-my favorite sites to book travel on are Expedia and Flighthub.com; you can always check Kayak.com to ensure you have the best flight chosen
-if you are Canadian and you have a Nexus card, when you book your ticket and it asks for a “redress” number, just type in the 9-digit code on the back of your card in the upper-left hand corner – this way you are TSA approved and you can go in the special TSA line when you check in when coming home for the US
-I have an application on my computer called: Sticky Notes; I will create a new note for any flight research I am doing; if I don’t do this I find that I keep on doing the same search over and over again and forget from one day to the next what I have discovered; with the Sticky Note, I will write down the different dates and cities I have searched, what site the info came from and the different prices and options
–Skyscanner will show what airlines fly into a city; some of these airlines don’t show up on sites like Expedia or Flighthub (i.e.: Air Transat) so go directly to that website
-once you book a flight: put into your calendar a note 24 hours before the flight for you to do the “online check in“; on the day of your flight, put in the details of the flight (i.e.: time, airlines, flight #) and include the booking reference number (which you will need for your online check in and sometimes when you check in at the kiosk at the airport);
-create a contact in your phone called “Passport” and put it all of your passport details (i.e.: number, date of issue, place of issue, expiry date) – this helps for when you want to do the online check in and you don’t have your passport with you
-note that NON-STOP and DIRECT flights are different: “non-stop” goes directly from one destination to another; with a “direct” flight, it goes from one destination to another with stops in between (you actually don’t get off the plane so theoretically it’s “direct”)
-I had always used Aeroplan for my travel points but it is sooo limited; I got so frustrated with the lack of flight options and then when I finally found a flight I liked, the taxes were insane; I have moved to RBC Travel and it’s much better – you can book the travel you want (although there are restrictions); my favourite card is the TD Reward Travel card – at the end of the month, any items you purchased that are travel related (it can even be restaurants and parking), you just put your travel dollars toward the purchase and it’s taken care of