Photo by Antonis Achilleos

Dress the Part Want to get bumped to business class? First impressions go far in travel. If you go up to a ticket clerk wearing sweats and flip-flops, they won’t bump you to business because you’re advertising their airline—and they want well-dressed people.

Spend a Little
Didn’t get the upgrade you wanted? You don’t need a first-class ticket to buy yourself into an airport lounge. For between $30 and $65, it’s a much more civilized place to wait, and there’s free Internet, food, booze, coffee...even massage chairs!

Arrive Fashionably Late
Hotels are the opposite of airports—be late. If you arrive at 11, a hotel still doesn’t know which reservations are going to show up and you won’t get an upgrade. By 5, they know who’s come in and who hasn’t and you have a better shot.

Be Direct
Call the hotel directly and talk to someone there. Travel is down right now so you can barter. Say that you’d like the cheaper room, but ask what they can do to make a more expensive room more enticing to you—like throwing in a free couple’s massage.

Announce Yourself
When you go to a restaurant, say you’re on a second honeymoon. People want to help you celebrate, empower them to do so. Waiters and managers will do nice things, like put you at the best table in the house or bring you free champagne.

Nestpert Samantha Brown of The Travel Channel 
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-- Cemile Kavountzis

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