Travel tips

Airport Security Tips

If you want to make your passage through airport security checkpoints as easy as your purchase of cheap airplane tickets and discount hotel rooms, then you should be ready to follow the Transportation Security Administration’s current security checkpoint policies: 

-Carry a government issued picture ID such as a passport, driver’s license, or military ID.

-Have your boarding pass out prior to approaching a security checkpoint.

-If you have any large liquid containers, place them in seal able plastic bags (ideally packed in bubble wrap) in your checked bags, not in your carry-on bag. Only liquids in 3.4 oz bottles placed in clear plastic zip top bags are allowed through security checkpoints for carry-on. Each passenger is only allowed one such bag.

-Remove all loose items in your pockets, including coins, wallets, keys, and phones and place them in a container to go through X-ray at the security checkpoint. It might be easier to simply place everything in your carry-on until you pass through security.

-Wear slip on shoes.

-Take laptops and other electronics out of your carry-on for separate screening.

-You are allowed to place coats and/or jackets in a bin as it goes through the X-ray machine, but you will save time by placing them in your carry-on or in your checked bag.

-Avoid trying to pass through security with hazardous items such as knives, ski poles, bats, hockey sticks and most tools. Such items should be packed in your checked luggage.

-Fireworks and flammable paints are banned from both carry on and checked bags.

-Be pleasant and patient when waiting to go through security. Do not joke about bombs, threaten a security agent, or get physical with a screener.

Tips on Reducing Travel Costs

Finding cheap airplane tickets, discount hotel rooms, and cheap vacation packages will be more challenging this year given that airfares have increased. In addition, fees have gone up for checked bags and new fees continue to be added for perks such as exit-row or bulkhead seats. 

-Purchase airline tickets and vacation packages on Tuesdays. Historically most airline sales kick off on Monday evenings with other airlines usually matching the lower fares on the same routes by the following morning.

-Keep an eye on airline ticket prices even after you have purchased your tickets and ask for a refund if the price drops after your purchase. Most airlines will charge a change fee, but depending on how much the price has dropped a refund for the difference less the change fee may still save you money. An online company called “Yapta” tracks the price of travelers’ tickets and sends them emails when the price drops.

-Do not pay roaming charges when using your cell phone on the road. Free apps are available from Skype and Truphone for making inexpensive international phone calls using Wi-Fi, with charges starting at pennies per minute.

-If you are going to travel overseas, it might benefit you to change your credit card. Most U.S. credit cards charge currency conversion fees, often 3 percent, for credit or debit card usage outside of the U.S. Capital One and Chase offer select cards that waive such fees.

-Save on parking your car at airports by checking Best parking’s website. It directs drivers to the cheapest parking at off-airport lots close to 79 North American airports. Rates are updated regularly, with sold-out lots highlighted.

-Significant savings can be realized by traveling the week after a major holiday.

-Avoid paying to check bags. If you need to pack more than will fit in your carry-on bag, look into Delta’s Sky Miles branded American Express car which allows the card holder and up to eight others on the same reservation to each check a bag at no cost. American Express has come out with a travel rewards card called the “Blue Sky Preferred Credit Card” that provides members with an annual $100 allowance to cover checked bags, in flight meals, entertainment or Wi-Fi purchases, and other fees on any airline.

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