Timely Tips© Volume 4, Issue 3; March 2007: Two More Air Traveler Handy Tips

Dear Timely Tips Reader,

I hope that wherever you are in the world you are enjoying the coming of spring. I myself have had the luxury of witnessing the beginning of spring in both Germany and the Czech Republic in recent weeks due to some wonderful client engagements. I’ve also been traveling extensively around the U.S. in recent weeks, and I wanted to share two important time and stress saving tips for all of you air travelers to remember next time you get to fly.

Tip #1: Use Early Online Check In – most domestic carriers in the U.S. now allow you to check in and print your boarding passes online up to 24 hours prior to your flight via your internet connection on your home or work PC. If you can do this, I strongly recommend that you check in using this method. By checking in early online, you beat the rush and the stress of lines at the airport. And often, you can check the available seats to get a better seat on your flight, before the majority of travelers have checked in. (A quick mini-tip – if you have a flight connection on your itinerary, check in early online, and try to get an aisle seat as close to the front of the plane as possible. This will help you to deboard the first plane as soon as possible, and will greatly increase your ability to make your connection.)

Tip #2: Use Sky Caps to Check Your Bags – the second tip I strongly recommend is to find and use the sky cap baggage check whenever available. These men and women usually will collect your bags curbside at the drop-off area in your airport (you can usually find the locations of your sky cap baggage check options on your airline or airport web site), sometimes for a small per bag fee (and usually a small gratuity – typically $1 per bag checked). If you have already checked in online and have your boarding passes printed, you can go directly to the Sky Cap to complete your check in and baggage check – and it is definitely worth the small additional fee or tip to do this. This will often allow you check your bags in a few short minutes vs. the 15-30 (or more) minutes it sometimes takes to get through the standard baggage check line. And, it allows you to not have to personally transport your bags throughout the large spaces of most airports. After sky cap baggage check, you can usually proceed directly to security, and then get to your gate in plenty of time to make your flight without the stress and burden of carting around your bags and dealing with big check in lines.

Obviously, these strategies only work for domestic flights – international travel requires gated check in for passport control. But they will save you significant time and stress, and will allow you to actually enjoy your travel process vs. the stress and worry that often accompanies your flights.

Until next time, Stay Timely!

Where in the World is Randy?

Well, I’m actually writing this from the airport in Prague in the Czech Republic, although you’ll probably actually receive it after I return to Michigan via Paris. Thus, the March Timely Tip might actually be received by many of you in April – April Fools! As many of you know, I definitely have a bit of a personal travel bug, and very much love to explore. I have not been disappointed this year.

Since the first of the year, I’ve had the fortunate opportunity to visit North Carolina, Houston, Marco Island, Wiesbaden and the Rudesheim in Germany, Phoenix, Palm Springs, Los Angeles, Sedona and the Grand Canyon, and of course, Prague. And in coming weeks, I’ll be visiting Keystone, the Boston area, Miami, Tucson, Pennsylvania, Chicago, and Northern Michigan. Obviously, if you see that I’ll be in an area that you will be in, please drop me a line – I’d love to get together with you. Also, I’m planning to create a new feature on my You Tube channel – picture and video travel blogs. I’ll basically start to take the pictures and video snippets from my business and pleasure travel excursions, and post these on my You Tube channel for any and all of you that might be also traveling (or thinking of traveling) to these locations. Look for the first of these travel blogs – likely featuring Wiesbaden, Germany, the Grand Canyon, Arizona, and Prague, in the next couple of weeks. By the way, Prague is absolutely beautiful this time of the year – a great springtime location.

Watch future Timely Tips for more traveler updates and occasional traveler tips.

Taming the E-mail Beast Update

My new book, Taming the E-mail Beast: 20 Key Strategies for Managing Your E-mail Account (and Regaining Your E-mail Sanity), is progressing nicely. Several chapters have been completed, and the book should be on to the copy editor quite soon. For the many of you that have participated in one of my recent teleseminars, webinars, or live “Taming E-mail” programs, you are invited to take advantage of a few special pre-publication offers on my web site regarding this new and extremely useful book (and related audio CD program), and take your e-mail management capabilities to an all new level.