Win a Seat with Randy Petersen – Share Your Words of Wisdom
Would you like to win an airline seat next to Randy Petersen? You can join him on the upcoming Star MegaDO4, flying on November 14/15, 2012 from San Francisco to Houston and on to Chicago.
Entering the contest is easy. All you have to do is post words of wisdom you would give a new business traveler. Post your entry in the comments below, and make sure to use your valid email address. You can also enter once on each of the participating Boarding Area blogs. The contest ends October 7th at 11:59, so make sure to post your words of wisdom on time!
Good luck!
For more information, visit the official contest page and the official rules page.
Always bring ear plugs, a door stop and a spare plug adapter
If your have a tight connection, look up some alternate routes before you fly so you have a list of options just in case you miss it.
Carry a charger and converter
Always bring a spare charged phone battery on a trip.
Make sure you know what credit cards will get you the most miles on your travels and those that have no foreign transaction fee. Make sure you are signed up for rmileage programs on the airlines and hotels you use and always enter your number when you reserve.
Pack less than you think and find the pack-able rain/windbreaker and keep it in your carry-on when not on you.
sign up for all the mileage accounts. never leave those points on the table.
Read travel blogs to learn how to maximize miles/points you earn while traveling.
Rather than staying in the same hotel for long business trips, consider switching hotels at times to see what offers are out there to maximize points and bonus offers.
Join as many airline/hotel programs as you can, regardless of whether you think you’ll be an ongoing user.
Join FT and MP and learn all you can! Also, when you see the right fare, jump on it because if you take time to think about it, it’ll be gone.
It’s not doing the things we like to do but liking the things we have to do that makes life blessed-Goethe
Always try to minimize how much you pack and control ‘baggage stowaways’, as they will help make transporting yourself and your stuff much easier!
You gotta have a plan to gain status and don’t be afraid to jump hotels every night
Become ruthlessly efficient with what you pack – everything you travel with should serve more than one purpose!
make sure to join hotel loyalty programs and then stay at those brands’ hotels. this is a great way to leverage work into play!
Follow blogs and FT and Milepoint to maximize points earned.
You should consider whether there’s a good opportunity to sightsee as well as do your business, but don’t feel guilty if you feel like saving up your energy.
Make sure to tell your travel department your hotel chain of choice. It took me a year of no status staying in multiple brands to figure that out!
Always be polite!
When traveling on Business keep in mind that every minute of traveling is unbillable and usually not paid. This means from the time you leave your house to the time you arrive at your client site is not billable and not paid. So you are traveling on your own time. This means, make the most out of your time. When flying: Choose an airline with the most direct route from the airports closest to your home and closest to your client’s work place. Try to never check a bag, that’s an addition 30-45 minutes of waiting at the airport (time wasted), and if you’re getting a rental car choose an onsite airport car rental company. Off site ones take longer to get to! Next choose a hotel closer to your client site. Hilton vs marriot. They are both comfortable. Do yourself a favor and save time and travel less between the client and the hotel, this maximizing time to yourself and increasing the amount of time you can relax and unwind!
Time is valuable and it’s something you can never get back. Traveling for work can be stressful. Therefore do everything you can to maximize your personal time!
Relax, not everything goes to plan all the time when traveling. Give yourself extra time and breath.
Never check luggage. Always carry-on.
Stick to one airline if possible or one alliance, follow up with a good credit card so that you can start piling up the miles in one account.
Smile when you speak to an airline/hotel employee. It goes a long way to get what you want + make you feel good even when things don’t go your way.
If you get the miles/points disease, it may affect your r love life and work performance:-)
Take a photo of your passport photo and info page with your smartphone and send it to your email! If passport lost or stolen… will be easier to replace! Also photograph your luggage with smartphone in case it is lost. Easier for airlines to find when you can produce photo and brand name of luggage and size and shape!
Always carry some cash on you. You never know when you might need it.
Focus on one airline and one hotel chain
Attend as many frequent flyer gatherings as possible. One-on-one discussion with like-minded folks can open the doors to many possibilities and make your time in the sky and on the road much more pleasurable.
Get your passport and keep it up to date!
Get status as quickly as possible – potentially instantly through a challenge, it makes a world of difference even when traveling in Y
Gentlemen: Buy a tie keeper/case. Ladies: (from my spouse) get the travel jewelry kit with snaps/velcro not just pockets. You’ll inevitably open it upside down at some point.
If you don’t live in a hub city, a combination of Alaska and United or US Airways will give you somewhere to collect miles on all the mainline carriers and earn status without having to focus travel on a single airline.
Get some credit cards with good flexibility, like sapphire from chase, join the top frequent mile/hotel programs, get a citi Hilton card for go,d status and use this as a match for other programs, coordinate your travels to take advantage of the current hotel/flight promotional opportunities and be organized.
Join as many programs as you can, but focus your effects on one alliance/hotel chain. Elite status makes a big difference and there’s no need spreading your hard earned points and miles over a bunch of programs, but it is good to be a member of a bunch of programs in case your company puts you on an airline/hotel you don’t normally use.
Avoid checking bags if/when possible.
-David
Keep your credit score up. If you can’t get the best credit cards, you’re shooting yourself in the foot because they are the best way to earn miles. Get your score up, monitor it, and keep it up. You’ll have miles coming out of your ears in no time!
Always have a form of ID (passport if travelling internationally), a credit card, and about $20 worth of local currency. Given those things, if you’re missing anything, you can acquire it.
Work towards elite status.
Read Milepoint every day 🙂
always take an extra phone battery!
Lounge access can be worth it’s weight in gold if you’re on the road a lot.
Sign up for all loyalty programs
Keep an extra bag just for business traveling. Don’t waste time packing up your personal items. Have an extra toothbrush, deodorant, phone charger, computer mouse, etc. in the bag. Get a bag that you can carry on — avoid checking baggage as much as possible.
I am an x B727 pilot , and would love to fly the B787 and take a look at the cockpit to see how much things changed.
Sign up for any loyalty program with which you come into contact.
Make sure you get as many points as you can through
the loyalty programs. Then, take some time for
yourself and time with loved ones with those points
and make some non-business memories. Work is important,
but it’s not everything!