Travel

By now you've all probably seen or heard of this ridiculous video from a faux socialite. named, well, you'll see if you watch the video.

He made headlines yesterday with his obnoxious first class travel hacks that included tips such as booking a refundable plane ticket just to get lounge access then canceling the ticket before the flight takes off; faking a peanut allergy to get a seat change; printing fake business cards to take advantage of corporate rates and finding the weakest hotel employee to badger for a suite upgrade.

If his fake tan, Hermes belt or girlfriend who flashes her breasts in biz class doesn't turn you off, then you might actually make it all the way through this largely pointless video. (At the end, he does redeem himself, only slightly, to say that he tips the people who take care of him very well.)

While people have been faking life-threatening scenarios or pretending to be more important than they really are for ages now to get upgrades (see also, travel "journalists" who promise coverage to publications they've never written for in exchange for free trips or actual journalists who think they can threaten PR with no coverage unless they get the upgrades they want), this video is sure to infuriate the hotel and airline industries for exposing holes in their system and for manipulating employees who are just trying to do their job.

However, as this Frank Abagnale-wanna-be says, these "tips" do require a lot of chutz pah to pull off and not everyone is gonna be up to such a long con. (Besides, we'd rather sit in the middle seat in coach than up in first with him.)

So disregard all that, and instead read some of our real-world tips on getting what you want while traveling, as culled from Travel Tips Archives of Jaunted. HotelChatter and VegasChatter .