Renowned travel authority andNBC Todayshow travel editor Peter Greenberg shares his insider secrets. Americans now travel more than ever before. Yet as our traveling has increased, the service we receive from airlines, hotels, and other agencies has deteriorated dramatically. Industry surveys reveal what you already feel: growing dissatisfaction among travelers of every age, income, and education level. We've been abused by the travel experience. Peter Greenberg is here to help.The Travel Detectivetells you the things most travel agents can't or sometimes just won't tell you. In his characteristic friendly and conversational tone, Greenberg tells how to find the secret walk-up fares that can save air travelers hundreds, if not thousands of dollars on last minutes flights; which coach seats on which planes are better than first class; the secret rule to know to avoid being bumped from a flight, which cruise ship brochures lie; which credit card companies are fastest and slowest to come to your aid in a foreign land, or worse, in the U.S.,; which hotels have the best and the worst fire and crime safety records, and how you can protect yourself; how to negotiate the best hotel room deal; which hotels have the worst water pressure in their showers (and better yet, how you can get great water pressure, even at those hotels); and much, much more. Accessible and entertaining,The Travel Detectivegives you the information and tools you need to make every trip an affordable pleasure. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Peter Greenberg is the travel editor for NBC's Today show. He is also the chief correspondent for the Discovery Network's Travel Channel and editor at large for <i>National Geographic Traveler</i> magazine. He lives in Los Angeles, but he's never home. Go figure.

Preface

xvii

Follow the Loser

xix

Hotels

xxl

Acknowledgments

xxiii

Before Leaving: Getting What You Want Before the Fact

3

(22)

Introduction to the Travel Process

5

(5)

Beating the Wimp Factor

10

(15)

The New Normal: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the New Security Procedures

25

(34)

The Need for Real Security

31

(1)

Morons in Uniform: The Death of Common Sense

32

(2)

My Life as a Selectee

34

(3)

Baggage Liability

37

(1)

No More Mr. Knife Guy

38

(1)

Can Technology Save Us?

39

(2)

Once You're on the Plane

41

(2)

Knock Knock

43

(1)

We Should All Be Naked

44

(2)

Who Do You Trust?

46

(1)

And What About That Cessna?

47

(1)

Hospitality in the Age of Terror

48

(4)

And If You Think Hotels Are Bad Security Risks

52

(3)

Some Short-Term Solutions

55

(1)

And If All Else Fails

56

(3)

Travel Right: Some Tips from the Original Frequent Traveler

59

(118)

The Psychology of Travel

61

(12)

Reservations 101: Before You Leave Home

73

(41)

Nothing but Net

81

(2)

Airline Reservations

83

(13)

The Best Day of the Week to Buy Cheap Tickets

96

(2)

The Class System

98

(1)

The Airlines' Real Mileage Program

99

(1)

Open Return

100

(1)

The Confusion of Standby

101

(2)

Other Ticket and Fare Sources

103

(3)

Surfing the Newsstand

106

(1)

Round the World

107

(4)

Air Passes

111

(1)

Coupons

111

(1)

Alternate Airports

112

(2)

I Don't Hate Travel Agents, but Many Travel Agents Think I Do

114

(13)

Reservation Computer Bias

118

(3)

A Final Note About Travel Agents

121

(6)

That's the Ticket

127

(10)

I Don't Hate Travel Agents, but I Do Hate E-Tickets

128

(3)

Pricing a European Ticket

131

(2)

Split Tickets

133

(1)

``Inexpensive'' Doesn't Just Mean the Back of the Bus

134

(1)

The Common-Rated Ploy

135

(1)

Throw in a Hotel Even If You Don't Need One

136

(1)

The Truth About Frequent-Flier Programs and Tickets

137

(20)

Another Little-Known Mileage Ticket Game

150

(7)

The Advanced Course

157

(11)

Fighting the Back-to-Back War---and Winning

161

(4)

The Problem with Hidden-City Tickets

165

(3)

It's Not Just the Fare---It's the Flight

168

(4)

Courier Flights---Overrated?

171

(1)

When You Absolutely Have to Fly (Bereavement Fares)

172

(5)

At the Airport: OK, Now. You're Packed. You've Got Your Paper Ticket, Your Documents. So, Get Ready, Get Set

177

(94)

Don't Go!!!

179

(5)

Airline Bags: Carry-on, Checked-in, Lost, and Sometimes Found

184

(29)

So What Is a Carry-on Bag?

187

(8)

What Can You Do?

195

(2)

When You Absolutely Have to Check Your Bags

197

(16)

Insurance You Need, Insurance You Don't

213

(9)

Meanwhile, Back at the Airport

222

(10)

Crimestoppers

223

(4)

Have a Seat

227

(5)

OK, Now You're on the Plane

232

(10)

The Flight That Never Was

234

(8)

What Do You Do Now?

242

(2)

Is the Past a Prologue?

244

(7)

What I Did in the Summer of 2000

245

(6)

Arm Yourself with Facts

251

(6)

How Bad Is It?

252

(5)

Playing the Bumping Game

257

(5)

Layovers You Can Love

262

(9)

On the Plane: Joining the Upgrade Brigade, the Air You Breathe, and Other (Un)Necessary Evils

271

(70)

Comfort Is Essential

273

(15)

At Your Seat

288

(8)

When Your Push Back Counts

296

(1)

The Real Airplane Etiquette

297

(8)

A Word About Seat Belts

305

(1)

Other Questions to Ask

360

(3)

Running the Gauntlet

363

(14)

Back at the Front Desk

364

(1)

Five Essential Questions

365

(12)

Some Unusual Dollar-Saving Lodgings

377

(3)

Credit Cards on the Road: What Will You Do?

380

(5)

Other Money Issues

383

(1)

Foreign Currency Exchange

384

(1)

Beware of Hidden Taxes

385

(1)

Rental Cars

386

(15)

Have You Rented a Car Lately?

389

(3)

Some Other Avoidable ``Surprises''

392

(6)

Your Driving Record

398

(1)

Special Deals

399

(1)

Where Airport Deals Are Better

400

(1)

At Sea: Please! Ignore the Brochures

401

(22)

Cruise Ships

403

(4)

Booking a Cruise

407

(3)

Cancellation Policies

410

(4)

What Is a ``Luxury'' Cruise?

414

(1)

Is Newer Better? Yes and No

415

(5)

The Real Cost of Taking a Cruise

420

(3)

Final Thoughts on Resources, Tools, Websites: And What to Do When It All Goes Wrong

423

(32)

Know Your Rights

425

(5)

Caveat Surfer

430

(19)

Best Read Guide International

436

(1)

Boulevards and Willamette Week

437

(1)

Planning a Trip

438

(1)

Last-Minute Travel

438

(1)

Flight Delays

438

(1)

The Real Rules of Air Travel

439

(1)

The Real Terms of Air Travel

439

(1)

Weather and Traffic

440

(1)

Time

440

(1)

Directions

440

(1)

Money

441

(1)

Insurance

441

(1)

Preventive Medicine

442

(1)

Other Details

442

(1)

Pets

442

(1)

Passport Info

443

(1)

Visas and Fees

443

(1)

Language

443

(1)

Safety

444

(1)

Cruise Ships

444

(1)

Customs

444

(1)

Going Underground

445

(1)

Protecting Your Luggage

445

(1)

If You're Driving

445

(1)

Air Safety for the Truly Neurotic

445

(1)

Surf City

446

(1)

Let Your Fingers Do the Walking

446

(3)

Car Rental Agencies, National Numbers

449

(1)

Miscellaneous but Important

449

(2)

Luggage

449

(1)

Student Airfares and Discounts

450

(1)

Phone Home

450

(1)

Airport Parking

451

(1)

More Than Just Parking

451

(1)

When All Else Really Fails

451

(4)

The Power and Finesse of the Complaint

451

(2)

And If All Else Fails

453

(2)

Index

455

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Most of us love to travel. That's the good news.

The bad news: We hate the process of travel.

We've been abused. And after each trip, we tell ourselves we'll never do it again.

And yet, we can't wait to do it all over again. And we do.

To many people, travel remains a voyage-or a flight or an Interstate trip-of discovery. But to most of us, travel remains a ritual of reassurance. Where there's a whim ... there's a way. And even though we hate the process, we continue to travel.

In 1999, more than 1.3 billion people traveled by air. The average American traveler is 44 years old. Of all American adult travelers, 49 percent are men, 64 percent are married, and 48 percent have children.

We travel to escape, or to explore, or to rest. Travel is, for many of us, an exercise in renewal, or a test of our limits. And some of us travel, simply, because we CAN.

And we DO. In a recent American Express study of 200 developing and developed countries, travel and tourism were found to be the biggest industry. In fact, if travel and tourism were a country instead of an industry, its gross national product (GNP) would rank among the top five in the world.

As an industry, it is one of the world's largest employers-one of every eleven jobs worldwide is held by someone in the travel business.

I've been traveling since I was six months old, when my parents took me on a very long DC-6 flight from New York to Los Angeles.

Since then, I've flown on virtually every commercial aircraft ever made, from DC-3s to Comets, Fokkers, Ilyushins, Fairchilds, and Boeings.

Over the years, my passports have bulged with the entry and departure stamps of more than 120 of the world's 187 countries.

And many readers of this book have passports that are fatter than mine.

There has been an exponential jump in the number of travelers and in the frequency of their trips.

In 1978, at the beginning of airline deregulation in the United States, only about 17 percent of all adults had ever taken an airplane flight.

With deregulation came dozens of new airlines. Airfares started matching bus fares, and the numbers of passengers soared.

Today, more than 84 percent of adults have flown. An impressive number, but also a scary one because a majority of that 84 percent feel abused by the process.

But the key question remains: Are we tourists or travelers?

To me, the definition of tourist is victim waiting to happen. I know very few people who define themselves as tourists. Instead, they call themselves travelers. But that doesn't mean they're good travelers.

I always get a laugh on Mondays. That's when my incoming-call volume soars.

Nearly everyone who calls is angry. They've just returned from a trip and there were problems.

And the calls seem to share the same structure, language, and intonation.

"It was a HORRIBLE flight," one will say. "The service was TERRIBLE." And, they add, they will NEVER do it again.

"Really?" I respond. "A horrible flight?"

"Absolutely," they answer. "Horrible."

"Let me ask you something," I continue. "At any time during your flight, did the airplane hit a mountain and disintegrate?"

"No..."

"And when you landed, did the wing hit the runway and did you cartwheel and explode?"

Again, "No."

"And," I conclude the questioning, "are you calling me from your. . . destination?"

"Yes..."

"Well, hang up the phone. It was a GREAT flight. You arrived!"

A funny thing then happens between the time my phone rings on Monday and the time it rings again-the same person is calling-on Thursday.

The person who had insisted that his or her experience was horrible on Monday, that he or she would NEVER do it again, is now in a mild panic.

Why? Because it's THURSDAY and he or she is desperate for the information necessary to get to the airport, get out of town, and try it all over again!

We have become a nation of travel junkies. And our addiction seems to be incurable.

And yet, for many of us, the decisions involving the PROCESS of travel are flawed. We have a serious entitlement problem. Half of us don't think we're entitled to anything when we travel. And the rest of us think we deserve EVERYTHING.

Result: A nation of unhappy, but addicted travelers.

So, what do we REALLY want when we travel?

Chances are, if you've traveled lately, you now have a list. You may not have written it down or committed it to memory, but you've got it-your list of all the ways a trip can be ruined.

Excerpted from The Travel Detective: How to Get the Best Service and the Best Deals from Airlines, Hotels, Cruise Ships, and Car Rental Agencies by Peter Greenberg
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.