ssullivan

I've had three stays at aloft locations in the last month, and have been very pleased with all of them. The rooms are very modern and comfortable, and the showers are incredible. I had a few minor complaints; the large compact fluorescent bulbs used in the desk lamps are too big to fit completely inside the lamp, and hang out, creating a blinding glare right at eye level when working at the desk, at first I thought there was no iron and ironing board in the room but then discovered it's just well hidden, and on the last night of my third stay, the housekeepers ignored our room. However, overall the stays were great, and at a great price

No kidding, especially considering its condition. I consider this building to be a major safety hazard that could easily result in serious injury or death to any passers by who have the misfortune of being next to it on Main Street when it finally collapses. Just the bricks falling out of the walls can be deadly. The City of Houston is negligent in my opinion if anything bad should happen, because they have not taken appropriate action to ensure that the structure is either safely demolished, or is shored up in a way that prevents an uncontrolled collapse.

Yes it is common practice with the discount airlines in Europe. In fact, some of them, like Ryanair, are so incredibly low-service, that they don't have window shades, jet bridges (you walk across the tarmac

That is a great site. I was a contributor for it when it was first being developed, providing some of the details on the Continental and Northwest fleets. There are a few items on it that are a matter of the site owner's personal opinion but for the most part it's quite accurate.

According to the latest timetable, the 777 to 764 switch is only for about six weeks, starting right before Christmas and lasting until early February. At that point the 777 returns. This is probably a reaction to the decreased demand for travel to Europe that always happens in the winter, and the fact that Continental is wrapping up retrofits to the older 777s that involve installing the new on-demand in-flight entertainment system, more BusinessFirst seats, new power ports at every seat, and overhead crew rest areas. They may be taking advantage of the decreased winter demand to speed up the 777 retrofits, and put a 764 on that route, before demand picks back up in the spring. Also this spring Continental has the new Shanghai flight starting which will require a couple of 777s, so it makes sense to get the retrofits wrapped up this winter while there's less demand for those planes. As for the new BusinessFirst seats, none of the 777s have them now, and none are getting them until next year. It is a small step down from the current 777 BusinessFirst seat to the current 764 BusinessFirst seat, but there are also a lot of frequent fliers who prefer the 767 seat anyway. For economy passengers, Continental's 767s actually have a more comfortable seat than the 777s

Yes and no. Northwest does charge a fee for certain seats, but the vast majority of aisle and window seats are available to all passengers at the time of ticketing without any additional fee. The seats they charge extra for are some of the exit row seats, and some oddball aisle seats that are just like any other aisle seat but a little closer to the front. Northwest never has implemented a charge for across-the-board seat assignments. The truth of the matter is very few Northwest passengers pay for a preferred seat assignment, as the seats they charge that fee on amount to an extremely small percentage (most definitely 5% or less) of Northwest's total economy class seat count. Price depends on a lot of variables. Generally I find Southwest to be the same price as other airlines in most markets that I would consider flying them to, which isn't many. And while Southwest is good about hitting most major metro areas, there are a lot of smaller cities they don't fly to, and there are some pretty big cities (Atlanta, New York, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Boston, Charlotte) that they don't fly to as well.

As it stands now, Delta is the only full-service domestic carrier who is not charging for the first bag. However, I doubt that will remain the case. Delta's merger partner Northwest is charging $15 for the first bag, and I'd be very surprised if Delta didn't eventually adopt that policy. Among some of the smaller airlines, you can still check one free bag with AirTran, Frontier, and JetBlue. Amazingly, "no thrills" Southwest is not charging for the first bag or the second bag. Alaska Airlines is the only other domestic carrier who is still doing this. Yes this fee stinks. But it doesn't affect me at this time due to my status at Continental. I'm far more upset about today's other announcements at Continental

At this time, Continental will not be charging for bags checked at the gate. I have confirmed this with a gate agent I know and she assures me that they have been told that they are not to charge customers for checking a bag at the gate because it will not fit on board. However, this is going off the assumption that passengers will continue to show up at the gate with regulation size carry-on bags that should fit. If enough passengers start showing up hauling enormous bags that would never stand a chance of fitting in an overhead bin, I wouldn't be surprised to see Continental start charging. But for now, the plan is to not collect a fee at the gate for checking a bag after boarding has commenced because it wouldn't fit on the plane.

This is very true. I graduated with my BA in 1996 and haven't had any one inquire about my GPA since around 1999. And I had a GPA that I'm not overly proud of. I went to a very selective private college, and didn't have the maturity at the time to really study

I guess I see the point of how it's confusing, but none of the names that have been thrown out really appeal to me.

That would be Terminal B, not Terminal A. The last of Terminal A's "banjos" were torn down over five years ago. Terminal B remains mostly in its original configuration for now, but Continental does have plans for a major reconstruction of it that will eliminate the old gate areas and replace them with more modern linear concourses. The experience at LGW varies greatly by terminal building. The old south terminal is pretty dumpy, with inadequate restroom facilities in many areas, and hellish security lines. The north terminal, which Continental moved into last year, is a much better experience, with nicer and more modern facilities, shorter lines, and if you're flying in BusinessFirst, access to the Emirates lounge which is incredible. The duty free mall/waiting area at the north terminal is also a lot larger and nicer. I've encountered several similar airports in my travels. I've actually been to Vernal, but by car, not by plane. But the airport there sounds quite like the one in Worland, WY. The facilities at Del Rio or the temporary terminal in Beaumont aren't much better.

This makes total sense. WestJet really is the Canadian version of Southwest. They're what Southwest would be if Southwest had assigned seats and in-flight entertainment systems on its planes. WestJet does serve a few US cities, but has very little presence in this country. Having Southwest as a partner will greatly expand WestJet's reach into most major US business markets. And Southwest gets access to all of the major Canadian cities, as well as a lot of second- and third-tier Canadian cities.

Ugh. It's even worse than I feared it would be. I may have to drive by the site later this week when I'm back in Houston for a few days. I still can't believe they're doing this.

I knew this collection existed nearly 20 years ago when it was mentioned one time when we were at his house visiting. Too bad I never got to see it, but I'm thrilled it's made it into the hands of someone who will put it to good use.

From today's Chronicle comes this article about a large collection of documents and photos related to the early years of public transportation in Houston. The collection recently turned up in an estate sale in Missouri City, and has made its way into the hands of the author of the book about Houston's streetcars that was published about 10 years ago, and the city's Preservation Officer. I find this of personal interest, as the estate sale was that of one of my relatives. Chronicle article: A ride through our transportation past