather than pack it. I've been doing this for a long time, because even when airlines had blankets and pillows available, there often weren't enough for all passengers -- especially in the rear of steerage.

"Forty winks in the air shouldn't cost you eight bucks," said Leonard Lee, a former airline pilot who founded of CrazyAirlineFees.com. According to the site, USAirways, JetBlue and Virgin America have been selling what they are calling "sleep kits" with blanket and pillow (hopefully freshly laundered since they are charging) and Lee added, some of them also "conveniently include an eyeshade and ear plugs so you don't have to listen to other passengers complaining about all the in-flight fees."

The site also offers the following info about blanket fees:  "Delta Airlines is the only major U.S. airline that still provides free pillows and blankets for its Economy class passengers.  Several airlines, including Continental, United and Southwest, no longer carry pillows and blankets onboard for their Economy class passengers. Southwest removed its pillows and blankets last year because of concerns during the H1N1 flu scare." I guess it was OK for front-cabin passengers to catch the flu!

Carbon Offset Kiosk Coming to an Airport Near You

San Francisco International to install nation's first dispenser of carbon offset credits

Come spring, eco-conscious travelers flyhing out of San Francisco International Airport will be able to buy certified carbon offsets at self-service kiosks in a one-year pilot program (yes, that's an intentional pun) set up by 3Degrees, a local company that deals in renewable-energy and carbon-reduction investments. The San Francisco Airport Commission has authorized a $163,000 startup costs to provide kiosks, initially at the customer service desk in Terminal 3 and two wings of the International Terminal.

The kiosk will probably look a lot like an ATM or airline check-kiosk. According to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle, the flier will punch in the destination, and the kiosk's computer will calculate the carbon footprint and the cost of carbon credits to offset that particular flight. A credit card swipe then will buy the necessary credits.

Buying this credits will be an environmental good deed, but it's not a charity, so the cost is not tax-deductible. 3Degree's Krista Canellakis told the paper, "While the carbon offsets purchased at kiosks can't be seen or touched, they are an actual product with a specific environmental claim whose ownership is transferred at the time of purchase."

According city and airport officials, 3Degrees and city will choose projects to be funded from a list certified by the city's Environment Department such as "renewable energy ventures in developing countries, agriculture and organic waste capture, coal mine methane capture, and sustainable forestry." A portion of each offset purchase will also go to "the San Francisco Carbon Fund, which supports local projects such as energy-efficiency programs and solar panel installations for low-income housing, as well as efforts to convert waste oils into biodiesel fuels."

The cost of these offset purchases for travelers has not be finalized yet, but 3Degrees' web-based "carbon calculator" suggests that offsetting a two-hour trip using about 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide would cost about $4 per person. Offsetting a trip to Europe would is guesstimated at $36. Thirty percent of the revenues will go to 3Degrees and the rest to the city. If it works at SFO, it's sure to spread to other airports as well. Profits for the company, revenues to the airport without requiring any additional services other than electricity and a clear conscience for travelers. Seems like a good bet for success.

Ironically, just as SFO is ready to welcome the 21st century commodity of carbon offset credits, the city is set to bid farewell to Stacey's Bookstore, an 85-year-old institution at 581 Market Street, one of the diminishing independent book dealers that have sadly fallen victim to changing times.

Happy Anniversaries, Parks Canada

Canada's equivalent of the US National Park Service celebrates its 125th this year. But wait! There's more!

Happy Anniversaries -- plural "anniversaries" with an S is correct, as Parks Canada (and also Parcs Canada in our officially bilingual neighbor to the north) -- celebrates and celebrates and celebrates. Currently, the agency is responsible for 42 national parks, 167 historic sites, nine historic canals and three national historic conservation areas. Like trivia? Point Pelee National Park, between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario is the smallest and also the farthest south -- farther south, in fact, than New York City. The farthest north is Sirmilik National Park on northern Baffin Island, also the area where the earliest signs of human habitation have been found. Parks Canada/Parcs Canada certainly has a lot to celebrate.

2010 - 125th anniversary of the year (1885) that Cave Basin was established as a natural reserve to protect Banff Hot Springs. Two years later, it became the nucleus Banff National Park, Canada's first national park.

2011 - 100th anniversary of the creation of the agency now called Parks Canada/Parcs Canada

2012 - 200th anniversary of the War of 1812, commemorated and documented at numerous National Historic Sites close to the Canada-US border.

2013 - 300th anniversary ot the Fortress of Louisbourg, a faith reconstruction of a fortress built in 1713 to protect French poessesions in what is now referred to as Atlantic Canada.

Sites and Blogs with Names Similar to Travel Babel

With tens of thousands of blogs and websites, I found just a few similar domain names

I do occasionally check the number of visitors to this blog, but today I'm feeling puckish this morning and suddenly wondered how many other blogs and sites I could find quickly with names similar to my Travel Babel blog. I immediately found another Travel Babel in Poland. Its URL is almost identical to mine, but without the hyphen between "Travel" and "Babel."

Flipping the words around, I also found a Swiss tour operator called Babel Travel that organizes adventure trips to North Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. There's a Travel Babble in Canada, a site that doesn't seem to travel far beyond Toronto and offers information for visitors traveling to that wonderful city. And I came upon a dead-end URL for a website called My Travel Babble that was once a domain name of Bob and Claudia Brill, " two people with extensive travel experience," says the Google search page. And I found a lame YouTube video titled "Travel Babble" of two blokes sitting around in the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris and describing their time in Paris with only some words audible .

60 Hours of Capricious Front Range Weather

Four seasons in 2+ days. Boulderites don't need to travel. Weather variations come to us.

If you live in or have been traveling to Boulder, Colorado, starting this past Wednesday, here's the weather you would have experienced:

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Wednesday afternoon, gray.
Wednesday early evening, hail.

Wednesday later in the evening, regular rain. Then downpour plus thunder and lightening.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Thursday morning, gray.
Thursday mid-day, blue sky and sunny.
Thursday afternoon, clouded over.
Thursday evening and Friday morning, rain ranging from drizzle to deluge.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Friday late morning and early afternoon, rain that became sleet and then, heavy, wet snow.

Friday afternoon and evening, alternating rain, drizzle and gray.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Saturday day morning and early afternoon (which is now), gray and cloudy, then clearing and finally sunny.

All the photos above are of our front or back yard during a classic April on Colorado's Front Range. Bottom line is that if you live here, you don't have to travel at this time of year for a change of climate. For visitors, April weather can be an hour-by-hour surpirse. For my part, I love it.