Travel

By Robert McGarvey

The cheering you hear is mine.

I am celebrating that in the past year I have closed two airline credit cards – a United card with Chase ($95 annual fee) and a Barclays red card with American ($99).  Nope, not big bucks but I cannot recall the last time I used the United card or flew United and living in Phoenix there is scarce good reason for me to do that.

As for American, it is the second biggest carrier out of Sky Harbor – Southwest is ahead by a handful of flights – but I have a new Southwest card in my wallet and, honestly, I always have preferred the SWA platform with no checked baggage fees and no flight change fees.  The exorbitant fees imposed by other carriers – fingers pointing at you, American – for such services just make no good sense.

I took the SWA card to get the signing bonus, which I already used on a pair of tickets to Dallas, but I am comfortable shifting my trade to SWA for now and, besides, the annual card fee is only $69.

I also have a new Delta card – $99 via Amex – which I took for the mileage bonus (60,000) – and Delta is the third busiest carrier at PHX. A distant third, but it has revitalized terminal 3 at Sky Harbor and I have flown it to Europe twice in as many years.  

You could say that I have traded a pair of losing cards for two new cards of the same ilk but – in a temporary way – I have made out fine with the free tickets to Dallas and I’ll soon cash in the Delta miles.  I also have a pile of Amex miles that of course transfer into Delta SkyMiles so, probably, in today’s airline math I’ll wind up with two tickets to Spain in exchange for a lot of miles.

Does that make me a winner?

Never forget that when we play the miles game it is akin to playing blackjack with chips – but the dealer continually and seemingly arbitrarily devalues your chips. That white chip was worth $1 a minute ago, now it’s worth a dime, and there’s no recourse.

So it goes with airlines and miles in a world of dynamic awards pricing which is a b-school way of saying we’ll charge what we believe the market will suffer.

Dynamic pricing also means that, suddenly, we need huge stacks of miles to get anything worthwhile.

Of course there are those “sales” where, say, 35000 SkyMiles will buy a roundtrip to Europe – but I do notice nobody tells us exactly how many or even approximately how many discounted roundtrips have been loaded into the system. I do look for them, I do, but rarely for more than five minutes because I see this as an updated snipe hunt.

The only way not to be a loser in this game where miles are continually devalued is to shuffle airline credit cards, signing up for new ones and collecting bonuses while dumping cards that have served their purpose. Yes, I know that in many cases you can only collect the signing bonus once on a particular card – but I have no plans to re-up with United or American unless I move to a city where I’d be a fool not to.  I also know that some card issuers – Chase for instance – keep track of how many new cards you get and will decline to issue a card if you’ve opened a lot of new cards anywhere.  (The Chase 5/24 rule.)  And I know that there may be penalties if you close a card too quickly after collecting a bonus. The issuer may even want to claw back any bonus you’ve collected.

But, like me, you probably have a few dusty and little used airline cards in your wallet that impose annual fees – shut ‘em down is my advice. Do it pronto. Even though the norm seems to be you have to call to close an account (although you can open the account online). Make the calls.

The airlines, remember, are playing us for suckers because their profits now come not from flights but from the bulk sales of points to card issuers such as American Express and Chase. In 2022 alone, Delta took in $5.5 billion from AMEX.  

Know the new rules. Know your goals. Play to win. That’s the only way not to be a loser in the miles and rewards games of 2023.

By Robert McGarvey

U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill. and Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan. don’t like frequent flyer programs. Indeed, they seem to think them scams and, said the senators in a joint statement, they have “requested information from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) about the actions they are taking to protect consumers against unfair and deceptive practices in airlines’ frequent flyer and loyalty programs.”

And do note, Durbin – a longtime senator – is a powerful guy in the chamber. He is no back bencher, he is leadership.

Their statement continued: “there are troubling reports that airlines are engaged in unfair, abusive, and deceptive practices with respect to these loyalty programs.  For example, reports have suggested that airlines are changing point systems in ways that are unfair to consumers, including by devaluing points, meaning it takes more points than initially marketed to achieve the promised rewards.”

The airlines cannot with a straight face deny that they have in fact devalued points.

They also adroitly use low cost sales – such as a recent Delta sale where as few as 34,000 SkyMiles bought a roundtrip to Europe.  The sale is legit as far as that goes but it is brief and availability is limited.  And that cost has no relationship to what you are likely to in fact pay today.  

I just did a search on flights from PHX to MAD, depart January 3, return Jan. 9, and the cheapest flight was 50,000 SkyMiles, half again more than the teaser rate.

What did the Senators say about “abusive and deceptive” practices?

The Senators added in their statement, “airlines can make changes to their points programs without notice to consumers, as long as the programs’ terms of service reserve the right to do so.“

Sometimes that means we need to top up our mileage total to buy a rewards ticket and that may mean we buy miles from the airline.  The senators  note that is not smart shopping: “consumers can spend three cents to purchase a point worth roughly one cent.”

A bottomline here is that – as Brancatelli has preached for many years and I have joined his chorus – when you got miles, burn ‘em.  Miles do not gain value over time, they lose value.  They are a depreciating asset, rather like a boat or almost all cars.

The senators remind us that originally frequent flyer programs were created to reward loyalty. They did indeed. I remember a friend who was fiercely loyal to American, whereas I flew whatever flight was most convenient for me.  And then in the mid-eighties he cashed in a trove of American miles and rewarded himself with a trip to Egypt, where he had wanted to go since he’d been a kid. It cost him zip – he even had enough miles for hotel accommodations.

I have to admit I still did not change my focus on convenience but at least I had come to understand why some people became very loyal to a particular carrier.

Along the way, however, airlines changed the rules. They shifted their business model to making profits not on flights but on the sale of miles.  

Integral to that gambit is persuading us to take branded credit cards – and I personally have a Delta and Southwest credit card in my wallet – and of course we earn more miles by spending on the cards.  Observed the senators, “these programs incentivize consumers to purchase goods and services, obtain credit cards, and spend on those credit cards in exchange for promised rewards—all while retaining the power to strip consumers of those rewards at any moment.”

So what are the senators seeking to do? They have written Secretary Buttigieg of DOT and Director Chopra of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau asking what they are “doing to protect consumers against unfair and deceptive practices in airlines’ frequent flyer and loyalty programs.”

In particular the senators want answers to these four questions:

·         Are DOT and the CFPB aware of these alleged practices by the airlines regarding frequent flyer and loyalty programs?

o   If so, please detail how DOT and the CFPB are planning to address these practices.

·         Do DOT and the CFPB have the regulatory authority needed to adequately protect consumers from these unfair and deceptive practices?

o   If not, please explain if additional authority from Congress would enable DOT and the CFPB to effectively regulate airlines’ frequent flyer and loyalty programs.

Will airlines give a hoot? Not as long as we still collect miles, use their credit cards, and otherwise behave as though we believe their Monopoly money has real value. Why should they change if we don’t?

by Robert McGarvey

I am here to testify: I have now flown without airport clubs and I have survived. I tell this story down below.

But, first, the day started at Sky Harbor in Phoenix where I was just able to squeeze into the Centurion because, by my count, there were a very few empty seats when I entered around 8:30 am on a Friday.

There was a line at the coffee machine and a line at the breakfast buffet but, to be fair, the buffet (don’t tell my cardiologist) featured tasty scrambled eggs,  decent ham slices, and sausage links (pork).  I am not sure I could have rustled up a similar breakfast at the many airport restaurants – but maybe a breakfast burrito ($11.99) at Bobby’s Burgers would work (I’m something of a Bobby Flay fan but have not yet eaten at this new Sky Harbor outpost). Add coffee and a tip, that’s $20.00. Possibly too the Brioche Breakfast Roll at Mark Tarbell’s The Goods, $16.49.  Coffee and a tip and it’s $25.00. Tarbell, incidentally, is a celebrity chef in Phoenix, although I don’t think he has a national profile.

Score one for the Centurion – a good breakfast, acceptable coffee, and, yes, a place to sit.  The space was crowded but certainly outside at the gates was no better. And I saved $20 to $25.

Where my eyes opened wide however was at my destination, Love Field in Dallas where, as far as I can tell, there are no clubs, certainly none that I have access with Amex Plat, Priority Pass or Diners Club. Absolutely none.

Arriving there, that was of no consequence since we were in a hurry to exit the airport and get to downtown Dallas and into Nobu for what was an excellent omakase dinner.  Understand, I am no fan of chef’s “tasting menus” – usually too many courses, too much ego.

But the advantage of omakase is that it’s assembled by people who really know what they are serving whereas I am no expert in sushi or Japanese cuisine.  

And at Nobu the omakase is lovely.  

It was on the return flight from Love where I learned to really accept flight without clubs and, you know what, it’s not so bad.

For starters I cut down how much time I planned to spend in the airport.  I had been allowing a sizable chunk of time to provide for time lost to security in getting to the gate and, in the event my passage through TSA was fast, I always had a club to retreat to.

Lately, however, TSA Pre has worked fairly smoothly and swiftly so I often have had an hour to spend in a club and these clubs really aren’t worth an hour, not on any kind of regular basis.

At Love I had maybe 40 minutes until boarding after clearing security – and there happened to be a Starbucks with no line near the gate so I bought a latte and grabbed a seat. I pulled out my phone and skimmed email. There probably was noise around me but I didn’t hear it – I was immersed in my reading, sipping my latte, and oblivious to my surroundings.

Pretty soon Southwest had us assemble in its idiosyncratic queue where I was in position A 40 which meant I had most of the seats available to me.  Within a couple minutes I was in the plane, seated and back on my phone, this time reading which I did until we landed in Sky Harbor, maybe two hours, fifteen minutes later.

Did I miss the ritual of the club?

Nope.

Truth is, I came to the club life rather late in my passenger life. Perhaps because when I started flying for business, the ritual at the companies I flew for was to stop at an airport bar, have a beer or a martini to “calm the nerves” (not that I had a fear of flying, but such drinks were expensable in that era so why question the ritual) and in those years the bars were usually oases of quiet.  

Honestly I didn’t know I “needed” a club until I got the Platinum card and, rather quickly, I found myself addicted to the club stop.

Just maybe I am now breaking that addiction.  One flight at a time.

If I can do it, you can too.

by Robert McGarvey

I just counted the travel focused apps on my iPhone and take a guess about how many I have and how many I genuinely enjoy using.

The answers are 17 apps on my phone and zero bring me enjoyment. Most don’t even bring me satisfaction when I attempt to use them.

Turns out I am not alone in dissing travel apps.  The latest J D Power survey delivered excoriation to the travel industry: “Despite Ubiquity, Travel Apps and Websites Deliver Substandard User Experience, J.D. Power Finds.”

Yep.  Although I’d quibble that “substandard” is way too kind a descriptor of the woeful mobile tech shoveled at us by our travel providers.  It is clunky, unintuitive, and really, really frustrating to attempt to use especially when your travel has hit a snag and you are praying for a divine intervention via the app.

J. D. Power sums up our user experience this way: “Travel apps and websites are heavily relied-upon digital tools used by travelers, containing everything from the QR codes used to board the plane to rental car location and digital hotel keys. Despite this critical role, according to the J.D. Power 2023 U.S. Travel App Satisfaction StudySM and the J.D. Power 2023 U.S. Travel Website Satisfaction Study,SM released today, travel industry apps and websites lag behind their counterparts in other industries.”

We most commonly turn to our travel apps when we are under stress, observed J. D. Power, but they let us down in those moments when we need them the most.

Note: J. D. Power believes the travel provider websites are as cruddy as the apps. I do not disagree. But I don’t use the websites in those on the road moments of crisis, I turn to the apps. What other choice do I have?

I have been writing about mobile apps for going on 20 years.  I have bricked phones (a brand new BlackBerry for instance) downloading apps.  I have had many, many bad experiences. But – and this is critical – in some industries (notably banking) the apps have gotten better and better.  The Chase app is simply great – lots of power but also easy to use.  It’s not alone. Most of the financial services apps on my phone have gotten very good over the years.

Also good are health and fitness apps, such as Google-owned Fitbit and the Apple Health app.

The shopping apps such as Amazon are good.

So why are travel apps clunky, unintuitive, and very far from the friend you need when your incoming plane arrives too late to make your connecting flight and your stress is exploding out your ears?

Even worse is that there is ample reason to be skeptical of the security of most of the travel apps on your phone. Given how often travel related websites are hacked it’s hard to have faith and confidence in the companies’ apps – despite the fact that to use them we have to input all manner of personal info from passport numbers to driver’s license info.

Worst of the pack, per J. D. Power, are airline websites and airline apps aren’t much better.

Hotel and rental car apps score highest: “Hotel mobile apps (682) and rental car apps (681) have the highest overall satisfaction scores compared with airline apps (672), rental car websites (662), hotel websites (646) and airline websites (640).”

Top ranked airline apps are Alaska and Southwest.

World of Hyatt (not on my phone) is the highest rated hotel app.

National and Alamo (not on my phone) win in the rental car race.

But, frankly, none of the apps are winners.

It really is a pity. We turn to apps most on our days of travel and they just aren’t very good.

Not ranked, incidentally, are apps via online travel agencies (OTAs) such as Booking and Expedia.  Personally I have had decent experiences with both.

I also have had success using Google Flights, the website.

Frankly, however, we deserve better from our travel providers.  Send any you know a link to the J. D. Power survey and ask why they are so awful.  You won’t get a response. But at least the opinion will register.

And maybe by the time of iPhone 34 the travel providers will get it together.

by Robert McGarvey

Friluftsliv. Call this Norwegian idea my present travel focus and what it means is captured in the three component words that make up the compound noun: open air living.  

For as long as I can remember I have been at two with nature, just about always preferring urban living, even urban holidays – but now I am venturing into nature in pursuit of my own Friluftsliv.

They say playwright Henrik Ibsen is the first populizer of the term Friluftsliv. Writes Norwegian journalist Dag T. Elgvin: “Henrik Ibsen’s meaning with ‘Friluftsliv’ might best be interpreted as the total appreciation of the experience one has when communing with the natural environment, not for sport or play, but for its value in the development of one’s entire spiritual and physical being. At its heart is the full identification and fulfillment of body and soul one experiences when immersed in nature.”

Being outside is more than being outside – it’s a step deeper into personal development of the whole person and, for sure, if nature is a key ingredient in that recipe, I have been grievously falling for many decades.

It’s also about being in nature per se, not coincidentally but to in fact be there.

Time for a change. Time for a new respect for nature on my part.

First up was a two night Labor Day stay at Bryce Canyon National Park, a Utah treasure known for its hoodoos, distinctive natural rock sculptures – and also miles from anything urban.  You could say it’s in the middle of nowhere and that’s exactly what a Sunset Magazine writer did: “Because it’s pretty much in the middle of nowhere and there are no sources of light pollution nearby, Bryce’s skies are among the clearest in the country. That “cloud” overhead all night? It’s the Milky Way.”

A drive from Phoenix where I live to Bryce sets the stage: it’s a drive through hundreds of miles of miles where the emptiness is only occasionally interrupted by a gas station. It’s about 425 miles and after Flagstaff the only “big” city is Page and if you haven’t heard of it there is no reason why you should. Page’s population is about 7300.  

There is no city – not really even a town – in close proximity to Bryce Canyon National Park. Go there, spend a few nights, and it is a fast drop into friluftsliv. Tropic is the nearest town of maybe 500.  

At Bryce I hiked a bit, made cowboy coffee on a wood fire, drank some bottled beers and, mainly, did nothing except be there.

When I left I knew I wanted more.

Next Stop: Sedona

More was on my agenda: I had already reserved a site at Manzanita campground in Coconino National Forest, around 10 miles outside Sedona and genuinely a world away. It’s a small, tents only campground (although at least one couple didn’t erect a tent, preferring to sleep with their dog in an SUV). 

When the sun sets, silence descended on the campground. There were occasional voices of campers (most spoke in a hush however) and probably the loudest noise was the burbling of Oak Creek, one of very few perennial streams in Northern Arizona. In early October it was filled with water and children swam in it and adults fished for trout (and, yes, a license is needed).  

Ten miles away in Sedona there are bustling throng of tourists, some surprisingly good restaurants such as Lisa Dahl’s Mariposa where the food rivals the views, car horns beeping in traffic jams, and miscellaneous signs of urbanity.

There is none of that in Manzanita campground. Mainly there is silence.

Slowly I learned that wake up time is sunrise, about 6:30 am in October.

I began to learn to really sleep outside in a tent (and for this trip I added inflatable sleeping pads for more cushion atop the hard earth).  I began to learn to like the silence.

I also began to realize that the pursuit of Friluftsliv is not a one and done, check the box kind of thing. It’s much more of a gradual awakening of an understanding and appreciation of the nature that surrounds us.

There also are the moments that surprise – I don’t do much planning for these trips. One such moment happened in Sedona where, behold, I found myself on the trail to the so called vortex that was a central player in the 1987 harmonic convergence. I did not go to Sedona then, but living in west LA, about half the people I knew did.

Nature let me catch up in 2023.

What will it bring me next?

That is why I have booked more camping nights at Manzanita, also Organ Pipe (Twin Peaks) and Joshua Tree (Black Rock).  

My new goal is to camp at least a couple nights each month and, fortunately, there are many campgrounds in close proximity to Phoenix. Next summer will bring a challenge but that’s the way it goes with nature.  It sets its rules.

We only live in them.

by Robert McGarvey

We have entered the era of peak zaniness – and, no, I’m not pointing a finger at the House of Representatives (although I could).  I am restricting this observation to the world of travel and I have two exhibits for your consideration.

Some ideas are just so dumb you’d think they had to be April Fool’s pranks. 

This week’s Zany Winner has to be  the growing number of airports that are lowering the security gates and welcoming in non-flyers across the facility. WaPo has the story. Here’s the lede: “American airports might not be the first place you would think to go shopping or grab a bite to eat. But as many major locations splurge on renovations, they’re encouraging travelers to take advantage of their revitalized spaces, even if they don’t have a flight to catch.”

The hook for the WaPo piece is that Orlando International Airport has joined the small but growing club of airports that have implemented programs that provide visitors with day passes for entry even when they are not flying.

LaGuardia, Louis Armstrong New Orleans and Seattle-Tacoma are among other airports that have implemented this program.

TSA has to approve the application for entry.

We are told that this program brings us back to earlier airport times when family and friends would wait at gates to greet arrivals and isn’t that a marvelous Donna Reed memory.  

But America has changed and so has our relationship with airports.

Fact: US airports are grievously overcrowded.  Travel Weekly, something of an habitual cheerleader for the travel sector, had this lugubrious observation about them: “Crowded airport gates, check-in halls and restaurants were common sights last year as Americans returned en masse to the skies and airlines suffered unusually high levels of delays and cancellations.

But a long-term dynamic poses the risk that uncomfortable levels of crowding could become the norm at many hub airports.”

McKinsey has this to say on the issue: “Unfortunately for the industry and its customers, headlines from summer 2022 were filled with stories of long queues, delayed flights, and lost bags—leading to a rise in customer complaints.”

When I have been in airports this year I have wished I was wearing the football pads I wore in high school and the helmet would have been a nice touch.  Getting anywhere was a matter of threading through restive crowds.

Sure, I understand the retailers who pay substantial rent for their squats in the airports want more revenue – but the answer to that might be better prices, smarter inventory, and a whole lot fewer stores. I cannot recall buying anything beyond a bag of nuts and a bottle of water at an airport store in years.  

I get it: airport retailers think they have an e ticket to the winner’s circle because ecommerce cannot compete with them and so far neither Amazon nor Uber knows how to deliver to airport terminals.  

But I still am not buying from airport shops and I definitely am not hanging out in airports when no flight is on my schedule.

I strongly doubt the addition of non flying airport visitors will boost retail. We don’t shop in malls anymore, why would anyone think airport retail has a future?

Back up a few steps. Let’s consider the root reality.

Let me ask you this: when you think of an airport what comes to mind? I immediately think of long lines, crowds, smelly bathrooms, bad, overpriced food, stores that have no obvious point and, oh, did I mention, everything is priced higher than it should be.

I see no reason to apply for entry beyond security and if I want to meet a friend or relative I can meet them at baggage claim so who needs the entry pass to go deeper into the airport?

To say nothing about the waste of TSA staff time and resources vetting these idiotic applications for entry.

File this under really dumb and desperate ideas.

Exhibit Two

ThePointsGuy story caught my eye: “Hawaiian Airlines wants to lure premium travelers with new amenity kits.”

Luckily I wasn’t drinking morning coffee because I’d have spit a geyser up in furious laughter.

Would you pick one airline over another over an amenity bag and can you imagine what would have to be in one to win your custom?

Maybe if the carrier tucked an ounce of Maui Wowie in the kit and said smoking weed inflight was island cool.

Alas, such filler is not to be. TPG breathlessly spilled the kit’s details to us: “business-class travelers will be treated to kits that include sleep masks, toothbrushes, pens, earplugs and tissues, along with toiletries like lip balm in a cream-colored canvas bag.”

To call this humdrum is to flatter the wit that created it.

Enough said.

We are entering full travel zany as unclever marketers clumsily compete for our affections.

I can scarcely wait for the next installments in this story.

And don’t be shy. Use the comments to post your favorite dumb travel innovations.

By Robert McGarvey

Hotel cybersecurity stinks.  There’s nothing new in that pronouncement.  I’ve written about that for years.  

But now there is more – and worse – news.  Tech company Akamai has reported that a new and super slick phishing scheme is now targeting hotel guests and successfully collecting credit card info for exploitation by cyber crooks.

The theft gets its start with an infiltration and hacking of the hotel’s computers.  It begins when the cyber criminal makes what seems to be a legit hotel reservation.  That is followed up with what appears to be a benign email about more info that is needed, nothing unusual.  Perception Point cyber researchers document what happens next: “Once the targeted hotel’s employee replies, the attacker ups the ante. Their follow-up email is carefully crafted to elicit both empathy and a sense of urgency. For example, they might claim that their son is prone to anaphylactic shock due to specific allergies. In other cases, the attacker could appeal to the hotel’s sense of responsibility towards elderly guests, stating they have parents over 70 and wish to print photos for them during their stay.”

Then the attacker sends an email with a URL – purportedly perhaps to their parents’ medical records –  but when that is clicked on malware downloads to the hotel computer and InfoStealer tools busily siphon off sensitive information from the system.  

Sounds bad? It is, very bad. But what Akamai has now reported is an update to the InfoStealer that directly puts you in the crosshairs of this cyber attack.

Picture this: you have a reservation for a hotel room in Manhattan during a busy week when you know rooms will be in demand.  You get an email that says: Due to an update of our reservations system we need you to confirm your credit card details.  We apologize for this but it is essential for us to hold your reservation. Please use this link: MyBooking.MyHotel@hotel.com

Understand: the crook knows you have a reservation. Probably the email even specifies the correct dates, maybe even your room rate. They have scraped that data off the hotel computers.

This email is not one of those idiot messages – I get them weekly – telling me a package cannot be delivered because of an inaccurate address, please update your delivery information here.  Aside from the misspellings, the message just screams: cretin amateur.

Not the message from your hotel. It has the facts that will probably persuade you this is legit.

But click that link and you just stepped into a world of misery because you have downloaded slick malware. Akamai tells what has happened: “This downloaded script is designed to detect the victim’s information and ensure that it would be difficult to analyze or understand by security analysts. This obfuscation technique speaks to the sophistication of the attacker(s) who are behind this.”

You did not even notice malware has been downloaded. It happened in the blink of an eye.

In this process you will be asked to re-enter your credit card info – number, expiration date, security code.

Why wouldn’t you enter that? You already gave the hotel this info and so in your mind you are just reconfirming what you already told them which you do because you really want to hold that room.

But when you do that, you are screwed.

So what should you do if you get that email asking for a reconfirmation of your credit card data?  Call the hotel.  Don’t email. Use the phone.  Call and ask to reconfirm a reservation.

Alternatively, go directly to the hotel’s website and find your reservation info.  All looks fine? You are ok.

Should you mention the email you got? Up to you. The hotel probably already knows this is happening because it is happening to many guests but if you want to be an Eagle Scout and blow this whistle, do it.

The bigger issue is: this attack dramatically ups the sophistication of the scam.  It is easy to see many of us falling for this.  You’re checking email early in the a.m., you see that hotel email, you’re leaving tomorrow for New York so, sure, you click the link.

If you had had that second cup of coffee maybe you wouldn’t have. But you didn’t and you did.

Before you click on any links in emails about your upcoming hotel stay, remember what you read here. And just don’t.

By Robert McGarvey

Google, make no mistake, is not in AI to be an also ran.  Its plan is to be the winner in this high stakes game and travel is emerging as a particular hot spot for AI innovation.

Case in point: Google just a few days ago tweaked Bard, its AI tool, so that it integrates with multiple Google products including Gmail, Docs and Drive and if you use those apps you are missing a bet if you don’t also use Bard.

The real payoff for travelers using Bard is that it can now scrape data from those core apps and it also is updating its database realtime including data from Google Flights and Google Hotels.

Faced with a realtime decision – should I book an Airbnb whole condo in Madrid’s Lavapies neighborhood at an attractive price, Bard told me to go for it.  Or, rather, it gave me a neighborhood thumbnail that told me this works well for me.

So I booked.

Next I asked what’s the best tapas bar in Lavapies – because time in Madrid without tapas is time not well spent.  It came back with a group of five and the bonus is that in addition to one sentence write ups about each Bard placed them on Google Maps for me.

OK, so now I want to know how to get to the Prado, really the centerpiece of any Madrid holiday. Back comes Bard with an 11 minute trip on the metro – and call me weird I adore taking subways pretty much wherever I go.  Of course there’s a Google Map view too.

Where to eat dinner – which, you’ll recall if you have been to Spain, isn’t served until 8 pm?  My choice from Bard’s group of five is Los Porfiados with its rescued furniture decor.  Of course Bard offers up four more options so I will eat eclectically during my stay. There’s a Google Map, natch.

Sure, I’ll want to eat in the Airbnb apartment, at least occasionally, so where to buy groceries? Bard offers up five choices and the expected Google Map. Probably my winner is Carrefour but you might prefer Foodland Madrid which Bard tells me is an Indian market.  

A question I should have asked long ago is how get there from the airport. Bard knows and tells me it will take 47 minutes, just 15 more than a taxi and lots cheaper. Also great fun for a subway maven.

Couldn’t I get most of this info through a simple Google search? Not exactly. Yes, the bare facts would pop up in search but what Google is cleverly and seamlessly doing is weaving in various of its tools.  The map integration is especially useful for a traveler as is the convenience of the integrated package especially if you are hunting for info on a mobile phone as I often will be doing on a mobile phone (thank T-Mobile for free data in Spain).  

The potential payoffs multiply when planning a group trip is on the agenda. Here’s what Google says: “For example, if you’re planning a trip to the Grand Canyon (a project that takes up many tabs), you can now ask Bard to grab the dates that work for everyone from Gmail, look up real-time flight and hotel information, see Google Maps directions to the airport, and even watch YouTube videos of things to do there — all within one conversation.”

Losers in this rise of very useful travel AI of course will be guide books.  I still see value in highly targeted guides such as John Brierly’s extraordinary Camino de Santiago books or Bebe Bahrami’s wonderful guide to historic places, sacred sites and more along the Camino Frances but when you want the Joe Friday, just the facts info Google Bard is hard to beat.

Incidentally, Kevin Roose at the New York Times is down on this new Bard which he describes as “a mess.”  I don’t actually disagree but what I see is a first draft that has immense potential and I also believe Google will get most of the parts working in harmony soon.  Probably very soon because Google is in overdrive on this.

So if you are heading to parts unknown next week, don’t be too quick to jettison your traditional info sources and put all your faith in Bard.  But if the trip you are researching isn’t until 2024…I know I won’t hesitate to give Bard a tough trial run.

by Robert McGarvey

Shut my mouth: I would have sworn that it is high prices that are persuading many of us to fly less these days but turns out fares – at least for domestic travel – just may qualify as cheap. A recent story in SFGate reported: “The post-pandemic travel boom is slowing down, and flight prices are falling along with it.”

I am not talking international travel. It is expensive. Per Google’s Bard, “international flights are 30% more expensive than last year. The average international ticket price is $1,368. The average ticket to Europe is around $1,100, and the average ticket to Asia is over $1,800.”

That 30% bump in cost is why this year I am not planning an international holiday. It’s just too expensive.

Domestic is an entirely different matter. The SFGate piece pointed out that while many of us believe domestic airfares are at high marks, we are very wrong. Kind of sort of.

Per SFGate, NerdWallet travel expert Sally French wrote in an email “In 2023, airfares are about 19% lower than a decade ago.”

But that is where the kind of sort kicks in. We are not exactly comparing apples to apples and that is because of the rise of ultra discount, no frills tickets that do not include such basics as a carryon bag or seat selection. Personally I do not even notice those fares – there are levels of misery I will not endure when traveling – but those numbers just might skew the whole equation.

Google Bard tells me the average cost of a roundtrip domestic flight in 2013 was $383.32. In Q1 2023 the average cost was $382. In that period cumulative inflation bumped prices up by 25% so today’s price rolled back to 2013 translates into around $290 – which indeed puts a sharp point on the question of why many of us are doing our best to avoid domestic air travel these days. Even when we ignore super discount fares, ticket prices today are low. That is fact.

So why aren’t we flying?

But maybe that question isn’t so hard to parse. The reality is that today’s domestic travel is for masochists and suckers. As Joe Brancatelli wrote in a September 9 eblast to members of JoeSentMe, “Today has been a horror show: FlightStats.com has registered more than 1,300 cancellations as of 11pm ET….Delays and cancellation have plagued all the major airports in the Northeast: New York/Kennedy lost 12% of its slate of flights and about a third of the rest have been delayed. That’s a lot of unhappy international flyers.”

The worse news is that eblast wasn’t an anomaly. Brancatelli has sent out similar on numerous occasions this year and, boiled down, the message is unpack, stay home, and if you gotta go, maybe drive because domestic air has become a brutal game where there are no winners, at least not among those of us who fly commercial carriers.

Private plane flights, not surprisingly, now make up about 25% of US flights and growth is steady, year in, year out. But for many of us – definitely me – private planes are out of budget.

Face reality: we are not flying commercial not because the fares are too high but because the experience too often is terrible. When the choice is between navigating the crowds at EWR and getting turned away from too crowded clubs and sitting on a plane where all too often irrational violence erupts or sitting at one’s desk in a comfy chair and chatting via Zoom, you know what wins.

It’s not even a close choice anymore.

As Whizy Kim wrote in Vox, “For travelers, taking to the skies feels like it has reached a nadir. Not only were there bigger crowds and more delays to contend with at airports, but when delays happened, they caused more stress than usual.”

When I hear “we’ll fly again because face to face is better,” I know I am dealing with a broken record. Sure, face to face has advantages – but do they outweigh the suffering involved in getting there? Lately the answer of many of us is a resounding no. That’s not likely to change until carriers recognize their need to change and to improve the entire flight experience, on the ground and inflight.

I’m not holding my breath.

by Robert McGarvey

Usually around this time of year I have begun to plan a European holiday – be it in Spain or France or Ireland, I am convinced fall is the best time to go for fewer tourists, better prices and more temperate weather – but I am not planning such a trip this year.

I have in mind something completely different.

This Reuters headline tells you why: Record number of Americans plan on traveling abroad in the next 6 months.

The hellscape that is 2023 travel just keeps burning hotter. Airports are jammed, flights are full and expensive, hotels are pricey, and matters are especially unappealing in western Europe.

So do I just stay home as I did in 2020? Of course not. That was the first Covid year (I had it in March 2020) and it wasn’t until December that a vaccine hit the street. Staying home in 2020 was the only rational choice.

This year, yes, we are seeing a small uptick in Covid cases but most are reportedly quite mild and, besides, I have had every available vaccine round and soon will be in line for the next version, due to be out in a couple weeks. And make no mistake, it was the vaccines that led to a revival of travel in 2021 and 2022 continuing into today.

But for Labor Day this year, I set out on a holiday even before getting the next vaccine and this holiday involves no airport or airplane – it’s camping at Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah, about a 425 mile drive from where I live in Phoenix.

A campsite costs $10 per night with a Senior Pass ($20 for full freight).

Aren’t there other expenses? You bet. Lots of them. Know this: I have never owned camping gear, never thought I’d have the interest but this year the thought surfaced in my brain and it wouldn’t go away. No crowded airports, no stuffed planes, being outside. In 2023 that seemed a formula I could embrace.

Before you decide also to take the plunge, accept two facts: the national parks, most of them, are overcrowded. Bryce Canyon, in south-central Utah, is an outlier. Beautiful, unique landscape – but it’s remote and also overshadowed by Zion to the west and Arches to the east. I made my reservation a couple months ago; there were still a few available campsites. But booking into a national park is hit and miss and as for the celebrated parks (Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone), forget about it. There now are lotteries to pick lucky winners.

The other fact: the campsites are cheap but you will pour out money getting prepared. A decent (not great) tent for two will cost $100+. Sleeping bags cost around $100 apiece for a three season sack. You also need sleeping pads between the bag and the dirt – $50 apiece. And you need a sleeping bag storage sack, $15 – trust me, you need the sack to prolong the life of the bag.

Then there are innumerable small items – a camp lantern. plus batteries, around $25; headlamps, around $6 – it’s dark outside at campsites; a coffee percolator, $35; a tent footprint, that is a tarp that goes under it to provide better protection from nature ($25); tent seam sealant ($10); cookware ($70); dinnerware and utensils ($25); cooking utensils ($25) camp pillow ($25); and of course you’ll need a camp chair ($60).

You also need a 25 liter pack away cube to stash all this small stuff. At least most of it fits in mine.

That’s approaching $600 in equipment.

If I am not a veteran camper how do I know so much? I took free classes at REI where the presenters do not shill for REI branded stuff. They do a good job of presenting a balanced view of the gear you really need and what you don’t.

(Note: none of the above links is an affiliate link; I get no kickbacks on your purchases. Probably should – just about every publication today is chockablock with affiliate links. But not me, not yet.)

How do I breakeven on my outlay? Repetition.

Remember, I told you national parks are jammed? True. But national forests aren’t and I have five nights reserved at Manzanita camp grounds in Coconino National Forest later this fall. At $18 per night. In Sedona, where a decent hotel room costs $250, a good one is $500, and, bar the door, if you want to sleep in the best accommodations where rates can top $1000. I’m out $90 for five nights.

In November I have also booked a couple nights at Windy Hill Campground in Tonto National Forest by Lake Roosevelt, maybe 100 miles from where I live in Phoenix and the weather will be lovely by the lake. At $17 per night.

Understand, these are equipped, serviced campsites at all three places. Not so called “dispersed camping,” where you put your tent up on vacant ground and that’s that – no services are provided. I am at sites with toilets, fire pits, Bryce Canyon even has showers, and there may be cellular service.

Also understand I am car camping so I am indifferent to the bulk and weight of my gear. Backpackers who carry all their stuff are significantly more streamlined with their gear. Usual advice is to backpack no more than 20% of your weight, meaning a 200 pounder might carry 40 pounds, max. But as one REI presenter recently said in response to a question about how much was too much to bring, it’s up to you and what you are comfortable with.

Now I only hope my camping does not resemble the Three Stooges’.