I recently redeemed some of my Aeroplan miles for my girlfriend to come and meet me for a weekend in Las Vegas. Here are some tips for Aeroplan miles redemption:

·         Be flexible with your dates- and check all of the different combinations. In my particular case the option was to come back on monday which would have cost 40,000 miles, or tuesday which cost only 25,000 miles.

·         Check alternative airports if there are other convenient ones you can get to- this could save you money on the taxes you have to pay.

·         Make sure that the route is reasonably convenient- sometimes you may have to transfer several times to get to your destination.

·         I used to think it was worth it to call air canada to redeem your points- but now that the website has improved I think it is better to redeem online- you have to pay an extra fee if you want to make your reservation by phone.

Remember- Aeroplan miles do expire after 7 years so it is important to use them before 7 years or face losing them. Aside from flights there are many other things you can exchange your Aeroplan miles for such as gift cards at various stores. Check out all the options at Aeroplan, or on my Getting the most our of Aeroplan page

I take a lot of weekend trips to different places and I am always looking for ways to find the best deal.

After much practice- I now use a three step approach to hotel reservations.

First, if you know the city and area you want to stay at, but not the exact hotel, your best bet is to try one of the big travel websites such asExpedia, Travelocity, Hotels.com, or Orbitz. This will help you to narrow down to a few hotels which will meet your requirements in the price range you need. At this point it is not necessary to check all of the sites- just try any one.

Next, once you have a few hotels that think you may want to stay at, go toTripadvisor and find these hotels. For each of them you should click “Check Rates” and a popup window will appear, where you put in your travel dates. Tripadvisor will then show you a bunch of websites which it will be checking you only have to click on “show next offer” to get the next one- saving you the time of going to each individual website.

The third and final step is very important. When you have chosen the dates of your travel and the hotel you will be staying at. Before you make your reservation on any website, find the website of the hotel you have chosen and see if they have an even better rate- or maybe a special which includes something else, like breakfast for example.

If you find the same price on the hotel’s website or think you may need to change your plans I would reserve directly with the hotel. If you find a better price on another website and are 100% sure that you will not change your travel plans, then go with the other site. It is generally possible to change reservations made directly at the hotel, but extremely difficult any other way. See my previous article Travel Websites.

Hope some of you find this helpful.

Having returned from my second trip to Las Vegas, I thought I would share what I best like about the city of sin. I strongly recommend that everyone go there at least once.

There is no easy way to understand Vegas until you have been there. I guess I consider it a Disneyland for adults.

What are the best parts?

·         Choice. Whatever you want to do- it is available. From gambling, dancing, drinking, shopping- whatever you want to do for fun, you can find it.

·         Restaurants- there is an incredible variety of food at all different kinds of price levels.

·         Atmosphere- I guess because most people are there on vacation everyone is friendly and fun.

What don’t I like about Vegas? There are a couple of things:

·         Walking- there is just waay too much walking neccessary, even to go to a hotel which is nearby

·         It is very easy to spend a lot of money- especially when you can take cash advances from your credit card without even your pin number

·         Be very careful of the fees you pay at machines- I took out money three times while in Vegas- the first two times I had a fee of 4 dollars which I consider high but acceptable. The last time I made a withdrawl the fee was an unbelievable 24 dolars!!! I only noticed when I got the printout of my transaction.

·         The TV channel selection in my hotel room was horrible. I know the hotels want you out of the room and in the casinos but they could at least have a couple of decent channels.

If you are planning a trip to Vegas and are on a budget, don’t miss

·         Half price show tickets at the big coca-cola bottle next to the MGM- this could save you a lot of money. The only catch is that they do not have seats for all shows.

·         The free magazines in every hotel list all of the attractions of all hotels and they also have coupons at the back.

·         If you are tired of walking the bus can take you the full length of the strip for only two dollars. If you are staying on the strip this is just as fast as a taxi for a fraction of the price.

·         If you are wanting to drink but don’t want to pay a lot, sit and play at a penny lot machine. At most casinos it does not take long for the waitress to come around. Don’t forget to tip her though.

·         Free attractions- the hotels on the strip are attractions in themselves, but there are many other attractions which are free such as the volcano at the Mirage, the fountains at the Bellagio, the moving statues at Caesars, etc…

For more Vegas info, the best site I have seen is Cheapo Vegas

I have been an avid user of Priority Pass for the last 5 years but my time with them has come to an end. It wasn’t that the service was bad- it is just that

1.    My travel habits have changed- I am taking more flights within North America compared to international, which does not give me the same opportunity to use the pass

2.    My new company will not pay for it.

If I did think that Priority Pass was worth the money I would certainly still pay for it myself- but I had forgotten about one of their bad habits- charging your credit card automatically for the next year’s service. My current Priority Pass is valid until April 2007- it just expired today in fact. Three weeks ago I received my new pass for next year- along with a charge on my credit card. The credit card charge was on March 5th- even though I had another card valid until April 1st.

OK so they charged my card early, I thought. I called Priority Pass to ask for the card to be cancelled and was told that I had to mail back the card. So I sent back the card immediately and have now been waiting three weeks and still have not gotten my money back. I hope that I do not have to wait too long because pretty soon I will dispute the charge with my credit card company.

I still think Priority Pass can be worth the money- but you really have to look carefully at the airports you will be using. For example, some of the main reasons I stopped using it is that I cannot use it in Montreal (my home airport), and JFK as I often pass through the Delta terminal.

I have had my fair share of complaints about airlines- but today I thought I would share a few tips about how not to be a rude traveler. I see these people all the time- they are the ones who think that everything revolves around them- maybe it’s because I travel a lot- but I spot them all the time- on my latest trip I encountered three of them.

In the first case I don’t think the man was being deliberately rude- but there was certainly something odd about his behavior. I was in line in security at Amsterdam airport, the line was moving pretty well, but as I got close to the front it stopped. I peered ahead and there was an old man checking every single one of his jacket pockets for change- inside pockets and outside pockets- once, twice, three times. Then he just got fed up and took off his jacket. The guy behind me yelled out “what did you check your pockets for if you were going to take off your coat?”. Then the old man started checking his pants pockets…

Why is it that people get to security and all of a sudden realize that they need to take the change out of their pockets? I can understand for first time travelers- but I can bet that most of these people have been on planes before and know what to expect; especially as there are usually huge signs before getting into the security lines.

The second rude traveler I saw on this trip was on the flight from Dubai to New York. This guy was loud and obnoxious, and fortunately not sitting right next to me. Partway through the flight he needed to get out of his seat- but instead of waking up the person next to him and asking him to move, he decided to jump over him. Unfortunately his feet did not make it to the aisle- but they did land on his neighbor’s knees. The other passenger was furious.

Later on, while everyone was trying to sleep, this guy insisted on watching a movie which had him cackling loudly every few minutes, and the person in the seat in front of him had to turn around several times to ask him to stop shaking his seat. I spent a good part of the flight looking over at the neighbor and shaking my head in sympathy.
The third rude traveler I saw on my latest trip was while I was again waiting to go through security, this time in New York. Just in front of me was a middle aged lady who was going to Italy. There had been some screw up with her ticket which was making her very late and she was concerned about missing her flight. She was discussing with another couple who may have been her friends.

At one point we got pulled into separate lines, the couple in one line, and the complainer in the other, I got into the line of the complainer. As she suddenly had no-one to bitch to (she glanced my way but I ignored her), she pulls out her cell phone and calls someone to complain that she is going to be late for her flight, etc… This goes on for several minutes until she is at the front of the security line. The workers there try to get her off the phone but she doesn’t- so they start sending people around her. When she finally got off the phone she had to wait for a bunch of people to pass through before her- and to top it off she was upset that they made the others pass before her! If she was in such a hurry then could she not have waited to make this call?

I just wanted to share these because I am past the point of getting upset at these people- actually I think about them and get a good laugh.

As some of you may have noticed- I have a lot of thoughts about airports- mainly because I spend so much time in them.

On this latest trip I have experienced four airports- Montreal, Amsterdam, Dubai, and JFK in New York.

This trip really made me think about who is living in the first world and who is not.

So here is my list of the good and the bad of each airport that I experienced. I think I will be blogging this info regularly.

The good

·         Montreal- free Wifi- why can’t everyone have this?

·         Amsterdam- cleanliness, special quiet areas with seats that are ressemble lounge chairs and you can acually sleep in

·         Dubai- Beautiful airport, clear signage, clean, shopping- I don’t smoke but a carton of cigarettes was under $15!

·         JFK- I am trying to find a good thing about JFK- really. Maybe the fact that you can connect to almost anywhere through this airport- but I suspect that Schiphol and Dubai airport have similar capacities.

The bad

·         Montreal- when you land in Montreal, depending on where you arrive, there is a very long walk to customs.

·         Amsterdam- The lineups to get into the aircraft at the gate were very long- over 40 minutes from when they started letting passengers in the plane. Surprising that they can’t find a better way to do this.

·         Dubai- Lineups- at passport control and again to get a taxi there is a fair deal of waiting. They should be able to figure out a better way

·         JFK- There are many bad things about this place. Firstly, the airport is very confusing. My ticket did not have a terminal listed and I had to ask which terminal to go to. Secondly, when I arrived at the terminal there was noone to help and I ended up waiting in the wrong line for 20 minutes (and I usually know where to go). Lastly, the airport is a mess, with old dirty carpets- and worse. The last time I was here there were buckets in the middle of the hallway catching roof leaks.

 Any thoughts?

Christopher Elliot noted on his blog that “Baggage complaints are soaring in the aftermath of the gel and liquid semi-ban, and one airline, British Airways, has even said its earnings will be affected by the combustible-liquid threat”

This does not surprise me at all, though I suspect that the affected earnings may have to do more with the additional cost of handling the baggage complaints, than the increased security. Here is my own experience…
 
I have recently returned from a vacation where my (and my girlfriend’s) luggage was lost on the way to Scotland by British Airways. We were not the only ones on our flight with this experience- in fact there was a line-up of people who were missing bags. Incredibly, my sister, who was also traveling on British Airways on different dates, also had her baggage lost. But in her case it was on her return flight to Canada. I have had airlines lose my luggage before, but in my previous experiences it has taken the airlines one or two days to get the luggage back to me. In this case it took four days; which is not a fun way to start a vacation.
 
The worst part about arriving somewhere with no luggage is that you have no toiletries or change of clothes, and the ban on gels and liquids just aggravates the situation as it has forced you to check-in pretty much everything. So the day after arriving, instead of getting to play tourist, we went shopping- wasting one of our seven days in Scotland at the local mall.
 
Having returned home from our holiday, we now have go through the fun process of claiming money back from British Airways. Even though it is clear that they lost our bags and that we only claimed 150 British pounds between 2 of us(not an unreasonable amount considering that 2 people did not get bags for 4 days); British Airways is telling us that it takes 6-8 weeks to process the claim.

So, I don’t know how much additional money the security threats cost the airlines, but certainly the cost of finding the luggage, delivering it to its destination, and compensating clients, who have had their trips affected by lost luggage, must be a substantial sum.

Here are a couple of pointers about luggage:
1- Tag your luggage properly. This means to have a tag around the handle of your luggage and also your name and address inside the bag- just incase the baggage handling tag gets ripped off- I usually leave a business card in one of the pockets which includes my cell phone number. 
2- Keep your receipts, if your luggage gets lost and you do have to buy clothes, toiletries, or anything else make sure to keep the receipts, because when you go to claim money back the airlines will ask for them.
3- Pack anything valuable in plastic bags- when my sister got her luggage back finally after three days, the suitcase, and all of the contents, were completely soaked. She had some photographs which would have been ruined had they not been wrapped in plastic.

Here are a couple of ideas that a friend of mine gave me for saving time at airports. I knew he was a good person to ask because he hates waiting in line: 

1.    If you happen to travel through the same airport often,get a few copies of the customs forms and fill them out in advance, in order not to delay your lineup.

2.    If you have a way to fast-track customs, do so. In Canada we haveCanpass which will make your trip through Canadian customs much faster, as you get to bypass the regular lineup. There is another program called Nexus, which is currently being trialled at Vancouver airport. Nexus is a joint program between Canadian and US customs authorities to allow travellers from either country to fast-track.

3.    If you are flying on a short trip, do not check any luggage.

My friend uses Canpass and loves it. He says that he now avoids the big lineup at customs, and that he does not get stopped any more than usual. I am going to try it out and let you know what I think…

One of the most common problems you will face while traveling across times zones is jet-lag. Because your body is not accustomed to the new time you will feel tired and worn down for a couple days. If you are traveling to a different time zone, here are a couple of tips that can help to ease the suffering of jet-lag…..

1.    Try and get your body on to the new time one or 2 days before your travel. I typically go to bed around midnight. As I am five hours behind U.K. time, when I travel to the UK, I try to go to bed at 7 p.m. for one or two nights before I set off, and start my day at three or four a.m. This way, my body has already started to adjust to the new time by the time I get to my destination. Similarly, while I am in the U.K.; before I begin my return to Canada, I try to stay up until 4 or 5 a.m., so that my body is already starting to adjust back to the right time by the time I get back home.  

2.    Try anti jet-lag pills- you can find these in many pharmacies and in airports, though they cost more at the airport. I have found them to be quite effective. 

3.    Take advantage of early check-in. nowadays most airlines will let you check in to your flight online 24hrs before you fly. This can get you a better seat and will speed up your process at the airport. Better seat= more comfortable travel= more rest= less jetlag.

4.    Before you check-in early, in order to help you evaluate which seats are better than others, have a look at http://www.seatguru.com/.

Additional ways to find miles and points

Here is an idea for all of you collectors of airmiles or points. I am a big believer in getting as many points as possible, as long as it does not interfere with your normal spending pattern.

The idea is- when you about to buy something, there is a quick and easy way to check that you are getting as many points as you can-

1. By checking the website of the points or miles program and
2. Another way is by checking at the website of the place you are going to buy from.

Here is an example of each of these that I use:

For the first one, I love books and I read a lot. I usually buy my books online (either at Amazon or at Chapters/Indigo) because of their selection and price. As I am also an Airmiles collector, from visiting the Airmiles.ca website I have found that I can go to http://www.airmilesshops.ca/, go in to the Amazonwebsite from there, and collect additional Airmiles on the same books at the same prices that I would be buying them at anyway. This also works for dell.ca and a bunch of other online retailers. 
 
Here is an example of the second kind. Many people like the fact that Airmiles can be collected in stores like grocery stores, pharmacies. However, to be aware of all of the opportunities, you should check the website of your favorite store. I happen to shop at a grocery store called IGA for most of my groceries because a) it’s near to where I live, and b) I can collect Airmiles. It is well known that you can collect Airmiles there as the cashier will always ask fir your card, however, it is not very well known that lGA has an online flyer every week at www.iga.net that can give you extra Airmiles if you print out a coupon online and use it at the store. It may not always be useful as the coupon requires the purchase of a specific item or of a certain amount of groceries, but if you are going to go there anyhow it is worth it to look before you go.

The check only takes a couple of minutes… why not do it?