Tag Archives: airline travel

Chicago O'Hare International Airport decorated for Christmas

10 Ways to Minimize Holiday Travel Hassles

It’s that most wonderful time of the year when U.S. airports are jammed, overhead bins crammed, flights delayed, and travel headaches numerous. And this year will be no different. Nerves understandably frazzle when delays hit on a tight travel schedule, so prepare yourself with the following tips, don’t forget your documents, and remember what’s ultimately waiting at your destination: family, friends, and holiday cheer.

1. Download must-have apps.

There are apps that tell you which security line at your airport has the shortest wait time, help you get the assistance you need when your flight plans derail, and more. Here are a few of my favorites.

2. Don’t wrap gifts before you travel with them.

The TSA can ask you to unwrap gifts in your carry-on for examination, slowing down you and everyone else in the security line (and ruining your crisp corner folds). They can unwrap gifts in checked luggage as well. Wrap your gifts when you arrive or send them by mail.

3. Pack so it’s a breeze to get your holiday gifts home.

You may have figured out how to get to Grandma’s with only carry-ons (maybe you ordered all your gifts for your aunts and uncles and cousins online and had them shipped), but what about getting home again with the gifts they give you? Here’s my strategy for bringing home a lot more stuff than you started with.

4. Check in for your flight online 24 hours ahead.

Checking in the day before reduces your chance of getting bumped from an oversold flight and increases your chance of snagging a better seat—one made available 24 hours in advance. That’s when elite-status frequent fliers get upgraded from coach, leaving behind prime empty seats in the forward cabin or exit rows.

5. Leave for the airport earlier than usual.

You know all those drivers you battle with for a parking spot at the mall? You’ll now be battling them on the road to the airport. And in the parking garage. Allow time for being stuck in traffic. Use the predictor function in your favorite navigation app (Google Maps, Apple Maps, Waze, etc.) to estimate your travel time and alert you when to leave, based on the current traffic pattern and your desired arrival.  And if possible, pre-book a parking spot; we’ve had good experiences with The Parking Spot. If you can’t prebook, some airports offer frequently updated availability reports for their own parking lots.

And: If you’re scheduling a car service or you’re ride-sharing to the airport, add an extra 15 to 20 minutes to your start time to account for any traffic delays.

6. Flight delayed? Relax in an airport lounge.

More and more pay-as-you-go independent lounges have been popping up all over the U.S. For $25 to $50 you can escape the circus in the terminal and kick back in comfy armchairs—with Wi-Fi, televisions, and snacks—or even shower or nap. As for club lounges run by airlines, many now sell day passes for $60—and give you access to airline agents who can be more helpful in fixing travel snafus than agents you talk to at the gate or on the phone. LoungeBuddy is an app that helps you find and book lounges in your airport; it’s being retired by American Express January 13, 2025, but should still be of use for the upcoming holidays. Priority Pass is among the membership organizations that offer access to lounges; pre-paid packages start at $99 per year (Priority Pass is also offered as a perk with credit cards such as American Express Platinum and Chase’s Sapphire Reserve).

7. Be the first to know if your flight is canceled.

If a storm cancels your flight, you’ll be in a mad race with everyone else to grab what few seats are available on alternate flights. If bad weather is brewing in the days before your trip, sign up for flight status alerts, and also check your airline’s website frequently so that, as soon as the airline announces it’s waiving ticket-change fees, you can take action. Also monitor the airline’s social-media feed; it sometimes provides the quickest updates. Be prepared for anything by downloading essential apps and tools for winter travel.

8. Flight canceled? Look for a storm-free hub to connect in.

FlightStats.com tells you at a glance which airports and airlines are suffering weather-related delays and, just as important, which are not. Note which hubs are having no weather issues (Las Vegas, for instance) and rebook to connect through one of them. (Vegas may not be in the linear path to your final destination, but you could end up at your destination much quicker than if you remain in a snowbound airport. And, if you need to overnight in Vegas, there are inexpensive hotels and frequent flights out.)

9. Don’t waste time waiting on hold.

Rather than phoning the airline’s jammed U.S. customer service line and getting stuck on hold for hours while the few available seats to your destination vaporize, call one of the airline’s English-speaking overseas reservations numbers—say, in England, Germany, Australia, or Singapore. (You’ll find these numbers on the airline’s website.)

Or check your airline’s app. You can often rebook yourself without paying change fees. Initiating a text chat session from the app (if available) will also result in quicker responses. Plus, your frequent-flier status can push you up the queue.

10. Score a free future airline ticket.

‘Tis the season for oversold flights, so there’s a chance you could score a free or discounted ticket by volunteering to take a later plane. Delta and American are among airlines that actually ask flyers to name their own voucher amount when checking bags at their kiosk, so passengers compete with themselves and avoid escalating gate auctions. Another strategy: If you’re willing to volunteer to be delayed for a few hours in exchange for a discounted or free future ticket, consider approaching the gate agent before they have made an announcement, so you’re first on the list of volunteers. But don’t accept a voucher without making yourself aware of all the restrictions (blackout dates, expiration date, etc.) and ensuring you have a confirmed seat on a later flight.

 

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Using apps at the airport

Apps To Help You Survive Holiday Travel

Airport delays, flight cancellations, and long waits in the security line are some of the not-so-welcome gifts we get during the holiday season. Though we can’t avoid all holiday travel snafus, we can be prepared because our smartphones are a great resource. Check out this list of apps and other services that can help.

Your airline’s app 
Flight status, gate changes, alerts, nearby lounge info, and your mobile boarding pass—you’ll get all of these through your airline’s app.

Tracking flight delays and cancellations
Apps like FlightStats and FlightAware track flight status and can alert you to delays or weather cancellations, sometimes more efficiently than the airline will. If your flight does get cancelled due to a storm and you want to do what I do—which is to find alternate flights that connect in cities that are having no weather issues—they can tell you which large hubs are unaffected by the current weather situation.

An app for monitoring the wait at airport security lines
The line at security used to be one of the most unpredictable pain points in your journey. Luckily, that has changed, because a few apps can now show you what to expect. The TSA’s official MyTSA app shows you estimated wait times, provides tips on what you can and cannot bring through security, and has a handy “Ask TSA” live-chat feature. MiFlight has real-time info crowd-sourced from fellow travelers using the app (available on iPhone only). You can also check the website of the airport; some (like JFK, EWR, and ATL) offer real-time waits at security and customs.  

Real-time updates and answers from your airline
X (formerly Twitter) may have its flaws, but following your airline’s feed is typically one of the quickest ways to find out about delays or cancellations. It can also be an effective way to get in touch with an airline rep fast: Direct your question or complaint to the airline’s social media, and they’re incentivized to give you a speedy answer.

Emergency airline assistance
Cranky Concierge isn’t an app—it’s a website and (gasp!) a phone service—but when your flight is canceled or delayed, and you really need to get where you’re going, this is the help you need. Sure, you could choose to spend frustrating hours on the phone with unhelpful airline customer-service centers, trying to reroute your own trip—or you could let the Cranky team handle it. They have knowledge of and access to info you won’t be able to get on your own, and they can research and rebook you with the best possible option while you get a drink at the airport bar. Cranky Concierge’s urgent assistance service starts at $175 and is accessible through the website and via phone (U.S.: 888-747-1011 x9; global: +1-74-200-4200 x9).

Finding an airport lounge 
You no longer need to hold special status or specific credit cards to access certain airport lounges—just pay a fee and you’re entitled to all the comfy couches, free Wi-Fi, and complimentary snacks the elite travelers get. LoungeBuddy (available for iPhone only) will help you find these pay-for-the-day enclaves, show you photos and reviews posted by other travelers, and let you book a spot in advance when possible. And if you do have special access via a credit card or frequent-flier program, LoungeBuddy can store your info and let you know when those free-access lounges are nearby too. (Note: American Express will retire LoungeBuddy.com on January 30, 2025. Users will no longer be able to purchase lounge passes through LoungeBuddy or access lounges using LoungeBuddy passes starting on January 13, 2025.)

Priority Pass is a lounge subscription service. For an annual membership fee between $99 and $469, Priority Pass grants its members access to over 1,300 airport lounges and experiences worldwide. Some credit cards, such as American Express Platinum, Chase Sapphire Reserve, and certain Capital One cards, offer Priority Pass membership as a free perk, so check out your card’s benefits package before signing up.

Navigating the airport
FLIO covers nearly 6,000 airports globally, connecting you with information on the airport you’re in—everything from where to find power outlets to hotels that offer day-use rooms for long layovers. Services featured vary, depending on the airport. A check of services offered at Newark International Airport (EWR) includes details on where to find nursing suites and how to transfer to other New York-area airports. In Chile’s Santiago airport (SCL), you can find lounges and luggage storage. And at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, the app tips you off to baby lounges, an in-airport park, and locations of massage chairs. It’s helpful to know your airport’s IATA code, since airports are listed alphabetically by their three-letter code, and these aren’t always obvious.

A quicker Global Entry experience in some airports
If you already have a Global Entry membership and are re-entering the U.S. via Seattle, Los Angeles, Miami, Orlando, Washington Dulles, Pittsburgh, or Houston, you can use an app (iPhone only) that Customs and Border Protection is testing: Instead of stopping at a kiosk, you take a selfie with the app and then go straight to the CBP officers to complete your arrival processing.

When you don’t speak the language
When you’re struggling to communicate with a taxi driver, a good translation app can be a godsend. Google Translate lets you speak right into the phone, and then it can translate, out loud, into the selected language. The app’s Google Lens function also decodes written text via your phone’s camera—super-handy for reading menus or museum display panels—and it’s all available offline with dozens of downloadable language dictionaries. Another good option is Apple’s Translate; it features type, voice, or picture translation, like Google, but only offers 17 languages at the moment.

Last-minute hotel stays if your flight is delayed
Sometimes things don’t go as planned, or maybe you didn’t plan at all, and you need a hotel room right now. HotelTonight is made for those times, offering last-minute discounts on hotels of various star levels. The app doesn’t cover every destination in the world, but it does include a lot of big cities and popular travel spots in the U.S. and overseas. One helpful feature is that it sorts urban areas both by neighborhoods and by airports.

Getting to or from the airport, or anywhere else
When you need a ride and you don’t want to drive (or shouldn’t), Uber and Lyft are still the go-to rideshare apps every traveler should have in their phone. Uber is particularly useful in many other countries around the world.

Another alternative to airport taxis
Landing in an airport in an unfamiliar city can be an unsettling experience if ridesharing is banned and you have no idea how reliable or reputable the taxis are. Welcome Pickups contracts with drivers and limo companies in 160 cities worldwide, and you can schedule a transfer from their app or site in seconds. For roughly the price of a local taxi, your driver will meet you at baggage claim or in a specified area and deliver you to your destination. Communication is done within the app, and you can pay by credit card.

Calling and texting for free
Forego costly international calling charges and use WhatsApp to communicate when you’re abroad—both with friends and family back home, and with your private guide or other locals in your destination. With WhatsApp, texts and calls are free anytime your phone is connected to Wi-Fi.

Restaurant reservations 
The last thing a weary traveler wants after a long flight is to have to wander the streets looking for a meal. Google and Apple Maps will show you highly rated restaurants in your area, but I love the ease of the reservation app OpenTable to book a table. Particularly helpful, especially when visiting a new city, is the “near me” function. OpenTable, already well entrenched in the U.S., is expanding its international footprint and now serving countries such as the U.K., India, Singapore, Mexico, Australia, Italy, and beyond. One tip: You will want to establish your free account before you leave home.

Maps and navigation
What makes Maps.me so useful is that it offers complete city and country downloads, perfect for touching down in a foreign country where you don’t want to incur roaming data fees.

Getting around town and beyond
Rome2Rio incorporates public transportation schedules with drive, walk, and even scooter/bike times to give you step-by-step travel options in each format within a clean, clear interface. It’ll even tell you which train car to ride in and what subway exit to take. It’s not just city-focused; you can plan trips between cities, and Rome2Rio will offer recommendations of flights, trains, and buses, along with how much they cost.

Calculating currency conversions
An app like Currency lets you skip the mental math of currency conversions—and it saves the latest conversion rate so that it works offline too.

 

What other apps have saved you during holiday travel? Tell us about them in the comments below.

 

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Here’s Why Your Family May Want to “Pool” Your Airline Miles

More and more airlines are allowing passengers to “pool” their miles in a shared account. What does this mean? It’s a quicker path to award tickets, particularly for families. If two parents and two kids each have 15,000 miles in separate accounts, those miles aren’t particularly useful. But a combined pool of 60,000 miles can probably cover at least one person’s flights on the family’s next trip.

Here’s how it helped me snag two free seats: My husband and trumpet-playing son are headed to a trumpet conference. By pooling the mileage they had collectively earned on past United flights, we were able to accumulate enough miles to cover this trip. Airlines that don’t allow mileage pooling extract hefty fees when you don’t have quite enough for an award ticket: You must pay either to “gift” miles to someone else or to buy the extra miles you need.

In this case, my husband and son each had enough miles for one ticket, but purchasing their flights separately would have required identifying my son as an unaccompanied minor—even though his dad would be on the same flights under a separate ticket—and it risked having their reservations rebooked separately if anything went wrong. So pooling their miles provided additional benefits to make their travel smoother.

United is the latest airline to adopt mileage pooling, but a bunch of other airlines already have this system in place, from JetBlue and Hawaiian to British Airways and Emirates. The rules of who can pool mileage and how to do so vary by airline, but I can tell you that United’s process takes several days—you have to wait 72 hours after you join a pool to contribute or redeem miles, and there’s an additional 24-hour waiting period between when you transfer miles into a pool and when you can use them to book a flight. By the time I jumped through all those hoops, the miles required for the flights I wanted had gone up, so I had to add more miles and wait an extra day. But it was still preferable to shelling out more than $600 for the flights; next time I’ll make sure our pool has more miles than what’s needed for the flights I have my eye on, in case the required redemption amount goes up in the interim.

So now that it’s easier for your family to redeem your collective frequent-flier miles, where do you want to go? If you know when you can travel, check out our favorite destinations by month. You’ll also find inspiration in our travelers’ reviews of their best trips, organized by traveler type, trip theme, destination, and more. If you’d like our advice on where to go, click the black button below.

GET A PERSONALIZED TRIP RECOMMENDATION

 

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vintage phone

How Never to Wait on Hold with Airline Customer Service Again

While there are many apps and online tools that you can use to get help when your flight is canceled, delayed, or changed, sometimes you just really need to talk to a live person at your airline. Of course, being put on hold forever doesn’t help anyone (you or the customer-service rep you’re about to unleash your frustration on), so here are a couple of tricks to help you avoid endless waits on hold.

Call the airline’s customer-service office in a different country.

Major airlines have overseas locations where staffers speak English—in the U.K., Germany, Australia, Hong Kong, and Singapore, for example—and they are typically just as able to help you as their U.S.-based counterparts, as long as their office is open (not all call centers are open 24 hours) and not dealing with a local weather event.  So if you need to speak with someone at, say, American Airlines, try calling one of their worldwide phone numbers.  To keep the cost of the call down, use WhatsApp, Skype, or Google Voice.

Let someone else wait on hold.

Gary Leff, the airline expert who writes View From The Wing and founded point.me, taught me about GetHuman.com a few years ago when Snowmageddon hit. This site offers many sanity-saving aids, including: phone numbers (with shortcuts) to many companies, step-by-step guides on how to solve certain problems, and representatives who can solve the problem for you if you simply don’t want to deal with any of it.

Turn to social media

During an Antarctica cruise last year, WendyPerrin.com contributing editor Carolyn Spencer Brown learned that weather would delay her ship’s return to port. On Twitter (now X), she sent a direct message to American Airlines, which was able to quickly rebook her flight home. Reader Kathy Wood tells us she’s also had good experiences using social media to make last-minute flight changes. “I have had great luck with Delta through their Facebook page and Facebook messenger,” she tells us. “I think it does help to be polite in your post and email… not belligerent. I am really impressed with how quick and efficient this has been and how helpful the reps have been.”

Let someone else handle it all.

CrankyConcierge.com offers urgent air-travel assistance, such as rerouting when your flight is cancelled or delayed. Run by longtime airline-industry expert Brett Snyder, the company can also plan your flights from the get-go. Emergency help starts at $175.

Something to keep in mind

When you give your credit card to a customer-service agent based in another country, your card may assess a foreign-transaction fee. So use a card that does not charge foreign-transaction fees.

 

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Concept of airplane travel to exotic destination with shadow of commercial airplane flying above beautiful tropical beach.

Need to Fly Long-Haul? How to Choose a Safe, Smart Flight During Covid

Travel isn’t just my job; it’s my favorite hobby too. After Covid forced me to cancel three trips this spring and summer, I wondered when I’d get to leave the U.S. again. One of those cancelled trips was a tenth-anniversary getaway to the Maldives, the collection of white-sand atolls dotting crystal-clear turquoise waters in the Arabian Sea. The Maldives reopened to travelers in July.  I knew it’d be easy to socially distance at our private bungalow on the water’s edge. What worried me more were the long flights to get there: about 17 hours from New York, with a layover required somewhere. I recently rescheduled my trip to visit next week; here are the strategies I used that made me comfortable doing so:

Choose a flight where everybody boarding has just had a negative Covid test.

Many destinations that have reopened require travelers to be tested prior to arrival; some won’t even allow passengers to board an incoming flight until they have uploaded their test results or presented them at the airport. When the Maldives first reopened on July 15, they didn’t require pre-trip testing. It was only last month, after the government changed its policy and started requiring visitors to show recent test results on arrival, that I decided I was comfortable enough to go. I chose to fly via Dubai because the United Arab Emirates also requires a pre-travel test—as do most of the other destinations that are currently served by Emirates, are open to U.S. travelers, and don’t have more direct flights from New York. This same strategy is what made reader Jeff Goble comfortable traveling to French Polynesia (which also requires a pre-trip test, as well as a second test four days after arrival).

Choose an aircraft where you can avoid sitting next to a stranger.

My husband and I wanted as much personal space as we could get, but we couldn’t afford to fly business class. Most long-haul jets seat three or more passengers together in economy; while some U.S. airlines are blocking middle seats, foreign carriers haven’t followed suit. Happily, the 777s that Emirates flies on the routes we’ll be taking have a tapered design, so the last few rows have two seats side-by-side. Emirates charges for seat assignments, so I spent $550 to ensure that we wouldn’t be seated beside a stranger—even though I think it’s likely that the flights will be pretty empty. (On the other hand, I might be saving a bit of money by flying Emirates: Through October, they’re giving all passengers free coverage for Covid-related medical bills and quarantine stays.) Read Wendy’s additional tips about where to sit on a plane.

If you can’t fly nonstop, make your layover long enough to have some mask-free time.

I’d have flown nonstop to the Maldives if I could. But since I had to change planes somewhere, I wanted the opportunity to take my mask off after wearing it throughout a 13-hour flight. So that I can do just that, I’ve booked a three-hour stay at a hotel inside the Dubai terminal on the way to the Maldives, and two nights at a desert lodge near Dubai on the way back.

Keep in mind that combining countries on the same trip can make testing requirements even more rigid: In order to comply with the rules of both the Maldives and the United Arab Emirates, I had to find an in-person test with results returned in less than 72 hours. Were I headed just to Dubai, I’d only need an in-person test in a 96-hour window (which is much easier to arrange); if my only destination were the Maldives, I could have used a mail-in Covid test kit that returned results in 72 hours. After several hours of research, and hoping to get tested near where I’d be staying before the trip in upstate New York, I instead found a doctor’s office in Manhattan that returns results in 24 to 48 hours. So I’ll drive an hour into New York City to be tested on a Wednesday morning, receive results by Friday morning, and head to the airport that afternoon for my 11 p.m. flight. (Postscript: Just over a week before my flight, Emirates changed its policy and stopped requiring tests from some passengers transiting through Dubai; unfortunately, it’s too late for us to order a mail-in kit and receive results in time for our flight—and given the changing regulations, I’m still happy to be following the stricter protocols.)

We’re here to help

Right now is a remarkable opportunity for global travelers who are vaccinated. When your friends say that travel is problematic as a result of the pandemic—rental cars aren’t available, service even at 5-star hotels is shoddy—the problem is they’re not planning their trips right! Travel can be spectacular now if you choose the right destination, know the savviest local fixers, and approach them the optimal way. Check out these recent trip reviews to see the difference that Wendy’s WOW approach to trip planning makes. And if you’re looking for a similarly carefree travel experience, contact us at Ask Wendy.

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stock photo of toy airplane on stack of masks and passport with a globe signifying travel during Covid

Steps to Reduce Your Health Risk When You Fly

Now that some countries are reopening to U.S. travelers, and require international flights to get there, we’ve asked health experts to outline the most important steps travelers can take to limit their chances of contracting or spreading the coronavirus when they fly.

Starting with how you transport yourself to the airport, and ending with how you exit it at your destination, there are many tricky touch points to plan for. One factor in your favor, though, is that you’re not likely to encounter crowds at the airport or on the plane right away. According to Airlines for America, the trade association and lobby group for the U.S. airline industry, U.S. airline passenger volumes are down nearly 90%, and the TSA is screening 88% fewer travelers compared to this time last year.

That could change with time, however: Your airport could see a wave of restless travelers, or your particular flight may be the unexpectedly popular one. So it’s smart to be prepared.

Making the decision to fly

First, we want to be clear that the CDC and the U.S. State Department are still advising Americans to avoid all nonessential international travel. The CDC has this advice about the risks of contracting COVID-19 when traveling by planes specifically: “Air travel requires spending time in security lines and airport terminals, which can bring you in close contact with other people and frequently touched surfaces.” It also notes the difficulty of social distancing. So thinking carefully about whether to even take a trip is your first line of protection.

“The decision is important,” says Dr. Petra Illig, an aerospace-medicine physician based in Anchorage, Alaska. Dr. Illig was a CDC quarantine medical officer during the Ebola, H1N1, and MERS outbreaks, worked as regional medical director for major airlines, and currently serves as secretary of the International Airline Medical Association. “You have to decide: Do I really need to make this trip and are there other alternatives?” If the answer is yes, you do need to make the trip, then plan for potential pitfalls, like getting stuck at your destination, requiring hospitalization there, needing prescription refills, or not being allowed in when you come back home. Consider your contingency options and make sure you have all the necessary items with you in your carry-on: not just your medications (and enough to last in case you do get stuck), but also information about your medical status, physicians, allergies, insurance, and an emergency contact. “Plan for not coming back when you want to,” she says.

Getting to/from the airport

The best way to minimize your risk of exposure is to drive yourself to the airport and park there, says Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, an infectious diseases physician based in California who also serves as vice chair of the Infectious Disease Society of America’s Global Health Committee and who served as medical director of an Ebola treatment center in Sierra Leone during the 2014 outbreak. “The next best option would be to see if someone you know (preferably someone that you live with and have been around frequently—i.e. someone in your bubble) can drive you. Even if you do this, I would recommend wearing masks and practicing good hand hygiene, since being in the car is an enclosed space that potentially places you at risk.” If you have to take an Uber, Lyft, or taxi, she recommends “wearing a mask, using good hand hygiene, and if possible having the windows down for air circulation.”

Checking in

Check in online whenever possible so that you don’t have to interact with any people or touch any kiosk screens. The same goes for checking luggage: Try not to.

When you do have to check in at the airport, be conscious of the things you touch and that other people have touched. “At the counter, don’t give your ID to the person: Try to handle it yourself,” says Dr. Illig. “Same with credit cards—try not to let people hold your card.” If you have to use a kiosk screen, wipe it down first, and then wipe your hands (or gloves) right after. “I already have my gloves on when I’m going into a place where I have to handle things,” she continues, “because I find it a lot easier to sanitize my hands if I’m wearing gloves rather than constantly washing my hands, which you can’t always do. I can vigorously use Lysol wipes on the gloves.”

Dr. Illig’s trick: Keep a Ziploc bag of wipes with you at all times. “But make sure it’s well sealed,” she cautions, “because the alcohol on them will evaporate quicker than the water in them. Just because the wipe is wet doesn’t mean it’s effective.”

TSA screening/baggage handling

Since you’ll be interacting with people, Dr. Kuppalli advises wearing a mask when you go through TSA screening. “Going through the Whole Body Image scanner should not pose any additional risk to people,” she adds. “However, if the screener has to do a pat-down or any additional screening, they may get close to you. The best thing you can do is protect yourself with your mask, and you have the right to ask the agent to wear clean fresh gloves and to wear a mask.”

What about all those shared surfaces you’ll have to put your bags on—conveyor belts, screening bins, and, at the other end of your journey, baggage-claim carousels? How much should we stress about those? “I wouldn’t worry about it,” says Dr. Illig. “You’re not going to lick your bag, so even if it comes into contact with something, it’s unlikely it will have enough particles attached to the handles of your bag [to transfer if you] pick it up and then touch your nose.” She explains that while we’ve all heard the reports about how the virus can be detected on certain surfaces for hours or days, that detection does not necessarily mean the virus is alive. “The testing we do now is for the genetic fingerprint of that virus on the surface. That doesn’t mean the virus was alive or can be infectious; it just means the RNA is still evident but the virus is most likely not capable of infecting a living cell. Plus it requires a certain amount of virus [to start an infection].”

Still, Dr. Kuppalli says she usually wipes down the outside of her bags after going through security, and then she washes her hands—because when touching luggage, that should be your main concern. “The most important thing to remember is that after handling your items, your hands will be dirty, so you don’t want to touch your mask, mouth, eyes, or nose,” she explains. “You want to make sure to clean your hands with hand sanitizer or soap/water first. As long as you do that, you will be fine.” And remember: The TSA now allows you to bring 12 ounces of hand sanitizer in your carry-on, so don’t be stingy.

Waiting in the airport

The time when you’re waiting in the airport for your flight to take off seems riddled with traps. Should you avoid hanging around the gate? Is it safe to buy snacks or drinks? And what about using the bathrooms?

“I would avoid the crowded gate and food courts,” says Dr. Kuppalli. Instead, she suggests looking for an empty gate close to yours and camping out there until it’s time to board. She adds that buying food or drinks is probably fine, but be sure to wash or sanitize your hands before you eat anything.

“The place I get most nervous are the bathrooms: There you have to be ultra cautious,” says Dr. Illig, who suggests looking for one that’s not crowded and getting in and out as quickly as possible. “You want to think about everything you might touch, and try not to touch it.”

Dr. Kuppalli agrees: “The main concern are the high-touch surfaces that may not be cleaned as often or as well as one would hope. Wash your hands completely with soap and water for at least 20 seconds while scrubbing between the webs of fingers, under nails, and on both sides of hands.”

On the airplane

Let’s clear up a common myth first: The air on a plane is not a big cloud of germs; it’s not what makes people sick. U.S. airlines use HEPA filtration systems to generate hospital-quality air, and that air is cycled so frequently that infection risk is low.

“According to the WHO, research shows there is little risk of any infectious disease being transmitted onboard an aircraft because the aircraft cabin air is carefully controlled. Ventilation provides a total change of air 20 to 30 times per hour,” says Dr. Kuppalli. Even the CDC is trying to set the record straight with this information on its page about air travel: “Most viruses and other germs do not spread easily on flights because of how air circulates and is filtered on airplanes.”

In a recent essay for the Washington Post, Joseph Allen, an assistant professor of exposure assessment science at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, explained that airplanes are rarely the source of disease outbreaks. He pointed to a study on the risk of infection posed by a person with tuberculosis to 169 other passengers. The answer: between 1 in 10,000 to 1 in a million. And that’s without everyone wearing masks.

Nevertheless, the airline industry is still trying to better understand how coronavirus and other pathogens behave in cabin air—and what they can do about it. As reported by The Wall Street Journal, Boeing and Airbus have started conversations with the FAA, the CDC, and a few universities to figure out and address in-flight risk factors. Those discussions could lead to academic research grants and studies that would inform the way airplanes are designed, maintained, and ventilated.

In the meantime, the air nozzle above your airline seat blasts purified air, so turn it on and position it toward you throughout your flight.

Other passengers

The air is not the problem. People are. “The greatest risk is really your distance to the next passenger,” says Dr. Illig.

Airlines are attempting to address that problem. Members of Airlines for America (A4A)—which include Delta, JetBlue, American, United, Southwest, Hawaiian, and Alaskan airlines, and which require passengers and staff to wear masks all the way through from check-in to de-planing—are trying out tactics such as back-to-front boarding, staggering passengers, and not selling middle seats. (Update: Several airlines have recently announced they’ll end this policy and sell planes to full capacity, including American, United, Spirt, Air Canada, and WestJet). Still, as Dr. Illig points out, even if the middle seat next to you is open, you’re still not a full six feet from the person in front of or behind you. “Therefore, it’s even more important to have everyone wearing a mask,” she says.

At this point, though, so few people are flying that crowded planes are unlikely to be an issue. If you feel uncomfortable because you’re seated close to another passenger, talk to the flight attendant about switching. If the passenger count is very low, the flight attendants might have to strategically space out the seating arrangements to keep the plane balanced (this happened on my own last flight, back in March).

There are reports that suggest that choosing a window seat provides a little extra safety, because it limits the number of people surrounding you. Window passengers are also less likely to get up during the flight to go to the bathroom or walk the aisle—times when you’d be exposing yourself to other people’s germs.

Wendy has been hearing from travelers who’ve decided to splurge on business- or first-class seats in order to reduce the number of passengers within their six-foot radius. They’ve assigned themselves window seats in order to reduce contact with people passing through the aisles (their specific airlines have blocked off the aisle seats next to them for now). These travelers have also assigned themselves seats in the last row of the upfront cabin, figuring that if other passengers in the cabin sneeze or cough, they’d rather be sitting behind those passengers than in front of them. Plus, in the last row (or the first), there are fewer people seated close to you.

Your seat area

Airlines are already upping their hygiene efforts (for example, member airlines of A4A are using electrostatic foggers for sanitization), but it’s a good idea to wipe down your seat area anyway: buckles and seatbelts, trays, screens, windows and window shades, armrests, overhead lights and fans, call buttons, and the overhead bin.

“I would mostly recommend that passengers do the things we have been recommending since the outset of the pandemic,,” says Dr. Kuppalli, “wear their masks on board so in case they are sick they don’t spread their infectious droplets to others; if possible, maintain their distance from others; wipe down their seats, seat buckles, tray tables and other surrounding high-touch surfaces with disinfectant wipes prior to takeoff; and use hand sanitizer before eating/drinking or touching their face mask.”

The bathroom

If it’s a long flight, you might have to face your biggest challenge yet: the tiny airplane lavatory. “The bathroom is definitely a place of concern just because it is a small, confined space,” says Dr. Kuppalli. “As the flight goes on, I would be increasingly concerned about it.” She and Dr. Illig have the same advice: Exercise caution, don’t touch anything you don’t have to touch, and wash your hands. “Whatever you touch is possibly contaminated, so I would wear gloves,” says Dr. Illig. “And if you can’t [use gloves], use a towel or something to touch any surface. Then after you leave the bathroom, don’t touch your face, and when you get to your seat, decontaminate your hands whether you’re wearing gloves or not.”

Arriving and exiting the destination airport

Depending on where you’ve traveled to, you might have to navigate passport control, customs, and baggage claim when you land. Follow the same precautions as you did when you departed from your home airport: Wear a mask, wear gloves, limit your interactions with people and shared items, maintain social distance (maybe wait for the impatient crowd around the baggage carousel to dissipate before you grab your bag), don’t touch your face, and—as always—wash your hands.

“I wish I had some cool secret or magic, but it’s just sticking with a pattern,” says Dr. Illig. “The problem is when people break the pattern, then they’re at risk for contaminating themselves. Follow the same steps, ingrain them into your brain.”

This article was originally published May 30, 2020. It has been updated.

 

Be a safer, smarter traveler: Sign up for Wendy’s weekly newsletter to stay in the know. And read real travelers’ reviews of Wendy’s WOW List and use it to plan your next trip.

Closeup of passports and white airplane background the sea

Flight Deals Abound For Fall and Winter Travel, But Is It Smart to Buy Now?

It seems like airfare deals are everywhere these days, but so are the uncertainties about air travel. Refund and cancellation policies are changing all the time, routes and services are being cut left and right, and some airlines may not even exist when we finally make it through the pandemic and economic crisis. And on top of all that, there are big questions about how and when airplane travel will even be safe again.

Still, the good news is that (a) airlines are indeed offering some lower pricing, and (b) there are experts who follow this complicated industry closely and can help the rest of us navigate the mess. One of them is Brett Snyder, whom Wendy often recommends to her WOW List travelers for help booking and monitoring their flights. As founder of Cranky Concierge, Brett specializes in finding the smartest routes and fares and in solving flight delays and cancellations. We called Brett at home in California to talk about current airfare deals and what travelers need to know before taking advantage. If you’re even considering purchasing airline tickets for the future, read this first.

There seem to be airfare deals for travel at the end of this year and going into next year. Should I be buying tickets now?

There are deals to be had if you’re comparing to previous years. For travel around the holidays, you might not find the cheapest of the deals, but fares are still much cheaper than they would be in another year. But the big question is whether you’ll be able to get there.

Are the deals better for economy or business class?

It seems much easier to find cheaper fares in coach. Some airlines have cut business-class prices a little bit, but the deals are not as widespread across the board.

So is this a good time to splurge on premium-class fares?

It can be. In regular times, premium fares can be really low if you book far enough in advance, and in many European/Asian markets fares look to be pretty consistent with what we’ve seen in the past.  The one place we’ve seen great deals is South America.  There are fares under $1,000 in a premium cabin to some spots right now, and that’s amazing.  So you just need to look around and see what’s out there.

Are mileage-award flights discounted too?

They are not discounted, but there is more availability than you would normally expect to see, especially in coach. And for international flights, there are more seats available at the lower-point options. For airlines where the awards are tied to the dollar amount of fares, like with JetBlue or Southwest, then if the fares are cheaper, the point equivalent is also lower.

Is it better to buy a ticket for a domestic flight than international?

You have a safer chance of a flight happening if it’s within the U.S. The issue with international flights is that you don’t know what other countries—or what our country, for that matter—will allow in terms of quarantine and rules. So I would be hesitant to buy an international ticket right now. For domestic flights, airlines pretty much across the board are allowing you to change any ticket you buy without a fee.

Is it better to buy tickets for far in the future?

With most airlines you can’t buy tickets more than 330 days to a year in advance, so for the most part, you can’t buy any tickets beyond February or March 2021 at this point. There are always schedule changes when you book any flight far ahead, and the volatility is higher at this point because nobody has any clue what the landscape will look like in two months, let alone a year. So find out the refund or credit rules when you buy.

If I see a good deal should I jump on it or wait?

Once things stabilize, I expect we’ll see good deals to coax people out into the world again. So I don’t really see a reason to buy a ticket now, unless you find a particularly good deal.

But there’s nothing wrong with looking around right now. My wife’s parents always fly to us in California for Christmas, and I found some airfares that were pretty cheap, so we’ve been thinking about buying them.  Worst case, we can use the credit for flights to somewhere else. But a trip like that has a little more certainty to it in that you’re not relying on a destination or resort to be open. You’re really just relying on the ability to leave your house. So, visiting friends and family—that’s probably the best type of trip to plan right now because there are fewer variables.

In the meantime, if someone does want to book a flight, what are the most important things they need to be aware of?

There are a few things I would point out:

For the most part, if your flight is not canceled, you can’t get your money back, if you have a non-refundable ticket. A lot of people just assume, Oh, there’s a virus I should be able to get my money back. That’s not how it works. There are some exceptions, but for the most part it’s not.

What they are doing is allowing you to make changes and waiving the change fee. Obviously, if you had a ticket to Florida and now you want to go to Europe, you have to pay the fare difference—but at least you can make the change.

They’ve also extended how long those credits are valid for. You might be able to travel into next year or the following year, depending on the airline. That’s a nice perk for people who don’t want to travel, even if their flights are still going.

If your flight is canceled or the schedule changes, you really need to check with the airline because the rules vary greatly. For example, Delta will give you your money back if the schedule changed more than 90 minutes; United requires six hours. Worst case, you’ll be able to use the credit in the future, so it’s not like you’re going to lose the money entirely.

Finally, if you bought through a third party, do your own research on what you’re entitled to. Things are changing quickly, and some places we’ve dealt with have had no real interest in doing what they’re required to do. They may say you can’t get a refund, when in reality you can. So if you’re not getting the answer that you like, you can do your own research. Or you can sign up for the Cranky Concierge Refund Hunter and we’ll figure out and track your options, no matter where you bought the ticket.

map with beach chairs -2734535_1920 CR Pixabay

Airline Miles and Points: How to Get the Best Award Flights in 2020

The major U.S. airlines haven’t had to work very hard to win our business over the past several years. With the economy growing and the number of carriers shrinking (thanks to mergers), their planes have been packed. And since they’re able to sell their seats, they aren’t too interested in making them available for award travel. That’s why your best bet for using miles in 2020 is to look abroad to these airlines’ alliance partners, many of whom fly to the U.S. and do have empty seats. On these partners, you’ll get the greatest value exchanging your miles for international business and first class. Here are five more ways to get the most out of your miles this year:

Be flexible…and persistent.

The key to getting the award ticket you want is to be willing to consider a range of dates or at least connecting flights. If your heart is set on the only non-stop flight on your route and there’s only one day you can travel, it might work out, but the odds aren’t in your favor. Airlines don’t always make it easy to find the awards either: American Airlines features only some of its partners on its website, and Delta.com and United.com frequently throw errors. Pick up the phone and call, but know that the agents aren’t always incentivized to be helpful either. I never assume that no means no in air travel until I’ve heard it three times.

Here are just a few of my go-to routes for redeeming premium-cabin award travel where I find a great deal of success:

•Air France business class using Air France’s own miles (transfers from major bank programs)
•Singapore Airlines business class using Singapore’s own miles (transfers from major bank programs)
•Emirates first class (Emirates is an American Express and a Chase transfer partner)
•Korean Air first class using Korean’s miles (transfer from Marriott)
•Cathay Pacific business class for four passengers if booking 6–11 months in advance (American or Alaska miles)
•Asiana business class (United partner, bookable with miles from any Star Alliance program)

Your credit card choice matters more than your airline choice.

Miles aren’t about flying anymore. About two-thirds of miles are sold to and awarded by third parties, largely credit-card–issuing banks. There’s intense competition for credit-card customers. Use that to your advantage. These are my picks for the best credit cards for travelers.

Airline credit cards are for benefits, not spending.

If you don’t fly one airline enough to earn frequent-flier elite status, but you do fly one several times a year, get their credit card. At a minimum, that will entitle you to free checked bags and priority boarding It also means you won’t be forced to gate-check your carry-on, and you will be able to bring on a carry-on even if you’re booked on a dreaded Basic Economy fare on United. But don’t put any unnecessary spending on the airline credit card, because….

Bank programs that transfer to miles earn rewards faster and give you greater flexibility.

Even if you want to collect Delta miles, the Delta card doesn’t earn the most SkyMiles. American Express Membership Rewards cards transfer to SkyMiles and to other airlines too, and they earn points faster than the Delta card. The same is true for the United card and Chase’s Ultimate Rewards products, such as the Sapphire Reserve.

Use an airline card for the benefits, but put your spending on a card whose points—like American Express Membership Rewards or Chase Ultimate Rewards—transfer to a variety of mileage programs. You’ll earn more points, and you’ll have the flexibility to put them where you need them later, once you know the trip you want and which airline has availability.

Consider buying your ticket (with money, not miles).

Even though planes are full, fares are lower than they were just a few years ago. First, there’s competition from ultra-low-cost carriers such as Spirit and Frontier in the U.S. and Norwegian across the Atlantic. Second, airlines are now better able to offer lower first-class fares because of changes to the technology they use—especially for premium cabins. Domestic first class used to be several times more expensive than coach; now it’s frequently less than 50% more.

Business class and premium economy go on sale. In addition, British Airways will give $200 off even a sale-fare business-class ticket to AARP members (and this is stackable with a 10% discount for Chase British Airways credit-card customers). There are great deals out there. Take advantage of them when they pop up, rather than searching for award trips that require greater flexibility (and sometimes too many miles). Consider premium economy—akin to domestic first class—rather than business class, especially for daytime flights when you don’t need that bed. Norwegian, especially, sells it at bargain prices to Europe.

Once coronavirus concerns subside, be on the lookout for cheap business class fares to and through China. China Eastern, Hainan, Sichuan, and Xiamen all run sales and sometimes their U.S. counterparts will match pricing. Once you’re in Asia, buying cheap tickets to your final destination or redeeming miles to local destinations can make great sense.

There’s still tremendous value in frequent-flier programs, but that value is only really achieved by using miles to fly on non-U.S. airlines—or by transferring miles to the programs offered by those international airlines, if you’re willing to venture into the less familiar.

 

Gary Leff is the points-and-miles expert behind View from the Wing and the award-flight booking service BookYourAward.com. Follow him for smart takes on airlines, credit cards, points and perks on Facebook and Twitter, and sign up for his newsletter at View from the Wing.

Centurion Lounge in Miami International Airport

An Easy Way to Improve Your Next Flight Delay: Airport Lounge Day Passes

You no longer have to be an elite traveler, a frequent flier, or even a passenger of a specific airline to enjoy the stress-free haven of an airport lounge. Over the past few years, several independent companies have nabbed real estate in the country’s busiest airports, bringing comfy armchairs, Wi-Fi, workspaces, snacks and drinks, and even spas and showers to anyone passing through the terminal with a few extra dollars to spare, usually between $25 and $50. And it’s not just travelers who’ve taken notice; airlines have upped their lounge game in response, with several opening their retreats to regular folks too. These lounges can be a life (and sanity) saver any time you have a long layover. And they are especially useful during the holiday season, when crowds are thick and weather delays common. Download the LoungeBuddy app (as well as other essential apps for holiday travel), and you’ll always know where to find the closest one.

Here are a few of the non-airline-affiliated lounges to look for. As for airline lounges, you can find one in most airports, and sometimes you can buy a day pass, even if you’re not flying that airline!

Lounge Pass
Fee: Starts at $19
What’s included: Lounge Pass is a booking site for day passes to more than 350 airport lounges in more than 100 countries. Prices start at $19 and the amenities vary by location.
Locations: There are too many list to here, but the website makes it easy to find the options in the airports you need.

Priority Pass
Fee: Annual membership from $99; free membership for Chase Sapphire Reserve, American Express Platinum, Citi Prestige card holders (among others).
What’s included: Priority Pass is like Lounge Pass, but it requires a membership fee up front—which then gives you free access. Amenities vary widely, but most lounges have complimentary Wi-Fi and snacks, outlets, TVs, and places to work; some have spas and private conference room. Members also receive discounts at airport restaurants and retail shops.
Locations: The Priority Pass network includes more than 1,300 lounges in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East, and North America.

Centurion Lounges
Fee: Free to AmEx Platinum and Centurion cardholders and their guests.
What’s included: Elaborate food and drink, often prepared by well-known chefs; Wi-Fi; video games; lots of couches and private nooks; assistance with dinner reservations, flight info, event tickets, and more; printers, fax machines, copiers; TVs, magazines and newspapers; conference rooms at some locations; spa services at some locations; showers at some locations; luggage lockers at some locations.
Locations: Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW), Hong Kong (HKG), Houston (IAH),Las Vegas (LAS), New York LaGuardia (LGA), Philadelphia (PHL), Miami (MIA), Seattle (SEA), and San Francisco (SFO). Coming soon to Denver (DEN), New York (JFK), Los Angeles (LAX), London (LHR), Charlotte (CLT), and Phoenix (PHX).

The Club
Fee: Varies
What’s included: Wi-Fi; snacks and drinks (including wine, beer, and liquor); workstations, printers, fax machines, phones; TVs, magazines and newspapers; showers; conference rooms for an additional fee. Purchase day passes to The Club’s locations via the Lounge Pass website (see below).
Locations: Atlanta Hartsfield (ATL), Boston (BOS), Buffalo (BUF), Baltimore (BWI), Charleston (CHS), Cincinnati (CVG), Dallas-Forth Worth (DFW), Jacksonville (JAX), Las Vegas McCarran (LAS), London (LGW), London (LHR), Orlando (MCO), Pittsburgh (PIT), Seattle (SEA), and San José (SJC) airports.

Airspace Lounge
Fee: From $20 (price varies depending on time of day); free entry for AmEx Platinum and Centurion cardholders and their guests.
What’s included: Wi-Fi; computers; power outlets at every seat; a credit for a free meal or alcoholic beverage (additional snacks, soft drinks, and coffees are available for free as well); printers, scanners; showers at the San Diego airport.
Locations: Cleveland Hopkins (CLE) and San Diego (SAN).

 

Be a smarter traveler: Read real travelers’ reviews of Wendy’s WOW List and use it to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook, Twitter @wendyperrin, and Instagram @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

Singapore Airlines premium economy seat

How to Get the Best Business Class or Premium Economy Flight Experience

Figuring out how to get the best value on air travel is one of life’s most infuriating challenges. It’s not just about the dollar value of airfare either: The algorithm travelers have to invent in order to rank competing priorities of seat comfort, seat location, checked luggage fees, overhead bin space, boarding order, Wi-Fi access, power outlets, inflight entertainment options, and mileage rewards is more complicated than the one Google uses to return your everyday search results.

To help travelers cut through the noise, we asked air-travel booking guru Brett Snyder for insights and strategies on how to get the best flight experiences and airfare values. Snyder founded a company called Cranky Concierge, which specializes not only in ferreting out the smartest routes and fares for your specific trip, but also in monitoring your chosen flight to let you know asap if anything goes wrong and, even more crucial, provide emergency rerouting assistance if your flight is delayed or canceled, or if you miss a connection. Snyder’s deep knowledge of the air travel world is one reason we invited him to speak at our 2017 Global Travel Summit, and it’s also why we tapped him for the following tips. “The idea is that there are trade-offs in travel,” Snyder told us. “And you can pick and choose the things that matter to you to find the best options for what you want and need to do.”

At the 2017 Wendy Perrin Global Travel Summit Brett Snyder of Cranky Concierge shares tips on how to get the best flight experience for your dollar

At the 2017 Wendy Perrin Global Travel Summit, Brett Snyder, founder of air-travel-assistance company Cranky Concierge, shares tips on how to get the best flight experience for your dollar.

How to Get the Best Business Class Flight Experience

The challenges:

“Lots of airlines have ‘flat beds’ now, but not all flat beds are equal,” Snyder cautions. “[Travelers] don’t always know what the seats are like. How would you know that the Emirates 777 doesn’t have fully flat beds, or that different aircraft on the same route don’t have the same seats?” Two other critieria to consider are the cabin’s seat layout (do all seats have direct aisle access?) and whether each seat is a private cocoon. “Having a leading business class [used to mean] you had to have flatbed seats, but then the goalpost moved and became direct-aisle access,” Snyder says, before explaining why this is important: “United still has some planes without direct-aisle access, which means most of their seats are 2-2-2. So if you’re traveling with kids, you can be sitting next to them—it’s still a flatbed but at least you’re there with them. But Virgin Atlantic, across the fleet, the seats are basically individual seats. You can have your kid near you, but not right next you, and you won’t see them from your seat because they’re meant to be private.”

The solutions:

Snyder recommends three tools that help inform a clear picture of what you’ll be getting in a particular business class cabin.

  • One is SeatGuru, where the seat maps show the layout of the cabin. “Those seat maps won’t tell you much about how great or terrible the product is; you’ll just see a square where the seat is,” he says. “But it’ll tell you whether you’re sitting together with someone or not.” The catch is that airlines often have multiple configurations on each aircraft type, so you need to make sure to compare the airline seat map with Seatguru on your specific flight to make sure you’re looking at the right one.
  • Brett’s other tool recommendation is online trip reports. These are photo-heavy, often very detail-oriented reviews written by travel bloggers about their specific flight experiences. “A seat map will tell you there are flatbeds, but a trip report will say, Yeah and they’re shredded and half of them didn’t work,” Snyder says. “We send these to clients all the time if they’re trying to decide between two flights.” He names One Mile at a Time, The Designair, Travel Codex, and TravelSort as a few he regularly points his own clients to. Some trip reports span the whole flight experience: what the lounge is like, the check-in process, the boarding process, the inflight food, and more. “Typically what I do is Google, for example, ‘Emirates 777 business class trip report’: include the airline, the aircraft, the cabin, and the words ‘trip report’. Then look at the pictures,” Snyder says. “That’s what we’re really trying to show people with this: what it really looks like on the airplane.”

How to Get the Best Economy Flight Experience     

The challenges:

If you can’t afford business class—or simply prefer to spend your travel dollars elsewhere—how do you nevertheless maintain some level of comfort and dignity?

The solutions:

Snyder has three suggestions for making your flight comfortable if you opt to turn right, rather than left, when you board.

  • To save money, but still have a better overall flight experience, consider coach or premium economy on the way home. “One example I like is if someone is going on their honeymoon,” Snyder says. “They get married, they’re going to the airport soon after, and they want to sit in business class—they want the champagne and to continue in the halo of the wedding. But after two weeks, you just want to get home, so maybe you don’t care. If you had to choose [where to delegate your funds], you could just sit in coach. Another example is if you’re going to Asia and even if it is your honeymoon, let’s say going over it’s a daytime flight, but coming back it’s an overnight flight, so you might want business class on the way back so you can sleep. Just piece it together based on the budget you have and what’s important to you.”
  • Get to know what “premium economy” really means. “An increasing number of airlines have premium economy, but it’s very different from what people in the United States think,” Snyder says. “It’s not just a coach seat with a little more leg room.” Real premium economy, he explains, has wider seats, more legroom, often a leg rest, upgraded food, priority boarding, a smaller cabin. “So it almost feels like domestic first class, which isn’t all that great but it’s better than coach. For some people, that’s a great upgrade over what you’re used to, and it’s a whole lot nicer and more affordable.” Snyder notes that American, Delta, and United all have a premium economy category and do a good job with it, as do foreign carriers Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, Lufthansa, Air France, Alitalia, Japan, ANA, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, and Air New Zealand.
  • Snyder speculates that the number of low-cost airlines flying over the Atlantic is likely to increase in the near future, so travelers should keep their eyes open for news on this front. “Norwegian is the most visible of these so far,” he says. “They are flying to a ton of places, and it’s only going to continue. They also have cheap one-way fares. Long-haul one-way flights are traditionally very expensive,” Snyder explains, so this development is valuable: Travelers can now use miles for a one-way ticket to Europe, then buy a ticket home that won’t be outrageously expensive. Snyder raises all the usual flags about low-cost airlines: You have to pay extra for food and baggage, etc., and if something goes wrong with your flight, an airline like Wow doesn’t have the same support as, say, United, where there’s a network of airline partners to help take you where you need to go. Still, Snyder says, the low-cost airlines have their benefits: “We have often found that it can be cheaper to buy two one-ways on Norwegian than a round-trip.” Interestingly, all of this is good news for every traveler, not just those trying to fly on a shoestring: Snyder expects this competition to drive down pricing on the bigger-name airlines.

Be a smarter traveler: Use Wendy’s WOW List to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

United's Polaris business class cabin

How to Find Affordable Business-Class Airfare to Europe, South America, and Asia

Question:

Wendy, we’d like your help finding a reliable airline ticket consolidator for a July trip for five of us. We need two business-class and three economy tickets on the same plane. Thank you for any guidance you can give us. —Bonnie

Answer:

Bonnie, for business-class consolidator airline tickets, you might try Blake Fleetwood of Cook Travel, a boutique consolidator with 35 years of experience and a high level of personalized service. Blake negotiates low fares with all the major airlines to just about every international destination, mostly in business or first class; his best deals are to Europe, South America, and Asia. Look to him when you have some flexibility in your travel dates, so that his team can peruse the options to find you the best deal.

Blake’s business-class fares save you between 10% and 40%, depending on how far ahead you’re buying them (three to four months is ideal, though you can sometimes find great deals at the last minute) and the time of year you’re flying. Business-class fares are relatively low during holidays such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, and Easter. They’re relatively high from September through November and March through May, since those are the two peak times of year for business travel.

Blake’s team is available 24 hours a day, and they have an emergency hotline if your flights go awry en route. Beware of less reputable consolidators that may be reselling frequent-flier tickets; if you can’t earn miles on a ticket, that’s a likely sign that it’s fraudulent. Another bonus: Blake’s business- and first-class fares are almost always refundable, though sometimes minus a penalty of about $500 per ticket.

UPDATE:  The company mentioned above, Cook Travel Inc (based in New York City), is not affiliated with Thomas Cook Group Plc (based in Britain), which went bankrupt on September 23, 2019. The company mentioned in this article is not affected by that bankruptcy.

Lisbon, Portugal skyline with Sao Jorge Castle

Exciting New Flight Routes That Will Improve Your 2019 Travel Plans

Brett Snyder is President at Cranky Concierge, a service that Wendy recommends to WOW List travelers seeking the savviest help with international airline travel. Brett’s service ferrets out the smartest routes and fares, monitors your flights, and provides emergency rerouting assistance if your flight is delayed or cancelled. We asked him to pick the new 2019 routes that should be on our radar:

The economy is still doing well (for now), and airlines are bullish for next year. For that reason, a slew of new flight routes are coming to an airport near you. Many will make your travels easier, and some popular vacation spots will become more accessible. Here are the domestic and international flight routes that will change travel in 2019.

The Most Notable New Flights Within the U.S.

To/from Seattle

If you’re headed to Seattle, especially to the north of town, consider flying into Paine Field—home to Boeing’s mighty widebody manufacturing plant—which will be opening for commercial service in February.  Paine Field is 25 miles north of the city (as opposed to Sea-Tac, which is 15 miles south). Alaska Airlines has the biggest presence here, with flights to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orange County, Phoenix, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, and San Jose. Those start between February 11 and March 12. The only other airline in the market will be United, with flights to both Denver and San Francisco starting March 31.

To/from Hawaii

Once Southwest gets FAA approval, expect its flights to Hawaii to start quickly. Initial routes will launch from Sacramento, San Diego, San Jose, and Oakland. There will be flights to all four major Hawaiian islands and even some inter-island flying. In the meantime, those in the eastern half of the country can celebrate more nonstop service to the Hawaiian islands. Delta will start flying to Honolulu from Detroit. And Hawaiian Airlines will make Boston its second destination east of the Rockies after New York–JFK.

New International Flights

Now let’s get to the really fun stuff. Portugal remains a hot spot, with several new routes from the U.S. to Lisbon this year. Los Cabos got a few new direct flights from Chicago (which started in November on Southwest) and Las Vegas (on Frontier). Morocco is now easier to visit, thanks to a new nonstop from Miami. Meanwhile, we’ve seen a couple of “firsts”: The good people of Charleston, South Carolina, snagged their first nonstop to Europe, while those in Los Angeles can now fly nonstop to Africa. And in late 2018 Singapore Airlines re-launched its longest flight in the world, between Newark and Singapore, and Kenya Airways introduced the first-ever nonstop between New York–JFK and Nairobi.

These are some of the more interesting route launches. (All start dates are 2019, except where noted.)

Boston to Lisbon, on Delta, starting May 23
Boston to Edinburgh, on Delta, starting May 23
Boston to Madrid, on Norwegian, starts May 2
Boston to Seoul/Incheon, on Korean, starts April 12

Charleston (SC) to London/Heathrow, on British Airways, from April 4 to October 24

Charlotte to Munich, on American, starts March 31

Chicago/O’Hare to Athens, on American, from May 3 to September 28
Chicago/O’Hare to Lisbon, on TAP Air Portugal, starts June 1
Chicago/O’Hare to Quebec City, on American, from June 6 to September 3

Dallas/Ft Worth to Dublin, on American, from June 6 to September 28
Dallas/Ft Worth to Munich, on American, from June 6 to October 26

Denver to Frankfurt, on United, starting May 2
Denver to Grand Cayman, on Cayman Airways, starting March 13

Ft Lauderdale to Guayaquil (Ecuador), on JetBlue, starting February 28
Ft Lauderdale to St. Maarten, on JetBlue, starting February 14

Las Vegas to Cancun (Mexico), on Frontier, starts December 21, 2018
Las Vegas to San Jose del Cabo (Mexico), on Frontier, starts December 15, 2018
Las Vegas to Tel Aviv, on El Al, starts June 14

Los Angeles to Lome (Togo), on Ethiopian, starting December 17, 2018
Los Angeles to Manchester (U.K.), on Virgin Atlantic, starting May 26
Los Angeles to Milan/Malpensa, on Air Italy, starting April 3

Miami to Casablanca, on Royal Air Maroc, starting April 3
Miami to Santa Marta (Colombia), on Via Air, starting December 18 (2018)

Minneapolis/St Paul to Dublin, on Aer Lingus, starting July 1
Minneapolis/St Paul to Seoul/Incheon, on Delta, starting April 1

Newark to Naples, on United, from May 22 to October 4
Newark to Nice, on La Compagnie, from May 6 to October 26
Newark to Prague, on United, from June 6 to October 4
Newark to Singapore, on Singapore Airlines, started late 2018

New York/JFK to Barcelona, on LEVEL, starting July 27
New York/JFK to Nairobi, started late 2018

Philadelphia to Edinburgh, on American, from April 2 to October 26
Philadelphia to Bologna (Italy), on American, from June 6 to September 28
Philadelphia to Berlin/Tegel, on American, from June 7 to September 28
Philadelphia to Dubrovnik (Croatia), on American, from June 7 to September 27

Phoenix to London/Heathrow, on American, from March 31 to October 26

San Francisco to Delhi, on United, starts December 5
San Francisco to Amsterdam, on United, starts March 30
San Francisco to Lisbon, on TAP Air Portugal, starts June 10
San Francisco to Melbourne, on United, starts October 29
San Francisco to Milan/Malpensa, on Air Italy, starting April 10
San Francisco to Tel Aviv, on El Al, starts May 13

Seattle to Hong Kong, on Cathay Pacific, starting March 31
Seattle to Osaka/Kansai, on Delta, starts April 1
Seattle to Singapore, on Singapore Airlines, starting September 3
Seattle to Tokyo/Narita, on Japan Airlines, starting March 31

Tampa to Amsterdam, on Delta, starts May 23

Washington/Dulles to Lisbon, on TAP Air Portugal, starts June 16
Washington/Dulles to Rome, on Alitalia, starting May 2
Washington/Dulles to Tel Aviv, on United, starts May 22

 

Be a smarter traveler: Read real travelers’ reviews of Wendy’s WOW List and use it to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook, Twitter @wendyperrin, and Instagram @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

Wendy Perrin snorkeling in Belize underwater with a smiling fish.

Wendy’s Family Trip to Belize: Photos from the Beach and Sea

The best vacations are those where you try something new you’ve never done before. When you learn a new skill or master a challenge or achieve a long-held goal during a trip, it leaves you with intense memories of that trip and a sense of accomplishment that can linger forever.

That’s one reason why I chose Belize for my family vacation: I wanted my younger son, Doug (14), to learn how to dive. Doug is starting high school next month and is fascinated by marine biology, so it seemed like a good moment to get him his scuba certification.

The diving and snorkeling in Belize is world-class, thanks to the country’s position alongside the world’s second largest barrier reef. Belize also has the typical advantages afforded by a location on the Caribbean Sea, yet it’s easier to fly to, more affordable than, and less built-up than, many Caribbean islands.

Doug wasn’t the only one with a goal to achieve. The other reason I chose Belize was so I could road-test Belize trip-planning specialists. Belize has been catching on in popularity among sophisticated travelers. For the past year I’ve received a steadily increasing number of Belize trip requests. So, of course, I wanted to investigate and find a Belize travel specialist worthy of The WOW List.

Here’s a sneak peek at our adventures. Stay tuned for more on the best things to do and see in Belize, where to stay, where to eat… and how to learn to scuba dive in just three days (that’s how long it took Doug). And if you’re looking for the best Belize trip-planning specialist, here’s who I recommend.

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Lisbon, Portugal. Photo: Pixabay

Airfare Deals to Europe Are Excellent Right Now

If you’re even toying with the idea of traveling to Europe next year, talk to your family or travel companions this holiday weekend and purchase your plane tickets right away. Airfare to Europe is currently at a remarkable low; cheap flights and airfare sales are popping up left and right.

“We are seeing some epic airfare sales to Europe,” says George Hobica, president and founder of Airfarewatchdog.com. “[Flights are] 66% or less than usual, and many were good for summer travel, which is highly unusual.”

Joe Brancatelli of Joe Sent Me agrees. “These are the lowest fares I’ve seen in a generation, since about 1985, give or take for inflation,” he says. “Even when you factor in seat charges and other ancillaries, the coach fares are insanely low. I mean, under $400 on major airlines to Europe. That is serious stuff. Record-breaking low stuff.”

George is seeing great deals to Paris, London, Italy, Germany, Brussels, and more, while Joe adds that Spain and Portugal are among the best deals right now. “Some of that is due to the fact that TAP Air Portugal has charged back into the market,” Joe says. “Some of it is that all three U.S. carriers serve Lisbon, Madrid, and Barcelona, and Spain itself has two carriers (Iberia and Air Europa).” Joe suggests keeping an eye out for super-cheap prices to Iceland (thanks to low-cost carrier WOW), and for business travelers, specialty carriers such as LaCompagnie for France and Emirates for Milan are making the New York–Paris and New York–Milan routes a great deal.

What’s the catch?

Well, according to Joe, who’s been covering the airline industry and consumer travel for decades, there isn’t one. “The dollar is very strong in Europe and is nearing parity with the euro—something we haven’t seen since the euro was introduced in 2002. The dollar is also at 30-year highs against the British pound. You also want to watch for cheaper room rates in specific countries (France, Belgium, Turkey) because of the terrorist incidents.”

In fact, the negatives he cited don’t actually have to do with airfare. Joe cautions travelers to watch out for “credit cards that still impose a currency-exchange fee and airport ATMs operated by currency traders (because they offer lousy rates, just like their cash booths).” And, of course, the weather. “So that means watch out for snow storms in your U.S. departure cities that can mess with your schedule. And watch the weather because some European destinations (looking at you, Paris and London) get messed up if they get snow. I mean, an inch of snow at Heathrow creates nightmares.”

If you do find yourself stranded or snowed in, Wendy recommends contacting Brett Snyder of Cranky Concierge. He and his team specialize in emergency air travel solutions, and if anyone can find a way to get you where you need to be, it’s Brett.

How to find the deals:

To find the deals, you can sign up for fare alerts at Airfarewatchdog.com or use the site’s helpful “fares from a city” feature. Just type in your departure city, and it’ll spit back great deals to locations all over the world. Two other useful tools are Google Flights (type in your departure city and it’ll show you several low-price options; shift the date to see more) and Kayak.com (when you click on the calendar icon in your initial search, small green dots below certain dates indicate days when airfare is cheaper).

So what are you waiting for? As Joe put it, “Honestly, this is one of the greatest times for Europe travel I have ever seen. Cheap fares. Cheaper hotel rates. Fabulous currency exchange rates. And because it is winter, the culture of Europe is in full swing—you’ll not only get good theater, you’ll actually meet locals in their own cities and towns. That doesn’t happen when Americans go in August!”

Be a smarter traveler: Use Wendy’s WOW List to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

United 787 amenities kit

What It’s Like to Fly on a 787 Dreamliner

What’s it like to fly on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner?  I recently flew United’s 787-9 Dreamliner on what is currently the longest 787 route flown by a U.S. airline, between San Francisco and Singapore. It covers 8,446 miles and takes 16 hours 20 minutes going to Singapore. I flew the opposite way, on my trip home from Asia, which clocked in at a slightly shorter 15 hours 30 minutes. Here’s what it was like.

The seats

The seats in business class on United’s 787-9 are arranged 2-2-2, and are staggered slightly to offer some privacy when you’re reclined.

My home for 15 hours and 30 minutes. I slept wonderfully.

My home for 15 hours and 30 minutes. I slept wonderfully.

The seats are 20.6″ wide (the widest BusinessFirst seat United offers) and truly go flat, so you can sleep pretty well on them; and they are adjustable in various ways so you can recline or raise your feet to keep comfortable when not dozing. The blankets are duvet-style, cozy without being too heavy, and the seat cushion is plush enough that you don’t feel the bones of the seat when you lie down.

I had an aisle seat in the middle section of the first row. If you prefer the window spot, keep in mind that they are the only ones without direct aisle access, and you can find yourself trapped when your seat neighbor is fully reclined. This problem isn’t unique to United; I had it on my Qatar Airways flight too; and it’ll be solved when United launches its new Polaris international business class product in December of this year.

The Polaris premium cabin reboot will feature new seats that are more like private pods and that will have custom bedding from Saks Fifth Avenue—with new pillows! This is great news because one of my quibbles with United’s long-haul business class is its uncomfortable pillows. That may seem like nitpicking, but it’s surprising just how much a bad headrest can affect your sleep. The current pillows feel like loose sacks of lumpy cotton balls. In the future, flights outfitted with the Polaris design will give passengers the choice between the snazzy Saks pillow and a cooling gel pillow (they’ll also be able to request a mattress cushion).

United 787 business first cabin

The BusinessFirst cabin on United’s 787-9 Dreamliner, flying from Singapore to San Francisco.

United 787 business first seat power

Every BusinessFirst seat on the 787-9 has a personal power plug, a USB port, and a set of noise-canceling headphones that fit into that two-holed jack at left. You can plug your own headphones into a single hole, but the sound isn’t as good.

United 787 business first seat controls

The seats recline a full 180 degrees, but you can set them in just about any other position too, including adding extra lumbar support.

United 787 lumpy pillow

United’s lumpy BusinessFirst pillows are thankfully being replaced by custom bedding from Saks Fifth Avenue in the new Polaris class, to be unveiled in December. Photo: Billie Cohen

United 787 cubby space

Lots of room for your legs, and a convenient cubby for your stuff. When your seat is fully extended you won’t be able to access the bottom cubby, and if you’re tall, your feet might be inside the second one. Loved the mini banana-sized shelf at the top. Came in handy!

The environment

Thanks to several of the 787’s features, and the flight crew’s smart use of them, it’s very easy to get a good night’s sleep on this aircraft, and therefore to feel less jetlagged. To start with, the cabin pressure of Boeing’s Dreamliner makes it feel like you’re at only 6,000 feet instead of the usual 8,000. That makes a big difference in how dehydrated and dry you’ll be after 15-plus hours in the air.

Next, the lighting is much gentler and can be adjusted to different colors (blue, orange, etc.) to make your brain subtly register that the day is passing. The windows help with this too. Windows on the Dreamliner are bigger than what you’re used to on other planes—and the shades can stay open during the entire flight, thanks to a special tinting material within the windowpane itself. The feature can be tuned to mimic different times of day, so even though we took off at 8:45 a.m., the crew made it look like night after a few hours so that we could all switch over to San Francisco time more easily. And it worked for me—I adjusted time zones without any problem when I arrived; and I am embarrassingly wimpy when it comes to jet lag, no matter the direction of travel. As a bonus, the special windows mean that whenever you are awake you can still look outside rather than having to stealthily crack the shade up and hope you don’t bother your snoring seatmate.

The amenities

I’ve already mentioned the 180-degree lie-flat bed (thumbs up), and I also appreciated the easily reachable USB port, power outlet, and headphones in every seat. I’m also a sucker for a cool amenities kit, and I love the commemorative Rio Olympics-themed kit United is using this summer; it’s packaged in a cool tin shaped like the body of an airplane. The lotion and lip balm are from Soho House’s luxe Cowshed Spa, and the eye mask is comfortable cloth instead of nylon; the rest is the usual toothbrush, toothpaste, etc. Big plus: The bathroom sinks and toilets are touch-free. This should be standard in every bathroom on every plane everywhere. Genius.

For entertainment, each business-class seat has a nice big 15-inch TV screen, but the screens are missing a key design feature: privacy overlays. This means you can see everything on everyone else’s TV at full brightness. From my seat in the center section, I could not help but see all five of the other screens in my row. In an aircraft that takes such care to create soothing cabin lighting and a relaxing environment, this was a surprising (and surprisingly bright) oversight. Regardless, I was perfectly happy binging on bad action movies and TV shows in my cozy recliner until I fell asleep.

United 787 TV screens

Someone forgot to add privacy filters to all of the BusinessFirst TV screens, so there is no way to not see what everyone else is watching. This was particularly disruptive when the cabin was otherwise dark and I was trying to sleep. Those screens are bright!

United 787 entertainment center

You can control your personal TV either by this handheld device or by touch-screen.

United 787 amenities kit

We each received this commemorative amenities kit, made special for the Rio Olympics. United is the airline sponsor for Team USA.

United 787 amenities kit

All the goodies in the Olympics-themed amenities kit. Not only is the tin special, but the cloth eye mask and patterned socks are inspired by Team USA too.

The food

No one will be surprised to hear that the food isn’t very good. But when other airlines are elevating inflight dining, even in coach, it seems fair to expect that a business-class meal on a premier new plane would be at least edible. If only. Over the course of my three-month trip in Asia, I flew seven airlines; most of the time I was in coach, and United was the only U.S. airline I took. On every flight—even a domestic-China trip that was less than two hours—I was served a meal, and it was pretty good. So I’m just saying: It is possible. Even for vegetarians.

On this flight, I didn’t touch my special meals (one course had chicken in it, and the other was just really unappetizing). And for breakfast, the only vegetarian option is cold cereal. Which is weird because if you don’t drink milk, your meal is just dry corn flakes with a banana. Oh, wait, mine did come with a small bowl of the congee toppings; when, confused, I asked a flight attendant what it was, he said “I don’t know.” I figured it out by putting a heap of shredded ginger in my mouth. That’ll wake you up.

To be fair, it’s not just this flight that has challenges with special meals. Lots of airlines suffer, and United, despite its partnership with the Trotter Project, has not figured it out yet. Maybe there aren’t that many of us vegetarians or special-meal requesters, but if an airline kitchen is going to make the effort (and believe me, I so appreciate that they do), how about some input from the passengers who have to eat it? Call me, United, we’ll talk.

United 787 appetizer

The mystery appetizer, which may or may not have been chicken. The small cup of warm roasted mixed nuts in the top left corner is my favorite though—they could just feed me that and I’d be happy.

United 787 main vegetarian meal

Sounded good on paper, wasn’t good in reality: vegetarian braised tofu with mixed vegetables in sha cha sauce. Glad I brought my own PB&J instead.

United 787 breakfast

The only vegetarian breakfast is cereal. I don’t drink milk, so I ate it dry. You could add those congee toppings in the bowl, but it’s not quite the right complement for Corn Flakes.

The last word

United’s 787 experience made all the difference in my long-haul return flight. I slept so well, and the aircraft environment was so comfortable, that the 15 and a half hours went by pretty quickly. If given the option to take a 787 on a long-haul flight, I would definitely choose it, and I can’t wait to see how United improves its already enjoyable business class later this year when it rolls out Polaris.

United airlines 787 Dreamliner

United’s 787 Dreamliner. Photo: United

 

*Full disclosure: My flight was fully paid for by United. The airline’s SFO-SIN route was introduced July 1 and as part of the launch, I was invited to take the flight and review it. As I already had a trip to Asia planned, I accepted the offer. Wendy and I both fly United often and felt comfortable that we could represent a fair picture of this experience. 

Be a smarter traveler: Use Wendy’s WOW List to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

How to Avoid Long Airport Security Lines This Summer

Airport security lines have grown absurdly long of late, thanks to more people traveling and fewer TSA workers. With the busy summer travel season upon us, the situation is likely to get worse before it gets better. Here’s how to minimize your time stuck in a TSA line on your next trip:

If You’re Flying Soon

Find out if your airport terminal has more than one security checkpoint.

Many terminals do. Before leaving home, go to the airport’s website and pull up a map showing the security checkpoints. (This map, for instance, indicates where the three checkpoints are in Newark airport’s Terminal C; this one shows where they are for all five terminals at Dallas-Fort Worth.) At the airport, ask an official which checkpoint has the shortest line.

Download the MyTSA app.

Available for free for iPhones and Android, this app gives you current security wait times at your airport, as reported by your fellow travelers. You can also view them here; just type in your airport code.

Arrive early and hit the club lounge.

The bigger and busier your airport—e.g., J.F.K., Chicago (O’Hare), or Miami International—the earlier you’ll want to arrive, especially if you’re flying at a peak time.  At least two hours early for a domestic flight, and three hours early for international, may be a good rule of thumb for most airports. To keep your stress level down, you might consider arriving really early and buying a day pass to an airport lounge club (if the club is gate-side).

If You’re Flying Later

Don’t buy airline tickets for flights at peak times.

Avoid Friday late afternoon and early evening, for example, because that’s when business travelers returning from business trips are hitting the airport at the same time as leisure travelers leaving on vacation, creating security-line pile-ups. If you’re taking a long weekend, consider flying on a Saturday morning and returning Tuesday. (That’s also less expensive than a Thursday-to-Sunday long weekend.)

Enroll in TSA PreCheck or, even better, Global Entry.

TSA PreCheck admits you into a priority lane where you need not remove your shoes, liquids, or laptop. The $85 fee covers you for five years. For an extra $15, though, get Global Entry (the $100 fee also covers you for five years), which lets you skip the long customs line on your way back into the U.S. from an international trip, and which automatically gives you TSA PreCheck. Not every airport has PreCheck lanes or Global Entry kiosks, so check whether yours does.

Buy access to the priority security line.

Many travelers who have elite status with an airline can use the express lane at the security checkpoint. If you don’t have elite status, some airlines let you purchase access to the priority security lane on a one-time basis. United, for instance, lets you buy access at 68 airports worldwide (prices start at $15), and JetBlue lets you buy it at 62 airports.

 

Be a smarter traveler: Use Wendy’s WOW List to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.