Ever since my first trip on Virgin America last week, I’ve been trying to nail down what, exactly, makes the airline so special. I’ll begin with a few highlights: – The security line at O’Hare was a winding nightmare, and after 20 minutes with almost no movement, I was genuinely worried that I’d miss the […]

Last week, I flew on Virgin America for the first time. It was a pretty amazing experience, which I’ll cover in more detail in an upcoming post. For now, I want to focus on a single detail that really surprised me. I was seated in one of the bulkhead seats at the front of the […]

I’ve had the same type of coffeemaker for 5 years running. About 18 months ago, the carafe started leaking, so I checked if the manufacturer would replace it. Nope, they said, the carafe is an accessory, and accessories have no warranty coverage. A new carafe costs half as much as the entire machine, so I […]

For some reason, the area around my apartment building has become a hot spot for movie filming. I think it started with The Dark Knight a few years back, and now it seems like there’s film crew vehicles on my block for several weeks each summer. Normally, this isn’t a big deal. But this year, […]

I’ve been scheduling a fair amount of travel lately, which has made me even more sensitive to the gap between what I expect from travel providers, and what they actually deliver. For instance, consider the process of booking an airline ticket. Once I’ve made a purchase, I expect the following: – An immediate, on-screen confirmation […]

As I was pricing out different flight options for an upcoming trip, I wanted to see how much extra it would be for a so-called premium economy seat on a particular airline. So I signed in to the airline website, chose the appropriate flight, and continued with the process until it finally let me select […]

During a trip last month, I had the opportunity to ride four different train systems, ranging from fairly ancient to brand new. The newer trains (and even some of the old ones) included some nice approaches to customer messaging. For example: – When you’re waiting on the station platform, electronic signs tell you when the […]

Over the weekend, I took a walk past a new shopping center in my neighborhood. It’s slated to open in about a month, and will include the first real grocery store that people in this area can get to without crossing the river. The scene looked just like what you’d expect from an almost-finished commercial […]

I’ve noticed something strange on my last few airline trips: it’s becoming very difficult to find simple things like milk on the beverage menu. While I haven’t studied the matter in detail, there seems to be no shortage of sodas and other sugary drinks. Perhaps that’s what most customers want, but it’s still a discouraging […]

During a recent trip to the airport, I came across a rather infuriating escalator situation. There was a single escalator located next to a steep staircase, but it was programmed to move downward. In other words, everyone had to carry their bags by hand up the stairs, which can be a real pain even for […]