David J. Danto
Business travel
thoughts in my own, personal opinion
eMail: ddanto@IMCCA.org Follow Industry News: @NJDavidD on all 
A September To
Remember – A September 2023 Trip Report
I’ve been telling my readers for a while now that I took the summer off from
traveling because I knew it would be a disaster, and I had early September
travel planned. Here is my report from
that promised trip. As with all of life,
it’s filled with good and bad.
My first flight of this trip – to DEN on United –
departed from EWR Terminal A. You know
that yucky, dated wing with all the security lines vertically arranged down the
long corridor? Well, not anymore. I had read that Terminal A was “redone” and I
was expecting maybe a prettier counter area in front. I was wrong.
They’ve rebuilt the whole thing and it’s glorious – rivaling any US
airport. Instead of entering in what
used to be the front of the terminal you now have to drive around to the back
to enter the facility – and it’s enormous, spacious and beautiful. There is a separate room for premier
check-in that leads directly to the TSA Pre-Check lines. Once through security it’s enormous, clean, bright
– an amazing job by Munich
Airport NJ LLC. The only negative is
that it’s a very long walk, but I didn’t mind as it does not have the annoying
and frustratingly in-the-way mid-hallway vendors that terminal C has,
nor does it have the uncomfortable chairs bolted next to tables there either. Heck, it even has some chaise chairs for
relaxing.
There doesn’t appear to be a rhyme or reason why some United
flights arrive/depart from A and others don’t.
(It is United, so looking for logical reasons for something is probably
pointless.) But - as I am quick to call-out
United for their constant customer unfriendly actions – I need to give everyone
there kudos for an experience that is really nice!
My conference in Denver (stop #1) was for the most
part uneventful. The worst thing I can
say about it is that the Hyatt Regency at Denver Convention Center texted me
that my room was ready, but when I arrived at about 3:45pm I had to wait till
4:45 for it to be actually ready – and this was after me telling them I’d be
there by 2pm. The best thing I can say about
the trip is to acknowledge these awesome bathroom signs at the nearby Terra
Restaurant.
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to identify as the unicorn
or the alien, so I tried each at one point.
My next leg was off to Las Vegas where I had my
standard Avis experience. I specified
the car brands and models I preferred in my request, and the list was 100% ignored. When I used the app to try and swap the car
to one of the dozens of models I wanted, I got the usual response:
While I couldn’t hate AVIS more, at least their app
was in 
fact working (if you can call the “sorry” message
working.) That’s more than I can say
about the MGM resorts app. While I was
staying at one of their properties, the resort
chain was hit with a cyber-attack that knocked-out all of their IT systems. Nothing was working – Digital room keys, app,
website, car valet kiosks, in-room TV menus, gambling devices, etc. – all of it
disabled (and is still down as I write this five days later.) It is a horrific example of a poorly designed
IT infrastructure, where all systems seem to be tied together without
isolation. It will cost MGM millions in
recovery and make-goods to guests like myself that could do none of what I
planned for the stay. It reminds me of
the story
of firms like Home Depot that were crippled because they did not invest
enough money in their IT systems. The
extraordinary greed of the Las Vegas casinos recently means I’m not shedding
tears for them now.
My flight home on United was the more typical,
frustrating United 
experience. I
had paid tens of thousands of miles for an upgrade which only got me to the top
of the upgrade list (a rarity) but of course there were no seats ever available
to upgrade to, and my miles have yet to be returned. United treats its million-milers like dirt,
with a ‘we only care what you’ve done for us lately’ attitude. At least the later-in-the-day, lighter load
flight I booked did in fact leave on time and get me home, so my earlier blogged
worries about booking it were unfounded.
We landed early at Newark (at 8:35pm instead of the scheduled 9:03pm) but
we didn’t have a gate ready until 9:28pm.
Again, that’s typical United, spending about an hour on the tarmac – enough
to make an early flight a half-hour late instead.
Also, p
After a half a week at a conference in Denver and an
extended weekend in Las Vegas, I luckily came home without having gotten
sick. I wore masks on the flights of
course, but not much other than that. I
am scheduled to receive the new COVID booster this weekend. Hurry and get yours ASAP to try and minimize
the spread of the new variant. Then get
a flu shot a few weeks later. Never a
good idea IMHO to get them both at the same time as you’ll never know what was
the cause if you have a reaction.
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.
Copyright 2023 David Danto
++++++++
As always, feel free to write and comment, question or
disagree. Hearing from the traveling
community is always a highlight for me.
Thanks!