Alterna-Airports 2.0

By Brad Tuttle
April 5, 2006
What's up at alternative airports--plus, a wallet card listing airport codes

It's become a classic bit of advice: Look to smaller, alternative airports--such as Long Beach instead of LAX--for deals. Now, due to the rapid growth of certain airlines (and the demise of others), a whole new set of airports should be on your radar.

The Southwest Airlines effect, in which a low-fare carrier enters or expands service at an airport and other airlines drop fares to keep pace, is on full display in Richmond, Va. (airport code: RIC). After AirTran began flying there from Atlanta in 2005, average fares dropped 42 percent. Fares will likely remain low, as JetBlue started flying to Richmond in March. And when Southwest Airlines and WestJet inaugurated service at Fort Myers, Fla., a low-fare hub of sorts was created--JetBlue, AirTran, Frontier, and USA 3000 already fly there.

In February, after more than a year in bankruptcy, ATA dropped several routes out of its hub in Indianapolis (IND); AirTran swooped in, and by midsummer the airline will offer eight nonstops from Indy (up from two) to LAX, San Francisco, and a handful of Florida airports. The failure of Independence Air opened gate space at several East Coast cities. JetBlue got Portland, Maine (PWM), and AirTran took the gate at Westchester County Airport (HPN) in White Plains, N.Y.

For decades, there was an uneasy peace between American Airlines, operating a hub at Dallas-Fort Worth, and Southwest, whose home airport is Dallas-Love Field. Recently, Southwest has pushed lawmakers to allow it to fly longer routes out of Love--to compete more directly with American--prompting American to go on the offensive. American announced more than a dozen flights out of Love, after not bothering to serve it at all for five years. "We're not here to make a profit," an American rep said at the time. "We're going after Southwest customers."

Keep an eye on big airports, too. At Denver and Dallas, travelers are being wooed by low fares and other perks. When Southwest began service to Denver, Frontier and United, which both use Denver as a hub, offered double the frequent-flier mileage. United even tossed in discounts at Hyatt hotels.

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Senior Discounts

Outside of trust-fund kids, no group has more leisure time than older folks--and the travel industry is well aware of it. Hotels, tours, airlines, and attractions target seniors with special offers, which unfortunately often turn out to be discounts in name only. The only way to figure out if you're getting a deal is to crunch the numbers. We've tried to help by doing some of the math for you. Airfare The days when seniors received a flat 10 percent off on most flights are long gone, but there still are special offers available. On Southwest Airlines, travelers 65 and up never have to pay more than $129 each way (plus taxes and fees). What's more, the carrier's senior fares are totally refundable without penalty, and no advance purchase or minimum stay is required. One hang-up is that Southwest limits the number of senior tickets per plane, so you're out of luck on flights that are close to full. Another sticking point: Southwest readily admits that its regular prices are sometimes less expensive than its senior fares, though the cheaper tickets come with the usual restrictions. United Airlines' Silver Wings Plus club, available for passengers 55 and over, is worth joining in certain circumstances. United divides the world into various zones, and once you sign up--and pay a $264 annual fee--flights are priced according to how many zones you cross. For example, the Silver Wings fare for a round trip from Medford, Ore., to Boston costs $389; when we searched, the best regular fare on the same flight was $489. On routes where United faces competition from other airlines, however, you'd often pay more than is necessary using Silver Wings. According to the zone fares, members would pay the same $389 for a trip from Portland, Ore., to Boston, yet anyone could buy a ticket on the same plane for as little as $288. The end result is that Silver Wings doesn't make sense for most travelers, though it can be worthwhile for those who fly often to or from smaller airports served by United. Other "senior" airfares are completely indistinguishable from standard tickets. AARP runs a website for its members through Travelocity (travelocity.com/aarp), but airfare searches almost always turn up prices that are identical to those at Travelocity's main site. (So far, AARP has only arranged special rates for members with United and Lufthansa.) At the websites of Continental, American, and other airlines, there are special boxes that allow you to request fare quotes as a senior, but you'll usually pay the same as any other adult would. Lodging Most hotels grant seniors around 10 percent off the rack rate, with varying age qualifications at different properties. The discount is often no better--and occasionally worse--than what military servicepeople, AAA members, and corporate travelers receive. Flashing your AARP card can yield the best price of all. Starwood hotels knock off as much as 50 percent, though there are caveats for the best deals: You might have to reserve well in advance, pay for one night up front, and accept the fact that no refunds are allowed. Among other member discounts, a list of 28 hotel chains can be found at aarp.org/travel; anyone 50 and up can join for $12.50 per year. Attractions Seniors can expect an easy few bucks off at museums, historic sites, and other tourist classics. New Orleans's National D-Day Museum, for example, charges $14 for standard admission, but $8 for seniors 65 and up. Cards and booklets such as CityPass, which covers entrance to several attractions in a given city with one purchase, complicate matters. CityPass points out that $98.80 is the full admission total for the six attractions included in its $49.50 Chicago pass. But seniors would pay only $72.32 if they bought individual tickets at each attraction, making the pass less of a deal--especially if they aren't interested in all of the sights. Other senior offers are clearly tremendous values: For just $10, the Golden Age Passport gives anyone 62 and up lifetime admission to all national parks. Trains Amtrak riders 62 and older get 15 percent off most coach fares, and discounts on Canada's VIA Rail are even better: With a paid senior fare, folks 60 and up can bring along a companion of any age at no extra cost. Alternately, a senior can receive 10 percent off a VIA Rail first-class seat, as well as a 75 percent discount on a companion's ticket. There are no senior rates for classic Eurail passes, but senior rail passes are sold for specific countries or regions--France, Great Britain, the Balkans, and Scandinavia. These passes are generally available in first-class service only, and cost a little more than what non-seniors pay for second-class passes. When seniors lose Travel insurance Because insurers factor age into their policies, seniors pay far more than younger travelers. Insurance for the same $3,500 trip costs $154 at age 40, $217 at 67, $346 at 77, and $528 at 87. Overseas car rentals Drivers can rent cars at almost any age in the U.S. That's not always so overseas. Many agencies in Greece and Romania have a cutoff at age 70, while in Ireland and Italy it's generally 75. Some agents will turn you down even if their company doesn't have an age limit. If you appear to be too old to drive safely, they'll refuse you.

SoCal's Coolest Street

A true Southern California beach town, Venice Beach is famous for its boardwalk, where skating musclemen sashay past cheesy trinket shops. But one mile east, Abbot Kinney Boulevard has recently become the pleasant polar opposite: a long, mellow street of independent boutiques. Surfing Cowboys has everything a dude could want (1624 Abbot Kinney Blvd., 310/450-4891). In 1999, former fashion photographers Wayne and Donna Gunther began turning their studio, where they also lived, into this shop, stocking it with collectibles, mid-century furniture, and art. Antique surfboards, roughly hewn wooden tables, and rare hula-girl figurines can cost upward of $1,000, but there are also plenty of reasonably priced mementos, such as vintage surf posters (from $25) and the store's popular CHARLIE DON'T SURF T-shirts, a reference to Apocalypse Now ($18). Creative types have long been attracted to Venice, and the gallery Ten Women puts their efforts on display (#1237, 310/452-2256). Contrary to what its name implies, Ten Women is a co-op that actually includes 21 painters, sculptors, jewelry designers, and photographers, who all split the rent, sell their wares, and staff the counter. Each artist works a three-hour shift once a week, so there's always an informed clerk on hand. Jewelry designer Phyllis Kalionzes creates dangling earrings with imported early-20th-century glass beads ($20); Peggy McKeever bakes colorful, tangled telephone wires into sculptures in the shape of women's dresses (from $20). Best friends Katherine Kemp and Kim Michalowski run Ananda Shakti, a boutique with affordable goods that have a global vibe (#1354, 310/399-4186). Necklaces imported from Brazil are made of dried seeds and nuts strung together on twine ($38). They also stock a line of shirts with drawings of Buddhist temples ($30) by a Venice-based company called Custom. While many area shops find friends and couples partnering, friends Erinn Berkson and Elizabeth McConocha decided they needed their own spaces--sort of. Berkson's seven-year-old Firefly stocks clothing, jewelry, accessories, and pampering products, such as aromatic eye pillows ($18) stuffed with dried herbs and flowers (#1413, 310/450-6288). There's a cottage in the back, where two years ago McConocha opened In the Garden (310/450-3828). Outdoor lamps of iron and weather-resistant paper ($50) sit alongside garden gnomes ($39). French-trained jewelry maker Sandrine Klein sells her work at The Goddess (#1507, 310/314-1494), and on the first and third Sunday mornings of each month, she and her staff teach a class called Bead & Breakfast. A handful of gemstones, a chain, and a clasp start at $25--the coffee, pastries, and advice are free.

A Softy for Milwaukee

At 17, I was never too pooped to polka. I grew up in the suburbs of Milwaukee, and on Friday nights, a group of friends from high school and I would go to a restaurant outside town called Etzel's. It was a classic wood-paneled German-American joint, the kind of place where Friday night's fish fry was the biggest event around. We would drink beer, and once the polka band started up, we'd swing into action. Part of the fun was asking folks to join us in kicking up our heels to "Roll Out the Barrel." It was a blast, but it was also proof of something I feared: Milwaukee was irredeemably dorky. In the mid-1980s, the city was most famous for Laverne & Shirley, a reference still maddeningly brought up by everyone not from there. A friendly, safe place to grow up? Definitely. But cool it was not. At the time, I didn't understand a fundamental principle by which Milwaukeeans live. They feel their hometown is a wonderful place that, with a little effort, could get even better. I went to Milwaukee recently, accompanied by Sam and Stephanie, two high school friends who were my polka partners at Etzel's, and we were pleasantly surprised by the results of that can-do spirit. Take the Milwaukee Art Museum. I had always been put off by the severe modernism of the 1957 Eero Saarinen building. But I loved what was inside, especially a groovy walk-in conceptual art piece that simulated deep space. Putting a treasure like that in such a building seemed like storing a bouquet of roses in a filing cabinet. I later came to love modernism. Even as I changed, however, the museum changed, too. In 2001, Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava installed a 90-foot-high reception hall topped by movable louvers--in essence, a huge sunroof. And it gave the city a skyline icon--a mast-like spire with two wings that soar out over Lake Michigan. Constructing the enormously expensive building got the museum into financial troubles. To me, it felt like Milwaukee was finally reaching for the stars, which can mean overreaching a bit. Back in the day, overreaching mainly applied to portions of food. Quantity, not quality, was the culinary rule. My friend Diane and I used to joke about wearing out the treads in our shoes because we made so many trips to a favorite buffet. Certainly there were exceptions. My parents introduced me and my sister to morels and other fancy foods at Sanford's, back when restaurants like that were rare. Today Sanford's is in good company. In 1999, the chef/owner at Sanford's, Sandy D'Amato, opened Coquette Cafe, a wonderful bistro. Eating coq au vin with smoked bacon, I could just as easily have been in New York or Paris. Roots, which styles itself after the artisanal restaurants of California, is a terrific addition to the scene. One of the restaurant's partners grows organic produce on a 67-acre farm outside of town. The unusual dishes--grilled pigeon peas with a green chili and tomato confit--are a far cry from a fish fry. And now home chefs have all the artisanal ingredients they need, thanks to the new Milwaukee Public Market, with food from local farmers and purveyors. The food scene isn't the only thing being updated. A neighborhood called Avenues West is in the midst of a long-necessary revival. It has a glorious architectural past; the westernmost stretch of Wisconsin Avenue was a late-19th- century Milwaukee version of Millionaire's Row. Many of the mansions had been torn down, however, and for the past few decades, Avenues West didn't have much tourist appeal. One grand building that was spared is the Ambassador Hotel, an art deco beauty built in 1928. (In the 1950s, a relative of mine was married there.) As a bellboy cheerfully told me, the hotel had become downright "nasty," and last year, it emerged from a spiffy transformation. Stephanie and Sam, raised in the suburbs like I was, were skeptical when I told them about the Ambassador's location. But once they saw the restored marble floors and etched-glass sconces in the lobby, they were impressed. On our last day, we had a whole lot of plans. Unfortunately, Etzel's wasn't in the cards, because it has closed. But we were able to revisit another old favorite: Kopp's, a 1950s-style hamburger joint with top-notch frozen custards. The staff is earnest in that Milwaukee way ("I'm sorry, we sure don't have any more Butter Brickle"). Then we went to a Brewers game. I was ready to hate Miller Park, the new baseball stadium. I thought the domed glass-and-steel building would be a little too shiny. The concrete floors of the stadium positively gleamed, and there was corporate sponsorship everywhere. But Bob Uecker, famous for being jokingly clueless in Miller Lite commercials, was still doing the radio broadcast, and a mascot went down a long slide when the Brew Crew got a hit--just as we remembered. The Brewers won, and the organist even played a strain of "Roll Out the Barrel" to celebrate a hit. To three veteran polka fans, it sure felt like home. Lodging   Ambassador Hotel 2308 W. Wisconsin Ave., 414/342-8400, ambasshotel.com, from $99 Food   Coquette Cafe 316 N. Milwaukee St., 414/291-2655, coq au vin $17   Roots 1818 N. Hubbard St., 414/374-8480, pigeon pea appetizer $8   Kopp's 5373 N. Port Washington Rd., 414/961-3288, scoop $1.80 Activities   Milwaukee Art Museum 700 N. Art Museum Dr., 414/224-3220, $8   Miller Park 1 Brewers Way, 414/902-4400   Public Market 400 N. Water St., 414/336-1111