July 29, 2007 • 11:28 pm 0
The TSA is lifting the ban on butane lighters or “common lighters” in carry on luggage effective August 4, 2007. TSA says lighters pose no serious threat. Last year the TSA confiscated more than 11 million lighters. The United States is the only country in the world to ban lighters.
Filed under: Air Travel, Travel Industry, Travel Tips, airline, airline industry
July 19, 2007 • 1:25 pm 0
We have an Alaska cruise tour group coming in today for a “document party.” We just reviewed our hosting duties at 8:30am thinking out loud about how many chairs we have, how many people are coming, when to order the coffee and munchkins from Dunkin’ Donuts, and finally deciding to finish our review in the office this morning.
Some of the items we will review include ‘what can I bring’ airport screening procedures and packing tips. Of course, there will be other questions and we will try to anticipate them this morning. Our group leader Diane, one of the office staffers, is accompanying the group and I’m sure she will have a check list that we will take a look at today.
In the meantime, I have another group that I am working on today. This is an incentive group who will be spending a week in the Dominican Republic in January. This has been in the planning stages for the past 6 months and has just been contracted.
I’m considering creating a password only space for this group to try to have a lot of information there for them to review. Since this group is not particularly local to our agency, I’m sure there will be a lot of emails to write and answer.
One of the interesting facets of my business is that each customer has different needs and we have to be flexible and creative enough to meet those needs. I like thinking up tech ways like private web space, wikis and, of course, emails. We are even considering instant messaging as a tool to use with the Caribbean group.
Filed under: Air Travel, Travel Agency, Travel Tips, airline industry, airports, cruise agency, cruise group, cruises, group travel, travel technology
June 10, 2007 • 9:52 pm 1
Recent headlines are full of reports predicting that this summer will be a record-breaker when it comes to airline passengers being bumped from their flights. Being bumped from your flight is not only inconvenient and annoying, but can be costly as well. Add to this the ever changing airport security regulations, mounting confusion over the change in passport rules and you have the recipe for increased delays and frustration at the airport.
And…you haven’t even started your trip yet!
Get an advance seat assignment. Passengers with seat assignments are typically only bumped if they arrive late and their seat assignment is released.
Check-in online. If you do not have an advance seat assignment, or you want to change your seat assignment, check-in online. Most airlines allow you to do so within 24 hours of departure. Seat assignments that were not available at the time of ticketing may be available when checking in online.
Don’t be late. If all else fails, get to the airport early. (get there early anyway) Some airlines reserve a portion of their seat assignment inventory for airport check-in. If you are denied a seat assignment at check-in, put your name on the “standby” seat assignment list.
Try these tips to stay cool, calm and collected. Have a great time!
Filed under: Air Travel, Travel Industry, Travel Tips
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