Long recommended by people who go every year -timeshare owners on TUGBBS.com and timeshareforums.com…

Very good price on airport transfers and many different tours…

So if your resort is in Cancun, Isla Mujeres, Puerto Juarez, Playa Mujeres, Puerto Morelos…

Playa Paraiso, Playa del Carmen & Playacar, Puerto Aventuras, Akumal or Tulum your in luck.

They have both public and private discounted tours to the places you want to go. Shopping, Fishing, Mayan Ruins, Snorkeling,Eco Parks, Day & Night Cruises, Dolphin / Shark encounters and many others.

Book before you go.

They also have Cancun’s 2 for 1 Meal Card.

Pointswizard.com Spin: Click here for Cancun/Rivera Maya – discount tours and airport transfers

Entertainment-Plus is a member of the American Society of Travel Agents

“These days, even the most hard-core fans of airline paper tickets have largely gotten used to the idea of e-tickets. Many don’t even bother bringing the receipts or itineraries with them to the airport.

Not so fast. E-ticket confirmations should be examined for some all-too-common errors. Print them out. Take a good look at names, times, seat assignments, upgrades and connections.

Without a hard copy, it’s easier to miss details, especially in an era of overflowing email in-boxes. Who has time to read everything? Even if the reservation was just confirmed by phone.

Unfortunately, as a old manager of mine once said, “If you don’t think you have time to do something, then you really don’t have time to do it over.” And some version of this definitely applies with the airlines’ e-tickets today.

Here are five examples of e-tickets issues that need careful checking:

1. Check upgrade requests. United Airlines prefers travel agents who request mileage upgrades for clients to do so by computer, basically sending a message in the record as to what you want, and “queuing” it over. (Think of it as a rudimentary email system.) Then United agents work the requests. They don’t send the record back to the agent, but once done, the record will show whether the upgrade is confirmed or waitlisted.

In this case, I sent a roundtrip request for two clients between San Francisco and Chicago, using the husband’s miles. I already knew both upgrades would be waitlisted but the clients were fine with that. I looked at the record the next day, and noticed, the return had been neither confirmed nor upgraded. The agent had just forgotten to do it.

Then I looked more carefully at the record. They were flying out on a 10:43 a.m. flight to Chicago, and the upgrade was waitlisted for the 9:51 a.m. flight. Suffice it to say, nothing good would come of that. I called immediately, and an apologetic reservations agent fixed the problem.

Now had I not noticed the issues they would have probably been told at the airport that the upgrade had never been requested. And while I would have had a computer trail proving that it had been, the clients still would have missed out on any upgrade chance.

If this were a one time incident, I would laugh it off. But the fact is, most airline reservations offices are understaffed and overstressed. Most upgrade requests are handled correctly, however I have had several upgrades waitlisted for both the wrong flight and the wrong date.

2. Look carefully at companion tickets. American Airlines earlier this year booked a free ticket for a client’s spouse to go with a paid ticket I had issued, and booked the spouse to return a day later. (The client in question had called the airline with my confirmation number, so American had the exact itinerary he wanted matched.)

3. Be wary of upgrades without seat assignments. Other little things to watch for, confirmed upgrades without seat assignments. Which might not seem that serious, but especially for travelers flying together it can be especially frustrating to have had seats together in coach, get upgraded, and then get to the airport to find no seat assignments and no seats together. ” (via .consumertraveler.com ) by  JANICE HOUGH

Pointswizard.com Spin: Click here to read the rest of 5 reasons to double-check e-tickets before you fly

“Though ever-increasing security at airports makes sense in the face of terrorist activity worldwide, that doesn’t make the slow processing speeds and long lines at airport security any less frustrating…..

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is aware that there’s room for improvement, but they’re not in a hurry to make your life easier…

“The TSA cares about security,” says Bruce Schneier, security expert and author of “Schneier on Security,” but “if you want to make security faster, there need to be more lines… They’re just not going to do that.”…

To be fair, the TSA has made small steps toward improving the speed of security. They introduced Advanced Technology X-ray scanners at major airports; installed self-select lanes so slow-moving families and expert travelers choose different lanes; they removed bans on frequently confiscated and innocuous items such as nail clippers; they endorsed “checkpoint-friendly” laptop bags.

A little common sense and advance planning can shave seconds — possibly minutes — from your trip through security. “I design my life so I don’t beep,” says Schneier. “My life is checkpoint-friendly.” Schneier is an expert traveler who knows the finer details of TSA regulations. But even a quick glance at the TSA’s Web site can help the average traveler clear security more quickly, too.

First, there’s the restriction on liquids. Like it or not, as an air passenger, you must be sure “all of your liquids, gels or aerosols fit under quantity measures,” says TSA spokesperson Sterling Payne. Recent arrests have proved the wisdom of these checks, but it’s “probably the biggest thing slowing down security lines.” Liquids cannot be in bottles larger than 3.4 ounces. If you have a water bottle, toss it before you get into line. Keep all your other liquids in a plastic, clear, zip-top bag that easily removed for inspection.

If possible, save yourself the time and hassle by simply packing your liquids in checked bags.When traveling with pets or children, preparing everything in advance can save minutes at security. Take your infants out of the stroller and your pet out of its carrier while you’re in line. Be prepared to put the stroller or carrier through the X-ray machine, so collapse them if possible. You’ll have to carry your baby or pet through the metal detector, so stow your documents in a safe and easy-to-access pocket so you can promptly show your boarding ticket to the official.

More experienced travelers have other tricks that are second nature. For example, don’t wait until you reach the front of the line to start emptying your pockets. Take a minute to stash your watch, keys and loose change in your carry-on.

Even if you’re using one of the new “checkpoint friendly” laptop bags, tie and neatly stow the additional wires so it won’t look like a bomb when it’s X-rayed. And because “everyone has to take off their shoes,” says Payne, wear easily-removable footwear such as flip-flops or slip-ons. Choose pants that don’t require a belt, and opt for an easily removed sweater or jacket, which TSA officials may make you send through the X-ray machine separately. ” (via  Jonathan Ages) by Jonathan Ages – Forbes Traveler

Pointswizard.com Spin: Click here to read more about How to beat the airport security line

“There are plenty of cheap shortcuts to a better travel experience…

Wearing an elegant outfit can open doors in business — and in business travel. Richard Rheindorf learned this firsthand, when he sported a well-tailored suit while waiting to board a flight from San Francisco to Vancouver…

Even though the coach cabin wasn’t oversold, the ticket agent bumped Rheindorf to first class…. “You looked the part,” the agent told him…

“It’s rare, but it does happen,” says George Hobica, president and founder of AirfareWatchdog.com. “If you’re standing there in a three-piece suit, they’re certainly going to pick you over the guy in gym shorts.”

Dressing up for a flight — and charming gate agents — works on occasion, but there are more sure-fire ways to score the best airplane seats. Whether it’s knowing a plane’s layout, requesting an exit-row seat or obtaining high status in a frequent-flier program, there are myriad routes to avoiding that non-reclining seat next to the back lavatory.

To uncover the most effective methods, we polled a roster of travel experts including Matt Daimler, founder of SeatGuru.com; Joe Brancatelli, founder of JoeSentMe.com; Patrick Evans, spokesman for STA Travel; and Hobica. They agreed: All seats are not created equal. There are tremendous differences even among coach seats on the same plane, not to mention other airlines and classes.

“Obviously there are seats that are more comfy than others,” says Hobica. “Pinpoint a seat and buy intelligently.”

Game of inches
Flying coach always seems to entail sitting with knees at one’s chest, squeezed by the encroaching bodies of corpulent neighbors. Though it may not seem like it, there are many ways to avoid this scenario. For one, know your airlines. Different carriers configure their planes differently; though most offer 32 inches of legroom, some, like JetBlue, offer 34 inches for the same price.

To get even more space, reserve a spot in an exit row. These seats typically offer six inches more legroom than the typical coach seat, and they’re often the same price. Airlines usually release these seats via online check-in 24 hours before departure; some, like JetBlue, sell them for a modest premium.

“For about $10 more, you can get an exit row seat with 38 inches of legroom — that’s more than some airlines’ first class,” says Hobica. “Personally, I always buy the exit-row seat.”

Another tip: Know your airplanes. There are tremendous differences even among the coach seats on a single plane; the disparity between different jets operated by different carriers can be even greater. Web sites like SeatExpert.com and Daimler’s SeatGuru.com offer color-coded seat maps that reveal which seats have the best amenities.

“Some airlines on certain seats have power outlets and seatback televisions,” says Evans. “That’s not always indicated on an airline’s Web site.”

JetBlue and start-up carrier Virgin America offer seatback televisions for every passenger on every flight. On other airlines like Allegiant and Southwest, video entertainment is notoriously hard to find.

Cheap upgrades

Another method of escaping coach’s doldrums is to obtain an upgrade to business or first class. Doing so needn’t be terribly costly — upgrades on domestic flights can be had for as little as $50 per trip segment.” (via msnbc.msn.com ) by Zack O’Malley Greenburg

Pointswizard.com Spin: Click here to read the rest of Tips and tricks for finding cheap airline seats

“For about 15 days a month, Alaska Airlines pilot Jim Lancaster lives in a motor home in Parking Lot B near the southernmost runway at Los Angeles International Airport.

Every four minutes, a jetliner or turboprop roars in — 500 feet above his front door — for a landing. The noise is so loud it forces Lancaster to pause during conversations. But he doesn’t mind. Lancaster puts up with the smell of jet fuel and screaming engines to save time and money.
The 60-year-old aviator’s primary residence is a cottage he shares with his wife overlooking a quiet bay off Puget Sound in Washington state. Living in Lot B while he’s on duty means he doesn’t have to rent a Los Angeles apartment with other pilots or spend 12 hours a day commuting to and from the Seattle area.

“As kids we used to ask our parents to take us to the airport to see the planes,” Lancaster quipped. “Now I get to live at the airport.”

He isn’t the only one. Lancaster’s 2001 Tradewinds sits among 100 trailers and motor homes that form a colony of pilots, mechanics and other airline workers at LAX, the third-busiest airport in the nation. They are citizens of one of the most unusual communities in the United States.

Their turf, just east of the Proud Bird restaurant off Aviation Boulevard, is less than 3,500 feet from the south runway. It is a drab expanse of crumbling gray asphalt, approach lights, chain-link fencing and rows of beige and white RVs — some battered, others grand. A splash of color comes from the red and white blooms of about a dozen rose bushes along the colony’s northern edge.

Many of the residents are separated from spouses, children and significant others for days — even weeks — at a time in order to keep their jobs or move up the pyramid of the airline industry.

“This is the cost of being a pilot today,” said Todd Swenson, 40, a first officer with Alaska Airlines. His wife, Amanda, and 2-year-old son, Noah, live in Fresno, a six-hour commute by car. “I’ve wanted to be a pilot all my life. It can be awful here. But I have to provide for my family, and I love flying airplanes.”

Swenson, who earns about $70,000 a year, lives across from Lancaster in a 1973 Coachman trailer that belonged to his father. If Lancaster’s 38-foot rig with leather furniture is Park Place, Swenson’s is Mediterranean Avenue. The 23-foot metal box is as cramped as economy class, with just enough space for a double bed, a television and a La-Z-Boy recliner. There is a galley kitchen and a bathroom about the size of an airliner lavatory.

The trailer’s windows are blacked out with foil and brown paper bags so Swenson can sleep during the day. To muffle the constant din of aircraft, he bought a white-noise machine — a small tape player with a recording that sounds like a washing machine. Swenson works out at a nearby 24-Hour Fitness, where he showers to conserve his trailer’s limited water supply.

Inside the Coachman, the wood paneling and storage cabinets are covered with photos of Amanda and Noah, whom Swenson returns to about 11 days a month. He keeps in touch via a computer webcam.

“When my tires leave the driveway of my house in Fresno,” Swenson said, “the only thing I can think about is getting back to my family.”" ( via latimes.com ) by Dan Weikel

Pointswizard.com Spin: Click here to read the rest of L.A. parking lot is home away from home for airline workers

“Find out which airports have wireless internet services – and how much you’ll have to pay for access – with this guide to airport wireless Internet services.

Fees provided are daily rates as advertised on the airport or provider websites

- save money by purchasing a monthly subscription with the provider servicing the airports you frequent the most. ” (via businesstravel.about.com ) by Greig Waddell

Pointswizard.com Spin: Click here for Find out about Available Wi-Fi at the Busiest U.S. Airports

“So, your flight was delayed, and may be cancelled. You missed your connecting flight and you face hours at the airport waiting for Plan B to play out. What to do?

Given that so many travelers feel air travel is driving them to drink, why not take this literally and seek out good places at the airport for a colorful cocktail, fine wine or hearty beer?

Beer is the most budget-friendly quaffing option, and airports are increasingly putting the good stuff on offer: toothsome microbrews, unique specialty beers and other fresh-from-the-tap alternatives to watery, character-free, mass-market suds.

The need to drown your sorrows has combined with the trend of airport concessions offering better beers to prompt UK-based Cheapflights.com to develop a “Beer Lover’s Airport Guide” to 15 U.S. airports. Beer bloggers and others are compiling airport lists, too.

“More airports are transforming themselves into places that travelers enjoy,” said Carl Schwartz, a Cheapflights.com executive. “The addition of specialty brews to their beverage lineups is helping to decrease stress levels while providing unique enjoyment at the same time.”

Given the turbulence in aviation, and the scary state of the economy, we have to hope so.

Jerome Greer Chandler, of Cheapflights.com, singles out Portland, Oregon’s airport for its Laurelwood Brewing Co. outposts — both are located post-security — in concourses A and E. Laurelwood’s Organic Tree-Hugger Porter is “robust and dark, with a chocolate malt ambience and a dry, roasty finish.”

Chandler favors another exemplar of American micro-brewing in the Denver International airport. This is New Belgium, a brewery that pours its beers in a pub called The Hub in the Mile High Aerodrome in concourse B of the regional jet terminal. “Nicely balanced” Fat Tire Amber Ale is showcased there.” ( via www.msnbc.msn.com ) by David Armstrong. (image moonbattery.com)

Pointswizard.com Spin: read more Waiting for your flight? Relax and have a beer

“(Budget Travel’s anonymous confessor has worked as both a ticket agent and a departure-gate agent for a major airline. He has since left the industry.)

When it comes to flight changes and delays, Budget Travel’s confessor says, “sometimes the agent is the last one to know.”

Airline agents may go out of their way to get kind passengers onto new flights when theirs are delayed.

No training
New airline ticket and departure-gate agents are hard to find these days. Not only are the wages awful, but flying for free — the one perk of the job — is becoming virtually impossible because planes are always packed with paying customers.

To save money, many airlines also aren’t giving new employees the same job training they once received, leaving inexperienced agents on the front line to deal with passenger complaints. Once, on a trip I took after I had stopped working as a ticket agent, I had to show a new hire where to look in the system to find my reservation — she had no idea what she was doing.

Cut off
The airline I worked for had a very antiquated computer system. We had about a dozen operating systems in the company. There were separate systems for mapping flight routes, filing lost-luggage claims, and keeping track of reservations — but not all of them could relay data to each other. To top it all off, the computers at the departure gates didn’t have Internet access.
The popular belief among disgruntled travelers that gate agents purposely keep passengers in the dark about flight delays isn’t really true — sometimes the agent is the last one to know what’s going on.

Good behavior
It used to be that if you tried a little smooth talking or even brought a cookie to the gate agent, you might be able to score an upgrade. Not anymore.

Because the airlines are increasingly focused on the bottom line, free upgrades are incredibly hard to come by. Still, it pays to be nice to the agents: After a few kind words, they may go out of their way to reroute you on a partner airline if your flight is delayed.

I turned on the charm myself one time when I was facing a long delay on the way to the Caribbean. Smiling politely, I went to a partner airline’s ticket counter and asked the agent to please reroute me. Several hours later, I was lying on the beach, sipping a tropical drink.

Personal info
Ticket agents are always updating Passenger Name Records, or PNRs. These computer files, which contain basic details on passengers’ trips, are accessible to most agents at check-in counters and departure gates.

Agents generally use PNRs to record special requests by passengers, but sometimes they also comment on a person’s behavior.” (via cnn.com and BudgetTravel.com)

Pointswizard.com Spin: here the link to read the rest

By Harriet Baskas

“There’s no turning back now.
Following the lead of United, Northwest, Delta and US Airways, Continental Airlines announced beginning May 5, passengers will have to pay a $25 fee to check a second bag. Any moment now, we’ll have to declare this to be the industry-wide standard.

How will well-mannered travelers cope? Some folks will grumble while they pay that extra fee, others will finally take the time to learn how to pack it all into just one suitcase — but most of us will just end up trying to carry more stuff with us onto the plane.
That means, of course, overhead bin space will become even more precious — and a lot more stuff will end up getting left behind at airports. Not because it won’t fit onto airplanes, but because the more you carry, the easier it is to lose track of your belongings.

Where does it all go?
The shelves and lockers at airport lost-and-found offices are already overflowing with all kinds of items distracted, anxious, sleep-deprived or just plain forgetful folks have left in food courts, gate holding areas, parking lot shuttles, taxis and bathrooms. “I’m amazed at all the stuff people leave,” says Kim Brown, a ground transportation coordinator who also deals with lost-and-found items at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. “We get more than 200 items a day turned in here — everything from cell phones, laptops, and prescription glasses to wallets full of cash and oxygen tanks.”

Some of the stuff folks leave behind is replaceable — often it’s not. Which is why Brown was pleased last week to be able to reunite a woman with a sweater she’d left on a parking lot shuttle bus. “The sweater had belonged to and been worn by the woman’s mother, who was no longer alive. So it was a piece of clothing that maybe didn’t look important, but it had a great deal of sentimental value.”

Stories like that are familiar to Priscilla Andrews, who heads up the lost-and-found department at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Her team once enlisted the help of a funeral home to track down the owner of a container of ashes left on the counter at a rental car agency.
Andrews had no ashes in her office when I spoke with her, but she did have about 40 cell phones, 30 wallets, 11 laptops, a dozen checkbooks, two dozen canes, a car stereo and a chainsaw. “The chainsaw may have come from the TSA. Those folks have enough to deal with, so we help out by taking in the items people leave behind at the security checkpoints.” All cell phones stay turned on, says Andrews, “in case the owner calls. And as soon as a laptop comes in we turn it on right away to see if we can find some identification. We know how important some of these things are to people.” ” (via msnbc.msn.com) drawing by Kim Carney / msnbc.com
Pointswizard.com Spin: click here to read more

Security Checkpoint Wait Times
As a customer service initiative, TSA is providing security checkpoint wait time information to assist travelers in planning for their next flight. The wait times are historical so please note actual wait time may vary depending on factors including weather delays which result in increased passenger levels.

When calculating arrival time, remember to build in time for non-security related issues, including parking, and checking in with your airline. Please consult your airline and airport for additional guidance on arrival time.

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