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The Wall Street Journal Guide to Power Travel: How to Arrive with Your Dignity, Sanity, and Wallet Intact |  | Author: Scott Mccartney
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $16.99
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Seller: atlanta-book-company
Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 78706
Media: Paperback
Edition: Original
Pages: 320
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.8
ISBN: 0061688711
Dewey Decimal Number: 910.4
EAN: 9780061688713
ASIN: 0061688711
Publication Date: May 1, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Imagine a world without late planes, missed connections, lost luggage, bumped passengers, cramped seating, high fees and higher fares, surly employees, and security lines. . . . Ordinary travel is an extraordinary ordeal. Yet despite the high prices and huge hassles, travel is essential—along with the need for tips, tricks, and techniques to improve the journey. The Wall Street Journal Guide to Power Travel is an entertaining road trip and a helpful guide, drawn from Scott McCartney's popular Middle Seat column, which explains why bad things happen to good travelers and what you can do to improve your lot. Expert advice and tips include: - How to get cheap fares, first-class upgrades, and better seats.
- How to minimize chances of lost luggage and what to do when baggage doesn't show up.
- How to avoid delays, get around TSA bottlenecks, and minimize the chances you'll get stuck at some distant airport—and what to do if you do get stuck.
- How to complain to an airline and get some attention, right down to what to ask for in compensation and how to get the government's attention.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 10
 OK, but... December 21, 2009
M. Yanovich (Los Angeles, CA USA)
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
The tips in this book are ok, but far from amazing. But my biggest issue with the book is the poor layout.
Every single section heading is preceded by the word "Power"... so "bargains" becomes "power bargains" and "Packing" becomes "power packing". The titles get old fast, but also make it harder to skim the book for information you need quickly. I know it's just one extra word, but when flipping through at high speed, it's much easier to find "packing" than "power packing."
Currently, I want information on weather cancellation policies, as I'm stuck in just that situation. I have yet to find the section in the book because the appendix is non-existant (well, they have an appendix, but for resource information, not to give you a detailed breakdown on what's where in the book), and the chapter headings are too difficult to scan through. I'm sure I'll find what I need eventually, but for a resource book, this is far less resourceful than its name would imply.
That said, there are some good tips in here. It's just not what I'd hoped for.
 Packed with useful suggestions that will make trips easier for both novice and veteran travelers. November 1, 2009
Blaine Greenfield (Belle Meade, NJ)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL GUIDE TO POWER TRAVEL by Scott McCartney, the
paper's Middle Seat columnist, is packed with useful suggestions
that will make trips easier for both novice and veteran travelers.
For example, when it comes to improving your bags' chances
for arriving at your destination, the author recommends:
* Always mark your bags distinctly, but not with long ribbons
that could get caught in machinery. Use tape, or tightly tied
package ribbon, directly on the bag. And don't rely on big luggage
tags-they can get torn off. Baggage has become uniformly
boring black these days, and there's nothing worse than seeing fifty
similar black bags on a carousel. Colorful identifying marks not
only make it easier for you to spot your bag, but also keep other
people from picking up the wrong bag-unless, of course, eight
people on your flight all had black bags with yellow ribbons.
Yet when it comes to what luggage you should actually
buy, even McCartney is confused:
* Even the size limits vary among airlines. At American, United,
and Delta, the maximum size of carry-on baggage is forty-five linear
inches-the length, width, and height dimensions added together.
At US Airways and Continental, the maximum is fifty-one inches-
13 percent more. I have a Travelpro roll-abroad bag that I've taken
all over the world, and every time I've raised it to slide it into an
overhead bin, it has fit (sometimes snugly in older bins). The bag is
twenty-three inches tall, fifteen inches wide, and twelve inches deep,
when I don't unzip the expanders. At its standard size, its
measurements total fifty inches-exceeding the rules at the three biggest
airlines in the United States, while legal on Continental and US Airways.
And airlines wonder why their rules confound travelers?
So what's a traveler to do? Assuming you get on the flight, there's
always this option:
* Another jet lag strategy is melatonin to "reset" your body clock when
you arrive in a new time zone. Melatonin is a hormone secreted by
the pineal gland in the brain that helps control the body's internal
clock. It's released by our bodies based on sunlight-nighttime
yields the release of more melatonin. If you cheat yourself out of
a night, you lose melatonin and your circadian rhythm is disrupted.
Taking a small supplemental dose-doctors usually recommend
0.5 mg-about an hour before you go to sleep after arrival, and
perhaps a day or two into your trip, helps some people recover
quickly. Medical studies on melatonin supplements for jet leg have
been inconclusive. It's worth a try, but your mileage may vary,
as they say.
POWER TRAVEL does its best job in covering plane
trips . . . in addition, there are some good tips for booking
both hotel stays and cruises . . . my only disappointment
was that there's not coverage on car rentals.
It told me more than I really want to know. August 31, 2009
Charles H. Stade (Oak Park, IL)
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
I learned a lot of things about how much airlines despise their customers and a few things about what to do about it.
Power Airline Travel August 13, 2009
TDM (Colorado Springs, CO)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
I was very very impressed with the Wall Street Journal Guide to Power Travel. I am a frequent traveler both because of business and leisure, and this book gave me a few more tips that I can use to make my trips more enjoyable. The primary focus of this book is Air Travel. I would say if there is one down side to this, some of the best tips cost additional money. This is not additional money from the author but additional money and subscriptions to helpful sites that might make travel easier. I really believe that people who do not know much about Airline travel and how to plan a successful trip will greatly enjoy this book. Those people that travel frequently will get a couple good ideas that may help out with upgrades and seat selection info. Overall, this is a good read that most people will enjoy while learning useful tips.
Mediocre Tips August 5, 2009
Don L. Brown
4 out of 8 found this review helpful
This book only contains basic information and provides very little new information for frequent flyers.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 10
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