E-Book Overview
Today, ordinary travel is an extraordinary ordeal. Yet despite the high prices and huge hassles, air travel is booming - along with the need for tips, tricks and techniques to improve the journey. "Power Travel" is both an entertaining road trip and a heavily prescriptive guide. This book lets you: figure out how to pack to avoid security hassles and additional baggage fees; learn why airlines put bar codes on bags but rarely use them; know how FedEx can tell you exactly where your package is, but when airlines lose bags, they have no clue; and, see how decisions are made on who gets bumped, who gets upgraded and who gets a free seat. Status matters. So does your ticket price. Watch one airplane get further and further behind schedule as delays build through the day. (You'll always book morning flights in the future once you've read this book.) Armed with an enlightened understanding of how the confounding airline system works, "Power Travel" will also deliver expert advice on how to avoid as many hassles as possible and game the system to make travel more enjoyable.
E-Book Content
O T E UID
R E W O P L E V A R T
G
HOW TO ARRIVE WITH YOUR DIGNITY,
SANITY & WALLET INTACT
Scott McCartney Middle Seat Columnist The Wall Street Journal
To K a r e n (ag a i n a n d a lways) ,
for making the journey a joy
I travel not to go anywhere, but to go.
I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.
—Robert Louis Stevenson
Contents
Epigraph iii
Introduction: What This Book Is, and How to Use It ix
C H A P T E R
1
The Ten Commandments of Travel 1
C H A P T E R
2
Deciding Where You Want to Go, and How 11
C H A P T E R
3
How Airlines Price Tickets 23
C H A P T E R
4
Hunting That Elusive Low Fare 39
C H A P T E R
5
Up-Sells, First-Class Bargains, and Enhancements 59
C H A P T E R
6
Frequent-Flier Rewards and Rip-offs 71
VI CONTENTS C H A P T E R
7
Preparing for Takeoff 93 C H A P T E R
8
Baggage Woes 115 C H A P T E R
9
Hassle-Free Security (Hah!) 135 C H A P T E R
1 0
Bumping, Upgrades, and Boarding 163 C H A P T E R
11
In the Middle Seat 181 C H A P T E R
1 2
When Bad Things Happen to Good Travelers 205 C H A P T E R
1 3
Airline/Air-Traffic-Control Operations 215 C H A P T E R
1 4
The Best Perks 245 C H A P T E R
1 5
Hotel Secrets and Strategies 263 C H A P T E R
1 6
Cruise Strategies 277 Conclusion: Will Travel Ever Get Better? 293
Appendix: Resources 299
About the Author
Credits
Cover
Copyright
About the Publisher
Introduction
What This Book Is, and How to Use It
I
n his 1974 classic, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, author Robert M. Pirsig took a journey across America, seeking understanding and knowledge. At the foot of moun tains, he remarked on the bittersweet joy of a good trip. “I feel happy to be here, and still a little sad to be here too. Sometimes it’s a little better to travel than to arrive.’’ There is joy in travel. Travel takes us to knowledge. It takes us to happiness, to reunion, to memories, and to new experiences. Travel takes us to work, clients, meetings, sales, and profitable relationships. It takes us to grandchildren and grandparents; to beaches and golf and Disney. And some times, best of all, travel takes us home. We soar six miles above the earth and cruise at five hundred miles per hour. The world shrinks—we can be on the other side of the planet