New airline offers all-you-can-fly service

It’s like the Netflix of air travel. For $790 a month, you get a package of boarding passes for a plane that resembles a private jet. The plane, holds eight passengers, will fly to and from Palo Alto, Monterey, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. If all goes according to plan, extended service to Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe will follow. For now, the company, Surf Air has two planes ready to go, several times a day if they can swing it.

Travel Tip Thursday > Audio On-The-Go

If you don’t want to settle for the speakers in your laptop, but do want something that is easy to pack, then Altec Lansing may be just what you need. The Orbit USB Stereo delivers exactly that. The sound is pretty impressive for something so compact – the speakers attach to each other. They also use a generic USB audio system so you don’t need any drivers, simply plug them in and you’re good to go. It’s also USB powered so no need for batteries or power adapter. Grab yourself a pair here!

Travel Tip Thursday > Dreamliner

Check out this review that The Travel Detective did on the 787 Boeing Dreamliner during one its first flights from Tokyo to Frankfurt.

Travel Tip Thursday > Rental Car Secrets

When most people rent a car, they go online, book the cheapest vehicle listed, and think they found a great deal. But that’s not always the case.

Do you know the best time to book a rental car? It’s on Saturday. That’s because people reserve vehicles and then never show up, leaving the car rental place with a bunch of inventory. Your best bet is to call the place directly to see what inventory is available. Also, where you reserve is often as important as what you reserve. Airport lots are usually more expensive than neighborhood rentals, due to to all the taxes and fees. Hope this helps on your next trip!

Travel Tip Thursday > World’s Best Airport For Layovers

Hong Kong International is by far one of the best airports when you need to kill time. They’ve already got a 9-hole golf course and are now raising the bar with the addition of the world’s first airport IMAX theater. It’s supposed to open by late June in terminal two. It will seat 358 and be the biggest of the city’s three IMAX venues. Can’t wait to check this out!!

Travel Tip Thursday > WestJet Rolls Out Child-Free Cabins With Kargo Kids

I can’t believe I missed this! WestJet pulled an April Fool’s prank on everyone by “introducing” Child-Free Cabins™. You don’t have to leave your kids at home anymore — now there’s Kargo Kids®, the next great innovation in airline travel. See what happens below when you want to get some peace and quiet during your travels. Hahaaa!!

Travel Tip Thursday > Free Wi-Fi Finder

For those times when you are traveling and find yourself with a really bad internet connection or, no connection at all there is “Free Wi-Fi Finder.” This app is a must have for everyone who relies heavily on wi-fi whether it be for work or just to play games on their phone. This app offers 145,000 free wi-fi locations worldwide and are constantly adding new locations so that you always have the latest hotspot data at your disposal. The app can determine your location based on your iPhone’s GPS and from there locates all the paid and free wi-fi hotspots around you.

When you select the wi-fi spot you’d like to use, it will also give you directions on how to get there.

You can also download the “Offline Wi-Fi Finder” off the app for those times when you are not online or don’t have a good connection. The best part about this app is that it’s free!

Travel Tip Thursday > RoadNinja

RoadNinja is a great app for anyone with practical driving needs. If you have ever traveled down a freeway and wanted to know what was coming up as far as food or gas go, then you must download this app. It pulls up all upcoming attractions. This is great for road trips as well as driving around an unknown city.

Travel Tip Thursday > Currency Converter

With “Currency Converter” you can convert exchange rates for over 180 currencies and 4 metals. The app is very convenient and allows you to use the Interbank rate which is very rarely available to the general public. You can also see the current rate for obsolete currencies, if they were still around today. Overall this is a great app for those who travel a lot or do international business.

Download Wikitravel to your smartphone for free

One of the biggest difficulties for the modern traveler in a foreign country is in the increase in your data rate when abroad. We’ve all heard the $85,000 phone bill horror stories… Without a data plan abroad to download Google Maps, travel can be a bit difficult and may require a lot more research and planning to be done beforehand. This is where “iTravelFree” comes in handy! The app lets you download data and store it locally. You can now search destination guides, download maps, get the scoop on local eateries all while being offline! The app is free and definitely worthy of a download.

Weightless in Las Vegas

You can now take a zero gravity flight! With a flight pattern that looks like a roller coaster, the G-Force One experiences zero gravity. For $4,950, you can depart from McCarran Airport, go up in the air 24,000 feet and feel weightless for a total of about 8 minutes. This is for sure an experience of a lifetime! Check out the video below!

In-Flight Wi-Fi on All Delta Flights

Delta Airlines announced that they installed Wi-Fi on all their shuttle aircraft that fly between New York LaGuardia and both Boston and Washington Reagan National. This service now compliments their other shuttle amenities such as free morning coffee and newspapers. Wi-fi definitely makes flying a much more enjoyable experience for me! Safe travels everyone!

Travel Tip Thursday > 10 Million Mile Man

Travel tips from the 10 million mile man! Watch below:

Travel Tip Thursday > Tour Guides

There are travelers who like to explore cities on their own and those who like to hire tour guides. Tour Guides can be a great way to enhance a trip, but it can be a bit challenging finding someone who is knowledgable and trustworthy in a foreign city. PrivateGuide.com takes care of that for you. This site allows you pick a destination and lets you sort guides and tours by rating and price. The site has an easy to use layout and lets you know details about the tour guide. This is a good resource to use when planning your next trip!

Travel Tip Thursday > Priority Pass

Todays Travel Tip comes in the form of an App! It seems that almost every flier has a smartphone and “Priority Pass” is something everyone should travel with. This App is great for anyone who is stuck with a long layover as it allows you to peep the airline lounges available at any airport you may be at. You can view all details of 600+ airport lounges like what they have to offer and amenities before you decide if it’s worth it to get a pass to go in. The Priority Pass program has a pay per visit charge but the app is free and anyone can get it to check the lounges out. Try it out on your next trip and let me know what you think!

Travel Tip Thursday > Complimentary Beer And Wine

Did you know that starting February 1st, American Airlines will be offering beer and wine in the main cabin compliments of the airline? Passengers traveling on American-operated flights between the U.S. and Europe, the U.S. and Asia as well as long-haul flights between the U.S. and Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay, beginning next month, can choose from a variety of complimentary beer and wine options. AA collaborated with classically trained wine consultant Ken Chase to select the beverage choices for the various routes and designed to compliment inflight menus.

Travel Tip Thursday > Ways To Keep Frequent Flier Miles From Expiring

Today’s tips are short and simple! Keeping track of your frequent flier miles and when they expire can be difficult to stay on top of but there are a few ways to gather points to keep your accounts from going inactive.

1. Netflix – If you open an account on Netflix you are given 1,500 American Advantage miles!

2. Hotels – If you give a hotel you’re staying in your frequent flier number when you check in, you get new miles. Amount varies from hotel to hotel.

3. Car Rentals – Car rental companies partner with airlines to offer awards so, if you rent a car, be sure to give them your frequent flier number as well so that you are awarded miles.

4. Dining – Probably one of the best and easiest ways to gather miles. Most offer miles-per-dollar awards and sign up bonuses. For example, American Airlines and US Airways give 1,000 miles after your first meal.

Travel Tip Thursday > Superfly.com

Ever wish you could do a flight search across different Airlines that took into consideration your Frequent Flier status? Well, now you can with Superfly.com! This site lets you add your account numbers for all your different rewards programs, travel preferences and then keeps a tally of your miles and shows you which flights are the best value for you. The site also recommends when it is a better value for you to use your miles for certain flights. Superfly, has been around since May 2010 and covers 65 rewards programs.

Travel Tip Thursday – Where’s My Luggage!?!?!!

I always wonder what happens to all of our luggage that gets lost throughout the year. So after a little research I found out where the hell it all ends up and why someone is running around wearing my clothes! So the tip of the day is plain and simple….PUT A TAG ON YOUR BAG WITH ALL YOUR CONTACT INFO!

Or else this guy will be rocking your gear!

Travel Tip Thursday > Points Promotions

Todays Travel Tip Thursday is for frequent fliers!

If you fly Southwest alot, they rolled out two double-points promotions aimed at its frequent fliers last week. One of the promotions focuses on earning elite status in Southwest’s frequent-flier program. They are offering double “Tier Qualifying Points” on flights through January 31st (you must register prior to travel and fly by Jan 31st)

You can also participate in the double “redeemable points” program which count towards frequent-flier awards. If you are flying to or from Boston, Manchester, New York LaGuardia, Newark Liberty and Providence, you can get double points on flights flown from January 4th through Febuary 15th. If you’d like to take advantage of these benefits you must register via Southwest’s website and book tickets by tomorrow (December 30).

If American Airlines is more your style, the airline recently announced that it’s frequent-fliers can earn elite status twice as fast on flights between December 13th and January 31st. You must register for the promotion on AA’s website and use code: DEQAA.
AA says the offer will help frequent-fliers in its AAdvantage program who “need a boost to re-qualify for their current elite status level or simply want a good start for the new year. ”

Hope this helps all those flying this winter season!