The Flying Critic

Wi-Fi On Delta's Entire Domestic Fleet By End of 2009

According to PC World, Delta will add wifi to their entire domestic airline fleet:

GoGo will cost Delta flyers $9.95 on flights of three hours or less, and $12.95 for flights that are longer than three hours. Delta says it expects to begin to offer in-flight Wi-Fi early 2009.

The plan is to upgrade Delta's MD88/90s during the first half of 2009 and the 737s, 757s, and 767s in the second half of 2009.

How to Transfer American Airlines Miles to Hilton HHonors Points

Need Hilton HHonors points for a free hotel stay?  Have extra American Airlines AAdvantage miles?

You can transfer American miles to Hilton points. It's easy.  And the exchange rate is good.

1 American Airlines mile = 2 Hilton HHonors points. 

The deal is only good going American -> Hilton.  It's a bad deal the other way around at 10,000 HHonors points = 1,500 American Airlines miles.

So if you have 20,000 American Airlines miles you can transfer them to Hilton and get 40,000 HHonors points.  40,000 HHonors points gets you one night at a category 6 hotel like the Conrad Tokyo - normally ~$600/night.  Or those 40,000 points could get you 4 or 5 free nights at Hilton's lowest category properties.

There is a $25 fee per transfer and you have to transfer at least 5,000 miles.  You can learn more about the transfer process at American Airlines' website.  If you are ready to transfer miles to points you can go straight to the transfer page.

You might also be interested in the latest American Airline news: American Airlines will charge $15 for checking your FIRST bag

Get a free month of desktop sharing / web conference service from Glance Networks

I'm sent PR requests regularly. In other words, people asking (or begging) me for a free word about their website, product, or service.  Most of the requests are for things you would never be interested in.  But every once in awhile there is something that might help some of you.  Like this one:

Glance Networks, an online meeting service, asked me to pass along their offer of a free month of their desktop sharing service.  If you tell them about a delay or other airline problem you've had you get a free month to try out their service. Normally they only give a 7 day free trial. 

Yes, there are lots of online meeting services out there.  You've probably heard of GoToMeeting. But Glance is easy to use, gets good reviews, lets 100 people watch for the same price, runs two diverse datacenters for increased uptime, works with PCs and Macs, and isn't cluttered with unnecessary features.

Online meeting / desktop sharing services are useful if you are doing product demos, webinars, or just need someone in a different city to be able to see what is on your computer screen.  These services show other people everything that is on your computer screen on their computer screen. Often you combine the desktop sharing with a telephone conference call to have a complete web meeting experience.

Travel Tip: Subscribe to flight status notification or messaging before your flight

How to handle delayed and canceled flights like a pro

You should subscribe to flight status notification or messaging before your flight if your airline offers such service because it can save you time and help you get on the last good alternative flight if your original flight is canceled or delayed.   

With airlines reducing capacity because of high fuel costs there will likely be fewer seats available to rebook passengers if flights get delayed or canceled. 

One trick for beating the crowd to rebooking is finding out about the problem before the masses.  Flight status notification or messaging provides you with this edge.

Flight status notification or messaging is where the airline will e-mail, text/SMS, or call you with updates to your flight status starting a few hours before scheduled takeoff.

As soon as you get an update that your flight is delayed or canceled you should immediately call the airline and find out if there are any reroute options available that will get you to your destination.

Links to Airline Flight Status Notification or Messaging Signup Web Pages

Here is a list of (mostly USA) airlines that provide flight status notification or messaging.  Click on their name to go to their flight status notification or messaging signup page:

• Air Canada
• Alaska/Horizon
• American
• Continental
• Delta
• Frontier
• Northwest
• Southwest
• United
• WestJet

This list isn't exhaustive so please post a comment with a link to any signup pages for other airlines.

Some airlines allow you to link your frequent flyer account to their flight status notification or messaging systems so that you automatically get notifications for any flight that your frequent flyer number is attached to.  If your airline offers that I strongly recommend it. 

Also be aware that while these status update services offered by the airline can help you get rebooked quickly they shouldn't be relied on as your sole source for the status of your flight.  These systems don't always work so be sure to check your flight status other ways too.   

Travel Tool: Find cheap places to fly to with Farecompare.com's low fare tool

Want to know where you can fly for cheap?  A tool you can use is Farecompare.com's low fare tool.  Just plug in your origin and pick the options that matter to you. 

Click Go and you get a list of destinations you can fly to and the approximate price. Note that it doesn't check for availability, sometimes shows companion fares that you can't actually book by yourself, and doesn't always get the fuel surcharges right.

So just because a great deal shows up doesn't mean you can get it or that it will be the exact price listed.  But the idea is that this tool will allow you to find several cities you can fly to that may have cheap airfare.  Use it as a starting point to narrow down your searching for dates with availability. That's what I do.

40+ tutorials and tips for improving your digital photography

Photography is a big part of the travel experience for me.  It helps me connect with the local culture and history.  I'm not a photo pro, so I always appreciate new tips and tricks for better photos.  Here is a site that provides over 40 free tutorials on digital photography.

Daily Travel Tip: Mileage Calculators

Do you know how many miles you will earn on your next trip?  For people who are close to getting to the next tier in their frequent flyer program or need a certain number of miles to get to the award they are waiting for, maximizing the number of miles earned on each trip is important.  By using a mileage calculator, you can figure out which route will earn you the most number of miles.

Here are the two I use:

• MileMarker by WebFlyer - This is my personal favorite because it allows you to calculate elite and class of service bonuses and calculates your cost per mile based on the cost of your ticket.
• The Great Circle Mapper by Karl Swartz - This one charts your route on a graphical map.  I like to use it on really complicated itineraries or to graph my flight path for an entire month.