‘Airlines’ Category

Airports to Avoid: 5 of the World’s Worst Airports

March 2nd, 2012 Tushar Mathur

So it’s crunch time. You’ve worked hard for years, whether it’s in education or at work. You’ve come to a point in your life where before you take that next step forward you’re having a well earned break.

You sit down, you plan your gap year, you choose your destination and you book your flight. Your first experiences of your sabbatical can be greatly affected by the airports you choose. Fortunately, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll be travelling either in or out of one of these airports – apart from one obvious inclusion – but just in case, this your early warning.

Los Angeles, California

I flew into here many years ago and was shocked to be greeted by guards with guns glowering grimly as I contemplated the ironic ‘Welcome to Los Angeles’ sign. Welcome is one thing you’re not at this hugely confusing airport. Transport between the terminals is poor, there are no clear directions but plenty of huge queues. Restaurants are generally unhygienic, lacking quality food and overpriced to boot. And the staff – the security staff are so rude!  Didn’t Rachel Stevens, the erstwhile member of S Club 7, once sing a song about LAX? I’m sure it was some sort of romance related thing. She’d clearly never been.

Charles De Gaulle, Paris

I’m sure Charles would not be impressed that this facility parades as an airport in his name. A depressing, unclean and badly managed place which has until recently been home to dozens of homeless people. Avoid at your peril. Hygiene standards are extremely poor, food and drink – typically of Paris – is extremely overpriced. On the rare occasions the staff aren’t on strike they still won’t engage in conversation or respond to enquiries. And if they do they’ll feign ignorance. The inter-terminal bus service is next to useless and don’t even mention the queues.  Other than that, it’s OK!  If your French doesn’t stretch beyond ‘une biere s’il vous plait’ you could hit a bit of trouble at this airport too. Those aforementioned paragons of customer service on duty will pretend they can’t understand a word of English.

Kiev Borispol, Ukraine

It’s the same old, same old here with yet more stories of overcrowding, substandard facilities, ridiculously long queues and unfriendly customs staff speaking a language you have no chance of understanding. This will be one of the major airports for the forthcoming European football championships in the summer of 2012. Well, do yourself a favour, save yourself the dual heartache of seeing England’s football team wimp out in the qualifying stages and wasting your life in this airport.

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Flying first class on an economy ticket

February 16th, 2012 Tushar Mathur

We all want to travel first class but we also want to only pay for the cheapest economy ticket we can get our hands on, so how do we manage to do both? Here are a few ideas on being best placed to get the best deal and put yourself as having the best changed of getting upgraded.

Finding the best deal

To find the best deal you need to research your flights, you need to check a price comparison engine and then once you have found the best deal there then check another price comparison as these can often differ by a pound or two. Then once you are confident of getting the best deal go to the airline directly and see what they can offer you. Once you have got your best price for the flight, then use an online cashback company where you can often get  1%-2% of the booking price back through them. While you are doing that then make sure you are paying for the booking using a credit card that offers you cashback of 1% also – this is the best way of ensuring you have got the best possible deal on your flight.

Getting the best seat

So you have your booking and got it at a great price. Some people will say that you will not then be able to get upgraded but that is rubbish, you can still be upgraded if you follow these simple steps.

  • Be smartly dressed – it does help as if the airline has overbooked economy and need to upgrade they will not put someone in shorts and t-shirt into a Business or First Class cabin.
  • Your chances of being upgraded are much higher if you are travelling alone, so you may need to ditch your friend at check-in.
  • When checking in don’t be afraid to ask to be considered for an operational upgrade if needed. Do not demand it, just be polite and ask if you might be considered if the need arise.
  • You can still ask at check-in if there are any special offers for upgrading – pitch it to them that they won’t want the seat empty if they can get someone who is willing to pay something extra for it.

So you  have tried all the above and you are still at the departure gate now with your economy seat – what can you do about it? Well, you can just go up to the desk and just explain that you spoke to the check in lady and you were advised to ask at departures if there were any opportunities for an operational upgrade.

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How to Make Time Fly on Long Haul Flights

January 22nd, 2012 Tushar Mathur

Flying across continents and oceans is the fastest way to travel, but it still means that you will have to spend considerable periods cooped up inside an airplane. A couple of hours in a plane is not an issue for many people, but extend that time to 8 hours or more, and then you might face problems. It is especially difficult for people who cannot afford business class or first class – which applies to many! I have flown my share of long haul flights, and I have been lucky to have had things and activities loosely planned so as to stave off boredom. Here are some of my tried and tested ways to make time fly during long flights.

Sleep!

This is rather easy for me, as I love my sleep! Some of my closest friends have this insidery joke about me being able to sleep practically anywhere, in any position. If you are the same, then you will be able to while away many hours sleeping in the plane. If, however, you do not fall asleep easily, you can consider not getting enough sleep before the flight. This way, your body will be forced to get some rest while you are tens of thousands of miles up in the air.

Bring a book.

Whether it is a book made of real paper or an eBook, it does not matter. Long flights are perfect for catching up on your reading. Think about the book that you have been wanting to read but never had time for. Wouldn’t reading it be an excellent way to kill time?

Be sociable.

This one’s a little tricky, but if you have the right personality for it and if you are lucky enough, you just might experience the best human interaction ever. Open yourself to the idea of engaging your seatmate/s in conversation. Gauge the person/s beside you to see if they are open to conversation as well. If the elements are right, you won’t notice how long the flight is, and you might even make a friend or two!

Watch movies.

If you are not the reading type, then you always have the option of watching movies. Depending on your carrier, you might have on-board entertainment options. If you are like me, however, you will always have a gadget with you. Whether it’s a laptop or a tablet, the gadget can save your sanity. Make sure you have your device/s fully charged and loaded with media that you enjoy. Depending on the length of your flight, you can spend the entire time watching movies, playing games, and listening to music.

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10 Must Read Tips Before Trading your Plane

December 22nd, 2011 Tushar Mathur

If you are looking for resources to buy or sell an aircraft ,then advertising magazines for plane trading like aero trader or Trade a Plane are the best options. These advertising magazines can help you to trade your aircraft conveniently.

Tips for using advertising magazines:

To trade your aircraft on these advertising companies, there are some tips, which can help you:

  • The first thing you should concentrate on outlook of your aircraft. For this purpose, you should clean your airplane thoroughly, and then you need to take pictures of your airplane from every angle.
  • The second thing you need to do is you can prepare a list of specifications of your aircraft like the engine, prop, equipped avionics and any such thing, which is related to your airplane. At the end, you also have to mention your contact detail so people can do further inquiry.
  • Although you have to spend some money on advertisement, but it will certainly pay off as you will be able to make some more money by selling your aircraft at best possible price. Check out this website for advertising, Maule Aircraft For Sale.You can also choose Publisher Choice program. If you are looking for any free offers, then it is recommended to avoid such programs as they will only waste your time and delay your business.
  • You should be straight forward and honest while selling your aircraft to the buyer.
  • More pictures in your advertisement, more buyers you can attract.
  • If you want to sell your airplane easily than you should price your airplane accordingly. Right rice will get your buyer more quickly. If you do not get any response for your advertisement within a week than your price is expensive. If your price is right than your advertisement will receive a response within a week.
  • You can also add an element of urgency in your advertisement but for this purpose you should not tell any kind of lie. This is one technique for sales and marketing. However, if your airplane is in right state and price accordingly you will receive the response within some time.
  • Once you have placed an advertisement do not alter the price of aircraft. This is one thing, which can also affect the reputation of company and seller. Therefore, you should always stand for your words.
  • You should always avoid asking and giving permission for a test drive of your aircraft. For this purpose, Murphy Law applies equally. If any person is purchasing aircraft most probably he has flown this model before. Therefore, all he needs to know is about the condition of the engine in aircraft.

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Tips for flying

July 23rd, 2010 Tushar Mathur

As we, all know if one wants to travel any distance at all, flying is the fastest, safest and most convenient mode of transportation. It has these days also become the more economical way of transportation. Now days very low airfares from a wide range is available for airline ticket discounts, as more and more people are deciding to take this mode of transportation.

Lets us now look at the tips for flying for each of the most common fears:
• Turbulence may perhaps feel uncomfortable, but it is normal.
It is seen that general people often misinterpret turbulence. When they encounter turbulence, nervous passengers feel the plane is “falling”. However, this could be avoided with the simple understanding of the way the earth’s gravity works.
• The plane is strong, reliable, and well maintained.
Needless to mention each and every aircraft and their gear are built from FAA accepted designs and also manufactured under FAA approved systems. The FAA themselves tests the flights before granting the certification of approval. Therefore, that is where the simple tip for flying can be applied. Trust the FAA’s.
• Trust the trained and experienced crew.
The cabin crew is well trained and experienced to handle any uncontrollable situation as far as possible. This is help one to trust in the people who work for your safe transportation.
These are few of the technical tips for flying which one should keep in mind. Other tips for flying include more of the behavioral aspect, which are Positive Thinking, avoiding overactive imagination, dealing with nervous feelings, understanding the fact that even if you feel anxious, it cannot hurt you or cause you to lose control.
Few more tips for flying to make the flying experience more enjoyable are as stated. Avoid drinking any beverages that possibly will dehydrate your body. The list includes coffee, tea, caffeinated drinks, and alcoholic beverages. You can enjoy these drinks once when you are on ground.

For your comfort if you do not like the seat, ask to sit elsewhere. Especially if you are stuck in the middle seat of a plane. To enjoy you ask for an aisle or window seat.

The best thing in my suggestion would be to bring along a deck of cards to play solitaire.

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Fundamentals of flying

July 25th, 2009 Tushar Mathur

The fundamentals of flying by plain are a simple list of things which one needs to have a safe, most economical and pleasant flight.
As its known the ticket pricing is a very complicated and messy business. The plane is divided up into fare classes also know as the buckets, some are cheap, some expensive. The fundamentals which should be kept in mind for flying are as follows:
• Last-minute flights are really expensive. It’s better to book a flight early to avail best deals. • Quick trips are expensive comparatively.
• As also keeping in mind the case of business timing. In the Monday morning and Friday evening flights seats are hard to find. • Holiday seasons are not a good decision to fly, if not planned in advance. • Direct/non-stop flights can really drain you out hence make sure you plan well.

It is also important to know the paper and electronic ticketing in the electronic world. As from history we know most tickets have been issued on bits of paper. Even till today most of the airlines use paper ticketing.
An up-and-coming trend in air travel these days is electronic tickets (e-tickets). E-ticket is an electronic record of ones booking details. It is used to store the details in the airline’s computers database. The physical paper ticket is not received.

But still in most airlines, an itinerary receipt having the flight details is made. The e-mailed or printed of this detail is what is considered as reference ticket. The itinerary receipt may contain a unique six-character also called the Passenger Name Record (PNR).
The fundamental of the health and security concerns is also very important. It is important to check official government flight travel warnings before boarding the plane.
As the airplanes fly at high altitude, so the cabin pressure is lower than the pressure on the ground. This condition can be particularly very uncomfortable and can lead to ones nose or ears to block especially if someone is suffering from common cold. Hence it is important to note that one should avoid flying when sick. As per suggested by the doctors it’s really important to circumvent flying for fifteen days after or before surgery. Same is applicable for the broken bone condition. The reason being for that is the low air pressure can cause tremendously uncomfortable inflammation in the affected area.

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Business Travel with Your Business Travel Luggage

November 7th, 2008 Tushar Mathur

Even those working in small businesses are finding that they need to travel more frequently these; with the global popularity of the Internet, even tiny companies can compete, and have customers anywhere. Business travel can be quite stressful, especially if you are new to working on the move. Whilst the following business travel tips cannot help reduce traveling, they can help with some useful information to make these trips more bearable.

When your baggage goes missing it is irritating to say the least but for business travel luggage, it can be a whole lot more disastrous. The easiest way to ensure this situation does not affect you is by placing important business documents in your hand luggage.

Although it means taking more on the plane it does mean that whatever might happen you will be prepared for your meeting. When you do pack the main luggage, the clothes you won’t be carrying on as hand luggage, make sure to pack only what you need for this trip.

To keep this simple just work out how many days you will be at your destination and pack accordingly, remembering to pack a few items of casual wear plus just enough pieces of footwear to last; this would be one pair for work and another pair for play. The remaining items to pack will be toilet essentials and any other work related documents that aren’t important.

To make further space and allow you to pack a smaller bag, roll your clothing into tight cylinders; this allows you to pack things tightly and will help you to avoid wrinkles – try to remember this useful business travel tip. Dark clothing are very useful for traveling business people as it hides stains and dirt very well, so if you get sweaty or spill a coffee on the flight it won’t be too noticeable.

Another little trick that experienced travelers use is to carry hand and face wipes with them which can freshen your appearance in seconds without the need of a washroom. If you are only away for a couple of days make sure your cell phone and any other electronic equipment are fully charged so you can continue working at your convenience.

As it is possible to carry out work while you fly, by making the best use of this time you will be able to spend some time relaxing in the evening and perhaps a little site seeing. Simply planning ahead for these eventualities mean you will be ready for your business travel journey, no matter what.

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Do you suffer from Travel Sickness ?

August 29th, 2008 Tushar Mathur

When taking a vacation, a break away from home or just making a short journey.  Do you feel ill whilst traveling to your destination?

Travel sickness can vary from slight nervousness to the more nauseating motion sickness, jetlag and sea sickness.  If you suffer from symptoms such as loss of appetite, anxiety and stress, light headedness, an uneasy sickness in your stomach, vomiting, during a long or even a short journey you’re likely to be a sufferer.

Be prepared

If you suffer from air and motion sickness, my first top tip would be:  Be prepared.  On any journey whether traveling by car, ship, or plane is it is best if you plan for any eventuality. Keep an emergency pack of wet wipes, dry tissue and small scented plastic bags and if possible a source of water.  Eat Light.

Only eat a very small light meal before you travel, reduce salty snacks as salt is thought to be one of the contributing factors that will worsen the condition.

Stay entertained.

Bring reading materials, music players, games, puzzles, and books anything that you enjoy which occupies you.  Also hand held games can be a great distraction for children who tend to feel ill on journeys.

If you suffer from motion sickness, entertainment can sometimes help de-stress you and consequently removes any anxieties from your traveling experience. This will also enable you to remain still for periods of time as moving around can make your sickness worst.

One cause is the affect that a vehicle, such as a airplane, a ship or even a car can have on the body whilst it is in motion. The visual information received by our eyes does not correlate with the brains sensory information received by the balancing organs: our ears, and therefore we feel nausea and sickness.

Jetlag causes our body clock to become out of sync when we travel into another time zone, it confuses the body clock.  Acute jetlag often occurs in very frequent flyers.  Symptoms can range from exhaustion, confusion, low concentration, headaches and insomnia and moodiness.

Stay Awake!

Jet lag can be alleviated by taking the following steps, when arriving at your destination, stay awake during the daytime, natural light can aid you to a peaceful recovery.  Sleep during the night and stay awake in the day, this will be hard at first but eventually your body will adjust to the time zones.

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Ways To Identify Your Luggage Before the Trip

August 24th, 2008 Tushar Mathur

When planning a trip there is something many leave out; something which can save a lot of time if you are ahead of the game. If you have ways to identify your luggage quickly once you deplane, you’ll be able to get out of the airport much faster – and spend more time enjoying your vacation!

It’s not always easy to figure out which luggage is yours in the bustle of an airport baggage claim – next time you’re waiting at the baggage carousel, make a note of how many identical black canvas bags you see. I’m guessing this accounts for the bulk of the bags there in the carousel, right? This is why baggage mix-ups happen so often; a lot of people have baggage which is the same color, size and style as everyone else!

If you are in the market to purchase new luggage, consider getting something a bit offbeat. While it’s impossible to be completely unique unless you have a custom design, you can move away from the standard black or brown bags most people gravitate toward. For the more creative types perhaps bold patterns or bright colors will do the trick. Of course, this strategy isn’t for everyone.

Making A Statement And Finding Your Bags

You can make your luggage stand out from all the other bags on the carousel by tying a brightly colored ribbon or patterned scarf to them. You should go for a color or pattern which is more unusual to minimize the chance that someone else with the same idea will accidentally grab your luggage or vice versa. For this reason, you should always check your luggage tags, no matter how unique you think your ribbon or scarf to be.

Another problem with ribbons or scarves is that they could become caught on something during the handling process. Not only can this slow down or damage the handling equipment, your luggage identification may become damaged or removed completely. If you still want to use this strategy, make sure you also include an actual tag listing all of your contact information.

You should also have your contact information inside all of your bags. Why? In the event that your bag is lost or mistaken for someone else’s bag, this can help you and your luggage be reunited. It’s also useful in the event all of your tags are somehow lost during handling.

A growing number of travelers have turned to personalized luggage tags as a way to keep better track of their belongings.

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Can I afford an Airline Lounge Membership ?

May 7th, 2008 Tushar Mathur

If you’ve ever sat through a 6-hour weather delay, you know why you’d like an airline lounge membership.  Lounges shelter us from the lines, noise, and chaos of the airport.  Even the worst, most crowded lounge is usually more comfortable than the average airport waiting area.

I used to think airline lounges were only for the wealthy, or the lucky executives whose companies footed the bill.  Not so.  Here’s how the “in the know” travelers get their airline lounge memberships.

1.  Even new travelers know the first option:  buying loung membership at full price, straight from a single airline.  If you have several hundred dollars you could go this route.  I don’t personally recommend it.

2.  Instead of buying full access to an airline’s club, you can consider a day pass with that airline.  Prices run from $25 to $75 and are only good for the single day.  If you only travel a couple times a year this might be the right option.

3.  If you’re offered an American Express Platinum card take a few minutes to consider the services it brings.  The annual fee is pricy ($450 least I checked) but it does give access to many airline lounges.  I recommend this approach if you plan to make use ALL of the frequent flyer cards services.

4.  Similarly, if you have a Diners Club card you have access to their network of lounges.  This benefit isn’t particularly useful in the United States.  If you travel internationally it’s a good option with a relatively low annual fee.

5.  Frequent travelers loyal to a single airline have more options.  Those with frequent flyer status usually get a discount on the airline’s membership fee (possibly even free if your status is high enough).  You might also be able to use your mileage points to pay for the remaining cost.  This is a terrific option if you travel one airline (or airline partnership) regularly.

6.  If you’ve made it this far down the list without finding an answer, don’t despair.  You still have Priority Pass membership to look forward to, and it’s a great option.  My Priority Pass membership gives me access to over 500 lounges in more than 275 cities.  They have access in the U.S. airports I frequent, and a nice range of membership fees.  You can start as low as $99 plus $27 per visit.

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