Hot Wheels

Looking for a cheap way to travel? If you’ve already realized renting a car is the least expensive and most efficient option, you might be able to save yourself extra money by NOT renting a car from the airport.   I’m talking discounts greater than 50%.Airports are easy to get to and around, but they are also costly. Car rental companies charge additional “Airport Service Fees” of around $10-15, to say nothing of how much it costs you to get there.   At the airport, the companies are all competing with one another and with such high consumer demand, they can all pretty much agree to charge the same high prices. Off-site rental companies are looking to do business and might have a special discount in addition to much lower standard rates.

For a weekend rental (Noon Friday-Monday) of the same Standard car, at the same company in the New York City area, here are a few calculations… Read more

Why I hate MIA

Traveling in the airport in this day and age is almost always a painful experience. You have to basically strip to get through security screening, die of thirst on the side of security because they make you throw out your water when you get to the line, and are forced to pay for the bags that you must check because of the liquid you can’t carry-on. In some cases airports recognize this and have gone out of their way to make sure they hire pleasant people, make the security experience organized and well-run and overall organize the airport to make it as painless as possible. And then there is MIA…Miami International Airport seems to be making money on running their airport in the worst possible ways. It seems like it was organized by individuals that obviously have never tried to travel since it is not intuitive at all. And it must be a requirement in their hiring policies to only take people on power trips who are completely powerless in the real world. I have had so many situations where miserable people try to make my travel and time at MIA miserable just because they have the power to.

So here are my suggestions how MIA can get it together and be off my worst airports in America List (which doesn’t exist currently but sounds like a great idea!)

1. Fix the International Arrivals nightmare of yellow dots, door and bag chaos and evil staff. Read more