We all know that the award flights are technically not “free” – at some point in the game, you’ve spent money on a credit card, spent time squeezed into a plane seat or maybe you bought miles.  So while I’ve redeemed many points for my “free flight” paying only a small amount in taxes, what you need to consider is positioning yourself to the departure airport.  For me, the majority of award flights going to Australia, South America, Asia require leaving from JFK – not quite that close to home.  Now while Philadelphia is a quick ride to Manhattan normally (Amtrak 1hr 20min, Bolt Bus 2+hrs depending on traffic, local trains NJTransit/Septa -bring a book, it takes a while) normally, getting to JFK is a different animal.  There are at least seven ways to get to JFK airport from Philadelphia – the three just mentioned with add on taxi or NY subway from the city, having a friend drive, renting a one way car, local airport shuttle or hiring a private car service.

So in theory, booking an award ticket on LAN from JFK wouldn’t be a problem unless you decide to leave on the Saturday before Easter as I was of course doing.  This particular day was fraught with problems at each turn – my friends and family were out of town, it was a Saturday/holiday weekend schedule so the shuttle times didn’t work for my 11 p.m. flight. I could drive to Amtrak but would have to pay $360 for the ten days of parking. The other options were also a no go.  It was funny at this point, because what are the odds that six of seven wouldn’t work?  (why i don’t win the lottery with my luck?) I was left with the private car and even my AMEX card was cringing at this due to the crazy costs.  This is where that “free ticket” adds up and these costs are often overlooked when planning your trip.

Since I recently signed an agreement with a local car service for our business travelers to use either sedan or the cheaper (in business world not normal folks world) hybrid car, I had my only option left – booking the car service. The expense account traveler in me loves a private car once a year for my business travel, even if it is a quick trip to the Philly airport but when its your own personal money, things are different – I’m definitely taking the bottled water with me and maybe the newspaper to feel like i got something out of this.

As it was Saturday, there was little traffic on the highway, turnpike, etc. and my driver was making good time and very friendly so the time seemed to go by quickly until something didn’t feel right – why were we going in the tunnel to Manhattan?  It had been a while since I went to JFK but i don’t remember the tunnel –

When i mentioned this, the driver said this was his first trip to JFK (my luck of course) and he was having an issue with the navigation in this car (lovely) but following what it said to do.  The best part though was when he turned with traffic and directly ahead of us was TIMES SQUARE!  Yes, my trip to JFK was cutting through the Times Square crazy with tourists in the streets, mounted police and the police trying to manage the crowds and the traffic.  The van in front of us stopped and blocked traffic as the family all jumped out quickly to take a photo!  I should have been surprised but then my driver, having never been to Times Square, took out his phone for a picture too!  Yes, really! I was tempted to have him stop at my favorite cupcake bakery to bring on the flight but i was grumpy by the diversion and wasn’t sure if i would get charged for the stop – no need to add to the already expensive car service costs.

This is when i shifted from friendly vacation mode to corporate travel girl – What if my executives were treated like this?  They would have told me and well, I would have been in trouble with the car service on notice.  How would they have handled this and what if a client meeting time or flight was missed?  While I had left work behind, it creeps up on me all the time when i travel.  We eventually found the highway and seeing familiar landmarks, I was able to quash corporate travel girl and get back on vacation mode.  Since we had made such good time on the way up, our diversion through Manhattan did not make me that late – but I had less time than i had planned, luckily check in didn’t take too long and i was in the lounge to relax before the 11 p.m. flight to Santiago.

So when people ask if I get special treatment because i sign the contracts or am the contact person, I can honestly say NO – in fact, my rep at the car service was mortified by my experience and also laughed because she knows that these things happen to me all the time.  They did a review of the GPS and the driver followed instructions as the GPS reported road construction and a rerouting through the city (I doubted this as there was no construction on the holiday weekend).  I like to think that i get to experience what goes wrong so my business travelers don’t have to or just chalk it up to my luck. Sadly, i have a collections of these “only sue experiences”.

So this was a memorable positioning to JFK both in cost (about $250! for the cheaper hybrid car service) and experience.  My vacation was just getting started…..