Remember to take time zones into consideration when you fly. The departing time for a flight is the local time at the airport. The arrival time is the local time at the airport you are flying too. That is why you can sometimes fly to another city and arrive around the same time that you depart. Although I do travel more than the average person, it seems fairly simple to me until I listen to other people talking at airports. You’ll hear stuff like, we don’t need to eat. We get in at 1pm so the flight from Dallas to Phoenix is only an hour. When they are actually changing time zones and it’s closer to two and a half hours. Then I look at the little kids they have with them and I’m hoping I’m not on their flight when they get hungry.

As someone who has now lived in all three continental US time zones, it is interesting to have noticed the differences. It does affect many things like business, relationships, sporting events and television. People on the east coast will commonly call you at what may be 6:30am where I am. Some of them will even acknowledge their city and my city and seem to know where they are yet wonder why I’m not answering the phone.

The basics

LA-NY 3 hours difference. You go three hours ahead when heading to NY and you get three hours back when going to LA. Chicago is one hour back from NY. Denver and Albuquerque are two hours back from NY. The most common mistaken time zone I had was related to Michigan. Although it’s far from it, it is on east coast time while Indiana to the south can be in two time zones. And I lived for years in Arizona where the time didn’t change at all. Everything else did. You just had to remember when your tv shows changed by an hour or a relative was now an hour off.

Traveling over a time change weekend is another fun one. It can be good if it brings you closer to your normal time zone but bad when it goes the other way. Why do we have daylight savings any more? Why not just pick one time and stick to it? It would solve a minor little problem. Then we just have to remember the various zones.

It will be interesting to watch future developments in the market. I think the first airlines to have good wifi and is reliably on all flights would get more business travelers. I know I would look for it. But do they charge for it or offer it as a perk to get those customers? Right now, it is only on certain airplanes with many different airlines. So you never know if you’ll have it until you are on the flight.

If you are a business person, productivity can actually be quite high without wifi. You can write up emails, memos, expense reports or articles ahead of time. Work on those spreadsheets or photos. Although the internet opens up things that you can do on your laptop, it also will lead to time wasted on all kinds of websites, email and social media services.

This morning, I actually walked up to airport security area and all the lines were waiting for me. I didn’t wait for a single person. It was a somewhat early flight at 7:25 but I went out at the same time and day of the week earlier in the year and the line was fairly heavy. It may be a fluke but it was surprising.

So if you can travel, now is a even better time to take advantage of the market. Lower prices and easier travel. Who knows how long it will last.

The second leg of my flight, which was from Phoenix to San Diego, brought an announcement. Because of our shorter flight today and number of passengers, we will not be providing the usual drink service. This brought a few thoughts to my head.

• Did San Diego move closer to Phoenix today?
• Was there an earthquake I didn’t know about?
• Did the plane grow in size today?
• I wasn’t given a discount for a shorter flight today and I didn’t make the schedule or select the plane. So why make it seem like we were special to not get service?

Okay. Now to be realistic. It was a short flight and it would have been difficult to roll that cart out for a large plane in the amount of travel time for this leg. And they did offer that you could ask an attendant for a drink if you really wanted one. But then I never saw a single flight attendant the entire flight. They never once walked down the aisle so you could even ask. Yes, I could have pushed the button but that just seemed pushy to me since I didn’t need anymore caffeine.

It is a better situation than Southwest Airlines. They are charging $10 for a similar practice of checking in online and getting on earlier. US Airways is still friendly to families and small children who need assistance. They let them board early where as Southwest now says to heck with them, they can board last.

What is the deal with these companies? Here is how crazy they are getting. And remember, fees usually start with one or two airlines and then the others follow if the outrage isn’t too high. They test the waters to make extra millions.

Check in your bags at the counter in the airport: $5 on top of whatever bag fee already exists, like $15 – Instigators: United and US Airways

Want an exit row seat for more legroom? $20 – Instigator: AirTran

Instead of encouraging your purchase online, which saves them money, some airlines may want to charge you a fee for buying your ticket online  – Instigator: Allegiant Air

Want to check in and use the ticket you already paid for? How about another $5 to $10 to do so. No way to avoid this ridiculous fee – Instigator: Ryanair

Want to choose a seat? How about paying to do so? We’re not sure what happens if you don’t pick a seat. Perhaps you stand up for the flight? – Instigator: Vueling

Want to get through security faster? $25. Instigator: United. I did this once thinking the lines would be long when I got to the airport and I could get through and do some work on the other side. I’m sure this will vary by time and place, but the problem is that United can only do this in certain airports where they have large volume. So when I did it in San Francisco, United’s “Premier Line” was longer than the normal security line. It did also allow me to board ahead of some other passengers however.

Want to use the lavatory or get sick and use a bag? Ryanair wants to charge for it but they haven’t started these last two yet. I wouldn’t want to sit next to the person who doesn’t have the correct change on them. Maybe they should charge for seat belts too.

We’ve already seen fees lately for checking a third bag. Sending a child on  plane without an adult. Fuel surcharges. Blankets. Headphones. Crappy food. Magazines and newspapers. Oversize passengers.

View a large map (in a new window) of all current reports of the swine flu.

Tours are changing their stops. Most major airlines are allowing you to change your travel plans without fees. Each have different dates and rules, and some have already changed them more than once, so you will have to check with your airline. There is no sense in me posting the details of each airline because it will probably be wrong by the time you read this.

The Cruise lines say they are still stopping in Mexico ports but working closely with health officials. Personally, when I consider the confined space of people on a ship, I think they should pass on stopping in Mexico this week at least and wait and see how things go day by day. Insurance most likely does not cover swine flu if you cancel. What do you think?

The most common question I am getting: Do I cancel my plans to Mexico next month or months from now?

Most advice out there says to wait, keep checking, etc. Between the drug war, economy and now a virus, I say just change your plans and move on. It’s not worth worrying about your vacation or wedding all the time. There are lots of great places out there that can use your business.

For warnings on both violence and the flu in Mexico, please read the following:

http://www.allstays.com/Features/mexico-travel-warnings/