No secret that getting there today can be a nightmare unless you “fly private” or first class. And how many of us really do? But here are a dozen suggestions for traveling smarter on business (or pleasure) that should make your life on the road a little easier. Make Sure You Can Stretch Out. Bordering on cruel and inhumane treatment is being trapped in the middle seat in coach at 37,000 feet between two heavyweights when the guy in front of you leans back for a five-hour snooze. It’s agony if the seat pitch (call it legroom) is a miserly 30 inches or less. Forget laptopping. You’ve lost all that quiet time to revise your speech, fine tune your PowerPoint, or watch that DVD unless you can balance a computer in the clamshell position on your chest. If you don’t travel first cabin and can’t upgrade with frequent flyer miles, resolve to find ways to create the luxury space back in steerage. Try “Fourth Class” Internationally. Taiwan’s EVA Airways had the brilliant idea more than a decade ago of adding serious frills to economy class—wider seats, more space, headrests and legrests, a slightly fancier meal. Essentially, it’s a class of its own between economy and business for the price of a non-discounted coach seat. Then Virgin jumped in and added things like laptop power ports at your seat on its long haul flights to London Heathrow, British Airlines came aboard with a spacious premium economy, and other global airlines like Air New Zealand have followed. All Nippon Airways’ version has a 6.5-inch TV screen, electric power sockets and an 18.5-inch seat that reclines 125 degrees with 38 inches of legroom and inflight e-mail. Why pay business class fares on airlines that offer this supersized coach class? Swap Cheap Seats for Comfort. Pamper yourself on any flight longer than two hours. Book JetBlue behind the exit rows and savor 34 inches of stretch-out space. Pay a mere $35 or more over coach fares and vault into business class on AirTran where seats are wide, leather, and you can stretch your legs and work or relax without disturbance. Or pony up from $18 to $35 and commandeer a seat in the first eight rows of United’s economy with 36 inches of legroom. It’s not business class, but it isn’t bad. Choose Airplane Seats Like Broadway Theatre Seats. To avoid a seat in sardine class, check, without fail, www.seatguru.com. You get all (hopefully current) vital statistics on seat configuration on different aircraft for more than 22 airlines plus a seat chart. Most airline Web sites have their own charts with seat width, legroom and precise location. You probably consult a seat chart when you’re buying a ticket to a three-hour Broadway play for $100. Why not take the time to make yourself more comfortable when you’re spending $400 and up and sitting for five hours on a flight? Schmooze the Telephone Reservationists. Book through a human once in a while for a pleasant surprise. JetBlue’s phone reservationists all seem to be extremely nurturing Utah soccer moms who go out of their way to make your flight comfortable. The few AirTran reservationists I’ve talked to went the extra mile for me and Southwest, Cathay Pacific, British Air and Virgin Atlantic’s toll free reservationists are exceptionally helpful. Enterprise and Thrifty car rental companies are generally engaging and will shop for deals for you. (I’ve booked PT Cruisers for $17 a day in Las Vegas through Thrifty’s toll-free reservation line on my last three visits even though the counter service agents are slow and nonchalant.) Avis and Hertz typically seem to be in a hurry as if they are reading a script and their calls are being timed by some corporate big brother. A colleague from Brooklyn, without asking for it, landed a confirmed seat with 33 inches of legroom in the exit row on a Continental 767-200. Most airlines claim exit row seats are only handed out at the airport on departure day but he proved sweet talking pays dividends. Join an Airline Airport Club. This is an absolute must if you travel frequently east of the Rockies where bad weather can delay you for hours. For $300 to $500, which is about the price of a hotel room for one night in New York City, you can buy a yearlong relaxing refuge from the teeming, sometimes screaming masses swarming around the gates. Business and first-class travelers on almost all airlines, especially foreign carriers, automatically gain access to a club where they can work, wait, eat and drink in style and on the house. Otherwise United’s Red Carpet and American’s Admiral Clubs charge their members and global travelers sitting in elite cabins hefty prices for their cocktails. During prime travel time, clubs at major airports are chockablock; it’s tough to get a workstation to plug in and recharge. A few weeks ago, during a prolonged thunderstorm in Houston, I logged six quite delightful and productive hours in two different Continental Airlines’ Presidents Clubs in cavernous Bush Intercontinental Airport. The Wi-Fi was gratis and worked perfectly. Cocktails, wine and beer were on the house and there were plenty of electrical outlets and comfortable seating. For $50 a day, it was like sitting and working in the lobby lounge of a nice hotel and having six concierges at your service to change a reservation or book a better seat. Maybe your favorite airline will let you exchange frequent flyer miles for an annual club membership. As for the old, cheap club- member-for-life rates, they’ve gone the way of the DC-3. Upgrade to the Hotel Club Floor. Depending on the hotel, this can be shameless luxury for an extra $50 a night or slightly more. The best club lounges in the world are in Asian hotels where labor and food costs are miniscule compare to the United States so large staffs treat you regally. The St. Regis Shanghai’s Executive Club has access to 300 newspapers, fast Internet access, a luxurious lounge that borders on decadence and a large, friendly staff that instantly grants wishes. Among chain hotels, Ritz-Carlton is the gold standard of club floor care and feeding. At the Ritz-Carlton in Atlanta’s tony Buckhead area a month ago, a staff of six was plying guests with delicious delicacies straight out of the pages of Bon Appétit or Gourmet. The club lounge looked like it might have been uprooted from a private bastion in London and reassembled here. There was no shortage of culinary or libational pleasures and plenty of clubby seating arrangements, faux 18th century décor, and other creature comforts. Many hotel chains will upgrade their frequent guests for loyalty, otherwise admission to club floors starts at $25 and goes up. When you figure a single cocktail in England today can cost that much and more, staying on the club level is a bargain. Pony Up for Productivity, Pleasure. The majors across the Atlantic are selling first-class comforts for more than five figures. But several new entrants in the derby have differing versions of business class for much lower fares. MaxiJet (www.maxijet.com) flies JFK and Washington Dulles to London Stansted in a 767 with commercial airliner version of business class. Eos (http://www.eos.com/) flies a 757 daily from JFK to Stansted that’s more like a commercial corporate jet. It has just 48 seats that become lie flat beds, with 48 square feet of personal space and conveniences unheard of even in regular first class. If the flight is running late, the flight attendants will call ahead to your meeting and explain the situation. Luggage goes direct to your hotel; you go straight to your appointment. Fare: less than $5,000 if you book a week or two out. Be Adventurous. Sure you want to rack up more miles and points so you’re loyal to one or two brands but it can be boring too. Try something new on the road. I hadn’t checked into an Omni Hotel in years but discovered the Omni in Richmond at $129 a night. The room was so beautifully furnished, it could pass for the guest room in some Virginia land baron’s mansion. The club lounge was a tad skimpy and the canapés were unimaginative but the staff friendliness rivaled a five star-five diamond grand hotel. I have a new take on Omni. “The Town Car Please.” Most of the better hotels have those Mercedes limos, Lincoln town cars and GMC Yukons out front not just for airport runs for the VIPs. Few realize that any guest can get a lift around town—and get picked up—gratis. Beats a grimy cab any day or renting a car and paying a fortune to garage it if you only have meetings in the city. Ask if a complimentary car service is available when you book your hotel. Only hang-up: They’re usually on a first come, first serve basis. Write A Thank You Note. Forget the standard-issue “comment card” in your hotel room. Take a minute and drop a note to the general manager, include your card, and hand-write (no e-mail) three sentences on how much you enjoyed your visit. See if you get a note back. Then, write the GM a note a week before you arrive the next time and see what kind of courtesies are extended to you. If you don’t get an answer from either communiqué, tell 1,000 of your closest colleagues and friends and book elsewhere. Same is true if you have a gripe and your personal note gets ignored. Complain to the Law. (Well, Almost). Don’t waste your time with a stonewalling manager, customer service staffs or the besieged complaint department. Do some homework, find out the name of the associate general counsel—the number two lawyer who never gets any mail—and write a pleasant but firm letter on letterhead requesting his attention in “five (5) working days from receipt of this letter.” I’ll bet you will get action.
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