Traveler 2.0

How to Avoid Airline Baggage Fees

On my last cross-country flight, Delta forced me to check my carry-on bag at the gate. It's not going to happen again.

I had two carry-on bags: a Victorinox Avolve 22 four-wheeled bag plus a Briggs & Riley backpack. A Delta rep at the gate eyed my Victorinox bag, which admittedly was a bit overstuffed, and made me try to squeeze it into the metal frame that approximates the acceptable size of a carry-on. Had Delta shrunk that little frame? It certainly seemed that way, because my bag wouldn't fit into Delta's tight little girdle. FYI, the Avolve 22's dimensions are 14.5 inches x 22 inches x 9.5 inches. Delta's 'size check' girdle measures 14 inches x 22 inches x 9 inches--a total of 1 inch smaller than the Avolve bag.   

And so, I had to check the Avolve bag. My only consolation was that I didn't also have to pay $25 for the privilege.

I loathe checking my bags because I detest waiting for them on the carousel. When I arrive, I'm ready to get on my way, chop chop. And so, my experience with Delta had me thinking: How can I beat the airlines at their game?

By buying two new bags, of course.

My new strategy is to carry on two similarly sized bags, instead of one big one and one small one. The two bags I bought were in Briggs & Riley's Baseline collection:

* Wheeled Cabin Bag ($300), which measures 13 inches x 16.8 inches x 9 inches.

* Large Weekender ($135.20 outlet price, chocolate color only), measuring 12 inches x 19.8 inches x 9 inches.

Both bags fit into Delta's corset. Both go in the overhead compartment. The wheeled bag is a bit too big to go under the seat, but the Large Weekender is just fine, as long as you don't overstuff it.

And now, no more forced checking of bags or checked bag fees--until the airlines start charging for carry-ons, that is.

 

 

 

 

 

The Best Airlines and Airports for Tech

OnlineMBA.com has created an infographic that deftly summarizes the best airports, airlines, and tech devices for frequent travelers, plus tips on how to speed through security. Some of the info may be obvious to a frequent flyer. Still, the infographic is worth a look. You might even want to print it out and keep it handy when you book your next flight.

Via: Online MBA News

Airline-Branded Bags -- a Cool Retro Holiday Gift?

Do you remember when airlines used to actually give bags to passengers? Neither do I. And the concept seems a bit curious. I mean, didn't you already have all your stuff packed into bags when you arrived for your flight?

At any rate, once upon a time, airlines did indeed give bags to passengers, usually in first- or business-class. You can still buy airline-branded bags for sale online. They might even make a cool holiday gift for travel buffs longing to relive the long-gone days of glamorous air travel.

* New Pan Am-brand bags are available from Panam.com. The TV show, which I stopped watching after two episodes due to its severe cheese quotient, has no doubt stirred interest in Pan Am merchandise. There are dozens of Pan Am bags for sale on this site. The bright white and blue bags don't particularly appeal to me, but I wouldn't balk if someone slipped the black Orion bag ($89), shown at right, under my Christmas tree. 

* In Retro has about a dozen retro airline flight bag styles from Air China, Air India, Continental, KLM, and others. Prices listed are in pounds, so buyer beware.

* Virgin America, probably the only remaining domestic U.S. airline with style, sells two different Virgin-branded bags from its 'Swag Shop': the Rickshaw for Virgin America Messenger ($90) and the Rickshaw for Virgin America Weekender ($110). They're black (my favorite bag color) and have red interiors, so you can find stuff easily. And Virgin, which is based in San Francisco, says the bags are made in SF, too.

 

Travel tips part 2 - the tech accessories you should travel with

Following up my earlier post on clothes I recommend for travelers, here is some tech I think is worth packing on vacation (as opposed to a business trip). (FYI, I don't receive freebies, payments, or commissions by mentioning any of these products.)

* Magellan's Dual-Voltage Power Strip ($30) supports North American and international electrical currencies and includes three AC outlets and one USB charging port. Buy the power adapter you need for the country you're visiting (about $7 each), and combined with this strip, you should have everything you need to recharge your laptop, tablet, e-reader, smartphone, digital camera, and other gadgets.

* BookGem stand ($15). This compact, collapsible stand props up your iPad, Kindle, Nook, and other tablets and e-readers for comfortable, hands-off viewing. Rather than pack my iPad 2 in a heavy case/stand, I protect it with Apple's Smart Cover, which is very lightweight, and I use the BookGem stand to prop the tablet for reading or watching video.

* Boostaroo ($25). All too often, an airplane's loud hum makes music and video harder to hear on my iPad or iPhone, sometimes even when I'm wearing noise cancelling headphones. So I always travel with this 'portable amplifier,' which boosts audio to a comfortable level and also allows you to plug in a total of three headsets.

Online travel booking tips from today's Wall Street Journal

The Thursday edition of the Wall Street Journal's Personal Journal section had several good tips for frequent travelers. Here are a few: 

* If you fly coach and prefer the aisle seat, you might want to either pay for early boarding or pay to check your bag. Airlines are fine-tuning the boarding process. Several, such as United and Delta, are now boarding passengers by window first, followed by middle and then aisle seats. So if you're an aisle seat ticket holder, you'll probably find less room available in the overhead bins.

* American Airlines passengers should preprint boarding passes or download them to a smartphone. American is using a new randomized boarding process, and checking in online may give you a better chance of being assigned to an earlier boarding group at the airport vs. those who check in at the airport.

* Mobile apps for travelers can help you snag a great last-minute hotel or rental car deal. For example, the Journal's Timothy W. Martin writes that "Some hotel chains, eager to fill empty beds, offer special discounts to travelers who book while in town," which a GPS-enabled smartphone or tablet enables you to do.  

Is the iPad a netbook killer? Doubtful

Image via Wikipedia

Like sex, conflict sells. Which helps explain recent stories in print and online posing the question, 'Is the iPad a netbook killer?,' and such.

Many bloggers and journalists love to pit one entity against another: Apple vs. Adobe, Google vs. Microsoft, Windows vs. Mac, and so on. Why? Because readers love conflict. They want to see who wins and how they win. Conflict creates friction, drama, intrigue.

But the iPad vs. the netbook? I don't think so.

Fortune and others have pointed out that netbook sales dipped as the iPad became available. 

But I'm with Renee Oricchio, who writes for Inc.: "Netbooks are here to stay. Clearly, so is the iPad. One will not supplant the other."

I own both an iPad and a Samsung netbook. And as much as I loves me some iPad, I have serious reservations about traveling with it in lieu of a netbook or laptop. The iPad is bound by too many limitations at this point. Working with Google Docs, for instance, is difficult at best, and I'm increasingly working in Google Docs with colleagues and clients. Plus, you can't prop an iPad and a Bluetooth keyboard in your lap to get some serious work done while waiting for a flight. And you probably can't get away using a Bluetooth keyboard connected to your iPad during a flight--most airlines won't allow you to use Bluetooth devices in the air.

The iPad would make a great vacation computer--giving you access to email, the Internet, and streaming Netflix movies, while making it difficult to be productive. But for those times when I need to work on the road, I'll continue to take a netbook.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Analyst: iPad Will Outsell Netbooks (cultofmac.com)
• iPad gouges netbook sales (go.theregister.com)
• Forrester Projects Tablet Sales Will Overtake Netbook and Desktop Sales (shoppingblog.com)
• Experts: iPad, tablet rivals will kill netbooks (macworld.com)

Air Travel for Techies: American's Wi-Fi, Virgin America's Power Ports

Just returned from a business/pleasure trip to New York.

From San Francisco to JFK, I flew American Airlines in coach, specifically to try its new wireless network service (available on 767-200 aircraft flying between JFK and SF, LA, and Miami). The service, Aircell's Gogo, cost $13 for the entire flight. Aircell employees were stationed at the departure gate, handing out coupons for 25% off the service. (See picture below.)

The connection speed was not quite as fast as my DSL-based wireless network at home. But it was speedy enough to watch YouTube videos with only occasional lags and skips. A bonus: I had a DC power port at my seat, so with an adapter, I kept my MacBook Air powered throughout the flight.

For my return flight, I traveled on Virgin America. I was a Virgin virgin and was curious what the buzz was all about.

The A319 aircraft I was on didn't have wireless or wired networking (Virgin's working on adding that). The entertainment system was fun and easy to use, however. And my coach cabin seat had an AC power outlet.

But here's the curious thing. When my MacBook Air was plugged into the outlet, its cursor/pointer became virtually unusable. I would drag my finger across the trackpad to move the cursor to select, say, an icon in the Mac OS dock. But the cursor wouldn't respond at all. Or it would have a delayed response of as much as half a minute.

I thought my MacBook Air was having a meltdown. Then, out of curiosity, I unplugged the laptop from the power port at my seat. The cursor movement immediately returned to normal. When I plugged the computer back in to the power port, the cursor went back into lag mode. 

I was watching Mad Men episodes on my MacBook Air, so the cursor lag wasn't a significant problem. When I needed to use the cursor, I'd just unplug the computer, move the pointer, then plug the computer back in. If I had needed to work, however, the cursor delay would have been intolerable.

High tech amenities in flight are finally arriving, after years of stops and starts. The ability to surf the Web in the sky is a big step forward. But my experience using Virgin America's power port is a reminder that quirky, mysterious technical glitches still follow us, no matter where we go. 

The Future of Frequent Flier Miles

In today's Wall Street Journal, columnist Scott McCartney offers his forecasts for 2008 travel. Among his predictions, McCartney says the airlines--still trying to fly above the financial turbulence of the past few years--will likely sell off some assets, including their frequent flier programs.

What does this mean for travelers? According to McCartney:

* New owners of an airline's reward program could seek to develop more partnerships. In turn, that could result in more ways to earn and spend your accrued miles.

* The downside: Having spun off their rewards programs, airlines might make you spend even more miles for free travel--a trend that is already happening.

What can you do about this? Lower your expectations, for one thing. The days of getting a free coach ticket for 20,000 miles are disappearing quickly, if not already gone forever. Booking business class tickets to international destinations is even harder. Recently, the best deal I could find for a business class trip to Buenos Aires from San Francisco was 250,000 miles.

Also, it helps to become savvier about how you earn miles.

Example: I had nearly 19,000 United Airlines miles set to expire Dec. 31, 2007. I'd paid little attention to my United rewards program, as I don't often fly United. But I didn't want to lose the miles, and all I had to do to save them was to generate some activity on my account before year's end.

So I signed up to earn miles from Safeway whenever I shop there (which is often). And I joined United's dining rewards program, in which you earn miles by spending dough in participating restaurants. Just by doing things I always do--grocery shopping and dining out--I'm now earning United miles. Plus, I charge those expenditures on Amex, where I earn additional miles.

If nothing else, I saved my 19,000 miles from vanishing. That won't get me to Buenos Aires, but it's a start.

Most Expensive U.S. City for Fliers

If you're a frequent flier, you don't want to live in Cincinnati. Apparently that city has the "highest average domestic fares among the nation's 100 largest airports," The Wall Street Journal reports.

The Journal's 'Middle Seat' columnist Scott McCartney attributes Cincinnati's high prices to a lack of competition from discount carriers. Delta has more than 80% of the city's airline passenger traffic, the Journal says.

The airports offering the lowest per-mile average cost to fly, such as Dallas' Love Field, Chicago Midway, Houston Hobby, and Oakland, were all served by low-cost carrier Southwest.

I suspect this isn't Earth-shattering news to most travelers. Still, it serves as a reminder: We should all try to patronize the low-cost carriers whenever possible. Unfortunately, Southwest and other low-cost airlines aren't always tops in amenities for business travelers. But without them, we'd all be paying far more for our tickets.

Airline Food: The Best and Worst

Of domestic U.S. carriers, United Airlines offers the most nutritious in-flight snack box, USA Today reports. The airline's Smartpack box ($5) includes granola, organic peach applesauce, and cheddar cheese. It's vegetarian-friendly and free of trans fats. However, the contents of the snack box add up to 810 calories.

Which airlines serve the least nutritious meals or snack boxes? Southwest and Northwest. Example: Southwest's Snack Pack includes "cookies, cheese sandwich crackers and dried fruit and nuts," according to USA Today.

Of course, airline food has never been confused with haute cuisine. I remember a hot breakfast I received on US Airlines years ago that included an omelet, plus bacon and sausage. Come to think of it, that meal was free, and I was traveling in coach. Oh, for the good old days of air travel.

P.S. Airlinemeals.net is a fun Web site in which travelers share photos and stories of the in-flight foods placed before their disbelieving eyes. Below is a photo from the site, of a meal served on TWA circa 1958-59. Can you identify the food? Or, more to the point, do you even want to?