Let me start by saying that I was flying to California for my grandmother’s funeral. So my plans were in no way flexible and it was imperative that I get there on time. In addition, I couldn’t have planned my travel differently because obviously travel to a funeral is last minute and basically everything but the flights I was taking were already sold out.

My mom, dad and I got to the airport, sleepy, at 5 AM for a 6:50 flight – I’m quite anal retentive about getting to the airport early, even at this awful hour of the morning. The airline represetnative checking in our bag was talking on the phone the whole time, clearly not paying attention, and when we asked her a question she put her hand up to us to silence us and turned away. We weren’t happy, but our bag appeared to be checked. We boarded and pushed back from the gate on time – a virtual miracle, as anyone that’s every taken a flight from Philadelphia International knows. The only connection we could get was 55 minutes in Phoenix, which made me sweat a little, but I hoped that at this hour we wouldn’t have too much delay. My hopes were, to say the least, dashed.

As we got ready to take off, the pilot came over the loud speaker and said that there was a technical problem and we had to go back to the gate. We did, they “fixed” it, and we pulled back out. We got ready to take off and the pilot told us that it appeared the issue wasn’t fixed, and we went back to the gate again. The pilot actually came over the loud speaker and said, I quote, “looks like we got a lemon”. Just what you want to hear about your plane that is to spend the next four hours at 35,000 feet. After a wait, they told us to deplane. We knew that at this point, we’d missed our connection and I wipped out my iphone to start looking for the next potential flights to Santa Ana once we got to Phoenix. This, I’ll admit, was a mistake on my part – I thought we might still at least get to Phoenix.

We got back on the plane, assured that “this is a working plane” (phew). We sat there. And sat there. The pilot informed us that the mechanics were still there (I thought it was a working plane!) and that he thought actually it was a more serious issue than the mechanics believed it was (oh, goody). After a few more minutes wait we were told that the plane was going to be sent for servicing – basically, it was broken – and deplaned, again.

We waited in line at the gate counter to see what our options were, during which time I search on my phone for other flight options. Basically, everything was sold out. I finally found a Southwest flight (this was not our original airline) that would get my dad there by 6 PM – we needed to get him there for the viewing that night, as it was his mother who’d passed. I called Southwest directly and got him on that, and we sent him off to gate E  (all the way across the airport) for his flight. My mom and I continued to stand in a long line. There was one person assigned to help the 100+ people that were on this cancelled flight. Good emergency planning on the part of the airline, don’t you think? No one from the airline was in the area that was willing/able to answer any questions while we waited in line. They had one “customer service” representative milling around there to “help” us, but basically it seems the only phrases he knew were the un-helpful “no” and “I don’t know what to tell you”. We were then sent to another gate where we were assured there was no wait for service.

We got to that gate, and there are two people ahead of us. They took about 30 minutes. While waiting in line, we and everyone else waiting were told that the bags we’ve checked will be sent to our final destination – how, they didn’t specify. We were not able to go get them. Some people had to stay overnight in Philly, and would’ve like at least a change of underwear from their bags and to re-check their bags the next day. They were told no. Many people had to check their bags at the gate, so had things in there that weren’t supposed to be checked (ie medication). They were reprimanded for not keeping these items on their person and told more or less “tough luck”.  While I personally try to keep medications in my purse when traveling, these people had done what they thought was the right thing – put them in their carry-on, except that this carry on had to be checked… why we’re not sure since there was plenty of overhead room on the original flight. Upon requesting further details about our bags, we were told that our bags would either be sent along to the final location or be “dumped” in Philly (I don’t even know what this means) and if we didn’t get them, we’d have to write a complaint and hopefully they’d be shipped to us. Delightful!

We finally got to the front of the line and upon speaking to the representative, found out that basically there was nothing available, but we’re given phone number to call. While I called the phone number and finally got a flight on another airline, the representative we’d spoken with, Troy, did everything he could to figure out where our bags were.  Troy was the only person so far that was at all worthwhile to speak with, other than whoever I spoke to at Southwest that booked my dad’s flight. Still, he was unable to find our bags. Apparently, the dedicated check-in employee that was too busy on the phone with her friend to check our bag properly never actually inputted our bag into the computer, so our PNR showed no checked bags attached to any of us.  Our bag had basically disappeared into thin air as far as the airline was concerned.

We were now at least booked on a flight though, thanks to my phone call. We went down to baggage to try to get some further information on the fate of our checked luggage. We are told it couldn’t be pulled and re-checked on our new airline, but it would be sent to Santa Ana on the next flight so we should have it in California. We then went to check in for our new flight. We waited at least 20 minutes. We got up to the desk and were told that my mom’s ticket was all set but I was never ticketed – and I was the one that spoke with the rep on the phone! The nice representative at the counter pulls some strings and got me ticketed, thank goodness, because our flight was scheduled to take off in about 40 minutes at this point.

It was 2 PM and we were boarding our flight finally. Oh but wait – no we weren’t! Our boarding passes weren’t valid and we were pulled out of line to get them “corrected”. After a few minutes, we finally got on our flight. Luckily, the rest of our flight went smoothly, other than the fact that boarding passes for our connecting flight also didn’t work, and again we had to get out of the boarding line to have them corrected. We landed in Santa Ana at 7 PM. Our bag was arriving at 8:15 PM on a flight from Phoenix. Miraculously, it actually did. We looked at the tag that the airline has put on our bag. It had big print that said “Rush! Expedited Bag!”. My mom and I burst out laughing. It took a mere 17 hours since we checked it. How long, exactly, does it take for the airline to send a bag that’s not expedited?

We missed my grandmother’s viewing all together (though luckily my dad, thanks to Southwest, was able to attend). I understand that planes break. I understand that when you’re trying to get a last minute flight, that there’s little availability and prices are at a premium. I understand sometimes you just can’t get there in time. What I mind is this:

1. We were told a plane was fixed when it wasn’t, and they knew that it wasn’t. This wasted valuable time, getting back on a broken plane to sit there only to be told it was in fact broken and deplaning again.

2. The “customer service rep” didn’t want to answer questions or help anyone out at all. Basically, it “wasn’t his job”.

3. The the check-in employee was too busy being social to do her job, and that basically no one cared about this.

4. Basically, only three people in this entire scenario were actually doing their jobs properly – Troy, the woman who helped us check-in on the second flight, by getting us properly ticketed when the original woman I’d spoken to on the phone had messed up, and the reservations agent from Southwest.

I’m not naming airlines, other than Southwest who did a wonderful job. I’m not writing this to badmouth a particular airline or several. I’m writing this as what I believe is an example of why people are so frustrated with the airline industry in general these days.  I now truly understand why people hate airlines.

Seat Selection

• Choose a seat when you book (or if you’re booking through a planner, let them know your seat preference.) Some airlines automatically assign you. Some do not and you may end up in a middle seat near the bathroom, away from your traveling companions. You generally cannot reserve the bulkhead or exit rows far in advance. You may be able to reserve exit rows when you check in online 24 hours before, though the bulkhead usually isn’t available. Airlines do vary slightly on the availability of these.

• The seats in front of the exit row usually do not recline. Basically, if there’s an emergency, they don’t want the evacuation space in the exit row to be smaller than it already is. Some airlines won’t let you store anything under your seat in the exit row. If you’re a fan of needing your personal belongings within arms length, the exit row may not be for you. The seats in the last row also often do not recline much or at all.

• If you fly Southwest, they have an option to pay $10 per person per way and they’ll automatically check you in. This means no sitting at the computer and stalking the SWA website exactly 24 hours before your flight in hopes of getting an A boarding. In my opinion, it’s well worth the extra $20 round trip. Better yet, it’s good for all legs of the trip – it’s not $10 per leg, it’s $10 per way, total, as long as you’ve booked all legs as part of the same flight.

Luggage and Boarding Pass Check-In

• You must arrive and check in your luggage 30 minutes before a domestic flight and 45 minutes before an international flight (I suggest way more than this). By “you must”, I mean literally, you must. They will give away your seat to a standby passenger. This is a rule of the airline. And if you’re banking on no standby passengers, you’ll be disappointed. With the consolidation of flights recently, there are nearly always standbys.

• This rule generally goes for connections as well. The airlines need to make a call at a certain point as to whether or not you and your luggage will make the plane. You may be able to sprint for it, but you are not allowed on a flight that your luggage is not on (and vice versa, for security reasons) so if they don’t think they’ll have time to transfer your luggage, you’ll get bumped. There are plenty of hopeful standby passengers that will fill that seat. I can’t stress enough, if you have a choice of layovers and one option is an hour or less, go for the longer layovers. It sucks to wait 3 hours in an airport. It sucks more to have to spend the night because you missed your flight and there is no room available on later flights.

Food and Beverage

• Some airlines take cash only for purchasing food and drinks on board. Some airlines take credit card. This seems to continually be changing. Best option – have both on you just in case. If you need to get cash, do so prior to coming to the airport to avoid the outrageous service fee charges on airport ATMs. Better option, bring something on board, though you’ll have to buy drinks at the airport, since they can’t go through the security checkpoint.

Flight Change Notifications

• Most airlines offer an option to be notified of flight changes/delays/cancellations via phone, email or text. The default setting is often email. If you will have access to email up until the time of your flight (even at the airport) this might be the best option. If not, you may opt for phone or text. Be warned, the phone almost certainly won’t be a live person- imagine the staff needed for that – but a recording about the change in your flight, so it won’t necessarily help you in getting any issues resolved quicker in the event of a flight change.

Seat Selection:

• Choose a seat when you book (or if you’re booking through a planner, let them know your seat preference.) Some airlines automatically assign you. Some do not and you may end up in a middle seat near the bathroom, away from your traveling companions. You generally cannot reserve the bulkhead or exit rows far in advance. You may be able to reserve exit rows when you check in online 24 hours before, though the bulkhead usually isn’t available. Airlines do vary slightly on the availability of these.

• The seats in front of the exit row usually do not recline. Basically, if there’s an emergency, they don’t want the evacuation space in the exit row to be smaller than it already is. Some airlines won’t let you store anything under your seat in the exit row. If you’re a fan of needing your personal belongings within arms length, the exit row may not be for you. The seats in the last row also often do not recline, either much, or at all.

• If you fly Southwest, they have an option to pay $10 per person per way and they’ll automatically check you in. This means no sitting at the computer and stalking the SWA website exactly 24 hours before your flight in hopes of getting an A boarding. In my opinion, it’s well worth the extra $20 round trip. Better yet, it’s good for all legs of the trip – it’s not $10 per leg, it’s $10 per way, total as long as you’ve booked all legs as part of the same flight.

Luggage and boarding pass check in

• You must arrive and check in your luggage 30 minutes before a domestic flight and 45 minutes before an international flight (I suggest way more than this). By you must, I mean literally, you must. They will give away your seat to a standby passenger. This is a rule of the airline. And if you’re banking on no standby passengers, you’ll be disappointed. With the consolidation of flights recently, there are nearly always standbys.

• This rule generally goes for connections as well. The airlines need to make a call at a certain point to whether or not you and your luggage will make the plane. You may be able to sprint for it, but you are not allowed on a flight that your luggage is not on (and vice versa, for safety reasons) so if they don’t think they’ll have time to transfer your luggage, you get bumped. There are plenty of hopeful standby passengers that will fill that seat. I can’t stress enough, if you have a choice of layovers and one is an hour or less, go for the longer layovers. It sucks to wait 3 hours in an airport. It sucks more to have to spend the night because you missed your flight and there is no room available on later flights.

Food and Beverage

• Some airlines take cash only. Some airlines take credit card only (this seems to continually be changing). Best option – have both on you just in case. If you need to get cash, do so prior to coming to the airport to avoid the outrageous service fee charges on airport ATMs. Better option, bring something on board, though you’ll have to buy drinks at the airport, since they can’t go through the security checkpoint.

1. Choosing your seat: One of the most common requests I get from clients is a seats in the exit row or bulkhead, because these have more leg room. Unfortunately, these seats generally cannot be booked ahead of time unless you are in a wheelchair or have small children. Here are some options for getting the best seat possible:

• Log in 24 hours before your flight. Sometimes they will release the exit row at that time if no has requested it (they still generally hold the bulkhead).

• Most flights have premium seating. When you check in online, you can pay approximately $30 each way to upgrade to this premium seating. It might sound expensive, but isn’t it worth $30 to sit in on the aisle with an empty seat next to you rather than in the middle of the middle row on a long haul flight?

• If you don’t want to pay $30, show up very early at the airport. If these premium seats haven’t been taken, they may upgrade you without you having to pay – after all, people may be on standby and they’d love your middle seat just to be on the plane. In some cases, you may even be able to go to first class, but don’t hold your breath on that one.

2. While it doesn’t come as an outright request, generally speaking, travelers would like to actually be allowed on the flight they’ve booked and paid for. Guess what, if you don’t have your information submitted properly to the airline, you probably won’t be allowed on. These days, your name on your ticket has to be EXACTLY as it is on your passport. No leaving out the middle initial, the Jr, or that real first name that you’re embarrassed by so you go by your middle name. If you do, you may not get on. They also require your birthdate and gender, though the latter may not have as dire consequences if the first two match.

3.  Of course, it only helps to get on your flight if it’s actually going to take off and get you to your destination. In the last month or so, this concept hasn’t been one you can take for granted. So what do you do if your flight is cancelled, or delayed enough that you are going to miss your connection? Call your travel planner. I can’t emphasize this enough. That being said, I can’t promise they can bump everyone off the next flight and get you to your connection all without it costing a dime. However, there is a passenger bill of rights which entitles you to probably much more than the airlines are telling you. Travel planners should have this handy and can contact tell you what to demand (politely) of the airline if you’re not getting all that you are entitled. They also know which airlines fly most frequently from your airport and the best route to your destination and may be able to offer alternatives that the airline will not.

4. Getting through immigration and customs painlessly: I don’t know about you, but I always get nervous standing in the immigration line. It’s not that I have something to hide, or a reason to be stopped, but I get nervous all the same. I’ve also never had any trouble with this – until last month when I flew into London. The immigration officer was particularly grouchy and seemed to be looking for trouble. He questioned me thoroughly and then asked me to produce a copy of my return flight itinerary and hotel confirmation. Much to my disbelief, I couldn’t find it in my bag! I looked and looked and the guy basically told me unless I had it I couldn’t enter. Finally, after I produced about six credit cards to prove I could support myself there if I wasn’t leaving the day I had told him, he let me through. Morals of the story: 1. Don’t panic, they don’t like that. 2. Always carry multiple copies of your itinerary in different places, in case one walks away. 3. Make sure you have a way of proving you can support yourself in case you were to get stuck in the country (credit cards). Tough but valuable lesson learned!

5. Mileage credit on partner airlines: You can sometimes accrue miles for your preferred airline when you fly on one of it’s partners (i.e. US Airways and South African Airways). However, this is often only true if you fly in the correct “class”. Flights are divided into more classes than economy, business and first. Within economy, seats are given classes and differentiated by alphabetical letters – J, K, L and so on. An airline’s mileage program might state that you can only redeem airline miles when flying in certain classes, and if you don’t have a seat in that particular class (say that they support J, but not K or L) they you cannot get credit for the mileage.

A reader recently posted several questions on one of my blogs regarding just this, and since I am sure she is not alone in her inquiries, I wanted to revisit the topic of booking airfares. 

1.  Does it matter what day of the week you book your flight. All of the “discount travel” experts on the talk shows say you should book on Wed to get the lowest fares. Is this really true?

This is a long-debated question. There are a lot of people who say book on a Tuesday or a Wednesday, or to book at midnight or some odd hour of the early morning. This may have some base in truth, however, with so many recent changes in the industry, these days it’s more about how far in advance you book, your destination, and the current cost of fuel which determines your price.

 My advice is to have an idea of what you want to spend on your flight. If you find it on your first try, book it! If you do not, watch it (or better yet have your travel planner watch it) over a week or so. If it doesn’t decrease, you can either wait and try again or book it. If it seems to be increasing, snag it – it will probably only go up from there. I always suggest not playing the odds – I’ve seen way too many clients end up paying more because they tried to wait for prices to decrease.

2. How far in advance should I book a domestic flight? It seems like anything too far and the flights are really expensive, but then if I wait the flights are booked up.

Airlines are decreasing their routes and number of flights between cities, which is causing a lot of full and over-booked flights.  Again, start checking early and when you if you find a price that is desirable, book it. I would say for domestic, book at least a two to three months out if possible. If you are flexible in your dates, many sites will compare prices within a span of several days so that you can choose the most affordable. 

For international flights, I recommend four to six months out. Most of these routes are flown once per day, if that, so flights fill up quickly. Even if the price decreases slightly, for most people it’s worth the few extra dollars to know that they’re on the flight!

3.  Am I better of booking my flight through one of the travel sites like Expedia or Travelocity? Or should I go directly to the airline website? Where am I likely to see the best prices and options?

To the discount travel sites – NO! What many people do not realize is that when you book through those sites, they become your travel “agent” (using the world very loosely). Therefore, if you need to make any changes, or if the flight itself changes at all, you cannot deal with the airline but must deal with the site’s call center, in which you are receiving the same impersonal service given to thousands of others who are also having flight trouble. In addition, they do in fact charge service fees, just as a travel planner would. So for those who want to book it themselves so that they don’t pay travel planner fees, they actually are! 

Airline websites have become more competitive in their pricing, especially for domestic routes. They are not a bad bet, and in this case you do have the power to deal with the airline. However, you then have the task of determining which airlines have the best routes and availability and comparing their pricing, times and services. 

Personally, and not just because I am one, I suggest dealing with a travel planner, especially if it’s a complicated itinerary (more than a quick round trip) or if you simply don’t have the time or energy to research various airlines, routes and price comparisons. This way you have a professional that can handle your booking as well as any issues or changes that arise, which saves you time and frustration. Again, it sometimes comes down to peace of mind. 

To learn more about air fare and other commonly asked questions, check out my blog Travel Myths – Fact or Fiction! 

Travel has changed a lot over the years – in some ways for the better, in some ways for the, well, not so much better. Often, these changes are big enough to make it to the general public (most major US carriers now charging for checked luggage, for example). Other times these changes may be more gradual or just seem less important and not quite make it into the public light. Hence, the increasing number of travel myths and just general travel confusion in the air these days. 

Some of the most common travel myths that I hear include:

1.  Connecting flights are always cheaper – not so! They may be, especially if they are a red-eye or have several connections with various carriers. However, airports charge landing taxes, which means that the more the plane lands, the more taxes the airline, and therefore the customer, pays. 

2. It’s less expensive to purchase flights on certain days – this one is debatable. Some say yes, some say no. I haven’t found this personally to be true. In fact these days it’s the surges in fuel costs, more than anything, that drives airline prices. If you find a good price on a Saturday, I don’t recommend waiting until a supposedly cheaper day – snag it now! 

3. You pay less by planning your trip last minute – false. This may be true if you just want to get away and aren’t particularly picky about the hotel, flight or even specific destination. If you’re planning a two-week overseas trip, however, book early. You avoid arranging your trip around sold out flights and booked hotels, which leave you with fewer options – often the ones others don’t want to pay for. 

4.  Travel Insurance is a waste of money – false, completely false. Insurance has helped several of my clients when they have fallen ill while traveling or for other reasons needed to cut short or cancel their trip. You may not want to think about canceling your trip now, but do you want to pay for it later?  Travel insurance can literally be a life saver. 

5.  It’s less expensive to travel during the week – Generally, false. There used to be the “Saturday night stay” policy where you got a free or discounted night by staying over a Saturday. Then it went away and in fact was a travel myth. Now, it’s starting to make a come back, along with deals such as lower rental car rates for renting over a weekend. The best way to get the most affordable rates is to keep your dates slightly flexible and look for the lowest price within that week or month.

Have a question about a travel myth? Ask away! You can leave it as a comment or it email to maya@chimera-travel.com. 

In an effort to help reduce the basic flight cost for travelers (and to note lose a great deal of money in the process), some airlines are now introducing a new booking concept – choosing your flight amenities a la carte. When booking a flight, customers (or their travel planner) will be shown the fare for just the basic flight. They will then be able to pick and choose “amenities” such as checking luggage, meal service, reserving a seat and various other services that the airlines offer for that particular flight. In some ways, this seems a bit ridiculous – you will now have to pay to reserve your seat and ensure you sit next to your travelling companion? In other ways, it makes a bit of sense and can save people money instead of making them pay for services they don’t need or want. For instance, I rarely eat the food served on my flights, unless I have a flight longer than about 6 hours and am flying an airline that actually includes free and somewhat decent meals (especially being a vegetarian, the choices are slim).  Instead, I bring food from home – which perfectly allowed through security as long as it is solid in form – or I buy a bagel, sandwich or other non-perishables at the airport shortly before boarding and save them for later. Not only do they generally taste much better, I can eat them at my leisure. So in that sense, this a la carte option allows me the option to reduce my fare by not paying for a meal that I don’t enjoy along with that of my fellow travelers. The seat reservation is a little trickier, since it really costs the airline nothing to allow people to reserve their seats, but it does help to lower costs for those travelers willing to be more flexible with their seating arrangements. The a la carte concept is similar to the no-frills concept of airlines like Southwest – basically, you get what you pay for. If you are willing to give up some of the “luxuries” that you are used to when flying, you get a lower cost. Will it work?  I am a bit skeptical. U.S. based airlines are already under much scrutiny from travelers for the lack of meal service and checked luggage fees. Many of my clients flying overseas will already only fly an international airline such as British Airways or Thai Airways. However, the airlines are willing to take that risk, and perhaps for domestic flights it will work. My theory – if it helps people afford to take those trips they’ve been wanting to but had to put on hold, then perhaps it’s worth a shot!