Airline Travel Basics #1 – Part 2

A few more considerations on primary airlines and choices

1) One more consideration in choosing a primary airline is distance from home.  I used to live someplace where the quality of service by United to Chicago and Northwest to Detroit was very comparable.  However, Detroit was a 2 hour drive and Chicago was a 5 hour drive.  I chose Northwest because if I couldn't get that last flight home, it was much more a driveable distance.

2) In a few cases, I've been told that I had to pay the difference between my preferred flight and the lowest cost, even when it was $50 (because I have to follow at least some US Federal Government rules on travel).  Fine.  In most cases, I'll pay that $50 (and maybe  more) and eat at a cheap restaurant to make it up in per diem. 

3) In the case that you're working someplace that has one airline with direct flights to corporate HQ, but another airline with better overall service, another weighting factor is that the flights to/from HQ city may get you sitting next to someone else from the company (at HQ) and you get a chance to make a relationship.  I've got a number of connections that started from sitting next to a colleague at my company on an airline flight that we both happened to be on.

4) If you use a device that synchs to your calendar, have your admin make sure to put flights onto your calendar.  I have mine mark things so that the calendar block starts 90 minutes (by default) before the departure time and end 1 hour after scheduled arrival (in that time zone).  In the body of the appointment is the flight numbers and the confirmation code from the airline.  That way, if I'm checking in for flights at a hotel kiosk (for example), which I consider an incredibly insecure computer, I only need the one-time confirmation code, which I pick up out of my blackberry.  When I land for a connecting flight, I can pull up the connecting flight gate and status information from the blackberry web browser, which has helped.  It means I don't have to hunt for the gate information on the monitors immediately, and I know how much time I have.  More than once, I've landed to discover my connecting flight was badly delayed or cancelled.  I called the airline number (yeah, the one for frequent fliers) and was rebooked before I got off the plane at the gate.  This is also useful in that most of my appointments are publicly readable on my calendar within the company, and other people (like my boss's admin) can check my calendar and see when I'm scheduled to arrive someplace.  She also does this with hotel reservation (including confirmation numbers and the hotel's phone number) and car rentals (again, with confirmation number and telephone number). 

5) Be nice to gate agents and flight attendants (OK, be nice to people in general -- the golden rule definitely applies).  They have discretion that can make your life easier or harder.  I know for certain that being polite and kind to a gate agent at a recent case where the flight was oversold (and I had flexibility to take the bump) got me an extra $100 on the compensation voucher.  I've also gotten pushed onto an earlier flight when mine was delayed from being nice, and a flight attendant told me that a free drink on a flight was compliments of the gate agent when I'd been polite and kind in the midst of a storm of angry idiots.

6) Make sure that your airline's FF phone number and your travel agent's phone (including the after hours emergency number) is at least in your phone.  My airline has a "special" phone number for frequent fliers, and I've found I get much better service there than the general published number.   Again, when the line at the counter is three miles long, you can call the airline or the travel agent and get the problem resolved while the rest of the world is dealing with the two counter agents.  And, of course, you didn't check luggage, so you can adapt to the change and get you (and all of your clothes) to the changed flight.

One more thought

And when the reservation comes through, make sure you and/or your admin check the seat assignments.  Don't assume that the corporate travel agent got it right.  If the seat assignment isn't right, get on the airline's web site, make sure the reservation has your ff number on it, and change your seat assignment.  If you still have a s*cky seat assignment, check about a week before departure, 72 hours, 48 hours, and 24 hours/check-in and move seats.  72 hours is when the first round of elite travelers get bumped to first class.  So, when Mark started with his aisle seat in exit row, then got bumped to first class 72 hours before departure, I can slide in and grab it (except he flies American and I fly Delta -- but you get the point).