USA Flight Compensation/Packable Daypacks/Hop On Buses

Nomadico issue #129

New Compensation Rules for USA Flights

We noted back in April that the Biden-Harris administration had clarified rules for compensation from airlines for significant delays and lost baggage and now those rules are officially in effect. You’re no longer required to accept a lousy rebooking option or a voucher credit that you may or may not be able to ever use. See the full details here, but the key takeaway is that you can now require a refund back to your credit card within 7 days for delays of more than three hours and for a lost bag, at the very least you’ll get your baggage fee refunded. This still isn’t as generous as the compensation in Europe, but it’s a big improvement.

Packable Daypacks

I am traveling around Europe for a while now and one item I pull out daily is my packable daypack. It came across the Atlantic in my suitcase as a small pouch, but then it unfolds into something with multiple compartments and a water bottle pocket. I use it for carrying around items I might need and for local shopping trips. Mine is from Matador Equipment and is waterproof, but seems to be discontinued. My wife bought this Waterfly one from Amazon after reading the reviews and has been quite happy with it.

T-Mobile + United = Free Wi-Fi

I rarely use Wi-Fi on a plane since I relish the time to be disconnected and enjoy a movie or a book, but sometimes duty calls. Recently when that happened on a flight back from Alaska, I was happily surprised to learn I get it for free on United flights just for having T-Mobile. Customers get four free unlimited sessions per year, but unlimited one-hour sessions to just send off those obligatory answers before you nod off to sleep. This also applies to some other airlines such as Alaska, Delta, and American, though the details are fuzzier. See the T-Mobile explanation here.

In Praise of the Hop On Hop Off Bus

There are some cheesy tourist experiences that experienced travelers always look down their noses at, but at times they can make sense. One of those is the “hop on hop off bus tour” so prevalent around the world. I’ve done a few of these over the years and two of us just rode one over our limited two days in Berlin with Circle Line. In a spread-out city like Berlin with so much disjointed history, I found this to be a good way to get a handle on the destination in two long runs. Plus if you plan it right you can use it to eliminate some transportation costs for long distances too, making up for some of the cost. For ours they supplied earbuds to listen to explanations in one of more than a dozen languages.

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