Ryan Lile's Blog – July 2011 Archive (3)

United’s business class bait and switch

I fly United frequently. I'm generally a fan; they have a decent mileage program, good partnerships, and reasonably good service on most of my flights. For the last few years they have been upgrading their international fleet with new seating in business. These seats are true parallel-to-the-floor, flat bed sleeper seats, and have been a welcome change from their previous recliner-style offering.

With the new seats came some changes to the upgrade system. United began collecting…

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Added by Ryan Lile on July 27, 2011 at 4:56pm — 3 Comments

Whatever, Whenever?

I'm a fan of W Hotels. Slick marketing, a trendy crowd and overpriced drinks appeal to the travel elitist in me. But despite my love of most things W, I've always thought their "Whatever, Whenever" catchphrase was a bit gimmicky. I've never really pushed the envelope on this, but I think if they're going to use that phrase to answer the phone, they need to commit to that level of service when a guest requests it.

I'm surprisingly undemanding; you won't see me requesting red-only…

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Added by Ryan Lile on July 20, 2011 at 2:58pm — No Comments

Time for the FAA to re-think restrictions on electronic devices

I couldn’t write this blog post when I had the idea. In fact, I couldn’t even make a note to myself that I wanted to write it. I thought of it just after the aircraft door closed. My mobile phone was already shut down, and restarting it to make a note to myself risked the wrath of a flight attendant and unknown consequences in the security-mad world of travel. So, for several reasons…

I think it’s time for the Federal Aviation Administration to review and update its restrictions…

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Added by Ryan Lile on July 7, 2011 at 1:22pm — 1 Comment