A few years ago, I would have never thought I’d say that. Traveling sometimes 100,000 miles a year (and nearly all in Economy class), I repeatedly cursed United in particular for having seemingly no planes with seatback screens… forcing me to be “entertained” by a movie whose lack of visibility was only trumped by its lack of quality & recency.
Delta — a few years late, I’d say — is now trying to appeal to people like earlier-me with this ad I just spotted in this month’s Wired magazine:
A few years ago, however, I didn’t have a tablet computer, and now I do (two!). I love my Nexus 7 and Nexus 10, and find them to be outstanding entertainment companions, especially on a plane. And given the ubiquity of tablets and the consistent and astounding crapitudinous quality of airline entertainment system UIs, I’m thinking that airlines should instead just ensure that every seat has a power outlet and give up on the small and oft poor-quality seatback screens.
But Adam, not everyone has a tablet! True. But I’m wiling to bet the intersection of frequent (and high revenue) travelers and tablet ownership is pretty darn high, and certain to get much higher in the next few years.
Have you ever tried balancing a tablet on a wobbly seatback tray? Especially during mealtimes?
I have, and why can’t you enjoy your meal over a little peace and quiet, eh? :p Joking aside, this is why I think airlines should simply build tablet holders into seatbacks. But if they make it iProprietary, I’m gonna throw a fit :(.
I shouldn’t have to remember to preload music and movies onto my tablet!
You probably forget your car keys each morning, too, don’t you? No? Okay, but do you really want to be reliant on the dubious (and often laughably censored) entertainment content from the airlines? That aside, how about a smart hybrid system like Southwest Airlines is offering, where you can optionally connect to the plane’s intranet-wifi (intrawifi?) with your computer or tablet and pay to watch a movie from their selection.
* * *
What do you think? Do you own a tablet? Are you grateful when you see your plane has seatback screens?
P.S. — Given the decreasing width of the already narrow seats on planes and the increasing girth (especially of us Americans), I’d argue that — contrary to Delta’s assertion — we actually are typically sharing a seat 🙁
Dear airlines: please settle on some standard naming for seat classes. It’d make it a whole lot easier to compare and purchase tickets online.
United has Economy Plus. Delta has recently unveiled Economy Comfort (does this suggest that the other seats in that cabin are Economy Discomfort, or is that just my take? :p). Virgin America calls their slightly-nicer economy seating Main Cabin Select. Many international airlines refer to their upgraded economy section as Premium Economy.
Maybe the airlines perceive this disparate naming, this differentiation, to be a positive thing for their branding. But I think this is awful for consumers.
Right now, if you, dear flyer, want to book a ticket online, you can use a myriad of fine online services to select from Economy, Business, or First Class tickets. But note there’s no option for selecting the tier in between Economy and Business! 🙁
I’m guessing this is because the airlines could raise a fuss if the booking sites lumped this all under “Premium Economy.” Perhaps there are also logistical challenges, too; I’m not sure if the fare data shared by the airlines includes straightforward info on premium economy fares, since — for example — Economy Plus seating isn’t sold directly, but is instead an add-on or premier-flyer upgrade of sorts.
* * *
But dangit, I’d like to be able to easily compare across airlines and book a more comfortable flight, and I sure as heck can’t justify paying business class fares! Airlines would likely get more money from me and others if they let me compare and book premium economy fares on flight aggregator sites. Now… how can we convince them to do so?
I’ve stayed in you a lot. Over the last few years, I’ve traveled over a quarter million miles and stayed many, many nights away from home, sometimes feeling a bit like that rudderless and sad character in Up in the Air.
But, hotels, you can do little things to make me feel more comfortable, and with that, you’re much likely to win more of my business in the future.
Welcome me sweetly Whether it’s a piping hot chocolate chip cookie upon check-in (which I’ve heard at least one hotel chain offers) or a cup of wine or hot cider, or even a chocolate on my pillow, these little touches would cost you just a whee bit (probably less than a dollar out of my $xxx/night payment), but would make a wonderful first impression on me.
Recognize that I don’t just sneeze in the bathroom Why on earth do I often find two TVs and three phones (well, I know the why on that one!), but just one measly box of kleenex? I either have to remember to bring my own, or lamely grab a handful from the box in the bathroom to put next to my bed or my desk. Would it kill you to add an extra box of tissues to my room, or — if you must — quit literally locking up the box in the bathroom so I can move it where I happen to be at the moment?
I want to step into neither the heated bowels of hell, nor an iglooI can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked into my room to find the heater or air conditioner on high. That’s one way to make a powerful initial impression, but it isn’t the right way.
If you’re going to nickel and dime me, at least post the prices clearly I suppose it’s a losing battle asking you to cut it out with the obnoxious phone and internet surcharges and obscene honor-bar charges (A 800% markup on a Kit Kat? Really?!). I realize that you feel compelled to claim a lower nightly rate so you show up higher in online travel searches, yet also want to afford the million dollar salaries for your execs. But at the very least, could you make sure prices are prominently and clearly posted? For example… during a recent hotel stay, my cell phone was out of juice, so I contemplated using the room phone… but couldn’t find any rates listed. I called the front desk, and got back this gem: “Um… phone? Er… long distance? To California? I think it’s $6 for the first minute, not sure how much for the next minutes.” After that, I wish I had avoided asking, and instead rung up my folks in California for an hour and refused to pay the bill due to the non-disclosure of rates.
Provide either outstandingly delicious food for your high prices, or offer mediocre food on the cheap There’s nothing more grating than eating in the hotel restaurant or ordering room service, paying through the nose for it ($23 for a hamburger and fries?!), and getting food that’s barely a step up from a bad high school cafeteria. Look, yeah, a bunch of us are on expense accounts, but it still hurts to feel ripped off, and we really do resent you when this happens. At the very least, make us feel better about the high prices: provide stellar service, maybe offer a surprise mini-dessert or a complimentary wine glass refill, and for heavens sake, prohibit your room service delivery people from accepting a tip if you’ve already factored in 18% gratuity but we were too jetlagged to notice. Seriously, customer-friendly stuff like that would get you blogged about and appreciated. And by the way, we really do hope you’re giving that full mandatory gratuity (mandatory gratuity? sheesh!) to the guy who delivered the meal. But some of us doubt it :(.
Make our workspace comfortable and reliable We’re traveling on business. Believe me, we’d rather be out on the town, but more often than not, we’re cranking out e-mails sitting at — or trying to sit at — the room desk. I know I’m 2-3 inches shorter than the average guy, but I shouldn’t have to put a phone book on my chair so I can type comfortably; please follow the illustrious path of offices, barbershops, and a zillion other places, and put adjustable chairs in your rooms. A pen that cost you $1 instead of 0.7 cents would also be a plus. So, too, would desk lamps that have electric outlets delivering juice even when the light is off and even after we leave the room.
Entice and delight us by offering free samples Provide [x] minutes of internet access for free each day (though frankly, internet access is such a commodity that you should just make it free all the time!). That way, if we need to just quickly check our e-mail or a web site urgently, we aren’t cursing you when trying to navigate through your sign-up-and-pay system. Put a chocolate on our pillow with a note teasing, “Does this chocolate make you happy? Buy more for yourself or someone special, downstairs in our corner market.” Provide 15 minutes of complimentary video gaming on the TV. Offer to iron or launder one shirt for free (chances are, if we take you up on that, we’ll have you wash our slacks and other stuff, too).
And lastly, a few miscellaneous requests Offer us a compact map (even just a photocopy of a map showing the nearby area) upon sign-in. Publicize and enforce a “no tipping, your pleasure is our pleasure” policy throughout the entire hotel (hey, I can dream, right?). Have housekeeping specifically doublecheck that the alarmclock is not set for, say 5am. Alter TVs to limit their max volume. Offer a “Quiet floor,” with enforced silence after 11pm (no parties, no screaming kids). Keep your hot tub open later (at least until midnight, please).
A collection of little frustrations or little pleasures can actually sway the balance in choosing between your hotel chain and another. I don’t know about other businessfolk, but I’m not compelled to always select the cheapest hotel in a metropolitan area; I won’t hesitate to pay even $42 more a night for a brand I’ve had more comfortable and reliable experiences with.
Thanks 🙂
(And to my fine readers, what suggestions / kudos / pet peeves did I overlook?)
A gaggle of giggling young teens — pre-Facebook — pesters this cranky, lonely guy, and asks him… everything.
Luxembourg, 1998. On a whim and with zero preparation, I’d decided to spend a weekend there, only to face crappy weather and a lack of available nearby hostels. After much schlepping, I wearily ended up in Echternacht at a hostel teeming with a gaggle of giggling teenage kids.
They ate dinner at their reserved table, and I ate — alone and lonely — in the opposite corner. We largely ignored each other, but they’d occasionally glance over as if to ask:
“What is that weird, tired looking guy doing at OUR hostel?”
Restless, I wandered the cobblestone streets to find something to do or see. Before long, I heard a familiar set of young voices behind me. Great :\. I continued walking, but somehow still wasn’t escaping their nattering.
Almost as if in a cartoon, the young’uns instantly piped down when I peered back at them. Imagine my surprise then, when one of the girls broke from her group and shyly approached me.
“Hallo!”
…she said, not quite sure of herself, but with quiet yet visible support from the others.
Still shocked, I blurted out an un-matching American “Hi there.”
She smiled broadly, and told me she was from Germany, which I’d already guessed, but then…
“Are you… by yourself?” she asked? I nodded, even more unsure about where this was headed.
“Do you want to be our friend?”
Ah! Such sweetness and innocence and courage! I could have hugged that kid right there.
Instead, though, I delved into one of the most honest and memorable conversations I had during my time Europe.
The friends of this girl, Christina, immediately sensed that I did welcome a chat with them. And so, as they approached, they fired off a sometimes cacophonous bunch of questions in German for Christina to translate to me, and then waited eagerly for my response and acting-spokeswoman Christina’s translation.
A few of the initial questions were admittedly ignorant but nonetheless amusing in their simplicity:
“Do you [Americans] really eat at McDonald’s every day?”
and
“Are all the streets in the States very big?”
and
“Do you always go to the beach?”
It was quickly clear that most of what these kids knew of America they had gleaned from imported American entertainment. D’oh! Baywatch was super-big in Germany, so I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised at the perception that America is just one big beach flanked with fast food outlets.
Before long, the kids got braver with their English and started addressing me directly. I figured this was a good time to shift gears a bit.
“So what do you think of Americans?”
…I asked.
They responded eagerly: “Creative!” “FAT!” “Sportive!” “Lazy!” “Funny!” and “Friendly!” But then, one of the boys had a different take.
“Americans don’t like Germans. They’re friendly to themselves but not to us. From the War.”
I should have been prepared for this. I’d been living in Germany for a bit and the issue of the Holocaust often came up. People — especially college kids — often wanted to know… What did Americans think of Germany? Of Germans? Of the War? And why? Was it fair to perpetuate the Guilt? Those that brought up this subject with me often did so almost randomly, over beers and fries, with intensity but respect.
This same curiosity, combined with innocence, was so clearly present in these young kids. On one hand, they saw America as everything “cool”… but still so distant geographically and emotionally. There was a marked admiration for, yet confusion about and partially even disdain for Americans, perhaps no different than that reflected by our own general ignorance of other cultures.
But here there was such a heartwarming yearning from them to connect to me, to connect with the America I was an impromptu representative for. They continued asking me questions for nearly an hour, and drew closer to me all the while.
“You are nice!” gushed one of the girls out of the blue, prompting some bantering in German that I understood more than they realized. Not long after this, Christina — by now pretty emboldened and unshy — asked, “Can I have your address?”
“Sure,” I replied, amused and flattered, though I couldn’t help but ask, “Why?”
“Because Julia likes you!” Christina replied with a huge grin, followed by a horrified look on a quickly clued-in Julia, “And she won’t ask you!”
At that moment I was reminded… that deep down we’re pretty much all the same, everywhere. There’s a child-like curiosity and goodness in everyone that never really dies. Sometimes it gets hardened a bit or repressed or shouted over, but it’s still there.
I had been tired and lonely and frustrated before I met these kids. And of course I’ve had quite a few rough days since then. But when life accentuates separation and distance, I look back on my encounter in Luxembourg and similar experiences and am reassured that friendship and understanding are still inherently valued. And though I never did hear from Julia, thinking of her and her friends still makes me smile.
I decided to take a bit of this long weekend to prep for yet another overseas trip (this time to Sydney, which I really like!).
Digging into my Travel (real-space, not electronic) folder, I found a plethora of Australian bills and coins from my last trip, along with a ton of other bills and coins from nine other countries. Eeep! After sorting them all out, then I wondered: how much is all of this worth?
$368.89 as it turns out. Nice! (especially if I can find a local bank to actually change the money with little fees and decent rates, but that’s another issue).
Then I began thinking… hmm… if I prettied this spreadsheet I made and generalized it a bit, it might be useful to other folks, too! So here it is:
As you’ve probably noticed, that sheet—while actually reflecting my newfound wealth AND updated in near-real-time—is read-only for you. Bummer. But fear not! You can load the full document here, select FILE, then COPY, and voila! You now have your own neato spreadsheet. And by the way… you only need to change the stuff highlighted in yellow; the rest should be automatically computed for you.
A couple things I found fascinating in building this sheet:
GoogleLookup flawlessly looked up the currency code from the countries specified! Formula: =googlelookup(A1,“currency code”) (A*=each country name). Took a little experimenting for me to figure out the right search phrase 😀
And then there’s the neato Google Currency Conversion lookup thing. Formula: =GoogleFinance(CURRENCY:CUR1CUR2) where CUR1 is the original currency and CUR2 is the currency you are converting to. Thanks to a helpful comment on Friendfeed from Daniel Dulitz, I realized I could use CONCATENATE to make this more generalizable / non-hard-coded for both currency values.
Hope you find this useful, or at least interesting 😀
Tomorrow morning, I’ll be traveling internationally for work once again.
And boy, I certainly do have a love-hate relationship with work travel!
Why work travel rocks: – Get to know colleagues better. – Much easier to get collaborative projects moving when in person than over VC or e-mail! – Frequent flyer miles! – Experience little fascinating pieces of foreign cultures and learn more about my own in the process. – Get to see wonderful far-away friends. – Acquire lots of photos and fun stories to tell 😀
Why work travel sucks: – Tons to do ahead of time (in addition to “regular” job)! visa, vaccinations, presentation/interview prep, etc. – Away from local friends; often not there when they most need me. – Expense reports in multiple currencies (this time: seven!). Pure hell. No seriously, doing calculations with various exchange rates, credit card fees, etc… really really sucks. – Screaming babies and loud morons in 15 hour economy flights. – Jetlag (seven different time zones in 30 days). – No pause button for e-mail. – Traveling can be lonely.
On the whole, though, I’m grateful for the opportunity to travel for work. Unlike some of my friends who have to dress up to face frustrated clients when they travel, I typically have the pleasure of working on awesome projects with friendly and fun colleagues when I travel. And I also am damn lucky with the cities I get to visit: Sydney, Stockholm, Seattle, and even super cities that don’t start with ‘S’. Granted, I suffered through crazy-freezing Stockholm and icky-damp London in the heart of winter, but still… :-D.
* * *
So where to this time? Here’s where!
Tue Feb 17: Departing for SINGAPORE (via Hong Kong)
Thu Feb 18: Working with teammates in Singapore Office, doing an interview with press about Search; grabbing dinner with friends and heading to a jazz club
Fri Feb 19: In the Singapore office, then in the evening,flying to HYDERABAD
Sat-Sun : Exploring Hyderabad (it’s my first time in India!), prepping for the week’s upcoming conferences
Mon Feb 22: Working on projects with Hyderabad Search Quality colleagues
Wed Feb 24: Flying to BANGALORE, doing interviews with press, prepping for two conferences
Sat Feb 28: Doing three presentations at a Search conference; in the evening, flying to CHENNAI
Sun Feb 29: Attending an informal Search conference in Chennai; flying to TOKYO in the evening (overnight)
Mon Mar 02: Working on projects with Search Quality Googlers in Tokyo
Sat-Sun : Visiting KYOTO with a friend to unwind a bit
Mon Mar 09: Speaking at a TOKYO Google press event re: search issues
Tue Mar 10: Flying back to the U.S.
Wed-Sat : Undoubtedly trying to get over jetlag and attempting to catch up on e-mail
Sun Mar 15: Flying to DUBLIN (thankfully direct this time!)
Mon-Wed : Working on projects with Search Quality Googlers
Thu Mar 19: Flying to REYKJAVIK (via London) for a marketing conference
Fri Mar 20: Giving a presentation on Google and Search at the conference
Sat-Sun : Exploring Iceland, then flying back to the U.S.
Mon Mar 23: In BOSTON, likely visiting Google’s Cambridge office; also hanging out with friends
Tue Mar 24: Flying HOME!
Whew! Maybe I’ll even get around to doing a journal entry about the places I visit this time? Though given that I still haven’t posted detailed thoughts about my time in Brazil, Mexico, China, Korea… {sigh}… writing is hard!
Anyway, if you’ve been to (or live in!) any of the places above, feel free to share your recommendations for things to see, place to eat, etc. :-D.
* * *
I’ll leave you with a photo of a train station from beautiful Howth, Ireland, where I spent an uncommonly sunny weekend day in between work days in Dublin last year. Feel free to check out more of my photos of Howth :-D.
There had just been again weeks of violent unrest in the world, but I was quite a few countries away, together in a sprawling São Paulo street market with a colleague and our big happy-but-guarded driver. The three of us were amiably ambling amidst a big, colorful, confusing, and crowded set of not-quite-straight rows on uneven pavement and outdoor shops and inside shops and coconuts with straws and colorful scarves. And music CDs and sunglasses and an amusing, sometimes perplexing mishmash of electronic items. Much of this, if not most, of dubious officialness.
The majority of these items were sitting on wood planks, next to which sat oft squat, loud, tanned, tired yet eager vendors.
By the hour next, some of these sellers looked vaguely uncomfortable, nervous. The storm clouds were coming, rain was imminent, and there was palpably a rolling sense of unease.
Fidgeting, bustling, clamoring, much more than before.
Then yelling and a pounding of feet and a thrusting forward of seemingly thousands of people, many of them with those same wooden planks bobbing precariously as the crowd shovingly stumbled, then broke into a run. It looked at times as if they were almost falling forward, haphazardly heading fast away.
At the same time, fast towards… towards speeding police cars zipping and blaring through the streets, seemingly without regard to the vendors, their wares, or the people buying them.
“INSIDE! GO INSIDE!” shouted our driver. “NOW!!!”
I wasn’t quite sure which inside he meant, which side of the street. I was equally unsure of what was happening. Had there been an explosion?
But I didn’t ponder sitting still. I ran as well as I could, dodging it all, ducking thankfully into the same store as my colleague and our driver who could hopefully protect and explain.
* * *
We were okay. The crowd passed, the sirens faded into the distance.
Our driver chuckled softly.
“I’m sorry for the situation.”
A raid. The vendors had not paid the proper taxes.
“I’ve only seen this on the TV. Never happened to me. But what an experience, eh? What a situation!”
He shook his head a bit as we searched for our car. He told me to not take any more pictures, that it was not a good idea, though after the running-of-the-vendors we’d just survived without impalement, I doubted a few additional photos would contribute measurably to any future danger but I complied nonetheless. And I thought, I’m glad I wore those ugly strong American sneakers.
“I’m sorry” he said again. But it was all okay. The added color was scary but memorable and worthwhile. I smiled, knowing that my time in Brazil was just beginning and that I was ready.
Maria and I wanted to go to Sugarloaf Mountain but didn’t quite know how. We made it to the city center by bus, just as we had the days before, but then were a bit stymied. This second bus didn’t seem to be where Cornelius had, admittedly tenuously, thought it would be, said it would be. We waited and walked and then—abandoning any pretense of stubbornness or shyness—began to ask around.
One person sent us to another to another, all in a friendly way. Until we got to the one woman whose name we never got. Perhaps she said it, since she said a lot, quite a lot. When it became quite clear that our limited Spanish and her limited Spanish were not going to mesh productively, she decided upon the show-and-tell method. She herded us to a spot which was noticeably not very near the spots we had spotted before, and then she waited with us.
Waited and talked and talked, pretty much all in Portuguese. Neither Maria nor I speak Portuguese, and I think the woman knew that, but she spoke on rapidly and happily and pointedly despite that unfortunate but apparently-not-show-stopping linguistic gap. Every once in a while she’d pause, and we’d continue to nod, and she’d carry on, obviously as pleased to be with us as we were befuddled-yet-grateful to be with her.
* * *
Twenty minutes and many words and smiles and nods later, the right bus came to take us to Sugarloaf Mountain. We clasped each others hands, I think maybe even hugged, just as we did with the majority of Brazilians we had the distinct pleasure of meeting, and then waved goodbye while speaking the only Brazilian we knew: Obrigado.
My friend Greg and I just had a fascinating and extensive discussion about the concept of airlines charging their customers by the weight of their bodies + luggage.
The way we envisioned it, all airlines tickets would be composed of exactly two fees: a seat fee (fixed) and a weight fee (variable). This is hardly our original idea; I’ve seen similar suggestions pondered on the web before. But nonetheless, I thought it’d be interesting to reflect upon some implementation ideas as well as pros and cons.
Implementation
Get estimates up front. Ask for estimated weight in airfare comparison sites and airline sites to avoid shock and extra processing work at the airport.
Get money up front. Collect money for seat fee plus weight fee upon booking. Offer a refund for cases in which people overestimate their weight. Levy strong surcharges (e.g., 25%) for those who significantly underestimate their weight.
Be discreet about each individual’s weight. Present a total of person-weight + luggage-weight, or even just a surcharge total.
Price the weight fee as a pound/kilogram per mile. This makes sense, since extra weight costs more on a long trip than a short trip.
Incorporate increases and decreases in fuel costs into the $/weight charge. Instead of levying a separate fuel surcharge, airlines could simply increase the $/weight charge on all their flights (e.g., from $1.20 per pound-mile to $1.42 per pound mile).
Avoid pissing off frequent flyers re: mileage points Grandfather in earlier ticket purchases, and for a limited time let people redeem the same number of points for the same class of flights as before. After that, charge something like 15,000 miles for a round trip flight (instead of 25K) + weight fee, or 25,000 miles for a round trip flight inclusive of [x] pounds/kilograms. Establish a ratio so that for the average or median flyer, they’ll get exactly the same $/point(mile) as before.
Benefits / pros
Greater fairness in charges People who are light-weight (in body and/or luggage) will no longer subsidize those whose bulk costs the airlines appreciably more in fuel expenses.
Greater incentive to pack light This in turn may reduce luggage handling costs (fewer people and machines and conveyor belts needed) and decrease luggage delivery delays. It’s also likely to reduce the cramping of overhead space in planes.
Possible extra push for people to lose weight Especially those folks who are both obese and frequent travelers will be incentivized to lose weight. This will contribute to their health, and also the comfort of those flying next to them.
Potential optimization in seating Particularly if airlines request both person-weight and luggage-weight estimates from passengers, they could theoretically optimize seating for safety, fuel efficiency, and comfort (e.g., not placing too large people next to each other).
A potentially big revenue boost in Q4 for airlines Given the carriage of Thanksgiving food and Christmas gifts, airlines could see a nice bump in their income in November and December.
Disadvantages / cons
A huge outcry from privacy advocates People might be loathe to tell airlines how much they weight, and would likely be equally horrified at having to step on scales in front of others at the airport.
Uncertainty of final ticket price Many people—especially those barely scraping enough cash together for a family vacation—might be frustrated by the uncertainty of airfare prices and/or stunned and dismayed by weight overage fees levied at the airport.
Greater inefficiencies at the airport The last thing we all want is MORE delays at the airport. Imagine the extra time required to weight every single passenger and assess extra charges (or issue refunds)… particularly to those without credit cards (yes, I know it’s hard to imagine, but there are apparently people who pay cash or write checks even for things like airfare!).
Claims of discrimination and unfairness I bet we all have at least one friend who is quite obese… perhaps even obese and financially challenged. I can imagine that many of these folks would simply be unable to afford flying to visit family and friends with the imposition of weight fees.
A potential mess online Ultimately, it doesn’t seem that it’d be so outlandish for airfare comparison sites and airline sites to ask for folks’ weight and—using airline-provided $/weight numbers—provide total estimated costs for each flight fare inquiry. But at least initially, there’d likely be a lot of confusion and havoc.
* * *
Are weight-surcharges a good idea? Do you think the airlines would be able to successfully implement them? And have I forgotten any key pros or cons?
Today’s entry is short and wonderful. Behold, in the video below, Matt Harding… “dancing” around the world, one city at a time. At the 54 second mark, watch the video really come alive when he delights countless locales who join in the dancing… and, i guarantee, charms all of you watching, too :-D.
