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Finding the cheapest airfare | |
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COOL TRAVEL MAIL'S
TRAVEL TIPS
Tips & Adice for the Seasoned and Armchair Traveler Alike!
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http://www.CoolTravelMail.com
May 22, 2007
So far this month, at least five major U.S. air carriers
have raised their fares.
Citing skyrocketing fuel costs and soft demand, Southwest,
Continental, American, Delta and Northwest all announced
modest price hikes.
Of course, those same high fuel costs have probably eaten
into your discretionary travel money as well. That makes
finding a great deal on your next flight more important than
ever.
This week's edition includes:
* FINDING THE CHEAPEST AIRFARE
* DEFYING CONVENTIONAL WISDOM
* BUSY DAYS AND HIDDEN FEES
P.S. If you're interested you can now post comments on this
and recent issues on our forum at... Travel Tips Forum
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FINDING THE CHEAPEST AIRFARE
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If you don't have the time to hunt down low fares, if your
travel plans are complicated, or if money is not a top
priority, by all means contact a reliable travel agent.
They know the drill, may have access to fares the average
person won't find and can put the package together smoothly
and efficiently. But somewhere in your final price tag is
some money for their trouble.
For most travelers, the best bet is to become an online
travel sleuth and discover a cheap itinerary on your own.
How do you do that? Here are some tips:
* Sample the sites
The number of travel sites in cyberspace can be
mind-numbing. I long ago gave up trying to find the one fare
search engine that consistently delivered the best prices.
It doesn’t exist.
Each engine operates in a different way, using different
search formulas and tapping into different databases. The
best site for your particular travel plans will change with
your itinerary and your flight dates. Check for fares on at
least five sites before settling.
* Be aware of what you’re missing
The big travel websites like Travelocity or Orbitz may miss
the smaller, low-fare carriers like JetBlue or Southwest
that might work well with your particular itinerary.
The big aggregators work by seeing "bots" loose in
cyberspace to surf websites to gather information that can
save you the trouble of searching each site. The problem is,
some carriers and travel Web sites have turned off those
bots. So while much of the travel information that once was
the province of travel agent reservation systems is now
widely available, it's not always easily accessible.
And remember, if you use a bot to save money, some of the
price you see is payment for using the system.
* Be flexible
This is the golden rule of booking cheap flights. If you
insist on traveling on specific dates, you'll pay a lot
more.
Plan early to allow yourself enough wiggle room to leave or
return even a couple of days earlier or later. It can cut
hundreds of dollars from the ticket price.
One of my favorite sites for this kind of search is
Travelocity ( http://www.travelocity.com ), which allows you
to click "flexible dates" to see what's out there. Orbitz
( http://www.orbitz.com ) also has a flexible date finder
but it's not quite as easy to use.
If you don't need to book right away, then try a fare
watcher like My Yahoo ( http://e.my.yahoo.com ) to monitor
prices on a daily basis.
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DEFYING CONVENTIONAL WISDOM
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* Book ahead
Book at least two weeks ahead, preferably three. You want to
get in about 30 days in advance for international flights.
I've never had the foresight to do it, but travelers I
respect swear that the best prices can be had by booking six
months in advance. Of course, with that big a lead time,
you're gambling that demand won't drop, forcing the airline
to discount tickets. The way things are going, with the
carriers getting better at maximizing each flight's
capacity, that's getting to be a safer bet.
* Look for alternative airports.
More than once, I've saved money by flying into the Newark,
N.J., airport instead of into New York. Travelocity and
Orbitz can automatically search neighboring airports for
you.
Another site, Kayak ( http://www.kayak.com ) doesn't even
wait for you to ask for a list of alternatives. It assumes
you want to search nearby airports, and gives you a list of
the prices for each airport it finds.
* Always check the round-trip price
It defies conventional wisdom, but round-trip tickets
sometimes cost less than a one-way trip between the same two
places. So always check how much it would cost to go there
and back, even if you’re not planning to return.
* Always check the one-way price
Sometimes, the puzzle works in reverse: Several one-way
tickets can cost less than a single round-trip fare. This
works especially if you have a three-way flight, or find
that a carrier may have a great one-way price, but not
roundtrip. Then you can use another carrier to fly one-way
on the return.
Is it likely? Probably not - but it's at least worth a shot.
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BUSY DAYS AND HIDDEN FEES
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* Avoid busy holiday dates
Well, duh. Although you might want to consider flying on the
holiday itself.
For example, most people leave the day before Thanksgiving
and return the Sunday after. That's why those are the most
expensive dates to travel. You'll save money if you travel
on Thanksgiving Day itself, when everyone is already where
they’re going.
* Check for fees
Somewhere between shouting "Omigod!" when you find a
ridiculously cheap fare and when you actually use your
credit card to buy the ticket, unmentioned fees and charges
can sometimes transform a ridiculously low price into an
unattractive one.
There's a 9/11 security fee, a federal excise tax, departure
fees, customs taxes, and airport charges, just to name a few
of the potential surprises. Always check the fine print
before committing.
* Go directly to the carrier
After you've done you're searching and find the best price,
go directly to the Web site of the airline that offered the
cheapest flight and see if you can do any better. Often
there are last-minute sales or promotions that aren't shared
with the travel Websites.
Well, that's it for this week, group. Thanks again for
reading, and please keep those comments, complaints and
questions coming in.
You can send me an e-mail message at: Email Pierce
Until next week, thanks for reading.
Your Tipmeister,
Pierce
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Should the Constitution be amended to allow Arnold Schwarzen-
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Please share your opinion, visit: The Question of the Week
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