Jim’s Travel Tips

I have been reading a lot about airline flight statistics. Numbers such as % cancelled, % on time, etc. Here is a web site that lets you do your own research. This web site provides all kinds of travel information in addition to statistics, such things as current airport delays. TIP: Go to www.flightstats.com  Every trip is, of course, unpredictable but if you are planning a tight connection it can be of some help to know if your flights are historically late or other particular info.

Many web sites exist for airline travel planning and booking. I ran across a site that gives good information on flights available from one city to another. This site has a couple of unique features. The line that you type the city name on helps locate the exact airport three letter code. It also lists the non-stop flights first. You also have the ability to exclude certain airlines from the search. It’s just one of many travel sites out there, but I find it to be unique enough to be worthy of sharing. TIP: Go to www.dohop.com

Usually only costing 40 dollars, the Airtran business class upgrade at time of check-in is worth every penny. There are only two seating cabins with Airtran, business class and coach. When you are checking in, you have the option to pay 5 dollars more in order to choose your seat, or pay 15 for an exit row. I recommend skipping these options and going right to the business class upgrade. The business class customers enjoy the usual: free (unlimited) drinks, better snacks, bigger seats, and of course, you’ll be the first one off the plane!

(Thanks to our friend Dave for this great tip for small airline Airtran!)

Airlines usually have a flight status or flight tracker section on their websites. I recently came across some web sites that provide more information than the typical airline web site. TIP: Check out these sites for flight status information including maps showing the actual location of the aircraft. http://flightaware.com , http://www.flytecomm.com/cgi-bin/trackflight , http://www.flightview.com/

Frequent fliers know which airplane seats are better than others on the flights they frequent. Travelers also have their favorites; some like bulkhead, some like windows, and some like aisles. Each airline numbers the seats differently, so your favorite row will not have the same number airline to airline. How to keep track or know what seat is what? TIP: Go to www.seatguru.com and you will be able to research everything you need to know about, not only seat configurations, but how each airline differs.

This is a follow up to my tip about flight reminders and alerts. In addition to the airline electronic updates, it is also useful to have access to your home airport or destination airport web site. It is extremely useful when the airport web site provides the overall arrival and departure schedule. The airline gives you information about your single flight while checking the airport site gives information on how the entire airport is running; this is particularly useful during bad weather. TIP: Check the airport web site before leaving for the airport. Here is an example from my home airport: www.grr.org/RTFI.php

The electronic age has provided some nice airline travel enhancements. The major US airlines have features on their web sites that will provide you with electronic reminders and flight updates, for example: delays, cancellations, gate changes, etc… This can be in the form of a cell phone call or an e-mail. Some airlines require you to register your flights on their web sites while other have a “blanket” program that will cover all your flights logged to your frequent flier number. (And if you don’t have one of those, read this tip!) This is a nice way to keep informed. TIP: Do not rely solely on these messages as they are not always 100% accurate – check the arrival/ departure boards in the airport to verify the information. Running to Gate 42 when it was just changed to Gate 20 does not help.

The person behind the ticket counter has all the power! They can do just about anything, within reason, for you whether they admit it or not. TIP: Always smile and ask nicely and inquisitively. (Didn’t get the answer you wanted? – ask the gate agent – they have even more power.) I have been the recipient of this power, it is great!

When dealing with airline customer service representatives you may not always like the answer they give pertaining to your question or problem. TIP: Try again and again. Ask another person at the airport or call back. You will most likely get a different person. They are large companies and someone different may give you the answer you are looking for. I have found that perseverance with the airlines is a good tool.