If you are a high-profile lawyer, you will undoubtedly find yourself traveling in order to assist your clients. Since September 11, travel has become very difficult and often frustrating for all types of consumers, especially those who are traveling by air. Also, the airlines no longer have a sterling reputation when it comes to treating passengers fairly as the customers they truly are.
In order to find out how attorneys can expect to have a smooth experience when traveling, we spoke with Douglas Healy. Healy is the former Senior Trial Attorney for the Greene County Prosecutor’s office in Missouri. Healy is currently the general counsel for the Missouri Joint Municipal Electric Utility Commission and founded his firm, Healy Law Offices, in 2007. His private law practice serves industrial and commercial firms.
Pre-Screening Services
The Department of Homeland Security in December announced that two more air carriers have decided to take part in the TSA pre-screening process for air travelers. Now, 73 domestic and international carriers participate in the TSA expedited screening program. Expedited screening can get customers through screening in less than five minutes. The time savings occurs because travelers who participate in the expedited screening don’t have to take off their shoes, belts or light jackets. They also don’t have their laptops scrutinized.
If you are not already using the pre-screening process, there is an $85 charge for five years’ worth of service. You have to fill out an application as well.
How to Avoid Cancellations and Delays
According to National Public Radio, common complaints about the major air carriers include delayed, cancelled or overbooked flights. You can look up the current data on delays, cancellations and overbookings on the DOT website in their Air Travel Consumer Reports. NPR also found that a complaint to the DOT was the only way to have your cancellation, delay or overbooking register on the Air Travel Consumer Report. Of course, this leads to the logical conclusion that the data found on the DOT website for airline reliability does not reflect all of the poor service that actually occurs.
Forbes Magazine examined the highly-respected, Airline Quality Report published by the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and found the best four carriers for passengers who choose to avoid delays, cancellations and overbookings are Delta, Jet Blue, Southwest and Alaska Airlines. The worst two carriers are currently American and Frontier Airlines.
Passport Scan
In a time-saving move that other carriers will likely adopt as well, American Airlines became the first major airline carrier to provide a mobile app for its customers that allows clients to scan their passport for international flights and head to the departure gate. This allows customers to avoid a visual passport check at the airline check-in counter.
Uber and Lyft May Not Be Cheapest Everywhere
If you plan on avoiding a rental and getting around in another city via Uber and Lyft, besides growing concerns about safety issues, The Verge is reporting that cities and states are beginning to get tough on the ride-hailing providers because of a litany of problems these companies are causing in their locales, such as increased traffic congestion. Cities and states are beginning to impose congestion taxes, such as a fee for use of Uber or Lyft at the most congested areas in New York City and extra fees to operate at the Phoenix airport. Also, New York City now requires the ride-hailing firms to pay its drivers a minimum of $17.22 per hour, and California is now requiring the companies to treat the drivers as employees.
Even though both ride-sharing companies are ignoring the California law at press time, all of this is bound to increase the cost of rides in certain sectors over time. In the case of the Phoenix airport, Uber and Lyft have temporarily pulled their services from these areas. All of this leads to the conclusion that you should compare Lyft, Uber and taxi fees in any given area and see if they even provide service there before you end up stranded or paying more than you bargained for.
According to Douglas Healy, there are some simple tips that high-profile lawyers can employ in order to make travel more streamlined, such as using TSA pre-screening services, passport scan services as they become available, ratings of airlines for dependability and possibly taxis or car rentals as opposed to Uber and Lyft. Otherwise, you are likely bound to encounter unnecessary waits, cancellations and delays