Talking travel with frequent mileage expert John Lopinto

by Jerry Guo on

John Lopinto is one of those savvy frequent fliers who always manages to yoink that last upgrade from you (he racks over 100,000+ miles each year). But he also happens to be a top flier guru who helps travelers make the airlines work for them through his award-winning site, ExpertFlyer.com, the #1 destination for frequent fliers. He’s here to give some exclusive tips and insider info on getting the best deals on your next flight.

What Are the Most Effective Ways to Work the Upgrades Game?

The Holy Grail of air travel is flying in business or first class for the price of a cheap coach ticket. Short of “squatting” in a first class seat and hoping you won’t get caught (you will, so don’t try it), there are ways to use your frequent flier miles to score that seat in the front. If you are an “elite” status member in your favorite frequent flier program, you have a better chance than the average member, but if you are at the program’s very highest elite level, you have more options and better odds at getting that upgrade that sometimes can be free.

For the rest of us, however, using miles to upgrade is usually the easiest and can be booked at the time of ticket purchase. They also offer a better value for the miles used compared to using miles to “purchase” a coach award ticket. But upgrade inventory is always limited so it is best to book as far in advance as possible and for mid-week travel if possible. But if you can’t upgrade when purchasing your ticket, go on the wait-list. Most upgrades don’t clear until days or hours before departure.

What are Fare Buckets and How Can Flyers Take Advantage of them to Save Money?

Airlines don’t sell all their seats at the same price. In fact, on some flights there may be over a dozen different fares just for coach. In general, the further in advance you buy a ticket the more fare options there are. These are called fare buckets and the cheaper the fare the more restrictions and conditions there are attached to that bucket. If you are willing to agree to them the airline is willing to sell you a cheaper ticket. But there are only so many tickets in a given bucket that the airline is willing to sell at that price for a particular flight. That’s why just changing the time of departure, say from 7:00 am to 9:00am may find that a lower cost bucket still has seats for sale than the earlier flight. Sometimes just leaving a day earlier or later will help you find a cheaper fare bucket with seats.

What’s Your Stance on Fast-Track Security Programs Like Clear?

If you have elite frequent flyer status with the airline you are flying on, or traveling in business or first class, almost all airports have a special security line that has almost no wait to get to the TSA screening point. If this is the case for you, then programs such as Clear offer little or no advantage. However, if this is not the case and you are typically one who shows up at the airport at the last minute or have repeated security issues, then this may offer some value for you.

How Do You Find the Cheapest Flights

I actually use the airlines’ own website. I find their fares to be the lowest available and they may show many fare options, not just the lowest. Airline-independent sites like Kayak, Orbitz and others are good for surveying all the airline offerings at once, but one of the advantages of booking directly on the airlines’ site is that you have established the sale directly with the airline.

Although the fare may be the same, when flights are canceled or you need to be re-routed at the last minute it will be easier to negotiate an alternative with the airline agent if you had purchased your ticket directly with them. Also, some airlines now charge a fee if you want to simply change your seat assignment and didn’t purchase your ticket directly from the airline. You may also want to use an airline-independent web site that does not sell tickets that just lists all the fares and rules for all flights such as ExpertFlyer.com.

Is It Ever a Good Idea to Use a Travel Agent To Book Flights?

Yes, of course. Travel agents are professionals who have experience with the nuances of air travel. Unfortunately, today their commissions from the airlines are either very small or non-existent. So, they must extract a fee over and above the airline ticket price from the passenger in many cases. But if the itinerary is complex, especially for foreign travel, then a good travel agent may well be worth it. Also, they sometimes have access to special consolidator fares that are not offered directly by the airlines.

What About Consolidators?

First, make sure you book them through a reputable agent who normally deals in consolidator fares. Next, make sure you know all the conditions and restrictions associated with the ticket. What happens if you need to change the date of the flight? What are the cancellation penalties? What airline is being used? Is the fare eligible for frequent flyer miles or can it be upgraded? In short, they can offer a good value, but buyer beware.

Are There Any Secrets for Getting First or Business Class Tickets for Cheap?

If you fly Business class to Asia look into the CX Leverage program at cxleverage.com. This program offers up to a 20% discount on full-fare unrestricted business class tickets, and 5% off first class, between the US and Asia on Cathay Pacific, arguably one of the better airlines in the world. You only have to be a small business in the US and register your business on their site.

The airlines also offer discounted first and business class tickets with limited inventory on certain routes. The so-called I-fares are restricted business class tickets on certain routes that offer excellent value on some competitive routes. There are also consolidators that specialize in discounted business class fares. Also, consider using your miles to upgrade from a less expensive coach fare into business or first class.

Is There a Free Resource to Find the Perfect Seat on Any Plane?

There are two web sites to visit: seatguru.com and seatexpert.com. Both offer seat maps of most airlines and their individual aircrafts showing graphical layouts of the cabins and pros and cons for various seats on the plane as reported by passengers. For seat maps on specific flights that show which seats are occupied or not, try ExpertFlyer.com.

Talking travel with jetlag guru Ted Ray (plus anti-jetlag formula giveaway)

by Jerry Guo on

For anyone traveling this Fourth of July weekend, Ted Ray is the guy you’ll need when you touch down at that beach resort–with the worst headache in the world. He’s a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist who’s a travel consultant to high-powered Silicon Valley execs, especially on how to get over jet lag. (He’s designed an all-natural concoction to help do the same, which has been featured in the Chicago Tribune, Time Out, and Business 2.0).

Giveaway: Ted’s been nice enough to offer five free bottles of FlyRight to Gadling readers (including shipping). Each bottle is enough for a one-way international flight or roundtrip domestic flight, and valued at $24.95. Go to the bottom of the Q&A for contest details.

What’s the longest flight you’ve been on? How bad was the jetlag? Do you ever get it these days?

I flew to Adelaide, Australia which took around 18 hrs. I may still be jetlagged from that trip. Not sure as it was many years ago. Now, I don’t get jet lag because I actually take the advice I give my patients: I stock up on sleep in the days preceding, drink plenty of water, avoid alcohol, and religiously take my Jet Lag Formula. There is no “magic bullet”, but if you do enough things right, you can arrive feeling pretty good.
What are the top 3 steps people should do to help prevent jetlag?

  • I like to plan international trips to arrive sometime before noon in my destination. I will do everything humanly possible to check into my hotel early or find a location where I can take a short nap (20-30 minutes) so I can function better and stay up until the local bedtime.
  • Drink plenty of water and avoid dehydrating substances like alcohol, soda, and coffee. For those lucky enough to fly in the front of plane, avoid big meals- they’re hard on your digestive system.
  • Take creature comforts- warm comfortable clothing, iPod, DVDs, an eye mask, ear plugs and a comfortable neck pillow (I use mine backwards to keep my head propped up. If you can afford it, get some noise-cancelling headphones. Then you might actually get some sleep on the plane.

Besides your FlyRight concoction, are there other herbal remedies out there that you would recommend, and why?

Umm, no. I’ve searched high and low for a jet lag remedy and have asked my patients who travel frequently what they use. I finally decided to make my own. Of course, there are many single herbs that work well to address various aspects of travel, like rhodiola to support the immune system and calm the mind¸ but jet lag really requires a comprehensive approach.

Explain how FlyRight works? Is this really just the placebo effect at work? What’s the science behind it?

It’s actually pretty straightforward. Look at the various aspects of airline travel and create an herbal formula that addresses each of them. As an example, we include ganoderma (Reishi mushroom) because it supports the immune system of improves energy. Avena (Wild Oats) offsets dehydration and promotes tranquility- ideal for the airplane environment. Ginkgo (Ginkgo leaf) has many well-documented effects including improving mental clarity and offsetting free radical damage to brain cells. Scientific evidence does not exist for all 12 herbs in the formula, but their use is well supported by the tradition of Chinese herbal medicine that I use in my practice

What are some myths about jetlag?

  • Pilots and flight attendants don’t get jet lag–Not true. Sleep researchers have found that constant travelers, including flight crew members, are more accustomed to jet lag’s weariness, but that doesn’t make them immune to it. According to a 1994 survey, more than 90% of New Zealand-based flight attendants suffered from jet lag, saying they felt some combination of fatigue, energy/motivation loss, and sleep problems.
  • Sleeping pills prevent jet lag–While sleeping pills may help you get some shut-eye during the flight they don’t prevent jet lag. And if you want to go the all natural route, check these off your list. Avoiding jet lag requires more than sleep; jet lag symptoms (fatigue, headaches, nausea, anxiety, etc.) have many different contributors-and it takes a multi-faceted approach to deal with them.
  • Jet lag is only caused by time zone travel–While your “body clock” can be disrupted from multi-time zone travel, many factors cause jet lag. From the pressurized, dry-air nature of airplane cabins the cabin environment to the amount of much coffee you drink, jet lag can occur regardless of how many time zones are crossed. Another major factor affecting jet lag is exposure to gamma radiation (from the sun) and electromagnetic radiation (from the plane itself). This radiation damage leads to mental fogginess, headaches, and general fatigue.

How about massages as a jetlag remedy?

Well, I think massages are always a good thing as they help calm the mind, improve circulation, and ease the stiffness caused by airplane travel. If you add acupressure to a massage, you can even help restore the digestive and immune systems more quickly.

I recently came across a study about jetlag, Viagra, and hamsters . What do you make of that?

Kudos to Pfizer. They’re employing a basic tenet of company growth: Sell more products to existing customers or find new markets for existing products. They seem to be doing the latter. But seriously, I think it would be reckless to start prescribing a medication guaranteed to have side effects for the mass traveling public.

Suppose if I’m flying from New York to Beijing. It’s a 12-hr time difference. Am I absolutely screwed?

Yes. I recommend you send me your ticket immediately! Actually, you should be fine. Take my advice above and allow for some unscheduled time to rest (if you need to) on the day you arrive.

For long flights, I usually book myself to get there in the morning, stay awake on the flight, continue staying up through the day once I land, and then I’m usually good. Do you have any advice on scheduling flights and sleep patterns for combating jetlag?

It’s hard to say as everybody is different. Your plan is a good one, but it won’t work for everyone. Some people can sleep on the flight as well and should. I would do my best not to arrive at night, as it’s important to get some light exposure to reset your body clock. Also, do your best to stay awake until the normal bedtime at your destination.

Contest details

  • To enter, simply leave a comment below telling us what you do to fight jetlag.
  • The comment must be left before Friday, July 11 at 5:00 PM Eastern Time.
  • You may enter only once.
  • Five winners will be selected in a random drawing.
  • Five winners will receive a single bottle each of FlyRight, valued at $24.95.
  • Click Here for complete Official Rules.
  • Open to legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.

New website: Delaycast

by Abha Malpani on

A new website called Delaycast has just gone into beta. As the name suggests, it’s a website that forecasts flight delays so that you can optimize your travel time.

Run by analytical professionals with a strong base in statistics, they run historical flight performance details into advance predictive mathematical models to understand flight delay patterns. Like this they predict future flight patterns basis the airport you are flying from and the time of your flight.

So (as I understand) Delaycast will give you the odds of your flight being on time or getting delayed, calculated from historical data. These odds are useful when booking because you can keep in mind the chances of you being delayed, missing connections, and the possibility of unintended stay-overs. Sounds like they use some math version of Probability(?)

The estimates are based on historical data and you can only search delays basis airports (not flights). They project 4-5 months in the future, and of course, since they are estimates, there are chances that their predictions don’t hold through. To add to that, understandably, they do not take into account “in the moment” delays that could happen while you are flying: weather delays, or technical difficulties that might occur on the day.

In my mind, the main causes of flight delays are: 1) weather 2) technical difficulties in air 3) late take-off due to technical difficulties 4) not being able to land because of issues at destination airport 5) reputation of airline. Other than the reputation of the airline, none of these factors are taken into consideration at Delaycast.

So, all in all, it’s surely a novel concept that provides a service if you take it into account when booking flights. However, everything can change on the actual day of the flight, so how useful is it really?

How to never get screwed by a cancelled flight again

by Jerry Guo on

This works for all canceled flights except in cases where it’s due to “weather.” And even in those cases, make sure it’s really canceled because of weather, as I’ve written about before. (One easy way to do this is to check if flights to your destination on other airlines are also canceled.)

Anyways, once you’ve told the ticket agent that no, in fact, the weather at your destination is a sunny 85 degrees, here’s how to avoid sleeping over at the airport or standing in a line for the next six hours.

It’s known as Rule 240. Just mentioning this little-known clause to the ticket agent may open doors. But here’s how it really works: Rule 240, a remnant of the days before deregulation, stipulates that your airline must book you on another airline’s flight if that is available and will get you to your destination quicker.

The great news is that most airlines, at least the ones that have been around before deregulation, still honor Rule 240, though it’s not officially valid anymore. Only the new airlines like JetBlue, Southwest, and Air Tran refuse to honor most of these requests. Just remember, make sure to actually say the words “Rule 240” the next time you’re at the counter.

New guide identifies land objects seen from your airplane window

by Neil Woodburn on

Here’s another one to file under, “It’s about frickin’ time.”

America from the Air is a 352-page book loaded with aerial photographs of the United States. What’s the big deal about that, you ask? Well, this particular book is designed to be used as a flying resource companion for those who like to stare out the window when they fly but have no idea what they’re staring at.

America from the Air is organized by flight so that a person flying from New York to Seattle, for example, can consult the book and identify the strange objects and geological formations along the route, 30,000 feet below. And, not only that, but authors Daniel Mathews and James Jackson provide detailed explanations for some of the more fascinating landmarks.

I simply love this idea. I usually keep my nose pressed to the Plexiglas the rare times I get a window seat and spend most of my flight wondering what the Hell I’m looking at. Now I’ll finally know–although I’d opt for the accompanying CD-ROM version to plug into my laptop instead of lugging the book around (as suggested by the fine folks at Wired Magazine).

For an example of what to expect, click here.