JetBlue Passengers Sing the Blues

The New York Times reported on a colossal collapse of the flight plan of well-respected, award-winning, low-fare carrier, JetBlue, stranding passengers all over the route map. According to the Times, the airline's CEO David G. Neeleman, "said...that his company’s management was not strong enough. And he said the current crisis, which has led to about 1,000 canceled flights in five days, was the result of a shoestring communications system that left pilots and flight attendants in the dark, and an undersize reservation system...

"The crisis began Wednesday when an ice storm hit the Eastern United States. Most airlines responded by canceling more flights earlier, sending passengers home and resuming their schedules within a day or two. But JetBlue thought the weather would break and it would be ale to fly, keeping its revenue flowing and its customers happy.

"On the contrary, JetBlue’s woes dragged on day after day. On Saturday night, for instance, the airline said that the 23 percent of flights it had canceled on Saturday and Sunday would also be canceled Monday....Its systems to deal with the consequences of bad weather did not keep up with the growth, Mr. Neeleman said. The company’s low-cost operating structure may have been a contributing factor."

JetBlue is not the first airline to strand passengers because of weather or other factors, nor will it be the last. But given the carrier's high level of customer satisfaction, it seems particularly sensitive to the problem and has promised compensation.

Seeking (and Finding) Healthy Airport Food

A couple of weeks ago, I had a several-hour wait at Boise Airport (BOI). I left Tamarack Resort at 7:00 a.m. with a light box breakfast for the almost three-hour ride. I was booked on a late flight but hoped to get on an 11-something flight on standby. That flight was full, so I was booked on one leaving after 1:00 p.m. Even with the welcome diversion of free WiFi at the airport, I got hungry -- but I wanted to find a not-too-unhealthy light meal. The smoothie place on Concourse B had a salad and sandwich cooler, but I didn't care for the sandwiches and they were out of salads. I to ask at the pub next door whether there were any salads left in the kithen. I did and was told no. Not much looked appealing until I stumbled upon a Hyde Park Market & Deli, tucked into a corner adjacent to the food court, and ordered a veggie panini. It wasn't the best I've ever had, but it was better than than airport pizza, the fried stuff at the sports bar, the scary-sounding Maui Tacos or anything passed across the counter at Mickey D's.
People get into that pickle at airports all the time -- in fact, we have houseguests right now who endured more than a three-hour delay at Denver International Airport (DEN), I share with you the Denver Post's recent list of (relatively) healthy food in an article called "Eat Right on the Fly":

POUR LA FRANCE (Concourse B): Smoked Salmon and Bagel Plate, $9.50 consists of shaved smoked salmon is served with a toasted bagel, chive cream-cheese spread, sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, onions and capers. It's high in protein, low in fat and a good source of veggies if you eat them all.

WOLFGANG PUCK'S EXPRESS (Concourse B): Tortilla Soup, $5.35, offers tomato and broth-based soups like this one are low-fat and filling.

LEFTY'S MILE HIGH GRILLE (Concourses B and C): Veggie Burger, $7, unlike most veggie burgers that are made from frozen patties that resemble hockey pucks, this one's made from brown rice, onions and mushrooms. It tastes great and is easy to eat on the run. High in fiber and protein, it's a good choice for sustained energy.

McDONALD'S (all concourses): Fruit and Walnut Snack Size Salad, $2, makes a snack or mini-meal that is has 210 calories, is a good source of calcium and vitamin C, and adds just the right amount of healthy fat and flavor from the candied walnuts.

CHEF JIMMY'S BISTRO (Concourse A): Shrimp and Pasta Arrabiata, $10, is a low-fat dish tossed in a spicy marinara sauce and topped with fresh basil that does not taste like "airport food."

CANTINA GRILL (all concourses): Burrito Bowls or "Naked" Taco Salads, $7.50, can be ordered "naked" (without the tortilla shells) to big on calories. A deep-fried taco shell adds a whopping 400 calories and 25 grams of fat to a salad, while oversized tortillas are low in fat but contain 350 calories. Black beans, veggies and salsa make the bowls and salads healthy ways to satisfy a craving for Mexican.

The Post also printed a list of the U.S. airports with the largest selection of healthy and/or vegetarian fare, according to a recent study by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine:

1. Orlando
2. Detroit and San Francisco (tie)
3. Newark
4. Dallas/Fort Worth
5. Chicago/O'Hare
6. Denver
7. Philadelphia
8. Minneapols/St. Paul and Los Angeles International (tie)
9. Atlanta
10. Houston Intercontinental
11. Las Vegas

It means that Denver offers a relatively good selection of healthy food, but it certainly could do better.

Sun Valley Angling for Denver Nonstop Air Service

Eight representatives of Sun Valley, ID's business business, civic and political communities are coming to in Denver on February 27 to lobby Frontier Airlines, making a case for the carrier to inaugurate daily roundtrip service between Denver International Airport and nearby Hailey's Friedman Airport, according to Mountain Express, a twice-weekly newspaper serving the Wood River Valley.

Currently, SkyWest provides nonstop service from Los Angeles and Oakland, but anyone else flying to Sun Valley must connect in Salt Lake City via Horizon Air, an Alaska Airlines commuter partner. Another option is to fly to Boise and drive or take a bus or van for the 155-mile ride to Sun Valley. Denver, which is Frontier's home port and also a major United hub, would be the easternmost city with non-stop air service to Sun Valley.

This lobbying effort is a case of starting with marketing and web presence to grease the skids, or perhaps clear the runway, for such service. A new not-for-profit business group called the Sun Valley Alliance is prepared promote such service to the tune of $400,000. It also plans to launch a website, www.FlyToSunValley.com, to create a web presence for service from fast-growing Frontier. It is DIA's second-largest carrier, currently flying to 49 destinations (Memphis is the latest) and has ordered a new fleet of 70-passenger Bombardier Q400 turboprops (above), the type that Horizon is using.

Do I Ski? Do I!

Left, Lindsay Kildow of Vail, blazing to a silver medal in the downhill at Are, Sweden, in a U.S. Ski Team photograph. At right, Claire Walter, your faithful blogger, carving down a groomed run at Tamarack, ID, in a photo taken 10 days ago by resort photographer Sherri Harkin.



I am amazed when people ask whether I ski -- or worse, whether I still ski. I always reply that writing about skiing is not like covering, say, Major League Baseball, NHL hockey, NBA basketball or NFL football. While skiing can be a spectator sport (the World Alpine Champsionships, for instance, are taking place right now in Are, Sweden), skiing is mostly a participant activity like golf or tennis. The people who most enjoy watching it also ski.

Early in my career I was a magazine editor, including two years as managing editor of Ski Business and Ski Area Management, trade publications put out by the company that then owned Ski magazine. Then, I was managing editor of Ski for another two years, before veering off into the realm of public relations (handling ski accounts for a small New York agency) and then as a sales promotion writer for one of my clients, Swissair. When I left the airline and started freelancing, I think during the administration of Calvin Coolidge, it was only natural that I started writing about skiing. It continues to be a major topic of my writing as well as one of my gret pleasures.

As a skier and a ski journalist, I have chased snow around the world. I have skied all over the US snowbelt from Maine to Alaska, Canada, South America, New Zealand and even China. But my beat is mostly the Rocky Mountains, whose mountains I've explored from southern New Mexico to northern Alberta. Most recently, I visited Tamarack, ID, and posted a report and a few images on this blog. The small black-clad figure standing next to the large snowcat is me, but I'm just standing.

For my ski writer colleagues, quitting skiing until very old age, infirmity or illness make it impossible is unthinkable. When I was living in New York and working for Ski, I joined the Eastern Ski Writers Association, a regional component of the North American SnowSports Journalists Association, and I was "the kid." Among some members of ESWA who are on the far side of 80 and still tearing up the slopes, and when I'm with them, I'm still a kid. I love it!

New Operator for the Grand Canyon Railway

Early in the 20th century, rail travel was the primary (and most comfortable) mode of transportation in the West, and for a new generation of travelers, it was the preferred way to see the grand sights. As part of this way of touristic life, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company inaugurated steam-train service to the canyon on September 17, 1901. Millions of travelers followed, including five presidents, numerous foreign dignitaries, movie stars and artists, often staying in the elegant El Tovar Hotel on the South Rim to gaze, paint, photograph and simply contemplate this most dramatic of natural wonders. But in 1968, with most travelers having been seduced by automobile travel, passenger service was discontinued because people preferred to drive.

Much to their credit, Max and Thelma Bigert revived the line, starting service again on September 17, 1989, precisely 88 years after its inaugural passenger run. They like to say that they put the train back on track. Last May, I reached the Canyon by road but left via the Grand Canyon Railway, a delightful ride that lasted 2 1/2 hours but took me and my fellow passengers way back into the last century with entertainment enhancements from this one. We rode through the forest with live entertainment in each car (left), a staged train robbery and terrific tales, tall and otherwise, spun by conductors in old-style uniforms. We detrained in Williams, an interesting little town along Historic Route 66.

The Bigerts are bowing out, but the show will go on. They put the railroad up for sale last year. A letter of intent transferring the railroad to Xanterra Parks & Resorts, the nation's largest national parks concessionaire, was soon signed. By late March, assuming the National Park Service approves, Xanterra should be operating the train. Under the Bigerts the Grand Canyon Railway has been operating daily service between Williams and Grand Canyon National Park, summer and winter. It has been welcoming more than 220,000 passengers a year, and the Bigerts' operation also includes the the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel, an RV park, a restaurant and several real estate parcels, all in Williams. The amount of the bid was not disclosed.

Xanterra runs lodges, restaurants and other concessions at national parks, including Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion, Crater Lake, Death Valley and Petrified Forest national parks, as well as state parks in South Dakota and Ohio. This will be its venture into running a railroad, but the company has a fine record of maintaining and restoring historic properties, including the recent and respectful rehabilitation of Old Faithful Lodge in Yellowstone National Park.

In peak season, the most visited national parks, including Grand Canyon, have been grappling with ways to lessen traffic and pollution from auto emissions by limiting vehicule access and ooperating in-park shuttle systems. Accommodating private vehicles has required, in the words of the song, paving paradise and putting in parking lots. It stands to reason that more train travel into Grand Canyon National Park means fewer cars and fewer parking lots -- and therefore another step toward the preservaion of paradise. As for emissions, I can't begin to comment on whether a steam or diesel locomotive transporting a set number of passengers is more or less polluting than the same number in private cars, RVs, pickup trucks, SUVs and tourist motocoaches, but I will say that everything else aside, a ride on this classic train has nostalgia value in its own right. I recommend it.

SGSG = Seriously Great Snow Grooming

Sun Valley, Idaho, was the first purpose-built ski resort in the United States. It opened in 1936. I'm now at Tamarack, the most recent purpose-built resort in the United States. It opened in 2004. Both are located in southern Idaho.

The contrast between these resorts in their infancy is a study in elevated expectations. Sun Valley was 1930s luxury -- a posh lodge, a huge outdoor heated pool, one chairlift, movie star guests, exotic imported Austrian ski instructors. Tamarack is 21st-century luxury -- one lodge and 60 cozy cottages (the super-luxe Fairmont Tamarack is under construction), an outdoor heated pool and private hot tubs behind each cottage, three high-speed quad chairlifts and four other lifts, sports star guests (Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf are behind the Fairmont project), home-grown ski and snowboard instructors. (OK, not just sports stars, but also George and Laura Bush (probably because Idaho remains the most reliably red state in the Union, and that's probably where the president felt most welcome) and pop idols Hilary and Hailey Duff (famous for being famous, I suppose).

I wasn't there to spot stars (although Agassi was snowboarding at Tamarack while I was on two boards) but rather to ski. Neither Sun Valley nor Tamarack has had new snow in a while (January 9 is the date I heard), but it is a testimonial to Tamarack that the skiing is fabulous. There is no powder, of course, but the snowcats are prowling the slopes every night, turning the old snow into superlative corduroy that invites high-speed cruising (above right). I'm awestruck by their mastery of manicuring the mountain.

Tamarack is developing into a full resort that also offers cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling and back-country ski access via snowcat , but the crust over dust doesn't make for the best ski experience. A group of us rode out by cat to Lone Tree Mountain, part of the 5,000 acres of backcountry terrain adjacent to the lift-served area. Head guide David Williams wasn't enthusiastic about the conditions after so much time without snow, so we took in the view but bagged the idea of skiing the ungroomed. This was no real sacrifice because the groomers have been so very good. It has been extremely cold (below zero every night and safely in the freezing zone every day), so nothing is melting -- and cover is still good.

I skied one day at nearby Brundage Mountain, a classic, family-friendly ski area that has ambitions to upgrade and expand, perhaps to keep up with the Tamarack Joneses. They also have groomed their old snow to fine skiability, and even on a Friday when local schools were having their ski day, there were no lines. I am told, however, that the ski area draws a good crowd on weekends, because it's a favorite of skiers and snowboarders from Boise -- normally two to two-and-a-half hours to the south, depending on traffic and road conditions.

Snow is forecast for tomorrow (Sunday). Guess when I'm leaving. Right. Tomorrow (Sunday). Of course, I'd love to be here for the powder, but I can't complain about the conditions or the sunshine and scenery.

Virtual Travel

A friend just alerted to a delicious blog called the Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus and its "Language Lounge," which describes itself as "A Monthly Column for Word Lovers." The topic of the latest Lounge is 'Paper Wanderlust.' It is an ode to great travel writing in classic books.

"Good travel writing is in many ways superior to actual travel; you get the benefit of fascinating or exotic experience without hassle, expense, hefty carbon footprint, and inevitable nasty surprises, " wrote columnist Orin Hargraves. "A good travel writer is often superior to an actual travel companion: you get refined sensibility, creative perception, and thoughtfully digested experience without belches, snores, and adventitious prima donna outbursts. But the really great thing about travel writing is that it is a portrait, drawn only with words, of a place you can never go yourself: places changes irrevocably."

I can't pretend that I am in the league of the erudite, intellectual travel scribes mentioned in the column -- Robert Cunninghame-Graham, Sybille Bedford, Moritz Thomsen, all of whom sound very British, but none of whom I recall ever reading and barely hearing of -- but I love Hargraves' premise that reading is in may ways superior to the experience. I, as a travel writer, hope that if nothing else, my observtions, experiences and advice ocasionally improve readers' own travel experiences.