Travel hacks and advice

[Art Shirk]

Finally had some good luck with flights. I had been 0 for my last 2 trips on making it home on day I was supposed to.

Plan was to fly home from Orlando Fri afternoon and make it to local AHL game just in time to see my 6 yr old daughter skate between periods.

Upon arriving at MCO I get notification of my flight into Newark being delayed 35 min. My layover was 45 min so not looking good. It goes to 50 min delay minutes later...I look up weather in Newark and see 30 mph winds with 60 mph gusts.

I go straight to nearest gate attendant and see if they can route me through another airport. The guy yells across the terminal to another gate attendant, holds up 1 finger and points at me. Couple head nods and he tells me I'm all set...head over there and get on that fight. It was the earlier flight into Newark that had been delayed 1.5 hrs and was now leaving about 15 minutes before my original flight was supposed to.

I walk over, they open the lane barrier for me to let me board immediately (still a big lineup but I have good status)...right onto the flight with exit row seat.

Made it to the arena just in time to help her get dressed and watch her skate in front of crowd of 5k.


Attachment 253940

That’s awesome Booner. Good story.


Flight delayed the other day and was going to miss the one meeting I had before coming back same night. Caught a 120 knot tailwind and made it by 10 minutes.


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[muted]

That’s awesome Booner. Good story.


Flight delayed the other day and was going to miss the one meeting I had before coming back same night. Caught a 120 knot tailwind and made it by 10 minutes.


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I don’t understand all the talk of missing meetings or whatever else due to flight delays. If it’s important don’t you fly in the night before? Or are all of you so important you don’t have the luxury to do that?

Side note: next time I fly international I’m gonna review Kevos posts and try to decipher them.

[riser4]

This thread makes me glad I am not a road warrior. For about six years I traveled 2-6 times a year for work, which was plenty. Fortunately some of those involved renting a car and driving a straight shot down I-87 for 2/3 of it instead of flying. Those trips took maybe an hour longer door to door instead of flying. However driving meant I avoided flying through Newark. Fuck that place. I also saved the company money because I still would have had to rent a car once I got there, at a higher price. And then I traveled twice in the last six years since including the one international. I actually wouldn't mind the occasional trip because then I get to see some of the folks I work with. My tip is to drive if it even slightly makes sense. Flying without status sucks.

[riser4]

I don’t understand all the talk of missing meetings or whatever else due to flight delays. If it’s important don’t you fly in the night before? Or are all of you so important you don’t have the luxury to do that?

Side note: next time I fly international I’m gonna review Kevos posts and try to decipher them.

Right. For several of my trips being there was everything. No point for everyone else to be there if I was a no show. I have been flown in up to two days early in deep winter and told to do my normal stuff from the hotel for the extra time.

[Art Shirk]

I don’t understand all the talk of missing meetings or whatever else due to flight delays. If it’s important don’t you fly in the night before? Or are all of you so important you don’t have the luxury to do that?

Side note: next time I fly international I’m gonna review Kevos posts and try to decipher them.

I have kids and try to get back for dinner as much as possible. Longer flights or “totally can’t miss” meetings get better forethought.


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[booner]

For me it depends on a lot of variables, whether or not I'm depending on flights to run smoothly.

Kids, other shit, part of the country/world you're flying to, available flights,etc...

I almost always fly in day early...getting home is where I gamble often. Missing connections and getting stuck on a Friday and missing most of Sat at home is the most painful.

Couple trips ago I had back to back trips...getting home Fri and flying out again on Sunday, with the team I coach playing on Sat.

Got stuck Fri night and didn't get home till afternoon, just in time to go to game.

Came home from hockey, cleaned the house a little (I'm the cleaning lady at home), ate, packed, went to sleep, and got up early to fly out.

Then got stuck again on way home from that trip too.

I almost cracked up after those two weeks

Flying in as early as possible day before is mandatory when going to a solid city. That's when I have some fun on company time

[Kevo]

+1 to fidelity card and chip. Know that Fido is not a bank so transfers in midtrip will take a few days.
Good tip on Apple Pay. Haven’t used that yet but will. Good exchange rates?

The exchange rate is tied to the credit card that you use with Apple Pay/ Google Pay. I have like 5 different cards with 0% exchange fees. I use State Department Federal Credit Union 2% back and PenFed PowerCash 2%. Both have no foriegn transaction fees.

I run work expenses through one and personal through the other so that it is easy to look at the credit card statements and see if I missed anything on my expense report. It's also nice to have a backup in case one card has issues. It's not uncommon to get a card locked for potential fraud even with a travel notification. I've had that happen with several different banks and credit unions.

Edit- ironically I'm posting this while over the North Atlantic en route to London on a short notice trip. I get back stateside Thursday and am feeling out whether I need to go to South Africa next Monday.

[muted]

I have kids and try to get back for dinner as much as possible. Longer flights or “totally can’t miss” meetings get better forethought.


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I must be a shitty father, dinners are never priority. I aim for coming home before bedtime and maybe dinner if it works out. Last nights dinner was two kids screaming, one crying over spilt milk (literally) and then the dog puking. I could have missed that nice bonding moment with the wife and kids and been fine.

But I was talking about making sure to arrive early on meeting days, leaving ASAP after makes sense.

[hutash]

Almost forgot: when traveling internationally with a shit ton of baggage, #flynorwegian.

I assume my sarcasm meter malfunctioned, but I have never flown NorwegianAir. Do they suck as bad as they seem to fit in with Sprite or RyanAir types, so I have avoided them.

I did fly EasyJet from Vienna to Geneva, and it wasn't half bad.

[riser4]

For me it depends on a lot of variables, whether or not I'm depending on flights to run smoothly.

Kids, other shit, part of the country/world you're flying to, available flights,etc...

I almost always fly in day early...getting home is where I gamble often. Missing connections and getting stuck on a Friday and missing most of Sat at home is the most painful.

Couple trips ago I had back to back trips...getting home Fri and flying out again on Sunday, with the team I coach playing on Sat.

Got stuck Fri night and didn't get home till afternoon, just in time to go to game.

Came home from hockey, cleaned the house a little (I'm the cleaning lady at home), ate, packed, went to sleep, and got up early to fly out.

Then got stuck again on way home from that trip too.

I almost cracked up after those two weeks

Flying in as early as possible day before is mandatory when going to a solid city. That's when I have some fun on company time

Ouch.

[Parvo]

So it's been over a month with the new gig and a lot of these posts have contributed to a stellar life on the road. However, I'm owed nearly $5k in expense reports that are languishing at corp. Not that they are denied, but the process is unbearable. It's all through Concur, which I like, but some beancounter at corp. questions stuff like a $10 airport breakfast with "why didn't you eat at home before you left?"

I'm polite in my emails to accounting for status updates, but it's to the point where I'm not going to put another dime on my CC until I get a check. I also am likely going to quit, since this new gig isn't turning out the way it was sold to me.

I hear JHMR is in desperate need of lifites. Prolly could do that for a winter.

[plugboots]

I had 6 months with Concur and a remote accountant douche and that was plenty.

[riser4]

Fuck. $10 in an airport is hardly 'breakfast'. That's coffee and maybe a muffin if you are lucky. It's a lot closer to water and tic-tacs than it is to breakfast.

And $5K on your own CC??? Dang. Homey don't play that. Definitely +++vibes+++ to anyone that has to travel on a personal card.

[Supermoon]

And $5K on your own CC??? Dang. Homey don't play that. Definitely +++vibes+++ to anyone that has to travel on a personal card.

the miles are nice if you have a system that gets you repaid before the bill is due.

[plugboots]

Fuck. $10 in an airport is hardly 'breakfast'. That's coffee and maybe a muffin if you are lucky. It's a lot closer to water and tic-tacs than it is to breakfast.

And $5K on your own CC??? Dang. Homey don't play that. Definitely +++vibes+++ to anyone that has to travel on a personal card.

Well, if you don't have the remote douche, having your own card is the way to go, so you can score score points/miles.

edit:
Mooner beat me to it.

[riser4]

the miles are nice if you have a system that gets you repaid before the bill is due.

True.

[DJSapp]

So it's been over a month with the new gig and a lot of these posts have contributed to a stellar life on the road. However, I'm owed nearly $5k in expense reports that are languishing at corp. Not that they are denied, but the process is unbearable. It's all through Concur, which I like, but some beancounter at corp. questions stuff like a $10 airport breakfast with "why didn't you eat at home before you left?"

I'm polite in my emails to accounting for status updates, but it's to the point where I'm not going to put another dime on my CC until I get a check. I also am likely going to quit, since this new gig isn't turning out the way it was sold to me.

I hear JHMR is in desperate need of lifites. Prolly could do that for a winter.

You worry too much. Front the minimum payment, pay whatever was yours, and tell the bossman you're going to expense your CC interest on the items they haven't paid for at your cost. Don't even pretend like you're going to float that shit for them and stick them with the 19.8% interest. 30 days is plenty of time for them to review, approve and cut a check.

That has always got my AP to act fast and approve that reimbursement.

[TahoeJ]

The second some bean counter questioned a $10 charge at the airport I’d ask his name so I could reference it when quitting immediately. What a joke.

And then if they apologize when quitting, and you stay, you now have leverage.

Of course I routinely rack up big bills at sushi restaurants so what do I know? ;-)

[mcski]

I hear JHMR is in desperate need of lifites. Prolly could do that for a winter.

Have you considered a career as a
Life Coach?

[riser4]

Have you considered a career as a
Life Coach?

There it is!

[Skidog]

So it's been over a month with the new gig and a lot of these posts have contributed to a stellar life on the road. However, I'm owed nearly $5k in expense reports that are languishing at corp. Not that they are denied, but the process is unbearable. It's all through Concur, which I like, but some beancounter at corp. questions stuff like a $10 airport breakfast with "why didn't you eat at home before you left?"

I'm polite in my emails to accounting for status updates, but it's to the point where I'm not going to put another dime on my CC until I get a check. I also am likely going to quit, since this new gig isn't turning out the way it was sold to me.

I hear JHMR is in desperate need of lifites. Prolly could do that for a winter.

Yeah I'd never put that kinda coin on a personal card unless I was 1000000% sure they were cutting checks fast. I agree with the threat of interest charges. $10 at airport? They got off easy.

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[muted]

You don't need to threaten them with interest charges. It's not a threat, it's another expense they need to pay which is completely reasonable. And don't threaten to not use your card again, to quit over a call out on a $10 expense, ha.

[plugboots]

You don't need to threaten them with interest charges. It's not a threat, it's another expense they need to pay which is completely reasonable. And don't threaten to not use your card again, to quit over a call out on a $10 expense, ha.

Exactly. Calm, measured, pre-prepared answers. Never threaten, you are working with these people. Play politics. JHC.

[TahoeJ]

You don't need to threaten them with interest charges. It's not a threat, it's another expense they need to pay which is completely reasonable. And don't threaten to not use your card again, to quit over a call out on a $10 expense, ha.

Working for a company pinching pennies that tight rarely ever pays off in the long run. That’s a huge red flag.

[muted]

Working for a company pinching pennies that tight rarely ever pays off in the long run.

is it actually a company policy to question things like this? is some bean counter that just started being dumb? Are the bean counters outsourced? Do they ask these dumb questions for you to realize you can't waste their money, big or small? Legally can you even deduct a meal before you actually go on a work trip, from the IRS perspective?

Or is it a shitty company that purposely bothers you over a legit expense that's only $10 frickin' dollars?

You are probably right though, but if it's not a pattern of bullshit I'd let it slide. Or just ask why it's an issue.