shutdowns, winter weather, and air travel

There I am minding my own business in the PreCheck line at JFK Terminal 4 on Christmas night when I'm randomly pulled for secondary screening. 

"Over there," a TSA agent said with a shrug. "Someone will come to pat you down." But the first someone is a female agent. We stare at each other from opposite sides of the full-body scanner. 

"I'm okay if you're okay," I say gamely. 

"Nope," comes the instant reply. "I'm already not getting paid for working tonight ..." 

          Copyright (c) 2019 JoeSentMe.com Reprinted with permission ... subscribe here 

The anecdote above was told by Joe Brancatelli, my favorite travel journalist, and it introduces the worries I have about my next trip. By the way, I've subscribed to Joe's weekly column for years and find it a good read and chock full of essential information. I quote this story as it introduces, quite nicely, my concerns about my flight next Wednesday to CDG.  Other than packing and other fun stuff, of course.

(1) Standing in line... The US government is partially shut down, as everyone knows, and the shutdown is affecting air travel. Big time.

TSA security screening. While we complain about the lines — having to take off our shoes, remove liquids, and deal with other inconveniences — security screenings are an essential service provided by the federal government. TSA employees are required to work during the shutdown, but they're not getting their paychecks (due today). Screeners have been calling in sick, and I can't blame them, but the result is long[er] lines at security.

Air Traffic control — absolutely essential for air travel to happen safely — is a highly skilled but stressful job. Air traffic controllers manage everything from takeoffs to inflight routings, approaches to landings. Rigorous training is required for this job, and without this service provided by experienced federal employees behind the scenes, the world economy would crash. ATC employees are dealing with the same stresses as the TSA screeners — working without being paid.

(2) Winter weather... As if that weren't enough, winter weather happens, even at SFO. Though San Francisco doesn't get cold or snowy, it does get winter storms. When visibility is impaired, the airport is forced to close down one of the two landing runways. This can delay arrivals by an hour or even more... and a delayed arrival translates into an equally delayed departure. This means hours waiting at the airport and arriving at my destination hours late.


(3) Immigration and customs... Immigration control agents are often the first persons to welcome us back home again, but sick-outs mean fewer agents, longer lines, and wasted time for thousands of travelers. Would you rather be standing in queue at the airport? or home again with your family?


So here's my word of appreciation for federal employees and the job they do ... and my word of annoyance (keeping politics out of it) at legislative leaders who won't bring funding bills to the floor for a vote. Let's get essential services funded.

copyright (c) 2019 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® Member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

three tips to speed your way through the airport

SFO International Terminal, photo from Wikicommons

A friend was asking the difference between the TSA PreCheck and Global Entry programs, so I thought I'd share my answer among a wider audience. As you are well aware, getting through airport security is a sometimes quite time-consuming endeavor. Moreover, travelers returning to the US from international destinations can find themselves in distressingly long immigration lines. Fortunately, there are ways to alleviate some of the stress of waiting in queue.

Good: TSA Pre✓ — If you only fly domestically, this is the easiest and most economical way to speed your way through security. Once you're approved for TSA Pre✓ (a 2-3 week process), you'll be issued a Trusted Traveler number. Be sure to enter this number into each of your frequent flyer (FF) accounts. Whenever you book a flight using your frequent flyer account, your Trusted Traveler number should automatically be added to your reservation. (If you don't have any FF accounts, you can directly enter your Trusted Traveler number into the reservation.) The cost of TSA Pre✓ is $85 for a 5-year membership.

Better: Global Entry — If you travel internationally, apply for Global Entry instead. This service costs $100 for a 5-year membership and includes TSA Pre✓.  A mere $15 more ($3 a year) scores you the benefit of a much shorter wait at US immigration. Global Entry members use special kiosks, bypassing the long lines. An additional benefit — a separate, much shorter line to clear customs.

Applying for Global Entry is more involved. You'll have to apply online and be interviewed in person. The wait for interview appointments at some airports can be extremely long, but once you apply and receive your preliminary approval, you can have that interview upon your first return from an international trip. The immigration agent will perform the interview.

assorted TIPS

a) Many premium credit cards will refund your membership fee, once every 5 years.

b) If you don't see "TSA Pre✓" printed on your boarding pass, call the airline. Make sure your Trusted Traveler number is in the reservation. They'll add it and reissue the boarding pass.

c) When using the TSA Pre✓ line, keep your shoes on. Keep your toiletries, your computer, and your other electronics in your bag. Just put your bags on the conveyer, keep your shoes on, and walk on through the magnetometer. I love not having to remove my shoes; it adds a certain dignity to the experience.

Best: Global Entry + CLEAR — Before you can even enter the security line, your ID has to be checked. Sometimes ID checkpoints have excruciatingly long lines. CLEAR kiosks are found at 24 busy airports (with some notable omissions), and CLEAR can save some serious time. A CLEAR kiosk will identify you by your fingerprints or iris, and a CLEAR agent will then escort you to the very front of the line of passengers waiting for security.

Tip: before applying for CLEAR, get a free Delta SkyMiles account. There is a special CLEAR discount for SkyMiles members, $99 per year vs. $179 per year.

Personal Testimonial: There were humongous lines at SFO's terminal 2 for a recent Alaska flight I took to Baltimore, both before and after the ID checkpoint, but with CLEAR and Global Entry/TSA Pre✓, I was literally past all of those lines in about a minute.

Bottom line: Spending money can get you front-of-the-line service. Are you worth it? You betcha!

copyright (c) 2018 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® Member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

top five tips for the best airport experience

SFO International Terminal, photo from Wikicommons

There were HUGE lines when I entered Terminal Two at SFO a week ago. Finding yourself at the back of a slow-moving queue can stress out even the most experienced traveler. Try these strategies to ease your way through the airport and make flying a pleasurable experience. Usually.

(1) Plan your arrival. I'm one of those travelers who has anxiety about getting delayed in transit, arriving late, and feeling like I have to rush to make my flight and find overhead space. So I plan accordingly. 8:15 a.m. flight from SFO? Coming from the East Bay? Because the Bay Bridge has huge rush-hour back-ups at the toll plazas, I took BART. I parked at the North Berkeley BART station, having taken advantage of BART's airport long-term parking program — it cost me just $28 for four weekdays + Saturday. Took the 6 a.m. train, got into SFO at 7 a.m. The AirTrain deposited me, five minutes later, at Terminal Two.

(2) CLEAR-ing the security lines - part I. It goes without saying that I checked in online and already had my boarding pass in hand. But arriving at the terminal, I saw HUMONGOUS lines clustered in front of the security area, hundreds of fellow travelers who had arrived before me. But not to worry, I have a membership in CLEAR, $99 per year for Delta SkyMiles members. I went straight to the separate CLEAR check-in area where there was no line. They identified me using biometrics on file (fingerprints or iris scan), stamped my boarding pass, then escorted me to the very front of the snaking lines.

(3) PRE-CHECKING your way through security - part II. Enjoying TSA Pre-Check is the best part of having Global Entry. I didn't have to remove my shoes. I didn't have to remove electronics from my bag. I didn't have to remove my one quart bag of toiletries. I just placed my carryon and my briefcase on the conveyer, walked through the magnetometer, and waited for my bags to emerge. That was literally the longest part of the security check. The entire process required maybe two minutes.

(4) Lounging in comfort. Even though I was flying Virgin America Alaska, I was able to check in to American's Admirals Club Lounge, thanks to the membership that comes with my AAdvantage Executive MasterCard. (Lounge access is accorded all cardholders on the account, at no additional cost per card.) I relaxed for a short while in a quiet comfortable place, had a small breakfast, and even made a Sabre booking on my laptop computer, taking advantage of the fast WiFi and an actual table.

(5) Get me to the gate on time. I actually messed up on this one, neglecting to pay attention to the location of my gate. It was in Terminal One, about a five minute walk airside from Terminal Two, so I ended up rushing to the gate, arriving after boarding had already begun. Fortunately, my First Class award ticket let me bypass the queue of passengers in economy, and I was able to snag overhead space just behind my seat.

My mantra: I don't mind standing at the front of a long line; I just don't like being at the back of a long line. It works for me!

copyright (c) 2018 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® Member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

Tahiti non-stops from San Francisco

picture yourself in French Polynesia (c) 2017 by David Ourisman, all rights reserved

Flying to Tahiti will get a lot easier beginning next October 30. United Airlines has announced nonstop Dreamliner flights from San Francisco to Papeete. Flying three times a week (Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday), United plans serve this route from October 30, 2018 through March 28, 2019.

Why I'm excited by this news: 

You can avoid LAX, a monstrously inconvenient place to connect. Domestic flights arrive at one of eight terminals, and you have to schlep yourself and your baggage to the international terminal, check in again with Air Tahiti Nui (which means leaving airside), and go through security again (plan for a long wait in line). If you plan to check bags, you'll have to see if your domestic airline has an interline agreement with Air Tahiti Nui.

Flying through SFO will be a dream by comparison. Being a United hub, you'll have easy connections from all over the US with your bags seamlessly checked all the way through to PPT. Passengers can walk between United's domestic and international gates without having to go through security again. And SFO offers a choice of lounge experiences — the American Express Centurion Lounge or United's Polaris Lounge.

The timing of the flights is bit disappointing. The outbound flight departs SFO at 2:45 p.m., arriving PPT at 9:25 p.m. Because this is too late for connecting Air Tahiti flights onto Bora Bora or Moorea, you'll have to overnight in Papeete; I recommend the InterContinental Tahiti. The return, departing PPT at 11:45 p.m. and arriving SFO 10:50 a.m. the next morning, is fine.

However, the "season" for which United is flying the route makes no sense — from October 30 until March 28. This is "summer" in French Polynesia, the rainiest and most humid time of the year. The best months to visit Tahiti begin in April when you'll enjoy the driest weather and most comfortable temperatures. Oops! Guess someone at United failed to check the "high season" for Bora Bora and Moorea.

I've been twice ... so please contact us to plan your dream trip to Bora Bora and ask about the value-added Virtuoso and Four Seasons Preferred Partner amenities. We can save you hundreds of dollars on your trip of a lifetime.

copyright (c) 2017 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® Member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

traveling soon? get organized!

In four days, one hour and forty-three minutes (not that I'm counting), I leave for the airport for my much-anticipated return trip to Norway. While a sense of anticipation is one of the most pleasurable things about international travel, it also pays to sweat the details. Here's my checklist.


(1) Find your passport and put it in your carryon. Make sure the expiration date is at least 6 months beyond your date of return, and ensure that you have empty pages. Find out if you need any visas for foreign destinations.


(2) Double-check your flights. Airlines often make modifications to their flight schedules, and though any changes should be emailed to you, emails sometimes go into your spam folder or remain otherwise unnoticed. Go to your airline's website with your reservation code and double-check the times. Especially look out for the following:

Is your departing flight earlier than originally scheduled? If so, you'll have to modify when you leave for the airport.

Is your departing flight later ... or your connecting flight earlier? Make sure you still have enough time to make your connections. If the airline's change has given you a too-tight connection, they'll likely agree to revise your itinerary for free.


(3) Plan your getaway. How (and when) are you going to get to the airport? If your drive is during rush hour, consider using public transportation. Here in the Bay Area, the Bay Bridge can experience enormous traffic jams, but BART can speed me from North Berkeley to SFO in one hour, no matter the surface traffic.

Scheduling a driver? I prefer Wingz to Uber and Lyft because (1) you can schedule your ride well in advance and (2) you can use a preferred driver. My Wingz driver is extremely knowledgeable and knows his way around potential traffic bottlenecks in the Oakland "maze." Use this link to sign up for a Wingz account and score yourself (and me) a $5 credit towards your first ride.


(4) How much time to give yourself? We all have different attitudes about time ... but unless you're POTUS and your plane takes off on your schedule, you'll have to abide by the normal rules of the universe. I always build in time for an unexpected traffic jam, a long line at check-in, and a long line at security (unless the flight qualifies for TSA Pre-Check). I never mind waiting in front of a long line, but being at the end of a long line when I'm running late is extremely stressful to me.


(5) Put it on your calendar to check in online. I consider it a MUST to check in for your flight at the earliest opportunity, usually 24 hours before departure. Why? Because if your flight is oversold, you're less likely to be bumped if you've already checked in and have a seat assignment.

And make sure "TSA Pre-Check" appears on your boarding pass, if you're traveling on a participating airline. If it doesn't, phone the airline and make sure your trusted traveler number is in your record. If not, the airline's agent can enter the number, and you can print a new boarding pass with that coveted and time-saving designation.


(6) Get your itinerary in shape. When planning a personal trip, I keep all of my confirmations in a manila folder. I also write my flight details on the front of the folder so that I can find them in a jiffy, without sorting through papers. Also notice — on the picture above — that when I arrive in Oslo on this trip, I have to take the FLYTOGET express train into Oslo. From the central station, I have a 5 minute walk to my hotel. I printed out a google map of that walk and taped it to the front of the folder.


When the details are all taken care of, I can sit back, relax, and enjoy my journey. Hope this helps you enjoy your next trip too!

copyright (c) 2017 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® Member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.