Clear is a program which issues registered-traveler cards to fliers and allows them to bypass long security lines.
The $128 is worth the benefit. After customers submit to a background check, fingerprinting and an iris scan, they are granted this magical card.
There are 20 participating U.S. airports at this time but more and more, such as [...] [...more]
Clear is a program which issues registered-traveler cards to fliers and allows them to bypass long security lines.
The $128 is worth the benefit. After customers submit to a background check, fingerprinting and an iris scan, they are granted this magical card.
There are 20 participating U.S. airports at this time but more and more, such as Atlanta Hartsfield, will open over time.
Some airports, such as New York’s JFK and LaGuardia, only accept the card at certain terminals.
When Clear card-holders are traveling, they may go through the (normally empty) Clear security lane which is separate from the others. The Clear customer shows the card and touches a screen to be identified through fingerprints.
Meanwhile, carry-ons pass through x-ray machines.
Delta was the first major carrier to support the program back in June.
Soon, Clear lanes will be added to Delta terminals at JFK, LaGuardia and Los Angeles International.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was concerned that terrorists with no previous criminal record may be granted Clear cards, however, the purpose of Clear cards is not to allow travelers to bypass security screening, just the lines.
The agency uses $28 for the Clear program from every card issued. Apparently, existing customers are happy with the purchase because the membership renewal rate averages at over 90%. Travelers can sign up at participating airports, several hotels and New York’s Grand Central Terminal.
Airports that Accept Clear:
• Albany
• Atlanta
• Cincinnati
• Denver
• Indianapolis
• Jacksonville
• Little Rock
• Los Angeles
• Newark
• JFK, NY
• LaGuardia, NY
• Westchester, NY
• Reagan, Washington DC
• Dulles, Washington DC
• Oakland
• Orlando
• Reno
• Salt Lake City
• San Francisco
• San Jose
Whatever your final destination is, Clear offers a great resource to frequent travelers.
Train trips provide some of the most romantic and scenic travel routes.
Below are the top ten as per Richard Adams of Great Rail Journeys.
Enjoy this selection of smart travel in train.
1. Golden Eagle Trans-Siberian Express
From Moscow to the shores of the Sea of Japan.
Find accommodations and vacation rentals in Russia and Japan vacation rentals.
2. The [...] [...more]
2. The Canadian
Travels across Canada on one of North America’s most popular trains.
Find accommodations and vacation rentals in Canada.
3. The Pride of Africa
Travel from Stellenbosch to Pretoria in South Africa in luxury and elegance.
Find accommodations and vacation rentals in Africa.
4. The Glacier Express
Passes through Switzerland’s beautiful vistas from Zermatt to St Moritz.
Find accommodations and vacation rentals in Switzerland.
5. India’s Palace on Wheels
A moving hotel from Delhi to Agra through Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Sawai Madhopur.
Find accommodations and vacation rentals in India.
6. The Bergen Railway
Crosses Norway from Bergen to Oslo.
Find accommodations and vacation rentals in Norway.
7. The Ghan
A 1,900 mile ride through central Australia from Darwin to Adelaide.
Find accommodations and vacation rentals in Australia.
9. Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh
One of the British Isles most beautiful routes that passes through northern Scottland.
Find accommodations and vacation rentals in Scottland.
10. Shinkansen (Japanese Bullet Train)
Introduces travelers to traditional and modern Japan from the world’s first purpose high-speed railway.
Here, we have selected a few smart travel tips that might help you when selecting your next travel destination or just save you some money.
Washington DC has a new program called that allows people to rent bikes anywhere in the town. The annual membership fee is $40. For more information, visit smartbikedc.com. This service can [...] [...more]
Here, we have selected a few smart travel tips that might help you when selecting your next travel destination or just save you some money.
Washington DC has a new program called that allows people to rent bikes anywhere in the town. The annual membership fee is $40. For more information, visit smartbikedc.com. This service can offer many advantages to regular visitors that want to tour around in a bike. Keep in mind that the subscription can take up to two weeks to be effective, so plan ahead!
If you want to use your cell phone as an alarm while you are on vacation but have no intention of actually using the phone to make calls, turn off the wireless capabilities. The phone may access the network when you use the alarm and leave you with unpleasant ROAMING CHARGES.
If you plan to have access to a vehicle while abroad, opt to purchase an affordable inverter instead of a converter for cell phone and battery chargers before you leave the United States. The inverter will the power you need to charge up!
If you have internet access, you can order in all different types of cuisine! Log onto menupages.com and browse the variety of menus of nearby restaurants. You can narrow your search results by neighborhood or restaurants that deliver.
Other smart travel tip will be to try innovative lodgings such as home exchange and vacation rentals, which usually offer full amenities for LESS.
So you reserved a flight in advance and now something has come up and you need to change your reservation. What do you do? Do you call and notify the airline in advance to change your ticket or wait till the day-of and personally stand in line to change your ticket before the airplane takes [...] [...more]
So you reserved a flight in advance and now something has come up and you need to change your reservation. What do you do? Do you call and notify the airline in advance to change your ticket or wait till the day-of and personally stand in line to change your ticket before the airplane takes off?
I thought the obvious answer was to call and make changes as soon as you find out you will need a change, but there is a significant trade-off with the peace of mind you receive from responsibly taking care of the situation in advance. Depending on the airline, a flight change may come with an exchange fee, a fee making up for the difference of price between the original ticket and the new ticket, or both.
More than likely, travelers that wait until the day of the original flight - but before the flight takes off - to change the ticket, will pay less. One way to avoid this whole situation is to get a nonrestrictive ticket, which allows you to make changes without a penalty. Only problem is, those tickets are normally available at higher prices. Following are some ticket change penalty fees of some popular airlines:
Frontier Airlines:
Travelers who call before their flight takes off will be responsible for the price difference between the original and new ticket
Southwest Airlines:
Charges the difference between the first and second ticket
JetBlue:
Travelers who notify the airline before the flight are charged a $40 fee
Travelers who arrive and make changes after the flight has taken off are charged $100 plus the price difference between the original and new ticket
Advance changes have a $100 fee plus the price difference between the original and new ticket
Alaska Airlines:
Travelers may fly standby on the day of the trip at no additional cost
Advance changes have a $100 fee as well as the price difference between the original and new ticket
AirTran:
Travelers may fly standby on the day of the flight at no additional cost
Advance changes have a $75 fee plus the price difference between the original and new ticket
Planning a vacation or business travel? Check out vacation rentals around the world. An efficient and affordable way to feel at home away from home!
This product promises no more monthly phone bills!
MagicJack may seem like a gimmick, but news coverage by respected mediums including CBS News and Marketwatch.com assure us that its not.
MagicJack looks like a USB. Connect any landline telephone to the jack in MagicJack and then plug it into your computer USB port. Use the connected landline [...] [...more]
This product promises no more monthly phone bills!
MagicJack may seem like a gimmick, but news coverage by respected mediums including CBS News and Marketwatch.com assure us that its not.
MagicJack looks like a USB. Connect any landline telephone to the jack in MagicJack and then plug it into your computer USB port. Use the connected landline telephone to make free unlimited calls to anywhere in the US or Canada.
All you need is a computer with broadband connection. The MagicJack works with Windows Vista, Windows XP and Intel Macs. Unlike other similar services, customers are not using the computer line to talk on the telephone; therefore, the sound quality is great.
MagicJack users get FREE: unlimited local and long distance calls, directory assistance, a phone number, call waiting, voicemail, and caller ID.
Take it with you while you travel and receive the same services. For instance, you can plug it to your computer at yourSouth Beach hotel or Miami vacation rental and you will be connected to your home in the U.S. and Canada. Owning a MagicJack it not only reduces your local call expenses, it also reduces your expenses when traveling. A smart travel tip, indeed!
The gadget of the week costs a preliminary fee of $40 which covers an entire year of the above services.
After that first year, there is a $20 licensing fee per year.
Enjoy this brief smart travel tip!
Yapta.com is a website known best for its airfare price change alerts. Now, the company has launched a service that alerts frequent fliers when award seats on a particular flight can be gained through frequent-flier miles. Starting off, only select airlines receive this service.
Today’s participating airlines include:
Alaska Airlines
Continental Airlines
Delta Airlines
U.S. [...] [...more]
Yapta.com is a website known best for its airfare price change alerts. Now, the company has launched a service that alerts frequent fliers when award seats on a particular flight can be gained through frequent-flier miles. Starting off, only select airlines receive this service.
When you rent a car and you opt for the insurance, frequent travelers may feel they could have saved loads of money with all the unnecessary insurance additives. However, there could come a time when you or someone else put even a small scratch on the vehicle and you will be glad you got that [...] [...more]
When you rent a car and you opt for the insurance, frequent travelers may feel they could have saved loads of money with all the unnecessary insurance additives. However, there could come a time when you or someone else put even a small scratch on the vehicle and you will be glad you got that insurance.
Many travelers are not fully aware of the coverage that they already have before they approach the car rental counter. Consumers will purchase car insurance at the rental company just to make sure they are covered. Before renting a car, check with your personal car insurance or the credit card you will use to make the rental and become familiar with the coverage you have. It is not uncommon for travelers to purchase car insurance unnecessarily when they could have saved their money.
Several credit cards have some collision and theft protection although personal car insurance or insurance from a rental company is better. When relying on the coverage provided by your credit card, make sure not to delay when filing a claim and read all small print carefully.
Personal auto insurance does come with some conditions or restrictions. For example, you may not be covered in foreign countries and coverage for long-term rentals may be.
Avis sells five kinds of coverage: a loss damage waiver, supplemental liability insurance, two types of personal accident insurance and personal effects protection. Some travelers insist that insurance coverage from a car rental company is a rip-off and way too expensive. Even some travelers who have had to cough-up a large sum of money to repair damages on a rental continue to reject the rental company’s coverage.
Other travelers swear by purchasing the insurance from car rental companies because it saves them from dealing with the rental company and the others involved in an accident. The car rental company bills the responsible parties and deals with the hassle. Aside from getting the mess taken off their hands, customers who purchase insurance on top of their full personal coverage can keep their good standing with their personal insurance company in the case of an accident.
In the nation’s current economic crisis, the once-thought to be invincible cruise industry is feeling a jolt. Cruise deals are better now than ever.
Travel agents have described the recent cruise rates as making staying at home more expensive than cruising away. Cruise experts that have been in the industry for more than 20 years have [...] [...more]
In the nation’s current economic crisis, the once-thought to be invincible cruise industry is feeling a jolt. Cruise deals are better now than ever.
Travel agents have described the recent cruise rates as making staying at home more expensive than cruising away. Cruise experts that have been in the industry for more than 20 years have never seen holiday cruise prices so low.
FALL is one of the best seasons to search for cruise discounts as bookings usually slow down. Christmas and New Year’s cruises, which are normally a popular thus expensive package, are even on sale.
Cruise lines are luring guests with sales, free upgrades and shipboard credits. NCL is offering the most extreme of all the cruise deals. Those who make cruise reservations now really don’t run any risks. They simply set their cruise date, put a small deposit down, pay the rest when the time approaches and if the cruise deal drops any lower before your last payment, most cruise lines will reimburse the difference.
These deals exist well into 2009 and some even into 2010. It is not only short, budget cruises on sale. Even long, luxury cruises and the newest ships are booked at a bargain. The prices will change as soon as the economy changes. The best deals can be attained through the help of knowledgeable cruise agents.
Florida is an ideal destination to take cruises to the Caribbean. If you are planning to visit South Florida, check with your travel agency, concierges’ agency or even your Miami vacation rentals agency, for hot cruise deals. There are many options, including one-day and weekend cruises to the Bahamas that allow you to enjoy the best of a cruise trip for LESS.
Believe it or not, US airlines’ on-time performance and baggage handling improved as recorded in September of this year. Note that, “on-time” means anywhere within 15 minutes of the scheduled time.
On the other hand, there was an increase in the number of flight cancellations as compared to September one year ago.
And the awards go to:
Comair: [...] [...more]
Believe it or not, US airlines’ on-time performance and baggage handling improved as recorded in September of this year. Note that, “on-time” means anywhere within 15 minutes of the scheduled time.
On the other hand, there was an increase in the number of flight cancellations as compared to September one year ago.
And the awards go to:
Comair: Worst on-time overall performance in September 2008 (77.4%)
Mesa Airlines: Second lowest rate for on-time arrivals in September 2008 (78.1%)
UAL’s United Airlines: Third lowest rate for on-time arrivals in September 2008 (79.8%)
Hawaiian Airlines: Best rate for on-time performance in September 2008 (95.1% on-time arrivals)
Frontier Airlines: Second best rate for on-time arrivals (91.4%)
Pinnacle Airlines: Third best rate for on-time arrivals (90.6%)
Spirit Airlines: Sixth highest number of consumer complaints in September 2008. Most complaints were related to ticketing, boarding, baggage and reservations
The DOT’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics show that the overall on-time arrivals for 19 carriers improved this year at a rate of 84.9%, where as last year, they were a reported 81.7%.
Also higher: the rate of cancelled flights (1.8%) as compared to last year (1.1%). Mishandled baggage rates have decreased to a number of 3.86 reports per 1,000 passengers in September 2008 as compared to last September’s 5.36 reports per 1,000 people.
Complaints in September 2008 have gone down 23.8 percent lower than the number of complaints in September 2007.
Hotels and museum-quality art are being combined more and more these days. The idea behind the mix is that unique, original art pieces really set one hotel apart from the others. It leaves guests with a powerful visual memory that is associated with their experience in that particular destination. The Museum hotels choose decorative artworks [...] [...more]
Hotels and museum-quality art are being combined more and more these days. The idea behind the mix is that unique, original art pieces really set one hotel apart from the others. It leaves guests with a powerful visual memory that is associated with their experience in that particular destination. The Museum hotels choose decorative artworks influenced by the destination’s local flavor. After all, tourists are visiting to see that place in particular and to experience something different than what they are used to at home. Some of the Museum hotels with unique art pieces are:
Chicago, Illinois: Blackstone Hotel
Two large plasma TVs at the entrance feature a video collage of city scenes taken from the rooftop camera.
Yapta.com
