Booking Your Trips

You know

those science fiction or spy movies where the main character is zipping around

the planet, saving the world for God and Country?  And do you know how in those movies, the hero

always has a home-base where some extremely important yet under acknowledged

person provides invaluable support to him/her?  

Jack Bauer has Chloe, James Bond has “Q,” Luke Skywalker had R2D2… Well,

I had Jane.

I sorely

wanted to give this article the title, “My Friend Jane,” but that wouldn’t have

googled very well for those who are searching for a better way to book a trip.  My company uses Carlson Wagonlitt for their

travel services.  Jane was our “on-site”

travel representative and she was the best! 

No matter what got broken, lost, misaligned, or maladjusted, Jane could

fix it, and fix it quickly.  Flight

canceled?  No problem.  One call to Jane, and you were re-booked

before the mass of people sprinting from the gate back to the counter for

re-booking could even assemble themselves into a line.  She was that good.

Today, Jane

is still booking travel but in the interest of cost savings, she is no longer

our “on-site representative” and that leaves me with Carlson Wagonlitt’s

on-line booking tool.  I don’t have a

problem with the tool, per se, it just isn’t the same. It can’t sweet talk me

into an upgrade when I bring her chocolates from Amsterdam

or trinkets from Texas.  If you’re like me and you’re stuck with a

corporate tool that has been declared as “Mandatory for use in booking travel”

then I have some tips for you:

• Take

  advantage of the tool’s ability to store information in your profile.  Many times, portions of your profile are sent

  ahead to hotels and airlines when reservations are made so make absolutely sure

  you enter every single solitary membership number you have for Frequent Fliers,

  Hotel Chains, rental car companies, etc.

• Make

  notes in your profile wherever appropriate like, “I prefer upper-floor rooms

  away from the elevator” or “I prefer aisle seats to window seats,” etc, because

  this information is often forwarded as well.

• Place

  the SAME frequent flier number in multiple airline records when they’re

  partnered.  For example, I have frequent

  flier numbers for NWA, Delta, and Continental but I really prefer to collect

  them all under my Worldperks account so I put my Worldperks number in all three

  of those records.  The system gave me an

  error (presumably because their numbers are formatted differently) but it still

  works, all of my miles show up under my Worldperks account regardless of which

  partner airline I fly.

• Place

  your spouse’s email address into the “alternate email” blank and set your

  profile to always cc that address.  That

  way you won’t have to forward your itinerary to them all the time.

• Take

  advantage of your online travel booking program’s ability to email your

  e-calendar.  I set mine up to mail to my

  email with an MS Outlook client, and my Outlook client syncs up to my

  smartphone so now, I book, save, and BAM, the dates, confirmation numbers, etc,

  are in my phone ten minutes later.

• Don’t

  trust what the program gives you for hotels. 

  It’s good with flights but for some reason, it missed tons of hotel

  rooms.  I tend to stay in the same places

  when I can, so call hotels that you like, introduce yourself as one of the gold

  or platinum members that you are, and you’ll be surprised at how quickly rooms

  open up; and often at the same rate you paid last time.  This is another good reason to get to know

  your hotel managers!

• If

  there’s a Customer Service hotline number for your booking service, program it

  into your smartphone with the name “Travel 911.”  You will eventually need to speak to a human

  being, and even though you don’t have Jane, you’ll want one of her co-workers!

• Finally,

  if you DO have a “Jane,” don’t forget her! 

  Bring her trinkets, chocolates, flowers, etc, from time to time.  You never know… someday your Indonesian Visa

  will expire and you’ll need another one, pronto!  What will you do then, hmmmm?

EXTRA: If you have questions for Ken regarding

business travel, hotels, airplanes, etc, please call 1-877-49-EXPERT. 

Your questions will be recorded and Ken will answer the best ones in his Ask

the Expert podcast show.