Ack! I Missed My Flight! (JetBlue is Pretty Awesome) 3.24.12

Of course, it’s not just JetBlue that is awesome, as we’ve had similar experience with missed flights/connections on other airlines, but our most recent has been JetBlue, in which my new best friend in the travel world, Sherie, at the Las Vegas McCarran Airport used her rebooking expertise to work some magic and get us booked on the next flight out and also upgrade our seats, because she rocks and is awesome at customer service. Take note other ticket desk agents!

So, several times we have missed a flight or connection, due to the airline or my own ineptitude (yes, I will take blame on this myself). I hope that aisle seat person appreciates all the extra room they have because we are not there (or some people who REALLY needed to get on that flight made it due to our absence. The time before this we were stuck at LAX, because our flight coming back home was delayed and then it came in late and we had to take a tram to a terminal 32 miles away (or so it seemed) and missed boarding by 5 minutes. Of course, at that point they probably wouldn’t have let us on anyway, as the plane was actually taxiing away when we showed up at the desk. This was on American and the agent was aware our previous flight was late and looked up the next flight for us and was able to rebook us on a flight coming back to Portland an hour later. Score! We got a snack and then played video games while we waited. Lucky for us, LAX is a huge hub, with flights coming and going all the time.

Thank you, Sherie!

This trip it was my own fault we were late to the airport and missed our flight. Our boarding time was 7:40, with the flight leaving at 8:10. The plan was to get up at 4am (as we were in St. George, Utah and had to drive 2 hours to get to Vegas). Note to Android users, your phone may or may not have this same (dumb) function, but when you set your alarm, make sure it is the day you want it to wake you up, otherwise, you, too will have set your alarm for Monday, when you needed to get up on Wednesday. Convenient! We woke up and the clock said 6:30am. I suppose it could have been worse. With the hour time difference in our favor, we crossed our fingers that we would still get there JUST in time. And we would have too, had there not been rush hour traffic once we made it to Vegas.

So, in between traffic – which was still faster than anywhere else I’ve ever driven – having to get gas and return our rental car, we got to the actual ticket desk right as our flight was leaving. We were pretty sure the next flight out wouldn’t be until 4pm, so we’d be at the airport for 8 hours, at the least. I had an inkling of hope that we might be able to be rebooked on a different airline, though the chance was slim. I walked up to the desk and told Sherie my problem and she checked our connection in Long Beach. We originally would have a 2 hour layover there and the next flight out there wasn’t until 7pm. She said they had seats available from Vegas to Long Beach on the next flight that went out on 9:50am and would get us there just before the other flight was due to board. She was even awesome enough to get us row 1, so we could grab bags and jump off the plane as soon as the doors opened. Hallelujah! Row 1 is in their Even More Space seats that usually cost $30 more, but we were getting them for nothing (you know, except what we originally paid). I thanked her profusely and was excited that we now had over an hour to hang at McCarran and could eat breakfast and not have to fight for a seat at LGB, where they are under construction and the waiting room is probably as big as my house (6 gates all crammed in one end, 5 feet from each other) and the bathrooms and café are outside in portable buildings.

We made it to LGB on time and then realized nobody seemed to be in line for boarding our Portland flight, which was supposed to leave 15 minutes from when we landed. Lucky for us, the plane that was coming in from San Francisco had weather problems and delayed the plane 10-15 minutes, so we were actually early for that flight to make it home at the original time.

While much of this was luck, I can also say that we always fly on the least busy days of the week (Tuesday, Wednesday or Saturday). On this trip we left on Saturday and came home on Wednesday, so we were able to get some seats on another flight. Two other plusses on our side were that we had no bags to check (in case we did miss our connection and it got lost waiting for us to show up) and JetBlue does not overbook their flights. This helped us not have to be put on standby, as she could see there were seats available. Our seats were already paid for, so instead of making us pay extra for the fancy seats in the front, she just put us in them, or else they would have gone empty. Yay for us.

LGB airport is so big...

Had any of the above three things not been a factor in our travels, we may still be at the airport trying to get back or missing half our clothes at home until our bag finally resurfaced. They didn’t seem like big things at the time, but planning ahead actually saved us in the end. I’ll talk about the benefits of flying JetBlue in my next post.

Have you ever missed a flight and been stuck at the airport for hours? Or do you have a story about an awesome ticket agent that helped you tremendously?

Tips for Traveling with Kids - From a Practical Mom: Part 2

Okay, not every vacation revolves around a character, and my practical best friend and mother of 4 knows that. She also can’t afford for every trip they take to be a big blow-out, so they take day trips as well. Last week I gave you her tips for Disney and theme parks in general, but we’re switching gears with her tips this time. If you guys are outdoorsy and love nature, then national parks are where it’s at. Go hiking, see cool rock formations, check out caves and more. Kids love that stuff and it’s fairly cheap. We made a day out of it and had a great time when we vacationed together last week. Make sure you bring snacks and things for the kids to do in the car.

Buy a national parks yearly pass. You can get a yearly pass for just $80 and use it for entry at all national parks all year long. Sounds expensive, you say? Well, if you plan to visit at least 3-4 parks a year, it is already saving you money. In fact, most parks have a $25 entry fee (per car), but some are even more. The Grand Canyon cost $40 when we looked recently, so just two trips there would cost you the whole amount of a yearly pass.

Buy a national parks passport. For just $8.95 per book, you have an excellent way to collect souvenirs from each park you visit. Make sure you stop by the visitor’s center to pick yours up and then get it stamped at each location. This is a wonderful thing for kids to do, because it teaches them about travel and each book tells you facts about every national park you can visit. Stamps are free. They also have a sticker available at each park that you can buy, or you can do what Lydia does and buy a pack of stickers they sell in the gift center and let the kids pick out which one they want and use the leftovers for scrapbooking. The stickers come in packs of 9 (3 of each kind) and run about the same as the individual sticker they sell specifically for the passport.

Become a Junior Ranger. Another awesome activity for your kids to do is to get involved in the Junior Rangers. It’s free and each location has a book of activities for them to complete that teach them important lessons about the environment and the area the park is located in. We visited Bryce Canyon and the questions were all about plateaus and rock formations. The children watched a movie to get the answers, answered other questions found in the packet and then picked up litter to complete their ranger training. At the end they had a real park ranger have them repeat the Junior Ranger oath and then they received a free pin (some have patches). Not only did they learn some cool stuff, but they also got a free souvenir out of the experience and had a fantastic time.

Go hiking. Yup. You’re in this awesome wilderness with hiking trails and amazing views. Strap on some comfortable shoes, grab some water and snacks and get going. It’s a great way to get exercise and also let the kids get out all their energy. Cap off the day with a picnic or a stop at a fun restaurant on the way home and you’ve had a full and fun outing. We picked Chili’s, mostly because it’s family-friendly, the adults all wanted to eat there (neither of us have one near where we live) and it was a little too cold out for a picnic.

Invest in a baby backpack (or sling or carrier). If you have a baby in amongst your kids, don’t give up on ever going anywhere until they’re old enough to walk. Depending on how hard-core you are when hiking, get yourself the appropriate baby carrying equipment. Lydia has both a folding hiking backpack for the baby and a front carrier for their little one. Strap it on and go. Just make sure to bring a change of clothes (possibly for both of you), some spare diapers and you’ll be prepared for whatever happens on your walk. It’s great to start them early and it gets you all out of the house without having to figure out how to get the stroller down the hill.

Want even more tips for traveling with kids and planning your summer vacation? Download my ebook: Secrets to Summer Savings. For just $2.99 you get 24 pages packed full of ways to save money and stretch your budget. Less than $3 to save hundreds (or more)?! Why haven't you clicked yet?

Do you have a national parks pass for your family?

Tips for Traveling with Kids - From a Practical Mom

Last week I went to St. George to see my best friend for 20+ years, Lydia, her husband (who I’ve known forever, too) and her kids. It was our compromise for a meeting place, since she lives far from a reasonably convenient airport and having to fly with 3 children and a baby is not cheap. They drove 3-4 hours and we flew into Vegas and drove 2 hours to meet them. Considering the rental company was out of compacts and we were upgraded (for free!) to a Crown Victoria, the ride was pretty cushy. We spent a lot of time driving around in their van, so we had plenty of time to talk about traveling and some great budget tips that didn’t include “leave your kids at home”.

Being a single-income family, they can find it hard to get away often, but they tend to find the time, energy and money to do it more than a lot of families I know and not because they are using credit cards they can’t afford to pay off or sleeping in their van on the side of the road. To let you in on the big picture, Lydia has 4 children, aged 3 months to 9, a (sometimes more than) full-time job, a dog, coaches the soccer team her girls play on, teaches Sunday school and always has a house full of her children’s friends. So, she doesn’t have even as much time as other parents and still makes time for all the family time she can.

She and I are big researchers and planners, so we get each other on this whole saving money and still having fun thing. Life isn’t all that fun when your day consists of working, helping with homework, having dinner, going to bed and then getting up and doing it all over again, so she plans as much time as she can away from home doing things the whole family will enjoy. She had some great tips that were new to me and I had some for her. Good trades! To give you idea why I think she’s an authority of family travel, she says they can do 4 days at Disney (including meals, park passes and hotel) for around $1300. They don’t fly, because they live somewhat close, so they do save on airfare. Now, I know couples that can’t figure out how to stick within that kind of budget. There are FIVE of them (we won’t count the baby yet, because they won’t have to pay for him for a few years), so I believe if they can do it, then those with fewer children can do it, too.

Buy Disney t-shirts. This is a smarty pants idea. Go to your local discount store, like Target, and pick up a cheap Disney tee for each of your kids, then get some fabric pens. Instead of buying $10 autograph books at the parks, you can have the characters sign the shirts. It’s a souvenir and also won’t be thrown in a corner and forgotten once they get home. Lydia says the best ones to get are the 50/50 poly-cotton blends, since they don’t shrink and tend to be more fade resistant.

Buy pins on ebay. Are your kids all into the pin-trading fad? Try to avoid spending gobs of money at the parks on new pins and get a bunch of pins in a lot on ebay. Get 30 for $30 or similar, so you are getting a bunch for way cheap, and dole them out among your little ones for them to trade to their heart’s content. (Make sure they SAY Disney on them, though, or they won’t be able to.) Some cast members will only trade with kids and they can also get rare and limited pins this way. You can also trade with other pin owners.

Bring your own snacks. I’ve told you this as someone who does it, but now you know I’m not the only one who relies on this as a way to save money. They basically make sandwiches the morning before they leave for lunches and only eat one meal in the park if possible. This way they save big each day by cutting out a big chunk of cost. I mean, dining for five can really add up! Another great snack tip is to buy the thing that comes in a souvenir bucket (usually popcorn) and then make your own popcorn to bring with you every other day you go back. That way you have a souvenir and also a cheap snack.

Stay off-property. Another thing I always recommend because think of what you can do with the difference in cost between staying at the Disney hotels (~$250/night) compared to a regular hotel (~$70/night). That can pay for food for several days. They like to stay at one of the parks across the street from Disney, so if they get tired or hungry, they can easily go back for something to eat or a nap.

Take naps! Like I just said, staying close makes it easier to go back to the room for a nap. If your kids have a regular nap routine, you can’t expect them to not be totally crabby my mid-day if they don’t get one. Naps are good for adults, too, and you actually end up doing more when you take time out to rest, because you’re refreshed and can make decisions and not hate the world because you’ve been up for 10 hours and it’s only 3pm. Also, those around you don’t want to be witness to your child’s total meltdown in line for Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride either.

We'll continue with her non-theme park travel tips in our next post. Do you have any creative budget tips for visiting theme parks with your kids?