A Peter Greenberg Travel Safety Tip

Posted on April 30, 2010
Filed Under General, Guest Contributors, Medjet, Peter Greenberg Travel Safety Tips, Safety, Travel, Website Tips | Comments Off

Be Prepared

Whether it’s a natural disaster, pandemic or civil unrest, travel catastrophes happen and it’s important to be prepared before you hit the road. Your first step is to get out the laminator: that’s right, bring laminated copies of your travel itinerary, the photo page of your passport, all your  emergency contacts, and medical prescriptions (include generic as well as brand names). It’s also important to leave that information behind with a friend or family, and if you purchase travel insurance or medical evacuation coverage, [such as Medjet] share that information with friends and family as well.

It’s also important to prepare by brushing up on the political and social climate of your destination. Don’t just read the U.S. State Department’s warnings. Read government travel alerts from UK (http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country), Canada (http://www.voyage.gc.ca/countries_pays/menu-eng.asp) and Australia (http://www.smartraveller.gov.au),  and read the local newspapers online. (This is a great resource for English-language papers around the world: http://www.thebigproject.co.uk/news).

For all electronic devices, don’t just pack an additional battery – make sure it’s charged. Pack a small flashlight. And lastly, check with your phone company to make sure you have international coverage, or rent a local phone in your destination. Make sure that includes a text messaging plan, as text messages usually go through when phone calls can’t. Last but not least (and I’m not kidding) pack duct tape. It’s been my experience that when all else fails, duct tape tends to fix anything.

That’s My Seat – Letter from the President

Posted on April 30, 2010
Filed Under Letter From the President, Medjet, Travel | 2 Comments

By: Roy Berger, MedjetAssist President/CEO

Some travel scribes have made a living piling on the airline industry.

The cynics abound running roughshod about everything from delays, cancellations, uncomfortable seating, shoddy customer relations, lousy food, additional costs and you name it.

Fortunately for these folks there is a carrier like Spirit Airlines who came up with the stupidest customer relations idea of all time. They justify cynicism. Let’s charge for carry-on luggage.  You would think whoever came up with this idea in the Spirit boardroom would be given a pink slip not a mandate!

I fly a lot. I’m on an airplane at least three weeks a month and to tell you the truth my complaints are minimal. When you stop to think about the magnitude of the US aviation industry (worldwide as well) and all the aircraft in the air at any given moment, the incredible safety record of this industry can be mind numbing. Wish automobile travel was this safe.~

I’m not a nervous flyer by any means. The bumps are part of the deal. When I travel with my wife it’s a different story. The PA announcement that turbulence might be in the area is enough to cause deep gashes in my hands and arms. I try not to think our fate is on a piece of metal hurling through the sky at 30,000 feet. I’m thankful every time the wheels touch down safely.

I also understand some of the added fees the industry has imposed the past seven or eight years. I get charging for food; we fly to get somewhere not to dine. If we want to eat we can step up and pay for it either on the ground or in the air. I don’t get charging for pillows and blankets and most of all I just don’t understand having to pay to check luggage. Bringing clothes and possessions are part of the travel experience and should be treated that way but let’s save that for another time. I would suggest throwing them in a carry-on but not if you are flying Spirit.~

Sometimes we get caught up in airline minutia and really lose focus of the most important thing the industry does for us. Get us where we are going safely. It happened to me.

I don’t understand the penalty for canceling or changing flights. Southwest does it right. If I am on a Southwest ticket and my plans change I can cancel for no penalty at all. I will either be refunded my full fare or allowed to use the remaining balance as a credit for up to one year. It’s my money let me use it. Virtually all other airlines impose a $150 change or cancellation fee. That’s rubbish.

So last month I was supposed to go with my wife from Birmingham to Jacksonville. One way fare was $95 on an airline that will remain nameless. Delta.

About a week before our journey she decided not to go. If I called Delta and canceled I would have been hit with a $150 change fee.  For a $95 ticket. In that case you just throw it away. Our return was on Southwest and that cancellation lead to full credit for a future flight.

So I figured for $95 I might as well try to get her mileage credit for the flight. I knew better but figured I’d give it a shot.

About a week earlier I read in The Wall Street Journal some international carriers are now letting you purchase two seats in coach for the long journey which in effect blocks off the coveted middle seat for more room and privacy. A very good idea instead of having to step up and pay the accelerated front of the cabin fares.

So 24 hours before our scheduled departure I checked us both in for the flight knowing full well I was traveling solo. I paid for her seat and could make a viable claim the seat was ours.

When I got to the gate I approached the counter personnel and told them my wife wasn’t traveling but I paid for the ticket and checked her in and wanted to get mileage credit. The only thing missing was her!

They told me what I knew I would hear.  It can’t be done. To receive mileage credit the person must actually travel. They never heard of the middle seat program that I read about only a few days earlier.

So here’s the catch. I paid for a seat that I can’t get credit for. I can cancel it and then be hit with a $150 change fee to reschedule. In the meantime with enough advance warning the airline will take that seat, put it back in its inventory and peddle it on the market.

The conversation with the gate personnel was very cordial. It wasn’t their policy and I knew that. Their answers were company policy. I told them I wasn’t going to cancel the reservation and I still didn’t understand why I couldn’t get flight credit for my wife.

It’s akin to me buying two tickets for a major league ballgame and showing up by myself. The other seat is still mine. I can do whatever I want with it but the one thing the host team does not do is resell it if nobody is using it. I didn’t want to personally resell my airline seat but just get credit for what I paid for.

I boarded the flight. My wife was at home having breakfast. At exactly 10 minutes prior to departure my cell phone rings showing a local area code. It was the Delta counter at the gate about 100 yards from where I was seated on the plane. They wanted to know if my wife was going to make the flight. I told them no. They then canceled her seat and the one on the connector as well turning my $95 ticket into a $245 liability with the penalty if I wanted to use it again. Which of course I won’t.

When all was said and done there was one empty seat on the entire aircraft. The one next to me. The airline didn’t have enough time to put someone else on the flight which would have been double dipping on their end because I didn’t get any credit-dollars or miles. However, they did have enough time to re-use her seat on the connecting leg of the journey.

It’s my seat. I paid for it. I should get the flight credit. Of course ultimately the airline did the one thing most important to all of us. It got us to our destination safely. Amidst our complaining we lose sight of that small little goal way too often.~

I can honestly say to myself ‘quit complaining and keep flying.’ A healthy travel industry means so much to the economic viability of our country.

Just give me my mileage credit!

Passengers With Disabilities- the TSA Screening Process

Posted on April 30, 2010
Filed Under Medjet, Safety, Travel | Comments Off

By John Gobbels, Medjet VP/COO

During some of my recent travels I continued to notice passengers entering the screening checkpoint with medical devices that required their own screening process. I thought it would be educational to see what the TSA has established to assist those persons with disabilities during that process.

It’s important to note that one of the goals of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is to provide the highest level of security and customer service to everyone who passes through their screening checkpoints. The current policies and procedures focus on ensuring that all passengers, regardless of their personal situations and needs, are treated equally and with the dignity, respect, and courtesy they deserve. Although every person and item must be screened before entering each secure boarding area, it is the manner in which the screening is conducted that is most important.

In order to achieve that goal, the TSA has established a program for screening persons with disabilities and their associated equipment, mobility aids and devices. The program covers all categories of disabilities including mobility, hearing, visual, and hidden. As part of that program, the TSA established a coalition of over 70 disability-related groups and organizations to help them understand the concerns of persons with disabilities and medical conditions. These groups have assisted the TSA with integrating the unique needs of persons with disabilities into the screening process.

The TSA’s checkpoint security screening procedures for persons with disabilities and medical conditions have not changed as a result of the current threat situation. All disability-related equipment, aids and devices continue to be allowed through security checkpoints once cleared through screening.

Additionally, the TSA is continuing to permit prescription liquid medications and other liquids needed by persons with disabilities and medical conditions.
This includes:
•    All prescription and over-the-counter medications (liquids, gels and aerosols) including petroleum jelly, eye drops and saline solution for medical purposes
•    Liquids including water, juice or liquid nutrition, or gels for passengers with a disability or medical condition
•    Life-support and life-sustaining liquids such as bone marrow, blood products and transplant organs
•    Items used to augment the body for medical or cosmetic reasons such as mastectomy products, prosthetic breasts, bras or shells containing gels, saline solution or other liquids
•    Frozen items are allowed as long as they are frozen solid when presented for screening. If frozen items are partially melted, slushy or have any liquid at the bottom of the container, they must meet 3-1-1 requirements; however, if the liquid medications are in volumes larger than 3.4 ounces (100ml) each, they may not be placed in the quart-size bag and must be declared to the Transportation Security Officer.

Declared liquid medications and other liquids for disabilities and medical conditions must be kept separate from all other property submitted for x-ray screening.
If you have more questions relating to a disability or screening procedure I suggest you contact the TSA Call Center at 1-866-289-9673 or by e-mail at tsa-contactcenter@dhs.gov.

www.tsa.gov

Photo credit: www.whitehouse.gov

Picture Perfect Moscow – Souvenir Shopping

Posted on April 20, 2010
Filed Under Picture Perfect, Travel | Comments Off

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. This is never more true than when you capture travel memories in the frame of a photo. Picture Perfect is a World Wide Will series of travel photographs from Canadian travel photographer and graphic designer, Zeljka Burazin.

Souvenir shopping in Moscow proves to be a Picture Perfect opportunity.

Russian Souvenir

Specialty Expeditions With Great Canadian Explorers

Posted on April 12, 2010
Filed Under Destinations, Travel | Comments Off

2219What better incentive to keep guests going on a challenging hike, an arduous mountaineering ascent or the conquest of the hair-raising via ferrata route, than to put them alongside great explorers who have conquered the outer limits of space and the depths of the deep sea? As part of its new Summer Adventures program, CMH (Canadian Mountain Holidays) is doing just that for some of its fortunate guests–who, come summer 2010, will be able to explore the remote Columbia Mountains with great Canadian explorers Dr. Joe MacInnis and Dr. Roberta Bondar.

From July 24 to 27, 2010, guests at the Bobbie Burns Lodge will have the opportunity to meet Dr. Joe MacInnis, the best-selling author and Canadian conservationist who led the first team of scientists to dive under the North Pole and was among the first to dive to the wreck of the Titanic. And from August 17 to 20, 2010, the Bugaboo Lodge will welcome Dr. Roberta Bondar (August 17-20), who is well-known as Canada’s first woman astronaut and the world’s first-ever neurologist in space.

And after CMH Summer Adventure guests have had a chance to go for a swim, take a hot-tub soak and enjoy a much-deserved gourmet family-style dinner back at the lodge after a long day of exploration in the mountains, these great Canadian explorers will be on-hand to meet and talk with guests and give special evening video presentations.

These 3-night trips are priced from CAD$2,490 (approx. US$2,447) per person, based on double occupancy and exclusive of HST.

For more information, you can visit their website: www.cmhsummer.com.

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