Has Southwest Airlines Lost it's Way?

I wonder if Southwest Airlines has lost it's way. I am a frequent traveler on Airtran and since Airtran was purchased by Southwest I've been watching for the changes Suthwest is implementing.

I like Airtran, they have a range of programs designed to attract different groups of travelers. They have a business class and use upgrades to reward frequent fliers. They have a standby program for poor college students with more time than money called airtran U. They have a A2B a corporate program that caters to business travelers with relatively low entry requirements and offers a number of perks that enhance flexibility like free name changes and free same day standby (space available) and a free bag. Airtran has a simple Frequent Flyer (8 flights = 1 free flight). Their Elite designation adds a number of free perks including free upgrades (space available) and free bags.

Southwest on the other hand has recently revamped their Frequent flier program ( Rapid Rewards) to be more like a legacy airline mileage program geared to how much a passenger paid for their ticket. The new program offers miles that do no expire ( for now). It is also difficult to transfer "points" that do expire from the old program to the new one.

Southwest has also been aggressively raising fares to the extent that in many cases they are not the least expensive airline. She recently has a need to travel from New Orleans to Austin, both in Southwests "home country". Continental was far less expensive, given two months notice, even including the bag fees that Continental will charge. That was a stunning epiphany.

Formerly I was a Southwest evangelist, they were nice to us. Then they turned on us.

Once A long time ago I was on a one day trip to Dallas. I took Southwest and on the way back I had elected to take a later flight that went through Houston. When we were waiting to take off the airport was closed due to weather. The Captain ordered drinks all around. After a while we moved out but for some reason pulled off to the side. It turned out the Houston Airport was now closed by the same storm front. Shortly after that a truck pulled up beside our plane and couple of guys who could have been Chippendales marched down the aisle with case of beer on their shoulder to applause all around.

Southwest was also famous for handing out free drink coupons. A while ago they voided all of those drink coupons that they had given out. I had 12 or 16 that are now useless. Non of them had an expiration date. There are law suits pending.

Back to Southwest of the present from what I read in the Business Press Southwest wants to attract more Business Travelers. I am at a loss to determine what programs Southwest has in place to accomplish this. Big Corporations seem more than willing to pay big bucks to keep their employees happy while they also have the clout to get better deals from the Legacy Airlines. The business opportunity that Airtran identified and Southwest seems to be ignoring, is the small businesses who actually can direct the travel of their employees but cannot get a good deal from the legacy airlines.

Let me point out what, according to Southwest, we will no longer have:

• Business Class.
• As a result of legacy program changes
  
• As an Elite Member - I will likely get a place in the front of the line and a 25% increase in points.
  
• Although as I understand it the qualification to remain on the A List will double over A+ Elite .
  
• The ironically named A List Preferred apparently requires nearly double the qualifications of the A list and four times the qualification to renew Airtran's Elite status.
• Other than enhanced "brownie points" (100% vs 25%)" and free wifi, there seems no additional benefit over the "A List".
  
• Neither offer substantial benefits beyond a "dedicated phone number" and "priority boarding", which we already enjoy.
• We have also noted that the Southwest "Rapid Rewards" which was similar to Airtran's A+ Rewards has been downgraded making it less attractive than it was previously, although the new "points don't expire" feature favors occasional travelers over frequent travelers.
  
• No more A2B at our level. We have only used two of the A2B benefits to any effect.
  
• One of the most substantial business benefits to use is the ability to change the name on a reservation.
  
• Our other most used benefit is the ability to go standby on a space available basis on any flight on the same day at no cost.
• Southwest Corporate Travel program is only available to Fortune 2000 Businesses.
• The SWABIZ program offers no benefits to travelers and the benefits to a business are nominal.
  
• Although Baggage charges make a point for leisure travelers many (maybe most) Business Travelers do not check baggage, or even carry any. I know I seldom do except for long leisure trips.
• When traveling Airtran on business I seldom check a bag or even carry one. I usually do when on vacation.
• As an Airtran A2B passenger I get one bag free (an effective $15 discount (if I were to check a bag, which I almost never do)).
• Many Passengers carry on their bags, which they might check if there were no bag fees.
• I am old enough to remember when it was "cool" not to check bags and the "stewardess" would stow bags for you.
• Today the large overhead bins accommodate "standard" rolling bags and many people are afraid to check bags.
• As an Airtran A+ Elite I do not pay baggage fees on the first two bags, I effectively get a $35 discount on most tickets (If I were to check two bags, which I seldom do).
• In essence Southwest is giving away a "cosmetic benefit" which costs little and benefits Business Travelers little.

While I will probably continue to fly the new Airtran/Southwest I also expect fares to increase, except for occasional, less frequent sale fares. I will always fondly remember Airtran and the fact that their business model seemed to be working. If a new Airtran comes along I will likely jump ship.

I presently expect that our fare's will increase approximately 40% by 2013, as a result of Southwest's model replacing Airtran's. I also expect to lose the few useful benefits we enjoyed as A2B partners.

I hope I'm wrong.

I don't think I am, recently I found that Delta had lower fares than Airtran/Southwest for a trp from MSY 2 ATL.

I'm Getting Old

I recently had a birthday and She took me on a plantation excursion. We spent the night at Nottoway and at Houmas House. Each of those places has evolved into a tourist destination of sorts, with numerous attractions. Both host a lot of weddings and other events, both have fine dining restaurants. Nottoway has overnight accommodations for about 100 people including rooms in the house and cottages.

This is something we have been talking about for a long time. We even did it once, spending the night at Madewood a few years ago, before I started this blog.

This was a sort of surprise. I knew something was happening but I didn't know exactly what.


Friday afternoon we took off work early and headed up the river and over the Sunshine Bridge. We arrived a Notoway
and checked into our new cottage, it had been open only a year or two.

The room was very nicely furnished.


Since it was late in the afternoon we unpacked, walked around the grounds and eventually got ready for dinner at the Mansion Restaurant, located in the lower level of the house.


Our table was the one of the far right. The food was very good and the service pretty good. I recommend it. The only drawback is like a lot of restaurants it is noisy, although that may have had more to do with the party at the next table.

Saturday morning we had breakfast in the restaurant. Two eggs any style with choice of bacon or ham, grits and biscuit ($7.00). They didn't run out of grits.

Finally the tour of the property. It was interesting. The most interesting part was how the plantation survived the Civil War. It seems the owner took his slaves to Texas where he hired them out to make cash. When the war was over he had the cash to purchase a pardon and keep the plantation. The second most interesting part was the opinion of our guide, a retired school teacher, on the state of education in Louisiana.

Heading back across the Sunshine bridge to Houmas House.

Houmas House doesn't have any overnight accommodations except their Honeymoon Cottage.

It is an old cottage with two rooms, a bed room and a bridal room. It also has a large bathroom with a giant tub. There is no TV in the cottage nor as far as I could find anywhere on the plantation.

There is however a bar on the premises


It is fairly small and serves as the bar for the restaurant and the various events. I got the opportunity to teach two bar tenders how to make a daiquiri.

We had dinner at Latil's Landing Restaurant, located in the old trading post building behind the main house. The Food was excellent and the service very good. I recommend it also.

There are several small dining rooms, this is the one we ate in.

Sunday morning we had a bit of a problem, the water went out early in the morning and didn't come back on until after 10. We were wondering whether the rest of our day would be in jeopardy, you see we wanted to take a tour and have brunch before departing.

Nothing seemed to go awry. Tours were announced by the ringing of a bell and they went on more or less as scheduled. We took the 11:00 AM tour, led by a very dramatic young lady named Katie. Whenever I take these kinds of tours I'm never sure how much of the spiel is accurate but in South Louisiana we have never been anxious about letting a few facts get in the way of a good story.

Again Houmas House survived the Civil War as a viable working plantation. The story of how that happened is also interesting. Apparently the Owner freed his slaves several months before the war started and hired them back as employees. He also kept his money in Northern banks, was an Irishman and therefore a British Subject and had a letter for Abraham Lincoln.

The most interesting thing on the tour was a large map of Louisiana from the 1840's. It showed the extent of major plantations and listed the population of each parish. It listed population in three columns White, Free Colored and Slaves. I can't recall the exact numbers but I was surprised to see that Orleans parish was listed with somewhat over 100,000 residents. Somewhat over 50,000 were white and there were almost equal numbers of slaves and free colored residents (each in the 20,000's).

After the tour we had Sunday Brunch in the Pavillion Ballroom, one of the venues on site. It was pretty good as well.

After brunch we drove back to New Orleans in time to watch the saints game on TV, but that is another story.

Superbowl - Da Game

Siting in the Stadium waiting for the game to begin, surrounded by thousands of Saints fans was a strange feeling. I had been in this same stadium several times before and the vibe was very different. I had never been there with anything vested in the outcome. I had never been surrounded by my people before, outside the comfort of the Dome or long ago Tulane Stadium.


As we waited for the game to begin drinking a $10 beer, we tentatively introduced ourselves to the people around us. Exchanging stories of our Saints history, how we came to be there and why we came. Nobody paid much attention.


The pregame festivities and ceremony came and went, no one paid much attention, except when the Saints came on the field. Everyone seemed to be waiting for our time. Waiting for the game to begin.

The sign says it all. The Colts jumped to an early lead but the fans didn't panic or fall into the familiar fatalistic premonition. They held a quiet confidence. Continuing to cheer for the Saints. The Colts fans seemed very quiet, even when they held the lead.


As the first half progressed the Saints fought back, gaining on the Colts. The fans confidence was building as the Saints scored and began to catch the Colts on the scoreboard. There was a feeling that the Saints were coming back. Halftime came with the Saints trailing and no one seemed worried.

The opening of the second half convinced every Saints fan that we would win. The onside kick followed by a drive to take the lead was Saints all out, go for broke football. All we had to do was Finish Strong. That phrase was common in the ranks of the faithful.

Even falling behind again and finishing the third quarter one point behind had little effect on the spirits of the faithful.

The Saints were marching. Everyone in Black and Gold was behind the Saints in the third quarter. It didn't matter what the Colts did. But there was still work to do. The fans were confidently behind the Saints. the Legend of Peyton was not intimidating anyone. We had our own Peyton.

Our faith was rewarded in the beginning of the fourth quarter. The Saints frustrated the Colts and retook the lead. The officials even cooperated on a two point conversion.

We were going to win the Super Bowl, it was unreal. We knew the commentators were telling the country that Peyton the Great was going to come back and work his magic. It didn't matter We Knew Better. We knew that Drew could match anything he could do.

Greg Williams turned the defense loose, Tracy Porter took it to the house. We won the Super Bowl. There was no way the Colts could come back in 3:12. We hugged and cried for the entire remaining three minutes.

The Saints won the Superbowl.

We were in shock. We were stunned. We were in rapture. We were Super Bowl Champions.

Superbowl - Game Day

Super Bowl Game Day started out calm enough. We went down for our Continental Breakfast, still debating where to park and when to leave for the Stadium.

One unexpected appearance was De Pope, Lionel "De Pope" Alphonso, NFL Hall of Fame number one Saints fan. We rode down the elevator to breakfast with him. He barely fit into the elevator with his mitre.Our breakfast was occupied with questions of costume and parking and tail gating.

I have never been a big jersey wearer. I've never owned one, not even now. For the playoff games I wore a black dress shirt I had never worn before. That seemed to have reasonably good effect so I was determined to wear it again to the Super Bowl. I was not so superstitious as to forgo washing it nor wear the exact socks pants or underwear on every occasion. In fact if that was required I probably couldn't remember which socks and underwear I had worn.
We departed the hotel around 1:30 PM on advice of the stadium employee I had spoken to earlier in the week. She held a low opinion of the NFL parking management which apparently ad snarled traffic pretty badly the week before for the pro bowl. Apparently the NFL decided that they knew how to manage parking better than the stadium teams that manages 20 or so games a year. Having attended several games there before I was very skeptical of their ability.We decided to prepare for limited tailgating by stopping at the Publix up the street and getting disposable a Styrofoam cooler, some ice, wine, beer cokes, sandwiches, snacks and two bottles of Prosecco for the later celebration. She has become enamored with Prosecco recently fortunately Publix has a good wine department as several varieties of Prosecco.

Given the distance She would need to walk and missing the tailgating, we decided to park in the Stadium lot. Taking the Florida Turnpike to the Stadium exit we were able to drive right into lot 13 and park in the second row. It was a nearly perfect parking space. There were no cars between us and the exit and only a few feet to walk to cross the street to the stadium.

One thing I noted in an earlier post was that the stadium parking lot had been designed with Tailgating in mind. I found this proof on the Stadium web site.

Notice that ample paved area outside the parking spaces for tailgating. At the Orange Bowl and Dolphin home games charcoal grills are permitted in that areas and are abundant. I have never observed a problem.

In our parking lot across the road things were less structured but there was still plenty of room. It was surely far enough away from the stadium to preclude any possibility of mischief.

There was a steady stream of cars parking in the lot and a trickle of fans heading to the stadium and the NFL pre-game thingy. Since it was more that 4 hours to kick off we decided see who was coming into the lot.

I started a walkabout. Almost immediately I found a bunch of Who Dats starting a charcoal fire intending to warm a pork shoulder. A little further on I found a bunch of Colts cooking some brats. No one seemed concerned about the tailgate police, although rumors of them were circulating.

I can say without any fear of contradiction Saints fans are way more fun than Colts fans. The best most Colts fans can do is wear a jersey with the name "Manning" on it and the wrong number. Everyone knows Archie wore number 8.

Seriously there were Saints fans in Black kilts with gold fluer-de-lis. Saints fans with black umbrellas with gold sequins and ostrich plumes. There were creole ladies of a certain age in Brees jersey's dancing to the Ying Yang Twins Halftime. The Saints were having fun and the Colts were serious.Working the parking lot I met several people who had driven from Louisiana including one couple truck bedding. They were winners of the stealth third round of the ticket lottery.

All the while were were enjoying the stream of fans heading to the stadium.

A couple hours before kickoff we headed to the NFL Game Day Fan Plaza. It was already winding down, but there didn't seem to be much there. We headed to the stadium, our seats were all the way at the top.

We had selected our seats hoping we would be surrounded by Saint's fans. We were not disappointed. We were surrounded by black and gold, mostly black. It appeared to me that Saints fans outnumbered Colts fans approximately two to one.

The game was about to begin.

The Saints are in the SUPER BOWL

Superbowl - Tickets and Stuff

Saturday was sort of a free day, I had only one thing to accomplish, pick up the tickets. I also wanted to check out the Stubhub venue and decide which of the two parking options we would take advantage of.

We slept in and barely made it to our "Free Continental Breakfast". The breakfast turned out to be fairly decent. There was hot Oatmeal and Cream o' Wheat, dry cereal, fruit, pastries and toast or toasted bagels. I drank 4 glasses of OJ in an attempt to ward off the chest cold that I was sure to get. One thing that the Cuban and Central American influx has helped in Miami is the coffee. You can actually get decent coffee most places. You can also tell you're not in the south anymore because there are no grits for breakfast.


We fired up the GPS and headed off to find Calder Racetrack and pickup our tickets.
I knew about Gulfstream Park, I didn't know about Calder Racetrack I didn't think two horse track would be in such close proximity. I had no idea it was so close to Joe Robbie Stadium, Pro Player Park Pro Player Stadium, Dolpins Stadium, Dolphin Stadium, LandShark Stadium, Sun Life Stadium. We found the track with no problem, finding Stubhub was a little more difficult. There were only a few small signs, we had to ask directions. Stubhub was set up in a back parking lot adjacent to the stables. I imagine it's the parking lot for the horsemen, jockeys trainers and the like.

I was surprised by the size of the setup. It looked like they were expecting thousands of people. There was a very large tent with a bar, buffet line and big screen TVs. There was an even larger outdoor area being set up with tables and chairs. They had a few games set up things like a football passing accuracy thing. The ticket operation was pretty efficient, it took only a few minutes to pick up the tickets and sign a receipt. In the tent they were serving soft drinks, chips, nachos and grilled hot dogs. We ate some.

The Stubhub Parking arrangements for the game were a little complex. You parked at the Calder Race Track, took a tram to the edge of the track property and walked half a mile to the stadium. Something thousands of fans do for every Dolphins game. We were not so sure, She has a bum ankle and knee, so a lot of walking could hamper her enthusiasm.

Since we were out we decided o check out Fort Lauderdale. Heading to Las Olas we wanted to see if we could find quiet place for a mid-afternoon drink.

By the time we got there traffic was horrible, and at the beach parking was impossible.

Riverwalk

The Boulevard was very crowded but there didn't seem to be many Who Dats or Colts fans. We decide to pass on Fort Lauderdale. Our alternate plan was a Tiki Tour of the Hollywood board walk.

The tour began at our hotel, out back on the beach O'Malleys is a beach front bar complete with local and other sports memorabilia.


We ordered a drink and a half dozen oysters on the half shell. The drinks were good the oysters weren't. We pushed off.

Next stop Nick's.


Nicks has been a fixture of Hollywood Beach and of our trips there. We usually order a half dozen oysters on the half shell and a Peroni beer.
They have very good raw oysters, and pretty good bar food. In fact Nick's is where we discovered that somehow Peroni and raw oysters were made for each other. At our usual seats at the front raw bar we had a playful conversation with 3 couples dressed in Colts Colors.

Next stop the Walkabout Beach Resort.

One of several small older beachfront motels, the Walkabout Beach Resort is typical and has the obligatory Beach Front Tiki Bar, it is one of two authentic Seminole Indian Tiki Huts on Hollywood Beach. Funny I always thought that the Tiki was a Polynesian thing, of course thatched structures using local materials are common all over the world, even in northern Europe. During peak periods there is live music, usually of the Harry Chapin kind.

Next stop was probably the other authentic Seminole Indian Tiki Hut, the Ripide Ocean Front Beach Hotel
The Riptide is similar to the Walkabout, gems from Hollywood's earliest days, right down to the music at the Tiki Bar.

By the time we finished our drinks the sun was going down, the wind was coming up and the temperature dropping fast. It was getting cool and we weren't dressed for it. We started back, only stopping a Nick's for a quick drink.

We got back and decided to rest and head out a little later for dinner, possibly The Original Taverna Opa or Gerogio's Grille or Billie's Stone Crabs all within a block or two of our hotel. After a short nap we decided to eat in, hamburgers from O'Malley's.

Game Day tomorrow.

Superbowl - Travel Day

Friday morning, we were finally off. Our flight left around 11:00 AM so we had time to get ready, eat breakfast park the car and check out bags at a leisurely pace.

We booked out flights using frequent flier credit on Airtran. That meant we had to fly through Atlanta. Not a big problem as frequent Airtran Fliers with Corporate and Elite status we know many of the people at the station in New Orleans and have a very good understanding of the system. Our tickets were Business Class so we we anticipating a couple of Bloody Marys and a nice relaxing flight.

The New Orleans Airport was full of Saints Fans and Who Dat's. Everyone was happy. We helped our favorite bartender open her bar on Concourse C and started with the Bloody Marys. There was a charter flight of Who Dats loading at the front of the concourse, and down at the far end a fairly loud crowd of American passengers was cheering. Someone was playing a trumpet. Just a normal day in the Who Dat nation. Unfortunately there was no brass band.

When our plane arrived we were shocked to see the it was Airtran's Colts 1,

several of the planes in the Airtran fleet are painted in different team colors. As far as I know there is no Saints1. That caused a little grumbling. It was an gaff on the part of the Airtran Traffic Department not to schedule that plane primarily on flights to Indianapolis during Superbowl week. The pilot, a fellow who called himself Luke Skywalker apologized, saying he didn't get to pick the plane and that the hyper drive was broken.

Our flight was uneventful and we arrived in Atlanta more or less on time, about two Bloody Marys each. In the Atlanta Airport C Concourse there was a lot of Black and Gold, much more than Colt Blue I think. I don't think they could all be going to Miami or Fort Lauderdale.
I stopped in to say hello to my bartender at the Miller Victory Lane on Concourse C, but he was not there yet.

The flight to Fort Lauderdale was delayed a little, apparently the plane was coming out of snow country and a lot of Colts fans got on with us. There was no fight and not much ribbing or boisterous behavior at all.

In Fort Lauderdale our bag was one of the first ones out. The Fort Lauderdale Airport has a good idea I wish the New Orleans Airport would steal . When the baggage conveyors, much like the ones in New Orleans, start there is an array of decorative lights that flash alerting passengers that the bags are coming out. More exciting is that when the belts start, there is tropical island music. There is no harsh buzzer or kalxon. How about we start them with the bugle call used at the start of the Second Line and play the Second Line for a while? Welcome to New Orleans.


The car rental shuttles were more crowded than I have ever seen them, even more than Christmas or New Years peak days. Our rental car was ready and we quickly resolved a small glitch with our American Express Rewards Certificate with no angst. Everything so far was going according to plan.

It only takes about 15 minutes to get to our hotel from the airport. When we got there, much to my surprise we checked in without any problems. They had our package ready and there were very few people around the lobby. Valet parking only cost $18/day and the valets were very quick and helpful. They even showed her how to open the trunk.

Typical Room at The Ramada Hollywood Beach Resort

Our room was better than expected. We had rented a Queen Superior Studio. What we got was a one bedroom suite with a king bed. While the rooms were somewhat oddly laid out and constructed, dated and worn, it there was clean, comfortable and well set up with a full kitchen. The WiFi worked well.

We headed out to South Beach almost immediately after dropping out bags off. It was after 5 and She wanted to take A1A down to see what had changed. The Drive down A1A through Hallendale, Sunny Isles and past the Trump mega Towers is interesting. Over the last few years we have watched as the Motels built in the 50 and 60s were replaced by the Mega Opulent Condo Towers. After you get to Miami Beach through Bal Harbour, past the newly restored and expanded Fountainbleau and the Eden Roc, its longtime competitor.

Fountainbleau

As we approached South Beach on Collins Ave, we slowed to a crawl. Only a couple of blocks from Ocean Drive the traffic is heavy on a "normal" Friday evening. Add in thousands of Who Dats and a Free NFL Concert on the beach and it's amazing anything was moving.

Eventually we arrived a Smith and Wollinsky, in a relatively quiet part of Miami Beach, right at the the entrance to the cruise ship harbor

The reception was nice, lots of hor d'oeuvres including very good small cheeseburgers made with some of the best ground meat I've ever had. There was of course an open bar. We met several other Who Dat's, including a father and son. It was a very nice.


It seems that had taken my advise and had brought most of the tickets to the reception, but for some reason they didn't bring ours. They did confirm that they had our tickets and I could pick them up tomorrow, so everything worked out OK.


Our original plan had been to go to Ocean Drive or possibility Lincoln Road to have dinner after the reception, but we ate too much. We were also both somewhat under the weather (She was getting over a chest cold but She had just given it to me so I was getting worse). We headed back to our Hotel and crashed as soon as we got there.

Suberbowl - Anxiety

After all of the pieces were in place I began to get anxious about whether it would come together or not. I have never bought such expensive tickets in my life I had never bought tickets from a third party, depending on someone to deliver the tickets the day before an event I was traveling hundreds of miles and spending hundreds of dollars to attend. I was staying in a hotel that I was familiar with and had stayed away from. I was pretty sure something would screw up.

At this point all I could do was pack and hope for the best.
Things began to look up almost immediately. My email box began to fill up with confirmations. Travelocity confirmed the Hotel with a confirmation number. I had elected to prepay and use Travelocity to prevent any confusion at check-in.
The best new something was two parties. Stubhub called to ask if we were planning on attending their Friday night party in South Beach. It seems they were giving a party (with an open bar) for all purchasers at Smith and Wollensky at the tip end of Miami Beach, very close to Joe's Stone Crabs.

They also invited us to "the Stub Hub Experience" prior to and after the game at Calder Race Track adjacent to the Stadium, site of the Stubhub parking. I had not noticed any of this on their website.

Stubhub seemed a little confused. They called to confirm whether I was going to the party before I got the email invitation to the party. When I asked if perhaps they could bring the tickets to the party, the only response was "That sounds like a good idea".

Stubhub called again to ask if I would talk to local media, I told them I would be happy to, but perhaps they should wait until after I had my tickets.

Stubhub called again to see if we wanted out Parking Pass shipped. I told them I planned to pick up or tickets Saturday, like I had told the previous person who called. I wanted them in my hand to be sure nothing would screw up.

Every one who called from Stubhub was young, personable helpful and uninformed about anything except the specific reason they called.

I got an email reminder for the car rental. I got a confirmation for Click and Park for the Stadium parking pass.Still there were still unresolved issues. I could not get through to Click and Park to confirm when they would ship my pass. Finally I got them on the phone and got an email message Wednesday that it shipped for overnight delivery. The Pass was delivered Thursday afternoon just before I had to leave for my last appointment before picking her up at the airport and going home to pack.

I was still nervous about the hotel and the tickets but we were on our way.

Superbowl - The Last Pieces

After taking the decision to got to the Superbowl, we had to scramble to get our final preparations made. I plan on writing a series of posts about our experience, but not too much about the game itself, everybody saw it. If you watched it on TV you probably saw it better than I did.

Superbowl Tickets

After losing the first two rounds of ticket lottery (and apparently a third round no one knew about) we also quickly exhausted our connections. Everyone we knew who won the lottery (not too many) had already made other arrangements. They had already sold their tickets, promised their tickets to someone else or were looking to retire on the sale of their tickets. We started started looking on line for tickets.



Although there are many websites that sell tickets we quickly decided on either Stubhub or the NFL official exchange Ticketmaster. Due to the last minute rush to get going we felt we needed the credibility of companies associated with the NFL. Ticketmaster is the official ticket scalper and Stubhub is a subsidiary of the Official NFL package provider. They both offered the largest assortment of tickets, almost 5,000 each.

We settled on Stubhub because they had the strongest guarantee, although getting your money back after investing thousands of dollars in the trip would hardly be a satisfying result. She selected tickets in the Upper End Zone Corner, row 10 on the Saints side of the field. They were not the cheapest tickets (those were on the Colts side or in the end zones), but they were not much more than the cheapest. Our final purchase was Monday evening, we were leaving on Friday. Stubhub did not offer to overnight the tickets but did tell us we could pick them up on Saturday.

Sunlife Stadium Section Numbers

We still didn't have a hotel room. I had already made some enquirers. We checked out our hotel in South Beach, the Marsalles and the first hotel we stayed in in South Beach The Ritz Plaza. We looked at the Yankee Clipper in Fort Lauderdale and one of out favorite hidden spots in Fort Lauderdale Lago Mar. We checked Trip Advisor my go to hotel site and we tried Travelocity Orbitz and Expedia. When we go to South Florida we usually rent a condo. I like having space and a kitchen, but since we usually deal with individual owners it takes a lot more effort and time to arrange. We called a few places we had stayed before.

As I expected there were plenty of rooms pretty much everywhere but prices were all pretty high, about double and sometimes tipple what rooms go for normally, even in "season".

The Contenders,

The Marseilles Pool

The Marseilles was out hotel for New Years Eve 1999, the Faux Millennium Eve. We have returned several times since. The hotel is located on Collins Ave, withing walking distance of Ocean Drive and Lincoln Road. The hotel have a nice poll and direct beach access. It is the best of At that time we first stayed there it was in almost original condition. It has since been updated with new decoration in the rooms, but most of the origiual hotel is still there, unlike many South Beach Hotels. Price $349/night.

The Ritz Plaza Pool

The Ritz Plaza a couple of doors down from the Marseilles it was the first hotel we stayed in in South Beach in the early 90's. We were were there for a conference. Then in almost original condition it has been closed for renovations for several years always due to open next year. There have been several owners and it's still under renovation. Maybe Next Year.

The Yankee Clipper pool side

The Yankee Clipper is a Fort Lauderdale Landmark, built in the form of a cruise ship it is one of the few hotels in Fort LAuderdale located directly on the Beach. There used to be a pretty goood Steak house in the hotel, I'm not sure it's still there.

The Yankee Clipper Bar

It features a bar with windows into the swimming pool complete with mermaids from a earlier era. Recently renamed the Sheraton Fort Lauderdale Beach Hotel. It is located steps from the NFL Saturday NIght FREE Concert. SOLD OUT.

Lago Mar Bayside

Lago Mar was a sleepy relatively inexpensive beach resort when a friend first referred us to it in the mid 90's. It is located in a quiet residential area, with an almost private beach. When we discovered it it was the best deal in Fort Lauderdale, it has since moved upscale with little improvement in quality, still its a nice place. $429/night

We decided not to stay in Southbeach or Fort Lauderdale. We booked a room in our favorite area Hollywood, mainly because there is a lot of resturants within walking distance and its convenient to the stadium. We tried a number of condos, but that didin't work out. We kept coming back to the Ramada Hollywood Beach Resort.

Hollywood Beach Resort, Ocean Side

The Hollywood Beach Resort built in 1925 as the Floridian by the world renown Rubish and Hunter architects of Indianapolis has been converted to an odd combination of hotel/ Condominium/ Time Share/ Mall. We have an affinity for grand old hotels and this was once one of them. It has been the victim of several ill conceived and poorly executed conversions over the years. We were anxious over the possible accommodations and have avoided staying there in the past. Since this was not a typical trip we decided we could sleep there 3 nights since we would be out of the hotel most of the time. $189/night.

The Final Piece was parking. Where would we put the car during the game? I had read that if we bought tickets from Ticketmaster we would have the opportunity to purchase a Stadium Parking Pass. I got a pleasant surprise when checking out at Stubhub. I was able to order a parking pass at the Stubhub Experience located at the racetrack adjacent to the Stadium, even more surprising there was no additional charge, so I ordered one. The website was a little sketchy on where the parking was and how I could get the pass. I also tried to figure out how to purchase a pass to the Stadium parking. I looked everywhere and while I could find sites reselling the passes I could not find out how to purchase one directly. Finally I called the stadium. A very helpful lady there told me I could go to Click and Park to purchas one.

It was Tuesday afternoon and we had all of our pieces in place, but not our ducks in a row.