Share your business travel secrets

I just read in Dealmaker about a website – inflightpower.com – that sells USB devices that you can plug into headset jacks on the plane to charge your electronics. Other things I’ve learned in my travels: -Take the Amtrak from NYC to Boston or Washington DC instead of flying. It’s almost the same amount of time when you compare boarding a train at Penn Station 10 minutes before it leaves and ending up directly downtown at your destination versus going all the way out to LaGuardia, going through check-in, boarding, taxiing, flying, landing and taxiing, getting off the plane, waiting for ground transportation, and commuting from the airport to downtown at your destination. Meanwhile on the train you can work or sleep uninterrupted for 3-4 hours instead of being constantly on the move. For an even better trip, upgrade to business class for a nominal fee ($25-35) and get huge seats in a private car. -Take the commuter train from Heathrow Airport in London to Paddington Station in central London, and then catch a taxi from there instead of taking a taxi directly from Heathrow. Saves you a fortune, especially if your salary is denominated in USD. -The Blue Line subway from O’Hare to downtown Chicago is almost always faster than any type of vehicular transportation. -There are certain parts of Los Angeles that are quicker to get to from Long Beach Airport than LAX. -There are certain parts of the Miami metropolitan area that are quicker to get to from Ft. Lauderdale’s airport than Miami International.

Wherever you go, pack a swimsuit.

agree about Amtrak. Took it from penn to boston and back today. All seats on the Acela are business class, but you can upgrade to first class. You get a meal service, it’s nice. I find it easier than flying to Boston, its pretty relaxing. my only complaint is…you know how when you fly there are those self important douchebags who talk on their phones up until they have to turn them off and try to talk a little loud so everybody hears them like they are mr BSD with such important jobs…and then the plane lands and they make the call “i just landed” like anybody gives a sh*t and proceed to talk like the world of free trade came to a screeching halt because they were on a plane for 2 hours…at least on a plane they have to turn their phones off…on the train its constant…all these morons making call after call after all like they are these big dealmakers or they run the show… my advice for amtrak…sit in the quiet car…

For London the key is to never fly into Heathrow if you can help it. Fly into London City or London Gatwick and you’ll save time, walking distance and headaches. Never take a cab in London. It’s usually quicker to take the underground anyway (and the underground goes all the way to Heathrow btw).

What are your firms’ guidelines regarding frequent flier points and travel points? Ours all go to the partners which kind of sucks, but they get to make the rules.

We get to keep the points, but we have to pay the membership fees out of pocket.

I second flying into Gatwick instead of Heathrow, and taking the Blue Line out of O’Hare. We get to keep our miles. I was just talking to my boss the other day - the place he was at before didn’t let him keep any and he had accumulated over 2,500,000.

jrumph Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I second flying into Gatwick instead of Heathrow, > and taking the Blue Line out of O’Hare. > > We get to keep our miles. I was just talking to > my boss the other day - the place he was at before > didn’t let him keep any and he had accumulated > over 2,500,000. Whoa! That’s 100 free flights! I would be so pissed. Nowadays those miles would be worth in excess of $50k. Well pretty soon we’ll have to start paying to use our frequent flier miles. I had a girl in one of my ugrad classes who took something like 15 friends to Vegas on her dad’s skymiles for her 21st bday. I think her dad had something like 4M. Unreal.

Dont take the bus to local malls in Philli by yourself at night. I figured I could do it back home, I could do it anywhere.

I have to disagree about the blue line in Chi, although it has been under construction for the last year. Cabs can be brutal into the city, however. Any tips for NY? Anyone think Kennedy + train > LGA + cab?

I prefer to fly out of newark. NJ transit from Penn. Kennedy and LGA Ill use a car service, but it might be easier to just cab it

Going from Boston to New York, are there any sizable advantages to booking tickets on the Amtrak earlier rather than later, as is the case with airline tickets? I’ve always flown between Boston and New York so am not familiar with Amtrak price trends.

for those that don’t fly a ton, and are in the DFW (AA Hub) area, AAdvantage has a great frequent flier status “challenge” that can fast track you to platinum status. Its not documented but a simple google will get you plenty of info. Basically you sign up over the phone and have 3 months to fly 5000pts for gold and 10000pts for platinum. If you start the second half of the yr you get to keep the status for the next year as well. W/ platinum you get double miles and 500 mile upgrades and the flight that completes your challenge also gets you the double miles. EG- I signed up my hubby before a film shoot in Argentina and he made platinum so now our vacation to china will bank him ~32,000 miles. Enough for an international ticket w/ AAdvantage Visa discount.

numi Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Going from Boston to New York, are there any > sizable advantages to booking tickets on the > Amtrak earlier rather than later, as is the case > with airline tickets? I’ve always flown between > Boston and New York so am not familiar with Amtrak > price trends. I believe there are. It’s not quite as complex as the airline system though. I would recommend you give Amtrak a try instead of flying on your next trip. Make sure you take the Acela, it’s a much nicer train than the regular cars.

Thanks guys. I’m definitely taking the Acela from Boston to New York next time. The Amtrak site tells me it’s only about 3.5 hours, but it’s still better for me because it brings me into Penn Station and I don’t like waiting at airports. Plus, it seems like every time I fly from Boston, my flight gets delayed or cancelled anyway. Might as well roll with the train.

do not use Emperors Club VIP

I think every now and then business class/first class gets booked up so better to reserve it early. I’m not sure there’s any difference price wise. I read somewhere that Amtrak is trying to get a sub-3 hour (or is it 2 hour) ride going between NYC and DC, if they pull that off you can pretty much kiss flights between the two cities goodbye.

If you company doesnt let you book 1st/business class and you have a triple 7 connecting through the US, you can get seats 9-14 (I think) which will be business seats but in economy section (so economy price). I think you usually have to have platinum status to get them…

farley013 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I just read in Dealmaker about a website – > inflightpower.com – that sells USB devices that > you can plug into headset jacks on the plane to > charge your electronics. Other things I’ve learned > in my travels: > doesn’t that risk shorting out the circuits at 30,000 feet?

Don’t fold clothes, roll them.