Travel

by Robert McGarvey

My name is Bob and I am a points addict.

Actually I am not and in this blog I will explore the Siren call of points and how I managed to escape the trap. Just barely. It has become terribly easy to be seduced by the allure of points as a free passport to, well, anything you desire. But it is not that easy or even that honest.

Understand, for starters, I mean no disrespect to real 12 step programs. AA has been of enormous benefit to close friends of mine, also family.

I also do not know if there is some kind of program that aims to help points addicts. But there should be because, honestly, it has become very, very easy to slip into a mindset where it becomes crucially important to score this 500 point bonus here, that triple point bonanza there and, along the way, why the hell not get a new Alaska Air card because it comes with 60,000 miles and who cares if I don’t recall flying Alaska in a quarter century.

I see the headline and indeed my heart beats – Get a new Jag, get 50,000 United miles. Yes, I know Jags are unreliable pieces of rolling junk and have been for a decade or longer. Classic Jags – pre the Ford purchase of the marque in 1999 – have undeniable beauty, swagger even, that may cancel out the reliability question and, besides, by the time a car is 25 it really does not matter what its reliability was when it rolled off the assembly line. Would I love an old Jag? Very possibly and I still regret letting an old Jag that was in the family slip away. But a new one?

Even so…50k United miles.

And then there is the “mystery” bonus – free miles on United and American – limited time only and what miles you get varies depending upon…well, who knows? Free miles are free miles. Do you click the links? Warning: probably those promotions have expired. The real question is, did you click the links when they were live? Did you get the bonuses?

Personally I did and I didn’t. I clicked the link, saw my bonus (500 miles after spending $125 on my United Explorer card) but…I caught myself. I have no rational plan for accumulating enough United miles to matter and presently I have but a handful and an extra 500, or 625 after the needed purchase, won’t make an iota of difference. I’ll still have a useless handful.

But I caught myself.

I also did not get the pre approved Alaska Air offer, although I will admit it is tempting. But I already have a couple cards I never use (United Explorer I am looking at you) and they may be lonely for companionship but I am not going to stuff my wallet with cards I know I won’t use.

So how do I cope with my almost addiction?

I have my own 2 step program.

Step one: I monitor and severely limit how much time I spend on sites devoted to points addictions. How to identify them? A clue is that the word point or mile is in the site name. Those are the ones to be wary of because, suddenly, you will find yourself clicking around an IHG card application because you just read about a super new offer even though you cannot recall the last time you stayed at an IHG hotel. They toss catnip in our paths and who can resist when you have the addiction propensity?

At one such site the business model hinges on affiliate marketing, a fancy way to describe getting paid finders fees for steering new business. There’s nothing wrong per se with affiliate marketing – I am a fan of the NYTimes WireCutter site which uses affiliate links – but always remember the underlying business model when visiting such sites.

Step two: I limit my real points hunt to offers and rewards on Amex Plat and, yes, the need to search annoys me (why not just be nice and give it to me) but if Amex insists on gamifying the experience I’ll play. But only a very little. Maybe five minutes every few weeks looking at my 100 Amex offers.

That’s enough to find hidden little gems. For instance: an Amex offer that gifts me 2000 Amex miles for Spending $3500 – enrollment required. It can gift the points multiple times but the offer is timed (I believe it expires for me at month end). I do nothing to get the bonus. Just use the card as usual.

So now maybe I should re-introduce myself: My name is Bob and I am not a points addict but came close to being one. But not enough to be one.

by Robert McGarvey

Maybe the pandemic is in our rearview mirrors and, for now at least, few of us are letting worries about a recession or even the Ukraine war disrupt our travel plans. But what very well may stamp void on our plans are genuine worries about sustainability and the price travel inflicts on the planet.

By most counts, aviation produces 2% of the planet’s CO2 emissions and it also produces untold volumes of particulates, NOx and more.

Numbers get grimmer. 80% of the planet’s people have never flown. At most 10% of the people fly in any given year. That means a handful of us are doing a lot of bad to the environment and this is resulting in deaths of many animals – whole species in some cases – flooding of many lands and, well, just plain mayhem as climate change hits us all in the chin.

New McKinsey research says these facts – increasingly – figure into our decisions to travel or not and also how we travel.

Said McKinsey, “Most passengers understand that aviation has a significant impact on the environment. Emissions are now the top concern of respondents in 11 of the 13 countries polled, up from four in the 2019 survey. More than half of respondents said they’re ‘really worried’ about climate change, and that aviation should become carbon neutral in the future.”

For now, however, most of us are all talk, no action. Said McKinsey, “Travelers continue to prioritize price and connections over sustainability in booking decisions, for now. This may be partly because no airline has built a business system or brand promise on sustainability.”

That said, the percentage of us who say they want to minimize their environmental impact has crept up to 36%.

Sort through the many McKinsey numbers and a few conclusions seem plain including this: big companies simply must and will factor environmental factors into decisions and budgeting for business travel. That will be all the truer of US and EU based organizations. I continue to see business travel recovering but it may never reach the 2019 heights. I see large events (500+ attendees) continuing to lag. I also see intramural events sputtering. Sales calls have and will continue to rise in numbers. Events with 50 or fewer seem to be a thriving market and that may well continue.

The point is, even if business travelers may want to travel as though it was 2019 again, corporate higher ups and bean counters will tamp down those enthusiasms. It’s not good for the balance sheet. not good for public relations and ESG efforts (environment, social, governance), and it’s not good for the planet.

Which puts the flight bag in our hands. Will we step up or restrain personal and leisure travel? For now it looks as though we are all in. Domestic US hotels are seeing rising occupancy and accordingly are raising their rates. despite cutting and reducing many services and amenities due to labor shortages and supply chain bottlenecks. Airports too are clogged with pax while many of their employees have gone permanently missing.

Will we still want to travel as the negatives of travel become more glaring, the costs rise, and – meantime – the countdown towards an environmental Armageddon gets louder?

Just maybe what we all need is a nudge from elsewhere.

Here’s the one, very big shoe we are still waiting to fall: “The survey results and McKinsey’s work in the industry lead us to believe that the market is ready for a forward-thinking airline to chart a route to a cleaner future for the industry. Leading airlines that build a business strategy and brand promise on sustainability will likely attract a growing share of business and leisure travelers, fresh capital and talent, and new allies across the industry, government, and society at large.”

Where is that airline?

Many decades of watching US carriers has left me pessimistic such a carrier will rise from the rubble. They tend to act in lockstep, much like 14 year-olds at a school dance. “You go first!”

Could such a carrier emerge abroad? In the EU? Maybe, but the flagrant failures of legacy European flag carriers leave one with doubts.

You know what? Maybe this eco carrier will emerge from an unlikely place such as the Middle East. Hell, if Saudi Arabia believes it can pump hundreds of billions into a tourist industry and make us holiday in the hot sand just maybe it will be a Middle Eastern carrier that proudly and boldly waves the eco flag.

Or maybe I am waiting for the airline Godot.

By Robert McGarvey

I have no memory of why I got a Diners Club card but I can tell you mine was issued in 1985, deep into the Citi ownership of what had been the pioneering independent travel and restaurant card.  Invented in 1950, Diners Club was a breakthrough dazzler of an idea: paying for restaurant meals with plastic (actually a cardboard card in its original format).

Unless you are 60+ you have no idea how difficult paying for a restaurant meal was back in the day – especially a spur of the moment meal at a white table cloth establishment. You needed a walletful of cash.

Remember, banks kept banker’s hours – most closed tight at 3pm. There were no ATMs (they weren’t widespread and easy to use until the 1980s).  If you were a regular at a saloon you probably could borrow $10 for a cab ride home – but enough for a fancy meal? Not likely.

Diners Club made dining out easy. Sort of. I still remember studying restaurant doors to discern exactly what credit cards were accepted where.

I never got a Diners Club in its heyday but did have Carte Blanche and soon American Express (“a member since 1975″).

But Diners got into my wallet in the mid 1980s as Citi managed it seemingly with nearly complete indifference.  Diners was acquired by Discover Financial in 2008 – didn’t know that, did you?

But the North American operation – US and Canada – was operated by Citi until 2009 until it sold it to the Bank of Montreal.

Different operators own and manage different international outposts.

In North America Diners Club runs on Mastercard rails. For all practical purposes it is a Mastercard with a few frills.

The annual fee on the professional card I carry is $95.

I’ll tell you too I had thought hard about canceling it but then BMO was the first – and for a long time only – major US card issuer that offered a chip and PIN credit card. Few still do despite the abundant evidence that fraudulent use of lost and stolen credit cards plummets when a PIN is required (as one is on probably all debit cards and all across Europe PIN is mandatory on cards of all types). In the US credit card issuers have resisted requiring PINs, presumably because they think we are too lazy or lame  to use it. Even though we do use it on debit card transactions.  Go figure.

There even were several years of fretting by many that European merchants and restaurants would decline American pinless chip card and in fact it did happen with some frequency. But by 2019 the Europeans accepted we were impossible and now there are few obstacles to using a pinless card abroad. 

I nonetheless still like that PIN feature on the Diners card and it’s a reason I have kept it.  

What else do I get for my $95?

There’s a rewards program that awards one point per eligible dollar spent and The Points Guy values these rewards at 2.1 cents apiece, the highest value I see on the recent list. 

Diners miles can be transferred into many airline programs – Delta, Southwest, Alaska, El Al, and more.

And because this is a Mastercard it can be used almost everywhere which means accumulating points can be easy.

There is access to over 1000 airport lounges worldwide.  

There’s extended warranty coverage on most purchases, roadside assistance (Amex discontinued similar in 2020), and there’s also primary collision insurance on rental cars.

Oh, one either thing. About 10 years ago I got a call from Diners fraud. “Did you just buy a tank of gasoline in Chennai, India?”

I responded that I had never been to India, never bought gasoline there, and wouldn’t drive there if I went (you’ve seen the videos about driving in India) 

I don’t remember ever getting such a realtime call from another credit issuer.

The charge was obliterated from my statement – I never saw it – and my card was canceled and reissued with me doing nothing except reporting that I had never been to India.

So my reasons for retaining a Diners card are, well, idiosyncratic – I am crazy for PIN and I liked the fraud protocol.  

And I kind of like the rewards program and lounge access (although I’m unsure the latter gives me anything I don’t get with Amex Plat).

Are those reasons good enough to persuade you to put a Diners card in your wallet?  That’s for you to say.

For me the takeaway is that, with peripheral cards, my reasons for keeping (or ditching) are going to be idiosyncratic. Probably yours will be too.

More proof of my thesis that there just won’t be one card to rule them all. No more.

by Robert McGarvey

On March 23 Apple announced the debut of its digital driver’s license – and within a few minutes of learning about it, I had it installed on my iPhone.

It would have been installed sooner except I had to update the OS on the phone. Once that was handled, it was smooth and quick sailing.

Right now, only Arizona licenses work with the Apple technology. Apple has said other states will soon follow, including Colorado, Hawaii, Mississippi, Ohio, and the territory of Puerto Rico. Timelines are unclear.

If you do not have an Arizona driver’s license, forget about it for now.

If you do not have an iPhone or Apple Watch, forget about it.

So I pat myself on the back in congratulation of my early adoption.

But exactly what have I adopted? What are my benefits?

Back up a few steps. Arizona, presumably to keep state operating costs low, does not have that many DMV officers where licenses can be renewed. So when I last renewed it I used a privately run facility that charges a few dollars more but it was nearby and there was no line.

One hitch: the license has this notice – “NOT FOR FEDERAL IDENTIFICATION.”

Typically I had used a driver’s license at the TSA checkpoints so this was a problem. Yes, I have a passport – two in fact – but they are in a large case that I bring on international trips. Not always on domestic.

I bought a US Passport card – the same size as a driver’s license. Problem solved. It fits in my wallet right behind the driver’s license.

Would my driver’s license in fact work with the Apple system?

Yep.

Little by little, Apple is adding features to its wallet app that augment its usefulness. I also have a BART Clipper card installed in the wallet, for instance. An Apple Card is in there too.

Will I ever actually use the digital driver’s license that now claims pride of place in the Apple Wallet?

JoeSentMe columnist Phil Baker is cynical about the usefulness of this Apple tool: “The best I can say for the digital license is that it’s a useful way to back up your physical license. I’ll continue to carry my real license with me and not depend on my phone. Clearly, it’s in Apple’s interest to turn the iPhone into a digital wallet, but it’s doing it because it can, not because there’s a need.”

Note too that not all airports will accept the Apple digital ID. Apple acknowledges this: “Driver’s licenses and state IDs in Wallet are currently available for use in select states at select TSA checkpoints. Travelers should refer to TSA checkpoint signage to confirm availability,” it said in its press release.

9to5Mac says the list of locations where it can be used is in fact singular: “For now, it looks like certain TSA checkpoints at the Phoenix International Airport are the only officially supported places to use Apple digital IDs.”

If your flights are not taking you to PHX, maybe just forget about this for now.

And also understand that, for now, the digital ID cannot be substituted for a plastic license if stopped by a cop who insists on seeing your license. You still will need to carry the plastic.

So I don’t disagree with Baker but I got one anyway. Why? Because I write about this stuff, it interests me, and I do believe we need stronger, better ID systems in this country. Perhaps the Apple ID is a step in that direction.

For sure, Apple’s game plan is clear. It wants to sell states – like Arizona, which already has no fondness for issuing license renewals – to contract with Apple to assume the licensing responsibility. Assuming Arizona sticks to its skinflint GOP budget biases I can see AZ hopping aboard that train.

Here’s the bottomline: this remains very early days for digital IDs on our phones. Everybody knows they are coming, almost everybody applauds this, but almost nobody has marked a day on their calendar when they plan to shred their plastic driver’s licenses.

Me, I remain glad I did it. Fast, easy and, for now, no cost.

Will I ever use it?

Somebody has to be the test subject. Why not me?

By Robert McGarvey

It has long been a staple article in the arsenal of journalists who cover credit cards: What card must you get because it rules them all? I’ve written that article, you have read many similar and I still see it published today.

Is it Amex Plat, Chase Sapphire Reserve, or Venture X?

What if it’s none of them?

That’s because just yesterday it occurred to me that the whole quest has become a farcical artifact of a past time.

If you had asked me 25 years ago what one card I could not go without I would, unhesitatingly, have told you Amex Gold.

I might even have been right at that time, especially if a person also had a standby Visa or Mastercard to use in places that declined Amex.  I had and still have Diners Club which rides on Mastercard’s rails.  So I was well covered.

What happened yesterday is that I was making a purchase online at REI and I remembered two facts: I had a $100 gift card from REI for getting an REI Mastercard and if I used that credit card at REI I get 5% cash back. A backpack I wanted to buy started out at $179.95, was on sale at $134.73, I had a 20% members only discount coupon, and the price got knocked down to $107.78.  After the gift card I owed $7.78, which I put on the REI Mastercard and earned 5% back (a few pennies).

Here’s the point: I probably will use that particular card only at REI.  

Which reminded me that a half century ago I had cards issued by department stores – I remember having cards at Woodward + Lothrop and Hecht’s in Washington DC. I also has gasoline cards that were generally good only at the particular brand (I had an ARCO card, also Union).  I remember having so many cards that I needed to buy a special wallet just to hold the things. Did I have 20 cards? Probably more because when I moved to Los Angeles I needed LA department store cards but I was also spending a lot of time on assignment in Washington DC so I still needed the DC cards…and, damn, just tracking all this plastic was work.

Then several things happened.  Department stores began accepting third party credit cards. So did gas stations.  And lots of restaurants began taking plastic (even McDonald’s in 2003).  

By the mid 1990s, I began shedding little used – often simply unused – plastic.  I even stopped carrying that special little card holder.

Then in 2018 I bought a small Fjallraven card holder – that should have tipped me off that I was in the middle of a changed relationship with my cards.

More and more were becoming single purpose plastic, like the REI Mastercard. For instance: I use Discover only on the rotating 5% cash back purchase categories (gasoline is featured April-June and that is a timely perk).  In Jan-March grocery stores were the category and I collected my $75 maximum cash back shopping at Sprouts, a Phoenix based Whole Foods imitator that I like shopping at occasionally, just to give Whole Foods some competition for my dollar.

As for Whole Foods, I have a Chase Amazon card that gives me 5% back on purchases there and Amazon and I used that card only at those two stores.

I also have a Chase United Explorer card that, guess what, I only use at United Air and a Barclays American Air card that is only used at AA. Both grant priority boarding, free bag check, and, with the United card, two passes for entry to the United clubs. The United card also offers 25% back on inflight purchases and free TSA Pre or Global Entry.  With the American card purchases directly apply to qualifying for elite status.  I believe I am dumping the United card this year but, living in Phoenix, American and Delta are more useful to me.

A wild card in my wallet is a Venmo card that offers 3% cash back on whatever category of spending is biggest in a month (lesser cash back on other categories).  But I especially like this card because I collect my rewards in Bitcoin, meaning that whenever talk shifts to crypto I can nod sagely and say that of course I am a player. It doesn’t matter that my holdings amount to a number that falls after a decimal point and a bunch of zeros.   

Of course, Amex Plat is a big card in my wallet but, as I have documented, it actually pays me money to keep it. And its wallet share is much lower than it had been. Under 50% of my credit card spend today. Ten years ago I’d guess it was 75%.

One reality: my cards won’t be yours and vice-versa. I can tell you what I use and why but it’s for you to think about your lifestyle and which cards best support it. Cards now are a hyper personal issue.

Whew, I liked when one card ruled them all. But that just won’t work in 2022.

by Robert McGarvey

The target is plain: $695. That is the new annual fee for American Express Platinum. That’s up from $550. Is it worth it?

Sure, Amex Plat comes with lots of perks. But there also are lots of perks I will never use. Such as elite status with Avis, Hertz and National. I do not recall the last time I rented a car and have no interest in this. I do have elite status with Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton via the Plat card but, honestly, all I’ve gotten from that is free wifi at a few Hiltons and that was years back. So I count that as zero value too.

Ditto Equinox membership credits – $300 potentially., But there is no Equinox in Phoenix and even if there were I wouldn’t use it.

WalMart+ credit – $12.95 per month. $155 total. But zero value to me since I do not belong and see no reason to since I do pay for Amazon Prime and don’t want to switch to WalMart where I rarely shop.

There are other perks I can scoff at but enough of that. Where are my real benefits of holding Amex Plat?

Here’s a fast list:

$20/monthly digital credit. Reimburses a NYTimes subscription – actual savings $18.07 monthly, $216.84 annually

$200/yr Uber credit. $15/month $35 in December. I use it all, nowadays on Uber Eats.

$100 credit on Saks Fifth Ave purchases

Cellphone damage protection – I value this at $200, covering two phones.

Airline fee credit $200 on Delta this year. I have used $110 so far in 2022, will use the remainder by year end.

Global Entry $100 – a value of $20 yearly over five years.

Total projected savings: $936.84

But wait, there’s more.

Amex pegs a guest pass at $50 for Centurion Lounge access and already I have one visit this year. Priority Pass lounge access also is in this mix and so far I haven’t used it in 2022 but I will. For now I claim no value for it but it will get used, probably in Madrid where it wins entry to a very pleasant lounge. Plat also includes access to Plaza Premium lounges which, again, I have not yet used this year abut may well. I’ll tote up that value when I do.

There’s also a $200 Amex hotel credit I will almost certainly use in Portugal and Madrid later this year.

So add those amounts and the new total perks is $1186.84.

There doubtless will be more Centurion visits. The full value will be well over $1300.

Now add in the cost of a spouse’s card fee: $175. Already covered with a free Clear membership for her ($179 value). Plus she will get multiple Centurion visits. No net cost.

And I may decide to take a free Clear membership myself. Initially I had no interest but, recently at PHX, there was a long line at TSA Pre, no line at Clear and, yeah, I started rethinking, That would tack another $179 on my total savings.

By now you may be pondering – I had pondered same myself – am I putting in a lot of work tracking and cashing in these Amex Plat perks? I had feared it would take lots of time to monitor the ever changing list of Amex Plat deals and discounts – I see around 100 whenever I call up Amex Offers – but this really takes little time. Mainly because I have zero interest in most of the offers such as 6% back on purchases at LookFantastic, 3% back at Maunces, 4% back at Francesca’s, and, well, dozens more meaningless to me offers.

Frankly I don’t much look anymore at the Amex Offers because I know I won’t find much for me. I see that 22 of my offers are expiring soon so I will glance at the new list in a few weeks and that will take just minutes.

I have my roster of set discounts – Uber, cellphone damage protection, digital credit, etc. — which will stay in place until Amex withdraws the offers. As long as most of these offers remain I am in the black with Amex Plat. It actually pays me money to keep it. Sure, I wince at a $695 annually fee – for a freakin’ credit card! – but when it puts money in my pocket, what’s the problem?

Do your own math. You may also find Amex Plat is cashflow positive. And that makes it a no brainer.

By Robert McGarvey

On Saturday I logged into Delta Air and, after checking flights, hopped into my Amex account, transferred 244,000 points, then spent those SkyMiles on two tickets to Spain six months down the line

Why the hurry?  Why didn’t I wait?

Just coincidentally, the next day’s New York Times featured a lead travel story headlined: The Best Time to Use Your Airline Miles? Now.

Yep. The reasons are powerful for emptying out your airline rewards stashes. But I also was just taking my own advice: If you have miles, burn ’em. Soon.

Listen up: miles are a fast deteriorating asset, especially nowadays with sky rocketing petroleum prices and massive route uncertainties.

As for the latter, Russia is a huge country by land mass – 11% of the globe, almost twice as big as the U.S.  As airlines rush to route outside Russian air corridors, who knows how many flights will be canceled? For how long?

Meantime, our points stashes are growing. In the pandemic we used credit cards that generated points but many of us traveled much less, meaning we did not burn points on travels.  (Yes, I am an exception.  In fall 2021 I used a few hundred thousand Amex points to buy Delta tix to Spain where I walked 150 miles of the Camino.  But that was atypical.)

Most of us are sitting on mountains of points.  Per Value Penguin, “In 2020, customers of five key airline loyalty programs earned about half the miles they did the year before, while only redeeming about one-tenth of the miles they had earned.”

Value Penguin goes on: “The U.S.’ five most valuable airline loyalty programs — Delta Air Lines’ SkyMiles, American Airlines’ AAdvantage, United Airlines’ MileagePlus, Southwest Airlines’ Rapid Rewards and JetBlue’s TrueBlue — ended 2020 with a combined $27.5 billion in rewards program liabilities, according to a new ValuePenguin study that examined annual filings.”

So what? Here’s why these riches are important: The masters of the currency (the big five carriers) almost certainly will devalue them.  Said Matt Schultz, Value Penguin chief credit analyst: “Ultimately, this glut of miles might end up leading to more devaluation. That would help airlines as they continue to try to recover financially from the devastation wrought by the pandemic, but it would not be great news for consumers.”

You bet, not great news at all. We are living in what may soon resemble a Weimar Republic of currency devaluation where money received at breakfast was worth substantially less by dinner so smart people bought useful stuff as soon as money hit their hands, just because a pair of shoes or a bottle of beer would hold value even if the currency couldn’t.

Expect similar with rewards miles.

I pat myself on the back for spending 244,000 Amex points on Saturday because I had wide choice of flights as well as a wide choice of seats.  Yeah, I grumble at the value I received – roughly a penny a point when converted into SkyMiles – but who knows what I would have gotten had I waited until the summer.

And who knows what choices would have been open to me.

Listen up: even with the Ukraine war and its disruption of a significant slice of air travel (as well as triggering understandable unease about taking flights to central Europe) there will be a devaluation of airline miles, just so carriers can reduce the liabilities on their books.  Rising award costs also may prompt some of us to spend cash instead – I know I did the math before deciding burning points was the wiser course – and, definitely, the carriers want to up cashflow and profits so that they seem more desirable investments.

But spending money is not the right move, not in 2022.

Burn your points. Now.

Right now, my miles stash at Delta, AA, United and Amex amounts to under 25,000 – and I am plotting a use of most of those miles (in an Amex account) as I type. My hope is to finish 2022 with under 10,000 miles in all accounts.

We are all living in a Weimar Republic of airline rewards. Pflücke Den Tag.

On Tuesday – five days after returning from a four day maskless event where I flew on full planes and navigated jammed airports – I popped open the free US government Covid-19 test kit, did the nasal swab, waited 15 minutes and…negative.

I did not have Covid.

But I do have sniffles and a cough which is what prompted the test.

I did have Covid two years ago and mainly I remember a high fever. This time I did not have a fever and, yes, along the way I had bought an instant read thermometer which I put away maybe six months ago when I got boosted but you betcha, I dug that out of a drawer not long after getting home.

What is wrong with me?

Call it two years of fretting about Covid-19.

Probably I have a minor, run of the mill cold or cough.

But here’s the deal: Travel brings out our inner Covid worries.

How could it not?

Yes. I traveled to Spain early fall but that was a different time, different rules. Only vaccinated Americans could gain entry to Spain. Planes were half full. Mask compliance everywhere was high. Even outdoors in small towns in northern Spain.

On this February trip, mask compliance in airports – and they were full – was high. But the airports were stuffed.

Side note: at Sky Harbor in Phoenix there was a very long TSA Pre line, probably 50 of us. There was nobody in the adjacent Clear line, except for three or four Clear employees. I found myself wondering if I should get free Clear with my Amex Plat card. I had decided it was unnecessary. Maybe it’s time for a rethink?

On the planes, there also was high – probably universal – mask compliance. There certainly were no incidents. The American Airlines flight crew seemed amiable, relaxed. Sure, we all see the many stories about drunken anti mask nutters – even nuttier Senators who oppose a shared Do Not Fly list – but there were no signs of disruption on my flights. In fact they were on time, hassle free, nothing to complain about.

At the event I attended – a gathering of maybe three dozen credit union executives and fintech entrepreneurs – there was no wearing of masks. But the room was spacious, there was distance in seating, and if I had to guess I’d say the overwhelming majority of attendees were like me, fully vaccinated and boosted.

Offsite dinners in crowded restaurants set off small alarm bells in my brain. Do these people look boosted? What does a boosted person look like, exactly? And of course between munching food and swilling wine there’s no mask wearing anyway. File restaurant dining as a risk in my mind. But you gotta eat. So….

Taxis to/from the event hotel: Masked drivers, no worries on my part.

Lightrail to/from Sky Harbor in Phoenix where I live: full cars, SRO, but good mask compliance. Not ideal but no loud warning buzzers in my head.

So why did I become concerned about my health pretty much as soon as I returned home? Know that I have zero history of hypochondria.

For one, I did have a sniffle and a minor cough. And you know what? I recorded a conversation I had at the event with two experts and both had sniffles. I know because I heard it on the tape as I did an edit before publishing (of course I took out the sniffles).

But these were rather clearly oldfashioned trivial cold sniffles.

And yet my mind dove deep into Covid worries.

My guess is that most of us will be doing this for some months to come. Years? I hope not. But I will say that for as long as I have flown a lot, I have accepted that once or twice every winter I would get a cold and it would be no big deal, it wouldn’t even cost me any lost work days. A box of OTC cold medicine, maybe a bag of lozenges, some Kleenex and I was geared up for the season.

Fortunately, as my mind meandered through its Covid worries, I remembered that I had a box of CVS cold/cough meds, some Ricola, and some tissues. Cold handled.

The other big takeway from this trip for me is that suddenly I found myself having to remember how to travel. What do I need to take out of my pockets at the TSA check (basically everything). where’s my boarding pass (in the app of course). how much time before boarding do I need to arrive at the airport? Suddenly things that I did on auto pilot required thought.

It was as though I were 24 again and starting a life that would involve significant travel – but at 24 I had been on a plane exactly twice before and had never checked myself into a hotel. It was all new, different.

And so it is again now.

By Robert McGarvey

A distinction held by this year’s winter Olympics is that it will go down in history as the first where the widely listened to advice was: bring a burner phone and that is because the Chinese government required athletes, Olympic staff, media, probably everybody to download an app named My2022 that was buggy and almost certainly spied on the phone’s contents.

You’d have to have been nuts to bring your own phone. Or just ignorant.

China is a notorious cyber thief. As far back as 2010 I routinely heard from Fortune 50 security consultants: if you are going to China bring a burner phone and a new computer with no content on it. Or bring no technology at all. Whatever tech you bring will be hacked.

Even so, did some bring their own phones to China for this Olympics? No doubt. But before we snigger, ask: am I personally practicing better cyber security on the road today?

Here’s the big point: collectively we have forgotten what we need to do to stay cyber safe on the road.  Understandably, It’s been nearly two years.

But here’s a primer on simple steps we all need to take when traveling.

Burner phones.  There are some countries that just scream: bring a burner. Russia, China, Israel, Iran top most lists.  The more cautious travelers add France and South Korea.  Some whisper that the biggest threat is the U S of A.  

Know also: that many countries have dramatically upped their phone tracking as a step in thwarting the spread of Covid. Location tracking is step one. The next step is data tracking.  

If in doubt bring a burner phone especially when traveling abroad. 

Phone recharging stations.  They are common in airports, often seen in meeting venues, and starting to show up in museums. Never, ever use them. A dead phone is a lot better than a hacked phone and too often criminals have hijacked those charging stations. There’s even a phrase: Juice jacking.   

Public wifi networks.  Never, ever use them, part 2.  Not in airports, not in airline clubs, not in hotel rooms, not at meetings.  Your phone can create a hotspot and in my experience my phone’s hotspot is at least as fast and sturdy as the public networks used by peers. A hotspot is a lot harder to hack into than a public wifi network.  I just don’t understand why everybody doesn’t run on hotspots when traveling.

Bring cheap computer gear. I am going on a business trip imminently and my travel computer will be a Chromebook that is so old I have no memory when I bought it – but it boots, it runs Chrome, it can read an SD Card which I need because I am doing some recording.  If it gets broken or stolen on my trip, who cares? And there is no meaningful data on it.  

Trust VPNs – but Verify.  Not all VPNs are created equal. Some work, others work less well, and a few are downright criminal in intent. Beware of free VPN but don’t believe all VPNs that charge fees are necessarily safe.  VPNs are indeed a useful safeguard for traveling executives but they are not a cure-all. If your employer requires one, use the one they specify.  If you provide your own, carefully research the choices before signing up. And when traveling abroad recognize that VPNs often work better in some countries than  in others.  You may need several on a multi country trip.

Be wary of QR codes. So often now we are confronted with a QR code and instructed to click – to read a restaurant menu, to access information about a painting in a museum, to claim a place in a queue.  I am not saying never do it (although I am tempted to) because sometimes we really want what is on offer (like that restaurant menu).  But be cautious.  QR codes are ridiculously easy to counterfeit and if you click on the wrong one you will find yourself delivered to a cellphone hell.  Think before the click.

Guard your log-ins.  We live in the age of ransomware and a key to criminal success at that is getting a mark’s log in.  I know, I know, on the road we often look at emails and text messages when we are tired, even bleary eyed.  Who hasn’t done that?  But be careful. It is too easy to hand the jewels to a cyber criminal. Better to leave an email unread than to lose your log in.

To quote the eminent philosopher Popeye Doyle, never trust anyone. Definitely not on the road,

By Robert McGarvey

It was reading about two American Airline flight diversions in one day – caused by misbehaving passengers – that made me think: we have to stop this and it has to stop now.

How many lives need to be disrupted before we – carriers, passengers, and the federal government – resolve to act to stop it?

In many cases, the passengers on a diverted flight lose a day, maybe two or three, may incur the costs of a hotel, and may have to buy meals.  The out of pocket isn’t that much. But that lost day will never be restored, 

The thought fries me into wanting action.

From the government, of course.

If history is a lesson, however, buckle up because your newborn will be shaving before the feds act decisively.

But maybe now we can do better.  Especially since the FAA says last year it investigated 1000 cases of unruly passengers – more than the previous seven years combined, according to the New YorkTimes.

That’s why we are seeing more stories about diversions. And it’s why we need be cogitating on how to end this mayhem in the air.

What put my mind in this action mode is, Exhibit A, an American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Washington Dc was diverted to Kansas City after a passenger attempted to force open the cockpit door and, failing that, he tried to open an exit door.

What happens if somehow an Exit Door is opened at 30,000 feet? Esquire has asked and answered that question: “Pilot and Vietnam War veteran Pete Jordan knows exactly what happens when a pressurized cabin decompresses 30,000 feet in the air at 300 to 600 mph: ‘There’s no oxygen, and it gets damn cold in a hurry.’ An open door would release the cabin’s ball of pressure, causing an immediate “suction explosion.”

Meaning passengers could be sucked out into the sky.

Experts say that it has become impossible to open an Exit Door on a commercial jet at 30,000 feet.  They are probably right. Let’s hope they are.

But, personally, that logic would not reassure me in the moment if I were watching a nearby raving maniac trying to pry open the door.

In this case, it took three flight attendants and three passengers to subdue this man.  One of the flight attendants apparently used a coffee pot to keep bashing him on the head.

Exhibit B – another American Airlines flight – took off from Phoenix, heading to Honolulu and – for unexplained reasons but due to a “disruptive passenger” the plane u-turned and returned to Phoenix.  

Both incidents occurred Sunday, February 13.  

Let’s stop waiting for the government to solve this growing problem.

Let’s do that ourselves.

When I write that I think of the 15 years of hijackings of planes that were diverted to Cuba.  The first was in 1958, the end of the period came in 1973 when Cuba agreed to treat hijacking as a crime and also agreed to return the planes to the carriers (although fees could be imposed).  There have been occasional incidents even into this century but with that 1973 treaty the party was over.

Also in 1973 metal detectors were installed in airports.

The hijacking era was definitely at an end.

But I think we can stop today’s diverted plane phenomenon much quicker than will happen if we wait on the government to act.

How? Money talks, sometimes loudly. Let’s make it howl.

First: urge carriers to pursue legal action against the unruly passenger, meaning file a civil suit for damages. Amounts awarded that I know vary from $50,000 to six figures. For instance: UK based Jet2 billed a passenger $106,000 for allegedly trying to open exit doors in flight which prompted the pilot to return home.  

Understand I am no lawyer and I do not offer legal advice but I will tell you what I have decided to do if I am ever on a flight that is diverted due to an unruly passenger: 

Step two: aggrieved passengers on a diverted plane should think of their own lawsuits against the perpetrator.  To quote from Mainor + Wirth, personal injury lawyers in Nevada: “If an individual urinates on, harasses, or otherwise assaults a passenger, that passenger may pursue civil claims against the individual for physical injuries, property damage, and emotional distress.”

If nothing else, file in small claims court.  In Maricopa County, Arizona for instance the maximum claim is $3500.  But multiply that by 10 and it’s $35,000. By 100 and it becomes $350,000.  Will such sums be collected? Very probably collection will be a difficult matter.

But the headlines will be the persuader.  Divert a plane and, between passenger and carrier claims plus federal fines and you are out a fast half million dollars.

Will this work? I admit I am unsure.  Most of the diverters I read about seem utterly unhinged, probably impervious to the fact of personal bankruptcy as a consequence.

But in my mind we have to try something.  If there are better ideas, tell us.

-30-

Update: On February 11, aboard a Delta flight from Salt Lake City to Portland, OR, a 32 year passenger attempted to open an exit door because he hoped passengers would video him as he spouted anti vaccine nonsense. He was restrained by flight attendants; the flight was not diverted. Nonetheless, the risks that incidents will multiply are real if inflight antics are used for purposes of political theater (cf. the Cuba hijackings). #stopthestupidity