You're listening to KF I Am six forty wake Up Call with me Amy King on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
KFI and KOST HD two Los Angeles, Orange County.
What do you want for Christmas?
Little boy?
My mind had gone blank.
Frantically I tried to remember what it was I wanted.
I was blowing it, blowing it.
Come on, cat, it all about a nine football nor rider comin.
I should you want to?
You should your eye out?
Kid?
Merry Christmas?
How?
How?
How it's time for your morning wake up call.
Here's Amy King.
It is five o'clock, straight up. This is your wake up call for Wednesday, December eighteenth. Good morning, I'm Amy King. December eighteenth, one week till Christmas. Hey, if you get a chance and you step outside this morning while it's still dark. I don't know if it's because of the winds, because we've had that Santa Ana winds blowing event going through, but man, this guy's were clear and I could see stars, which you don't always see in the city. It was beautiful.
It's a Christmas miracle. Okay. I already said seven sleep still Christmas and then today is a big day. So when you pick up the phone today. You have to answer a little bit differently. Okay, you don't have to, but it'd be fun if you did, because it is answer the phone like Buddy the Elf day, Buddy of the Elf? What's your favorite color for this time?
Hello?
Oh okay, I'm gonna be doing that all day. Buddy the Elf? What's your favorite color? I've only watched Elflake three or four times this year. Here's what's ahead on way cup Call. Evacuation warnings are in place in Harupa Valley for a thirty acre fire that is threatening homes and other buildings. The fire started just before eight last night. It's now twenty percent surrounded. The fire started during windy, dry conditions. We've got that red flag warning and effect
the cause not yet known. Congressional leaders have released a stopgap spending bill to keep the government funded through March fourteenth. The bill includes more than one hundred billion dollars in emergency aid to help recovery efforts for Hurricane Helene and Milton, and also other natural disasters. If lawmakers don't pass it,
a partial government shutdown starts after midnight Friday. The Federal Reserve meets for a second day today and by the end of the meeting, it's expected to announce it's going to cut interest rates by a quarter percent. It would be the third and final rate cut of the year, in spite of inflation rising for the past four months in a row. Also coming up on Wake Up Call, Terrible Toys, ABC's Jim Ryan is going to tell us
the worst ones for this holiday season. Open Ai is opening up chat GPT to compete with Google, and I no longer have a bone pick with tech guy Richdmiro. We'll be talking at five twenty. Also, we're gonna hear from Iheart's aviation analyst Jay Ratliffe about a new tool to help find your lost luggage. That's coming up at
five point fifty, and Amy's on it. You know, I like to be on the stream, see a lot of movies, and with just a week until Christmas, I've got a wild ride and a movie that takes a look at the dark side of Christmas. At six oh five, it's handle on the news. The DA in New York says Luigi Mangioni is a terrorist. Let's get started with some of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four
hour newsroom. Evacuation warnings are in effect in Herupa Valley in Riverside County, where a fire has burned thirty acres. The fire started just before eight last night in an area south of the sixty Freeway and Valley Way. Evacuation orders were issued as homes were threatened, but now they've been downgraded. The fires twenty percent surrounded. Firefighters in Malibu have been fighting flames and monitoring Santa Ana wins.
The evacuation orders have been lifted. Residents have returned home and students are mostly back in school, but with wins threatening the firefighting effort, Mayor Doug Stewart says residents should still have access to the temporary mobile lines.
This should help you stay connected, receive updates or power is disrupted, but I want to emphasize this is not a guarantee.
The mayor says residents should be aware of the threat and keep emergency supplies and a radio nearby in case the fire takes a turn. Michael Monks KFI News.
The fires now seventy eight percent surrounded. The man accused of killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson has been charged in New York with murder as an act of terrorism. Prosecutors released the indictment yesterday as they were to get Luigi Mangioni to New York from Pennsylvania, where he was arrested at an A. McDonald's. New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tish also fired back at people who are supporting Mangioni.
There is no heroism in what Mangioni did. This was a senseless act of violence. It was a cold and calculated crime that stole a life and put New Yorkers at risk.
Camangioni had already been charged with murder earlier this month, but the terror allegation is new. Members of the House Intelligence Committee been briefed on the recent drone activity over New Jersey and New York representatives from the FBI, CIA, and National Intelligence Agency. We're at the hearing yesterday. ABC's j O'Brien says some lawmakers reported learning nothing new.
Federal officials have said that these drone sightings can be chalked up to either civilian planes or helicopters, or law enforcement or military aircraft, or law enforcement drones or civilian drones, or in some cases, FBI and dhssay that people are mistaking stars and saying that they're drones.
Say they were reassured that nothing nefarious was going on in the skies. It's five oh seven on your Wednesday morning wake up call. Let's say good morning to ABC's Jim Ryan. Okay, Jim. There are good toys and there are bad toys, and now we know what the worst toys are for twenty twenty four.
Yeah, at least according to this group called WATCH, which stands for a World Against Toys Causing Harm A really terrible acronym, but sort of a useful list if you're a parent or a grandparent, a care give out looking for the perfect toy to give to a child. It's
been compiling this list amy for the last fifty two years. Then, many of these toys on this list, whether they look completely different from their prototypes or their counterparts from fifty years ago, but they have the same kinds of potential risks, choking hazards, eye injuries. But there are newer ones as well, newer potential threats. At the very top of the list, the PENO VK toy cult, forty five pistol Gee.
What could be bad about that one?
A couple of things projectiles first of all, but also it has the potential for tragedy. Essentially if some kid is holding this thing. You've heard about these cases amy of some a police officer mistaking a toy gun for the real thing and acting appropriately or acting according to training. Horrible, you know. And in fact, there was one gun that
was taken off the list altogether earlier this year. That was it was it pulled off the market because it did not have the required little red plug or blaze orange plug on the end, and it looked very realistic.
Yeah, okay, so that's and that's that is a common sense one that a gun that looks like a real gun might be a bad idea. But yeah, then there's some other ones. Okay, what is going on was the Bristle hedgehog, because hedgehogs are adorable.
They are well, there's a potential for ingestion, injuries, there's something can be swallowed with this thing. So parents who are looking at this thing but possibly buying it need to feel it, look at it, no matter what the toy is.
Oh if it does horrible looking at it right now?
I know, I know, But can you see the possibility that some part of that could get swallowed, and especially if it's for infants or toddlers. The other one unless there the kinetic sand sense ice cream treats.
Oh what's that?
Well, it's the little ice cream set you make ice cream cones bit out of sand.
Oh like that that sand that binds and you can shave it. Oh, okay, that stuff is cool. I see it like a holiday bazaars and stuff.
Yeah, but for kids three and under it and it smells like vanilla and chocolate and strawberry, They're going to put that in their mouths no matter what. Right, the big warning on the front choking hazard, small parts.
H Remember play Doo used to taste like salt, and I would know because I used to lick it, but I never ate it.
Okay.
What are a couple of other ones?
Some of the other and then a lot of these again carry some of the same risks. The click and play toy remote set potential for choking, the wabble rumblers, inflatable furious fists, which is something like those hull cans that you used to get for your kids, big foam hands that you're supposed to punch each other with. Well, there's the potential for blunt force and impact injuries from.
That, of course, what could go wrong when you punch somebody?
Yeah, come on now. And then finally the play don't fit try flyer the again and a potential for impact injuries kid getting hit with this thing.
Okay, so just because they look cool doesn't mean that they are cool. And if you want to look at the whole list, it's called watch the World against Toys Causing Harm. And if you google.
Toysafety dot org, toy safety dot safety dot what's.
It all right? Thank you so much, Jim Ryan, see you talk to you soon. Let's get back to some of the stories coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. With Christmas just a week away, workers at Amazon warehouses in Palmdale industry Sam Bernardino and Victorville have threatened to go on strike.
They say Amazon is refusing to recognize them as members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and won't engage in contract negotiation. The vote to authorize a strike came after Amazon reportedly ignored a deadline last Sunday to open negotiations.
Okay, if it's Tammy Truchios's workers are looking for higher wages, better benefits and better working conditions. A man in Victorville says he's thankful he's alive after he was knocked unconscious in a road rage incident. He says he was on his way to work yesterday morning when a guy in a pickup truck started cutting him off, slamming on his brakes and nearly running him off the road. Brian Syke tells KTLA he then pulled over. He got out of my truck and I asked him, you know what's going on?
Why you cutting me off? And he gets out of his truck with the pipe and his been the head and next ding I knew, I woke up and he was gone. He says. He then called his wife, who took him to the hospital. The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department is looking for the pickup truck driver. Pollisa, Wisconsin had been talking to students at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison to try to figure out why a fifteen year old girl took a gun to school and shot
several people, killing a teacher and a student. Police chief Sean Barnes says the motive for the shooting on Monday appears to be a combination of factors, and police are trying to find out if bullying was one of them. The fifteen year old shot and killed herself on campus. The Pentagon says it was not involved in the killing of a senior Russian general by Ukraine's intelligence agency. The Russian general and his assistant were killed yesterday in a
bomb attack in Moscow. Pentagon spokesman Major General Patrick Ryder says US military leaders don't know anything about it beforehand.
We were not aware of this operation in dvance. We do not support or enable those kinds of activities.
The US and Ukraine have accused the general of using chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops. A Ukrainian official said yesterday Ukraine's intelligence services carried out the attack. Russia says an Uzbek citizen recruited by the services has been taken into custody. A volunteer advocate for homeless people in Orange County says her pleas to authorities for a temporary winter homeless Shell
and Fullerton haven't gone anywhere. Leoh White tells KFI she's been in touch with officials in the city police department and case management organizations, and while she gets positive responses, nothing happens because.
Of the increment weather. You know, when it gets below fifty degrees, that increases the likelihood of people freezing to death. The homeless population is at risk.
White says she has been advocating for the homeless for eleven years. Megan the Stallion has asked for a restraining order against rapper Tory Lanes, whom she says has been harassing her from prison. The petition, filed by the hip hop singer asks the judge in LA to stop the Canadian rapper from using other people to harass her on social media. The filing says bloggers acting on Lane's behalf
are trying to cast doubt on her allegations. Lane's was convicted in twenty twenty two of shooting at the singer's feet in twenty twenty Okay, you did not wake up Mega Rich this morning because no one won the Mega Million's jackpot last night. So the next drawing Friday is
worth an estimated eight hundred twenty five million dollars. I'll be buying my tickets because of a report from Go Banking Rates that says that people in California need to have two point three million dollars saved if they want to retire comfortably for twenty years, I'm screwed. So the annual amount for your nest egg would break out to one hundred and sixty two thousand dollars, which they said,
that's what you need to live comfortably in California. And to get to this place, you would need to save four three hundred and thirty four dollars every month starting starting at the age of twenty.
So next year.
So yeah, in twenty three states, you need more than a million dollars in savings to retire comfortably. The best place to retire money wise is West Virginia, where you would just need four hundred thirty four, five hundred and one dollars to live comfortably in retirement for twenty years. Something to think about and maybe think about when you go buy your lottery ticket that is worth eight hundred twenty five million dollars, but your odds of winning that
one are one in three hundred million. A fire at an apartment complex in Sherman Oaks has damaged several cars in a car port and windows to two apartments. The fire on Cast Avenue was reported around ten thirty last night. Firefighters were also called out last night about a rubbish fire in Sherman Oaks, that one happened on Burbank Boulevard near the four or five firefighters in Malibu been watching the four thousand acre fire extra close as another Santa
Ana wind event blows through. All evacuation orders and warnings have been lifted, but officials are urging residents to remain vigilant. Utility officials say power shutoffs are possible if the winds get too strong. Red flag warnings are in effect until six o'clock this evening. Tom Cruise has been given the highest civilian in honor by the US Navy. The Navy presented the top gun Star with the Distinguished Public Service
Award yesterday in London. The Navy says his portrayal of Maverick helped increase military recruiting and that crews helped raise awareness and appreciation of fire pilot fighter pilots, their training and also their sacrifices. Let's say good morning now to the host of rich on Tech here on KFI and KTLA, Rich Demiro hey Bridge. Is it true they changed the name of your segment on KTLA because of KFI.
Well, it was because of the larger. Yes, probably, I think, so let's just leave it there.
Okay, all right, so it's called.
Great to me.
Came to what They came to me and said, hey, do you want to rename everything here rich on Tech? And I said, yeah, of course.
Because of the wild success of your weekend show right here on KFI.
Yeah, okay, I think, so we'll.
Go with that. Okay. So if you're a little stressed over the holidays, maybe you need a little massage and you can't get in at Burke Williams, you can.
Go to a robot Yeah, and I assume this would be cheaper than Burke Williams. So I don't think you can get in there for less than like a couple hundred bucks. But I don't know because I've never been. But I will tell you this. I can tell you what's that.
It's lovely. I'll tell you that.
Yeah, I know, I've heard from my wife. I just yeah, I just think it's expensive.
But yes, anyway, okay, so you went high tech for your.
Massage, So I went high tech. There's a new robot massage. It's a company called Escape. They're putting these high tech robots all over the country. They just opened up one here in Studio City. That's the one I went to, a place called Pause Wellness, and then they also opened one this week at the Rich Carlton in Santa Barbara, which I'm trying to make it too because that sounds really fancy. Anyway, you lay on this bed, the robot takes a scan of your body with AI and goes
to work. And it reminds me a lot of what Peloton did for the cycling world, where it's all very computer centric and you know, there's a screen in front of you. You can choose your music, you can choose
what you watch while you're getting massaged. And the thing that's a little bit different is that, because the machine doesn't use any sort of oil, you have to put on these like really tight spandexy clothes so that you can get the massage because it, you know, needs to like move its arms over your body.
Hmmm. And does that feel weird? Because that's one of the things that I love about massage is that like is somebody's warm hands and then you have the lotion or the oil or whatever is they're you know, giving you a good rubdown.
Yep, well, this does this does have warm arms. The robot hands are somehow warmed up, so I would say this, look, I think this is this is not going to replace humans. I think it's another option, and it's kind of a cool option, especially as we get into this world of everything is on demand, everything is self service. It kind of reminds me of like an uber of massage. You literally just book this thing for half an hour or
an hour. You go there, you don't have to really talk to anyone, You lay down, your relax and you're on your way.
And it looks like something out of a sci fi movie, you know, like Total Recall or something something from the future.
Oh totally. And as this thing started, I sat there and I was like, okay, this could be it, Like this thing could malfunction and literally crush my lungs with its push and it's like you're you're laying there and that crosses your mind. And there is a big emergency stop button as well. So clearly, clearly it's not out of the realm of possibilities.
Okay, And what does it cost?
This was sixty dollars for half an hour, which I don't think is much cheaper than a typical massage.
It's not it's not. Okay, another option, another option, but it might be fun to try. Okay, open ai is trying to make a run for Google.
Oh my gosh, this is wild because you know, Google would not we would not be on this entire AI spiral or whatever you want to call it, upward trajectory if it was not for chatch ebt, because that launched two years ago now and everything has changed. Everything has changed since then, and of course Google has been really hard hit because a lot of people are using chat GBT and until now there was no real time search results.
But now that this week, that has all changed. Now you can search the web through chat GBT and it's open to anyone. So this has been available for a few weeks, but it was only available to people that pay twenty dollars a month, and now they said, you know what, let's get rid of that as well. So now you can just literally search chat gibt. And it's really handy, by the way, amy for up to date information on a lot of topics or restaurants, or if you're visiting a city, you can say, hey, give me
the notable restaurants that open this year. I mean, it's really really good.
I love that idea. But now I have one question for you about the AI generated stuff, because like when I do a Google search, sometimes it'll say operated by AI or whatever, yeah, up at the top. Yeah, And I've noticed that a few times it's been wrong. Yep, yeah, Like should you can you get a second opinion? You know what I mean?
Like?
How do you do that? You can't just assume that it's right, because it's no, you cannot.
And in fact, if you know the topic and you know what's happening, you can tell that it's wrong. And so you have to be really careful with this stuff and the thing they're all tackling it in a different way. There's one called Perplexity that does it the way that chat GBT does it is they put sources almost next to each sentence that they're writing when you do a web search, so you can click that source and verify.
But I will tell you I've been using this and it is definitely wrong in a lot of little ways. So I think it gets the main stuff right, but a lot of little details they can get wrong, so you have to be very careful. Google has a feature on their Gemini, which is their pure AI where it says fact check this, and you can tap it and it will literally run the entire AI generation through Google Search and highlight what's right and what's wrong.
That's funny that it's policing itself.
Right, I know, Well it doesn't. It kind of only does if you ask it to otherwise, you know, the let's just put it this way. There's probably a lot of reports and different papers floating around out there with a lot of misinformation at this point from people who didn't fact check.
Yeah, you gotta be careful. And the kind of catch twenty two in that is, like you said, if you know the subject, then you can see what's wrong. But a lot of times you're asking the question because you don't know anything about.
It, right, And so if you just say, hey, how many seats are in the Staples Center Crypto dot com like, and it comes up with a number, okay, Well, unless you double checked out like ten different sources, you're just going to say, okay, cool, I guess that's the number.
Okay. Before we go, Rich, I have to say that I no longer have a bone to pick with you.
Okay.
Last week we talked because you had recommended some really cool, fun stuff on your Holiday gift Giving Guide, which you can found find on Rich's website. It's Rich on tech dot TV. And one of the things we talked about sounded so cool, and it was wall crawling gecko that has like little suction cups and it'll crawl up your walls.
Right.
You can't get them anywhere.
So yeah, they're tough.
I'm bound and determined. So over the weekend I did searches. And actually I've been searching like every day for like a week. It's not on Amazon, can't get it, and he'll say view buying options, and then it says, sorry, nothing here, and it wasn't at Walmart. And I finally looked and I found one at Target.
Oh wow, Yeah.
So I bought it. And when I bought it, they had seven, it said, and then like all the stores they listed, all the stores sold out, sold out, sold out, sold out, but this one in Eagle Rock had seven of them, so I would go there. Well, I bought it online, which was a whole other issue because I had to create a Target account, which took an hour. But and then I went there and picked it up and it was there, and then I said, can I get another one and he said, nope, sold out, sold outs, sold out.
Oh wow.
So I don't know if they're going to get any restocking before, but I think this is this is one of the little hot must have gifts this season apparently.
And I will tell you I mine actually got delivered at my house and I didn't even notice because we're getting so many packages right now, and I'm kind of like, not really, Actually, I have a little hack because we're getting so many gift packages. I actually changed my name on my Amazon deliveries and I said to my wife, if you see a different name on there, don't open it, because I was going to put gift. But then I
was like, wait a second. Then anyone who sees this package on my doorstep is going to be like, oh, that's a gift. Let me open it because it's probably something great.
Good safety tip as a porch pirates are out probably in full forces holiday season. Rich Demiro, thank you so much and thanks for the recommendation. My friend better love that dang gecko because I worked really hard to get it, I hope. So yeah. Cafi's tech reporter is Rich Demiro. He's the host of Rich on Tech right here on
KFI Saturdays from eleven am to two pm. You can follow him on Instagram, rich on Tech and his website of course, where you can find that holiday gift giving guide and all the stuff that we've been talking about, and all the stuff he's going to talk about this weekend is richon Tech dot TV. And I'm guessing you're not going to be with us on Christmas Day a week from time.
Probably not. I'll be with my kids. So Merry Christmas, have a great, happy holiday season.
Merry Christmas, and we'll talk to you next year.
Sounds good.
I love saying that.
Thanks rich information process, and I would expect the nominee to have answers to those questions.
He says. Lawmakers are committed to making sure all of the nominees get a fair process. Grub Hub has agreed to pay twenty five million dollars to settle accusations it misled customers about the cost of a delivery. The Federal Trade Commission also accused the delivery service of misleading drivers about how much they could earn. The practice, in some cases, resulted in a delivery that costs twice as much as what was originally advertised. Popular You're gonna be popular. Universal
Pictures has changed the name of the Wicked sequel. It was Wicked Part two Very Original. The movie that will cover the second half of the Broadway musical story is now titled Wicked or Good. It won't be released in theaters until November twenty first of twenty twenty five, so yeay, we get to wait a whole eleven more months to see the second half of the movie. Wicket has brought in three hundred and fifty nine million dollars in the US and more than a half billion dollars worldwide since
it hit theaters. Part of Topanga Canyon in the western San Fernando Valley is closed because of a high risk of wildfire caused by those sant Ana wins and low humidity levels. The road is only accessible for residents and people with business in the area from Mulholland Drive to pch and An old Topega Canyon Road and Mulholland Drive. The closures will remain in place through at least six
this evening. A bill introduced in the California legislature would require an armed guard at every public school in the state. Corona Republican Assemblyman Bill Esseilee says this is the best way to protect children from an active shooter. A similar bill introduced by Asseilee during a previous session with killed by the Democrats. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanya, who's traveling
to Cairo for ceasefire talks. The visit comes on word that a ceasefire deal could be signed between Israel and Hamas in the coming days. The BBC says, a senior Palestinian official says talks are in a decisive and final stage. That would be good news. We're just minutes away from handle on the news this morning. The now has done something that hasn't happened since Jimmy Carter was president. Let's say good morning now to a Iheart's aviation analyst, Jay Ratliff. Good morning, Jay, to.
Hey pleasing, good morning.
So we wanted to talk to you because we heard that United is now using Apple AirTag technology to find lost luggage. So how does that work?
Well, it combines their system with the Apple AirTags, which allows United to know what passengers know and that is the location of the bags. Now, this is something that the airlines have really kind of been slow in coming around to because passengers for quite a while, they've been dropping those air tags into their check bags so that
they can keep an eye out where they go. And when bags do get delayed, they don't arrive at the airport when the passenger does, and the agents saying, well, you know, we'll begin a search to see where the bag is. A lot of these passengers are saying, I can tell you where the bag is. It's in Denver, or it's in you know, Boise, Idaho or something, because they've got the ability to track it. And I can
tell you. Some airline agents have been a little bit i shall I say, not very cooperative when the passenger knows more than they do. So finally there's been some you know, airlines that come around saying, okay, we're going to embrace this technology where we can all work together because now we can track our bags better than ever before,
and especially during the holidays. It's a great idea. They're not that expensive and if you can use them for both your carrying and check luggage, I think it's a great idea.
Okay, So, Jay, how does it work? Take the air tag out of the out of the equation when you have your luggage. And I've had this happen. You probably have had it happen too, that you get to your destination and your luggage isn't there, and then they go, like you just said, we'll put a trace on it. But they've got those the tags with the bar codes on everyone, so when they arrive at a destination, they get scanned in.
They're supposed to be yes.
So that's how they know where they are.
Kind of exactly yea, as long as everything goes the way it needs to it. But and the problem is a lot of times we'll get to an airport, the bag's not there, and they say, oh, it didn't make the flight. We'll put it on the next flight. It'll be here at such and such a time, and they
will actually discourage you from filing a report. Do not walk away without filing a report for your delayed luggage because many times if the bag never shows up or there's some claim that later has to be issued, there's normally a timeframe that you have to initiate the report within so many hours of your arrival time at your destination. So if you walk away without filing a delayed luggage report or it could in some instances prevent you from
getting what you should be getting from the airlines. So don't let some agent who's in a hurry to try to discourage you from filing that report say that you need to have something before you leave because you don't want to be giving things away. And right now, airlines, even though it is the holiday season, they're not in the giving mood. So they're not going to give us anything more than they should. And far too often they try to give us far less than we're entitled to.
Yeah, and I've done that, I won't do it again. But they've said, hey, we'll call you when we find it or you know, when it's headed your direction. But yeah, I didn't realize that you should make sure that you do file that report every time because they have to. Like, if they never find it, they give you a certain amount of money.
They do, and it depends on, you know, what the value of the bag, if it's international, if it's domestic. And one of the things that I've always told people is right before you close your bag, put a copy of your tenor in it. That way, if all the tags come off and they're forced to look in it for identify, they can not only see who the bag belongs to they can see where you're at so they
can try to get the bag to you faster. And it's also always this time you are the reminders of please don't put the car keys, electronics, anything of value, anything with a lithium battery, anything like that into check luggage, because far too often people will put medicine in cash and different things in there, or car keys. That's the big one, and the bag doesn't arrive and wops can't get home because you know, Dad puts the car keys in the luggage. It's always Dad's fall. As a dad loucky,
we're the ones that take it. But you know, the holidays are a very stressful time when we're traveling and for a lot of people, you just when you're in a hurry, you make mistakes or you overlook things. And that's one of the reasons sometimes slowing down to take some of those precautions, like if you've not traveled in a while, go to TSA dot gov. Check out the website. If you're headed to the airport, even though you've got a great airport there, the TSA does a great job.
Still get there two hours before departure, walking in the front door because sometimes the parking is taken and you've got to do the Nascar thing for thirty minutes to find a spot. And then by the time you get to inside the airport, you're now running to get to the gate on time. And you know this is not the time of year you want to play. Let's see how close we can cut it getting to the gate.
No, because you talk about holiday stress. It's running towards your gate hoping they don't close the door before you get there. Done.
That doesn't have been there for that. Yeah, and just because the flight says seven am, doesn't mean you have until seven am to get there. They can clear standbys at six forty five. They can let that plane go early. So part of our responsibilities a passengers that we present ourselves at the gate of departure normally about twenty minutes or so before schedule departure time. So again, get through the security checkpoint, get to the gate as quickly as
you can. That way, there's no problem when you get there.
Yeah, okay. And then for the luggage, I think that was a great idea to put the copy of the itinerary in the bag, because maybe your ID gets ripped off the bag or something happens too. What are some other things that you can do to try to ensure that your luggage doesn't get lost.
Well, checking in on time has got to be the biggest thing. And making sure that your identification is on the bag on the outside is also a big key, and those are really the big ones. And also make sure that they're checking it to the right destination. Far too often we just know if they slap the wrong tag on there, most of us aren't going to notice it. Just take a moment from the conversation or whatever you're doing and just glance down to make sure that the
right tag is going on there. Many times I've seen where they'll print off a bunch of different tags for a bunch of different luggage, and just in the course of trying to get everybody accommodated quickly, it's not intentional, they will inavertently put the wrong tag on the bag. Now, you may have the right baggage claim number for you, but that tag may have gone to another bag. And a lot of times, if you're standing right there, you know what the city code is, you can read what's there,
your name's even on the tag. Just double check and make sure it's tagged as it should, because you don't want to spend half your vacation waiting for your luggage you' arrive.
No, you don't, especially if you have Christmas presents in your luggage.
Well yeah, and of course if you wrap them going through TSA, they you know, that's part of the TSA fund. They like to unwrap some of those things, So you might want to wait until on the other side of TSA to wrap those things unless you like watching people open presence.
Well, even with your check luggage, you're not supposed to wrap.
It, right, you're not proposed to. If there's anything in there that they need to look at, they're going to look at. And far too often, you know, people get upset if things are moved around or whatever might happen to be. But look, they're doing their job. They're making sure that things aren't in bags that are not supposed to be there. And there was a time prior to nine to eleven none of those check bags were screened domestically. So I'm glad that we're doing it now for a
lot of different reasons. And you know, for the holidays, it's going to be a crazy time with a lot of people traveling, and the last bit of advice I would give people is to make sure that you have a seat assignment before you get to the airport. Now, a lot of times you'll make your reservation in June for Christmas. Okay, you've got your seat assignment. But the
problem is sometimes we do an aircraft swap. Maybe that was supposed to be a seven thirty seven that was going to operate that segment, but now we've got to put in a seven fifty seven or an airbus, and the seating configurations don't mash. Now, technically the computer's supposed
to transfer those seat assignments, sometimes it does not. So when I'm looking at my reservation, I want to make sure that when I'm confirming it online, my seat assignments are still there, because if they're not, I need to make them quickly. You don't want to show up at the airport on the holidays without a seat assignment because if the flight's over sold, technically you're on standby until they clear a flight. So it's just one of those things you just want to double check before you go.
Probably not going to be a problem, but it's just one of those little things you can make sure that box is checked to alleviate any possible issues once you get to the airport. Because look, this is forty years of working in the industry and being around that I can tell you the horror stories and then some of those we can avoid absolutely.
And then one last question, because you mentioned seat assignment, some of the low cost airlines don't give you a seat unless you pay for it, Yes, and so like Avello has great low fares, but you have to pay for absolutely everything. So I am actually flying a Vello in the near future and don't have a seat assign So should I go back and pay for it?
Well, it's up to you. I mean me, Look, I like extra legroom, so yes, I'm going to pay for the bulkhead seat or a premium seat of some other kind. It depends on whatever your preference is. If you're like, look the money i'm gonna save, I'll spend when I
get there. That's my drink of when I get there, or a present for when I get there, are a meal when I get there, And you can do that, And I think you're really going to enjoy that experience, by the way, and I'll be anxious to hear your post a flight to you know, recap on that with your review. But the low cost carrier say, look, we don't want you paying any more than what you want to. If you want basic transportation, we're going to give you a great cost to get from point A to point
B safely. But we're seeing a lot of these low cost carriers give us the premium seats like Southwest and Frontier going with first class and making it available so that if people do want to spend that a little bit of extra money, more and more people are willing to do.
So.
It's an additional revenue stream for these airlines that are going to make them help them to make a lot more money, giving us as consumers what we really want.
All right, iHeart aviation specialist Jay Ratliffe. Thanks so much for the great information and the tips. Now, if you have any airline related issues, Jay can help you. He helps people all over the country as they try to resolve issues when the airlines treat us poorly. You can find out more at j Ratliffe dot com. Jay r at l I f F dot com.
Thanks so much, Jay, always my pleasure. Thank you.
All right. This is KFI and kost HD two Los Angeles, Orange County Southland weather from KFI Wind Advisory up in the Valley's Venture County and Mountains until six o'clock this evening with gus to fifty miles per hour, sunny with hies in the seventies at the beaches Lo to mid eighties for Metro LA and Inlando c LO to mid eighties in the valleys and Inland Empire. Sixties in the
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