pinniped

For this to be effective, you should immediately "nest" and then fully recline your seat - makes it very hard for the later-boarding passenger to dislodge you. It's just easier for him to go take your middle seat in the back...

shocky

And don't forget to cancel your flexible rate.. (happened to me!)

WillTravel

Often that cheaper nonrefundable rate disappears well in advance of 1 day beforehand.

pinniped

Speaking of phones, this one is probably obvious: if you mainly make outbound calls while traveling (e.g., you don't care if people back home can call you), a cheap unlocked GSM phone can be a lot cheaper than your own quad-band phone from home.

I bought a little Nokia - has a 1990's look to it but it was new in the box in 2008 - for 15 euros at a street market. Now I've used it in about 15 countries with cheap local SIMs. Much more convenient than looking for and trying to figure out local payphones. I also carry my real cellphone and make a Skype call every now and then, but outside of a very strong hotel Wifi signal this usually isn't great.

Prepaid wireless is a fairly standard way to go in many countries. It doesn't scream "I am a drug dealer."

gobluetwo

Nice, so you do get a receipt you can submit for reimbursement. Given the free $5 thing they have going on right now, I just may sign up for this. I generally only ever buy anything at Starbucks when I'm traveling for business, so your suggestion should work for me. Thanks!

azcoyote

Instead of auto-reload, buy more gift cards at an office supply with a 5x card, register the card, and then transfer the balance to your main card.

StreetSmartTraveler

That is genius! Will definitely do that from now on.

One of my favorite things to do is find out about good restaurants in whatever city I'm going to visit. I like using Chowhound.com for this. For those who don't konw, Chowhound is a discussion forum for foodies. Useful resource.

tylerf

You can get into airport lounges for free.
Buy a refundable ticket when you get to the airport, go in, call and get a refund.

Mr. Style

I haven't bothered getting a 5x card. I mostly stick with the Costco Amex (cashback and its the only credit card accepted at costco), IHG Rewards (Stay at a lot of Holiday Inns), Chase Southwest card (Got me a companion pass) and I have an AT&T Universal card (no fee, keep it for long account history on my credit report) gives me points on a website to buy stuff but I mostly just use it on Amazon.com because it offers to redeem the points at checkout and its convenient. I guess I am kind of lazy because I could probably be maximizing my points by doing some things differently - but any time I've received gift cards in the past, I've been left with small balances that got wasted by fees so I haven't bothered.
Does anyone have a "system" that works well for using/tracking gift cards?

Tchiowa

And then find out that when you bought the ticket and checked in (in order to get into the lounge), it will take weeks and sometimes months to process the refund and you're paying interest on your CC.

billatq

I used to do this, but T-Mobile actually has pretty reasonable roaming rates in most countries. If you're fine with somewhat slow data speeds (they're happy to sell you LTE speeds), then it's free and unlimited. Voice rates in most places are also cheap enough to where you don't have to sweat it chatting for an hour or two on the phone while you're abroad. Definitely less work than tracking down a local SIM card and then getting it all set up.

darthbimmer

I don't agree with this unless, as others have suggested, your tools are cheap and common.

I don't travel with tools, per se, but I do often travel with specialized equipment that's either too large for carry-on or fails some FAA/TSA rule for carry-on safety. This gear, when new, cost several hundred dollars. I am not going to pay that kind of money all over again just to avoid checking a bag, nor will I take the risk of buying and attempting to use cheapo equipment. (I bought the good stuff because it works so much better than the cheapo stuff!) If we're talking about something as simple as a $10 bottle of suntan lotion then, yes, I will absolutely pick that up at a convenience store at my destination instead of checking a bag solely because I have one or two bottles of fluid larger than 100mL.

nd2010

http://matrix.itasoftware.com/
You can find flights between multiple combinations of departure, arrival, and connecting airports. It's easy to find the cheapest flight.

One way car rental deals
Every year, car rental companies need to get cars driven into Florida in the fall, and driven out of Florida in the spring. They may not advertise it, but if you search for a one way rental to/from Florida in the appropriate season, you can get a really good deal (less than $10/day) and no drop fee. Same thing applies for Arizona for those that live out west. The fall deals usually start in November and the spring deals usually start in April. At least one company will do it, and they'll lower the price if there are fewer takers than expected, because they need the cars driven to where they can make more money from them. They might lose money on the rental after depreciation, but they save by not having to pay an employee to drive it or to have the car sit idle when there's a shortage of cars elsewhere.

Need to nap for a few hours during the day?
If you are traveling and need to nap for a few hours during the day, and can't justify a hotel room for a short nap, public libraries and college student centers usually won't bother you if you fall asleep on a comfy chair or couch for a few hours. But they will wake you up in hotel lobbies, even if you just checked out, even if you're in business clothes.

You don't always need to take a taxi to/from the airport
Research the public transit system in the city you're visiting. For example, in NYC, it's often times faster to take the train from EWR or JFK to Manhattan in peak hours. In Chicago, it's faster to take the train from ORD when the Kennedy is jammed. And in many cases, why pay $50 for a cab when you can pay $5 for public transit that takes just a little bit longer.

Annalisa12

So the saying whoever denied it supplied it is incorrect then!! You took ownership!

valdor

It's even quicker and cheaper if you buy 12 separate coffee beans. Go when there is no client in the store and ask the barrista to sell you the beans by the weight. Pay for one bean at a time and you'll get one star per bean (1 star per transaction, even if only for a cent). That's a pretty aggressive form of travel hacking and is definitely not for everyone