Rest In Peace: Andy Williams

Sad news:

National Treasure Andy Williams dies of Bladder Cancer at age 84, FoxNews.com

Crooner Andy Williams has died at the age of 84.
"Legendary singer Andy Williams passed away last night (Tuesday) at home in Branson, Missouri following a year long battle with bladder cancer," his rep said in a statement to FoxNews.com.
Williams built the Moon River Theatre in Branson in 1992, naming it after his most popular song.
Williams said in November 2011 that he had been diagnosed with bladder cancer.

The Wife worked for 2 years at the Moon River Theatre in Branson in 1997 & 1998.  I got to play a round of golf with Williams, his brother and a local Branson comedian during the time.  I used to see him almost every night when I'd go and pick up my wife from the theater after shows.  He'd hop into his Lexus with his two German Wirehaired Pointers and drive off down the hill.

One weekend, my parents and family came up to Branson to visit and watch the Wife in the show.  When Andy heard our family was in town he invited us to come backstage after the show and meet w/him in his dressing room.  My Mother was a big fan of his and was very excited.  As we walked into his (very nice) dressing room we were greeted by his two dogs.  In a few minutes Mr. Williams came in wearing a bath robe, and cowboy boots.  We laughed and talked with him for several minutes, he was a gracious and kind host.

When we left the room my Mom realized that she had been carrying her camera in her hand for the entire time but had forgotten to take a picture.  We still laugh about that one.

My thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends and other loved ones.

Dream the impossible Dream.

It's finally coming. United has taken delivery of it's first Boeing 787 "Dreamliner" and will be deploying it to Houston soon...

United's Dreamliner due in Houston Later this Week. Kiah Collier, Chron.com

United Airlines announced Monday it took delivery of its first Boeing 787 Dreamliner over the weekend.
The long-awaited aircraft will fly from Boeing Field in Seattle to Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport sometime later this week, the Chicago-based carrier said.
The inaugural commercial flight, from Houston to Chicago, is scheduled to depart at 7:25 a.m. on Nov. 4.

This is great news for IAH, and Houston.  Coming as it does after a run of bad United news the Chron.commenters are really letting it fly.

Some examples:

 peterr69

1:30 PM on September 24, 2012

Wow. What has Nigeria got that other countries do not have?

Oil, for one.  Chevron oil operations more specifically.  A direct flight to Lagos on the Dreamliner would probably be a big deal to the many oil & oilfield services companies in Houston doing business there.

TiredoftheBS

2:05 PM on September 24, 2012

Wait a few months ago United was saying if SW got approval for int'l flights out of Hobby that they were going to be laying people off and cutting the number of flights out of Bush airport. Now they are bringing their premier aircraft to Houston?

Actually, they did cut some routes and lay-off people.  As a matter of fact, they cut the IAH-AUK direct flight that was scheduled to be Dreamliner metal.  What they never did say was that they were pulling out of the IAH altogether.  Many of us (who paid attention to the whole mess) were hoping that IAH having the 787 training center and base of operations wasn't going to change.  This move appears that it will not.  This then, is a good thing.

At least no one suggested that United should go out of business.  That's been a recurring comment by many.

Another commenter complained that Chron.com didn't offer fare information, a curious complaint since that wasn't the point of the article. However, a quick search shows that, for travel leaving 11/04/2012 and returning to Houston 11/07/2012, the price for an economy seat on the Dreamliner is around $619/person.  About double that of a regular flight for Chicago during the same time.  Such is the price for riding on a plane's inaugural flight.

Under the "for what it's worth" category, looking at the available seating the plan appears to be working.  The inaugural flight is already around 3/4 of the way sold out, with all first and business class seats (and most of economy plus) sold. (or given to company personnel etc.)

Short Haul Flights (09/20/2012)

The back from vacation (but sick) edition.....

The issue over purging the dead from voter rolls is still very much alive ChronBlog's protestations to the contrary.

If you want to see the Colorado model in a real-world setting then take a peek at this glowing profile of US Senate candidate Paul Sadler (D-Tx) and the InterLeft's use of it.  This report was so glowing of Sadler that his campaign thanked the Trib reporter for running it on Twitter.

I wonder if certain political groups will take umbrage with this incursion of corporate interests into politics?  My early guess is "no".

Maybe Smisek should worry about the performance of his business rather than hosting political galas?

Oh, and United's revenue is falling as well.

Maybe it's just me, but the idea of an out-of-shape Mayor telling a city to "get healthy" screams hypocrisy.

There's a fine line between cheer leading and reporting. Currently, ChronBlog is trampling all over that line in it's rah-rah coverage of Trader Joe's.  Speaking of that, where are their chastisements for TJ's not opening up in a "food desert" like they've done to Krogers and other grocers?  Why is this company getting a pass?

Mixed economic results for Houston I'm surprised ChronBlog didn't lead with "We're better than Dallas!"

Fiona Apple busted for hash possession in Texas? Nah, you mean she's on drugs?

A French publication publishes anti-Mohammad cartoons More riots against Americans to come soon.

And finally ladies and gentlemen.


I give you the 1% 

Train Ride: Anchorage to Seward

On our recent trip to Alaska the wife and I decided to take a day trip down to Seward from Anchorage.  There are several ways to get there, rent a car and drive down the Seward Highway, hop on a charter bus, take a float plane ride,  or take the train.

We opted to take the train South to Seward, and then ride back up North to Anchorage via bus.  This would allow us to see both the train route and the Seward Highway.

The train to Seward left early, 6:45 AM to be exact.  Fortunately, the Anchorage Downtown Hotel where we were staying offers free shuttle service to the station.  So we hopped on the train and were greeted almost immediately by blue and pink mountains reflecting the rising sun.

Blue and pink mountains in the early morning.

The train cabin is pretty nice, the seating arrangement is 2X2 across and there is a ton of legroom. The base cabin seats are at least as wide as airline domestic first class seats with way more recline.  There's a bar/food car in the middle of the train that serves snacks and breakfast.  I had a reindeer sausage breakfast burrito that was pricey ($7.00) but tasty.  I didn't want to eat too much however because we had planned lunch in Seward.

The views on the train ride down are amazing:

Turn Again Arm.

The front of the train passing a glacier

Mama Black bear - her babies stopped the train b/c they were on the track

The pictures don't do this glacier justice.



Dead trees from the big quake of 68

 The intercom barker on the train gives you a good idea when to get your camera ready, and when the best photo ops are coming, and what side of the train they're going to be on.  The picture with the front of the train and the glacier was one that she warned us was coming.  You pass 4 glaciers on the trip, and all are beautiful.  You also pass a lake where icebergs have calved off of the glacier into the water.  I've said before, it was the most naturally beautiful place I've ever been.

The dead trees in the last picture are interesting, they died as a result of the big earthquake in 1968 due to the permafrost liquefying and the ground dropping 7 feet.  This caused seawater to rush in which got to the roots and the trees died. In Alaska's cold climate they estimate it will be 100 years before they fully decompose.

The entire ride takes around 4 1/2 hours, so you get to Seward around 10:45 - 11:00  Just about time to get your bearings and eat.

The train at the Seward station

With the schedule we had chosen we were going to have around 7 hours to explore Seward.  It's a very small town so that's plenty of time.  On my next installment I'll talk about some of the things we did there.

All in all it was a great trip from Anchorage to Seward in comfortable seats with decent snacks and some amazing views. Well worth the price ($79/each) of the tickets.  I freely admit to being a train ride junkie on vacation so your mileage may vary.  For the wife and I however the train ride was a high point of our trip.

Delta gives it's customer's using Award Wallet the finger

Points aggregator Award Wallet announced today that Delta Airlines has issued a cease & desist order preventing customers from using the site to access their accounts.

This follows a move by American Airlines who did the same.

Full disclosure, I have an Award Wallet account, but I don't have a Delta SkyMiles account because 1.) They are among the least valuable airline programs (their nickname is SkyPesos) and 2.) their routing network out of Houston is terrible.

There's a lot of speculation why Delta would do this, some of it with merit and some of it without.  IMO there are only two ideas that have any merit.

1. It's a money game.  The fact that Award Wallet is out there suggests to the airlines that there is money to be made in "scraping" websites.  Because of this the airlines want in on the action.  It's sad that an entrepreneur comes up with a good idea, something that would work, and the airlines are able to use blunt force tactics to shut down what is probably a small chunk of network traffic.  While I admit that it is, using a strict interpretation, outside of the Delta.com terms and conditions, I also understand that these can be flexible things that are allowed in some instances if the customer interests are put first.  If it's not obvious to you by now the legacy airlines do NOT have the customer's best interests at heart.

2. It's a money game.  The big legacy airlines (Delta, American, United, US Airways) are spending a lot of money turning their websites into on-line shopping portals.  The less time you spend on their websites the less time you're going to spend looking at rental car deals, floral delivery et. al.  Not only does this cost the airlines value site hits, it lessens the amount of pass-through revenue they're likely to gain.

If the airlines had their way customers would do EVERYTHING travel related on their sites, from booking flights to hotel rooms to rental cars to birthday gifts you name it.  If they could swing it they would allow you to order the blood pressure you'll need after taking advantage of their lackluster customer service.

At the end of the day this is a bad deal for Delta customers who have decided to us an aggregator to keep track of their points.  Having a central site provide this service does have a value, it's just that it doesn't have a value that the airlines can profit from so they're going to do everything in their considerable power to shut it down.  Whether or not this is convenient for their customer base is irrelevant.  The fact is, they just don't care.



As you can imagine, the travel blog responses have been overwhelmingly negative:

The Wandering Aramean

View From the Wing

One Mile at a Time

United steps in it (again)

The (now) perpetual mess of an airline that is United has made another blunder today, removing from their website the ability to see available upgrade inventory and then offering a weak excuse why they did so.

United's Foolish Attempt to Shield Online Upgrade Inventory, Matthew, Upgrd.com

Why would United make this move?
There are three theories. One, United got tired of the screen scrapers (Expert Flyer and KVS being the two primary culprits) who may have overloaded UA’s systems with frequent requests for information from people like me, who check R-space several times daily for myself and my clients.
Alternatively, United’s IT systems—as we all know—leave much to be desired and the availability being displayed did not actually match up to what was really available (I never found this to be the case personally…). Therefore, this space was removed to prevent confusion and cut down on the frequent calls to United checking on upgrade clearance (I wrote about United’s odd upgrade clearance system in a recent post).
A more sinister theory is that United wants to shield the upgrade space from savvier consumers like you and me in order to increase the number of paid upgrades sold at check-in. If we cannot see which flights have upgrade space, we will be less likely to book these flights and therefore more upgrades can be sold rather than given away on a complimentary basis.

I agree with Matthew that the goal here is to make it more difficult for MileagePlus members with status to see upgradable inventory in an attempt to increase upgrade sales instead of providing their most frequent of fliers with complimentary ones.  In the short-term, this seems like a decent idea, as United strives with every move to increase fee-based revenue increasing paid upgrades is a move that won't anger too-many people, in their opinion.  Long term however I'm wondering how much more United's beleaguered frequent flying community is going to stand?

After making all but meaningless (in comparison to credit cards) the lower levels of the program they're now making the first inroads into limiting the ability of their upper-tier elites to gain upgrades that are a reward for a lot of miles flown with the airline.  United's excuse (that the program was causing confusion) is an insult to it's customers intelligence and speaks volumes to how the airline views them.

In short, Smisek & co. have decided that we're all not that bright, and that we're willing to swallow a lot. It almost borders on enmity to the MileagePlus community, who United is now obviously taking for granted.  This might work out OK for a while, but if American and US Airways merge, and the new airline gets it's feet under them, then a new strong airline might be able to take advantage of a staggering airline with deteriorating customer service, an aging fleet, unhappy staff and a terrible IT interface that's now even less usable.

Think about this:  Does United REALLY want to compete on the basis of price and service?  That's a losing proposition for Smisek's toy.  I wonder how long it will be until someone reminds his crew of that?