THIS WEEK'S JOHNNY JET 5/3/2002
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2 MEXICO CITY CAMS Web Site Of The Week AIRLINE MEALS Bonus Mile Offers Of The Week PAYLESS, CHINA SOUTHERN, HYATT, .... Special Offers Of The Week VIRGIN ATLANTIC, AMERICA WEST, USAIR... Where's Johnny Jet? ERIE, CLEVELAND, CHICAGO, L.A., Tip Of The Week SAFE SITE Chicago Tribune 10 GREAT DRIVES Los Angeles Times DENMARK BUT DIFFERENT SkyGirls/Guys ?'s DO PASSENGERS EVER BRING YOU GIFTS? IF SO, WHAT? Celebrity Q&A CNN'S CHRIS MCGINNIS |
WHAT'S DOING IN TOKYO Washington Post INDY 500 1O1 USAToday FLIGHT CUTS BestFares SWISS AND AA CODE SHARE Other News STARWOOD RAISES RATES Yahoo JET BLUE STOPS PAYING AGENTS ABCnews SEX AND SIN MAKE COMEBACK IN VEGAS CNN PHOTO OPTS MSNBC CUBA WHERE TIME HAS STOPPED SmarterLiving JET SET WITH YOUR PET Good To Know! AVOIDING IN-FLIGHT FASTS |
HOTELS 70% OFF IN OVER 165 CITIES WORLDWIDE!
SAMPLE CITIES:
Paris..............from $59 London..........from $79 New York.................from $69 La$ Vega$......................from $39
WEB CAMS OF THE WEEK WEBSITE OF THE WEEK
I left you last week from Erie, PA. I needed to get to L.A. so
I called up United and asked if I could use an old unused ticket that I
had from the Super Bowl with a routing of MSY-ORD and change it to CLE-ORD-LAX.
The agent put me on hold and came back with a surprise
answer, YES! They charged me $75 to change, but I was happy to
pay, I mean heck when was I ever going to fly New Orleans-Chicago within
the next year? I arrive at the Cleveland airport and the check-in
lady was really friendly so I gave her a box of chocolates. Good
thing because not a minute later a supervisor comes out of nowhere and
says, "There's a note in the computer that you are not allowed to use this
ticket and we will need to pull another 25,000 miles or you can pay $1200.00."
I said, "Whooaaaaaaa nelly, hold on there!" I didn't feel like arguing
because I knew it wasn't her fault, but United should've never agreed to
it. I knew I still had another ticket left over that would be good,
otherwise I would've tried to make them honor it. Because I gave
her a $3 box of chocolates, she waived the $75 fee and canceled the one
they charged me the day before. :-) Always bring chocolate!
Our plane was delayed two hours in CLE because of thunderstorms in Chicago. I arrived an hour before the last flight to LA, but I decided not to get on because Amber's plane from Baltimore was really late and I wanted to fly back with her. My cousin Dennis was nice enough to pick us up and take us to his house where we spent the night and hung out with the family. It's great being Italian because I have cousins everywhere. BTW: Did I mention I checked a bag in Cleveland therefore I was without underwear--- again?
We took an afternoon flight back to LA and my bag was waiting for me at the baggage center. I was happy nobody stole it.
A few days later my brother calls me and tells me to come visit him
in Santa Fe, NM. I wasn't going to pass that up so I packed an overnight
bag and drove to LAX. I parked at Thrifty on Century Blvd for
$7.99 a day which is the cheapest I've found. I walked up to Southwest
Airlines (SWA) and bought a ticket for $350 round-trip, again the cheapest
I found (well, hotwire and priceline were cheaper but I didn't want to
risk the time). The terminal was empty and I was way too early.
Going through security my bag was picked to be searched, as usual.
Although I usually don't mind, this time was not going to be fun because
I jammed packed this thing and it was bulging at it's seams. I have
so many pockets and electronic devices that it takes a while to thoroughly
go through it. When the lady finds a secret pocket with my toothbrush,
she turns to me and says, "You really should put a plastic bag over it."
Thanks for the tip lady, but can't you tell I had about two minutes to
pack? I said, "I'm lucky I remembered my underwear," and she looked
at me like I was crazy and quickly took h er hand out of my bag.
Southwest doesn't give pre assigned seats, so I wanted to be the first in line at the gate to get boarding card number 1. I sat at what I thought was our gate, and jumped right up when the agent walked over to set up her gate. When I saw Phoenix on the board, I asked her about Albuquerque? She said it's Gate14, not 4. The agent who checked me in wrote the wrong gate on my boarding pass and stupid me didn't double check. (Always double check.) Well, I show up to Gate14 and there's a line. I was still able to get a low number boarding card so I would be guaranteed an aisle seat and overhead space. When they called the first boarding section I was ready, in fact I was the fourth person in line. When I go to give my boarding pass to the agent, guess what happens? That's right, he picks me to go get secondary screened, AGAIN! Are you kidding me, I thought. I just did this an hour ago. There I am again, realizing I wasted all my energy and time waiting to get a good seat on the plane to now be one of the last on. Not only that but the dude going through my bag had an attitude, he was messing everything up and dropping my stuff on the ground. When I went to prevent my stuff from falling out, he says, "Step away from the bag. Sir, you can not touch it while I search it." They really are taking the fun out of traveling, I mean there is no need to search me twice, especially when I don't fit the profile of a terrorist.
I asked the guy politely why I got picked and he said Southwest policy is to have 1 out of every 5 passengers searched. To make matters worse, I call my voice mail and my sister, Carol, says they just flew Jet Blue and the loved it, but get this: They all got secondary searched including my 3 and 5 year old nephew and niece. Not only that but the security lady accidentally whacked my nephew in the head while wanding him and made him cry. Can you believe they wanded him? What a joke!
I arrived in Albuquerque at 9pm, and I ran down to the Santa Fe and Sandia Shuttles to find that I just missed it and the next one isn't until 10:45pm. Ugghhhhhhhh!
Sometimes travel is smooth and sometimes it not. You gotta go with the flow or not go at all.
Next week I will have stories and pictures from New Mexico.
BY THE WAY:
Next Week:
Kentucky
WHAT'S
NEW IN JOHNNY JET
SKYGIRLS
QUESTION OF THE WEEK:
Do
passengers ever bring you gifts? If so, what?
SKYGUY QUESTION
OF THE WEEK:
Do
passengers ever bring you gifts? If so, what?
Travel Celebrity
Q&A:
With
Travel Expert Chris McGinnis
GHOST WRITER
OF THE WEEK:
JOHN
B'S TRIP TO HONG KONG
TIP
OF
THE WEEK: By
Chris
McGinnis
SAFE SITE. The newest government agency to touch the lives of business
travelers is up and running. Check out the new of the Transportation Security
Administration at www.tsa.gov. If you've got a complaint or compliment
about a recent screening, send your emails to: 9-AWA-TELLFAA@faa.gov
GOOD
TO
KNOW!
COOL TRAVEL MAIL'S T R
A V E L T I P S
AVOIDING IN-FLIGHT FASTS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Heyerdahl crossed the Pacific on nine giant balsa logs, he drank
water stored in hollowed-out bamboo shafts and ate
fish that leapt aboard the raft. He and his five-man crew would go
for long periods of time with nothing in their stomachs but a hollow rumble.
That’s close to the same sound you hear coming from the passengers
in coach during a four-hour domestic flight on American or Delta.
Even before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, the major airlines had
begun cutting back food service in an effort to trim costs. That practice
accelerated after the World Trade Center collapsed.
Many airlines have slowly begun restoring food service, but the majority
are still serving fewer meals and asking
passengers - especially those in the bargain seats - to go without
food for longer.
Delta, for example, only offers food in coach on flights of 1,750 miles
or more (about four hours), an in first class for flights of more than
700 miles, according to Delta’s website: http://www.delta.com.
Before Sept. 11, the cutoff in coach was 547 miles for breakfast and 726
miles for lunch and dinner.
The various airlines’ food policies are about as consistent as Madonna’s
makeovers. Often, passengers go hungry on
flights that would logically be a dinner or a breakfast route. On some
airlines, what fliers assume would be a lunch, turns out to be an afternoon
"snack."
The only reliable way to make sure you’ll be served on a given trip
is to call ahead and ask about that particular flight.
Of course, the "Eureka!" moment that comes when you find out you will
get a meal is very short-lived. You are, after all, cheering about airline
food.
If your flight is not going to have food; or, if there will be food,
but it will be up in first class and the only taste you and the other steerage
passengers are going to get is through your nostrils, you have two basic
options: Eat before you go, or bring your own food.
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