Best Advice Yet for When You're Stranded at an Airport
American Airlines' new Flagship Lounge for international first-class
passengers at JFK.
Photo: American Airlines
by Wendy Perrin
Superduper frequent flier Gary Leff over at View From the Wing has added a brilliant tip to my last post, the one on the Top Ten Things to Do When You're Stranded at an Airport. His suggestion:
"Buy a refundable international first-class ticket with the carrier offering the best lounge at your home airport (this really only works at international gateways with airlines offering three classes of service). Visit the first-class lounge, raid the buffet, take a shower, in a limited number of places you might even get a massage . . . . Oh, then when you get your travel sorted out, refund the international ticket. Heh."
Another great tip comes from loyal reader and Where's Wendy? contest winner Tracker1312:
"Have a friend or family member track your flight through the airline's Web site or through Flightstats. The sites seem to know about the cancellations before they're announced at the terminal. Having messages sent to your cell phone helps too. I was watching my husband's flight last month and I saw online that it was canceled before he even knew. I called him and he was like, 'It still says it's on time on the board.' So I told him to go speak to the gate agent immediately; sure enough, it had been canceled, and he was the first in line to be moved to another flight."
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Will be in Northern Ireland, England and South Africa for 30 days. In the fall, I'm in Poland. What common currency could I take?
My first choice is travelers checks in euros. Second thought would be travelers checks in British pounds. I don't use ATM;s or credit cards.
Posted by: barbaraammjohnson | April 23, 2008 at 10:24 AM