Have you ever tried playing airline seat assignment roulette?

 I refuse to pay extra for those roomier seats with extra legroom offered by the airlines under the brands of Economy Plus (UA), Main Cabin Extra (AA), and Comfort+ (DL). So here is what I do to bag those seats without paying for them. The majority of people are like me and don’t want to pay an extra $50 for that extra legroom so they go online in advance and select seats assignments for those seats in the back of the plane that don’t cost extra. I simply wait until the last few days (or even hours) before the flight and all the “no fee” seats are taken. This leaves the airline to assign me a seat from one of the remaining “extra legroom” seats. If the plane is not full there are sometimes full rows empty that I can stretch out in. This works well when traveling as an individual but is not as easy when traveling as a couple or family. You also risk getting stuck in a middle seat if the plane is full. I have used this technique dozens of times and have been a happy camper every time.

Did you know you can have a second passport?  It turns out that people who do international travel extensively can hold two passports. This allows them to travel with one and have the second one at home getting processed with visas, etc. for their next trip. CLICK HERE for more details. 

This is my annual warning NOT to buy airline miles from the airlines – Every few months I receive offers from the major airlines who are offering to sell me frequent flyer miles at a discounted rate. Generally speaking these are not the best deals. I have noticed that to purchase enough miles (25,000) for a round-trip domestic airline ticket will cost approximately $600 using a saver award ticket. As you are probably aware most tickets for domestic vacation travel will cost significantly less than $600. Business travelers, however, often find tickets that might be more than $600 round-trip. Unfortunately these tickets often require standard frequent-flier tickets that cost 50,000 to 100,000 miles round-trip. The bottom line is don’t buy miles from the airlines. 

International airlines offering FREE stopovers to compete with U.S. airlines – The big three domestic airlines of American, Delta and United have all made massive expansions into Europe the last two years by offering direct flights from their U.S. hubs. European airlines are now understanding they need an extra perk to compete with direct flights. They are doing this by marketing FREE stopovers in their European hubs. Fly on British Airways to get a free stopover in London. Fly on Turkish Airlines to get a FREE stopover in Istanbul, plus free hotel and tours. This is really positive news for people who love to travel.

Are you ready for some football? Executive travel is proud to announce one of our favorite tours! We are hosting a Husker tour to sunny California to watch the Huskers take on the USC Trojans. Join us Nov 14th through the 17th as we cheer on the Huskers. To learn more about all the festivities CLICK HERE to view the brochure. 

Check out our Weekly Travel Alert Podcast – In this week’s episode of the podcast we break down the top 10 searched international destinations during the summer months. Tune in to see who took the top spot and who slid down the list this year. The Weekly Travel Alert Video Podcast is available on YouTube plus all your favorite podcast stations, Spotify, YouTube Music, Apple Podcast.  Don’t forget to subscribe to stay up to date with everything travel.