Travelling light

I rarely check bags, even on trips of a few weeks. Over the years, and more particularly lately with tighter restrictions on carry-ons, I have been getting better at packing light.

There are many advantages to packing light, but to me the best one is the extra flexibility afforded by not having checked bags. On a tight connection on separate tickets the few minutes (or many in the case of arrivals at London Heathrow for example) spent waiting for luggage can mean the difference between making the connection and not. In irregular operations not having checked bags can be the difference between being able to be put on alternative flights ("if you hurry to gate X you can just make it") and being stuck with everyone else.

The Brave New Traveler has 7 more reasons to travel with one bag.

The 2 tricks I have been using most successfully to travel lighter is to:

1. take more stuff that is versatile and worry less about extremes of weather conditions or dress codes (eg have something smart casual instead of more formal, make do with just a couple of pairs of footwear to cover all occasions)
2. bring stuff that I can leave behind, not just old clothing or footwear but also a couple of books (and before the liquids restrictions some bottles of drink) - not only will this lighten the load but also makes space for clothes, souvenirs etc bought while away

For more expert advice and tips on travelling light, check out One Bag.

No frills alliance

Aer Lingus and JetBlue have announced what they call a ticket-booking alliance. As Upgrade : Travel Better notes, it isn't much compared to the traditional big three alliances (One World, Sky Team and Star Alliance).

However it is a start, and I think a first for what has been whispered for a while now - an alliance between low cost carriers. The traditional alliances are expensive (indeed that is the reason Aer Lingus is leaving One World 31 March 2007). So I wonder what might a no frills alliance look like?

• codeshares - eventually in order to most easily expand the destinations reached by an airline, otherwise there is little point in having an alliance
• frequent flyer status benefits - forget about it, no low cost airline has frequent flyer status recognition
• frequent flyer mileage accrual on partner flights - I suspect not since not all no frills airlines have a frequent flyer program, but could work on the codeshares
• frequent flyer mileage redemption on partner flights - again only on the codeshares
• aligned flight schedules - probably only between hubs rather than other points served by networks due to the low cost airlines' desire for maximum flexibility for their own operations
• aligned network - yes as this lowers the cost of serving remote or small destinations
• joint marketing and promotions - no
• interlined baggage (ie checked through when connecting to another airline) - while this would be great for passengers, I can only see this happening for the few low cost airlines that already provide interline baggage

What do you think?

What visas do I need?

With the complex and ever changing visa requirements it is important to keep informed of what you need. A lot of my visas are done either on arrival (great time saver when travelling to those countries that offer it), or at the last minute when I have a small window of not using my passport to get the next lot of visas.

While I usually use the services of a specialist travel visa company, I still find it helpful to have some idea in advance of the visas I'll need. No point in sending away to get a visa (possibly to a third country if no official representation here) if I can get one on arrival instead.

Delta Airlines has a link to the IATA visa database maintained by Timatic. It is very easy to use.

Some other airlines also have links to the database, but for some reason are restricted to less countries and/or nationalities. The Delta link works for everyone and everywhere as far as I can tell.

Liability for lost baggage increases in US

The US Department of Transportation has increased the airline liability for lost, delayed or damaged baggage from $2800 to $3000 effective 28 February 2007. (Thanks to Flight Wisdom for alerting me to this news.)

This improvement only applies to US domestic flights, and only if on a wholly US itinerary. International flights (and US domestic flights on a ticket that includes international flights) are still covered under the Montreal Convention to 1000 SDR (Special Drawing Rights, currently worth about US$1.50 or 1.15 euros each).

So I guess if you are going to lose a bag you'd prefer it to be on a US domestic ticket. If you have valuables you will still need to insure them separately.

Travel Blogs

Upgrade: Travel Better is holding a Travvies awards especially for travel blogs. I look forward to finding some more great travel blogs amongst the nominations.

Feeds

After extended slackness on my part I have gotten around to fixing the feeds for this blog. Hopefully they now work as intended. I have added links to the
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The links are repeated below for convenience.

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