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Business, Gateway, Lifestyle, Travel, Travel Adventures, Vacation,

Advantages of Using a Travel Agent for Luxury Travel

Sometimes luxury travel can be time-consuming because you must do some due diligence. Because some places can advertise themselves as luxurious destinations but once you get there you get traumatized, it’s what you see it’s not what you get. The best thing to do when planning luxury travel is to use a travel agent.  

There are several advantages to using a travel agent for luxury travel. Let’s see what those advantages are.

Getting access to exclusive deals and packages.

The good thing about using a travel agent is, they have access to exclusive deals and packages that may not be available to the general public.

The exclusive deals and packages can also include special rates at luxury hotels, resorts, and cruises, as well as added perks like room upgrades, spa treatments, and private tours.

Getting Personalized service/package

man kneeling in front of a woman by the beach during golden hour

 

A travel agent will go above and beyond to make sure you have a nice experience and they will want to have a positive relationship with you.

They will take the time to understand your travel preferences and create a customized itinerary that fits your needs. For instance, you want to go to a luxurious resort or want to sleep in a luxury hotel.

They will make sure you get it and will try to find a nice package and also do all due diligence.  The travel agent can also help you to plan special events, such as a romantic honeymoon or a milestone anniversary.

Insiders knowledge

man in white t-shirt and brown shorts jumping on brown concrete pathway during daytime

Most travel agents often have first-hand knowledge of the destinations and also have a passion for the industry. Most of the properties they recommend are usually able to provide valuable insights because they have been there before etc.  The travel agent can also help you avoid common mistakes and ensure your trip runs smoothly.

Time-saving

woman placing sticky notes on wall

As I mentioned before,  planning a luxury trip can be very time-consuming. A travel agent can take care of all the details for you, from booking flights and hotels to arranging transportation and activities/tours. You will not have to worry about spending time planning your trips while you have other things to do.

Guaranteed Support

man using IP phone inside room

Other best advantages of using travel agents are they are available 24/7 to help you with any issues that may arise during your trip.

You will not personally deal with hotels or flights when some issues arise. You will not have to deal with being put on hold over the phone for more than 30 minutes to resolve a 5-minute issue.

Travel agents can do that for you and they can get someone faster to resolve that issue because they have some priority access when it comes to that. 

Using a travel agent will give you a chance to enjoy your vacation without worrying about any problems.

Access to exclusive tours 

woman in blue denim jeans and black hat sitting on car seat

Most travel agents have access to exclusive tours, private guides, and other experiences that can add a lot of value to a luxury vacation. Not everyone has experience with these things or has knowledge of their existence.

Travel agents can introduce you to places that you have never been to or heard of and also provide you with options to choose from that can save you time in your busy life schedule.

Cost-effective

fan of 100 U.S. dollar banknotes

Many people assume that using a travel agent will be more expensive, but that’s not necessarily true. Travel agents often have access to special rates and discounts, and can help you find the best deals on flights, hotels, and activities. Travel agents can also help you create a package or bundle you can save more than you think.

 

Gateway, Lifestyle, Travel, Travel Adventures, Vacation,

Getting Ready for Holiday Travels: Easy and Cheap Holiday Planning Tips

The 2022 holiday travel season is almost here and it’s more likely to be a very busy one. Consumers are making holiday travel plans and are also concerned about potential price hikes,  flight delays or cancellations, baggage issues,  and long security lines.

Below are some tips that can help you get prepared for holiday travel which will help you to avoid being stressed.

Purchase your ticket

Well, if you want to take a plane, the plane ticket is already high and increasing by the day. So, if you’re looking for the best deal on a flight for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or  New Year’s you might want to buy it right now.

According to different travel outlets reports, it shows this holiday season plane tickets can expect to rise   40-45%  more than last year.

This means you find the best deals right now,  book it sooner rather than later. You might decide to wait but there is no guarantee the prices will go down.

airline ticket

Avoid Busy Travel Days

Sometimes it’s hard to get the days off that you want, so you have to schedule your traveling plans with what you have, which might end up being busy days that you should avoid. But if you can, try to avoid the hassle of busy travel days.

Don’t travel the day before and after Thanksgiving or Christmas tends to be the busiest for travel. These days have a high demand for flights because everybody is trying to rush to their destination, and prices may also be higher. So, if you can, for thanksgiving, travel on Tuesday and maybe return on Saturday or Monday.

Sunday won’t be a good idea because it seems like everyone will be traveling to get back. You will pay more and be in crowded airports. For Christmas, I can’t tell a specific day because it goes with a date, unlike  Thanksgiving we know it’s the last Thursday of November.

With that being said, consider traveling several days before and after Christmas day. You can expect crowds at the airport around the holidays, so check-in and security lines may be long. Get to the airport early, so you don’t miss your flight.

people at the airport

Limit your  packing

Limiting what you can take on your holiday trip can be somehow useful. Sometimes we want to carry extra stuff for emergencies because we can’t predict what can happen so we wanna be ready for any changes. But carrying less is good, meaning you can just travel with a carry-on instead of checking in luggage.

Traveling with a carry-on can save you time and money and here is how. First, most flights charge you for checked-in luggage and the prices are different depending on the airline.

Second, when you get to your destination you have to go to retrieve your luggage which can be time-consuming in big airports like Atlanta, where it can take you 15-20 minutes to get to baggage claim depending on what terminal you are at and once you there sometimes you have to wait before they release luggage.

lady reading newspaper next to open luggages

Another thing you can encounter is luggage being lost or headed to different destinations from you. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation reports more than one million bags were mishandled by airlines between January and June 2022. That’s up from 629,000 in 2021. This can be very stressful especially when you have important things in your luggage and you can’t get hold of it.

If you are planning to travel this holiday season you may want to avoid checking your bags. It will be a good idea if you try and fit everything into a carry-on so you can avoid all the hassle.

Give yourself time

clock towers

Giving yourself time is the key to not getting stressed.  When you are purchasing your ticket make sure you consider time in many factors. 

For instance, get a ticket that will give you enough room for you to get to the airport without any delays.  If your flight requires a connection, make sure you have enough time for a layover before your connection flight.  

You don’t want to have 15 minutes between the flights’ and chances are you will miss that flight. You also might want to download the airline’s app and turn on the notification so you can get important information such as flight cancellations or delays. 

All in all the holidays can be very stressful, and you don’t want to add extra stress on yourself.  Unfortunately, you can’t predict how crowds will look or if there are going to be flight delays or lost luggage.

The only thing you can do is to prevent or avoid the chaos by traveling on less popular days. Also, you can purchase your ticket early and don’t forget to give yourself enough time if you have to transit or if you have a long drive to the airport. 

Business, Lifestyle, Travel, Vacation,

Airline Changes That You Should Know In 2021

Recently there has been a lot of changes in the travel industry especially when it comes to airlines. The airlines have made some changes due to the COVID 19 outbreak and some of the changes are due to lawsuits the airline companies have experience etc.

Before you book a ticket make sure you check some policy changes that may affect you. There are a lot of airlines domestic and international but we tried to cover as much as we can.

1. No Change/Cancellation Fees Policies

Many airlines have changed their cancellations/change reservations due to the pandemic.  However, it’s important to see the rules and regulations when you want to change or cancel your airline ticket so you won’t be surprised. 

For instance, Delta Airlines is waiving change fees and award redepositing,  issuing e-credit that can be used through December 31st, 2022. This applies to customers who purchased their tickets before April 17th, 2020 and scheduled to travel through March 31st, 2021.

Those who purchased their ticket between  March 1st, 2020, and March 30th, 2021 can change their reservations without a fee or award deposit fees for a year from the date you purchased a ticket.  With Emirates airlines for tickets issued on or before September 30th, 2020, and on or before  October 1st, 2020 can be used later, you have 24 months or two years from the date you originally booked the ticket with no extra fees.

Qatar Airways is offering unlimited date changes, no fee refunds for tickets purchased before  April 30th, 2021 for travel completed before December 31st, 2021.

Another option  Qatar Airlines offers is exchanging tickets to travel vouchers with an additional 10% if you book a flight with them again, that can be good let’s say you were in economy class you can upgrade to business or first class.

 

2. Rules For Emotional Support Animals

Recently the use of emotional support animals has been a controversial issue among travelers. According to industry trade group Airlines for America report, it shows the number of emotional support animals traveling aboard commercial flights increased from 481,000 in 2016 to 751,000 in 2017.

This brought conflicts between passengers to passengers or cabin crews to passengers.  There have been several incidents of emotional support animals misbehaving attacking other passengers or cabin crews. 

Some of the many incidents that led to the rules of traveling with emotional support animals to change are,  a man who was traveling from Atlanta to San Diego filed a lawsuit alleging he was attacked by an emotional support dog and mauled his face on a flight the incident happened in 2017.

Another incident happened last summer when an American Airlines flight attendant received five stitches after she was bitten by an emotional support dog on a flight out.  According to the Department of Transportation, they said they have received reports of biting incidents that led to children being scared and a lot of lawsuits.  

In December 2020, the Department of Transportation announced it will revise rules around flying with emotional support animals and will no longer consider them to be service animals.

There is a difference between service animals and emotional support animals. On the revised Air Carrier Access Act rules (the new rule) the U.S Department of Transportation defines a service animal as  “any guide dog, signal dog, or other animals individually trained to work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability, including, but not limited to, guiding individuals with impaired vision, alerting individuals with impaired hearing to intruders or sounds, providing minimal protection or rescue work, pulling a wheelchair, or fetching dropped items.”  

With that being said the Department of Transportation no longer considers an emotional support animal to be a service animal, this allows the airlines to ban the animals if they don’t fit established rules.  

After the Department of Transportation announcement, Alaskan Airlines was the first one to ban the emotional support animals in their flight, and the most recent one was SouthWest airlines. Here is the list of airlines that already ban emotional support  animals in their flights

  • Alaskan Airlines-  As of  January 11, 2021, Alaskan Airlines only accepts service dogs that are trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of a qualified individual with a disability. Emotional support animals will no longer be accepted. The airline will continue to accept emotional support animals for reservations booked before  January 11, 2021, for flights that are on or before February 28, 2021. No emotional support animals will be transported after February 28, 2021.

 

  • American Airlines-  Starting February 1st, 2021 the airline will only allow trained service animals to fly in the cabin and customers will need to complete and submit the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Service Animal Air Transportation form before their trip. If a customer is traveling with an animal that doesn’t qualify as a trained service animal, it may be transported as a pet.

 

  • Delta Airlines–  As of  January 11th, Delta airlines no longer recognize emotional support animals as service animals. The airline will honor reservations submitted and confirmed by Delta before January 11, 2021, but will not accept new emotional support animal reservations for upcoming travel.  With that note starting January 11, 2021, Delta will only accept trained service animals that are dogs. Customers traveling with a trained service dog(s), regardless of breed, must complete the required DOT forms 

 

  • Frontier- As of February 1st, 2021, Frontier will no longer accept emotional support animals onboard. The animal may be eligible to travel in accordance with their  Pet Policy for a fee.

 

  • Jet Blue- The Airline will only allow service animals with restrictions, the customer must notify them that they are traveling with a service animal and receive the U.S. Department of Transportation Service Animal Air Transportation Form no later than 48 hours prior to departure.  The airline only accepts fully-trained service animals not the ones in training.

 

  • Southwest Airline – The airlines allows trained service and emotional support animals that comply with certain safety and documentation requirements. Be aware that trained service and emotional support animals may be subject to additional governmental laws and regulations at the destination, including but not limited to, health certificates, permits, and vaccinations required by the country, state, or territory from and/or to which the animal is being transported.

 

  • Spirit Airlines- As of January 11th, 2021 the emotional support animals can travel onboard as pets if they meet airline pet requirements. Those customers who have a return flight on or after January 11, 2021, will be allowed to travel back with their animal per the previous policy.

You can visit the airline websites and find out more information

3. Other Revised Airline Policies from the Department of Transportation.

These are revised airline policies done by the Department of Transportation-Aviation Consumer Protection after several incidents that happened to consumers.

Most of these policies are really beneficial for consumer perspectives. One of the revised policies is Involuntarily Giving Up Your Seat (Bumping) which they are working on increasing the compensation known as Denied Boarding Compensation (DBC).  A ticketed passenger who boards an airplane cannot be involuntarily bumped from an overbooked flight.

This rule applies to flights originating in the United States. For the passengers who involuntarily bumped from a flight, the maximum required compensation that they will be paid is  200% of the one-way fare but no more than $ 675 for arrival delays of up to two hours. 

For over 2 hours arrival delay the compensation will be 400% of one-way fare but no more than $1,350. For international flights, the compensation will be 200% no more than $675 of one-way fare for arrival delay of 1-4 hours. For over 4 hours of arrival delay, the compensation will be 400% and no more than $1350. 

There is no compensation for both domestic and international flights for a 0-1hour arrival delay.  The airline must offer passengers compensation at the airport on the same day.

If they provide substitute transportation that leaves the airport before they compensate the passenger, the airline must pay the passenger within 24 hours of the bumping incident.

For more about  Aviation consumer protection  changes and  policies you can check here