Category Archives for Travel Tips.
Airline passengers have to wear their seat belts when the seat belt sign is on. Flight attendants on overnight flights often warn passengers that if they’re going to sleep, to make sure the seat belt is visible or else when the sign goes on they’ll need to wake people up to check that they’re belted. But do you really have to warn it “low and tight across your lap?” What about wearing it… on your feet?
When I was a junior in high school the state finals of debate were at San Diego State University. My team went down to San Diego the night before, and a group of us – mostly 16 years old at the time – decided we might as well go to Tijuana.
Back then you didn’t have to carry a passport to enter Mexico, or return to the U.S. For a land border crossing a drivers license was sufficient.
I do pretty well in travel but also make my share of mistakes, mostly out of habit or path dependence. Since I know how things ‘usually work’ I don’t always pay attention to schedule changes. And I don’t pay attention to the details of my reservations – I’m on auto-pilot, I know that when I land in a given city I ‘always’ go to the same hotel. If I booked a Hyatt there, it must be my usual one!
Here are the (5) biggest mistakes I’ve made in travel, though each one worked out just fine. I thought I’d share these to show my own fallibility, I know the correct advice and should always follow it but I am… human.
Earlier in the month I flew to LA as a favor to Peter Greenberg, to speak at the Travel Adventure Show. I flew out on a Saturday, back Sunday. I didn’t want to leave too early, since I didn’t actually need to speak until Sunday, and wanted to fly back as quickly as possible after I was done. United, American, Southwest and Delta all operate the Austin – Los Angles route and both ways Delta had the schedule that worked best for me.
You might book your hotel rooms on Expedia, book direct because you prioritize hotel points and elite benefits, or care most about saving money and head straight to HotelSlash. But what would Jack Ryan do? If you’re a CIA analyst, you may be trying to stay under the radar or protect your data – or yourself.
I find it’s worth checking a booking right after you make it to make sure everything was done correctly — are traveler names accurate? Can you assign seats? Does a partner airline see the booking and does it appear ready for travel? If the reservation is for some time in the future, scroll through your reservations at least once a month. Do it again a few days in advance of travel, too.
I almost felt guilty! I skipped both the general and PreCheck queues, and no doubt many of the people in those lines would have been eligible for the Priority line. They just hadn’t noticed it.
TSA also wasn’t checking eligibility to use that line and there was no one at the entry to the line checking for it either (TSA screeners don’t care how you get to the front of the line, they do not manage the lines). Anyone could have skipped to the front without even appearing to do so.
These are all basic tips, great for getting started in miles and points, but also useful for how to think about the miles you’ve already got. I don’t do enough basic talk around here so I’m hoping this list will benefit.
If the person in front of you in the customer service line is getting upset and taking it out on the agent, the agent is all the more ready to expect you to do the same. They’re not going to want to listen to your story or spend time working every angle to find a solution. They’re going to want to move you out of their line as quickly as possible. Basic human nature.
So turn that on its head.
What’s your foreign currency routine? How do you buy it, and do you convert it back to your home currency when you leave a country?
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
