The Flying Critic

Hyatt Announces Faster Free Nights

Hyatt just announced their latest Faster Free Nights (FFN) promo for this year:

Every Two Stays = One Free Night
Plus earn 2,000 bonus points after every two eligible stays
With your MasterCard® card
September 1 - December 30, 2008
Redeem your award between September 15, 2008 and February 28, 2009

If you play it right, faster free nights can be an amazing  deal.  Two years ago I parlayed two ~100/night stays in a bay area Hyatt into a free ~500/night stay at the Grand Hyatt Tokyo.  Just remember it is stays and not nights that count.  You have to register for the promo before your first stay.

4 Southwest Rapid Reward Credits for New Accounts

According to the Frugal Travel Guy you can join the Southwest Rapid Rewards program from a LaQuinta Hotel promo and get 4 Rapid Rewards Credits.  You must join by September 30th.  If you don't have a Southwest Rapid Rewards account you should consider joining through this promo.  With Southwest becoming the rare no-fee airline you just might find yourself flying them.

Watching the Surf in Maui - Daily Travel Photo

After this perfect day in paradise I felt good about paying $20 to upgrade to the blue convertible.

Direct vs. Non-Stop Flights - A Travel Tip

Don't use the terms non-stop and direct flights interchangeably.  A non-stop flight is a direct flight but a direct flight is not always a non-stop flight.  It might seem trivial but the difference between the two can be huge.

A non-stop flight is exactly what it sounds like - a flight that goes from point A to point B without any planned stops.

A direct flight is not what it sounds like - it is a flight or series of flights that operate under a single flight number.  It could be a non-stop.  But it could also be a flight that has a number of planned stops and/or aircraft changes along the way.

For example, United flight 966 is a direct flight from Los Angeles (LAX) to Rome (FCO).  But it is not a non-stop.  First United 966 goes from LAX to IAD (Washington Dulles) on an Airbus 319.  Then there is approximately an hour layover in IAD before a plane change to a Boeing 777 when the flight continues to FCO.

Tomorrow (June 26) Southwest Schedule Extends to January 9, 2009 from October 31, 2008

Nuts About Southwest reports that:

Flight schedules for the time period extending from October 31, 2008 all the way to January 9, 2009, have been sent--and will be open for sale next Thursday, June 26

So if you are looking to grab award seats or buy Southwest tickets for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Years you should be ready tomorrow morning at southwest.com.  Typically when Southwest extends its schedule other airlines also begin to lower their prices for the period covered by Southwest's schedule extension.  Tomorrow and the next few days may be a good time to grab holiday tickets.

Delta Upgrade Priority With Delta Reserve Amex Card - A Travel Tip

Delta's Jeff Robertson, head of the Delta Skymiles program, provided this interesting answer on FlyerTalk to a question about upgrade priority on Delta:

Q: What is the Delta Reserve upgrade priority?

A: Delta Reserve customers receive priority upgrade status within tier and fare class. In essence, this means that if two customers who are Platinum both booked an L fare, the Platinum with the Delta Reserve card bumps the Platinum who doesn’t have the card.

So if you are a Delta frequent flyer without the Delta Reserve card you may be missing out on upgrade to another elite who does have the card.

Thanks to View from the Wing for the tip on the Delta Reserve Upgrade Priority Q&A.

How to Standby For an Earlier Flight on US Airways - Travel Tip

Do you want to take an earlier flight on your day of travel on US Airways without paying a rebooking fee or paying the fare difference for a walk-up ticket?

US Airways allows you to confirm a seat on an earlier flight for $25 if the flight is within the 48 US States and for $50 if the flight is from the 48 US States to Latin America, the Caribbean, Canada and Alaska. You can't confirm an earlier flight to Hawaii or Europe.

To confirm a seat on an earlier flight you must go to the airport.  You can't do it over the phone.

You can confirm any earlier flight on the same day - so even if you booked the last flight in the evening you can show up in the morning at the airport and try to confirm an earlier flight.

If they can't confirm you on the earlier flight you want (because it is sold out) they will let you try and standby on the flight for free.  But if there is an open seat you will have to pay the fee and get confirmed on the new flight. 

How to Handle Airline Schedule Changes - Travel Tip

Schedule changes aren't always a bad thing.  When an airline changes their flight schedule or cancels your flight before your trip you have options.  Even if the airline e-mailed you with an updated itinerary you can often switch to an earlier or later flight.  Sometimes you can even change the airport you fly to or from.

With the cuts being made this fall as the airlines finalize their reduced schedules expect a lot of schedule changes.

I follow this procedure list whenever one of my flights has a schedule change:

1. Determine if the schedule change causes a misconnect with another connecting flight.  If so, you must find a new flight and request a change to fix the misconnect.
2. If you don't misconnect then see how much of a change in the arrival or departure time there is and look to see if there is a different flight that you would rather take.
3. Also check to see if there is a better flight from an alternative airport.
4. Try to find two or three options that you would consider changing to.  Rank them.  Write them down.
5. Make a list of the reasons the schedule change impacts you and why you need a different option.
6. Call the airline, briefly explain the problem, and suggest your preferred alternative route.

The airlines aren't going to change you trip from San Francisco to New York to San Francisco to Orlando because of a one hour schedule change.   But they might let you switch from JFK to LGA or take the morning flight instead of the afternoon that you originally booked.

To succeed with schedule changes be smart.  Inform yourself of alternative options.  Make reasonable change requests.  Be friendly to airline employees.  And don't agree to any changes you aren't happy with.

Tunnel Between LAX Terminal 5 and Terminals 6, 7 and 8 - Travel Tip

Want to get between terminal 5 and terminals 6, 7 and 8 at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) quickly and without needing to go through security?  Take the tunnel between terminal 5 and terminal 6.  Once you are in terminal 6 you can get to terminal 7 and 8 because they are connected.

I use the tunnel when flying United Airlines out of terminal 6 or 7 to walk over to the Delta Crown Room Club in terminal 5 to take a shower.  If you didn't know, the Delta Crown Room Club has two showers inside their LAX club.  One-visit passes are available for $30 if you don't already have access.

Here are the airlines in terminal 5, 6, 7 and 8:

Terminal 5
Aerolitoral
Aeromexico
Air Jamacia
Alitalia
Delta Air Lines

Terminal 6
Continental Airlines
Copa Airlines (Panama)
Delta Air Lines
United Airlines
Virgin America

Terminal 7
United Airlines

Terminal 8
United Express

How to find the tunnel in terminal 5

To find the tunnel in terminal 5 go to the middle of the terminal between gates 53 and 54.  Take the escalator next to the McDonald's:

How to find the tunnel in terminal 6

To find the tunnel in terminal 6 go to the middle of the terminal between gates 65 and 66 near the Hudson News and the Ruby's Diner:

The Tunnel

Take the escalator down to the tunnel level:

Walk to the other side of the long tunnel:

Follow the signs to terminal 5 or 6/7/8:

United to Charge $15 for FIRST Checked Bag

Fee for First Checked Bag on United

Today United Airlines announced that it will begin charging $15 for your FIRST checked bag. 

The fee will apply to travel starting on August 18, 2008 for tickets purchased on or after June 13, 2008.  So if you purchased your ticket before June 13, 2008 or if your travel is before August 18, 2008 you will not be subject to the fee.

Who Is Exempt?

The following people are exempt from the new baggage fee:

• traveling in United First or United Business;
• a Global Services, Mileage Plus 1K, Premier Executive, Premier or Premier Associate member;
• a Star Alliance Gold or Silver member; or
• military personnel traveling on orders.

Carry-on Rules

This new fee is likely to encourage people to carry-on bags (at least until they try to charge fees for carry-on bags).  United has a simple carry-on policy:

• For travel worldwide on United, you may carry on one bag and one personal item such as a purse, briefcase, or laptop computer.
• A carry-on bag must fit under your seat or in the overhead bin.
• Carry-on bag dimensions should not be more than 9 x 14 x 22 in/22 x 35 x 55 cm (length + width + height) or 45 linear in/112 linear cm (the length, height and width added together
• Coats, medical devices, and child safety seats are exempt.

How to Board Earlier and Get Overhead Bin Space on United

Pick a window seat on United to increase your chance of finding overhead bin space.  United boards the plane by seating groups in this order:

1. Global Services / First Class / 1Ks / Business Class
2. Seating Group 1 (United and Star Alliance Elites)
3. Seating Group 2 (Window Seats)
4. Seating Group 3 (Middle Seats)
5. Seating Group 4 (Aisle Seats)

By picking a window seat instead of an aisle you will get to board in seating group 2 before the non-elites with aisle and middle seats in seating groups 3 and 4.

Travel Tip: Use Noise Canceling Headphones for a Better Flight

Noise canceling headphones help drown out engine noise and let you to listen to your music or movies with clarity and at lower volumes.  I even use mine when I'm not listening to music just to keep the engine noise down. 

Getting noise canceling headphones is the best $90 you can spend on yourself to have consistently more enjoyable flights.

Unlike what some of the ads you see might make you believe, noise canceling headphones don't give you silence on an airplane.  But they do make a huge difference.  I bring mine with me on every flight.

They work by adding a white noise at frequencies that cancel out the background noise of the plane engines.  If you listen to them in a quite room with the noise canceling on you will hear a hiss.  Annoying on the ground.  Wonderful in the air.

I don't use the Bose headphones that a lot of people love.  I find them big, heavy, and expensive.  I wanted an on the ear headphone because I wear glasses.  I didn't want in-ear buds because I wanted to be able to easily take them off to talk to flight attendants.  After hours of research two years ago I decided to get the Sennheiser PXC 250 Active Noise Canceling Headphones pictured above.

My Sennheiser noise canceling headphones are comfortable.  They sound great on a plane.  I think they sound better than the Bose QC2/3s that I've tried.

The headset is so light because the two AAA batteries are not in the headset like the Bose.  Instead there is a battery case that is about half way between the cables going to the headset and the audio plug.  Some people find this annoying.  It works for me as I set the battery case on the side of my seat and forget about it.  It also has a belt clip or you can put it in your pocket if you prefer to keep it attached to you. 

When people ask me what noise canceling headphones they should get I recommend the Sennheisers.  There is a newer model - the PXC 300 - that costs around $120 more than the PXC 250.  I'd go with the older PXC 250.
 

TSA to allow laptops through x-ray in some new bags

Seth at TravelTechTalk reports that TSA-friendly laptop cases are coming.

The idea is to create a laptop bag that you don't have to remove your laptop from when putting the bag through the x-ray machine.  In theory this is good because it takes time to remove your computer from the bag and spending less time near the TSA is a good thing.

But there are a couple problems with their plan. 

First, the TSA won't be approving bags but will instead just create guidelines for manufactures to use.  This means that if your new bag (that you would need to but and may not be cheap) doesn't look right to the TSA your bag will be searched and take even more time than it would have to just put the computer in a bin like you do now.  With no approval process you can't know for sure and they can change their mind at any time (citing security reasons, of course).

Second, for the bag to be approved the TSA has to get an unobstructed view of the computer.  This means your power cables and all the other stuff that you actually want and need with you in your laptop bag can't be in the way.   To solve this problem, Seth reports that the bags:

"...are basically clamshells that open to have the laptop laying flat on the x-ray belt, without the protection of a bin surrounding it when the suitcase behind it comes rolling down the belt."

That sounds like the new bag design may defeat the purpose of a laptop bag: to protect the laptop.

How to Transfer American Airlines Miles to Hilton HHonors Points

Need Hilton HHonors points for a free hotel stay?  Have extra American Airlines AAdvantage miles?

You can transfer American miles to Hilton points. It's easy.  And the exchange rate is good.

1 American Airlines mile = 2 Hilton HHonors points. 

The deal is only good going American -> Hilton.  It's a bad deal the other way around at 10,000 HHonors points = 1,500 American Airlines miles.

So if you have 20,000 American Airlines miles you can transfer them to Hilton and get 40,000 HHonors points.  40,000 HHonors points gets you one night at a category 6 hotel like the Conrad Tokyo - normally ~$600/night.  Or those 40,000 points could get you 4 or 5 free nights at Hilton's lowest category properties.

There is a $25 fee per transfer and you have to transfer at least 5,000 miles.  You can learn more about the transfer process at American Airlines' website.  If you are ready to transfer miles to points you can go straight to the transfer page.

You might also be interested in the latest American Airline news: American Airlines will charge $15 for checking your FIRST bag

Can You Standby for Free on Southwest Airlines? A Travel Tip

If you are on a non full fare ticket you usually can't standby for free on Southwest Airlines.  Southwest will typically require that you pay the difference between your discounted fare (called Wanna Get Away) and the full fare price. But there are two other ways that you can standby for free on Southwest.  One is if your flight is delayed by 30 minutes and the other is if is you miss your original flight and can invoke the flat tire rule.

The three ways that you can standby for free on Southwest Airlines

1. If you are on a full fare tickets you can standby for free.  Southwest calls their full fare tickets Business Select and Anytime fares.  If you were wondering why someone on a full fare ticket might need to standby it is because you can't buy a ticket on (or change your full fare ticket to) a flight that departs within one hour on Southwest Airlines.
2. If the flight that you are booked on is running late by 30 minutes you may standby on a different flight for no charge.  Often the way to figure out if your flight is delayed is to determine where your plane is coming from and then check its arrival status.  Even if your flight doesn't show delayed you can usually standby for free by pointing out that the inbound flight is delayed and that your flight will be delayed even if the delay for your flight hasn't already trickled down in the computer system.
3. If you miss your original flight and present yourself to a Southwest airport agent within two hours of your original flight's takeoff time you can standby for a later flight for no charge.  This is Southwest's flat tire rule.

Southwest typically starts to clear standby passengers 10 minutes before departure.  If the flight you want to standby on is wide open sometimes an agent will clear you right away.  Southwest usually runs their standby list first come first served.

Travel Tip: Remain Overnight Connections: Taking The Last Flight In / First Flight Out

Most air fares allow you to spend the night at a connecting city for free with a remain overnight connection. 

The trick is you need to find a last flight in to your connecting city that misconnects with the last flight to your final destination.  Then you just take the last flight in to the connecting city and continue to your destination on the first flight out the next morning.

Most airline websites can't price these sorts of connections properly.  They incorrectly treat them as a stopover.  So you might need to call to book or use a regular travel agent.