Check your carry-on at the gate – Airplane tip

by Gadling Staff on

Baggage fees can be pretty steep, and most people try to avoid them by packing everything in a carry-on. The result, of course, is a heavy carry-on bag for them — and a shortage of overhead bin space for the rest of us.

Avoid the misery of fighting for overhead bin space by asking the gate attendant to check your bag from the gate. This allows you to get on the plane without having to fight for the limited overhead space. It also saves your arms and shoulders the heavy lifting and possible injury. Final bonus: there is no checked bag fee from the gate!

When the plane lands, your bag will be waiting for you when you get off the plane, right there at your gate.

Valentine’s day baby born on plane gets free air travel and an airline name

by Scott Carmichael on

Really good airline news is pretty rare, so when I read about a baby being born on a plane, and being named after the airline that carried her, I just had to share it.

During the final moments of her Valentine’s day flight, Lourdes Mamani cried out in pain. Even though she was not due for another two weeks, it was obvious that she was in labor. The flight crew were able to track down a doctor and nurse on her flight and her baby was delivered before the plane touched down.

The girl has been named Tami Fabiola, named after TAM, the Bolivian airline she was born on, and FAB, the Bolivian air force (the owners of TAM).

Tami will receive free air travel anywhere in the country till her 21st birthday, and a scholarship at the educational unit of the FAB. To make a good story even better, she’ll be baptized on the plane where she was born, and the chief of the air force will be her godfather.

Customs dog attacks child at airport

by Grant Martin on

Today’s daily dose of airline industry fear mongering comes from the arrivals hall of Washington DC’s Dulles (IAD) airport.

Late this past week, a mother and daughter arriving at the airport to pick up an arriving passenger had an unfortunate run in with one of the training K-9 customs dogs. The Belgian Malinois, a normally friendly dog, apparently advanced on the scared child and bit her in the midsection, requiring a trip to the emergency room and 20 stitches.

More details in this WUSA 9 report below.

German Lufthansa pilots vote to strike this week

by Scott Carmichael on

If you have flights scheduled on Lufthansa this week, you may be in for a nasty surprise.

The Lufthansa pilots affiliated with the German pilots union “VC” have voted to strike from February 22nd till February 25th. As usual, the dispute revolves around pay, working conditions and job security.

As can be expected, a decent number of flights will be impacted, and the airline is warning passengers about possible lengthy delays.

When possible, passengers have already been rebooked on flights that are not impacted. To check the status of your current Lufthansa reservation, you can check “my booking” within the Lufthansa web site.

An alternative timetable is available on their site for the 22nd, 23rd, 24th and 25th.

Airline strikes are no fun – I’ve been caught in several of them, and the best thing you can do is be prepared for the worst. Make sure you add all the local phone numbers of the airline in your phone, bring chargers and be prepared to spend the night at an airport or airport hotel (if you are lucky).

The Lufthansa information page with the latest flight status can be found here.

UPDATE: As of midnight (German time), the pilots have agreed to suspend their strike. Lufhansa posted the following statement:

Irregularities of the flight operation will continue, however, on Tuesday. We will inform you of any updates to the flight operation as soon as possible on this page.

(Image: Getty Images)

Sometimes, collecting frequent flyer miles with a credit card pays off

by George Hobica on

Are frequent flyer miles worth collecting anymore? I’ve asked that question elsewhere, and have been advocating the use of credit cards paying up to 5% cash back as a better alternative for many travelers who rack up most of their miles using airline-affiliated credit cards. For many people, now that there are new fees associated with cashing in miles, the answer is no.

Most of us travel domestic economy, and $25,000 spent on a frequent flyer credit card only gets you a domestic coach ticket, assuming you can even find available seats and aren’t paying a fee to cash in the miles at short notice or to redeposit them if you change your mind. That same $25,000 spent on a 5% cash back card gets you $750 which you can spend anyway you wish. You might even be able to find a seat to Hawaii. Try that with your frequent flyer miles.

So do I personally collect miles with a frequent flyer credit card? You bet I do. Recently, I applied for a British Airways Chase Visa card ($75 annual fee), but only because they were awarding 100,000 miles after you charged a paltry $2000 to the card (caveat: sadly, this offer is no longer available). My BA Executive Club account had something like 300 miles in it, so it was time to top it up. I wasn’t planning on going anywhere in particular, but just a few days ago I learned that my Oxford college was having a reunion, and I thought, fun, might as well go.

So I went to spend some miles. What I found at ba.com was pretty shocking. On the day in April that I wanted to fly from New York to London, I had exactly one option: a first class seat for 75,000 miles. And the return didn’t look much better, although there were several business class seats on BA’s new London City Airport to JFK all-business-class flight for 50,000 points. Award seats in economy (not that I was devastated) were sold out in both directions.

Needless to say, I didn’t have enough points, but BA kindly suggested that I buy the outward-bound first class flight with miles plus $285 in cash and $163 in fees and surcharges. Not that my return flight was free either. I got hit with a fuel surcharge plus taxes and fees of $358.

So my “free” flight, including the BA Chase card’s $75 fee, ended up costing me $881. Still, not bad considering that when I checked on Expedia.com, these same flights would have cost over $14,000 had I bought them with cash. Lesson learned: if you play your credit cards right, collecting frequent flyer miles with them can indeed pay off. Just don’t expect to have a lot of seat choice or to get something for nothing.

George Hobica is the founder of Airfarewatchdog™, the most inclusive source of airfare deals that have been researched and verified by experts. Airfarewatchdog compares fares from all airlines and includes the increasing number of airline-site-only and promo code fares.