Having recently come back from a trip to Dubai- I think that I have just had the experience of two airlines at the opposite end of the spectrum of airline experiences. One of them was one of the best experiences I have had and one was one of the worst. The airlines in question are Air Canada and Emirates.

Lets do a head-to-head comparison

Pre-flight

Check-in

• Air Canada has a very efficient self check-in process and bag drop off at Dorval airport.

• Emirates: self check-in did not work so had to wait in line

Advantage: Air Canada

Gate

• Air Canada does not make you enter the gate area prior to boarding (which is quite small).

• Emirates does make you enter the gate area, however, it is a huge area with enough capacity for double the number of passengers.

Advantage: Neither

Aircraft

• Air Canada: Aging Boeing 767

• Emirates: New Boeing 777

In-flight

Entertainment
Movies

• Air Canada transatlantic flights have one choice- you can watch the movie on the screens the middle. Or not.
• Emirates- Selection of several hundred movies on your own personal entertainment screen.

Advantage: Emirates

Music

• Air Canada- 8 channels to choose from.
• Emirates- Selection of several hundred music and video channels from your own personal entertainment screen.

Games

• Air Canada- none
• Emirates- Selection of 20 games from the personal entertainment screen.

Advantage: Emirates

Internet Access onboard

• Air Canada- none
• Emirates- available for a fee

Advantage: Emirates

Food

• Air Canada- 2 choices- beef or chicken
• Emirates- also 2 choices, but the quality of the food is significantly better

Advantage: Emirates

The Emirates experience contrasted so much with the Air Canada experience that it mades me ashamed that Air Canada is my national carrier. I was discussing this recently with a good friend of mine who said that he will only fly British Airways to and from Europe, because he is equally disgusted with Air Canada. 

Air Canada really needs to update their long haul aircraft. If I have a long flight to take, they will not be on my list of chosen airlines.

Now Air Canada has introduced a mobile boarding pass. What a great idea! 

They already had Mobile Check-In which allows you to log into mobile.aircanada.com on your wap enabled phone (which I haven’t actually used). Now, for certain flights, Air Canada will send you two sets of SMS messages to your phone.

The first message confirms your flight, the second sends a barcode which can be scanned, thereby eliminating the need for a paper boarding pass.

I was just thinking the other day that it is strange to arrive at an airport with all of your flight info- yet still had to print out a boarding pass just to get from the entrance of the airport onto the actual plane.

A couple of years ago I started keeping my flight information on my phone (without printing anything) until one day I had a hard time at Heathrow for not having any physical documentation regarding my flight. That was the point that I started printing out all of my flight details…. but now I may try to eliminate these printouts again.

All of the details of the new Mobile Boarding pass can be found on Air Canada’s website here

I am planning for my usual trip to Washington in February and on the e-ticket that was sent to me I got invited to contribute to the Air Canada Carbon Offset Program.

If you take a trip and contribute to this program, then Air Canada will use your donation, and also make a matching donation to Zerofootprint. 

For those who are taking flights and also want to be environmentally conscious, I think this is a good start.

This week I have been making preparations for my vacation to Ukraine in a couple of weeks. I will be using CIBC Aventura points for one of the flights but will have to pay for the second one. So I called CIBC Aventura travel agency to find out the prices be for my airfare. 

The first person I spoke to said that the flights I wanted would cost me a total of $2,000. This was more than I expected ( I was expecting $1,500), so I told her that I would think about it, gave her my phone number, and asked her to call back the next day.

One day passes, then two, then three… I guess she was not going to call back, so I called back myself, resigned to the fact that I would be paying $2,000 for my flight.  I went through all of the details of the days I want to travel and this time I was given a total price of $1,447. Much better. Just for interest I asked if we could check the option of coming back one day later and now my total was $1,235. This is $765 less than the original fare I was given for travel on the same dates from the same travel agency!

It just goes to show that it is important to check your prices. Equally important, if possible, is to have some flexibility of your travel dates. Check all possible date combinations, there may be a big difference.  

I was sitting in a hotel room last week- waiting for my luggage to arrive when I picked up USA today to see an article about problems at JFK. The article identifies several problems wich are contributing to the problems at JFK- but I am sure that they are similar to other airports also.

The last time I flew to california my first flight was late which made me miss my connection- on my latest trip I made it to Atlanta but my luggage did not (it did show up at midnight, but not before I had to buy a whole new set of clothes). That was not the only thing that went wrong on this trip- on the way back one of my flights was cancelled, I asked why it was cancelled and the agent could not give me any reason.

So, I have had problems with three out of four of my last trips. Is this normal for travel in a first world country?

I wonder how bad it will have to get before the FAA and the airlines actually do  something about this. I keep hearing that there are problems but have seen no solutions. Maybe we need a network of high speed trains like they have in Europe to give the airlines some competition.

Web Check-in must be something new for Air Canada. I don’t know for how long they have had it but read about the promotion for July 2007 which gives you 250 Aeroplan miles for using the service.

With web check-in you can check in, choose your seat, and print your boarding pass up to 24 hours before your flight. This can save you some time at the airport. I have used it on British Airways and it worked very well.

For more details on the Air Canada promotion check here. For full information on Air Canada web check-in click here

I was hoping to use this and get some extra miles- I will be traveling in July but unfortunately I will not be flying Air Canada.

For more info on other Aeroplan promotions, check out my Aeroplan page .

During a trip I had recently my plane was delayed for a couple of hours before leaving Montreal so I got to Chicago late and missed my connection. I was a bit concerned because I had an important meeting the next day in Southern California.

The first thing I did was call the United airlines toll free reservations number and the people there told me that I had already been put on a flight the next day. This was not going to help me because I had a meeting the next day. They recommended that I talk to customer service.

It took more than an hour of waiting in line because United only had three customer service agents on duty, and when I got to the front of the line there were a couple of hundred people behind me. The customer service person we met did not seem interested in helping too much. They did not offer anything at all. This surprised me because I have been stranded at other airports and been offered hotel rooms for the night. No, all I got was them telling me that the earliest they could get me to San Diego was by the next evening. I asked her to get me to Los Angeles or Orange County and she told me that I would still only get to SanDiego by next evening. I had to explain that if she could get me to Los Angeles or Orange County I would drive the rest of the way. Then she finally understood.

So, I was put on a flight to Orange County and drove a couple of hours to my hotel. The only problem I had is that my bags were sent to San Diego- so I had to pick them up the next day.

Funnily enough I was in a hotel room a couple of days later watching a report about how only 75% of all flights are on time. This does not seem reasonable to me. You can see the statistics for yourself at the Bureau of Transportation. Scroll down the page and click on Airline On-Time Performance.

If you have the unfortunate but common experience of missing a connection the first thing you should do is call the airline. I recommend doing this while waiting in line at customer service. If you do need to be somewhere: try to fly to another airport else which is relatively close to where you are going- and drive the rest of the way.

Has anyone noticed that more and more airports are moving their rental car locations much further from the actual airport- forcing you to take a long shuttle bus on your arrival and drop off.

I have just come back from a trip where I went to Dallas, Phoenix, and Las Vegas. All three of these airports have car rental facilities which are far from the actual airport.  I know for sure in the case of Phoenix and Las Vegas that this is new. What it means to me is that I have to make sure to come to the airport even earlier in order to take into account the shuttle back.

A quick tip for those of you who, like me, spend a lot of time in Airports.

When you are sitting at an airport and the battery on your laptop is running low, you need to check out the Air Power Wiki. This wiki is dedicated to identifying the location of power outlets in airports. I have used it several times – and have also contributed to it.

It is a very good resource to find those elusive power outlets at airports.

Well, it looks like the wait is almost over for the refund on my lost luggage which I have been waiting for since last September. As I mentioned in British Airways Customer Service Problems- part 2, and British Airways- lost luggage; my luggage was lost for three days last year on my arrival to Scotland. Because of this my girlfriend and I had to buy new clothes for the first few days.

So we submitted our claim when we got back to Montreal, and amazingly, this week, after almost six months- we get a letter from British Airways.

The letter apologizes for the baggage situation and says we will be getting a check from them soon.

I guess this falls into the “better late then never” category for me. I am not happy about the amount of time this has taken, but I am glad to see that British Airways is doing the right thing.

Follow up: Money was received a couple of days after this post

It is unusual to have a great experience with an airline- but the experience I just had with KLM was so good I had to share it.

I arrived at the airport late and was one of the last passengers to get a boarding pass on the flight- the people behind me were being offered a $300 credit and a flight out the next day- but I was one of the lucky ones!

Or so I thought… when I made it to the plane someone was already sitting in my seat. The flight attendant checked both boarding passes and explained to me that they had assigned the seat twice. There were already two other people standing awkwardly at the entrance of the aircraft- obviously in the same situation as I was. The flight attendant left, and I was standing for a while listening to the other cabin crew discussing that the flight was completely full.

When the attendant returned I found that KLM really stepped up. They offered me a seat in their World Business section- in the third row of the plane. I was offered champagne and they apologized for the mix-up. From someone who is used to traveling in economy it is nice to see how the other half lives. I dined on mahi-mahi with shrimp with a choice of wines, and was offered cognac or drambuie after the meal.

It is nice to see an airline do something right for a change. Kudos to KLM.

I am going to Dubai next week- and have just found out that my return journey will include a 14 and a half hour flight!

As such, I thought it was appropriate to share some tips on taking these very long flights.

• If you are flying economy (as I am), try to get a seat near the back of the plane. These are generally the seats that fill up later, and you will have a greater chance of having an empty seat next to you.
• Bring something else to do. This could include books to read, your ipod, sudoku puzzles, etc… Remember that any flight longer than 10 hours is very long and you will have plenty of time to be sick and tired of watching the in-flight movies.
• Don’t forget to make adjustments for different time zones, read Time Zone Tips for more
• Don’t drink too much alcohol- on this length of flight you have enough time to get drunk, sober up, and be hung over!
• I have some other tips which can come in handy: Airplane Tips- Before Flying, and Airplane Tips- On the Plane

Any other ideas?

Well, I just got caught. I am at the airport in Montreal, leaving for a business trip, and today I decided only to take carry on luggage.

This is usually an advantage because when I arrive at my destination I don’t need to wait around for my luggage- and as this is is a short trip, just a couple of days, I really don’t need that many clothes and personal items.

Personal items, that’s where the problem is. When passing through security I got my shaving cream and gel confiscated because the containers were too large. The lady was very nice and said that it is happening to a lot of business travellers.

I guess I have to make sure to buy the smaller travel size items.

Al least they let me keep my deoderant…

As I mentioned in a previous post, British Airways lost our luggage for three days on my last trip to Scotland. When we came back to Canada we submitted a claim for the clothes we had to buy while waiting for our bags to arrive. This was submitted on the BA website and we got back a standard e-mail response.

Well, as we have waited sixteen weeks now and having never received any response, we decided to call the Baggage claims phone number listed on the website- 1-800-828-8144.

They told me to fax a copy of all relevant information to Customer Service at the following Fax: +1 347-418-4241.

You should try these numbers if you are in North America and have had problems with British Airways.

I am looking forward to see if it works…

Having done a lot of international travel, my first question before planning a trip to a foreign country is do I need a visa?

Here are the steps you need to follow in order to get your visa.

1. Find the Embassy of the country you will be visiting located in your own country- these days, many of them have websites so it should be easy to find.
2. The website will have a section called Consular services- or something similar. Go to that section to find out the exact requirements you will need
3. Print out the requirements. It is very important to follow them exactly. If you submit your package with any single omission it is likely that it will be refused.
4. As an additional precaution- call the Embassy to verify the requirements. Fee structures sometimes change without notice.
5. Submit your documents to the Embassy with the appropriate fee. Note that most embassies do not accept cash or personal cheques.

Some countries, such as Russia, will require a letter from a tour operator. If you are not going on an organized tour, don’t worry, check around your local travel agents and online to see how to get such a letter. They are usually available for a fee. I have used the website Visa to Russia to get invitation letters sent to me for visits to Russia.

Other countries, such as Libya, will have special requirements such as requiring your passport to be translated. For this kind of service it is best to call the embassy to ask how to get it done. The last time I had it done someone met me outside the embassy and with an an official stamp, made the translation- for a fee.

Prior to my last trip to Moscow I was in line at the Russian Consulate in Montreal and the person in front of me was very frustrated, telling me that this was the fourth time they had come back. The only reason that this would happen is if something was missing from the package. Once again you must have everything required or your application will be refused.

There is a funny article on CNN talking about how a guy from Germany booked a flight online, only to end up in Sidney Montana instead of Sydney, Australia. You can find the article here.

This reminded me of a similar experience that I had with a client of mine.

I was expecting a visitor from the United States who was coming to visit my company’s facilities. He told me that he was staying at the Fairmount hotel. So I went to the Fairmount hotel in Montreal to pick him up.

After looking around in the lobby I could not find the guy so I called him on his cell phone and asked where he was. He told me near the St-Laurent room. St-Laurent is a very common name here (there is a city St-Laurent and also a street with that name), so I went to the hotel reception and asked where the St-Laurent room was.

Reception: Sorry sir, no St-Laurent room at this hotel.

This is strange. So I ask them: is there another Fairmount hotel in Montreal?

Reception: No, this is the only one.

This had been going on for 45 minutes now so in desperation I call back my client and ask him to find the phone number of the hotel he is at so I can call his hotel directly and get the exact address.

He give me a phone number starting with 418. I almost dropped my phone. He was in Quebec city. It is 3 hours away from where I live- which is Montreal, province of Quebec.

Right province, wrong city.

I guess he was quite a bit luckier than the German tourist.

My client made arrangements for a flight the next morning to Montreal.

Thanks Roadgladiator for finding the CNN article.

Interesting story from Engaget.

First Boeing’s Connexion service announced that it was being shut down, and now the scheduled ASiQ/Panasonic service has been delayed until 2008.

This does not look good for the possibilities for WiFi on airplanes.
I am of the opinion that there is definitely a market for onboard wifi- just take a look around the number of people working away on their computer the next time you fly.

But the companies offering these services have to make sure that the service is offered for the right price. Just look at the failure of onboard phones. While phones have been available on planes for a long time, most people have never used them due to the high cost.

Just a reminder, the United States will have new requirements for Canadians traveling into the US. Starting January 23rd, 2007, you will need to bring a passport with you (previously you only needed a piece of id such as driver’s license).

I think that this does make sense. If the United States government wants to implement this then we have to respect their rules. For me it does not make a big difference as I always have my passport when I travel. In any case the passport is a standard document and it will make customs officials’ jobs a little easier. But it will make a difference for some people who are used to driving to the United States.

Last year I was going to Mexico and the person behind me in line was actually travelling with only his drivers license. He was complaining that he had to get a letter signed by a commissioner of oaths to prove his identity. He didn’t have an answer, though, when I asked him why he didn’t get a passport.

The additional requirements are making me think again about joining the NEXUS program.

This post is about the second issue that I have had with British Airways. Strangely enough this is also related to the last trip I had with them.

I must preface this by saying that I have used British Airways for at least one hundred flights during the last few years and have had no problems at all; I consider them to be a better then average airline and I would not hesitate to recommend traveling with them. But until now I have never needed to contact their Customer Service department.

As mentioned in a previous post- I went on a vacation to Scotland in late August. We arrived in Scotland but our bags did not. We were given a reference number at the airport and three days later British Airways did deliver the bags to my aunt’s house.

However, as we only had the clothes we were wearing during our travel, we did need to go and buy some clothes and toiletries.

We did not spend a lot of money, and before beginning our return journey we stopped in at the British Airways lost baggage department. The staff there told us that we should make sure that we kept our receipts and that we should make a claim using the internet form on the BA website.

So a few days after our arrival back in Montreal we sent an e-mail using the online form. We got back a standard form letter saying please give us 6-8 weeks to reply. OK fine. But now it has been 10 weeks.

No contact other than a form letter response.

Once again I feel like we have been let down by BA Customer Service.

I have been a big fan of British airways up until this year.

On my last trip to the UK I had two major problems. The first of which was that BA overcharged me by $1,000 for my return flight.

You would think that this issue would be easily cleared up by calling in to customer service right? Wrong.

A bit of history… I had booked the flights using BA miles. At the end of my vacation when we got to the airport for our return flight the counter staff could not find my reservation, even with the booking reference that they had sent to me.

The counter staff at Glasgow airport sent us to the service counter where I explained the situation- including the fact that I had bought the tickets with points. The staff there gave me paper tickets and told me that everything was fine.

Imagine my surprise next month when my credit card statement arrived and I was charged an extra $1,100 for my return flights.

So, I called the British Airways Customer Service line. After going through the whole story, and spending some time on hold, the agent confirmed that in their system, instead of giving me the rewards ticket that I ordered- they had issued me regular one way tickets for the return.

What this means is that because I unknowingly used the regular fare return tickets, in their system I still have two unused return tickets which were issued on points. Of course my intention was to travel on the points tickets.

The British Airways agent I spoke to agreed that I should be refunded for the regular tickets, but that she couldn’t do anything herself and that I had to send a fax or e-mail to Customer Service.

That seemed reasonable. So I prepared a seven page fax including all relevant information and faxed it to the customer service department.

This was six weeks ago.

I received Nothing. Not even an acknowledgement, reference number, or confirmation.

I have faced many odd situations in my travels before but never this one- so I took it to the experts. And based on recommendations from the great people at Flyertalk; two weeks ago I initiated a charge dispute with my credit card company.

So I called my credit card company, they asked me to fax all of the information I had, and I have already received a letter confirming the complaint and telling me that they will be investigating this issue.

I am now more comfortable that this will be resolved soon. But it does highlight an incredible deficiency in the way customer service issues are dealt with at British Airways. They could learn something from credit card companies. 

Just a quick update on my issues rescheduling a flight with American Airlines which I mentioned earlier this week.

On thursday I had called to try and get a change to flight from one leaving at 5 p.m. to an earlier flight which left around noon. The initial feedback from American Airlines customer service was that I had to pay $500; which even they agreed did not make sense, or that I should go to the airport on friday and fly standby.

As I did not have anything else to do on friday I went to the airport in the morning well before the earlier flight. The American Airlines counter people were very nice. I was put on the earlier flight, given an exit row seat and was not charged anything for the change. Thank you American for the outstanding service.

A little more on problems with airlines… Which airlines do people hate the most? Have a look at the 7 worst airlines from Christopher Elliott’s blog. The article is here. I am actually surprised that Continental is last (not the worst), I would have thought they would be much lower.

Why do I think this? Well, I stopped flying Continental after going on a trip to Florida with them four years ago. This was not the first time that I had flown with them but it was bad enough to get me to stop all together.

The first bad part was the way there. I could not believe that the flight was over four hours long and we only got a muffin and a drink. That’s it. There wasn’t even any food we could buy- I don’t know why.

On our return we encountered the worst check in person I have ever encountered. First of all she was visibly upset with us that our bags were too heavy. We were a few pounds over the limit and we did expect to pay something- but we were charged for every single pound that she could charge us for and in total it cost us $300. I think that if it was legally possible for her to charge us more she would have.

As if that was not enough, this same representative was totally rude when we asked if it was at all possible to change our seat assignments (I think we had 2 middle seats and we wanted one window). We were told that the computer doesn’t allow it. When I asked nicely if they could check again we were told, more slowly  “The computer does not allow it. Do you know how a computer works?”. I could not believe that I was being talked to like I was an idiot.

The result? I fly a lot for business- minimum once or twice every month- and since that trip four years ago I have refused to fly with Continental. There have been several times when company travel agents have initially booked me with that airline and I make sure that they change it.

I don’t know if they have improved since then- and frankly I don’t care. But the point is that airlines should be very aware of how the interaction of their staff with their clients can affect public perception. The worst airlines need to take note…

I am currently on a business trip, and have completed my meetings. I am now trying to reschedule my flight home to an earlier time in the day tomorrow because I was originally on a late flight.

I have found that the best way to get a ticket changed is usually to call the airline directly as they are the ones who will be letting you on the flight you require.

So I call up American Airlines to ask if I can get on the earlier flight tomorrow. Please hold….. I’m sorry sir, that would be $500 plus fees…. then some explanation about the kind of ticket my travel agent booked. I missed the explanation due to my surprise at the price- my full original ticket including 3 flights was only $1000. The person I talked to at American Airlines was actually very nice and recommended that I just go to the airport tomorrow and they will probably get me on the earlier flight just for a small fee, because there are over 60 seats still available.

I guess the question I am asking myself today is- how can it be over $500 to reschedule a flight one day, then $50 or $100 less than 24 hrs later. Does this make a lot of sense?

 This is exactly the kind of thing that people hate about airlines.

Having just commented on how long the lineups are at airports- I just had one of the best airport experiences I have ever had.

Denver International airport is so well organized, the only other place I can compare it to is Dubai airport. This is what I just experienced:

I arrived at the airport 50 minutes before my flight was scheduled to depart. I know this is very late but it was unavoidable. First, upon disembarking from the rental car shuttle bus, I was greeted by a United attendant who checked my bag and gave me my boarding pass. One person in front of me in line, so maybe 2 minutes wait.

I decided to go through security immediately nbecause you never know how long that will take, it was very fast. Maybe 5-10 minutes I and was through.

Denver airport is pretty big, so you do have to take a train to your concourse. But I actually managed to get to my gate within 20-25 minutes of my initial arrival at the airport. This is incredible, especially considering that I had been initially worried about missing my flight. 

A few years back I had a similar experience in Dubai airport. My flights had me landing in Dubai and leaving on a connecting flight 45 minutes later. I was concerned that this would not give me time to reach my next flight, but my travel agent said that the system allowed the booking so it should be ok. When I got off of the first flight I was directed to a counter where I was issued the boarding pass for my second flight, and told where the gate was. In less than 20 minutes I was at the gate for my second flight, just at the beginning of boarding.

Now I ask myself- if some airports can be this efficient, why can’t the rest of them take some notes from the good ones?

As I was passing through Montreal airport this morning I wondered to myself what the airports could do to make things more convenient for passengers. I spend a lot of times waiting at airports which gives me a lot of times to think about this. Here is what happened today:

I go to the airport an hour and a half before my flight, which is about the latest I could get there. There is a lot of waiting at airports. And waiting in line happens to be one of my pet peeves.

This morning I counted that I had to wait no less then four times.

1. First you have waiting in line just to do self check in.
2. Next you wait to get a luggage tag.
3. Thirdly you wait waiting to pass through US customs, and
4. You wait to pass through the security check

I would have experienced a fifth wait- the waiting prior to boarding at the gate, but on this occasion by the time I actually got through security I just had enough time to get to my gate and I ended being one of the last passengers to board the plane.

What really amazed me is that my luggage was put onto a conveyor belt just before I entered the security zone. This was about half an hour before my flight was departing, between my third and fourth lineups. I thought that my luggage wouldnt get on the plane, but lo and behold, my luggage was off the plane and on the conveyor at my destination when I got there.

If they can do this for luggage they must be able to do something for people. I am not saying that it will be possible to eliminate all waiting, but I think that someone smart should take a look at how to minimize some of these waits.

I just ran across what must be the definitive list airport wifi access over at travelpost.com. They also have a listing of the airports with free wifi access here

A few of the airports on the free list are in Canada and my home town Montreal is mentioned as one. I have never bothered to try connecting there but as it happens I will be passing through this airport twice in the next two weeks, so I will be checking it out.

This is some additional info from yesterday’s post, airplane tips- but here are some tips while you are actually on the plane.

1. Take off your shoes- your entire body swells up when you are flying and is not a good idea to keep your feet or any other part of your body constricted.
2. Drink lots of water- it is well known fact is that you dehydrate more rapidly while flying.
3. If you are going on a trip more than three hours long- buy a portable headrest- these are U shaped pillows that fit around your neck. They are inexpensive and can be found at most airports. There come in a few different versions- I have tried the inflatable and the beanbag versions of these- while the beanbag versions are a bit more comfortable, the additional bulkiness to carry around is not worth it for me.

I have been on many long flights, the worst of which was a direct New York to Johannesburg flight- a 14 and a half hour journey.

Here are some ideas for making your flights easier- especially for long haul flights.

1. Before checking in, take a look at a seating site such as seatguru to make sure that you are sitting in the best possible seat on the plane for your class of ticket.
2. Check in early- the earlier you check in, the better chance of getting a good seat. Many airlines are now offering the possibility of checking in online, 24 hours before your light. Ideally you want your seat confirmed before you go to the airport.
3. Try to get a seat in the emergency exit row. Exit rows offer slightly more legroom then regular seats- this is so well known that they are usually booked by other frequent fliers but it is worth a try to get one when you check in.
4. If you cannot get an exit row seat, get a window seat. On a long trip I always try to get a window seat so I can lean the pillow on my window to sleep. The only exception to this is in the last few rows of the plane, because the fuselage of the plane curves inward giving less room to the window seats in the last rows.

This is written for those of you who bring far too much luggage with you when you travel- you know who you are.

Before I start packing for trip I do think about the type of trip I am going on (business or personal) , and the destination. These are the two things that make a big difference in determining what I will be needing. When I say need I mean actually will definitely use- not what I might use.

Bringing too much can also cost you money. I was formerly a person who brought far too much on while traveling. And I have found out that not only can it be a nuisance to travel with a lot of extra items, it can actually cost you. On one occasion I brought a lot of luggage on a 2-week trip to Florida. During my trip I took advantage of the great prices and bought lots of clothes on sale or discounted; only to get charged $300 at the airport for excess luggage on my return flight. This didnt make the clothing deals seem that great.

Most people bring far too many items on a trip- if you are taking a road trip for a week and you are two people in a large minivan- go ahead, take that extra lounge chair- but for most situations less is better. The truth is, there are very few times where you will be somewhere and it is impossible to get what you need, or find an equivalent alternative. On my last trip to Venezuela I opened up my suitcase on the first day only to find that I did not have any bathing suit for a week at the beach. So in this case I bought another one- not the kind of bathing suit that I would normally wear but it worked for me for that week. I also had just broken my digital camera just before leaving, so I bought a disposable one- again. This was not an ideal replacement, but the disposable camera did have some advantages over the digital one: it made me much more relaxed about losing or damaging the camera.

My favorite item to bring while traveling is a couple of plastic bags. It is a good idea to use them to put some clothes or valuables in. I have seen suitcases show up at their destination very wet, on several occasions. This is especially important if you use a suitcase made of material since water will soak through the case.

So my advice is, bring only what you are 100 percent sure you will use, and always have some plastic bags with you.

In one of my earlier posts I talked about mandatory documentation when you travel. In this post I would like to address what I call “secondary documentation”. This is the kind of thing which will could cause you some difficulty if you do not have it, but will not ruin your trip.

1. Maps (especially for road trips). I am often one of the first to give out advice to others, and also one of the first to ignore my own advice. The last time My girlfriend and I went to New York city I thought I just needed to print out a Google map of where we needed to go. Google maps are pretty good if you are going to a familiar area- the big problem with the directions that you get from Google Maps is that it often does not show surrounding streets. What ends up happening on a long trip is that if you miss one exit, you have to backtrack until you can find the latest reference point. Unless you are familiar with the place you are going- bring a street map if you are driving, or a train schedule if you are taking the train, etc…. So what happened when we went to new york? Well, let’s just say that a drive from New York to Montreal which normally takes 8 hours took us 15.
2. Copies of your frequent flier numbers. It has happened so many times to me that I have checked in for a flight, or checked into a hotel, and they do not have my number in with the reservation. Now I keep a card in my wallet with the most common ones written down. You can always collect miles /points later if they do not get posted to your account but I find it much easier to ask the question when I check in.
3. Receipts- reason #1. if you are traveling internationally, you may need these when you are coming back into your home country, to prove the prices that you paid. It is helpful when the customs duty does not believe the great deal you just got on an item purchased outside. I am not sure about other countries, but here in Canada if you owe tax on an item purchased outside of the country I have seen two things happen. Sometimes they will charge you tax on the price you actually paid, other times they use the standard tax value of what you would have paid for this item in Canada.
4. Receipts- reason#2. In many cases you can also claim tax back by submitting your receipts. Sometimes this only works for things you are bringing back to your home country but in other cases it can include things like hotel bills too. Tax refund forms can be found at most airports and must be handed in before you leave to go to your home country.
5. Receipts reason#3. If the airlines lose your luggage (as British Airways did on my last trip), you may need the receipts to claim back money for replacement items you purchased.

Any thoughts on this?

I was on my way from Tunis to London, via France. My flight was supposed to leave at 5 p.m. and arrive in Paris just past 7 p.m. This would give me time to get to my hotel near Charles de Gaulle airport for an evenings rest before my morning flight to London where I was scheduled to meet some customers. Little did I know that a short flight was going to become one of my worst traveling experiences.  As my flight from Tunis was international, I had to be there at 3 p.m. The flight leaving Tunis was delayed for several hours, and unfortunately the airline (Air France) chose to tell us about the delays in 30-minute increments. Each time we would get close to boarding time, the departure time was pushed back. At first there were rumours of trouble with the aircraft. What we found out eventually was that the air traffic controllers in France were on a one-day strike. Why no one from Air France in Tunisia, seemed to be aware of this initially, or why they would tell us about aircraft trouble, I have no idea. If this had been known- which Im sure it was in the rest of the world, I would have much preferred to move my travel plans back a day then spend my entire evening in Tunis Airport. What did Air France offer us for a delay of 7 hours? A can of soda or a bottle of water (one or the other- not both). Thanks Air France. But my night wasn’t over. Eventually the flight from Tunis did depart- we boarded just before midnight, landed in Paris after 2 a.m., and had collected our luggage at around 230 a.m. At this point I had a problem. I was not sure how close my hotel was to the airport, and I had a flight to London at 7 the next morning (meaning I would have to come back at 5); So, I decided to stay at the airport. Unfortunately at this time of night there is absolutely nothing open at Charles de Gaulle airport, and equally unfortunately there seemed to be many other passengers in similar situations. So I spent the next three hours wandering around, occasionally finding a spot to sleep; only to be woken up any time I seemed to get my eyes closed for more than a couple of minutes. Many times I was woken up by the machines that clean the tile floors. What a horrendous racket they make- not only from the brushes, but the machines also beep loudly. Unshaven, unwashed, and very unhappy, by the time I got on the flight to London I was little more than a walking zombie and when I eventually got to my hotel in London. I called my clients to cancel my meetings for the day and went directly to bed. Before you travel, in order to make the best of it, in the unfortunate case that you ever find yourself in a similar situation, do take a look at the website www.sleepinginairports.com. Charles de Gaulle is listed as one of the worst airports to spend an overnight. That does not come as a surprise to me.

While I spent eight hours in Atlanta airport yesterday, I spent my time there wondering about the small things that could be improved at airports. I had a reservation on the 10pm flight back to Montreal. As my business in Atlanta was finished in the afternoon, and as I had already checked out of my hotel, I decided to come to the airport early because I had seen there was another flight at 6pm. When I arrived at 3 p.m., even though I was 3 hours in advance to the other flight I was told there was no room. I find that very hard to believe. I then asked if it was possible that some seats would become available before the departure of the earlier flight- the response was: its possible, but once we have checked your bags on the later flight you have to go on that one. Thank you Delta.
So, I sat in the Delta lounge in concourse E for six hours, very grateful for having my Priority Pass. Interestingly, there are a bunch of airlines listed at the entrance to this lounge, but as was the case at LaGuardia, there is no Priority Pass listed. This is a large lounge, and actually very well laid out compared to most of the ones I have been to, but like most lounges in North America I dont understand how they are so limited in terms of services. The food choice is pretzels, crackers, or peanuts- most lounges in Europe, which I have been to have a much wider selection. I am not expecting five star cuisine, but maybe some small sandwiches or soup would be nice.
The World Series is on and people have been grumbling about CNN and FOX being on the TV screens, it looks like they cannot even get the baseball game on TV. I guess this is because we are watching the special airport channels.The best thing about the airport channels is that they repeat themselves- so  I have now seen the CNN interview with Dick Cheney’s wife three times.
My final comment of the day, by the time this gets posted I will already be home in Montreal because I do not have internet access- why cant they have free Wi-Fi access in airport lounges? You can buy access for 24 hours at the very reasonable price of $5, but I, like most of my fellow travelers, am not going to be here at the airport for 24 hours, most people will be here an hour or two at most. Why dont they offer it by the hour?

At the last company I worked for I did a lot of international travel on different airlines to different airports- and corporate policy was always to travel economy class. At some point I was introduced to Priority Pass and I have been using it for the last three years.

For those of you unfamiliar with Priority Pass , it is a service which gives you lounge access at over 500 airports worldwide, so if you are in an airport pretty much anywhere, there is a good chance that you can access one of the lounges using your card.

Priority Pass isn’t cheap. For occasional travelers you can have a basic membership for which you pay $99 +$24 each time you access a lounge. If you have more than 6 lounge visits per year you should use a standard plus membership for which you pay $249 but you have 10 free visits- and subsequent ones are $24 each. At the top end is the prestige membership which costs $399 but you do not have to pay anything more for any visits. Prestige works out best if you have more than 16 visits per year.

What are the downsides to Priority Pass ?

• The staff at airport lounges are not always familiar with it- although this has been improving. On one occasion (at the lounge in Luanda, Angola) I was refused entry even though I knew for sure that I should have lounge access.
• The program changes all the time. On another trip I was denied entry (at Air Canada lounge in Montreal) because that particular lounge was no longer part of the program.
• Many times there are no signs which show you can use Priority Pass, so you have to go and ask.
• If you bring a visitor you always pay $24 for them

These kinds of incidents range from embarrassing to downright infuriating as I pay $400 a year for my pass out of my own pocket. Case in point, I was just at the Delta lounge in Laguardia. I was traveling on an A ticket- first class- which sometimes give you lounge access. At first when I tried to access the lounge the staff said that I needed a Delta Club card- the lady at the counter smiled at me and offered to sell me this for $400 per year. When I then asked if I told her that I already pay $400 for my Priority Pass they said that I could use it. I would have shown the Priority Pass sooner, but there were no signs for Priority Pass at all.

The really nice thing about this card, though, is the wide availibility of access. I don’t know how they do it but it is rare than I cannot use it at all and generally it works well. Check it out if you are unfamiliar with it.

Here are a couple of ideas that a friend of mine gave me for saving time at airports. I knew he was a good person to ask because he hates waiting in line: 

1. If you happen to travel through the same airport often,get a few copies of the customs forms and fill them out in advance, in order not to delay your lineup.
2. If you have a way to fast-track customs, do so. In Canada we have Canpass which will make your trip through Canadian customs much faster, as you get to bypass the regular lineup. There is another program called Nexus, which is currently being trialled at Vancouver airport. Nexus is a joint program between Canadian and US customs authorities to allow travellers from either country to fast-track.
3. If you are flying on a short trip, do not check any luggage.

My friend uses Canpass and loves it. He says that he now avoids the big lineup at customs, and that he does not get stopped any more than usual. I am going to try it out and let you know what I think…

One of the most common problems you will face while traveling across times zones is jet-lag. Because your body is not accustomed to the new time you will feel tired and worn down for a couple days. If you are traveling to a different time zone, here are a couple of tips that can help to ease the suffering of jet-lag…..

1. Try and get your body on to the new time one or 2 days before your travel. I typically go to bed around midnight. As I am five hours behind U.K. time, when I travel to the UK, I try to go to bed at 7 p.m. for one or two nights before I set off, and start my day at three or four a.m. This way, my body has already started to adjust to the new time by the time I get to my destination. Similarly, while I am in the U.K.; before I begin my return to Canada, I try to stay up until 4 or 5 a.m., so that my body is already starting to adjust back to the right time by the time I get back home.  

2. Try anti jet-lag pills- you can find these in many pharmacies and in airports, though they cost more at the airport. I have found them to be quite effective. 

3. Take advantage of early check-in. nowadays most airlines will let you check in to your flight online 24hrs before you fly. This can get you a better seat and will speed up your process at the airport. Better seat= more comfortable travel= more rest= less jetlag.

4. Before you check-in early, in order to help you evaluate which seats are better than others, have a look at http://www.seatguru.com/.

Christopher Elliot noted on his blog that “Baggage complaints are soaring in the aftermath of the gel and liquid semi-ban, and one airline, British Airways, has even said its earnings will be affected by the combustible-liquid threat”

This does not surprise me at all, though I suspect that the affected earnings may have to do more with the additional cost of handling the baggage complaints, than the increased security. Here is my own experience…
 
I have recently returned from a vacation where my (and my girlfriend’s) luggage was lost on the way to Scotland by British Airways. We were not the only ones on our flight with this experience- in fact there was a line-up of people who were missing bags. Incredibly, my sister, who was also traveling on British Airways on different dates, also had her baggage lost. But in her case it was on her return flight to Canada. I have had airlines lose my luggage before, but in my previous experiences it has taken the airlines one or two days to get the luggage back to me. In this case it took four days; which is not a fun way to start a vacation.
 
The worst part about arriving somewhere with no luggage is that you have no toiletries or change of clothes, and the ban on gels and liquids just aggravates the situation as it has forced you to check-in pretty much everything. So the day after arriving, instead of getting to play tourist, we went shopping- wasting one of our seven days in Scotland at the local mall.
 
Having returned home from our holiday, we now have go through the fun process of claiming money back from British Airways. Even though it is clear that they lost our bags and that we only claimed 150 British pounds between 2 of us(not an unreasonable amount considering that 2 people did not get bags for 4 days); British Airways is telling us that it takes 6-8 weeks to process the claim.

So, I don’t know how much additional money the security threats cost the airlines, but certainly the cost of finding the luggage, delivering it to its destination, and compensating clients, who have had their trips affected by lost luggage, must be a substantial sum.

Here are a couple of pointers about luggage:
1- Tag your luggage properly. This means to have a tag around the handle of your luggage and also your name and address inside the bag- just incase the baggage handling tag gets ripped off- I usually leave a business card in one of the pockets which includes my cell phone number. 
2- Keep your receipts, if your luggage gets lost and you do have to buy clothes, toiletries, or anything else make sure to keep the receipts, because when you go to claim money back the airlines will ask for them.
3- Pack anything valuable in plastic bags- when my sister got her luggage back finally after three days, the suitcase, and all of the contents, were completely soaked. She had some photographs which would have been ruined had they not been wrapped in plastic.

Airports used to be a relaxed place to spend some time before you travel or while you transit…. but due to recent events they are fast becoming some of the most miserable places to spend a few precious hours of your life…. Here are six tips to help you take the stress out of airports.

1. Firstly, take advantage of early check-in. nowadays most airlines will let you check in to your flight online 24hrs before you fly. This can get you a better seat and will speed up your process at the airport.
2. Check in everything that you can unless you really need the item during the flight – I have seen so many people carrying large bags all around airport, what for? Airports are big places which typically require a lot of walking- you will often have to carry you bag for a while, so make it as light as possible. Ideally in many cases I don’t have any carry-on bags at all. Whenever you are passing through an airport, try to wear a coat with pockets, you can carry small things in it (I usually have a book), and it will also make your life a lot easier passing through the security check.
3. When you pass through the security screening, you then only have to take your items from your pants pockets and put them into your coat. Do not forget to take your watch off as that may also set off the metal detector. I constantly see people waiting in line for 10 minutes in order to start emptying their pockets when they arrive at the front and they are surprised when they have to pass back through the detector three or four times because they forget to take everything out.
4. Another tip about the security screening- try to wear the right type of shoes- this usually means shoes with soles that have been glued- not nailed, or shoes that do not have large metal lace hooks- both of which can set off the metal detector. Many airports now ask everybody to remove their shoes.
5. If you have lounge access- use it. As a minimum you can use the lounge to get free bottles of water. If you do not have lounge access try to find a comfortable corner of the airport to relax. I have a Priority Pass, which gives me lounge access in almost any airport. As a frequent traveler it has been very worthwhile.
6. Lastly, remember that you do not need to be the first one on the plane… as long are in the waiting area at the right time, the plane is not going to leave without you – if the airline cannot find you they actually have to unpack your luggage from the plane. They do not want to do this so they give people a good chance to arrive before they would not let you on. It never ceases to amaze me that many people will wait in line eagerly to get to their seat as soon as possible- then have to wait for everybody else.

I hope these few ideas help your next airport visit.

Let me start by saying that travel websites are one of the best things to happen on the Internet. With a few mouse clicks anyone can be his or her own travel agent. This is good for people who want to find the best deal. However, these websites are good in some situations but not so good in others.

Here are some examples of when travel websites can be the right booking choice:

When your dates are inflexible. This is because once you make a booking it is next to impossible to change it.

• I used to book all of my hotel rooms with Expedia- they had a great selection of low-cost rooms, and I could trust that I was saving my money for my company. However, the first time I needed to change something it became evident that low prices come with limitations. I had booked a seven-day stay at a UK hotel. Upon arrival I got a message that I needed to travel in 3 days to Saudi Arabia so i had to cut my UK stay short by three days. First, I called the hotel lobby- sorry; your reservation is with Expedia. Ok, so I called Expedia. Sorry, no changes permitted. Several hours were spent on the phone with customer service agents who could not tell me why. Finally they explained to me that if I had made 7 individual reservations I could have cancelled the last 3 days, but having made a single 7-day reservation nothing could be done. 
  
• When your plans are flexible- that is, you are not stuck on staying at a particular hotel brand, etc… this is important because various hotels may give special prices for a whole variety of reasons. I once had the good fortune of booking 5 nights at the millenium hotel in central London for 99 pounds a night, this is a really fancy boutique-style place, since then the cheapest I have ever seen it has been 300 pounds a night.
  

It also pays to check all of the major websites, I have a few listed below… one of them may have a better deal on the flight or hotel you are looking for.

Keep these things in mind when you book from a travel website- if your travel meets these minimum criteria there are some very good deals available. Just remember to read the fine print.

Here are some links to check out and compare for your next trip …

www.travelocity.com
www.hotwire.com
www.expedia.com
www.orbitz.com

Some people do not bother collecting points or frequent flier miles. I used to be one of those people. However, I had been traveling quite a lot for work and one day my boss asked me how many British Airways points I had (as I was usually flying BA). When I told him that I was not a member of their frequent flier club he told me to join immediately and to log my previous six months of flights. Upon doing so I immediately collected 50,000 BA miles, which is enough for a trip from North America to Europe. Wow. That’s how I became very interested in points and miles.

 There are a few basic rules to consider when collecting frequent flier miles- or any kind of points for that matter. These are my top three-

The first rule is to always collect them where you can. They do not cost you anything and they can add up to future flights, hotel stays, or merchandise. My rule is- if you can collect some kind of points you should – and if you are not already a member of their plan- join. It’s free and may add up to something later. The only exception to this is when the item that you are purchasing costs more to collect the points (unusual but it happens).

The second rule is to try and stick to the same points programs, so have primary and secondary programs- it is better to have 60,000 Aeroplan points, for example, then 30,000 Aeroplan and 30,000 BA. The first one can give you a trip to Europe or 2 tickets around North America; the second can’t even get you to Europe. This may seem like it contradicts the first rule, but it does not- try to use your primary program first, then your secondary one, and so on…

The third rule is the importance of understanding expiry, because you do not want your points to go to waste. Either try to use points without expiry, or if your points do expire, know the rules related to this. For example, many people in Canada collect Aeroplan points, but many are not aware that they expire after 3 years of inactivity on the account. Inactivity does not necessarily mean flight inactivity; Esso gives you 1 Aeroplan point for buying $3 of gas; so if you have not collected Aeroplan points in  2 1/2 years you can just buy $3 of gas to collect 1 point and keep the account active. Don’t find out the hard way that you have lost all of your points.

I am going to get into more detail of points programs in future posts. Stay tuned…

If you are traveling to a new country may be risky for any reason I would add one last item: keep a note with the address and phone number of your nearest embassy/consulate in a safe place- this can save you a lot of hassle if your documents are lost or stolen.