WAWeekend: Wine ‘Tasting and Toting’

Tasting and toting in Washington Wine Country just got easier thanks to a new program announced yesterday.

Tourism Walla Walla, Tri-Cities Visitor & Convention Bureau, Yakima Valley Visitors & Convention Bureau, and Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance announced the launch of a new collaborative effort with Alaska Airlines and Enterprise Rent-A-Car to promote Washington Wine Country.

Launching September 2012, Washington Wine Country Taste and Tote will make it easier and more affordable to taste and travel the Yakima Valley, Tri-Cities and Walla Walla Valley wine regions.

As part of this new partnership, Alaska Airlines will expand its existing wine check-in program Taste and Tote to the Yakima and Pasco/Tri-Cities airports.

Originating in the Walla Walla Valley in late 2011, this program allows outbound passengers to check their first case of wine free on their return flight. In addition, Enterprise Rent-A-Car will waive car drop-off fees for visitors flying on Alaska Airlines into Yakima, Pasco or Walla Walla regional airports who wish to fly out of one of the other two airports.

"The Taste and Tote program has been a big success in Walla Walla and we feel our expansion to the Pasco and Yakima airports shows our dedication to being Washington Wine Country's airline of choice," said Clint Ostler, Alaska Airlines' manager of retail advertising and sponsorships. "Washington State's tourism and wine industries are so closely connected and we are committed to making it easier for travelers to visit our award-winning vineyards."
(Photo: Marcus Whitman Hotel, Walla Walla)






Other features of the new program will allow travelers to sample wines at participating wineries and pay no tasting fees when they show a current Alaska Airlines boarding pass from one of the three airports.

The majority of visitors to Walla Walla Valley, Tri-Cities region and Yakima Valley wineries come from the Seattle and Portland metropolitan areas. Organizers hope that with these added incentives, visitors from these destinations and others served by Alaska Airlines will utilize air service for their trip to Washington Wine Country.
(Photo: Walla Walla).

For more information on the Taste and Tote program: www.tasteandtote.com. 

Note:  Thanks to Seattle’s GreenRubino PR for providing today’s news. The photos are mine, (the planes flown to these destinations are smaller than the one pictured above).

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TSA ‘Trusted Travelers’ . . . maybe yes, . . .maybe no

It seemed appropriate to board a plane displaying Disney’s Goofy and Mickey Mouse after our first experience with TSA’s PreCheck ‘Trusted Travelers’ program at SeaTac Airport.

Weeks ago I told you about our application, fee payment and screening (both on paper and in person) and our ultimate acceptance into the United State’s international travelers’ Global Entry program. Global Entry participants automatically qualify for TSA’s Precheck, and its ‘trusted travelers’ faster security lanes (which had just opened at SeaTac when I wrote about the programs).

In fact, our recent introduction to ‘fast track’ on our Alaska Airlines flight to Arizona was so “Goofy"  that I wasn’t even going to tell you about it.  I figured somehow we – or Alaska – had goofed up.
  
Welcome to “Trusted Traveler”


I was the only passenger using the  fast track lane being manned by three TSA agents (who watched me closely) as I sailed through – wearing jacket and shoes, with computer and the quart-sized plastic bag of liquids tucked in the carryon. It went through the x-ray machine, I walked through the metal detector.  One minute max.

Joel, on the other hand, was sent to the slow – take-off-shoes-coats-belt-empty-pockets line – because the TSA agent said his ‘trusted traveler’ number didn’t appear in the boarding pass bar code.  He couldn’t ‘fast track’.  Twenty minutes later after his lane snaked its way through the screening we were off to the gate.

"We must have done something wrong. . ."


Agreeing that we’d done something wrong, Joel talked with Alaska mileage plan representatives who offered some possible reasons that the number which shows clearly on his computer profile didn’t print. Seemed odd, since mine did.

 Mystery solved


It was recent media articles that cleared up the mystery for us.  It wasn’t us.  Others in the program are having the same experiences and what’s more. . .

It is supposed to work that way!


You see a  ‘trusted traveler’ really isn’t trusted – not all the time, anyway.

We’d been told there’s always a chance of ‘random and unpredictable security measures’.  And what that means is that a certain number of ‘trusted’ travelers don’t know until their boarding pass is scanned whether they will be allowed to use the ‘fast track’ line or not. 

Good for security but bad for streamlining that process when one of a traveling duo is ‘trusted’ and the other one is not.

Now we read in  the Seattle Times that the TSA is expanding its ‘trusted traveler’ program at SeaTac to allow participation by passengers of other airlines (those who’ve passed the additional background and security screens, that is).

We’ll keep you posted on our future ‘trusted traveler’experiences, but for now taking a road trip in our car, riding an Amtrak train or sailing across Puget Sound on a ferry sounds mighty inviting!

Note:  The TSA PreCheck is a pilot program being tested among a small number of airports and travelers.  By the end of the year it is scheduled to be operating at 35 U.S. airports and involve passengers of six airlines. If you want more information about eligibility and participation visit: www.tsa.gov and for Global Entry www.globalentry.gov.

Global Entry and Pre Check: Ready, Set, Go!

Remember me? I’m the one on whom ‘explosives [were] detected’ during a random check at SeaTac Airport in January.

It was my hand lotion’s glycerin, we think. I now fly high, but dry!

And remember us being held in that ‘secure area’ of Iceland’s Airport after I passed with flying colors the the ‘random security check’ for which, by lucky draw, I’d been selected?

We weren’t alone; nearly three dozen other bewildered passengers bound for the U.S. were not ‘allowed to mingle’ until the plane boarded.

With both those experiences fresh in mind, I was a bit hesitant to apply for the U. S. Customs and Border Protection’s Global Entry Program, for international traveler; the one that, in turn, qualifies participants for the T.S.A.’s PreCheck, domestic trusted travelers program.

 ‘Trusted Traveler’  programs

Global Entry is a program that requires completion of an extensive on-line application and payment of $100 application fee. If, following a background check, conditional approval is given, then an in-person interview at a local CBP office is conducted. Fingerprints are taken and processed and photos taken during that interview.

If approved, you use a kiosk when re-entering the United States, rather than waiting in those long lines to get the passport stamped and go through Customs inspection.

PreCheck allows approved passengers, whose backgrounds have been checked, or those in Global Entry, to use check-in security lanes that no longer require removing shoes, belts or jackets and allows leaving laptops and liquids in the bags. Instead of the controversial x-ray machine, travelers walk through a metal detector (like the early days of security).

Pre-Check is being introduced by a select number of airlines, including Alaska Air, the one we regularly fly. A select number of airports are participating in this early stages of the program and many more are slated to participate.

Our story

We completed the application form in early March, paid our fee and waited. By the end of March we’d  received notice of ‘conditional approval’ and set up in-person interviews with CBP officials. In our case, the closest office was at SeaTac Airport. 

In early April we were interviewed; each asked a series of questions, were finger-printed and had photos taken that would appear on an identification card we’d be issued if approved.

The finger prints were apparently ‘run’ while we were there as approval was given to each of us before the meeting was over. We were taught how to use the kiosk. Our ID cards arrived two weeks later.

Does it work?

We used the Global Entry kiosk at San Francisco’s airport when we returned from Mexico. It was a snap – no lines, no wait time. In and done.

We’ll experience PreCheck at SeaTac next week when we head to Phoenix.  For the first time in many years I am looking forward to  check-in.

A Note to Naysayers

There’s been a  lot of critical comments added at the end of on-line media articles about this program. Critics call it a program for the ‘elite’ who can pay for a speedy security experience.  The cost, was $100, good for five years. That’s $20 a year. If you can afford to buy the ticket and other trip costs you likely can shell out an additional $20 a year for ease of check-in.
Some claimed the streamlined check in security isn’t thorough enough.  I can tell you that based on the questionnaire and interviews, our government knows far more about Joel and me now than they did when simply examining our bare feet in the airport x-ray machine. 

The program guidelines also make it clear:  random security checks will be done in this new speedy program just as is done in all check in lines. 

Sigh. We know my luck in being drawn for those random selections. . .

Note:  I’ve included links above that take you to the Global Entry and TSA PreCheck sites if you want to know more about either of these programs.  Are you already participating? Leave a comment and let us know how it is working.

Three phone calls later: Singapore is Rome

Regular readers and those who know us well won’t be surprised to learn that we’ve changed travel directions again.

The winter’s “Big” cruise from Singapore is now the autumn cruise  from Rome.

All it took was a couple of phone calls.  Really, it was that simple. Proving, once again, that planning travel really isn’t that difficult.


The original plan: Frequent flier airline seats to and from Asia. A Celebrity cruise from Singapore to Sydney, a few days there (using Marriott points), then off to Bali, returning home a week later . Yikes – that put us traveling two days before Christmas! (Read that: the dreaded holiday travel.)

We were looking forward to the Asian Adventure, but. . .

While in Mexico we had plenty of daydreaming time and started discussing other destinations that we want to visit in the next couple years. . .

Then, back in Kirkland this week Joel happened upon the ‘perfect’ Celebrity cruise – beginning in Rome, ending in Venice, with stops in Montenegro, Croatia, Greece, Malta and Slovenia along the way. If only we weren’t headed to Singapore. . .
 

After a 24-hour ‘ponder-the-idea-period', Joel checked on availability of frequent flier seats, which was key to any changes, with airline prices being what they are this year. Two calls to Alaska Airlines in as many days and we had seats and a good routing to Europe.  He nabbed them after cancelling the Cathay Pacific business class seats to Singapore. We’ll  fly business class on KLM to Rome and back.

The third phone call was to CruCon Cruise Outlet (the travel agency we use for booking cruises because they’ve had the best prices and on-board goodies). They moved our $200 deposit from one cruise to the other, we’ve now got a balcony room on the Silhouette; incurring no penalties and getting the same on-board credits and other goodies as we had on the other cruise.

Then he cancelled our Marriott ‘loyalty points’ reservation in Sydney and used them to book a five night stay in a Marriott “Autograph” Hotel in Venice. (Use of those hotel points in Venice saved us approximately $1,700!)

We were excited about the Sydney experience; but we are plain crazy about this new adventure. Joel’s dug out the Lonely Planet guidebook to Slovenia to get the research started. . .I ordered a new Baggallini roller tote from a discount on-line shop.  Let the fun begin. . .

Planning to Head “Down Under” in 2012

You know you are hooked on travel when you are making airline reservations before opening gifts on Christmas morning. 

But then, at our house, we think travel is the best gift we give ourselves. . .so in a way, we were opening a gift.

Our plans are to head “Down Under”  in 2012 to explore areas we’ve never been and along the way we will visit an old favorite, Singapore, a place where we celebrated New Year's Eve 28 years ago. 

It’s a trip that will guarantee we won’t  be home for Thanksgiving and will barely be back and over jet lag by Christmas. (Note to friends: the cards and gifts will be late).
It’s a long way off, or so it sounds right now, but it was even more futuristic back when we set the trip in motion eight months ago. It began with a $200 deposit on a future cruise, paid while we were sailing across the Atlantic in May on Celebrity’s Solstice. 
Frequent Flyer Seats

The reason we were making airline reservations on Christmas Day is because we are using frequent flyer (FF) miles to get us to Singapore and back home from Bali, Indonesia.  As those of you who use FF miles know, you can’t sit back and wait if you want to nab those precious seats – especially for flights around the holidays.

Thanks to Joel’s diligence  (it took calls made over a three-day time span to book the flights because of  time changes we’ll experience on our return flight)  we will fly to San Francisco on Alaska Air and there connect with Cathay Pacific which will take us to Asia. That airline will also return us to Vancouver, B.C. and we will fly Alaska Air home.   The Asia flight is some 14 hours so we’ve each used 100,000 Alaska Air miles to secure Business Class seats. . .which will make the flight almost fun.
 
Money Saving tip: we spent 100,000 air miles each and about $100 in taxes and fees.  To put that in perspective, a Business Class round-trip ticket from San Francisco to Singapore costs $6,018.75 per person! We got a good deal to our way of thinking.

The Cruise

The cruise will depart Singapore and over the course of 17 days will take us to Sydney, with several  ports of call along the way. We’ll spend a few days in Sydney then head to Bali. It’s a six hour flight between those two cities. . .somehow I thought it was closer. 

Money Saving Tip: We’d made reservations for a cabin in Concierge Class – the one that offers a some special amenities on board – but a recent cruise sale email from our travel agency caught Joel’s eye . . .with a quick phone call, he got us  moved to a regular cabin – same size  as Concierge Class – saving us $1,800 on the price of the cruise. (We can buy a lot of ‘amenities’ with that savings!)

We know ‘life happens’ and plans can change – final payment for the cruise isn’t due until next September which means changes can still be made until then. The airline seats can be cancelled (for a fee) and the FF miles returned to our accounts.  But for now our gift is open: the planning, reading, research and dreaming begins. 

So blogosphere friends, do you have some recommendations for us as we begin to plan? If so, please send us an email, travelnwrite@msn.com or jot a comment below.

A Travel Tip: Close could be costly

We came close to making a real costly blooper on our airline tickets to Hawaii all because I didn‘t pay attention when filling in the information section and used Hula Babe's everyday name Jackie instead of Jacqueline (the latter is the legal name, the one on the passport and birth certificate kind of name; and the one I always use when traveling.).


So, I’m not sure how that got past us, but it did. So, Hula Babe, aka Jackie, aka Jacqueline, arrived at SeaTac with a passport reading Jacqueline and a ticket reading Jackie. . .(and thankfully a Washington State driver’s license that read Jackie).

Oh, well, everyone knows Jackie is a short version of Jacqueline, right? Well, not exactly. When it comes to security these days, close isn't close enough.

Handing the Alaska Airlines ticket agent my passport and ticket, I asked if the names were close enough. He suggested I find ID with Jackie on it. I showed him the driver’s license and he said it would work for him and more importantly, TSA.

Had I not had the license, he said he would have had to re-issue my ticket with the correct name.

The cost to do that? $100.

Mai Tais and Macadamia Nuts: Aloha!

There is nothing that says “Aloha” more clearly than the tinkle of ice in a Mai Tai or the crunch of macadamia nuts. So, when the flight attendants started serving both - complimentary, I might add - we knew we were close to our destination, paradise in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.


These liquid tropical treats also cushioned the bumps and bouncing of our decent into the Honolulu airport.

The weather has been  unsettled around this part of the world in recent weeks but we've lucked out and hat blue sky, sunshine and temperatures in the 80's since arriving a few days ago..

We went Walkin' about Midnight in . . .Savannah

/We went walkin' about midnight yesterday in Savannah. . .not through the Garden of Good and Evil but down the main drag to the Marriott Riverside conference hotel. Despite my tweets and other teasers about John Berent's book, this walk was because we arrived about then --several hours after we were scheduled to arrive -- and were looking for a place to buy a glass of wine. (Every place was closed by the way - no wine).

Let me make it clear:  after missing Alaska's flight 261 a few years ago by only three days (the flight that ended up in the Pacific Ocean killing all on board) I don't take flying lightly. It is not for the faint of heart. I consider  flying  the means to an end, as was the case yesterday:  we were flying to get to Savannah -  which we did, although somewhat later than we had planned.

 Not long after I wrote from 35,000 feet above the United States, our plane slowed (at least it didn't circle for an hour as others had) on our approach to Atlanta.  The flight attendants said to expect 'severe weather" in Atlanta, the city where we could connect to our 39-minute flight to Savannah.  Later, on the ground, we learned they'd been under a 'tornado watch'. And so we joined thousands of others in Atlanta who waited for the weather system to pass and the congestion it had caused to ease. 

We were among the lucky ones and we reached Savannah at about 11 p.m. instead of the earlier expected 8 p.m.  Others in our conference delegation had flights cancelled and didn't arrive until the early morning hours today.  Was it worth the trouble of getting here?  You betcha!  More on that tomorrow. . .

35,000 feet somewhere over mid-America

I will be diverted for a few days from my Greek, Black Sea and yet to be discussed, Amsterdam as we are hurtling across the United States on Alaska Air heading to Savannah, Georgia. . .that's the land of Paula Dean and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil . . .and of course, Riverwalks, Historic Districts and much more.

A conference there prompts this trip so explorations will be squeezed in among learning new things - but Joel will be researching while I sit in sessions and then we will hit that southern deck runnin'.  To come along with us, check the blog periodically as I will be posting.

I find technology fascinating, like where do my tweets go, and who are the readers of this blog and how do we do all this without wires and cords connecting us to something?  But here I am 35,000 feet, flying faster than I would care to think of  and with a computer connected to nothing solid but when I push the button the post will appear, the subscribers will receive emails and others will find it as the most recent post. 

If any of you have recommendations for places to go, see, do and eat in Savannah, please send them or make a suggestion in the comments below. 

Waiting for Godot. . .er,. . .Air Miles

Waiting for Godot, the Samuel Beckett play in which two characters wait for "Godot" ranks high on the 'theatre of the absurd' list.

            BA Flight #48 - we were on it. . ..really!

I am writing a travel sequel,  Waiting for Air Mile Credits.  
Alaska Air is the producer and British Air has a starring role and we -- two Alaska Air loyalty program members --are but supporting cast members. 

The storyline:  We, the supporting cast, traveled to London on April 28th on British Airlines, one of Alaska Air's partners.  We paid for our tickets so qualified for the partner portion of the actual miles flown, about 1,200 miles per person.  Alaska's web site tells a loyalty member that it may take 60 days to recieve miles in their account from a partner. . .

Our wait began.
When no credits appeared on our accounts by the end of June, I faxed copies of the boarding passes to Alaska requesting the credit.

And we waited. 
After a few more weeks passed, I  updated the fax request and faxed it again..

And we waited.
Finally, I reasoned that I had faxed to the wrong number.
Of course! That had to be the answer. . . and I had a comedy in the making.
So in early August I called Alaska seeking the correct fax number.
But wait! Turns out I had been using the correct number.

A pause. . .a mystery plot was developing:
Seems a record of our flight was posted to our Alaska accounts July 3rd; BUT we won't  get credit for the miles until British Air verifies our request. 
(Can't imagine anyone at British Air remembering us. . .but I had faxed copies of our boarding passes. . . .maybe they've been sent  to British Air for verification - I couldn't bring myself to ask. )

May take another three to four weeks to appear, I was told.
This weekend marked four months since our flight.
No mileage credit has appeared on our accounts.
And still we wait.

Heading to Honolulu

It's mid-January in Puget Sound: gray and rainy, most days. And there are good deals to be had in Hawaii. With that combination, it should be no surprise that our bags are packed and by the end of the week we will be in Waikiki soaking up the sun, basking in 80-degree temperatures taking long walks on sandy beaches under a canopy of swaying palms.

As I noted in a November blog (Honolulu: Surf's Up and prices down), Joel, the researcher half of this travel duo, found an incredibly good rate: $99 a night for ocean-front room at Hilton's Prince Kuhio in the heart of Waikiki. The hotel is a block back from the famed beach and two blocks from Kapiolani Park. We noted this weekend the prices have gone up considerably since we booked it.

The good news is that for those who didn't nab a room back then, the deals are still out there. We saw a big spread on O'ahu today that offered Endless Escapes at Starwood properties starting at $119 and a 99 days of Winter sale at Aqua Resorts with prices at $99 or less per night at their participating Waikiki hotels.

Developers and property owners have put more than $2 billion into the Waikiki neighborhood in recent years. The end results are new upscale restaurants, shopping malls filled with high end stores, rennovated historic hotels and a beautiful beach walk. It has become one of our favorite spots in all of the Hawaiian Islands.

If you can't take advantage of the deals, mix yourself a mai-tai, put on a floral shirt and stay tuned. For the next few weeks we will take you with us as we head to our favorite off-the-beaten-track finds. Aloha!

Headin' to Austin

I'll be writing y'all from Austin, Texas, 'the live music capital of the world', next week. While the trip is prompted by a conference I am attending, we tacked on a weekend stay to explore a bit of this part of the Lone Star State. After three weeks of continual Pacific Northwest rain and wind, we are looking forward to a place that also boasts 300 days of sunshine a year and average daily December temperatures of 62F.

If the town is half as much fun to visit as its Visitors and Convention web site (http://www.austintexas.org/), we will have a great time.

Founded in 1839, it sounds like there's a lot of history to be found there. Two free guided walking history tours are offered each week; one of Congress Ave./6th Street (Thurs - Sat. 9 a.m. and Sunday 2 p.m.)and one of the Bremond Block Historic District (11 a.m. Saturday and Sunday). All we need do is register 48-hours in advance by calling 866-GO-AUSTIN.

Getting to Austin will be a snap as Alaska Airlines (http://www.alaskair.com/) just started non-stop service between Seattle and Austin, (every day but Saturday when they loop passengers through a San Jose, CA, connection to get back to Seattle). Alaska's introductory fares are starting at $119 each way.

We'll be staying at the Courtyard by Marriott at the Downtown Convention Center. The conference rate of $185 per night drops to $135.96 AAA rate per night of our weekend stay. However, a friend who just returned from Austin reports even better deals; she nabbed a 4-star hotel in downtown Austin for $105 a night, including taxes, on http://www.hotwire.com/

Alaska Airlines - credit card mileage plan changes

They aren't increasing the annual fees for the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature card.

The two things that will change: 2009 is the last year we cardholders (who are in good standing) will be awarded anniversary miles. The $50 campanion certificate will be increasing from $50 to $99 on Oct. 1, 2009. This applies to all new certificates earned on or after Oct. 1, 2009. All of this comes in a letter we received today from James Rice, a Sr. VP at Bank of America and Rick Rasmussen, Director of Customer Loyalty & Marketing Programs at Alaska Air. They assure all other card benefits remain in place.