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Tourist To First Class: How To Get A Free Upgrade |
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Lots of leg room, gourmet dining, luxury wining and a wide seat that goes flat into a comfy bed. Trying for it doesn’t always work, but it’s always worth a try. First of all, to get a free upgrade to first class on a flight, the timing must be just right. Always remember that airlines hate flights taking off with any empty seats.
Here are several situations when you could succeed:
1. When in the waiting area with a coach ticket, you observe that your flight will be full. As boarding time approaches, politely ask the desk clerk if there are any first class seats still available.
If so, ask if you can upgrade without paying full price. Sometimes the clerk will be authorized to bump you up for free, or charge $50, a cost considerably less than the sky-high listed first-class fare.
2. This next situation applies if you’re not in a hurry to get to your destination. Once aboard in your coach seat on a full flight, listen for a flight attendant’s announcement asking if any volunteers will give up their seats.
If you go for it, you may be offered a first-class ticket for a later flight that day. An even better deal that could happen is you’ll not only get a first-class seat on the later flight, but also get a free full-fare ticket for a future round-trip flight.
If you do it right on a flight and are lucky, you could hit a jackpot savings of hundreds of dollars!
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Hong Kong, China: Soaring Downtown Night Scene |
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In-Air Entertainment Enhancements |
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Remember just a few years ago, when all that was available in flight was a tiny movie screen way up forward on a bulkhead? You could get the sound with earphones and severe eyestrain trying to make out the movie.
You could also choose to listen to music by plugging in earphones to an armrest. Of course, you had no control of what the airline decided to broadcast. Today, everything has improved, and keeps on evolving.
Some airlines, including United and British Airways, now offer a large library of movies, videos, games and audio music that play constantly on the back of the seat screen in front of you. Of course, you can opt to take along your own iPod, iBook, DVD player, laptop and other portable electronic digital devices and choose from their virtually endless entertainment and other menus.
Speaking of menus, many airlines plan to lend out pre-programmed individual iPads to passengers as they board. In addition to offering choices for entertainment and reading, there will be digital menus listed. All they’ll require is for the passenger to tap in orders for food, drink, information and other services from flight attendants. If it weren't for the groping security check-in, flying could once again actually be a pleasant journey.
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Las Vegas NV: Neon Museum Recalls Yesteryears |
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If you’ll be visiting Las Vegas soon, you may want to spend a few hours remembering the long-ago fun times when you and Sin City were much younger.
For those who’d enjoy recalling the old Vegas of the 1960s and earlier, a trip to the Neon Museum may be a nostalgic way to spend a few pleasant hours away from the casinos and buffets. The museum was recently opened in the lobby of the former La Concha Motel, 770 Las Vegas Blvd. N. It’s the final resting place for 150 old signs and artifacts from yesterday’s glittering glory days and nights of downtown Las Vegas and the Strip.
They include displays from the Golden Nugget, Desert Inn, Frontier, Moulin Rouge, Silver Slipper, Stardust and other long-gone Sin City relics. The museum is open daily except Sunday. Admission is $18 for adults and $12 for seniors/students/veterans.
Tickets must be pre-purchased online at neonmuseum.org.
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Tucson AZ: If It Flew In The Air, You’ll Find It There |
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Adjacent to Tucson AZ International Airport and Davis-Monthan Air Force Base is a huge facility called the Boneyard. It’s the last resting place for 5,000 now-obsolete military aircraft from all the wars since WWII.
Officially, it’s called the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG). Actually, it’s a huge junkyard of what taxpayers bought over the decades to fight the nation’s air battles throughout the world.
If you want to visit and wander among the vast collection of aircraft, you’d need a special Air Force permit. However, an attractive sampling of 300 of the aircraft is assembled on the grounds, and its called the Pima Air and Space Museum.
You’ll see and are allowed to climb around everything there. The displays include P51s, old presidential Air Force One transports, Russian MiG fighters, F111 Aardvarks, helicopters, bombers, tankers and other classic aircraft.
For more information on admission prices, visit schedules, tours, overflights and other features, go to pimaairl.org
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