Gettin’ Carried Away

People all over the United States are panicking in light of the recent discovery of the Swine Flu epidemic that originated in the country of Mexico. With record numbers of deaths and illnesses in both Mexico and U.S. attributed to the sickness, several airlines are attempting to keep everyone at ease by waiving the re-booking and ticket changing fees for potential travelers to Mexic

What should I do if I already booked a flight to Mexico?

Most airlines will waive the re-booking fee if passengers reschedule their flights by a specific date. If customers do not change their flights by the given date, they will only have to pay the price difference if the airfare increases.

Example: You booked a $300 flight to Mexico for May 1. The airline will allow you to change your flight for free until May 6. After May 6, the airfare increases to $400. You will only pay $100 for the change

Alaska Airlines: Passengers traveling to/from Mexico between April 27 and May 20, 2009 can rebook their ticket without fees or paying the difference if the fare increases, if travel is rescheduled before or on May 20.

American Airlines: Those who booked flights with AA’s partner Mexicana to arrive/depart/change in Mexico City between April 24 and May 6 will be allowed to change their flight for free. ***Passengers have up until one year after the original purchase date.

Continental Airlines: People with tickets booked to/from/through Mexico between April 24 and May 15 will have change fees and additional fare collection waived if they reschedule the flights for travel on or before May 20.

Delta Airlines: Passengers with tickets to, from or through Mexico from now through May 4 will be able to have their ticket reissued for new travel dates free of charge until May 12. ***If customers are not able to rebook the ticket, they may cancel the reservations altogether and use the value of the ticket towards the purchase of a future flight.

United Airlines: A travel waiver has been issued for flights routing to/from/through Mexico from now through May 6. The flights must have been booked before April 26.

U.S Airways: U.S Airways will waive standard re-booking fees for passengers booked through Mexico City between April 24 and May 8. However, tickets may only be rescheduled up to 14 days after the original travel date. Customers also have the option of putting the full value of an unused ticket towards an alternate destination. This same offer also applies to passengers with tickets to Acapulco, Cabo, Cancun, Cozumel, Guadalajara, Guaymas, Hermosillo, Ixtapa, Manzanillo, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta with tickets originally scheduled April 27 through May 8.

*** American Airlines and Delta Airlines give customers an extended date to change their flights. Most other airlines give passengers only a few weeks.

Forgive me for not posting about this sooner. I’ve been caught up with another project I will hopefully be able to tell you about very soon!

Starting last Friday, April 24, Southwest began a Mystery City sale, offering half-price flights to different destinations they would reveal each day.

• Friday, April 24: Philadelphia
• Saturday, April 25: Nashville
• Sunday, April 26: Albuquerque

~* Screen shot of the sale on Southwest.com *~

TODAY ONLY, you can save 50% on a round trip to anywhere the Bay Area! Choose between San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose.

For the low fare (good through June 10), you must enter the codes:

• San Fran: LUVSFO
• Oakland: LUVOAK
• San Jose: LUVSJC

And hey, with no fee for a checked bag, this really is the deal of a lifetime! Personally, I have only been to Orange County (Irvine, Garden Grove, etc.) and Los Angeles. I’d pick Oakland… mainly to go to an A’s game, of course!

As promised, here is a guest post from:

Runnin’ Around with the Briefcase Blues: Finding the Right Carrying Case for a Business Trip

Anyone going on a business trip is always going to pay particular attention to what they wear. Although no one discounts the importance of matching or complimenting the dress code of your corporate hosts, we find that, far too often, travel accessories are overlooked in the process. Take briefcases, for example. What you carry to a meeting says a lot about you in terms of style and organization. So, we’re going to go over a couple of quick hints that should help you coordinate your briefcase to the type of meeting you will be attending.

Practicality vs. Style

The main issue when it comes to briefcase selection is practicality versus style. Hard-sided attaché cases are extremely chic and durable, but won’t hold as much as soft-sided cases, most of which have outside pockets and can expand to fit more documents and folders. Of course, the problem with using soft-sided cases is that many of them do not have the same elegant, formal appearance as attaché cases. So when one of these briefcases combined with formal attire, it can result in a stark mismatch. Before making the purchase, you need to consider several important questions: How many pockets and compartments will you need? Will you be using the briefcase for laptop storage as well? Are you planning on lugging the briefcase for long distances?

Dress Code

The dress code of the meeting is important, as is the general culture of the area you will be visiting. Above all, you want your briefcase to blend with the general mood and appearance of its surroundings. In general, a more casual type of briefcase will fit in better at meetings in the American South or on the West Coast, while a more formal case is usually necessary should the meeting be in New York or Washington D.C. Meetings held in Europe and Asia also tend to be on the formal side of things, as well, and the same is true for most of Latin America. Finally, in some South American locales, you can afford to go a little more casual.

So what type of briefcases work best for a casual or formal meeting? As we mentioned above, hard-sided briefcases give a more austere appearance, making it great for formal meetings, while soft-sided cases compliments best with business-casual wear, as they often project a more relaxed, yet professional appearance.

Colors

Another tidbit worth noting is that briefcases are a lot like business wear in terms of color. Black is best for formal affairs, while brown will blend in better if the meeting is laid-back. And when shopping for material, you’ll find that leather briefcases are the most flexible in terms of style; leather styles can range from sleek, structured black cases to more casual, rustic and artisan designs.

There are a lot of briefcase styles out there to choose from, and providing that you look hard enough, you should have no problems finding one to match your business trip. Just make note of what the business dress code is in advance, and once you have that figured out, make sure that your briefcase compliments, rather than contrasts, your own outfit.