Inevitably, if you fly these days you have to pass through airport security. There are various agencies that deal with this in different countries, but the worst I’ve encountered thus far, bar none, is the TSA in the USA. On all flights that I took on American carriers in 2010 I had SSSS printed on each one of my boarding passes. Now this might not mean much to you but if you find yourself with SSSS printed on your boarding pass, get ready because you are now a selectee. Yes, you are one of the fortunate ones who gets to be scrutinized extra by airport security officers. Though the TSA and their security procedures have evolved (or devolved if that’s how you look at it) since 2010; you may still find yourself with this message printed on your boarding pass For me, SSSS varied from explosive swabbing and a quick visual of the contents of my bag; to a full blown pat-down and more thorough bag search. The only constant to any of these screenings was that I had been chosen to get one. I haven’t the faintest idea what led me to have this Super Special Security Selection, but [...]

This post is a review of the British Airways app for Android and iOS. Though the British Airways app does feature on other platforms, I cannot review these as I don’t have the devices. In my previous post, I made no secret about my loyalty to British Airways so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I use the British Airways mobile app more than I would any other airline’s app. As a surprising conclusion, if I were to base my airline loyalty on apps alone, BA would not be the winner but more on that in the future. British Airways App screenshots Price and availability The app is free of charge and available for: Android Apple iOS BlackBerry Windows Phone There’s also a basic mobile version of the main website at http://ba2go.com Features The app has many great features and does exactly what you’d expect an airline app to do. With some caveats, however. Firstly, unless you are logged in with your Executive Club account, you can’t really access some of the important features such as save your bookings or, on android, retrieve a mobile boarding pass. Which brings me to my next point; the app does not have [...]

Inroduction This Air Canada Trip Report is thanks to a trip of necessity. As I’m sure many ex-pats can relate to, there are times when you can’t get home soon enough. This was one of those times. Thankfully I have a very understanding work environment and have been able to travel to support my family. Because of the rushed nature of this trip it was a rather ad-hoc decision to write this trip report. I hope you’ll forgive me for the lack of photos. The planning of this trip took a morning, it was news I was expecting but it still hits you. I knew I now had to get to Europe soon. Finding last minute airfare can be a challenge, especially if you’re restrained by a budget. I decided to call around; I’d done some searching online and had a good idea of what to expect. That’s not to say that better deals cannot be had. I ended up booking a decent fare online after calling yielded unworkable results. Beggars can’t be choosers, I know, but there are limits to my tolerance for certain airlines in Y at the rates I was being quoted. I settled on a WT+ [...]