[00:09.240 --> 00:10.720]  Welcome back to A New HOPE.
[00:12.120 --> 00:16.080]  Just as a reminder, everybody, if you've just come into the space, please make sure your phones are on silent.
[00:16.340 --> 00:20.080]  Of course, if you have any questions, you can feel free to ask them in the Matrix chat.
[00:20.240 --> 00:23.580]  We're also going to have a workshop with our speaker later this afternoon.
[00:26.400 --> 00:31.020]  The pandemic has changed a lot, but there are some things that hasn't changed.
[00:31.160 --> 00:33.600]  It hasn't changed our next speaker's love of travel.
[00:33.760 --> 00:35.900]  So far, he's visited 76 countries.
[00:35.900 --> 00:40.320]  And the other thing that hasn't changed is our speaker's love for 2600.
[00:40.580 --> 00:43.200]  He's been writing for 2600 for 30 years.
[00:44.340 --> 00:46.040]  Welcome, please, TProphet.
[00:53.000 --> 00:53.360]  Hi there.
[00:53.460 --> 00:54.500]  I hope you guys can all hear me.
[00:55.200 --> 00:59.640]  So, yeah, really great to be here this afternoon back in New York.
[01:00.340 --> 01:06.080]  Feels weird not to be wearing a mask, but I guess that's a speaker's privilege for a moment.
[01:07.640 --> 01:09.720]  I've been writing for 2600 a long time.
[01:09.800 --> 01:13.260]  For 30 years, I write the telecom in former columns.
[01:13.480 --> 01:16.520]  So, if you haven't picked up an issue of 2600 lately, it still exists.
[01:16.780 --> 01:18.540]  It's still printed every quarter on paper.
[01:18.780 --> 01:21.060]  You can get it digitally on Kindle as well.
[01:21.480 --> 01:25.840]  And I'm always on page 13, so I would love for you to read the column.
[01:25.840 --> 01:32.860]  What I do with the column is I sometimes will take my travel and phones and put them together.
[01:33.160 --> 01:35.580]  And so, those columns are always a joy to write.
[01:36.260 --> 01:41.260]  One other thing that many people don't know about me is that I am a travel hacker.
[01:41.520 --> 01:45.660]  And so, my first travel hack was to Japan in college.
[01:45.660 --> 01:50.920]  And so, what I mean by that is that it's never too early to start.
[01:50.920 --> 01:57.680]  If you're in college, if you're studying here at St. John's, you can totally find some awesome stuff to travel hack, potentially.
[01:58.320 --> 02:00.660]  I write a travel blog called seat31B.
[02:01.380 --> 02:03.540]  That's S-E-A-T, 31B.com.
[02:04.140 --> 02:06.900]  And I've visited 76 countries so far.
[02:06.900 --> 02:11.820]  I'm on a path to 100 because that gets me membership in the Traveler Century Club if I get there.
[02:11.820 --> 02:15.560]  I try to actually visit countries and not just breeze through them.
[02:15.840 --> 02:20.800]  So, that's why the count is so low compared to the amount of time that I've been traveling.
[02:21.100 --> 02:23.900]  That being said, I have made it to all seven continents.
[02:24.180 --> 02:25.240]  And why do I do this?
[02:25.420 --> 02:26.780]  You know, why travel at all?
[02:28.060 --> 02:30.820]  We understand the world a lot better when we see it in person.
[02:30.840 --> 02:35.060]  And we may not agree with every politician in every country.
[02:35.120 --> 02:38.100]  We may not find every culture comfortable.
[02:39.060 --> 02:41.620]  But travel makes all of us better.
[02:41.800 --> 02:47.200]  And it makes us understand the world with a better perspective and a different perspective.
[02:49.140 --> 02:54.360]  So, when we're through, we're going to have gone through quite a bit in this talk.
[02:54.500 --> 02:57.180]  I'm going to move really fast and cover a lot of material.
[02:57.440 --> 03:03.400]  And so, part of the reason why I scheduled a workshop after this talk is you'll have an opportunity to ask questions in depth.
[03:03.400 --> 03:08.900]  And in fact, if you have miles and points and you want to book your own trips, then we're just going to do that live.
[03:09.120 --> 03:11.500]  We're going to hack trips for three hours.
[03:11.740 --> 03:15.540]  I think is what's in the workshop schedule right now.
[03:15.700 --> 03:18.060]  Or until they kick us out, whichever comes first.
[03:19.840 --> 03:23.040]  So, when we're through, you'll have learned whether it's still worth travel hacking.
[03:23.780 --> 03:25.440]  Spoiler, yes, it totally is.
[03:25.620 --> 03:28.480]  What to expect when you're traveling right now.
[03:28.660 --> 03:29.900]  How to stay safe.
[03:29.900 --> 03:32.820]  Well, you can't, but you can stay safer.
[03:33.220 --> 03:35.040]  How to avoid planning pitfalls.
[03:35.180 --> 03:37.220]  And there's a ton of them and they change all the time.
[03:37.380 --> 03:39.080]  And it gets really crazy out there.
[03:39.280 --> 03:44.060]  So, we'll go through some of what can really go well and go wrong.
[03:44.640 --> 03:47.000]  How to avoid testing pitfalls.
[03:47.220 --> 03:52.360]  There's, you know, this really shady COVID testing industry and things are changing all the time with that as well.
[03:52.840 --> 03:55.900]  How green passes and quarantines work.
[03:55.900 --> 03:58.280]  The award flights landscape.
[03:58.720 --> 04:03.840]  And that has changed quite a bit because if you've tried to fly anywhere lately, a lot of flights are canceled.
[04:04.020 --> 04:04.860]  There's fewer of them.
[04:05.000 --> 04:06.440]  Crews keep getting sick with COVID.
[04:06.680 --> 04:07.700]  It creates huge problems.
[04:09.640 --> 04:14.160]  And how to avoid a refund headache, you know, if things do go sideways.
[04:14.580 --> 04:15.460]  And they can.
[04:15.620 --> 04:17.980]  And so, finally, some success factors for your trip.
[04:18.080 --> 04:19.660]  So, let's dive right in.
[04:21.300 --> 04:23.480]  First of all, is travel hacking still worth it?
[04:23.480 --> 04:26.380]  Now, up on the screen is Qatar Q Suites.
[04:26.420 --> 04:31.680]  And what you can see with that seat, that screen is bigger than my TV at home.
[04:32.020 --> 04:34.740]  I think it's a 36-inch television.
[04:35.640 --> 04:38.340]  The seat turns into a bed.
[04:38.820 --> 04:41.500]  So, there's like a motor in it.
[04:41.520 --> 04:42.660]  And it stretches out.
[04:42.700 --> 04:43.140]  And you can.
[04:43.280 --> 04:44.380]  They make it up for you.
[04:44.500 --> 04:45.780]  They have turndown service.
[04:46.040 --> 04:48.220]  They put like a, you know, mattress pad on it.
[04:48.320 --> 04:49.200]  It's super comfy.
[04:49.200 --> 04:51.940]  And they bring you a five-course meal.
[04:52.760 --> 04:57.840]  And in addition to that, Qatar operates some of the longest flights in the world.
[04:58.000 --> 05:02.300]  So, if you're flying from Doha to LA, it's 16 hours or something crazy.
[05:02.520 --> 05:07.800]  So, when you're taking a really, really, really, really long flight, it's just so worth it to be able to be upfront.
[05:07.800 --> 05:09.720]  So, is travel hacking worth it?
[05:09.820 --> 05:16.840]  As long as it costs $7,000 for that, because that's actually what it would cost if you paid for that service in cash.
[05:17.680 --> 05:18.200]  Yes.
[05:18.400 --> 05:22.200]  It's totally worth jumping through some hoops and doing some travel hacking.
[05:22.500 --> 05:25.780]  There are still some really, really good hacks.
[05:26.020 --> 05:29.160]  So, the better the hack though, the higher the risk.
[05:29.420 --> 05:30.620]  And that's a thing to keep in mind.
[05:30.800 --> 05:34.260]  My best deals have been lately on speculative bookings.
[05:34.260 --> 05:38.480]  And I book when everything seems absolutely hopeless and terrible.
[05:38.880 --> 05:45.240]  And nobody wants to go anywhere because there's, you know, the hospitals are full and every country is closed.
[05:45.440 --> 05:51.980]  And so, Australia and New Zealand and Israel all turned out to be really good bets if you booked last year.
[05:52.360 --> 05:54.520]  Because all those countries were closed.
[05:54.680 --> 05:56.080]  There was no getting into any of them.
[05:56.200 --> 05:57.520]  And now they've all opened up.
[05:57.800 --> 06:00.340]  But Japan hasn't been a good bet.
[06:00.860 --> 06:02.960]  It's open just a little right now.
[06:02.960 --> 06:07.980]  You can go in if you book a trip through a tour ranger.
[06:08.300 --> 06:14.200]  And they just kind of herd you around like the DPRK travel service in Pyongyang.
[06:14.420 --> 06:17.580]  You're only allowed to go certain places and you're chaperoned everywhere.
[06:17.920 --> 06:20.820]  But it may open up more.
[06:21.100 --> 06:23.160]  So, it could still be a good bet.
[06:23.920 --> 06:27.300]  Prices are still generally higher than they've been in the past.
[06:27.460 --> 06:28.780]  And this is for a couple of reasons.
[06:28.780 --> 06:30.540]  The first is programs have devalued.
[06:30.640 --> 06:33.180]  And this is a constant in frequent flyer programs.
[06:33.640 --> 06:36.900]  Your points will always be worth less year over year.
[06:37.020 --> 06:42.840]  And the rate of inflation in frequent flyer programs is way worse than the rate of inflation that we're seeing with money.
[06:44.440 --> 06:47.340]  But it's gotten easier to earn miles and points.
[06:47.480 --> 06:49.240]  And so, that's another constant, right?
[06:49.500 --> 06:54.900]  So, they raise all of the redemption amounts to be able to book a trip.
[06:55.200 --> 06:59.980]  And so, nobody signs up for credit cards then because the trips are unachievable.
[06:59.980 --> 07:02.220]  So, they raise the bonus to sign up for a credit card.
[07:02.460 --> 07:03.460]  You know, the cycle repeats.
[07:04.420 --> 07:06.840]  So, it's gotten easier to score miles and points.
[07:06.840 --> 07:09.420]  It almost evens the score at this point.
[07:10.140 --> 07:15.640]  And just to remind everyone, I am doing a travel hacking workshop after this talk.
[07:15.680 --> 07:25.440]  So, if you have miles and you've got points and you've got trips that you want to book and everything seems really hopeless and terrible, so it might be a good time to book, that's the conversation to have with me.
[07:25.580 --> 07:26.920]  And we're just going to book trips live.
[07:27.560 --> 07:31.660]  And we'll hopefully send people some interesting places at the end of hope.
[07:31.960 --> 07:35.820]  But we do need to match expectations with reality.
[07:36.040 --> 07:38.060]  And the reality is pretty harsh right now.
[07:38.200 --> 07:39.660]  I'm not going to sugarcoat it.
[07:39.900 --> 07:42.120]  The first problem, if you flew here...
[07:42.120 --> 07:42.700]  Who flew here?
[07:43.120 --> 07:43.980]  Anybody fly here?
[07:44.400 --> 07:44.660]  Yeah.
[07:45.060 --> 07:47.960]  Did anybody have problems with their flight?
[07:48.160 --> 07:50.700]  Was it delayed or like you missed a connection?
[07:50.940 --> 07:53.340]  Yeah, there's a couple of people in the audience who've had that problem.
[07:54.040 --> 07:56.500]  And so that's what's going on right now.
[07:57.420 --> 08:00.080]  Did anybody's flight get changed before they even left?
[08:01.040 --> 08:02.780]  Yeah, a few people, right?
[08:03.000 --> 08:05.080]  And probably not to something as good as you booked.
[08:05.440 --> 08:06.400]  So, awesome.
[08:06.580 --> 08:09.200]  I'm so glad that you all made it here, given what's going on.
[08:09.360 --> 08:12.520]  But cancellations and changes are just really, really common right now.
[08:12.920 --> 08:14.440]  Don't expect prior notice.
[08:15.060 --> 08:16.280]  Flexibility is essential.
[08:16.820 --> 08:21.120]  And service, once you're on board, that's been scaled back substantially as well.
[08:21.120 --> 08:24.540]  They're taking away stuff that used to be there.
[08:24.820 --> 08:30.280]  So, it's limited or no hot meals in economy class.
[08:30.280 --> 08:34.780]  If you fly Lufthansa, it's just absolutely dreadful what they serve you now.
[08:35.420 --> 08:37.760]  There's limited or no alcohol selection.
[08:37.760 --> 08:41.260]  So, there's not even anything to soften the blow of the bad food that they're serving.
[08:41.260 --> 08:44.160]  And there's limited lounge service as well.
[08:44.360 --> 08:46.180]  So, I got hit by that myself.
[08:46.360 --> 08:47.660]  My home airport is Vancouver.
[08:47.960 --> 08:53.180]  And if you're flying to the U.S., the Plaza Premium Lounge is closed right now.
[08:53.480 --> 08:55.620]  So, nothing available at all.
[08:56.780 --> 09:00.060]  Tough, unpredictable regulations are another thing that we're fighting.
[09:00.300 --> 09:02.660]  Your trip is going to be governed by regulations.
[09:02.660 --> 09:06.060]  And these can change really suddenly and unpredictably.
[09:08.220 --> 09:11.140]  So, Hawaii for instance, they shut down pretty early.
[09:11.460 --> 09:13.640]  They didn't want tourists bringing COVID to the islands.
[09:13.780 --> 09:14.760]  They had limited resources.
[09:14.760 --> 09:15.900]  That totally made sense.
[09:16.120 --> 09:18.400]  They had multiple false starts with their reopening.
[09:18.560 --> 09:20.180]  They were going to reopen, and then they weren't.
[09:20.300 --> 09:22.200]  And then they were going to reopen, and then they weren't.
[09:22.280 --> 09:27.060]  And there were different forms that you had to fill out, and then you had to fill out other ones.
[09:27.060 --> 09:29.340]  And so this is just a really common pattern.
[09:29.560 --> 09:33.720]  With every country that reopens, they kind of have to figure out how they want it to work.
[09:34.600 --> 09:38.760]  European countries have gone in and out of lockdowns, and these have happened really suddenly.
[09:39.200 --> 09:42.720]  And they've also happened really inconsistently.
[09:43.020 --> 09:48.620]  So, for instance, within the Schengen area, if you were flying into France, it was no problem at one point.
[09:48.740 --> 09:55.440]  But then if you wanted to fly into Germany, they had a quarantine required, but you could drive from France to Germany and there wasn't any of that.
[09:55.440 --> 09:59.060]  It got really confusing for a lot of people.
[09:59.380 --> 10:02.060]  Testing and vaccination requirements have shifted.
[10:02.460 --> 10:11.840]  So it turns out that COVID is really contagious and tests 72 hours beforehand aren't enough to really effectively stop it.
[10:12.140 --> 10:14.620]  So some countries have just given up on that idea.
[10:15.720 --> 10:21.640]  Vaccinations, as it turns out, are just not very good at preventing catching COVID or spreading it anymore.
[10:21.640 --> 10:23.880]  It just... they help with outcomes.
[10:23.880 --> 10:28.600]  If you get it, it's way less likely that you'll end up in the hospital if you are vaccinated.
[10:29.240 --> 10:34.680]  So countries have adjusted based on what the politics are locally and what they think makes sense.
[10:34.980 --> 10:41.280]  And documentation requirements around all of this stuff are also not always clear and are constantly changing.
[10:41.280 --> 10:48.160]  For example, our friendly neighbors to the north in Canada have an app called Arrive Can.
[10:48.280 --> 10:59.200]  And you have to fill it out every single time you cross the border with a very large volume of information, even if you're just driving from an exclave to the other side of Washington State, for instance.
[11:00.900 --> 11:06.540]  So the Arrive Can requirements have changed multiple times and there have been multiple iterations.
[11:06.540 --> 11:08.380]  I'm not beating up on Canada, right?
[11:08.480 --> 11:13.240]  There are many countries that have faced similar challenges in how they apply things.
[11:13.400 --> 11:27.180]  But for a while, the Canadian government was paying massive amounts of money to test people traveling routinely across the border for deliveries and that kind of thing, where they didn't even really interact with anyone.
[11:28.100 --> 11:32.020]  And that has gradually gotten better over time.
[11:32.240 --> 11:36.320]  Although the app is still involved, other countries have had similar challenges too.
[11:36.520 --> 11:39.920]  But all of this stuff, all of it, can torpedo your trip.
[11:39.940 --> 11:41.980]  And if it does, insurance won't cover you.
[11:42.080 --> 11:46.300]  Because insurance excludes any sort of government actions usually.
[11:48.440 --> 11:49.760]  So what do you do?
[11:50.260 --> 11:51.820]  How do you deal with this stuff?
[11:51.980 --> 11:56.900]  Well, first of all, consider whether or not you're okay with the risks here.
[11:56.900 --> 12:00.580]  Because nobody's even trying to pretend that travel is safe right now.
[12:00.720 --> 12:01.960]  It is objectively unsafe.
[12:02.260 --> 12:08.420]  I went on a trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories and Jordan and came back with COVID.
[12:08.640 --> 12:09.940]  And I'm really careful.
[12:10.140 --> 12:12.440]  So if I got it, anybody can.
[12:13.320 --> 12:16.460]  Consider, though, how to reduce your attack surface.
[12:16.460 --> 12:20.580]  In information security, we think about, well, what's the attack surface of an application?
[12:20.600 --> 12:23.600]  And what are all the possible ways that a hacker could get in?
[12:23.960 --> 12:25.540]  Think the same way about your body.
[12:25.960 --> 12:28.380]  And what are the ways that a virus could get into it?
[12:28.780 --> 12:30.780]  So how are you getting to the airport?
[12:31.140 --> 12:33.040]  Are you doing that on public transportation?
[12:33.400 --> 12:35.440]  Will you use any facilities while you're there?
[12:35.580 --> 12:37.500]  Are you going to go to a lounge and take your mask off?
[12:37.500 --> 12:39.940]  Is it a nonstop or a connecting flight?
[12:40.100 --> 12:49.560]  Well, connecting flights, you're going to get stuck in a jetway that's completely airless with 150 people potentially, like I did at Charles de Gaulle a few weeks ago.
[12:49.760 --> 12:51.900]  And that just is a thing.
[12:52.060 --> 12:56.500]  So every additional airport and jetway queue adds more risk.
[12:56.500 --> 12:57.720]  And then where are you staying?
[12:58.100 --> 13:06.360]  Is it a completely hermetically sealed building where hallways and elevators are shared and all of the air is flowing between different parts of the building?
[13:07.640 --> 13:09.920]  These are all things that you can control.
[13:10.180 --> 13:15.560]  You can't really control what you get exposed to everywhere, but you can control whether you eat indoors or not.
[13:16.080 --> 13:18.700]  You can control whether you wear an N95 mask.
[13:18.740 --> 13:21.480]  And I know it feels like a swamp on your face, but the things work.
[13:22.160 --> 13:29.440]  What got me in Jordan was 10 minutes in a dive boat changing room at the tail end of my trip where I knew I would be taking that risk.
[13:29.640 --> 13:30.980]  And that's where I got COVID, right?
[13:31.160 --> 13:38.640]  So the other thing you can do is, well, if there's some risks that you want to take because those really mean a lot to you, maybe you'd put those at the end of your trip.
[13:38.640 --> 13:42.600]  So you're less likely to get sick at the beginning of it and ruin your whole trip, right?
[13:44.000 --> 13:45.260]  So travel bans.
[13:47.020 --> 13:54.400]  Obviously, a lot of people have been trying to make political stands on airplanes, and flight crews are just so over it.
[13:54.500 --> 13:55.460]  They're not having it anymore.
[13:55.620 --> 13:57.020]  The airlines aren't having it anymore.
[13:57.500 --> 14:02.160]  Airlines pretty much have the back of their flight crews at this point.
[14:02.400 --> 14:14.480]  And what they're going to do if you just, you know, get violent or stupid is usually just kick you off the plane if you didn't hit anyone and you lose your flight.
[14:14.480 --> 14:15.620]  And they may not ban you.
[14:15.980 --> 14:19.500]  But if they want to, they can just completely ban you from their airline.
[14:19.740 --> 14:24.940]  And if you had frequent flyer miles with that airline, they can close your frequent flyer account and take all of your miles.
[14:25.060 --> 14:26.520]  And some U.S. airlines have done this.
[14:27.020 --> 14:34.500]  So it's gotten to the point where, like, they would overlook rantiness early on, but now it's a hair trigger and you just get kicked off.
[14:34.640 --> 14:41.500]  So if you don't agree with what a flight crew member is saying, like, litigating it while you're on board is never the right time to do it.
[14:41.500 --> 14:42.820]  Write a letter after your trip.
[14:43.320 --> 14:47.760]  But if you want to go, then just they've got all the power and you don't have any.
[14:47.960 --> 14:48.780]  They hold all the cards.
[14:49.720 --> 14:51.800]  Travel restrictions, testing, and quarantine.
[14:52.080 --> 14:56.740]  So if you're going to fly to another country, then they're going to have some paperwork and restrictions that you have to deal with.
[14:56.960 --> 14:59.220]  And those can frequently change.
[14:59.420 --> 15:04.900]  But right now, most countries are open to U.S. passport holders for non-essential travel.
[15:04.900 --> 15:11.020]  So if you want to take a trip to Europe for tourism or to Canada for tourism, you're totally welcome to do that.
[15:11.420 --> 15:19.780]  Some countries are still only open for essential travel, though, or they're entirely closed, like the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, for example.
[15:19.980 --> 15:20.740]  Completely closed.
[15:20.860 --> 15:21.740]  Nobody can go in there.
[15:22.960 --> 15:31.240]  But the definition of essential and transit depends on the country and often the whims of the immigration official that you're dealing with.
[15:31.380 --> 15:32.860]  And this can be a real problem.
[15:33.260 --> 15:37.980]  And then if you're traveling to a country that's restricted, quarantines are often involved.
[15:38.100 --> 15:41.720]  And I'll get into quarantines on a couple of slides that I have next.
[15:42.740 --> 15:48.660]  So some airports, for example, Tokyo or Taipei, remain open for transit.
[15:48.820 --> 16:04.980]  So if you're flying to, say, Malaysia, which is open right now, from, say, Los Angeles, and you want to do that on Japan Airlines through Tokyo, you can do that, but they only allow it with sterile transit on one ticket number.
[16:05.180 --> 16:06.840]  Well, what does sterile transit mean?
[16:07.000 --> 16:14.260]  It means that you have one ticket, you're not changing airlines, it's all ticketed straight through, and your bags get checked through all the way.
[16:14.380 --> 16:20.000]  And so, and you're not leaving the sterile area of the airport, meaning that you're not passing immigration.
[16:20.400 --> 16:31.240]  Any situation that would involve passing immigration, all of a sudden you're just going to be treated like anybody else who showed up in Japan and is trying to get in, and the answer is probably no, with few exceptions.
[16:32.840 --> 16:34.200]  So, what does this mean?
[16:34.220 --> 16:41.320]  When you plan your trip, you really need to avoid transiting third countries, where possible, to minimize itinerary risk.
[16:41.520 --> 16:46.720]  Because if you've booked a ticket through a country that won't let you transit, you have a problem.
[16:47.840 --> 16:51.000]  And, again, travel insurance doesn't apply, and no one will help you.
[16:51.060 --> 16:53.000]  You just lost your money or your points, potentially.
[16:53.000 --> 16:56.480]  Or maybe not, if you booked in a way that's refundable.
[16:58.240 --> 17:01.460]  But you did screw up your plans, and that's something that nobody wants, right?
[17:01.920 --> 17:03.000]  So, testing.
[17:03.260 --> 17:05.580]  The test industry is the shadiest thing ever.
[17:05.580 --> 17:06.760]  I really hate it.
[17:07.220 --> 17:14.820]  And much of the testing requirements were driven by the testing industry delivering kind of questionable results.
[17:14.820 --> 17:24.600]  And we've seen a lot of countries just examine whether the benefits outweigh the inconvenience and the impact on travel.
[17:24.860 --> 17:32.900]  And more and more countries are just doing away with testing at this point, because it doesn't seem to have stopped the spread of COVID at all internationally.
[17:33.940 --> 17:37.720]  Testing's a less common requirement now, accordingly, right?
[17:37.720 --> 17:39.920]  But it still exists in some places.
[17:40.080 --> 17:42.100]  And regulations change really fast.
[17:42.140 --> 17:43.280]  And they've gone both ways.
[17:43.540 --> 17:48.600]  So, you need to pay attention to what the regulations are, not when you book your trip, but when you fly it.
[17:48.720 --> 17:51.840]  And that actually benefited me on my trip to Israel that I took.
[17:52.020 --> 17:56.760]  Because they were going to require some testing, like a 72-hour PCR test.
[17:56.760 --> 18:00.900]  And those have gotten harder and more expensive to get, because they're not as valuable.
[18:01.080 --> 18:02.460]  So, they're mostly only used for travel.
[18:02.780 --> 18:06.920]  And then, right before I went, they just dropped all testing, because it was...
[18:06.920 --> 18:08.240]  They decided that it was pointless.
[18:08.980 --> 18:13.100]  So, regulations can change quickly.
[18:13.280 --> 18:14.240]  They've gone both ways.
[18:14.600 --> 18:18.440]  And some governments require the use of a recognized lab.
[18:19.740 --> 18:29.380]  Now, I'm not going to accuse any countries of any sort of malfeasance when it comes to directing business to particular COVID testing labs.
[18:29.580 --> 18:36.360]  And I certainly would never suggest that any sort of political influence that's undue would be involved.
[18:36.520 --> 18:39.500]  Because, of course, most governments are honest.
[18:39.680 --> 18:44.740]  But, the results can be really questionable.
[18:44.980 --> 18:47.720]  And the testing methodology is really questionable.
[18:47.940 --> 18:48.860]  And I can give an example.
[18:49.620 --> 18:59.200]  You could get, at the peak of this, a PCR test result in Mexico in 15 minutes.
[18:59.560 --> 19:02.940]  And it takes an hour, at minimum, to run the test.
[19:03.200 --> 19:10.480]  So, you tell me whether or not the results are genuine, and whether or not that might have been shady.
[19:11.480 --> 19:15.880]  But, anyhow, on top of this, airlines sometimes make up their own rules.
[19:16.100 --> 19:18.760]  And that can get really funny, too.
[19:18.920 --> 19:20.620]  So, you'll go do all of your research.
[19:20.660 --> 19:23.120]  You'll check what the government of a country is saying.
[19:23.340 --> 19:25.560]  And the airline will say, yeah, well, we don't care.
[19:25.620 --> 19:27.820]  We want you to have a PCR test.
[19:28.280 --> 19:36.840]  So, you have to check with both your airline and what their understanding of the regulations is, as well as what the government of the country that you're traveling to says.
[19:36.840 --> 19:43.380]  And airlines usually look at a tool called Tematic as authoritative, and that can sometimes be behind.
[19:45.220 --> 19:49.000]  So, if you don't meet the requirements and you show up, they're just going to deny you boarding.
[19:50.440 --> 19:52.900]  And because you created the problem, they didn't.
[19:53.020 --> 19:57.420]  They're going to treat you as if you missed your flight or, you know, forgot your passport or whatever.
[19:57.820 --> 20:02.500]  So, sometimes airlines are flexible when it comes to this sort of thing, but usually they're not.
[20:02.500 --> 20:12.800]  If you don't dot every I and check every T and check every box as you plan your trip, then it could be a really big problem.
[20:13.260 --> 20:22.620]  And so, one tip, if you are going to a country that still requires testing, most health insurance will not cover testing for travel purposes.
[20:23.140 --> 20:32.440]  But if you feel like you might have COVID, they will cover your COVID test if you took it for medical reasons.
[20:32.680 --> 20:49.240]  So, when you have a PCR test done, if you just want to make sure you don't have COVID for public health reasons, or you feel like you had a sniffle and you want to make sure it's not, be sure that when they code the test, they do it in a way that says that it's for medical purposes and not for travel.
[20:50.220 --> 20:51.980]  And then you can claim it on your insurance.
[20:53.760 --> 20:57.620]  Of course, you know, if you're testing for travel, you shouldn't commit insurance fraud.
[20:57.800 --> 21:02.840]  But if you think you might have a sniffle, it's always good to check, right?
[21:03.020 --> 21:04.060]  So, arrival testing.
[21:04.780 --> 21:07.340]  Some governments do require testing on arrival.
[21:07.540 --> 21:09.260]  And so, this is still a thing.
[21:09.380 --> 21:13.660]  You can show up in a country, meet all the requirements, and then they test you when you get there.
[21:13.660 --> 21:15.960]  And this can be everything from a random sample of people.
[21:16.200 --> 21:28.000]  So, people coming to Canada, right up until a few weeks ago, they were pulling people out of line at the airport as they were in the immigration line to check in, and you would get a random COVID test.
[21:28.760 --> 21:37.240]  And so, that can sometimes allow you to test out a quarantine if there's a government that is still imposing a quarantine when you arrive.
[21:37.520 --> 21:40.760]  But also, it can create a problem for you if you were positive.
[21:41.940 --> 21:48.000]  So, the other side of testing is, well, what if you just want to make sure that you're not sick before you go and you do your own tests?
[21:48.100 --> 21:51.440]  Those rapid tests that the government sent you, that the U.S.
[21:51.540 --> 21:55.820]  government sent you for free, just aren't all that accurate with new infections.
[21:56.220 --> 21:59.680]  If you've been sick for a few days, your test will show up positive.
[21:59.820 --> 22:06.900]  But if you're early in the infection, very often they won't show up, or the line will be really, really, really faint, so you've got to look carefully.
[22:07.560 --> 22:12.820]  They're just not all that sensitive, so you can be infected and spreading the infection before you test positive.
[22:13.020 --> 22:16.520]  That's a really good reason to wear a mask on a plane if you're not required to.
[22:16.820 --> 22:21.980]  Just be kind to your fellow human beings, even though you're not required to do that.
[22:22.580 --> 22:30.980]  And if you feel sick on your travel day, even if you don't test positive for COVID, just assume it is, and that you could be infecting others.
[22:31.160 --> 22:41.800]  But even if you're completely only self-interested, and you don't really care about infecting other people, and I'm sure nobody here feels that way, but, you know, there are really selfish people out there in the world.
[22:42.980 --> 22:44.120]  It's just not safe.
[22:44.460 --> 22:52.560]  Because if you've got the wrong strain of COVID, and it turns into pneumonia, and you're on a 16-hour flight, that could be really bad for you.
[22:52.560 --> 22:59.640]  Because if you're flying from, say, Qatar, like Doha to Seattle, that flight goes basically directly over the North Pole.
[23:00.000 --> 23:04.740]  There is just freaking nothing for hours and hours and hours of that flight.
[23:05.000 --> 23:10.520]  And if you're experiencing a really bad pneumonia episode, that's just not a place to be.
[23:10.700 --> 23:17.700]  I've got an article I wrote on seat 31B about somebody who died on a flight that I was on.
[23:17.700 --> 23:24.000]  And it was similarly, we were just way over the far north of Canada in the Canadian Arctic.
[23:24.240 --> 23:26.000]  There was literally nothing they could do.
[23:26.300 --> 23:28.660]  There was nowhere to land, no way to get medical attention.
[23:28.900 --> 23:34.760]  And so you just don't want to ever put yourself in a situation where you're going to be somewhere like that and not able to get help.
[23:36.580 --> 23:37.360]  Green passes.
[23:37.640 --> 23:39.400]  So this is an Israeli green pass.
[23:40.380 --> 23:43.640]  Hopefully I covered up the QR code enough that nobody can do anything bad with it.
[23:44.880 --> 23:47.160]  But these are required in some countries.
[23:47.420 --> 23:55.540]  So Israel was really innovative with trying to figure out how to keep their society operating as close to normally as possible while also dealing with COVID.
[23:55.780 --> 24:04.000]  And so one thing they did is they required people to get vaccinated really early, push that very hard, push boosters before any other country did.
[24:04.000 --> 24:12.820]  And they started doing these green passes where if you'd been vaccinated and tested, you could, you would then have the ability to go into certain places.
[24:13.220 --> 24:16.800]  And so these are increasingly not a thing as much anymore.
[24:17.180 --> 24:19.500]  Some countries still do them though, like Qatar.
[24:20.200 --> 24:25.960]  If you want to go into, if you want to go into the city of Doha, you've got to sign up for their version of a green pass.
[24:25.960 --> 24:27.600]  And the same is true in Saudi Arabia.
[24:27.760 --> 24:29.720]  They've got a green pass as well.
[24:30.060 --> 24:39.220]  And to be able to get into, you know, basically anything, you need a QR code on your phone that's issued by the government that says you've been vaccinated.
[24:39.440 --> 24:40.480]  And they scan that.
[24:40.840 --> 24:52.500]  So you sometimes can't find that out easily that you need this thing until you show up in a country and then you're scrambling, trying to figure out how to get it issued, you know, when you can't get into anywhere or check into your hotel.
[24:53.560 --> 24:59.300]  So do check what the requirements are before you go someplace and do that really soon before you go.
[25:00.000 --> 25:07.480]  So Israel, in between the time that I got my green pass and the time that I landed, they phased out even using them for anything.
[25:07.900 --> 25:12.900]  So I had the thing and never even needed it, but it can go the other way.
[25:13.100 --> 25:15.620]  And it's, they're very much a thing still in China.
[25:15.620 --> 25:19.640]  So if you travel to China, you have to be scanned to go into anywhere.
[25:19.640 --> 25:25.580]  And then also, if you want to travel between different parts of China, they scan your green pass as well.
[25:25.580 --> 25:35.380]  And they can block you from travel between different parts of a city or inner city, depending on what the COVID situation is based on where you've been.
[25:35.580 --> 25:39.480]  So it can get very intricate and detailed with this kind of stuff.
[25:41.640 --> 25:48.800]  So your QR code for vaccination, if you've gotten one of those, that's a different QR code than a green pass QR code.
[25:48.940 --> 25:52.640]  Yes, I know that the whole point of the green pass is to check that you've been vaccinated.
[25:52.900 --> 25:59.840]  But because there are different vaccination documents, government authorities have decided that they don't all, they don't trust other QR codes.
[25:59.840 --> 26:03.400]  So they go validate your QR code before they give you a green pass.
[26:07.300 --> 26:14.500]  So, you know, a lot of people say, well, I can just get a fake QR code that says that I've been vaccinated when I haven't.
[26:14.680 --> 26:18.080]  Or you can, you know, buy a fake vaccination card.
[26:19.340 --> 26:23.580]  It's getting way harder to do that because the systems are now interconnected.
[26:24.460 --> 26:33.480]  And it's so the false, false vaccination cards are being able to be found much more easily by airlines and by governments.
[26:33.880 --> 26:37.020]  And governments just generally aren't messing around with this stuff.
[26:37.020 --> 26:43.200]  If you're supposed to have be vaccinated and you claim to be and you made a false claim, they're just going to throw the book at you at this point.
[26:43.300 --> 26:44.860]  And they don't care if you're a nun.
[26:44.860 --> 26:51.440]  So it's just expect to be arrested and charged if you're playing these kinds of games with international flights.
[26:52.120 --> 26:54.520]  In another country, you don't have the same rights as here.
[26:54.800 --> 26:59.800]  So just, you know, kind of decide whether or not you want to go there based on what the requirements are.
[26:59.960 --> 27:02.040]  Not all countries require vaccination to travel.
[27:02.220 --> 27:07.780]  So if you're not comfortable being vaccinated, there are still places that you can go in the world and procedures you can follow.
[27:07.940 --> 27:09.420]  Costa Rica would be happy to have you.
[27:12.400 --> 27:14.620]  So, trips can end badly.
[27:14.920 --> 27:16.460]  Here's me at Expo 2020.
[27:16.900 --> 27:18.060]  That trip ended badly.
[27:18.560 --> 27:20.400]  Quarantines are real and self-paid.
[27:21.220 --> 27:23.600]  Fool around and find out.
[27:24.080 --> 27:35.900]  So if you look at the bottom, this is the amount of points that I had to pay to cover a room for my friend who came up positive with COVID.
[27:38.560 --> 27:41.660]  Because they require a seven-day quarantine if you test positive.
[27:42.780 --> 27:48.200]  We ran around Expo, had a lot of fun in Dubai, went to get our PCR tests so we could both go home.
[27:48.200 --> 27:49.000]  I was negative.
[27:49.000 --> 27:49.920]  He was positive.
[27:51.140 --> 27:54.380]  So we ended up using my points because that was a better deal for the room.
[27:54.380 --> 27:58.520]  But this is $685 worth of points, roughly.
[27:59.560 --> 28:01.220]  And that's just out of your pocket.
[28:01.460 --> 28:12.200]  So if you don't have that financial buffer to be able to deal with whatever a government is going to do to you if you test positive while you're in their country, then that could be a really big problem.
[28:12.680 --> 28:19.440]  Especially in a country like the United Arab Emirates, where they will throw you in prison if you...they literally have debtors prison there.
[28:19.740 --> 28:23.400]  So if you do not pay bills, like, that ends in prison.
[28:23.840 --> 28:24.720]  Not a good thing.
[28:24.980 --> 28:28.300]  So just be aware when you travel.
[28:28.560 --> 28:29.840]  Like, plan that extra buffer.
[28:30.020 --> 28:33.700]  Like, how are you going to tell your job that you're, you know, locked in a 10-day quarantine?
[28:34.340 --> 28:36.840]  How are you going to pay for that?
[28:37.120 --> 28:40.580]  Does your health insurance cover it if you get really sick and need treatment?
[28:41.180 --> 28:44.420]  These are things to think ahead and have a plan for before you go.
[28:46.460 --> 28:49.120]  So quarantines, on arrival or if you test positive.
[28:49.640 --> 28:52.100]  Different countries just have different approaches to this.
[28:52.900 --> 28:55.060]  There's a thing called a hard quarantine.
[28:55.060 --> 29:00.060]  And what that means is that if you're in Hong Kong, they're going to tell you where you go.
[29:00.340 --> 29:02.840]  It's a location of the government's choosing.
[29:02.840 --> 29:06.720]  If you're positive from COVID, for COVID, you go to a COVID camp.
[29:07.160 --> 29:11.860]  They, like, give you a room that is very sparse in an ACCO trailer, essentially.
[29:12.300 --> 29:17.900]  And you're there for as long as they keep you with regular tests and some gourmet noodles.
[29:19.600 --> 29:20.600]  Self-quarantine.
[29:21.100 --> 29:27.600]  So other locations, like the Emirates, if you come up positive for COVID, they say, all right, you have to quarantine.
[29:28.060 --> 29:31.020]  They have a whole app built to monitor your quarantine.
[29:31.020 --> 29:32.540]  They check in on you regularly.
[29:32.540 --> 29:35.360]  The police came to make sure that my friend was there.
[29:36.140 --> 29:38.160]  It's a really serious thing, right?
[29:38.300 --> 29:44.940]  But you at least are allowed to pick a hotel and quarantine there for the next seven to ten days, right?
[29:44.940 --> 29:49.040]  Depending on how long you test negative.
[29:49.300 --> 29:51.700]  Because you can test out a quarantine early in Dubai.
[29:53.640 --> 29:57.160]  So there's special quarantine taxis that may be required.
[29:57.480 --> 30:06.460]  In Israel, if you need to be taken to a hospital or a quarantine facility, there's only, like, specific ambulances that you can take.
[30:06.480 --> 30:07.280]  These are not cheap.
[30:07.280 --> 30:07.880]  They're expensive.
[30:08.120 --> 30:09.180]  And you're paying for all that.
[30:10.700 --> 30:12.260]  Additional testing may be required.
[30:12.540 --> 30:14.500]  So if you subsequently test...
[30:14.500 --> 30:22.880]  Like, if they put you in a quarantine just in case you might be positive, some countries do this.
[30:23.420 --> 30:24.500]  You arrive there.
[30:24.540 --> 30:31.240]  And if you arrive in Taiwan, then you're kind of in a no-man's-land quarantine for a while to deal with regular testing to make sure that you come up negative.
[30:31.640 --> 30:38.200]  If during that testing you come up positive, then it's going to be the however they deal with people that are positive protocol.
[30:38.560 --> 30:40.340]  And that may be they leave you where you are.
[30:40.480 --> 30:42.840]  It may be that they move you to a quarantine facility.
[30:43.040 --> 30:44.960]  So just a thing to keep in mind.
[30:45.520 --> 30:52.260]  And then some countries will let you test out of quarantine with the negative test three to five days after arrival.
[30:52.460 --> 30:55.280]  I know this stuff is really a drag to think about, right?
[30:55.280 --> 30:59.020]  But it's also risk management is part of planning travel.
[30:59.220 --> 31:02.740]  And this is a whole new set of risks that we've never really had to deal with before.
[31:02.920 --> 31:11.760]  So just be sure you have a plan and the right amount of insurance and the right financial buffer and some grace from your job if you do come up positive while you're traveling.
[31:13.040 --> 31:18.680]  Award booking success factors and refunds and that kind of fun stuff.
[31:18.880 --> 31:21.780]  So I specialize in award travel.
[31:22.000 --> 31:24.360]  That is how I book the majority of my travel.
[31:24.360 --> 31:25.520]  I do not pay with cash.
[31:25.660 --> 31:26.860]  I pay with miles and points.
[31:27.140 --> 31:31.620]  And I basically get really awesome trips that are paid for by banks.
[31:31.740 --> 31:35.700]  And I don't really pay anything for them or very little.
[31:36.260 --> 31:44.660]  And so award travel, it turns out, is super awesome for uncertainty like this because a lot of those trips are refundable.
[31:45.160 --> 31:53.940]  And award availability, depending on where you're going, remember at the beginning where I said, book when everything is absolutely terrible when it looks like the world is ending, right?
[31:53.940 --> 31:58.080]  Because that means that availability is going to be completely wide open fairly often.
[31:59.060 --> 32:05.720]  People were booking to Australia last year and it was just totally wide open on the schedules.
[32:05.940 --> 32:10.280]  You could book first class to Australia from New York on Qantas with points.
[32:10.600 --> 32:12.900]  That's just never a thing and it was totally a thing.
[32:13.040 --> 32:18.340]  Right now, I'm seeing first class availability pretty regularly on Japan Airlines.
[32:18.340 --> 32:20.620]  They almost never made it available before.
[32:22.040 --> 32:25.160]  So that being said, award availability is just all over the place.
[32:25.340 --> 32:28.640]  It's essentially impossible to some destinations such as China right now.
[32:28.780 --> 32:28.980]  Why?
[32:29.160 --> 32:31.940]  Because there's very few flights.
[32:32.060 --> 32:34.840]  It's a heavily regulated territory to go into.
[32:35.420 --> 32:39.060]  It's just really, really tough to get into China on an award at all.
[32:39.540 --> 32:42.940]  Airlines can charge whatever they want in cash, so of course they're doing that.
[32:43.760 --> 32:46.740]  But within Asia, flights are almost wide open.
[32:47.260 --> 32:51.320]  If you want to go from Singapore to Vietnam, no problem right now.
[32:51.460 --> 32:53.120]  And that's not very far.
[32:53.280 --> 32:56.740]  But if you want to go from Singapore to Seoul, it's also wide open right now.
[32:56.800 --> 32:58.200]  And that's a pretty long flight.
[32:59.420 --> 33:01.440]  It's super tough for North America.
[33:02.160 --> 33:02.640]  Why?
[33:02.820 --> 33:04.720]  Because we opened up earlier than everybody else.
[33:04.720 --> 33:07.900]  And so there's just a lot of pent up demand for travel.
[33:08.260 --> 33:10.720]  And Americans love to travel internationally.
[33:11.800 --> 33:14.720]  So things got booked up out of here pretty quickly.
[33:14.900 --> 33:16.340]  But Canada opened way later.
[33:16.700 --> 33:19.340]  And who knows Canada exists?
[33:20.060 --> 33:20.500]  Anybody?
[33:21.200 --> 33:22.060]  A few people.
[33:22.200 --> 33:22.600]  Yeah, exactly.
[33:22.860 --> 33:24.760]  So a lot of people in the U.S.
[33:24.860 --> 33:25.560]  just forget.
[33:25.840 --> 33:30.080]  Like, if you're here in New York, Montreal is half a day's drive away, right?
[33:30.080 --> 33:35.720]  So that's a great place that you can get a lot of flights out of.
[33:35.820 --> 33:42.620]  And there's more availability from Canada right now just because they opened so late that a lot of people had already made other summer plans.
[33:43.220 --> 33:46.440]  So pricing just isn't what you'd expect, though.
[33:47.240 --> 33:52.720]  Fewer flights overall plus more demand overall equals higher prices.
[33:52.740 --> 33:58.720]  And there's just no real way around that, particularly combined with the devaluations and award programs that we've seen.
[33:58.720 --> 34:01.060]  So routing pitfalls.
[34:01.480 --> 34:02.900]  This gets really important.
[34:03.100 --> 34:04.500]  So I get really nerdy with routing.
[34:04.620 --> 34:20.260]  And if you've seen any of my previous talks, you know, I like to do fun stuff like buy a ticket from one city to another city which isn't where I'm traveling and then go grab a cheap, low-cost carrier flight to the place I'm actually going and stringing two tickets together or maybe even three.
[34:20.840 --> 34:26.920]  Or doing unusual routings to get to places because that's also kind of fun sometimes.
[34:26.920 --> 34:31.480]  And it opens up possibilities that aren't already there, that are not usually there.
[34:32.260 --> 34:34.480]  Going to Australia through Korea, for example.
[34:34.660 --> 34:36.360]  I mean, that's totally a thing you can do.
[34:36.780 --> 34:39.360]  It's just not something most people would normally book.
[34:39.600 --> 34:52.320]  Well, just because an award ticket or a hacked fare is available does not mean that you qualify for the routing to actually fly on that based on what the restrictions are.
[34:52.320 --> 34:55.820]  And so, you know, we talked about sterile transit, for example.
[34:56.060 --> 35:09.440]  If you book a ticket through... book two tickets through Japan right now, that creates a condition where you have to pass Japanese immigration to claim your check bag or pass Japanese immigration to check in with the other carrier.
[35:09.980 --> 35:19.740]  So... and they won't even let you get on a plane if your final destination isn't all on one ticket because it'll look like you're flying to Tokyo even if you have a second onward ticket from there.
[35:19.740 --> 35:31.460]  So... that can't be... that... that can't necessarily be a thing, even though it would be perfect to fly on Jowl to Tokyo and then continue onward from... on ANA to somewhere else.
[35:31.920 --> 35:33.600]  Normally, we can totally do that.
[35:33.820 --> 35:36.180]  Right now, not a great idea.
[35:36.880 --> 35:44.400]  So... always check Tematic or the IATA Travel Center and also check with the airline to make sure that their understanding of what the...
[35:44.400 --> 35:47.680]  what the routing rules are matches what your understanding is.
[35:47.680 --> 35:49.380]  And how do you find that out?
[35:49.980 --> 35:56.560]  Google United Tematic or use your favorite search engine like... I don't know, whatever it is.
[35:57.500 --> 36:00.320]  It'll point you to the United Tematic page.
[36:00.480 --> 36:07.400]  There's another one that you can look for using your favorite search engine for IATA Travel Center, spelled with an R-E.
[36:07.780 --> 36:10.300]  And that also takes you to the world map.
[36:10.300 --> 36:17.220]  However, remember how I said that the regulation... the source of truth for most airlines is Tematic.
[36:17.480 --> 36:19.360]  And Tematic isn't always up to date.
[36:19.500 --> 36:21.440]  They even admit this on their own map.
[36:21.660 --> 36:27.600]  So you can see, like, the gray countries, it says latest updates, currently under review.
[36:27.920 --> 36:28.100]  Right?
[36:29.820 --> 36:31.360]  So they don't even know.
[36:31.480 --> 36:39.400]  Like, the top experts in the industry don't even know authoritatively up to the minute exactly what the regulations are because things change so rapidly.
[36:39.400 --> 36:45.620]  So what you have to go with is whatever is in Tematic and assume that that's what the airline is going to enforce.
[36:45.840 --> 36:49.280]  Unless they say that they're going to enforce something more than that.
[36:49.700 --> 37:00.420]  For example, Emirates requires a PC... was requiring a PCR test to enter the United States, even though a rapid test was fine per our regulations.
[37:00.700 --> 37:02.660]  That was just their own regulation in Dubai.
[37:03.160 --> 37:09.540]  So you've got to be really sure that you're satisfying the requirements of your airline the airline and the government.
[37:09.840 --> 37:12.920]  The airline can be wrong and the government is usually right.
[37:13.260 --> 37:16.300]  But if the airline is more restrictive, you've got to do that.
[37:19.300 --> 37:19.780]  Refunds.
[37:19.940 --> 37:20.820]  That's our favorite part.
[37:21.000 --> 37:21.740]  So you booked a trip.
[37:21.900 --> 37:22.740]  It was really awesome.
[37:22.940 --> 37:30.780]  And then the whole world changed again, which has happened a few times for us in the past couple of years.
[37:31.260 --> 37:32.540]  And now you want a refund.
[37:32.740 --> 37:37.520]  Well, some airlines and loyalty programs have been super flexible with award bookings.
[37:37.520 --> 37:40.020]  And they're just, in effect, fully refundable.
[37:40.240 --> 37:47.800]  So Delta and American, most of the fares that you can book through those two airlines are just fully refundable, no problem at all.
[37:48.020 --> 37:49.200]  They'll give your points back.
[37:49.200 --> 37:50.740]  They won't charge you any money to do it.
[37:50.860 --> 37:55.200]  But most airlines and most loyalty programs are struggling to survive, frankly.
[37:55.460 --> 37:58.500]  And so any source of revenue they can possibly get, they're doing it.
[37:58.660 --> 38:03.800]  One of my favorite programs is that of a bankrupt Colombian airline called Avianca.
[38:03.800 --> 38:05.740]  Their program is called Life Miles.
[38:06.720 --> 38:07.600]  They're bankrupt.
[38:07.980 --> 38:09.300]  They're not going to give you anything.
[38:09.300 --> 38:10.220]  They need money.
[38:10.540 --> 38:13.800]  So they charge a $25 booking fee.
[38:13.940 --> 38:15.060]  They're totally keeping it.
[38:15.240 --> 38:18.920]  And if you want to make any changes or cancellations, it could be up to $200.
[38:19.460 --> 38:26.520]  So it's just, you know, you have to really look at the rules of the carrier and the loyalty program that you're booking through.
[38:26.660 --> 38:28.680]  And don't be surprised when you have to pay.
[38:28.680 --> 38:32.060]  Now, is it worth booking with Life Miles anyway, despite that?
[38:32.240 --> 38:32.820]  Yeah, maybe.
[38:33.100 --> 38:37.080]  I mean, depending on what the risk is, you can get some really great award bookings from them.
[38:37.260 --> 38:46.000]  If you're flying tomorrow somewhere and you're doing a last-minute first-class ticket on Lufthansa, which is a thing you can often do with that program, that's super awesome.
[38:46.020 --> 38:47.340]  It's a really great experience.
[38:47.400 --> 38:49.340]  It would cost a crazy amount of money.
[38:49.460 --> 38:52.900]  And probably the rules are not going to change between now and tomorrow, right?
[38:53.320 --> 38:55.580]  But it just depends what you're booking.
[38:55.580 --> 38:57.020]  You need to be really sure.
[38:57.560 --> 39:06.140]  So that being said, if the airline canceled the flight on you, and some people raised their hands and said, yeah, that happened to me on the way here.
[39:07.540 --> 39:15.340]  Any time an airline cancels your flight and they cancel the flight on you, you can actually ask for your money back and they have to give it to you for the most part.
[39:15.480 --> 39:19.580]  Or you can ask for your points back and they have to give it to you for the most part without charging you any fees.
[39:19.580 --> 39:28.820]  They will try anything possible to charge you fees and to give you, like, you know, airline vouchers instead of actual money.
[39:29.000 --> 39:37.880]  But if you fight hard enough, you can usually get any fees waived if they canceled on you, and you can get actual cash money back, which is better than an airline voucher.
[39:39.800 --> 39:47.500]  So governments have started stepping in, and this is the thing that, you know, that happened largely because of a couple of extremely bad actors.
[39:47.500 --> 39:50.040]  So Air Canada is an example of a bad actor.
[39:50.460 --> 39:53.620]  They just refused to give anybody refunds at all at the beginning of the pandemic.
[39:54.260 --> 39:58.300]  If you had a ticket and they canceled the flight on you, they're like, sorry, we're keeping your money.
[39:58.400 --> 39:59.000]  Here's a voucher.
[40:00.300 --> 40:10.120]  And after the second bailout that they got from the Canadian government, the Canadian government attached a condition that they had to finally give refunds, which they eventually did.
[40:11.560 --> 40:15.020]  United said, yeah, we'll give you a refund in 18 months.
[40:16.120 --> 40:19.500]  And that didn't pass muster either with the Department of Transportation.
[40:19.840 --> 40:24.480]  There were conditions that were attached to the airline bailout that they had to give actual refunds as well.
[40:25.400 --> 40:29.340]  So usually you can get a refund, but why not book with points?
[40:30.200 --> 40:34.640]  Because then you're just fighting over points instead of a substantial amount of money.
[40:35.720 --> 40:41.600]  You can't book everything with points, but if you can book with points, it's a way better plan right now for anything that might blow up in your face.
[40:42.520 --> 40:44.260]  So some success factors.
[40:45.140 --> 40:48.620]  The success factors that are key are just keep it simple.
[40:49.000 --> 40:53.240]  The simpler your itinerary, the easier it will be to fix if it blows up.
[40:54.940 --> 40:56.620]  Reconfirm, reconfirm, reconfirm.
[40:56.740 --> 40:58.220]  And this is really important.
[40:58.220 --> 41:02.260]  So you didn't used to have to reconfirm reservations if minor changes happened.
[41:02.480 --> 41:12.080]  Airlines have started playing a game now where if they tweak your itinerary, if you don't go in and reconfirm it, they assume it's not ticketed anymore and canceled.
[41:12.440 --> 41:19.360]  And I am a very experienced international traveler, and I ran into this with Air France a few weeks ago in Vancouver.
[41:19.360 --> 41:25.160]  They changed my flight day, like, said, yeah, we, you know, we ticketed you on this new flight.
[41:25.320 --> 41:27.220]  And I had to go and press a button.
[41:27.220 --> 41:30.600]  And if I hadn't done that, like, I did not, in fact, have a ticket.
[41:31.100 --> 41:34.220]  Fortunately, they were able to fix it for me at the airport, and everything went smoothly.
[41:34.720 --> 41:41.440]  But I had the same problem with flying Royal Jordanian on a British Airways award ticket.
[41:42.120 --> 41:45.160]  They also moved my flight, and I didn't click the thingy.
[41:45.240 --> 41:47.940]  And because I hadn't clicked the thingy, I didn't have a tickety.
[41:47.940 --> 41:58.820]  So, anyway, that got sorted out as well on the fly, but only because they'd subbed in a 787, like a giant plane, and had an extra seat.
[41:58.940 --> 42:01.000]  Otherwise, I might have just been left there in Tel Aviv.
[42:01.400 --> 42:06.660]  So, which is that are happening, and make sure you need to, that you press a button when you do it.
[42:07.560 --> 42:09.220]  Know what you can optimize.
[42:09.500 --> 42:17.680]  In a lot of cases, you know, you're optimizing for is there a flight available at all, as opposed to is this the best flight and the best way to do it.
[42:18.200 --> 42:20.260]  Stay informed about your travel destination.
[42:20.500 --> 42:23.100]  Keep on top of all that thematic data.
[42:23.800 --> 42:27.760]  And make sure that right up until the day that you go, that you've satisfied all the requirements.
[42:27.920 --> 42:29.840]  You know about any green passes that you need.
[42:30.020 --> 42:33.080]  There are, like, any health ministry forms you need to fill out.
[42:33.480 --> 42:39.540]  These things are basically the same kind of paperwork as getting a visa to a country that you're going to.
[42:39.540 --> 42:45.960]  And it's just, you kind of have to scramble to figure out what all the requirements are, because there's not any one good source of information.
[42:46.520 --> 42:47.440]  Call your airline.
[42:47.840 --> 42:49.980]  They will know what they're going to check for, at least.
[42:50.080 --> 42:52.560]  And that's a good starting point, because at least it gets you on the flight.
[42:53.540 --> 42:57.140]  And then, finally, avoid any sort of non-refundable arrangements.
[42:57.580 --> 42:59.240]  It's just too uncertain right now.
[42:59.980 --> 43:05.520]  Hotels, if you've got a prepaid rate that's non-refundable, well, that money's gone if you can't go.
[43:05.740 --> 43:08.300]  They're not making any exceptions for COVID.
[43:09.740 --> 43:12.100]  Airbnb took away pretty much every exception.
[43:12.680 --> 43:16.220]  Even if you get COVID, I think Airbnb is now not refunding you.
[43:16.420 --> 43:18.840]  So you've got to be kind of careful with this stuff.
[43:18.980 --> 43:26.100]  And honestly, it helps create the right incentives for you to stay home if you get sick.
[43:26.100 --> 43:28.100]  And if you get sick, please stay home.
[43:28.860 --> 43:32.760]  Somebody went on a dive boat sick and gave me COVID, and that sucked.
[43:32.900 --> 43:34.640]  So please don't be that person.
[43:35.620 --> 43:39.740]  So with that, if I have time for Q&A, I'm happy to take Q&A.
[43:39.740 --> 43:43.760]  If I don't have time for Q&A, then come to my workshop, and I'll answer any questions there.
[43:51.850 --> 43:52.970]  You want to just come up here?
[43:53.030 --> 43:53.730]  I think this one's live.
[43:54.810 --> 43:55.250]  Okay.
[43:56.490 --> 43:59.030]  I'd like to start off with a question from the Matrix chat.
[44:00.110 --> 44:01.070]  Oh, thank you.
[44:01.150 --> 44:01.930]  Yes, awesome.
[44:02.290 --> 44:05.150]  And hi to everybody who couldn't physically make it here.
[44:05.550 --> 44:06.790]  I'm really glad you're watching.
[44:08.410 --> 44:14.710]  Infinite Switch Cases asks, Is it worthwhile picking an airline and sticking to them, especially if you travel for work?
[44:14.710 --> 44:20.690]  Or should my strategy be focused on credit card points or other such programs?
[44:21.590 --> 44:22.050]  Okay.
[44:22.210 --> 44:26.470]  So the answer is it depends, but it depends way less than it used to.
[44:26.570 --> 44:27.150]  And here's why.
[44:27.270 --> 44:35.970]  I'm in a travel group with, you know, a lot of people who are frequent travelers and chase elite status to be able to get extra perks from the airlines.
[44:35.970 --> 44:44.450]  And when you fly one airline a lot, then they treat you better and they give you some additional perks like upgrades or maybe free bags.
[44:44.770 --> 44:48.150]  Well, upgrades are what people chase the most right now.
[44:48.270 --> 44:53.930]  And because there are so many fewer flights than there were in the past, those upgrades aren't coming.
[44:53.930 --> 45:01.410]  Even if you're the highest level of status with airlines, very often you don't get upgraded.
[45:01.430 --> 45:02.270]  Because you know what?
[45:02.430 --> 45:07.370]  If somebody will pay cash for that first class seat, then they're going to get the seat.
[45:07.550 --> 45:15.250]  And the difference between a cash fare in the back and a cash fare in first class isn't all that much anymore in some cases.
[45:15.250 --> 45:17.650]  So why be loyal to an airline?
[45:17.950 --> 45:22.370]  I pick the schedule that's the best and wherever I can go nonstop.
[45:22.430 --> 45:25.990]  And that's kind of the first, you know, my first cut.
[45:26.930 --> 45:31.230]  But my first preference above that is where can I go for free using miles and points?
[45:31.410 --> 45:33.510]  And who can I fly for free?
[45:33.690 --> 45:39.850]  So I would say go all in with the banks and, you know, with certain hotel programs that are transferable.
[45:42.960 --> 45:44.380]  Any other questions?
[45:47.500 --> 45:47.900]  None?
[45:49.000 --> 45:49.400]  Awesome.
[45:50.060 --> 45:51.620]  Well, oh, one.
[45:51.780 --> 45:52.120]  Yeah, sure.
[46:25.620 --> 46:26.300]  Okay, cool.
[46:26.500 --> 46:27.300]  Thanks for asking that.
[46:27.460 --> 46:31.120]  So the question is, hey, what are these miles and points things you keep talking about?
[46:31.280 --> 46:33.480]  Like, I thought we were going to talk about travel hacking here.
[46:33.680 --> 46:41.160]  Like, and so what that actually is, is a whole other talk that I gave called Travel Hacking with the Telecom Informer.
[46:41.240 --> 46:43.900]  I believe it was six years ago right here at HOPE.
[46:44.040 --> 46:45.140]  You can look up that talk.
[46:45.140 --> 46:47.980]  But going really, really, really fast.
[46:48.160 --> 46:49.020]  Banks have points.
[46:49.460 --> 46:51.320]  American Express has membership reward.
[46:51.560 --> 46:53.200]  Chase has ultimate rewards.
[46:53.760 --> 46:56.720]  Capital One got into the game and they have their own points.
[46:56.860 --> 46:57.580]  City has points.
[46:57.760 --> 47:02.260]  And so you can earn points with different credit card programs and transfer them to airlines.
[47:02.260 --> 47:11.900]  So those airline frequent flyer programs can get you tickets in fancy first and business class or in the back, depending on which kind of points that you earn.
[47:12.100 --> 47:23.060]  And so that's kind of my favorite way to travel is go get a bunch of points from the banks that they give away for free, transfer them to airlines and then get tickets for free and then more fly less money.
[47:23.060 --> 47:23.740]  I like that.
[47:25.260 --> 47:26.380]  Any other questions?
[47:35.640 --> 47:36.200]  Okay.
[47:36.500 --> 47:39.840]  The question was, can you travel hack trains?
[47:40.280 --> 47:42.460]  Does Amtrak have a loyalty program?
[47:42.620 --> 47:43.220]  Yes, they do.
[47:43.220 --> 47:48.700]  I know very little about it because their service on the West Coast is practically non-existent.
[47:49.620 --> 47:51.980]  So there are people that play that game.
[47:52.160 --> 47:56.680]  I think there's a whole blog for Amtrak points hackers.
[47:56.900 --> 47:58.820]  And let's not stop with Amtrak.
[47:59.300 --> 48:03.000]  There is a travel hack you can do with Greyhound points, too.
[48:03.180 --> 48:09.740]  They're running a promo where if you take a bunch of really cheap bus trips, then you can cash in those points for a ticket anywhere in their system.
[48:10.320 --> 48:13.420]  There's a guy called Miles in Transit.
[48:13.680 --> 48:24.580]  He's got a Twitter account, which I believe is Miles in Transit, who just did a cross-country trip on a Greyhound bus, which looked like the worst experience I've ever seen.
[48:25.040 --> 48:29.660]  But he's young and, I guess, strong enough to handle it.
[48:31.020 --> 48:31.720]  All right.
[48:31.920 --> 48:33.180]  Well, thanks all for coming.
[48:33.320 --> 48:34.200]  It looks like we're done.
[48:35.400 --> 48:36.680]  Come to my workshop.
[48:37.360 --> 48:43.000]  It is in half an hour in, I think, workshop B, if I'm not mistaken.
[48:43.320 --> 48:45.240]  And if I am, look in the program and I'll be there.
[48:45.360 --> 48:45.540]  I don't see some dog shelter.
[48:45.540 --> 48:45.620]  I know that I own the environment for them!
[48:45.620 --> 48:46.260]  Like, just a... to go to the desert.