I have not yet read Dear American Airlines by Jonathan Mills but I like the idea of this novel which is written in the form of a complain letter to American Airlines. I can imagine that with the kind of year that American Airlines has been having that their executives are less thrilled with the idea.

Author Elizabeth Gilber says of the book:

The novel relays the tale of Bennie Ford, a man who is marinating like a cocktail olive in the sour middle-aged juices of his own mistakes, but who has decided to redeem himself completely by attending the wedding of his estranged daughter. Now, as some of us have learned from painful personal experience, it’s not always easy to redeem a lifetime of screw-ups in one weekend, but that doesn’t deter Bennie from heading to the airport to fly off to what he has decided is the most important event in his life. (The fact that he doesn’t seem to notice that the wedding should actually be the most important event in his DAUGHTER’S life, not his, is an early clue of his particular breed of hilarious narcissism.) But at the airport is where his troubles begin, as American Airlines cancels his flight and thus–as far as he is concerned–destroys his life. What follows is a complaint letter raised to the level of high narrative art. I have never before encountered a novel written in the form of a complaint letter, and we can safely assume there will never be another such after this one, just because Miles has created an inimitable story here–one which, despite all the dark wit of its narrator–leaves room in the sad margins for real heartbreak, real feeling, real life. (This is something Amis himself wasn’t able to do until many years into his career.) This is the most entertaining first novel I’ve read in a long while, as well as a searing cautionary tale. Bring it to the airport with you next time you fly somewhere to change your life…

Popularity: 37% [?]

Here is is a video tour I shot of Holland America’s MS Volendam. I talked more about this particular ship on Episode 113 of the Amateur Traveler - Theme Cruise to Panama (Shakespeare at Sea / MacMania).

Save up to 62% on Holland America Cruises - Book Now!

Popularity: 49% [?]

You have probably already heard the news that a number of airlines have started charging to check a second bag, but late last month American Airlines decided that it really wasn’t so thrilled with people bringing luggage at all so it started charging $15 for the first bag and $25 for the second bag ($100 for the 3rd bag). That charge is each way. So if you check any bag and do a round trip expect to pay an additional $30 above what is the price of the ticket.

You can avoid this fee if you travel in first or business class. It also will not apply to Elite AAdvantage members who are American’s frequent flyers. It also will not apply if you have the unfortunate experience of paying for a full fare ticket.

Clearly rising fuel costs are behind American’s need to raise fees somewhere, but we will see if passengers like being surprised with an extra fee for what used to be free. I expect that American has actually gone a step too far with this move and would not be surprised to see that this hurts their business when word gets around.

For more information read American’s luggage policy.

Popularity: 47% [?]

It used to be that when a restaurant found that a restaurant critic was coming or when a hotel found out that a hotel reviewer would be staying they could make an extra effort to give the best possible experience. One of the changes that the Internet has made is that everyone eating at a restaurant and anyone staying at the hotel might be a critic. With the advent of sites like TripAdvisor.com the power that used to be held by the press is now held by the everyday consumer.

Many or most people who write reviews on travel review sites are honestly intending to help the people that will travel after them. They write honest reviews about real experiences. Granted what they think is dirty you may think is acceptable and what they think is wonderful food you may find uninspiring, but an honest review tells you some valuable information when put in the correct context. A thoughtful well written review is of particular value.

But, as Lord Acton once told us, “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Stories are starting to come back from hotel and restaurant owners of a darker side of TripAdvisor and other review sites.

We stayed at a wonderful hotel in Santorini called Villa Mathios. Our host was accommodating, gregarious and helpful. He told us stories of guests who he let use his personal computer to check their email. He let them check in before the official check in time. But when they went to leave they asked for a ride to the airport at 6:30 AM. That is not part of the service he provides. He runs a hotel, restaurant and even a travel agency but not a free taxi service. So even though they had had a wonderful stay they threaten to write a bad review of the hotel (and did so when he does not relent).

I love user contributed content, community and social networks. My day job is running online communities for many well known companies. But these sort of dark side of community stories show that there is still value in editorial opinion. There is still value in the opinion of trusted friends or trusted bloggers / podcasters.

Popularity: 41% [?]

A recent post on the Amateur Traveler discussion boards about becoming an online travel agent through a company called YTB led me to look into the company more. I have heard a number of things about them on the web and much of it sounded like too good to be true hype.

It is very hard to do real Internet research on YTB (YTBLA.OB) and a competitor Travelus. It you do a google search on YTB you will probably find some non-authoritative site put up by someone who is affiliated with two of these companies. The information in all of these sites is very suspect in my opinion. The people who setup these sites are doing some very clever SEO (Search Engine Optimization). That does not make what they say true.

The good news is that YTB is not a publicly reporting company so facts about it are available from more reputable sources if you dig deeply enough.

YTBLA on Yahoo Financials

So here is what I have been able to find:

1) It is a multi-level marketing company. That is you get paid more if you sign up other agents. That is not illegal. Avon, Amway, etc are also multi-level marketing companies. But it does mean that it benefits those who get in early versus those who get in now.

2) It just posted a loss in the most recent quarter.

3) Their board of directors does seem to have some people with real experience.

4) They are the 35th largest seller of travel in the U.S. in 2006 by Travel Weekly. source Yahoo

5) In May 7th of last year they reported having 178,000 RTAs (Referring Travel Agents) (SEC filing) against which they paid marketing commissions of $16,136,795 and travel commissions of $1,608,688. That says that the average RTA made $90 in that quarter on the marketing (MLM) commissions and $9 in commissions for travel. Granted we have to assume that some of these were very new agents and that the spread between the best and worst agent was pretty large.

The vast majority of the revenue of the company is the fees paid by the RTAs $17,965,361 in that period vs travel commissions of $2,537,694. So the money coming in is from the agents more than it is from people selling travel.

In the most recent quarter the company made $33,959,388 from the RTAs and $5,328,627 from travel commissions. In addition it made another $3,009,505 form the RTAs in the form of marketing materials.

My conclusion is that it pays to be YTB more than it pays to work for YTB.

Popularity: 47% [?]