Transportation
Renting a car in 2008
Filed under: Transportation, Travel
If you're planning to rent a car anytime soon -- particularly an economy model, consider meditating -- or whatever else settles you down -- before you get to the rental counter. Maybe your plane has been delayed, canceled or whatever complication the airline has served up (along with the 3- ounce cup of soda and nine peanuts). Maybe you're carrying 20 pounds more than usual because you don't want to pay to check through a second bag. The agent at the rental counter probably isn't having a great day either.
Be prepared for the likelihood that the car you reserved, after carefully comparison shopping the competition, may not be available. If you like free upgrades, you're likely in luck. Reserved a compact and would like a Cadillac or an SUV? If the agent doesn't offer, ask. The rental car companies can't turn their fleets over fast enough to keep up with soaring reservations for gas thrifty vehicles. One solution to their own rising costs is to keep the fleets smaller.
This is more of a challenge if you're renting at a satellite location, where fewer cars are available anyway.
If the car you reserved is actually there, don't be surprised if it hasn't been cleaned yet. You may have to choose between waiting and taking it as it is. The rental agent probably has gas mileage information for the models available. If your own car is a Honda Civic, it might be a luxury to drive, well, a luxury car for a few days.
It may cost a little more in gas but this is one situation in which the better deal is the bigger car.
Harley Davidson's 105th Anniversary: A lesson in customer loyalty
Filed under: Entrepreneurship, Transportation, Travel, Relationships
Thousands of Harley riders are thundering out of town and I am resting up. The Harley Davidson's 105th Anniversary celebration was a huge success topped off by a 3 1/2 hour concert by Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band. The festivities have been nonstop for the last week, and I, like many fellow Milwaukeeans, joined in the fun.
My kids set up a lemonade stand on our corner and sold gallons of lemonade to thirsty, friendly riders of all ages. Their sign said:
- Cars $1
- Harley Riders $ .75
- Hondas $5
Several riders took pictures of themselves with the kids and the sign. We went down to the festival grounds and listened to ZZ Top, Foo Fighters and the Black Crowes. Rows and rows of motorcycles lined every street in the Third Ward and the people watching was unbelievable. We saw one man who had a braided beard down to his ankles. It started out brown and got grayer as it moved up to his face. Now you just don't see this everyday.
Man overboard: Jazz Airlines removes life vests to lighten load
Filed under: Transportation, Travel
Airlines have had a rough go of it lately, what with skyrocketing fuel costs and fewer passengers traveling. Most airlines have already raised fares to the max that the market will allow, but they're still going deeper in debt, so they have to find ways to cut costs wherever they can.This means charging for everything that used to be free -- checked luggage, meals, snacks, even blankets and pillows -- but it also means taking steps to reduce fuel consumption. That's why Air Canada's regional carrier, Jazz, has removed life vests from all its planes to save weight and fuel. At approximately one pound apiece, this takes about 50 pounds off each plane.
Defending the safety of their flights, Jazz reminds passengers that all seat cushions double as flotation devices, and all the carrier's planes fly within 50 miles of shore, never crossing the ocean.
I just wonder -- is 50 pounds per flight worth the PR headache?
Where can the downturn work to your advantage? It's Vegas, baby!
Filed under: Bargains, Extracurriculars, Transportation, Travel
McCarran Airport, Vegas' major entry point, reported its biggest year-on-year drop since after 9/11. And Southwest Airlines, the rare profitable airline which recently said it wouldn't need to tighten its flight schedule, reversed course and said 13 flights, or about 5% of its Las Vegas seats, would be eliminated starting in January. Considering Southwest is one of the most reliable feeder of tourist traffic to the Strip, that's quite a blow.
To further put it in perspective, as of Sept. 2, Vegas had 81 flights from U.S. Airways daily. A year ago, it had 141.
The pain, though, is mostly for hoteliers and airlines. Tourists are starting to see a real benefit to the growing malaise. On Tuesday, Arthur Frommer wrote about seeing an ad for a two-night Planet Hollywood package for $149 per person that came with either $100 back or two free show tickets. When he called to book, he told the receptionist it was still too expensive. And just like that, he was offered the same deal for two people at $249 total. That's desperation.
Earlier this summer, casinos were low-balling tourists with archaic rates like $33 to $55 a room. Even now, prices on the Strip are sliding southward (the Sahara for $24, the Tropicana, $46, both quoted through a Hotels.com promotion) and rooms off the Strip are so low (like $20 at the Plaza Hotel off Fremont Street), they're virtually tragic.
Think scooters are green? Think again
Filed under: Transportation
Suddenly, we all love scooters and motorcycles; better mileage, easier to park, and oh, so sexy. Unfortunately, if you think they're also better for the environment, you are in for a disappointment.
In 2002 the EPA recently found that a Yamaha YXR YZF R6 (a very high-performance sport motorcycle) puts out 90 times the hydrocarbons of a Dodge Durango SUV. The reason? Scoots and cycles aren't held to the same standards as cars and trucks. They don't, for example, have catalytic convertors. A 2005 Swiss study found that 20% of nitrous oxide emissions there were coming from two-wheelers. It also concluded that these vehicles put out 2.7 times the carbon dioxide and 16 times the hydrocarbons of cars, in urban environments. The EPA states that a motorcycle emits as much hydrocarbon in 10 miles as a car driven 850 miles.
Even worse are the increasingly uncommon two-stroke engines still in operation on scooters and motorcycles, which burn oil along with gas and are notorious polluters. Also adding to the problem are illegal imports making their way into the country, thanks to booming demand, imports that don't even meet the rather generous federal standards currently in place.
Perhaps we'll soon see a new bumper sticker, much too long for the fender of a two-wheeler: Give a hoot, don't pollute. Park the scoot.
A chagrined United Airlines relents and won't charge for meals after all
Filed under: Budgets, Extracurriculars, Transportation, Travel
Did you ever think we'd see the day when people would beg for airline food? Yet here we are. In mid-August, United announced it would start forcing coach passengers on international flights to pay for their meals. Customers went ballistic. First U.S. Airways makes people pay $2 for so much as water, and then United deigned to lock people up in a steel tube for eight hours without providing free grub. United rebuffed the complaints saying the changes were "necessary."
The new "test" charge was supposed to begin on many transatlantic flights as of Oct. 1. But after fierce feedback from would-be customers that the airline politely described as "candid" but were actually downright scalding, United announced Tuesday that it would not, after all, charge customers to eat on long-haul flights. Some passengers who protested the new fee, many of whom travel for work, were e-mailed a capitulation today ("We heard you," it reads, "and have decided not to move forward," before prattling on about its business class amenities).
Abusing the employee discount? Companies cracking down
Filed under: Shopping, Transportation
There's no telling how many companies are cracking down on abuse of employee discount policies, but one company that recently announced doing so is GM. The logic is simple: Passing the employee discount to a non-employee costs the company money. GM says that the employee purchase program can save a buyer from $1,000 to $9,000.Imagine an employee buying a car for her uncle using the employee discount. There was clearly a significant savings (the reason why the employee and family member did this in the first place) and GM loses a sale of a car to a legitimate customer which might have been profitable. Multiply this situation by hundreds or thousands, and it's easy to see that GM has lost a lot of money.
Certainly GM is not the only company that struggles with this issue. I'd venture to guess that it has a firm policy about the discount, but hasn't strictly enforced it in the past, when the economics of the car business were better.
Smart car shopping tips
Filed under: Budgets, Shopping, Transportation
If now is the time for you to buy a car, you might be in luck. Although car shopping isn't all that fun, there are plenty of deals to go around as car manufacturers and used car dealers are trying find ways to move cars off the lots.But one concern that always creeps up (especially for young women) is not getting ripped off. One way to help avoid getting scammed is by doing your research. There's never been a better time to find information on the internet about new and used cars. You can get a very good idea of how much a car is worth if you're willing to spend the time on research.
There are a few key points to consider when trying to make a deal on a car:
Are you ready for pay as you go car insurance?
Filed under: Insurance, Transportation
Pay as you go isn't just for cell phones anymore, it turns out some auto insurance companies are switching to pay as you go plans in order to offer better rates to customers. Traditionally insurance rates are based on, among many things, the estimated miles that each driver will travel during a year. Many people argue that these estimates are inaccurate and that a pay as you go plan would provide consumers with an incentive to drive less. Legislation is currently underway in California to let insurance companies base rates on actual miles traveled it is estimated that it would be the equivalent of removing 10 million cars from the road!While California is only on the cusp of letting insurance providers make use of this information to determine what your premium will be at least one other company is already offering pay as you go insurance rates in several states. Progressive offers a My Rate program in four states and requires that users hook up a device to their car which tracks the miles traveled as well as how you drive to recalculate your rate every 6 months.
Both of these plans have some similarities, neither will track where you go with GPS and both of them are under fire by privacy groups. The programs differ in that the My Rate plan from Progressive tracks WHEN and HOW you drive in order to determine your insurance rate. In California, much to the chagrin of insurers, neither of these pieces of information can be tracked.
Thanksgiving travel: Make your air reservations now
Filed under: Transportation, Travel
Even though summer isn't over yet, for those of you who travel over Thanksgiving, it is already time to start thinking about booking your flights.Thanksgiving is one of the busiest flying times of the year and this year there are going to be a lot fewer flights available. In an effort to save on costs and in hopes of being able to raise prices, airlines are cutting back on the number of flights they offer. American airlines is shrinking its flight capacity in its main US markets by up to 12% in the Fall and United by up to 16.5%. (Southwest just announced it would cut 200 flights, or about 6%, but not till January, 2009).
Travelers in certain markets will find the cuts much more severe than those percentages imply. If you are used to taking a direct flight, from, let's say, Albany to Chicago on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, you will have half the amount of flights to choose from -- four this year, down from eight last year, according to a report from USA Today. From Boston to Chicago there are three fewer flights, from San Diego there are two fewer flights, and from Pittsburgh there are six fewer direct flights on that route that day.
Planning on getting a gas card? Try here first
Filed under: Saving, Transportation, Travel
Gas prices have been dropping lately, but nevertheless, the dollar amount at the pump is still...what's the word I'm looking for... oh, yes, insane. Evil is another good word.So when the spokesperson for Pump and Save contacted me, vowing that its average user saves over $175 per year at the pump, I knew I'd be writing some sort of post for WalletPop. So here it is: Check out PumpandSave.com, a web site that offers numerous tips and tools on how to save gas -- like price-saving maps and gas usage calculators. But by far, its reason for being is that you can compare the best of the best of the cash-back and rewards-based gas cards.
If you're in the market for a gas card, this is a really sharp site. They have a lot of gas cards listed here, on the home page, so that you can compare one from the other, since not all rewards are created equally.
As I often note when mentioning one of these saving money sites, I'm not endorsing it. Beyond just looking around, I haven't used PumpandSave.com, and in fact, I don't even have a gas card and am not currently planning on getting one. But as an objective bystander, it looks interesting, and like it's worth spending some time on, especially if you've been considering getting a gas card, or if you are just really frazzled by the price at the pump and want some gas-saving ideas.
Geoff Williams is a freelance journalist, author and--not that anyone asked--the owner of a 1994 Saturn that fortunately has pretty decent gas mileage.
Sean "Puffy" Combs grounding private jet -- to save bucks
Filed under: Entrepreneurship, Transportation, Wealth, Travel
I'd call it a Sign O' the Times, but that's the title of a song from another singer with an ever-changing name (Prince).
According to this item on Perez Hilton's celebrity gossip website, it costs about $250K for two round trips between New York and L.A. Combs, who juggles a Hollywood career with a thriving clothing business and other ventures in New York, thinks that's just too much. This from a multi-millionaire, (number 33 this year on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list) who's famous for, among many other things, his annual White Ball, in which the (very) rich, (very) famous and (very) beautiful show up to an elite location for a night of glamor and partying, clad only in white.
Sean Combs in the News
** FILE ** In this Feb. 24, 2008 file photo, Sean "Diddy" Combs poses on the press line at the Elton John Oscar Party in West Hollywood, Calif. (AP Photo/Dan Steinberg, file)
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Sean "Diddy" Combs shows off his clothes during a fashion presentation of his clothing lineup in New York Monday, Aug. 11, 2008. (AP Photo/Ed Ou)
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Sean "Diddy" Combs makes a toast to his guests during a fashion presentation of his clothing lineup in New York Monday, Aug. 11, 2008. (AP Photo/Ed Ou)
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Sean "Diddy" Combs takes a photo with one of his party guests during a fashion presentation of his clothing lineup in New York Monday, Aug. 11, 2008. (AP Photo/Ed Ou)
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Sean "Diddy" Combs makes a toast to his guests during a fashion presentation of his clothing lineup in New York Monday, August 11, 2008. (AP Photo/Ed Ou)
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In this Sunday, June 15, 2008 photo, Sean "Diddy" Combs watches a basketball game in Los Angeles. Combs' latest series, "I Want to Work for Diddy," premieres 9 p.m. EDT Monday, Aug 4, 2008 on VH1. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)
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Actor/Rapper Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs arrives at the 2008 MTV Movie Awards on June 1, 2008 at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California..2008 MTV Movie Awards - Arrivals.Gibson Amphitheatre.Universal City, CA United States.June 1, 2008.Photo by Steve Granitz/WireImage.com..To license this image (15893460), contact WireImage.com
WireImage.com
Actor/Rapper Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs arrives at the 2008 MTV Movie Awards on June 1, 2008 at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California..2008 MTV Movie Awards - Arrivals.Gibson Amphitheatre.Universal City, CA United States.June 1, 2008.Photo by Steve Granitz/WireImage.com..To license this image (15893462), contact WireImage.com
WireImage.com
Actor/Rapper Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs arrives at the 2008 MTV Movie Awards on June 1, 2008 at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California..2008 MTV Movie Awards - Arrivals.Gibson Amphitheatre.Universal City, CA United States.June 1, 2008.Photo by Steve Granitz/WireImage.com..To license this image (15893461), contact WireImage.com
WireImage.com
Actor Will Smith, actor Jaden Smith, Sean "Diddy" Combs and his son arrive at the World Premiere of Columbia Pictures "Hancock" at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on July 30, 2008 in Hollywood, California..The World Premiere of Columbia Pictures' "Hancock" - Red Carpet.Grauman's Chinese Theatre.Hollywood, CA United States.June 30, 2008.Photo by Lester Cohen/WireImage.com..To license this image (55237472), contact WireImage.com
WireImage.com
What's in store for the future? Let's take a look: 2009-2020
Filed under: Entrepreneurship, Technology, Transportation
Five years, and our economy will be just ducky.That's according to a recent story in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, a paper I've long admired. Reporter Emily C. Dooley interviewed a handful of experts in the Richmond, Virginia area, and that was their take on the situation. That by about 2013, we're all going to be surveying the economic landscaping and saying, "Hey, not bad."
Of course, five years is a long time to wait to adjust to the new reality of gas prices or to feel more secure about your job and lifestyle. The article makes it clear that these are just predictions, implying that in five years, things could go great and then bad again, where we're looking at another down cycle. But it got me to thinking...
A cheap British hotel chain invites you to sleep in an old shipping container
Filed under: Bargains, Extracurriculars, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Transportation, Travel
The 120-room property, banged up in a scant 20 days, was then smoothed over to give it a unified look, much like your aunt might frost a layer cake. The trick works so well that the company is slapping up another one, this one more than twice as big, near London's Heathrow Airport, and about half of its future properties will be pressed from the same cookie-cutter mold.
I wouldn't say the place's industrial provenance is being sold as a gimmick or painted with the worn-out "green" brush. In fact, you'd never know you were sleeping in a former cargo hold, mostly because the hotel chain's rooms have never been very showy. Its battery-hen rooms are short on luxuries (plasma TV, yes; phone, no) and iffy on size (beds are king-size), but they're always defined by a dignified crispness. The pricing system is also simple: The more rooms that are available, they cheaper they are. If you book far enough in advance, rooms can be insanely affordable. For January, rooms can cost just £29 right now. That's about $50 a night.
Too fuel for school: Gas prices causing changes in school districts around the country
Filed under: Budgets, Kids and Money, Transportation, Recession
Will the great recession of 2008, result in school children spending less hours in school? Due to record fuel prices and the mortgage crisis, school districts have less funds to meet budgets. As a result, some are fewer daily bus routes, the loss of field trips, and shorter school weeks. school days. The result has put the brakes on some school bus companies, and caused students to start walking.
FIELD OF DREAMS
Long a reality of the learning experience, exploration outside of the classroom has been common practice at most schools for years. Feeding the imagination and a world beyond neighborhoods, visits to other cities and national capitals have been increasingly a part of the learning experience. Less so now. In a survey by the American Association of School Administrators, 44% of school systems are cutting back on student field trips to help minimize the impact of rising fuel and 32% were considering cutting field trips for the upcoming school year.
