LimoLiner Zips Past Hartford

I recently got an email from LimoLiner, offering a discount coupon on its luxury bus service. Too bad I can’t use it.

I really liked the LimoLiner when I rode it from Hartford to Boston last August, so I was eager to find a use for the coupon. But when I went on the LimoLiner Web site I discovered that the company ended its Hartford service last November.

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Waste Not The Hotel Toiletries

There’s some buzz gathering around an operation called Clean the World that collects leftover soap and shampoo from hotels and reprocesses them.

The recycled soap products are distributed to homeless shelters in the United States and to needy people in poor countries, where soap can save lives by halting the spread of infectious diseases.

You can help by sending leftover soap products you’ve accumulated, donating money and asking hotels to participate in the recycling program. The Clean the World Web site has more details.

Your Government Services For Sale

I’ve ranted previously about the priority lines at some airports that allow first-class passengers to scoot to the front of the line for security screening. And now I’ve discovered something even more annoying.

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United Discounts Economy Plus, A Little

Are you looking for more leg room next time you buy an airline ticket? United is having a sale on its economy plus seats, which provide up to 5 more inches of leg room than the bone-crushing 31-inch seats at the back of coach.

The discount isn’t that impressive. The charge ordinarily runs from $9 to $109  and has been discounted to between $5 and $98, depending on the length of the trip.

If you want it, hurry up. The sale ends today at 6 p.m. (EDT).

KLM Experiments With Premium Meals In Coach

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is testing the sale of upgraded meals to passengers in coach who don’t want the standard airline economy-class food. Passengers will be able to choose one of four specialty meals when they check in online and pay for it with a credit card, the airline announced.

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Formula For Airline Success: Loyalty To Employees

I just ran across this little news item about a Southwest crew buying pizza for passengers when a flight was diverted and delayed last week.

This happened just as Southwest reported a jump in revenues and analysts predicted the airline will earn $500 million this year, as Terry Maxon reported in The Dallas Morning News.

I believe these two things are related. Southwest Airlines succeeds in large part because its employees treat customers with concern and respect. And the employees treat customers well because the company treats them well. It’s very simple. What goes around comes around.

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How To Pack

The New York Times has a great photo slideshow with packing tips from a flight attendant. See it here.

Companion Tickets: Not Always Worth The Trouble

I just flew to San Diego and back on a $99 companion ticket that my husband gets each year with his Delta American Express card. On our return, I found an offer of a “free airline companion ticket” from American Express Publishing that had arrived in the mail. 

In the first case, we saved some money — but the deal wasn’t as good as it first appeared. And in the second case, after doing some research online, I figured the ticket wasn’t worth the trouble of signing up for it.

As it turns out, these offers don’t always offer value. And when they do, it can take some work and flexibility to squeeze the value out of them.

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New Book Shares Travel Horror Stories

Travel can be tough, as Joe Sharkey reminds us in a column about a new book:  “The Titanic Awards: Celebrating the Worst of Travel.” My bad cab driver stories can’t hold a candle to these tales of woe. Sounds like a must-read.

Hotels Showing Wear And Tear

For the past 18 months or so I’ve been observing, in a clinical way, the effect of the severe recession on hotels.

We’re staying right now in an upscale hotel in downtown San Diego. Our room is very clean and nicely furnished, but when we arrived a lamp bulb was hanging loose in its socket. The bathroom door is very thoroughly scuffed and scratched on the inside. The mini-bar had been removed.

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