The wildcat strike last Friday by most of Spain's air traffic controllers reminded me once again why it is always wise to travel with emergency cash. Travelers from North America and elsewhere arrived in Madrid or Barcelona last Friday morning, only to find that all flights to and from Spanish airports were canceled!
Intrepid travelers who carried cash were able to hire taxis to take them on to Portugal, southern Spain, or elsewhere. Thousand of others had to sit it out or check into local hotels--if indeed any rooms were available. So here are three good reasons to carry extra cash when you travel:
1. Air travel shuts down. On 9/11 it was for terrorism. Last year it was due a a volcano spewing ash from Iceland. An air controller's strike, such as the one in Spain, can happen at any place and at any time.
2. One of your friends may be in immediate need of financial help. Just a few weeks ago we were preparing to fly back to the States from Loreto, Baja California Sur. My friend Cris came by our hotel to pick us up and take us to the airport, but not in his older but well-kept Nissan sedan. He was driving a rickety, rusted Astro van that was not safe to take beyond the end of the city bus line. What had happened?
"I stopped off at a small store last night," he said, "and a drunk driver smashed into my car and totalled it!" The driver had no insurance. This was the car Cris was about to use to travel to an extremely important convention in Tijuana just a few days hence. There was no time to hunt down an ATM and even if there had been, I am limited to $300 withdrawal per day. Fortunately I had a wad of $100 bills in the snap pocket of my western shirt. I handed them to Cris and we raced to the airport. The next week Chris and family were at the convention in Tijuana.
3. Even if you are not the type who helps out friends in need, cash can solve problems you had not forseen.
Example: I once had a confirmed coach ticket for an aisle seat on a flight from New York to Madrid. When I showed up at the gate, I discovered to my horror that I had been re-assigned to a middle seat. I am claustrophobic when it comes to middle seats. I travel only in aisle seats, so what to do?
I boarded the plane but stepped aside to explain to the flight attendant that once all were seated, I was going to walk down the aisle with cash in my hand. "I'll offer a $100 bill to anyone who will trade an aisle seat for my center seat, and if no one volunteers, I will raise the price a hundred at a time until--"
"Wait here," she said with a smile. "I'll fix it." When the passengers were seated, she went back to row 32 and spoke to a passenger. He immediately gave his seat up to me, so I assume he was "deadheading" [free flight for an airline employee] and had to take whatever seat he was given. Nevertheless, had this not been the case, I was in a position to buy my way out of a center seat.
In some so-called developing countries,
nothing but cash will get you out of a sticky situation. So the next time you travel,
carry some extra dollars or euros.
Labels: air controllers strike, air travel emergency, cash is king, emergency cash, pay cash
Privacy blog post by JJ Luna at 8:48 AM
