David J.
Danto
Business travel
thoughts in my own, personal opinion
eMail: ddanto@IMCCA.org 
Follow Industry News: @NJDavidD
NOT Traveling Blog, 5th
Week Of September
In 2014 I was voted
by USA Today readers as one of the top ten business travel bloggers in the
USA. Now mind you,
I turned out to be number ten on the list of ten, but I did make it on (with my
thanks to all those who voted.) Now
that we’re all stuck at home and not traveling, I had to think about what to do
with my blogs. I could stop writing them
entirely – waiting till we all get through the current COVID19 pandemic /
crisis. I could wax nostalgic and/or complain
about past trips. Or, I could focus all
of my efforts on my day job – growing the use of collaboration technologies –
especially in light of how many people are now forced to use those tools for
the first time. In reflecting upon those
choices, what I decided to do is compile an ongoing list of observations during
the crisis. Some of these may amuse,
some may inform, some may sadden and others may help. My goal will be for you to have seen
something in a different light than you did before you stopped to read the
blog. I was going to apologize for how
disjointed these thoughts may seem when put together, but then it dawned on me
that feeling disjointed is our new normal – at least for a little while.
There were more announcements this past week that don’t bode well for
returning to normal in 2021. Sir Elton John – who had
scheduled his “farewell tour” for 2020 had postponed his dates to 2021 early in
the pandemic. This past week he just
postponed them again to 2022. (Goodbye Yellowbrick
Road – or any road to travel – indeed.)
Then there was the Metropolitan
Opera, that announced that they are cancelling their
2021 season. Fellow collaboration
industry analyst and pundit Dave Michels then astutely pointed out that this pandemic
won’t be over till the “…fat
lady sings…” I’m just giving it
to you straight here folks – don’t expect 2021 to be all that different from
2020. As I
mentioned last week, we haven’t even see the worst of things yet.
Frequent readers of my traveling (or not traveling these days) blogs know how often I bash United
Airlines – and deservedly so I would add.
So, it’s important for me to call out when they’ve actually done
something good. United just announced
that they’ll begin
a pre-flight COVID19 testing program in conjunction with flights from SFO to Hawaii on October 15th. By taking an at-airport test that has results
in fifteen minutes, or an at home test that needs to be ordered ten days before
a flight, passengers can prove to the Hawaiian authorities that they are
COVID19 free and therefore do not need to quarantine upon arrival. Mind you, this program has more holes in it
than Swiss cheese – the biggest of which is likely because it is optional, so a
passenger testing negative can catch the virus from a fellow passenger
in-flight that was not tested – but it breaks-through what will likely be a
huge barrier to the eventual recovery of air-travel. Airlines obviously can begin a program to provide instant tests at the airport. At some point, passing such a test will
clearly need to be a pre-requisite to boarding a flight – at least until the
majority of people have been vaccinated.
Baby steps…
I don’t know about you, but the longer we stay in this
pandemic mode, the more ridiculous some of the email solicitations I receive
become. I posted the Top Ten
“winners” on Twitter this week, so here they are for those of you that
don’t follow me there:
The only update after I posted it was that the next day
United had already upped its email offer of bonus miles if I buy those
worthless things from 75% to 85%. My
math may be rusty, but I still believe the value of zero remains constant
regardless of the multiplier. Also,
honorable mention goes to the MGM
Casino in Springfield, Massachusetts – which keeps telling me that if I
drive there and gamble on Wednesdays I can win a “designer watch” - as if that
that was actually a satisfactory description of a prize anyone would want. I can get this
designer watch on Amazon for 1 cent (plus $6.99 for shipping) so I think
their unspecified brand is likely not worth the gas from New Jersey to
Massachusetts.
And while we’re discussing things “not worth it”, did anyone
actually enjoy the abomination of a regular baseball season that’s coming to a
close this week? Between seven-inning
games in double-headers, gift runners in extra-innings, teams that believe they
need a new pitcher for every inning, defenses that had four outfielders or all
infielders on one side fluctuating with the batter, pitcher and even sometimes
the count, and just the sheer lunacy of the paper-cut-outs in the stands and
piped-in crowd noise, I think the people in charge did more damage to the game
than COVID19 did. Major League Baseball desperately needs a reset to the game
the way it was played before – and “before” can be as far back as the 1950s or
as recently as the 1990s. What’s out
there now is a pitiful, poor replica of the game I enjoyed growing-up.
Finally this week, I need to pause my snark and sarcasm, and
sadly recognize and mourn the Two
Hundred Thousands Americans that have already died from COVID19. This is clearly the greatest tragedy of my
lifetime. For some perspective – that’s
a 9/11’s worth of deaths about every 2.5 days.
It’s also been (arguably) presented as more than all the US soldiers
that have died in all of America’s wars.
Whatever you believe, whatever your politics – please people – mourn for
those lost, feel for those suffering, and put on your damn, @$*^@ mask.
As always, please feel free to write to me with comments or items
I should add to a future Not Traveling blog (or if you just need someone to
write to.) Stay safe, be well, hug those
you’re sheltering with (but no one else) and do your best to stay positive. We’re going to be in this for a long
while.
This article was written by David Danto and contains solely his own, personal
opinions.
All image and links provided above as reference under
prevailing fair use statutes.