Travel Tips Straight from a Seasoned Flight Attendant

Heather Poole, a real-life flight attendant, always has a ton of travel tips for new travelers and frequent fliers. She gives readers twenty tips for traveling, here's an example of one:

A real frequent flier knows to check the inbound flight when checking to see if their flight is delayed.

How to Keep Your Luggage Safe

Huffington Post offers a behind the scenes look at stories and tips of a baggage handler, which helps travelers identify ways to keep their luggage safe.

Some suggestions include:

• not packing red wine or alcohol in a suitcase
• making sure to have the correct destination on your bag tag and removing any old tags
  
• avoiding buying luggage with handles that are sewn on or very flimsy 

The article offers more involved stories and tips so take a look at their suggestions for how to keep your luggage safe.

Choosing the Right Luggage Bag for Traveling

Choosing the right luggage bag is easy and affects your traveling ability and attitude tremendously.

One of the first things travelers should do when looking over different luggage options is to see if the wheels have swivel 360 degrees. AARP notes that the best wheeled luggage should have wheels that are, "widely spaced and encased, with sealed bearings...Swivels make a bag easier to maneuver, and seals keep the wheels from sticking. The collapsing handle should also be encased, and preferably placed on the exterior of the bag for maximum packing space."

The Top 5 Best Low-Cost Airline Carriers

FareCompare lists and rates the best low-cost airlines based on awards and reviews:

• AirAsia 
• JetStar Airways 
• Virgin America 
• JetBlue 
• easyJet

Business Travelers, Spiffy Up Your Laptop Bag

Gone are the days where your laptop bag color had to be black or similar drab colors. Timbuk2 has a laptop sleeve with 57 colors and styles that's available in four different sizes. With these choices, there's something for every business traveler.

The bags are made with high-density foam and a scratch-resistant liner that will protect your items. And more importantly, the "TSA-friendly sleeve is a smart travel accessory because you can get through security checkpoints without needing to remove your laptop from the case."

Photo credit: Timbuk2

Travel Wallet for Business Travel

When taking off for business travel, it's easy to lose a document by having it tucked away in the corner of your carry-on. A good travel wallet can solve these travel issues, here are some sample features of a great travel wallet:

• Removable ID wallet
• Dedicated internal organizers for your passport, boarding pass, currency and credit cards
• Internal coin pocket

Photo credit: Timbuk2

American Airlines Launches Premium Services for Elite Travelers

Business Travel News - This week, American Airlines launched a premium check-in and expedited security line for elite travelers passing through Los Angeles International Airport. These services will expand to other airports during 2012.

The new Flagship Check-in offering is available only members of AA's invite-only ConciergeKey program, purchasers of American's Five Star Service travel assistance offering and first-class passengers. Such customers will be "greeted by customer service representatives" who "personally assist with individual travel requirements, including check-in and baggage check, seat or itinerary changes and connecting flight information," according to AA. Customers then would have "immediate access to a designated separate security line, offering easy access through security checkpoints."

SeatGuru Unveils Seatmap for New Dreamliner 787

Seatguru is a site that has guidance on what are each aircraft's best and worst seats, amenities, key features, and seat pitch and seat width details. The newly flown Dreamliner 787 already has a seatmap on the site.

Picture credit: SeatGuru

Passport Travel Tip

A helpful passport travel tip for one of those "in case of emergency" situations is to leave your travel itinerary and passport information with a friend or relative in case you lose the originals. Another helpful tip is to make a copy of your travel documents and carry them in a separate location from the originals.

Opportunity for Business Travelers in the US - Southwest Airline Sales

From Mommy Points, a blogger who pays close attention to any extra points she can get, is a tip to check out Southwest for sales that your business traveler self may be able to take advantage of.

Southwest flies to the US locations in the map below. The airline carrier also partners with Volaris for flights to Mexico.

Photo credit: Southwest Airlines

Avis Awarded Supplier Excellence Title from Canadian Association

The international car rental agency Avis has received an award from the Canadian Bar Association. The association noted the company’s dedication and commitment to providing consistent outstanding rental experience to the members of CBA’s members for almost 15 years. It can be hard to find a good rental car agency, so it's great that the CBA found a company that continues to deliver on expectations when so many other agencies fall flat.

Hotel Travel Tip: Leaving Belongings Behind in a Hotel

If it wasn't for this article by Frommers, I wouldn't have known that as a traveler - sometimes it's only up to me to check if I've left something valuable at a hotel.

"While some guests leave with hotel bedding, plenty of others forget to pack up valuable belongings. Hotel housekeepers find everything from bags of cash to electronics and jewelry left behind in hotel rooms and the hotel safes. These items are tagged, logged, and kept locked up for between 30 and 90 days, depending on the hotel and the item's value.

At a Westin property near Chicago, more valuable items are released to the staff member who reported them (typically housekeepers) if the items remain unclaimed for 90 days, according to Ed Bell, the Westin's director of housekeeping. Otherwise, those items are donated to charity.

Why can't the front desk easily reunite lost items with a guest? The Westin property has a strict privacy policy, which means employees cannot call guests who leave items behind, Bell says. Even if a frequent guest forgets something in the room, employees are restricted from contacting that guest, though items are returned upon check-in during the next stay.

"If it's not in the garbage can, it's not garbage," Bell says. "We even save socks and underwear; we don't take any chances."

Photo credit: tourism.vic.gov.au

"Matching Hotel Promotions to Your Travel Style" via Boarding Area

With traveling promotions changing constantly - this updated guide will help business travelers match hotel promotions to their travel style until the end of this year at least.

Boarding Area lists which hotels are on target for: Best Low Spend Bonus, Best Luxury or Hotel Suite Bargain, Best Long Weekend Getaway, Best Upscale Hotel Extended Stay Bonus, Best Midscale Hotel Extended Stay Bonus, Best Miles Bonuses, Best Road Warrior Bonus.

Time to start re-thinking your bookings!

Photo credit: E-Wisdom

Tip for Women Business Travelers

From the American Society of Travel Agents is a tip for business travelers in packing smart for a business meeting:

• Pack light so you won't be weighed down and look weighed down, both of which could make you an ideal target for pickpockets.
• Avoid expensive looking baggage and clothing, lock all suitcases and only use covered luggage tags with your office address written on it rather than your home.
• Carry only one credit card, and don't keep all your money in one place.

Picture credit: TrendyTravelista

Tip to Make Your Laptop Last Longer

Via the Huffington Post is a tip to help you extend the life of your laptop:

"Avoid overheating at all times. The lower the temperature of your laptop, the longer it will live. All of the repair shops we spoke with reiterated the importance of keeping the laptop's temperature low and agreed that overheating was a huge cause of laptop failure. Even a cheap $20 laptop cooling pad can help extend the life of your device. " 

Photo credit: Huffington Post

Google Wallet Revolutionizing Mobile Commerce and the Future of Traveling

What's been happening in Japan for years - is now coming to America via Google Wallet. With the addition of Near Field Communication” (NFC) chips, phones can redefine the way we engage in mobile commerce.

Google Wallet is "an Android app that stores virtual versions of your existing plastic cards on your phone. It has been designed for an open commerce ecosystem and released on Nexus S 4G by Google, available on Sprint, with the plan on expanding to more phones. It will eventually hold all your credit cards and Google offers. At the moment you can pay with Citi® MasterCard® cards and the Google Prepaid Card."

The tentative launch date for the Google Wallet is in summer 2012.

This development will revolutionize the way we travel - what do business travelers think of this? Do you trust the security? Excited for this new technology?

Photo credit: DigitalQatar

Business Travel Tip for Travelers with Car Rentals

A tip for business travelers planning on renting a car at their destination - it's important to find out about the parking situation at your accommodations when you make a reservation. "Some hotels do not have parking on-site, while others may charge a fee for parking." If your company has a travel agent, check in with them to make arrangements on your behalf or advise you on how to make the best of your situation. The last concern you want to add to your workload is fighting for an open parking spot near your accommodations.

How to Get Some Shuteye While Flying

When traveling from time to time, it's a necessity to be able to get some shut eye in the plane, bus, etc.

MSNBC offers helpful flying tips to make you feel as though your coach seat is first-class:

• Choose your seat wisely

• Cut down on your carry-ons

• Forget the caffeine

• Blankets and pillows — stake your claim

• Bring a neck pillow

• Free your feet

• Try a sleep aid

• Use headphones with discretion

• Recline your seat — but be courteous

• Make sure you won't be disturbed

• Stay away from the light

Break Five Bad Travel Habits with This Advice

From the traveldudes website are 5 tips to help you correct your bad travel habits when flying for a business trip: on sleep, water intake, your health, losing your passport, and luggage.

Tip for Traveling with Family on a Business Trip

From Gadling is a tip to help alleviate your stress when bringing along your family for business travel or meeting up with them shortly after:

Know your audience: you may want to change hotels when your family arrives. Even if the cost isn't an issue for you, simply changing spaces will help you with your mindset as you transition from work to play. In fact, it's better if you can even change neighborhoods, for example, if you're staying in a city. Make sure it's as different as possible. You'll sacrifice any special treatment that the hotel would offer you because of your relatively long stay, but it's probably worth it to shell out the extra cash to make sure your family vacation isn't tainted by remnants of your business trip.

Photo credit: WebMD