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Airports and airplanes. Travels biggest nuisance?
Long gone are the days when we would eagerly look forward to flying and would not dream of boarding a plane without a coat and tie. Air travel now leaves us relegated to long lines, removing our shoes and clothing through security, indifferent or surly service, cancellations, delays, and a myriad of unpleasantries.
After many million airline flight miles, we have found the following to be invaluable.
Global Entry
Global Entry is a United States Customs and Border Patrol program which allows program participants to skip all of the lines at US immigration at select airports and to proceed to Global Entry kiosks, present their machine-readable U.S. passport or permanent resident card, place their fingertips on the scanner for fingerprint verification, and make a customs declaration. The kiosk issues the traveler a transaction receipt and directs the traveler to baggage claim and the exit. On my most recent arrival at O’Hare International Airport, with no checked baggage, I was able to enter the country, clear Customs and Immigrations formalities, and was on the curb waiting for my driver in less than 5 minutes. Astounding. Another plus, you do not need to manually fill out the Customs Declaration Forms.
Enroll online here: http://www.globalentry.gov/
Priority Boarding, Check In, and Security Clearance
Traveling in First Class, Business Class and Premium Economy Class is no longer strictly about the seat comfort and on-board (or lack thereof) service. Avoiding the long lines for check in, security clearance, boarding the aircraft, and not wrestling with the woefully inadequate overhead bin storage is one of our key strategies at the airport. Additionally, checked baggage fees and other fees are waived, and there is an extra weight allowance for checked bags.
Strategies for easing airport aggravations:
1. Advance purchase First and Business Class fares are often a very reasonable upcharge from the Economy Class fare.
2. Leverage your frequent flyer miles and accumulated frequent flyer miles:
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The First and Business Class Award seats are severely restricted. Plan very far in advance or be prepared to use “double” miles for you Premium Class seats.
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Achieve Elite status with your preferred carriers. Flying 25,000 miles annually qualifies you for the base level of Elite Status with most airlines. This base level Elite status then allows you to check in at any First Class check in facility and use the First Class Security lines where available. Other benefits include space available upgrades to First Class within 24 hours of flight time, priority seating on the aircraft, pre-boarding of the aircraft, and baggage fees waived. Heightened benefits accrue at 50,000 and 100,000 mile annual levels. A huge benefit accrues when you reach 1,000,000 lifetime miles (combination of all miles; flown, credit card points, hotels, cars, etc). For example, with American Airlines, 1,000,000 provides lifetime Gold status and 2,000,000 provides lifetime Platinum Status. I am about to hit 4,000,000 lifetime American miles and have Platinum status for life.
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Join an Airline Club. The Admiral’s Club, Red Carpet Club, etc. are invaluable when flights are delayed, cancelled, etc. We also love the complimentary drinks and complimentary Wifi. Flying First Class and Business Class on International routes entitles you to airline club access.
2. Be prrepared when you clear through security
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Make sure your pockets are completely empty and remove all metallic items. The new scanners pick up everything, including non-mettalic items, and you may be subject to additional security measures.
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Place several gallon size ZipLock bags in your carry-on luggage. Empty your pockets and place the contents and your valuables in the Ziplock, inside your carry on.
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All liquids and cosmetics to be 3 ounces or less, in a Quart size Ziplock Bag.
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Laptops removed from their case and in a separate scanner bin.
Coming next: Two lifetimes of lessons learned about packing (my mother, who was a great traveler, taught me how to pack).
Sub Orbital Space Travel:
I was at the Scaled Composites factory in Mojave when Virgin Galactic rolled out the WhiteNightTwo mothership Eve (named after Richard Branson’s mother) and also attended the Virgin Galactic Enterprise (SpaceShipTwo) roll out of the hangar on Monday December 7th.
As you might guess, I am very passionate about this project on a professional and personal level. However, I also feel that this endeavor is something much larger than any of us. This is truly a “breakthrough moment” in space travel that people will be talking about for years to come.
I encourage you to view this brand new videa showcasing the project milestones to date: Virgin Galactic Milestones to Space
Tim Krenzien
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