Tunes - Tuneflow

Like it or not, customer service representatives don't exist to act as your personal grievance sounding board—they're there to resolve problems customers encounter. Speak their language and make action-based requests to get better service.Photo by Seattle Municipal Archive.

If you like to travel light but have a well stocked toiletries bag upon arriving at your destination, Suite Arrival makes it easy to ship your bathroom favorites ahead.

Searching for the best price for a plane ticket is a never-ending struggle, but reader jeff.niblett writes in with a potentially money-saving tip that even frequent fliers may not be aware of: Book longer trips with layovers in your actual destination city.Photo by Andrei Dimofte.

Avoid the hassle of lugging your bags to the airport, getting slapped with over-limit fees, and fighting with the airlines to be reimbursed in the case of loss or theft by shipping your bags ahead.Photo by cliff1066.

If you don't like your bags being out of your sight and it makes you uncomfortable to think that airline workers are rifling through your stuff, you can take advantage of the TSA's own security rules by—eek—packing a gun. Photo by Vince Alongi.