Contest for the Best Travel Tip
Alright, gang. Andy and I gave you quite a few tips to max out your travel, now let’s hear from you! You all have more brain cells than I do and almost as many as Dr. Andy so I know there are some good tips that others could benefit from.
As an incentive, I will pony up two of my GPUs from United to the winner. As a reminder, UA GPUs are to upgrade an international flight that is W fare or higher. Alternatively, you can use them on any domestic flight. The ones I am giving away expire 31 Jan., but that just means I need to apply them to your flight by then, not that you have to fly by then.
So let’s hear what you got!
Edit: I should have added that we’ll run this contest until Sunday and then pick the winner.
I think the best travel tip geared toward your audience, presumably active duty military, is AMEX’s willingness to waive the $450 fee for the platinum card. It opens up a lot of travel benefits and possibilities.
My best travel tip is to use your military ID and be polite when checking in at the counter. United always waives the checked bag fee (even now that I am retired).
Agree on the checked baggage fees…many airlines waive baggage fees (up to 5 bags, even) for military travelers, even when on leave in some cases. Some agents will also look the other way if your bags are slighty overweight (saving the 4 lb clothing shuffle at the check-in desk).
always take a neck pillow
The best travel tip is to earn miles/points through credit card sign up bonuses.. It is critical to know what card to use to maximize your points. Most people don’t utilize the “shopping” portals which can give you an extra 1x to 30x per dollar. For the average person, one cannot fly business/first class without the help of credit card sign up bonuses.
Keep the airlines’ military customer service desk numbers handy. They are VERY helpful even if your aren’t traveling on a military ticket. And it’s a great way to avoid long wait times on the regular or elite member lines. 🙂
I am stationed in Japan, but deployed to Afghanistan. I try to educate my Soldiers on mileage programs and government bought tickets. I knew that we would be flying United to deploy and will fly it back again when we are done. I encouraged them to sign up for a United Mileage Plus account to take advantage of all the miles they would be receiving. Once we are back they will each have almost 20,000 miles, almost enough for an Economy round trip super saver award within the US. My other travel tip is to always travel in uniform when possible. I have received many upgrades from Economy to Business or First Class just by being in uniform.
A couple of smartphone apps that I can’t live without are Tripit and Worldmate – they are free and add additional features with their paid versions.
I charge everything on my USAA MasterCard, then end up getting some really good discounts on airfare & other travel!
@Shari – We haven’t had a post on that lately, Why don’t you explain what kind of discounts USAA gives?
Sure thing! Basically, if you have the USAA Rewards MasterCard & are enrolled in USAA Rewards for that card, you earn a point per dollar. When you’re ready to trade those in, you book your flight or hotel through the site, you choose Any Hotel Reservation or Any Flight Reservation. Plug in your parameters, and you’ll then be presented with choices, either with the standard rate, or the rate that computes to how many points you have, plus any overage, if necessary. For instance, if I try to book a flight from DC to NY right now, I’ll get the option of 15,000 Points or $140.01 one-way. Make sense?