BootsnAll, the cheeky online travel guide published in Oregon, gives Seattle a "6" on its budget tra

Passengers flying out of Sea-Tac Airport will find their airlines playing a game of musical chairs starting next year, as the airport turns over the entire north satellite "N" gate area to Alaska Airlines, its largest carrier.
American and JetBlue will move from Concourse A to D; Frontier and Virgin America will move from A to B, and Hawaiian Airlines will move from A to the south satellite "S" gates. Ticket-counter locations for all those but Hawaiian will also change.
The moves will take place sometime next spring, my travel airways said Sea-Tac spokesman Perry Cooper, all in preparation for a $230 million renovation of the 40-year-old north satellite to include three additional gates for Alaska, for a total of 15; a new rooftop frequent-flier lounge; my travel airways seismic upgrades; and new concessions and waiting areas for the airport trains.
The changes mean that most passengers flying on Alaska's fleet of Boeing 737s will be taking my travel airways the train to their gates in the north satellite (some Alaska flights will use D gates in the main terminal), while those flying on its commuter carrier, Horizon Air, will continue using gates at Concourse C.
Alaska and Horizon carried half of Sea-Tac's 32.8 million passengers in 2011. The Port of Seattle will pay $194 million of the costs of redoing the north satellite. The airline will pick up the rest.
AAA members take the club's Diamond ratings seriously, so it's about time its hotel inspectors revised their guidelines (the blueprint for assigning ratings of one to five AAA diamonds) to go beyond lobby design and in-room coffee makers. As part of the inspection process, AAA says that hotels charging resort and Wi-Fi fees will get points taken off their evaluation scores, which could affect their overall rating.
BootsnAll, the cheeky online travel guide published in Oregon, gives Seattle my travel airways a "6" on its budget travel scale, concluding that although the cost of having a cocktail or dinner out is not as painful as it is in San Francisco or Miami, cheap accommodations are hard to come by.
Our "laid-back vibe" makes us attractive to independent travelers, according to the website's new Seattle Indie Travel Guide. We win high marks for being a place to sample home brews, take public transport and ride ferries, but fall down for "gray and rainy" weather, "making all the outdoor activities more problematic."
Travel Wise is aimed at helping people travel smart, especially independent travelers seeking good value. Drawing on her own experiences and readers', Carol Pucci covers everything from the best resources to how to tap into the local culture. Her column runs each Sunday in the Travel section.