Three Ways to Ensure you Make your Flight on Time!

1. Don’t let the airline select your seat. Most airlines allow you the option of selecting your seat online when you book your flight. Do it. Failure to confirm your seat in advance puts you at risk of being dropped from the flight if they get overbooked.
2. Go online within 24 hours before your flight and check the status. Make sure the departure times are still the same and there are no unexpected delays. You are supposed to be notified if changes have been made, but that doesn’t always happen. While you are at it, you can check in and print your boarding passes online.
3. Arrive at the airport least two hours early. I thought this was common knowledge, but I see people miss their flights all the time! You can never predict what is going to cause delays at the airport, so don’t push your luck. Check in stress free and get yourself a Starbuck’s or some delicious airport food. :-/
   

Five Ways to Avoid Losing Your Luggage

1. NEVER check your luggage in at curbside. The majority of reported luggage problems occurs with passengers who utilize the convenient curbside check in service. Bring your luggage all the way to the inside check-in counter even if it means a slightly longer line.
2. If you cannot get a nonstop flight for your trip, make sure there is no more than one layover on your itinerary. Shop around, because every additional plane change puts your luggage at risk of being misdirected.
   
3. Schedule at least a one hour layover between flights to give the airline adequate time to transfer your bags.
4. Book your entire journey with one airline. Most of my lost luggage incidents have involved multiple carriers during international travel. If only one airline is involved, at least you know who is responsible.
5. Buy permanent luggage tags and forget about the cheap paper tags at the airline counter. The paper tags get ripped off too easily and make it difficult for the airline to locate your luggage.
   

Special Tip For Buying Luggage
95% of other travelers are using black luggage, so do yourself a favor and get a different color. It will it be easier to see your luggage on the carousel, and it will be easier for the airport to locate your luggage if it gets lost.


Best Luggage You Can Buy
The Kirkland Signature luggage from Costco is a superior product regardless of price. I’ve had a lot of luggage destroyed at the airports, but these suitcases have lasted the longest and are still going strong. They are better than suitcases that cost four times as much. I have two 26” cases plus a 22” carry on. Unfortunately, Costco seems to be phasing out certain products so available sizes may now be different.


How to Pack Ultra-Light
Wouldn’t it be great to head out on a long trip with only one carry on bag? I’ve gotten some great ideas from Tim Ferris’ blog post about traveling the world with 10 pounds or less.


Best Airline
I personally prefer Southwest because of their famous corporate culture that is genuinely focused on employee happiness. As a result, you really do experience better customer service at the counter and on board the plane. They also have “no hidden fees”. Unlike other airlines, you won’t be hit with a $25-40 additional charge at the counter just for checking bags.

Southwest has also introduced a new, unique method of boarding flights that seems more organized than the other airlines. Your ticket tells you exactly what position in line you will be boarding the plane, so they’ve eliminated the free for all aspect of being loaded by “zones”.


Best way to find flights online
For flights on Southwest, you have to use their website, www.Southwest.com. For all other airlines, I like the search engine at www.Orbitz.com.


Best Rental Car Company
Enterprise Rental Car is my personal favorite. They have a policy of only hiring career minded college graduates on their team. As a result, you get better service without paying more than the other companies. They are the largest and most successful car rental company in America.


Best Way to Find a Hotel in the United States
My strategy is to find out where I need to be first, and then find a reasonable hotel in close proximity. The AAA website has a service called the triptwik travel planner that displays a detailed map of any location you specify including all the area hotels. On that map you can instantly locate a hotel, check the rates and availability, and book a room. This is a very useful tool if you are a frequent traveler.


TIPS FOR INTERNATIONAL TRAVELERS
Best Way to Book an International Hotel
I’ve had good luck booking online with the relatively new Lonely Planet hotel locator. They provide helpful hotel reviews, and they make “author pick” recommendations.


Best Exchange Rates for Foreign Currency
Avoid the exchange counters. Instead, withdraw money from an ATM at your final destination. Debit cards with the Visa or Mastercard logo are accepted internationally. Of course, bring some cash with you just in case you have a problem with your ATM card.


Ways to Avoid Credit and Debit Card Problems
Call your bank and credit card companies in advance of your trip to notify them of your travel schedule. They will put a notation on your account to prevent purchases out of state or in other countries from being flagged as unusual. The last thing you want is for the card company to put a freeze on your account. Unfortunately, the process of freezing an account for “unusual activity” is largely automated, so play it safe and bring a backup credit card.


Avoiding Pickpockets
Most major tourist destinations have pickpockets, so don’t have anything in your pockets that you are unwilling to lose. Rates of pickpocketing can be very high even in areas that considered to be “low violence”.

Pickpockets slice backpacks with a razor and remove the contents before you know it. In mainland China this is such a widespread problem that people wear backpacks backwards over the chest so the pack is in visual view at all times.

I have a travel wallet that I wear around my neck that is tucked into the front of my shirt. This is where I keep my I.D., credit cards, and most of my money. I carry some spending money in my pockets for convenience, but not enough to worry about losing.



Do you have any useful travel tips or websites I should know about? I’d love to hear about them!

Erick Känd
Comedy Hypnotist

Tags: travel tips