Author Dwayne Melancon is always on the lookout for new things to learn. An ecclectic collection of postings on personal productivity, travel, good books, gadgets, leadership & management, and many other things.
OK, this is so cool. I want to tell you about a very specific type of personal assistant: its name is Yapta, which stands for "Your Amazing Personal Travel Assistant."
I've been using this as part of the company's private Beta for the past couple of months, and they have now moved into a public Beta, and I can talk about it. As you know, there are lots of good services out there to help you shop for good prices on airfare. Yapta is the first system I've ever seen that track prices even AFTER tickets have been purchased and alerts you when you are eligible for a travel voucher or cash rebate from the airline!
You see, most airlines have policies that allow you to get money back if the price of airfare drops after you purchase a ticket. Yapta will watch the fares, let you know if the price drops, and helps you get a travel voucher to get obtain travel vouchers - and in some cases, cash refunds - when the price decreases on tickets that have already been purchased. They make it very simple to start watching a trip you've already purchased - you simply enter the airline, the confirmation code, the price you paid, and your last name and it fetches all the details and starts tracking. In the past 3 months of private Beta testing, Yapta alerted its 275 test users to approximately $30,000 in eligible savings and refunds, for an average net benefit of $109 per traveler.
The other thing that is cool is their browser add-on that lets you tag trips you are watching and let you know if the price goes down. For example, from the Expedia site, I tagged a few different routes (clicking on the "Tag it with yapta" button) on a few different airlines for a trip I want to take next Christmas. Now I am watching them to see if any bargains crop up. Today, they track a respectable list of airlines, and I imagine the list will grow as time goes by.
This is a game changer, folks. Be sure and check it out - and sign up for your own account. It is free, by the way!
If you're a business traveler like me, you need to keep track of your business and travel receipts. For a long time my standard process was to put them in my "Inbox" folder so I could process receipts like a normal inbox item. This worked pretty well, but I found that I sometimes missed a few here and there. Why? Because I sometimes needed to turn in my receipts before I had a chance to process my physical inbox, so I'd shuffle through my inbox folder looking for receipts.
Recently, I've started using a very simple system that works for me:
In my laptop bag, I maintain a folder labeled "Expenses" - it's my special purpose inbox, just for receipts.
As I receive receipts, I just open up the zipper on my bag and slip the receipts into the folder.
For things which I don't get receipts (like tips, bag check fees, or things I forgot to get a receipt for) I take out my Notetaker wallet and make a note on my notepad with the date, reason, and amount. I then tear the sheet out and put it in the Expenses folder.
Each evening before I go to bed in my hotel room, I check my pockets and put any relevant receipts into the Expenses folder. I also check my Notetaker wallet to make sure I haven't forgotten to tear out a handwritten receipt.
This system seems to work pretty well for me. Like any system, it's only effective when used consistently, but I've gotten it to become a strong habit so I don't go around my system very often any more.
For electronic receipts, I have a few techniques I use:
I try to keep my business travel expenses confined to a specific card, and use one where I can check recent transactions online. This is especially helpful for international expenses because I can determine what exchange rate I received when I purchase things in foreign currencies.
When I receive emailed electronic receipts (like for Wi-Fi day passes) I create a task in Outlook to remind me to reprint them when I get back to the office.
For web page-based receipts, I print them to a PDF and save them in a folder on my Windows desktop called "Print Me" (I file the PDF after I print it).
What about you other travelers out there? Any tried & true systems for you?
A while back, I shared information on how to find a good plane seat. Now, I'd like to tell you about a way to do this on a smartphone, pda or other small screen device with internet connectivity. Just point your mobile browser to http://mobile.seatguru.com and select the airline and aircraft from the menu.
From there, you'll see some information about the aircraft configuration along with a color-coded seat map that will help you determine whether your seat is good, bad, or other. This is also helpful if you want to ask for specific seats either on the phone or while talking with the gate agent.
You can see an example of the seat chart in the picture at left (click the image if you want to see a bit larger view).
I love SeatGuru - and it's free, by the way.
Note: Some of you who've dropped by here for a while may notice that I'm no longer using a Treo; yep, my company switched to Blackberry in December.
Related items:
LifeHack: Knowing whether you've got good airline seats (9/5/2005)
While I like Paypal, I tend to use it only for eBay purchases. In most other cases, I use credit cards that earn some kind of reward points. I don't carry a balance so I don't mind putting things on a card just so I can earn points or air miles Just as Bren's earned a few things about Paypal, I'd like to share a few observations on the rewards points side of the equation.
Air Miles Cards - Air Miles cards are a great way to earn miles that you can later cash in for "free" airline tickets, upgrades, etc. Some considerations:
Bulk up the easy way. These cards can be especially lucrative if you take advantage with the associated airline's "specials." Many airlines will offer bonus miles for things like booking online with the card, dining out at specific restaurants, shopping at certain stores, etc. - if you plan to spend the money anyway, this is an easy way to get more miles.
Use the card enough to offset the fee. If you are going to keep the card in your wallet and not spend much on it, these "loyalty" cards may not be a good deal for you since they often have higher annual fees than non-air miles cards. You'll need to earn (and use) the miles to offset the fee.
Elites can "waive" goodbye to their fees. Many airline cards will waive your annual fee if you reach one of their elite levels in their mileage program. This is a nice perk - look for it.
Airline hoppers may get diminishing returns. If you fly several different airlines (or a different airline for business and leisure) a loyalty card that is tied to a specific airline may be a pain. If, for example, you fly United a lot for business but always go on vacation to a city where United doesn't fly, you may have a tough time using your airmiles to reduce your vacation travel costs. Note: If the two airlines you frequent are partners, you may be able to transfer miles from one to the other, but look before you leap.
Beware the mileage cap. Last year, I favored my United Mileage Plus Visa, but I found out I missed out on something like 40,000 air miles because I hit their annual cap on earning miles around September because I was operating under the mistaken assumption that the mileage cap didn't apply to "United 1K 100,000 mile" members. I didn't realize my mistake until end of November. This year, I'm using a Rewards Point card instead.
I usually stay at one or more hotels a week in the course of my work (I was in three last week, for example - one in Vancouver, BC; one in Columbus, Ohio; and another in St. Louis, Missouri).
In these hotels, I've experienced a wide range of comfort, hospitality, amenities, etc...but I've never had a haunted hotel room.
Here is a link to a spooky one, which I found on one of my favorite hotel sites, HotelChatter.com. They posted a great snippet on the Stanley Hotel in Colorado, which is supposed to have been the inspiration for Stephen King's "The Shining."
The other thing that is cool is their browser add-on that lets you tag trips you are watching and let you know if the price goes down. For example, from the Expedia site, I tagged a few different routes (clicking on the "Tag it with yapta" button) on a few different airlines for a trip I want to take next Christmas. Now I am watching them to see if any bargains crop up. Today, they track a respectable list of airlines, and I imagine the list will grow as time goes by.
Recently, I've started using a very simple system that works for me:
While I like Paypal, I tend to use it only for eBay purchases. In most other cases, I use credit cards that earn some kind of reward points. I don't carry a balance so I don't mind putting things on a card just so I can earn points or air miles Just as Bren's earned a few things about Paypal, I'd like to share a few observations on the rewards points side of the equation.