You Went Where???

Sometimes a great stay at a hotel makes your next stay harder.   I don’t *think* that’s what happened with my stay in Amsterdam though.  I just think the hotel was weird.

When I was first booking this trip, I was shocked at how expensive Amsterdam hotels were.  I’d decided to use Priority Club points to stay at the Crowne Plaza, which was well reviewed and well located.  Sometime in the fall, though, Accor was having a big sale of 50% off properties in Europe if you booked a no refundable rate.  So for about $75, I was able to land a room at The MGallery The Convent, a few blocks from the Crowne Plaza.  Worth it instead of spending 25,000 Priority Club Points.  Even better, a few weeks after I booked, I took advantage of a free promotion to attain A-Club Platinum status at Accor Hotels, which has some perks at MGallery properties.

The MGallery The Convent is a former Convent. It is also a former Sofitel, but the Accor chain changed its branding when it opened the Sofitel Grand elsewhere in Amsterdam.  MGallery is Accor’s “boutique” property.  But this hotel seemed to have the negatives of a boutique, and the negatives of a major chain.

Convent at Nightfall

The lobby was fairly corporate, and at check-in, I wasn’t offered a Platinum upgrade at all until I asked.  I ended up getting a room in a separate tower with a separate elevator that was accessed from a corner of the lobby. It was a little freaky.  The room was what would be considered a standard size room in some places, but was large for a city like Amsterdam.  One thing that wasn’t large was the WC.  (The bathroom had a very nice shower with multiple jets coming out of the walls and a sink, and the toilet was in a separate room.)  I actually couldn’t sit on the toilet with my knees facing forward. (TMI?)   The room also had several other oddities.  One, there was no alarm clock anywhere, and the TV was far away from the bed meaning there was no clock anywhere. Second, there was no guide explaining how to figure things out like internet or the gym, or how to use the Nespresso machine.   I had to call down for an internet code, which, annoyingly, only worked on one device at a time, meaning I had to constantly log in and out of my netbook and my ipod touch.

Room with low ceiling

Bad shot of private hallway for "suites" aka my meh room

Shortly after I checked in, there was a knock at my door and a delivery of a Platinum amenity.  It was one of the nicer welcome amenities i’ve seen, consisting of  (1) a small bottle of champagne, (2) a box of handmade chocolates; (3) a ceramic delft coaster; and (4) a Royal Copenhagen miniature of the hotel.  It managed to be both classy and tied to the hotel, edible and souvenir-ish.

Platinum Welcome Amenity

I had seen the gym when I checked in, so changed and went down to use it.   My key didn’t work in the door, though.  I asked at the front desk if the gym was closed, and was told, “No, but it’s a private gym, and it is in use now.”  I could wait two hours, or make a reservation for the next day.  When I was let in the next day, the gym itself was pretty poor.  A stationary bike, a rowing machine, and a sit-up bench.  No free weights or mats at all.  Oddly, there was a full size sauna which could probably fit 6 people, and lounge chairs.  The whole thing was just weird.

Only in Amsterdam....

The bed was comfortable and I slept pretty well.  Since my flight didn’t leave til 5:55pm, I asked for late checkout so I could explore the City and come back and freshen up before heading to the airport.  My 2:30pm request was granted without a problem.

This hotel was fine overall, but not luxurious by any stretch.  The service was adequate and curt, but not particularly solicitous.

Gratuitous Canal Shot

KLM Flt. 1364:  Dep. WAW 12:55pm, Arr. AMS 2:55pm, Boeing 737

My flight back to Amsterdam was short and uneventful, and I had the same seat assignment as I did on the flight to Warsaw on the same equipment.   My time at the airport was slightly entertaining, though.

The Warsaw Airport is modern and fairly large, with Wizz Air, a Polish-based European discount carrier occupying one end, and other carriers at the other (with a huge LOT presence).  After spending down my Zlotys at duty-free, I set out in search for the lounge.  I knew I should have access to at least one between my SkyTeam Elite Plus and my Priority Pass.  I found the LOT lounge easily, but could not find any other.  Part of the problem is that what we call “waiting areas,” they call lounges.  So the signs for “lounges” didn’t help.  Finally I found “Baladna,” which was a small, but newly renovated/furnished, lounge.  I was still full from breakfast so didn’t eat anything.  But there was a small display of muffins, cheeses, and deli meats, and a full self-serve bar and fridges full of soft drinks and beers.

The lounge was not very crowded but I noticed a guy who looked slightly out of place looking around with a clipboard.  He soon approached me and asked if I would mind taking a survey about the lounge.  The survey was comical on many levels.  One, the survey form was written in English.  Yet the Polish surveyor read the questions aloud in English to each person in the lounge.  Although his English was fine, hearing the same things four times in the same Polish accent gets annoying.  Also, a lot of the questions were just strange: “Do you think there should be hot foods in the lounge? If so, what kinds?”  No one could come up with a specific “kind” of hot food, so the surveyor suggested “Maybe some soups?” to each person.  So do not be surprised if there is soon a wide range of soups the next time you visit the Warsaw Airport Baladna lounge.  Also, one of the questions was “Do you find the hours of this lounge convenient?” The surveyor would precede this question each time with “This is a funny question,” because the lounge is open 24 hours a day.

Shortly after I completed the survey, a man entered the lounge who was very loud.  “Is this the Alitalia lounge?  There is no sign.”  (Alitalia was prominently listed on the list of airlines at the entrance.)   Loud Obnoxious American (hereafter “LOA”) was a big man, weeble-shaped.  His midsection was extremely large, must have been a larger than 50” waist.  (This is relevant, I swear.)

LOA sat near me, but even if he hadn’t, I would have heard his entire survey.   His complaints included:  (1) the lounge was too congested with seats and it was hard for him to get around without [his stomach] bumping into chairs ; (2) a true executive lounge would have hot food; (3) there was no Alitalia sign and we were lucky he was smart; (4) the offerings of newspapers were horrible as there was no USA Today (YWW editorial comment: it was Sunday; there is no USA Today), and “English papers are boring” (The Mirror and Daily Mail must be upset); (5) there was insufficient service as there was no one but the woman at check in and an attendant occasionally clearing dishes.  I also learned he “flies 52 weeks a year” and was flying Business class from Warsaw to Brindisi via Rome.   LOA also ignored the format of the questions, some of which called for a rating of 1 to 5, and just said “good” or “fine.”  For him, this was an opportunity for a captive audience to listen to complaints.  Thank you, LOA for representing our country abroad 52 weeks a year.

I noticed someone else in the lounge who struck me as potentially on the same mileage run as me.  Let’s be honest, there aren’t that many single American travelers in their late 20s/early 30s leaving Warsaw on Sunday mornings in January.   Later, when we were boarding our flight, I saw a yellow Flyertalk tag on his bag, and he ended up being my rowmate.  We had a nice chat over the short flight, and it’s always great to meet other people who do crazy trips.

We landed in Amsterdam early and it was an easy train ride from the Terminal right into Amsterdam’s Central Station.

Hilton HHonors Points are pretty much the most valueless of any hotel company in my opinion, but 1,000 free ones are still better than nothing.  If you have a Visa card, sign up here with a mobile number for 1,000 points.  You agree to get text messages, but you can opt out at any time with no impact on your 1,000 miles.

Hotel Review: The Intercontinental Warsaw

The Intercontinental Warsaw

There are some very nice hotels in Warsaw for not a lot of money.  When I booked my flights, there were rates at both the Westin Warsaw and Intercontinental for under 100 euros a night.  The Intercontinental is slightly higher reviewed, and a little more centrally located.  Plus, I was able to book the 2-for-1 nonrefundable rate available at many IHG properties (Intercontinentals, Crowne Plazas, Hotel Indigos, and Holiday Inns) in Europe.   So my 2 night stay was, with taxes, about $93.

One thing about Intercontinental hotels is that they don’t recognize elite status with Priority Club, even though you can earn and redeem Priority Club points there.  So although I am a Priority Club Platinum, that is meaningless at the Intercontinental. For status at Intercontinentals, you have to be a member of the “Ambassador” program, which requires separate payment.  This payment can be in either cash or points.  And since I have earned a ton of Priority Club points, joining was a no-brainer in light of three scheduled Intercontinental stays I had coming up (one in Warsaw, one in Santiago and one in Buenos Aires).  For 32000 points (or $200), in addition to your status as an Ambassador (which includes one-level upgrades, a fruit plate and bottled water, and late checkout), you also get 1) a voucher for 5,000 points for yourself or someone else and 2) a certificate good for 1 free weekend night on a 2 night stay.  Right now, I have a reservation using that certificate at the Intercontinental Dan Tel Aviv this summer, which will save me $300.

The taxi from the airport to the Intercontinental was a fifteen-minute, $10 metered ride. The hotel is relatively new, and stands out in Warsaw’s skyline as a 43 floor building.  The hotel faces the Palace of Culture and Science, a Soviet-era skyscraper built after World War II right smack in the middle of the City Center.

View from the lounge of the Palace of Culture and Science

At check-in, I was told that as an Ambassador, I had the choice of an upgrade to a Junior Suite in the “Apartments”, without lounge access, or a Club Room, with complete access to the lounge.  Since I was travelling by myself, I certainly did not need a suite, and the Club Access is worth a lot to me.  Not only does the Club have free breakfast, but free dinner, and a free bar throughout the day.  (Wifi is free throughout the hotel.)

At check-in, I was also told I would have free access to the gym on the 43rd floor, as well as the swimming pool on the 42nd floor.  When I went to use the gym, which is a fully-equipped, private gym operated independently from the hotel with views over the whole city, the guy at the reception said I had to pay.  He called down to the front desk and then said it was ok.  From researching online, it seems that the charge for the gym is new and waived for Royal Ambassadors — a higher  status conferred on certain Ambassadors on an invitation-only basis.  Either could have been the source of the check-in agent’s confusion.  I used this as an excuse not to work out on day 2. (I had walked the whole city!)

I was assigned a corner room, alas on the less picturesque side of the hotel, but still had some great views.  The room was nice without being insane. Shortly after check-in, a staff member arrived to set up my Ambassador amenity, which was some uninspiring fruit, 2 bottles of water, and a small bottle of red wine.

View from the room

Corner room

Ambassador Amenity

Dinner is served in the Club from 6 to 8, and the Club closes at 9, so I figured I’d go up, have dinner, read with a cocktail, and then get ready to go out. Unfortunately, Poles don’t go out til past midnight, and I was exhausted, so ended up hitting snooze after waking up from my disco nap and slept for a good nine hours.  Whoops.

The dinner spread was nothing inspiring, but perfectly acceptable for free.  The buffet had a choice of beef stew or tilapia, and then rice and vegetables. There was a salad “bar” with American style salad ingredients, as well as more European style offerings, breads and rolls, and desserts. There was a good selection of self-serve beers, soft drinks and self-serve mid-shelf liquors, and an adequate red and white wine.  The views from the Club are also great, as it takes up an entire side of the hotel (see above).

I was able to get up early for a full day of touring in Warsaw, and the Club breakfast was quite good, with crepes, scrambled eggs, hash browns, bacon, sausage, and a variety of fishes, cheeses, breads, and pastries.  Plates were promptly cleared at each meal.

Part of the Club's breakfast spread

I ended up going back to the Club for dinner on night 2, as it was snowing and I hadn’t found any good restaurant recommendations.  The entrees were pork tenderloin and cod, with couscous instead of rice.  Okay, was getting a little boring, but free and no snow shoes required.

Every one was very polite and overall, I have no qualms recommending this hotel – even without the Club access.  It was immaculate and well-located, better located than the Westin or Radisson Blu, and much more convenient than the Hilton.  It was easy to hail a taxi right out front, and was just a nice place to stay.

Warsaw is a strange city. The city seems fairly wealthy, with tons of new construction, lots of hip coffee shops and restaurants, and well dressed poles driving late model cars.
But the history of the City tells a different story. Notably there are few buildings that predate the 1960s (and indeed many are post 1989), as the City was absolutely decimated in World War II. In fact, the “Old Town” is really a re-creation of 18th Century Warsaw completed in the 1960s.

I’ve had a lot of ambivalence about my stay here. (Besides from the awesome Intercontinental hotel.) And to explain the ambivalence will verge into the not-so-personal-but-more-personal-than-a-standard-trip-report.

My grandfather was born in Poland in 1919. He emigrated to New York with his father around 1930. He (like me and my other three grandparents) was Jewish. We were very close until his death in 2000, including after he had a massive stroke in 1998, which left him in a nursing home and severely paralyzed for two years. He came to the United States very poor, after he and his family experienced severe anti-semitism in Poland. After serving in the U.S. Army, he went to City College in New York, and was able to raise my mother and her siblings on a path that started in housing projects in the Bronx, into a fairly middle class family. A civil servant and a shrewd investor, he left my grandmother in a comfortable place where she is now able to live in a very nice assisted living without any real financial concerns . He was one of the most patient, humble people I’ve ever known.

My grandfather never returned to Poland after he left. His only time in Europe was a member of the Army. And he never once expressed a desire to return.

When I saw the great fare to Warsaw on Flyertalk, I immediately thought of my grandfather (although he came from a smaller city, not Warsaw). I knew I wouldn’t be “connecting” with my roots on any physical level, as the Jewish existence in Poland has largely been wiped out. Although I knew this, I still wasn’t prepared for how I’d feel once I got here.

As a matter of background/history lesson, before World War II started, there were approximately 1.3 million people in Warsaw, 350,000 of whom were Jewish. As a matter of reference, New York City is the most Jewish city outside of Israel today, and is about 15% Jewish. By the end of the War, only about 11,000 Jews were left. Nearly all the others died in the Ghetto or in Extermination camps.

Although the City has been rebuilt, there is very little to indicate this substantial part of the City’s history. I went to pretty much every sight, actually, which consists of a small Jewish Institute, a memorial at the site where the cattle cars were loaded to take the Jews of Warsaw to Treblinka, and a small Ghetto Uprising memorial. There is a Jewish Museum under construction, which has been perennially delayed, but now scheduled to open in 2013.

This absence is palpable compared to the numerous monuments and museums dedicated to honoring the Polish “uprising” at the end of the War.

All that I read about Warsaw recommended I visit the Warsaw Uprising Museum. And everything I read was true. The museum is highly interactive and very well done in an aesthetic sense. But the museum is one essentially of national pride and slightly revisionist, and makes the people of Warsaw and Poland the victims and heroes of World War II (and to some extent, the Soviets). The fact that such a remarkable museum exists and the City still has no museum or anything large recognizing the extermination of a quarter of the city – is disappointing to say the least.

The museum does recognize the ghetto and extermination of a third of its population but in an entirely cursory way. There is no mention of the deep Polish anti-semitism, and the people’s complete complicity in the degradation, segregation, and extermination of their own Jewish citizens. The Ghetto was something the Germans did – there is no Polish role at all.

One notable contradiction was that in the one panel discussing the Ghetto Uprising, the headline was “The Polish Jews refused to die willingly.” Yet, a later exhibit discussing the Warsaw Uprising said, “Foreigners took part in the uprising, including Jews, Slovaks, and Russians . . .” This tendency to brag about the “Polishness” of the brave Jews, but not consider them Polish in any other sense is clear.

The misleading picture can be summed up in the concluding lines of a movie shown at the end of a film shown at the uprising museum. “In 1939, there were 1.3 million people in Warsaw. At the end of World War II, there were 900,000.” The film was about the Nazi occupation generally, with no mention of the Jewish people, who made up for the majority of this population decrease. Disappointing.

Perhaps some of this will change as the Museum of the History of the Polish Jews opens in 2013. I walked by the site today, and it will be a large (and architecturally stunning) space.

With all this, it’s not that I dislike Warsaw. I loved my hotel, the people were friendly, the City is lively and cosmopolitan, and it’s very walkable- and super cheap. Just a bit of intellectual ambivalence.

Flt  KL 642  Dep. JFK 6:00pm, Arr. AMS 7:15am, Boeing 777, Economy Comfort

Flt  KL 1363 Dep. AMS 10:05am, Arr. WAW 11:45am, Boeing 737, Economy

This weekend I’m in Warsaw and Amsterdam, having flown on KLM, taking advantage of a great $350 all-inclusive fare that I’ve talked about here and here.

KLM flights operate out of JFK’s Terminal 4, which accommodates a potpourri of international airlines, Virgin America, and random Delta flights, including my flight last month to San Juan.  It will also become Delta’s main terminal, replacing Terminal 3, and is currently under significant construction for expansion.  (Although I still think it would make a lot more sense to co-locate alliance partners.  Right now, most SkyTeam characters are in Terminal 1, including Air France, Aeromexico, and Alitalia.  Terminal 1 also has Star Members Lufthansa and Austrian.  Terminal 4 has OneWorld members LAN and El Al. It’s just all over the place.)

The United Nations of Terminal 4

The facility at Terminal 4 is after security is actually quite lovely.  But security itself is poorly designed as there are only 2 lines- one for elite, and one for general passengers, that somehow snakes into 4 lines with no easy feeding mechanism.

The other downside of Terminal 4 is that all of the lounges are pre-security.  As a Delta Gold Medallion, I had access to the “Oasis” lounge, formerly the KLM lounge.  The last time I used the lounge I had a negative experience, as it was early in the morning and a ghost-town- service wise and customer wise.  This time was very different, although the lounge employees were not friendly at all – typical of contract lounge employees in my experience.   The lounge was fairly crowded and there was a whole range of hot and cold food being served.  And most importantly, self-pour booze- essential before a red eye flight.   The food wasn’t all that great- chicken meatballs, some breaded chicken cutlets,  and a variety of salads.   But there were also a variety of packaged snacks  (chips, cookies, etc.) which maybe would easily fit in your carryon bag.

Before I’d even finished my second Finlandia Vodka and Diet Coke, an announcement was made for my flight, and that passengers should approach the reception desk in order to be “escorted to the checkpoint.”  For future knowledge, I would have just gone myself, as it took us longer to travel in a group to the regular Sky Priority security lane than it would have for me to walk myself.  Also learned, El Al flyers are not the best to go through security with.

By the time I got through, general boarding had already started.  I made a quick pitstop and then boarded in the front “Economy Comfort” cabin.  It’s very difficult to make seat reservations on Delta.com when flying KLM metal, and my assignments were frequently coming and going.  On KLM.com, I didn’t have access to any preferred seating, and KLM was offering me the option to buy into Economy Comfort for $110.  The day prior to check-in, though, Delta.com reflected I could book an Economy Comfort seat for $56 – which reflects a 50% discount for Gold Medallions.

The thing I noticed upon boarding was the overabundance of blue.  Blue seats, blue carpets, blue FA uniforms, blue walls, blue blankets.  I settled into my seat fine, until an overaggressive recliner in front of me fully, and suddenly, reclined her seat, almost crushing my netbook.  Now, I understand it’s a redeye flight, but this was before boarding even finished.  For most of boarding, the two seats next to me remained empty, and I waited with bated breath hoping they would stay that way, because I knew this aggressive recliner, who was about 5’3, would be back.

Am I blue?

The gate agent came by to the gentleman in the middle seat in front of me and said, “Mr. X, we noticed you were a Diamond elite so we wanted to offer you an aisle seat that’s opened up.”  He was directed to an aisle seat in the middle section of the 3 x 3 x 3 cabin.  As boarding continued, and two seats in my row remained empty, Mr. Diamond chose to relocate to the aisle seat in my row.   The purser politely came over and explained that the seat was taken.  Mr. Diamond did not like this, and grudgingly moved back to the first aisle seat he had been given, and then proceeded to tell everyone in Economy Comfort, and the FAs, “They made me move. And I’m Diamond!”  Classic DYKWIA (“Do you know who I am?”)

About 5 minutes prior to wheels up, a douchebag came to my row and sat in the aforementioned aisle seat. He was a douchebag for several reasons, but I recognized him right away as the guy who had been in the lounge talking very loudly nearly two hours earlier.  Rather than even try to fit his two carryons in a bin, he just placed them in front of the empty middle seat, cramping my legroom (a FA did eventually take one).  He also insisted on staying on his Iphone speaking a mix of Dutch and English well after the power down notices.  As we waited on the runway line, he grew impatient, and the Iphone came out again.  Grumble.

Overall I was satisfied with the inflight service.  It wasn’t KLM’s fault, but the aggressive recliner in front of me kept reclining and unreclining her seat fully.  With the seat fully reclined, I was unable to watch the personal entertainment system at all.

Shortly after takeoff, the flight attendants came by with a beverage service, including complimentary wine and Heineken, natch, and packets of almonds.  Later, this was followed by hot (disposable) towels – a nice touch in coach.   Dinner service followed, with a choice of vegetarian pasta or beef.  The food was fine, though small portionwise.  I’m not sure what it was, but generic beef in brown sauce with mashed potatoes and frozen vegetables.  It came with a small chicken Caesar salad, cheese and crackers, and a tasty cake.

Dinner

After dinner, I was ready to sleep.  The cabin lights were never dimmed, which I found unusual.  But I had planned ahead and brought eyeshades.  I woke up over Ireland, just in time for breakfast service, consisting of a blueberry muffin, yogurt, and juice.   And then we were on the ground.

Breakfast

After a shlep through Schiphol and clearing immigration and security, I made my way to the KLM lounge, which was pretty crowded, mostly with business men. I definitely felt that I was in Amsterdam given the number of men drinking beer at 7:30 am.  Upon entering, I put my name on the waiting list for a shower.  Halfway through my cup of coffee, I was paged and given a shower key.  The showers were nowhere near as nice as those in the SkyTeam lounge in Heathrow, and I couldn’t figure out how to work them, but it was still refreshing.

After indulging in the adequate continental breakfast spread and a mimosa, I did some email catchup and, and then it was off to Warsaw.

AMS "Forest" for those without lounge access

When I checked in in New York, my Warsaw boarding pass had shown up with a seat assignment in row 5.  On the seat maps on KLM.com, as well as on Seatguru.com, Row 5 appears as Business class.  After some investigation on Flyer Talk I learned that on intra-European flights, KLM often will adjust its business class partition depending on how many business seats are actually sold.  (Intra-European business class is the same seats as coach, with a little more legroom and the middle seat blocked out.)   Sure enough, when I boarded, Row 5 was in the second row of Coach, but with the legroom of business class and in-seat power.  And I had an entire row to myself.  So the only difference was I didn’t get the business class meal.   Fine for a midmorning flight

Of the fifteen seats in business class, a grand total of two seats were taken, making the theatrics of closing the curtain kind of entertaining.   I also saw the purser wheel out the full beverage cart to serve the two customers.  Since the purser had extra time on his hand, he came into coach to welcome me as an Elite flyer and shake my hand. A nice touch.  (I apparently was one of only two elites on board.  An upgrade would have been nice . )

The economy snack was two sandwiches, one egg salad and one mystery meat.  I picked.  Afterwards, the Flight Attendant came around with stroopwaffel cookies and a second beverage service.  We were soon landing, and I was soon in a taxi  to the Intercontinental . . .

Mid morning snack?

Yesterday, I posted about a poorly communicated schedule change and the not very good options British Airways presented me on LAN flights from Mendoza to Buenos Aires.

I had decided the least bad option was a 7 hour journey from Mendoza West to Santiago, with a 3h 45m layover in Santiago, and then back into Buenos Aires.

This morning, I checked on Award Nexus, and magically, 8 award seats had opened up on a flight from Mendoza to Santiago three hours later, connecting to a 1 hour later flight to Santiago — i.e., knocking 2 hours off my travel time which would have been spent in the Santiago airport.  I called British Airways, and had a much nicer agent, who, without my asking, said “Given that the schedule change was resolved only yesterday, I’ll try and waive the change fee.”  He did.

So now I leave Mendoza at 4:30, and get into Buenos Aires around 9pm.  Still ridiculous given the frequency of nonstops on a 600 mile journey, but better than the other options.

It’s never good when I get to my office on Monday morning and I feel like I’ve already lost an oral argument . . .  Alas that happened today.

When I woke up last Friday morning, there was an email in my inbox from British Airways, titled “Your Travel Information,” and then listing the flights for my February trip to South America, which I had booked using British Airways Miles before the massive devaluation.  The email looked just like the original confirmation I had received from British Airways.  In this reservation were flights on LAN from New York to Santiago, Santiago to Mendoza, and Mendoza to Buenos Aires.  I quickly scanned the email, which had no message at all, and the flights looked right, and went on my way.  I flagged the email in my inbox to remind myself to recheck everything line by line when I had more time, as I thought it was odd that they’d randomly send me this confirmation.

I remembered to check this morning and made a big discovery.  In place of  my 1:40 PM nonstop 1 h 40 min flight from Mendoza to Buenos Aires was:

LAN AIRLINES – LA 4251 MENDOZA-MD
BUENOS AIRES-BA NON STOP 2030 2210 DURATION 1:40

That’s right. My flight was changed from a 1:40pm to an 8:30pm, and this was British Airways’ way of telling me.  Obviously, I picked up the phone.  As a solo traveler, I do not need three full days in Mendoza at the expense of a day in Buenos Aires.  I also do not like the idea of first landing in a new city in a foreign country after 10pm — if the flight is on time.  While I waited for someone at BA to pick up, I looked at the LAN schedule, and saw the 1:40pm flight had indeed gone away, but 3 other flights remained prior to the 8:30 departure, all closer to my originally scheduled time.  And LAN is selling seats on all three for $215.

Unfortunately, the British Airways’ agent I had could not be any less helpful.  No apologies for the schedule change, no apologies for the poor communication.  And the only other option he could offer me was a flight via Santiago, leaving at 1:20pm, then having a 3 hour 45 minute layover in Santiago, and onward into Buenos Aires, arriving at 8pm.  In other words, travel time went from 1 hour 40 minutes to nearly 7 hours for a flight that LAN has 5 flights a day on.

So my options basically sucked.  The only other option was to cancel this leg, and book the ticket on my own.  I morally object to paying $215 for this basic leg, though.  (Aerolineas Argentinas is about the same price.)   Besides, when I asked if I could do that, the agent said “Well, you’ll have to pay the reticketing fee,”  which made me livid.  (He later than confirmed I wouldn’t have to.)   At this point I was disgusted and running late for work.  I really really really do not want to first arrive in Buenos Aires late at night. So I told the agent just to put me on the connection through Santiago.  I have Priority Pass lounge access there, so at least I can get boozed up.

I checked on award nexus, and this is indeed the only award available option released by LAN.  But British Airways should have fought for me, besides their crappy communication.  When LAN cancelled a flight, it should have re-accommodated all passengers on reasonably similar flights, given their wide availability.  (And the irony is that LAN is selling revenue seats on the flights I’m now rebooked on for more than $700.)

Now I basically lose a day of my vacation to travel 600 miles. This sucks.

I try to take two longer vacations a year, and then several shorter ones, making the most of my four weeks of paid vacation.  I realized I hadn’t planned anything for summer 2012 yet, and if I was going to want to use miles and have flexibility, I needed to act fast.   Summer travel to Europe can be a great use of miles– if you can get the flights you want on dates you want.  And after 3 calls to the Delta Gold Medallion line, I finally did.

For a while, I’ve been saying I’d love to go back to Israel – a country I haven’t been too since my junior year of high school in 2000.  I’ve also never been to Italy for more than a two hour layover en route to Istanbul.  Luckily for me, Alitalia is an entirely underutilized Delta partner, with plenty of nonstops from New York (JFK and EWR) to Rome (as well as JFK and Miami to Milan, and Miami, LAX, and Boston to Rome).  Alitalia tends to have pretty good business class availability on transatlantic flights.

I flew business class (“Magnifica”) from Newark to Rome two years ago on an Alitalia 777.  Although the seats were recliners and not lie-flats, I had a very positive experience, with delicious food and wine, and a fairly empty business cabin.  My experience was fairly similar to the Points Guy’s on his Rome to Miami flight.   On some older A330s (formerly operated by AirOne) and 767s, Alitalia has an angled lie-flat product.  But Alitalia has several new A330s, currently operating from JFK and Miami to Rome and Milan, with a full sweet lie-flat.  Even better, Alitalia is rolling out this product on other routes, including Newark-Rome, as of this Spring, and refitting all of its long-haul flights with these new seats.

So I decided I’d take advantage of Delta’s stopover rules and try for New York – Rome (stop) – Tel Aviv, and Tel Aviv – New York on the return, making it to Tel Aviv for Tel Aviv Pride, either direct or through any of the possible SkyTeam hubs (CDG/NCE on AF, AMS on KL, FCO on AZ, BCN on UX, SVO on SU).  I headed over to Awardnexus.com (which is currently only available to Flyertalk members, but the same info I found is available on AirFrance’s website for anyone with a free FlyingBlue login), and saw availability on the dates I wanted on Alitalia in both directions.  Perfect.

Unfortunately, Delta’s agents, even on the Gold Medallion line, do not know how to work with partner airlines.  Knowing this, and knowing there was availability, I called up explicitly telling the agent what I wanted, that I wanted to book specifically on Alitalia.  At first I was hopeful, as he didn’t try and put me on Delta flights.  Delta flights are priced at low availability, middle availability, and high availability, but all partner flights are priced at low availability.  He found the Alitalia flights I knew had availability, put me on hold, and then told me that there was no availability on *any* of them.   That just made no sense, so I said “Thank you,” hung up, and tried again.

My next agent just didn’t want to put me on Alitalia flights.  “Oh look, there’s a Delta nonstop to Rome on May 30.” “Well, yes, but can you check Alitalia for June 1?”  “Oh, I don’t see anything.”  He put me on hold, and came back and said “Okay that will be 175,000 miles.”  “Um, what will?”, I asked, knowing that he hadn’t checked Alitalia for anything, and that an all-Alitalia booking should have been 120,000 miles.  “For the Delta nonstop to Rome, and then Alitalia to Tel Aviv, and then nonstop Delta back to JFK.”  “Yes, can you check Alitalia, as I believe there is availability.”  This agent clearly didn’t want to do the work, so when he came back and told me he booked me on the Alitalia return and it was 120,000 miles, I was content and he sent me the confirmation.

I had forgotten though, that he had put me on the May 30 nonstop Delta as opposed to June 1 Alitalia.  And while I theoretically could do a 13-day trip, it would limit my ability to do smaller trips the rest of this year, both in terms of days off and hotel expenses.   I decided to call back a third time and see if I could switch the flights and maybe get the change made for free.

Sure enough, I got a wonderful agent on my third time.  I explained the situation, and said I had a feeling the agent had not properly checked the Alitalia inventory and could she please just look to see if there was availability on the June 1 flight out of Newark.  30 seconds later, she confirmed there was, and apologized profusely for the previous agents.  She explained that Delta is making changes to how Alitalia awards are booked, and soon it will be more automated- a la KLM and Air France — without the need to get Alitalia to “release” specific seats.  She also said that this change would mean that you will be able to do seat assignments on the Delta website for Alitalia flights – which would be awesome, given Alitalia’s website makes seat assignments difficult as well.

So now I have the trip I wanted (more or less), and all on Alitalia, with lie-flat seats on both Atlantic crossings.  Of course there may be schedule changes to come that screw up my plans, but we shall see.   A $4,600 flight for 120,000 miles — not the most amazing (particularly compared to the 80,000 mile South American adventure I have coming up) but certainly not bad.

I don’t really know what I’ll be doing in Italy.  Right now, I’m leaning towards 2 days in Torre del Lago on the Tuscan coast, and 2 days in Rome. But I’m open to other suggestions.  Rome hotel prices also seem insane, so I’ll definitely be keeping my eyes peeled for deals there.

I know you’ve missed it, but today is the return of my “Stupid Article of the Week” feature, and I’m throwing a helpful article as well.

We’ll start with the positive.  The New York Times Travel Section has a cute article today by political correspondent Ashley Parker on travel tips she’s learned traveling with the Romney Campaign, as well as sharing tips from other politicos and correspondents.  None of the trips are anything new to most frequent travelers, but as someone who toyed with political journalism as a career, it’s still a good read.

Now onto the negative, featuring perennial thorn-in-my-side “Consumer Activist” Chris Elliott, who misleadingly posted a complaint entitled “US Airways charges family extra to sit together.”

The basic story is that a woman booked a flight for the holiday season very late, and, horror of horrors, there were not 3 seats together anywhere in the plane but in preferred seating.  She was offered the chance to pay $30 to guarantee seats together in preferred seating.  She declined.  At the airport, she was given three seats together in the preferred seating for no charge.

Of course, in typical Chris Elliott-fashion, the story is presented as greedy airlines trying to disrupt the poor traveler’s vacation.   He does not mention that she booked late, but that is the only possible explanation for her claim that she spent $4,000 on tickets from Philadelphia to Cancun.  Nor does he suggest what the airlines options were: give this traveler free choice seats in advance because she wanted to sit together – which lots of people would want – or kick people who had booked in advance out of their reserved seating.

A sense of entitlement amongst travelers is not good for anyone.  Even as a frequent traveler, I always say please and thank you, am appreciative for my upgrades, and try to help fellow travelers and airline employees when they’re in a bind.  Chris Elliott’s encouragement of a war between airlines and passengers, encouraging travelers to demand things they have no entitlement to, makes travel worse for us all.

For a great take-down of Elliott’s recent hack job on frequent flyer programs, check out Gary’s post here.