Cheap Tickets, Crowded Planes, Carry-Ons Galore and $4 chips.

Flight sales continue through the Fall, e.g. JetBlue has one-way, online fares as low as $49. (You have to book before Aug. 6, and fares require up to a 14-day advance purchase from travel between Sept. 8 and Dec. 16 with Thanksgiving holiday period blacked out.) Both AirTran and Southwest have launched similar sales, and other carriers are matching suit with fares to keep pace with the competition.

While recent business travel media reports indicate that ticket sales are still off, my own observations over the past few weeks are that the sales appear to be working. Every flight I have been on in the last four weeks has been full and usually over-booked. However, as I watched a pregnant mother with a small child in toe drag a hefty piece of luggage through the plane on a recent flight, what came home to roost is how the tough climate in business travel was driving airline pricing strategies to extreme measures. Most of the major airlines have recently upped their checked baggage charge to $20 for the first bag checked coaxing budget-minded travelers to opt for the lug-onto-the-plane route. Also, I noticed that airline check-in staff have become much more diligent about charging for overweight bags, so there is no overloading one bag thinking you're going to save on a second bag charge. 


Struggling to attract customers, airlines will continue to offer discounts on fares through the Fall while simultaneously trying to compensate for cuts in ticket prices by increasing fees for such previously taken-for-granted services as checked baggage and snacks on the plane. Combining this with cost cutting measures, such as: fewer flights in all, much, much fewer direct flights, and more seats on planes with no leg room, has led to often miserable flight experiences.

There is , however, in addition to lower ticket prices, another bright spot-- more on-time arrivals. Chicago O'Hare has reported a 20 percent increase in on-time arrivals, and, just as an observation, in the past 10 flights I have taken over a one-month period, not one was late and most arrived ahead of time.

Regardless, I'm addicted to travel, so I'll munch on my $3, or maybe even, $4 bag of chips, while a not-so-frequent and discourteous budget-vacationer sits in my lap, and a guy coming up the aisle with a humongous back-pack bruises my shoulder. Ah the things we do for love.

Brown Palace Hotel -- a Presidential Experience in Denver

My first solo hotel stay as a working young adult was at an historic hotel --Brown's in London. This marvelous hotel set the bar for what I would expect from accommodations far higher than what could reasonably be required for  a business hotel. Brown's was not just a hotel -- it was an experience, a time tunnel back to another more gracious era. From that all too brief stay, I learned to look for more from each and every hotel encounter from the little motel on the prairie, to the B&B by the sea, to the convention hotel in Chicago, to the grand hotel in Paris or Monaco. There had to be something out of the ordinary--whether it was a journey back to another time, a trip into exciting new living features that weren't yet the standard for ordinary homes, a full immersion into the culture of the city or town I was visiting, or even just something quirky that would give me a story to tell.


Tall order, but having the bellman tell me as he pushed our luggage towards reception that every President with the exception of Coolidge from Theodore Roosevelt through to George W. Bush had stayed in the hotel got my attention. Then as we walked into the lobby of the Brown Palace (no relation to Brown's in London) as high tea was being served in the atrium and the sounds of 30s style piano music wafted through the air, my eyes swept upward capturing almost instantaneously the cast-iron balconies, stained glass ceiling, huge American Flag, and remnants of a massive fireplace.  It was then that I felt that tumbling back in time sense that only an assiduously maintained historic hotel can deliver.  I knew this was going to be an experience.

Competing now with a number of stylish, boutique hotels that have opened in recent years in Denver, the Brown Palace still manages to set a contemporary standard (including an excellent spa) while maintaining it's elegant and historic charm.   From its dramatic eight-story atrium lobby adorned with Mexican onyx to clubby restaurants and quaint, comfortable bars to its high ceiling guest rooms with attractively remodeled bathrooms, lovely furnishings and finishes, and slanted windows that let the sun stream in, the Brown Palace exceeds expectations.

While gradually modernizing, the Brown Palace has retained the feel of an historic Denver and American West. The triangular Colorado red granite and sandstone building has been continuously operational since opening in late in the 19th century.   And as you walk into Churchill's Bar, opened in 1996, you can easily imagine turn-of-the-century gentlemen drawing on their cigars while discussing the politics and business of the day in such an establishment. And more of that somewhere-in-time feeling has been created by the historic artifacts and paintings that adorn the public rooms. The windows near the entrance to the Palace Arms and Churchill Bar, for instance, contain French military band figures carved by a French doll maker imprisoned during the Napoleonic wars. Replicas of flags prominent during the exploration of the American continent and dueling pistols said to have belonged to Napoleon can be observed while dining in the Palace Arms Restaurant. An incredible painting, "The Sultan's Dream, a part of the hotel since it's opening in 1892, can be viewed in the Churchill Bar. Touches throughout like an antique black phone, an historic postal box, and changing displays of memorabilia such as old guest registers, menus and brochures in the entry lobby further sustain the historic character and feel of this grand old hotel.  

And beyond the building, service is as gracious as you would expect from a hotel that has catered to Presidents and other world dignitaries.  If Mr. Obama chooses to keep their record of Presidential stays going, I am sure the Brown Palace will not disappoint.

And just to demonstrate how an older lady can keep up with the times, there is a tweeter for the hotel, with whom I made the arrangements for my stay:  BrownPalace. After I tweeted my compliments, BrownPalace tweeted: @thetraveltweet So glad to see you enjoyed your time here. Hope to welcome you back. Please let us know if you need anything in the future!  To be sure @BrownPalace thetraveltweet will be back.  

I love Twitter.