Doesn’t Continental know you aren’t supposed to microwave frozen pizza? (This was Jacob’s favorite meal though. I should have given him my pizza as well.)
How Jacob used his windup flashlight to save the day
For unknown reasons, Continental gave away all of our assigned seating on our first flight out of Denver. The only two seats together that they could give us were in the last row of the airplane. So Jacob and I sat in the last row and played Uno and checkers. As anyone who has watched kids not sit still would understand, some how all of the (magnetic) checkers ended up spilling off the table and onto the floor. After collecting all the ones we could see, we were still missing one, so Jacob crawled behind the seats with his wind up flashlight, and found the missing checker stuck to one of the seat legs. I’m sure Jacob would tell you that his windup flashlight is an indispensible tool on any trip!
Jacob’s first travel crisis
Remember what I said about getting behind children in line
in security? Well, I was wrong. On our way to the British Virgin Islands last week our six year old, Jacob, caught the attention of the TSA security agents. In his Scooby Doo backpack he was carrying, in addition to the normal
treasures, a metal box of travel games, a metal Bob the Builder box to
collect treasures in and a wind up flashlight – oh, and a metal bell without
the clapper. When his
backpack hit the scanner’s screen the TSA agent stopped the conveyer belt, stared at the image for a while and
then waved over one of her associates. The second guy stared for a while and then pulled out his radio and
called for a third person! The third
person collected Jacob’s backpack and took it over to the explosive testing machine. By this time, Jacob was starting to look really worried. The agent took eveything out of the backpack, much to Jacob’s concern, examined it all, tested it for explosives and then took all the contents and the backpack back to the scanner. Jacob bravely fought back tears and asked why were they taking his backpack? We got it back shortly after that and the agent explained they had never seen a wind up flashlight or a metal travel games box before. Jacob is now sure he does not like security and that they take things from you!
What will you do for hotel points?
One of my coworkers stays in a different Hilton or Hilton partner hotel every night because stays – not nights – count towards status. So one night he stayed across the street from our Marriott. The next night he stayed across town. Nevermind that we had to go drop him off and pick him up.
What crazy thing have you done for points?
The Trick to Saving a Few Minutes in Airport Security
A few days ago I blogged about how to get through airport security. Earlier this week I learned another good trick: ask to go through the explosive detector lane. There’s no line there.
Monday morning I arrived at the Denver airport twenty minutes before my flight was supposed to board and discovered that the security lines were wound around all the way out of all the available space and starting to curl back towards baggage claim! (The problem was spring break …) I got in the frequent flier line and made good time and then I got the best piece of advice from the woman behind me in line. She told me to ask to go through the explosives test line. So after I got to the point where they check your ID, I asked if I could go through the explosives check line, was told “sure” and there was no wait! You go through security just the same way but you have to hold your boarding pass in your hand and you leave your shoes on until after you’ve gone through the explosive machine. You stand in this machine, it blows air all over you and then you wait about 30 seconds. When the light turns green, you step out, take your shoes off, put them through the Xray machine, step through the metal detector and show your boarding pass to the inspection agent. I got through security, including the long line, in 20 minutes!
When I got to the concourse I joined the millions of people running down the concourse. My flight was sold out and they had taken two volunteers but they had saved a seat for me!
Getting your frequent flier mile status back
The New York Times had an article yesterday about frequent fliers who lost their premier status because they had a baby or stopped traveling to care for a family member. Before you say "whatever," realize that not having frequent flier mile status can mean allocating another hour in the morning to get through security. It means not being able to work on the airplane because your laptop won’t open in the back of the airplane so when you get home, you have to spend another hour answering emails. Having frequent flier status can help the whole work/life balance when you travel a lot for work.
I had a good experience getting my status back from United. I didn’t travel for six months last year – some time before and some time after I had Caleb. In order to get my status back from United I had to be persistent and I probably talked to four or five different representatives but finally one of them asked when my baby was born, checked how much I’d flown until then, projected out what it would have looked like over the year, and decided I would have earned premier executive status if I hadn’t left on maternity leave. She gave me premier executive status for the year and warned me I’d have to earn it the hard way this time. She did ask about the flights I had taken during maternity and I explained that I had taken Caleb to see my parents. So United was pretty good about giving frequent flier mile status back.
You can buy an aisle seat
I’m on a completely booked flight and as it started boarding they announced that if you had a middle seat you could buy an aisle seat for $29. Since it’s a completely booked flight that means that they are giving away the seats of late comers. People that reserved aisle seats and who haven’t shown up 30 minutes before departure will now be sitting in a middle seat when they show up. And the airline will be $29 richer for each person that gets booted to a middle seat!
They might also be selling my seat as I got a complimentary upgrade to business.
What will they think of next?
Water is now ok
You can now carry water onto the airplane – any water you bought after you went through security that is.
Lufthansa reinforces the negative German stereotype
Lufthansa is a stickler for the rules, whether they make sense or not. Rules are to be followed and there are no exceptions. Especially not for frequent fliers or people flying in business class or people who paid more for their ticket. One traveller was recently barred from the from using the business class line even though he was entitled to use the first class line. This guy thought it was funny:
Lufthansa Senator member sees the first class checkin has a
long time, wants to use the empty business class line. They’re told ‘no
way’ — a benefit of Senator status is that they use the First Class
lines. Period. They’re not allowed to use the business class lines.
[…] Your boarding
pass displays your status, which entitles you to the lounge…. but the
rules say you must present your membership card. No card, no entry. Rules.
Personally, having been in a very similar situation with Lufthansa, just reading the story made my heart beat faster and my blood start boiling. The rules, whether they make sense or not, will be enforced by Lufthansa.
Maybe someday I’ll run across Lufthansa and their rules when I’m not in the middle of a 40 hour trip or I’m not about to miss my flight, and I’ll be able to see the humor in it, but not today.
Photo by caribb.
Can you take needles through airport security?
After I wrote How to go Through Airport Security Like a Pro a friend asked if you can take a sewing kit with needles through security. The answer is yes. You can bring:
- needles
- knitting needles
- crochet hooks
- blunt sissors
- finger nail clippers
If you are ever in doubt you can bring a self addressed envelope with postage. If they don’t let you though security with your needle or sissors, you can drop them in your envelope and mail them home from the airport.
Photo by mrjoro.