Internet Travel Tips Newsletter 5/1/07

This newsletter's web site comparison is for car rental search sites.

 

Requirements: Rent an intermediate or mid-size car with unlimited mileage for the lowest price while taking the least amount of shopping time.  I will avoid any company that lacks technology to expedite the rental and return process. 
 

Methodology: Compare Expedia, Hotwire, Kayak, Orbitz and Travelocity.  Then check the web site of the lowest priced offering to see if the price is even lower. 

Recommendations: If you want the ability to cancel a reservation, use Kayak otherwise use Hotwire.  Hotwire is non-refundable and does not award frequent rental points.  They use Avis, Budget and Hertz so it's tough to go wrong with them.  I like Kayak because it finds excellent prices and has fast & easy filtering of results, just un-check the car types that you do not want.

I recommend joining frequent renter programs of Alamo, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise and Thrifty (the usual low cost winners) to eliminate waiting in line at the counter and the pressure to upgrade, purchase insurance or gas.

Check any special pricing that has been negotiated by your employer or association.  You may have discount codes that can lower the price (AAA, AARP, etc.).  Some codes are mentioned at various discussion threads at FlyerTalk and BiddingForTravel.  However, the code that produces the lowest price in Boston may produce a higher price elsewhere.  Most coupons that are included in your airline's frequent flyer mailing and credit card statements require a multi-day rental that usually includes Saturday.  From my limited testing with various coupons and promotional codes, they did not provide a lower price.

Lower prices may be available at Priceline but you must do your homework first.  Find the lowest price as suggested above and then visit BiddingForTravel for excellent advice.

A significant amount (20% to 50%) of the total cost is due to taxes and fees imposed by governments and airport authorities.  Remember: visitors can't vote!  I have been told that you can avoid these fees and significantly lower your costs if you arrange to get to the rental car lot outside the airport without using their shuttle.  This technique has greater benefit for longer rentals.

Northwest now charges all non-elite customers $25 to stand-by same-day flight changes.  Many other airlines already charge this fee.  You can usually avoid paying the fee if your ticketed flight or connecting flight is running late.

 

Buying air travel is changing, be careful: Almost everything will now have a price.  Advanced seat assignments, water, checking even one bag, emergency exit seats, trip insurance, etc.   Some airline web sites will quote a price and then automatically add items when you "check-out."  You will have the opportunity to de-select them but unless you do, you will be charged.

 

Hotel search update: You can now search Travelaxe (one of my favorite hotel search & buying tools) without downloading the Travelaxe program.  This month they launched a web browser version while renaming the original downloaded program as TravelaxePro.  The web based version will be quickly adding functionality. The web version allows Mac users and anyone behind a corporate firewall to use Travelaxe.  Both remain free of charge.

 

July's newsletter will cover air fare search sites.  I have heard that one of my favorite travel web sites will be significantly revised in the near future.  I will review the changes in the next newsletter.

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Internet Travel Tips Newsletter 3/1/07

This newsletter's web site comparison is for hotel search sites.

 

The challenge: Which web site should be used to shop for hotels for travel within the US?  Where do you quickly and easily find the lowest prices?  I took some of my hotel stays in the US and compared prices for trips over the next few months.  I included AAA, AARP as well as corporate discounts, and priced a room for one or two people for trips of one to seven nights.  If you really don't care about the specifics of your hotel, give Priceline or Hotwire a try.  There are very helpful message boards that are a "must read" before bidding, so visit Bidding For Travel and BetterBidding first.

 

Bottom line:  Use Kayak & Travelaxe Pro but also check the hotel's web site.  The combination of Kayak, Travelaxe Pro and the hotel's web site found the lowest price 100% of the time.  Both Kayak and Travelaxe Pro have an excellent user interface with lots of filters to make shopping easier.  They sweep other sites for prices and then take you to the site with the lowest price.  Unfortunately many of the sites do not have "real time" prices so occasionally you find that a rate is no longer available.  When that happens, go back and select the next lower price and try again.  Be aware that many hotel chains do not give "frequent guest" credit unless you reserve directly on their web site. 
 

Travelaxe Pro is a program that you download to your PC (no Mac version).  It updates itself when necessary and does not include any "spyware" or malicious code.  I have been using and testing it for 3+ years.  The only "downside" is that it takes a few minutes to complete a search due to the fact that it depends upon other web sites for prices.  Some of those sites can be slow to respond and until all sites have returned results, the lowest price may not have been found.

Join their frequent guest programs: Although I don't usually stay in the same family or chain of hotels, by joining frequent guest programs, I've been upgraded many times.  It's worth the time and effort.

If you are looking for advice about which hotel is best for your trip, I suggest the forums at TripAdvisor and Fodors.  There have been articles written that suggest some reviews have been authored by hotel employees.  I suggest that you check both sites for the most complete story.

Tips to save more: If the hotel that you prefer is priced too high, you may find less expensive rooms near-by.  The mapping feature of these sites can be very helpful in finding something next door or across the street.

Full payment for your reservation is often required to get the lowest prices from both the hotel chains' sites and sites searched by other sites.  Severe cancellation penalties and charges for changing a reservation are the norm for the lowest prices.  If your reservation does not require advanced payment and a cancellation penalty, it may be worth checking at least once a week to see if the price has dropped.  If it has dropped, you should cancel and re-book at the lower price.

When calling reservation centers, you MUST ask for their lowest available price, not just AAA or AARP.

Details are in the "comparisons" section of my web site at InternetTravelTips.

 

Before you change flights, questions to ask: My flight from Detroit to Atlanta was delayed by more than three hours.  The aircraft was not in Detroit yet but was stuck on the ground in Chicago enroute to Detroit.  The airline told me that it was "about to depart for Detroit."  However, another flight was scheduled to depart from Detroit to Atlanta in 45 minutes.  I went to the gate of that flight and asked the three most important questions you must ask before changing your flight: were seats available, was the aircraft at the gate and was the entire flight crew present?  By not checking luggage (using a roll-aboard), I had the option of changing.

 

Hotwire and Priceline lesson: Your charges are totally non-refundable and non-transferable.  I thought I was saving about $35 on a one day car rental at Chicago's O'Hare airport.  However, my flight to O'Hare was canceled due to traffic congestion but the airline accommodated me with a flight to Chicago's Midway airport departing around the same time.  On prior trips, when renting directly from a rental car company, reservations can be modified with a phone call.  I called Hotwire to move my reservation from O'Hare to Midway.... can't do it.  Although the airlines consider both airports interchangeable (if you're not making a connection) Hotwire does not!  My decision to use Hotwire was not a good one.  My wasted reservation cost $48.

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Internet Travel Tips Newsletter 1/1/07

This newsletter's web site comparison is for air fare search sites: Which web site should be used to shop for airline tickets for travel within the US?  Which site quickly and easily displays the best flight options and allows you to easily determine the trade-off between total time of travel and cost?

 

Recommendation:  Use Kayak or ITASoftware.  Whether you have specific departure or arrival time constraints, want to explore savings by using alternate cities or flexible dates or are just looking for the lowest price, these sites are the easiest to use.  If your travel dates are very flexible, I recommend using ITASoftware's month-long-search, it's a great way to view multiple date options in one inquiry.  If your cities are served by Southwest, you must check their site.  I recommend you subscribe to Southwest's Click 'n Save fares.

Kayak recently upgraded its entire site (including hotels and rental cars).  The result is search and filtering ability far beyond any of the other commercial web sites (ITASoftware does not sell tickets but Kayak does).  The added filters (slide bars) can be expanded or contracted depending upon your needs.  Thus it serves the needs for simple as well as complex inquiries.  It's their "user interface" and real-time updating of the results that puts Kayak far ahead of the other sites.

With both of these sites, you can quickly see all of the trade-offs: total travel time vs. cost (non-stop vs. connecting), long or short connections.  ITA allows you to select individual flights and has excellent warnings.  Both sites accommodate alternate cities and dates for departure and arrival.  ITASoftware gives you alternate departure and destination cities up to 300 miles away while Kayak searches a smaller area. 

Don't confuse shopping with buying.  The primary purpose of my tests is to determine the best shopping site.  Once you've found the lowest price or most convenient flights, I recommend that you use the airline's web site to book your ticket.  In many cases, Kayak takes you directly to the airlines' web site so Kayak is very often both a shopping and a buying site.  The reason to buy directly from the airline is that ticketing fees are avoided, finger-pointing is eliminated in case of a schedule change, an aircraft or price change or you miss your flight.  There are only a few instances where it is advisable to buy a ticket for a web site other than the airline's.

Frequent flyer miles? Is airline loyalty worth paying more for a flight or taking one that is less convenient?  Due to the increasing difficulty in redeeming miles (without paying double) and the fact that there are fewer first class seats available for upgrades, the answer is a resounding "NO."  I recommend that you select your flights based upon price, comfort, schedule and ticking flexibility.

Almost all flights are full and with the exception of a few airlines, coach seating is equally uncomfortable and amenities are almost nonexistent.  A few airlines have generous seating comfort in coach (JetBlue & Midwest), free in-flight TV (JetBlue) and even offer snacks or meals without charge (Continental).  Bottom line when it comes to airfare shopping: how to quickly resolve the trade-off of price versus total travel time.

Details are in the "comparisons" section of my web site at InternetTravelTips.

Want to see sale prices before anyone else? (FareCompare update): Over the past few months, I've been testing FareCompare's domestic and international price change alerts.  I'm very impressed and highly recommend it.  The ability to monitor and be notified of price changes has been a particular interest to me since web sites started offering this service.  I've subscribed to all of the major free services that I've found: Travelocity, Expedia, Orbitz, TripStalker, Kayak, SmarterTravel and even tried to develop one myself.  FareCompare has a clear lead over the others because it sends notices much earlier than the others.  While most of the other sites limit you to 3 or 4 destinations to monitor, FareCompare has no limit.  My observation about being notified much earlier is based on receiving notice from FareCompare as much as 12 hours earlier than some of the others for the same trip.  However, due to the limited number of destinations offered by the others, there has not been much overlap of destinations.  It's no secret that the airlines often limit the number of cheap seats when a sale is announced so FareCompare improves your chances of finding them.  There are two limitations, sometimes the prices are not yet posted (you're too early but keep trying) and you can not specify the dates to monitor.  The others have a few handy features: Kayak offers Buzz that sends prices for specific destinations and general areas (i.e. Caribbean area), Orbitz offers DealDetector that allows you to specify dates (including 3 days before and after).

Sorry, no cars available: I reserved a car and arrived at the airport counter late in the afternoon of Christmas eve.  However there were no cars so the agent told me that they would provide a car from a competitor but it would cost me $14 more.  They said that they were going to do this only because I was a member of their "frequent renter" program (which I always recommend joining for all rental companies).  Pulling out a copy of my reservation, I politely but firmly told him that the price would be the same as my reservation and no more.  Fortunately one of their customers returned a car a minute later so they were able to provide a car.  Don't pay more, or fall for their "upgrade pitch" when they don't have a car or the car size you reserved.

Re-check for hotel & car rental prices:  I thought the price for the hotel was pretty good so I made a reservation.  I'm a member of their "frequent guest" program so notices of special sales are emailed to me.  Within a week of making my reservation, a sale email arrived and I happily discovered that a lower price for my room was available.  Most hotel companies allow you to cancel your reservation up to 6:00 PM the evening of your stay without penalty.  I made a new reservation at the lower price and canceled the original one.  Money is better in my pocket than the hotel's.  There is currently no software or web site that will continuously check a specific rental car or hotel reservation for a price drop.  If someone offered such a service, I'd be happy to help design and test it.

When bad weather threatens: Airlines waive change fees and penalties when there is a threat of bad weather.  Don't just consider delaying your trip, you could also depart a day or two earlier.

My "Do It Yourself Travel Guide" has been updated:  It's available for purchase on my web site for $10.  All buyers are entitled to free updates for two years.

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Internet Travel Tips Newsletter 11/1/06

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Internet Travel Tips Newsletter 9/1/06

This newsletter's web site comparison is for hotel search sites:

The challenge: Which web site should be used to shop for hotels for travel within the US?  Where do you quickly and easily find the lowest prices?  I took some of my hotel stays in the US and compared prices for trips over the next few months.  I included AAA, AARP as well as corporate discounts, and priced a room for one or two people for trips of one to seven nights.  If you really don't care about the specifics of your hotel, give Priceline or Hotwire a try.  There are very helpful message boards that are a "must read" before bidding, so visit Bidding For Travel and BetterBidding first.

Bottom line:  Use Travelaxe Pro but also check the hotel's web site.  It consistently finds the lowest prices and best availability.  Travelaxe Pro sweep other sites for prices and then takes you to the site with the lowest price.  Unfortunately many of the sites do not have "real time" prices so occasionally you find that a rate is no longer available.  When that happens, go back and select the next lower price and try again.  Be aware that many hotel chains do not give "frequent guest" credit unless you reserve directly on their web site. 
 

Travelaxe Pro is a program that you download to your PC (no Mac version).  It updates itself when necessary and does not include any "spyware" or malicious code.  I have been using and testing it for 3+ years.  The only "downside" is that it takes a few minutes to complete a search due to the fact that it depends upon other web sites for prices.  Some of those sites can be slow to respond and until all sites have returned results, the lowest price may not have been found.

Join their frequent guest programs: Although I don't usually stay in the same family or chain of hotels, by joining frequent guest programs, I've been upgraded many times.  It's worth the time and effort.

If you are looking for advice about which hotel is best for your trip, I suggest the forums at TripAdvisor and Fodors.  There have been articles written that suggest some reviews have been authored by hotel employees.  I suggest that you check both sites for the most complete story.

Tips to save more: If the hotel that you prefer is priced too high, you may find less expensive rooms near-by.  The mapping feature of these sites can be very helpful in finding something next door or across the street.

Full payment for your reservation is often required to get the lowest prices from both the hotel chains' sites and sites searched by other sites.  Severe cancellation penalties and charges for changing a reservation are the norm for the lowest prices.  If your reservation does not require advanced payment and a cancellation penalty, it may be worth checking at least once a week to see if the price has dropped.  If it has dropped, you should cancel and re-book at the lower price.

When calling reservation centers, you must ask for their lowest available price, not just AAA or AARP.

How to get a hotel room when they're all booked:  Trying to leave Chicago O'Hare, it was 4:30 PM and the weather was terrible.  The airport was shutting down; very few flights were getting in or out.  I called our corporate travel department and asked them to find a hotel room for me.  There was nothing available within 20 miles!  I remembered that most non-guaranteed room reservations are canceled at 6:00 PM.  I went to the luggage area and viewed the board that displays all of the local hotels.  I started calling listed hotels (using my cell phone because the board phones were in use) and asked how many non-guaranteed reservations they had.  The first hotel I called was on the airport property and while they were officially "booked-up," they had more than enough non-guaranteed rooms to assure a room for me.

How to get a good hotel rate when you're stuck due to weather:  Very few airlines will help you with hotel reservations unless you have elite status or unusual circumstances.  Most "walk-up" hotel rates are near the maximum even if you try AAA or AARP.  However, if you use the words "distressed passenger rate" and are kind/courteous at the check-in counter, you may get a lower rate.  That translates to "take pity on me because, please."  Don't try this if it's 80 degrees and sunny.

Hotel's lowest rate guarantees: many hotels are claiming that the lowest prices are available on their web site or through their reservation centers rather then via various other web sites.  The fine print often stipulates that group discounts (AAA, AARP, etc.) can not be considered in the low rate guarantee.  I find that this exclusion makes the guarantee worthless.

Hotels have reduced the number of rooms that they sell at a discount to other web sites and consolidators.  This poses real challenges for these sites; their best option is to promote packages of airfare and hotel to mask the individual component prices.

Details are in the "comparisons" section of my web site at InternetTravelTips.

Plan B alternatives are reduced: Because of the ban on liquids, most passengers are checking luggage rather then buying toiletries when they land.  I've always advocated carry-on only to allow flexibility to change flights and airlines in case of a delay.   With most planes full, it's difficult to find alternate seats on a moment's notice and now it's impractical to change if your luggage is in the belly of the plane.  With more luggage being checked (and lost), it's important to place a note inside your luggage that lists your destinations, dates and how you can be reached by phone and email.

Rumors: Northwest Airlines will shortly announce new non-stop flights from Detroit to cities in the UK & Europe.  Destinations are: Manchester, Dublin, Shannon, Birmingham & Amsterdam.  Historically, frequent flyer seats have been more readily available on new routes so if you are looking for WorldPerk seats (without paying double) for Spring or Summer of 2007, watch for the announcements.  Even if one of these cities is not your destination, perhaps a low-fare airline can take you beyond that point.  See www.WhichBudget.com for specifics.  The bad news is that NW will be using Boeing 757s.  They are single aisle, cramped seating in coach and will probably not have any type of in-flight entertainment or power outlets in coach.

Help finding frequent flyer seats: before you give up, try my three little known tips.  They are available at the "travel tips" section of my web site.

Bring snacks on board even for short flights: Even short flights can turn into long flights due to delays caused by weather, traffic or mechanical problems.  Planes are not carrying as much fuel reserves so they can not circle very long before diverting to an alternate airport.  Even airlines that offer food for sale do not stock enough meals for every passenger.  I recently took two flights that were scheduled for 3 hours each that turned into 7 and 5 hour flights (both flights made an extra stop for fuel but we could not get off the plane and they did not replenish the water supply).  I strongly suggest that you bring lots of "munchies" in your carry-on.

Reminder-take advantage of low prices to move a rental car:  In September or October, the major rental car companies will start their "fall migration" of cars to Florida.  They must put their cars on trucks or offer low prices for customers who will and drop it somewhere in Florida.  The prices will probably be posted shortly so make a note on your calendar.  When combined with a one-way ticket home from a low-fare airline, this is a great way to save.

No free lunch (update): In my last newsletter I wrote about a "buy our product, get a free companion airline ticket" offered by AeroBed through CompanionFare (PROPCO, Promotions in Travel).  I received comments from subscribers and it appears that many companies offer the same promotion.  Prior to publication, I wrote to both companies asking for comments and still have not received a reply.  In my opinion, this is a scam.  Do not base a decision to buy any product based on an offer from this company.  It's a shame that the companies offering the "buy one, get a free companion ticket" do not research their offering any better because most of their customers will be disappointed.

The ideal and best travel site for air fare shopping:  It does not exist (yet)!  However, I've written my requirements for the best site in the "comparisons" section for all web site authors to see.  Your comments are welcome and encouraged.

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Internet Travel Tips Newsletter 7/1/06

This newsletter's web site comparison is for air fare search sites:

The challenge: Which web site should be used to shop for airline tickets for travel within the US?  Which site quickly and easily displays the best flight options and allows you to easily determine the trade-off between total time of travel and cost?

Don't confuse shopping with buying.  The primary purpose of my tests is to determine the best shopping site.  Once you've found the lowest price or most convenient flights, I recommend that you use the airline's web site to book your ticket.  Kayak and SideStep take you directly to many airlines web sites so you get the benefits of buying directly (eliminating ticketing fees and "finger-pointing" that cause problems if the price drops, a schedule changes or you miss your flight).  While I enjoy many of the features of the other sites (Orbitz's DealDetector, Travelocity's Dream Maps, etc.), there are only a few instances where it is advisable to buy a ticket for domestic US travel from Expedia, Orbitz or Travelocity (ITASoftware does not sell tickets).

Frequent flyer miles? Is airline loyalty worth paying more for or taking a less convenient flight?  Due to the increasing difficulty in redeeming miles (without paying double), the answer is a resounding "NO" thus I recommend that you select your flights based upon price, convenience, schedule and ticking flexibility.

High-mileage frequent flyers (elite level road warriors) are loyal to an airline because of upgrades to first class, expedited boarding and preferred seating.  Many flights today are on cramped and crowded regional jets, very few having first class seats.  Airlines are selling first class upgrades at the time of check-in.  Thus road warriors are finding fewer first class seats available for free upgrades or even using frequent flyer miles.  Lack of first class seating and great difficulty redeeming frequent flyer miles has driven loyalty to airlines to an all time low.  As a result, ticket price is becoming an increasingly important factor, even to road warriors.  Credit card companies are now offering cards that earn cash back or points for seats without black-out periods.  Almost all flights are full and with the exception of a few airlines, coach seating is equally uncomfortable and amenities are almost nonexistent, thus the challenge for most flyers is to quickly resolve the trade-off of ticket price versus total travel time.

Recommendation:  For advanced planning or leisure travelers with flexibility: use ITASoftware or Kayak.  While the other sites found almost identical prices, the flexibility of ITASoftware and Kayak makes your shopping time much briefer.  If your dates are very flexible, I recommend using ITASoftware's Month Long Search, it's a great way to view multiple date options with one inquiry.  If you travel to/from cities served by JetBlue, Kayak displays their fares.  If your cities are served by Southwest, you must check their site.  I recommend that you subscribe to Southwest's Click 'n Save fares.

For shorter notice or limited flexibility travel: use ITASoftware or Kayak.  However, if you travel to/from a city served by JetBlue, of the two, only Kayak checks JetBlue.  If your cities are served by Southwest, you must check their site.  Using the recommended sites allows you to quickly and confidently find the best flights in half the time of other sites.  ITASoftware's input options are the most flexible and logical and the filtering capabilities of Kayak (slide-bars and check boxes) are excellent.  With these sites, you can quickly see all of the trade-offs: total travel time vs. cost (non-stop vs. connecting), long or short connections.  ITA allows you to select individual flights and also has excellent warnings.  Both sites easily accommodate alternate cities for departure and arrival.  ITASoftware gives you alternate departure and destination cities up to 300 miles away while Kayak searches a smaller area.   Alternate airports can be especially helpful for last minute travelers.  Leisure travelers who can plan far ahead can often find low cost non-stop flights to/from their desired airports.

Alternate dates of travel: Kayak has added the ability to search for prices up to 3 days before and/or after your targeted travel dates.  This capability (and near-by cities) is a "must have" for any travel site. 

Details are in the "comparisons" section of my web site at InternetTravelTips.

The ideal and best travel site for air fare shopping:  It does not exist (yet)!  However, I've written my requirements for the best site in the "comparisons" section for all web site authors to see.  Your comments are welcome and encouraged.

When to buy your ticket: Three relatively new web sites are trying to give you insight into the best times to buy at the lowest price: FareCompare, FareCast and FlySpy.  Some sites are in their early, testing stage and not yet available to the general pubic but I suggest that you keep watching and testing them.

Upgradeable air fares: Recent articles have mentioned "Q fares" because they are relatively easy to upgrade to first class.  They are usually much more expensive than the lowest fares that plan-ahead leisure travelers purchase.  Q fares are often the only discounted fares available when a last-minute business traveler must buy a ticket.  So if you would like to buy an upgradeable Q fare ticket, be sure to investigate the cost compared with the lowest price available.

When to buy your airline ticket:  I'm not clairvoyant but trying to get the lowest price is an exercise in frustration.  You are playing "chicken" with your wallet.  With fuel prices changing very rapidly, many airlines reducing capacity and using smaller planes, it's a challenge to know the "right" time.  I've been using FareCompare because it shows the lowest prices for the next ten months for any route.  It also offers a desktop plug-in for Google Desktop.

I know the route but I can't tell you how to get there: sound familiar (and frustrating) when you're asked for directions?  Use Google Earth and "drive" the route and write-down the street names & directions.

Take advantage of low prices to move a rental car:  In September, the major rental car companies will start their "fall migration" of cars to Florida.  They must put their cars on trucks or offer low prices for customers who will and drop it somewhere in Florida.  The prices will probably be posted in August so make a note on your calendar.  When combined with a one-way ticket home from a low-fare airline, this is a great way to save.

Competition is a wonderful thing: Northwest Airlines has had the non-stop Detroit to Boston market to itself for years.  Walk-up prices have been $850 and two-week advance fares are $754.  Spirit Airlines begins twice daily non-stops on August 15th and current prices start at $188.  But wait it gets better, prices are as low as $118 (round trip, including fees/taxes) on both airlines for travel from late August through mid December.  About 10 years ago, Spirit also flew this route once a day.  Northwest matched the fares and offered extra frequent flyer miles.  Eventually Spirit pulled out and guess what happened to the low fares went?  If you really want to have long term low fares and competition, patronize the airline that initially offered the better prices.

Hotel search site update:  Travelaxe Pro (one of my favorite hotel search tools) has launched a new version of their application.  It uses an updated mapping feature that allows you to use its extensive filters (number of stars, price, distance from a specific point, etc.) and see the results as pins or balloons on Google Maps showing the hotel name & price.  You can then reserve the hotel by clicking on the pin.  Google Maps allows you to view their maps as satellite images or a hybrid of maps & satellite (I prefer the hybrid).  Google has significantly improved the resolution of many of their images; it's the next best thing to actually being there!

Help finding frequent flyer seats: before you give up, try my three little known tips.  They are available at the "travel tips" section of my web site.

Help your fellow travelers save time and frustration:  Have you even been on a plane and held hostage because an agent wasn't available to move the jet-way to let you off the plane?  Airlines have reduced the number of gate agents.  Gate agents are very busy handling customers and often do not notice that the plane has pulled-up to the gate.  If you are in the gate area and see an aircraft pulling into the gate and do NOT see an agent ready to move the jet-way, inform the gate agent that the plane has arrived.  All of the passengers will appreciate your help.

No free lunch: I recently purchased a $200 product that also included an offer for a “free companion airline ticket.”  I mailed the required form but it contained very little detail.  A "buy one, get one" coupon quickly arrived with the detailed restrictions (limited availability, reserve at the CompanionFare web site or call them, book at least two weeks ahead, a Saturday night stay is required, etc.).  It listed the specific fares to various zones and cities in the country.  A $9.95 processing fee is also charged for each ticket.  The coupon had a unique certificate number allowing access to the “CompanionFare.com” web site.  Companion Fare is run by PROPCO (Promotions in Travel Marketing) and their web site lists the following companies as their clients: Kroger, Chase Bank, Discover Card, National City Bank, US Bank, American Express, General Mills, Walgreen, Wells Fargo and Verizon.  PROPCO offers other products and services and no mention is made whether these companies offer or offered the "free companion airline ticket."

What is the value of the “free” companion airline ticket?  I attempted to reserve flights to 10 different cities from Detroit (Phoenix, Las Vegas, Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Miami, San Diego and Washington, DC) for two mid-week trips; one in mid August and one in late September.   CompanionFare was unable to find flights at the fares listed on the coupon 65% of the time but did offer to make reservations at a higher fare.  I included those fares in my comparison of fares for comperable travel from another public web site.  The result: CompanionFare prices had only 35% availablity and were higher 80% of the time!  Two lessons to be learned: don't use the offer of a "free ticket" in deciding to buy something; if your company is considering offering this type of promotion to help sell your products, check-out the real value to your customers.  In this case, 80% of the customers will be disappointed (if my testing is typical).  Is this what you want your customers to think of your company?  On June 25th, I sent the results of my testing to AeroBed (the product I purchased that included a mail-in form) and Promotions In Travel asking for their comments but have not received a reply as of this publication date.

Want to stretch your travel budget?  It's better to educate your travelers, showing them how to save, rather than impose travel restrictions that discourage or prevent valid business trips.  For customized, on-site travel education and training, click HERE for more detail or HERE to contact me.  It's the best investment you can make for your travel budget!

Looking for a captivating speaker for your next meeting or convention?  Regardless of the type or size of your group, everyone is interested in learning more about travel and how to use the Internet to maximize savings and minimize hassle.  Click HERE to contact me.

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Internet Travel Tips Newsletter 5/1/06

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Internet Travel Tips Newsletter 3/1/06

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Internet Travel Tips Newsletter 1/1/06

This month's web site comparison is for airfare sites:

The challenge: Which web site should be used to shop for airline tickets for travel within the US?  Which site quickly and easily displays the best flight options, not necessarily the lowest price?  I compared Expedia, ITASoftware, Kayak, Orbitz, SideStep, Southwest and Travelocity.

Recommendations:  For advanced planning or leisure travelers with flexibility: use ITASoftware.  While Kayak and SideStep are excellent sites and outperformed ITASoftware, they lack the ability to search for alternate dates of travel, a potential way to save a lot.  If your dates are very flexible, I recommend using ITASoftware's Month Long Search, it's a great way to view multiple date options with one inquiry.  If you travel to/from cities served by JetBlue, only Kayak and SideStep view their flights.  If your cities are served by Southwest, you must check their site.  I recommend that you subscribe to their Ding! application and Click 'n Save fares.

For shorter notice or limited flexibility travel: use ITASoftware, Kayak or SideStep.  Note that if you travel to/from a city served by JetBlue, ITASoftware does not check JetBlue but Kayak and SideStep do.  If your cities are served by Southwest, you must check their site.  Using any of the three recommended sites allows you to quickly and confidently find the best flights in half the time of other sites.  ITASoftware's input options are the most flexible and logical.  The filtering capabilities of Kayak and SideStep (slide-bars and check boxes) are excellent.  With these sites, you can quickly see all of the trade-offs: total travel time vs. cost (non-stop vs. connecting), long or short connections, selecting individual flights and excellent warnings (ITASoftware).  ITASoftware gives you alternate departure and destination cities up to 300 miles away while Kayak and SideStep search a smaller area.   Alternate airports can be especially helpful for last minute travelers.  Leisure travelers who can plan far ahead can often find low cost non-stop flights to/from their desired airports.

Don't confuse shopping with buying.  The primary purpose of my tests is to determine the best shopping site.  Once you've found the lowest price or most convenient flights, I recommend that you use the airline's web site to book your ticket.  Both Kayak and SideStep take you to the airline's web site so you get the benefits of buying directly (the elimination of ticketing fees and "finger-pointing" that causes problems if the price drops, a schedule changes or you miss your flight).  While I enjoy many of the features of the other sites (Kayak's Buzz, Orbitz's DealDetector, Travelocity's Dream Maps, etc.), there are only a few instances where it is advisable to buy a ticket for domestic US travel from Expedia, Orbitz or Travelocity (ITASoftware does not sell tickets).

High-mileage frequent flyers (elite level road warriors) are loyal to an airline because of upgrades to first class, expedited boarding and preferred seating (if first class is not available).  However, many flights are on cramped and crowded regional jets without first class seats.  Airlines are handing-out elite level status like candy while selling first class seats cheaply.  The result is that more travelers are vying for fewer first class seats.  Lack of first class seating and great difficulty redeeming frequent flyer miles has driven loyalty to airlines to an all-time low.  Thus ticket price is becoming an increasingly important factor even to road warriors.  Credit card companies have recognized that fact and more of them are offering cards that earn cash back or points for free seats without black-out periods.  Almost all flights are full and with the exception of a few airlines, coach seating is equally uncomfortable and amenities are almost nonexistent, thus the challenge for most flyers is to quickly resolve the trade-off of ticket price versus total travel time.

What can the sites do better?  Both Kayak & SideStep need a maximum travel time filter and alternate dates for departure & arrival.  SideStep's time check boxes cover too much time for each one.  They should break them down further or have a slide bar like Kayak.  Kayak & SideStep should allow you to select individual flights.  SideStep needs to offer multi-segment trips.  The problem with Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity is that if you don't ask your question the right way, you will not find the best answer.  Their air travel sites are very frustrating and time wasting.  The only serious limitation of ITASoftware is that it does not see "web-only" fares.  All sites should warn you if your travels will involve a flight longer than 90 minutes in a typical regional jet.

Expedia, ITASoftware, Orbitz and Travelocity do not have real-time pricing and inventory.  These sites re-fill their inventory many times per day.  When you attempt to purchase a ticket on them, you will occasionally find that the price is no longer available.

Details are in the "comparisons" section of my web site at InternetTravelTips.

Have money to spend but don't know where to go?  A new feature on Kayak is "buzz" that shows recent searches and their results.  You can then set your maximum price and travel region.  Travelocity Dream Maps show you how far you can fly for the amount of money you want to spend. 

Subscribe to email alerts from low cost airlines: following the lead of Southwest's Ding! fare (4-6 hour sales twice a day), Frontier Airlines had a 10 1/2 hour and an 8 hour sale on December 15th and 20th for travel 1/9 through 2/15.  I call these "flash sales" because they happen so fast.  While I recommend that you use TripStalker and Orbitz DealDetector, the best way to be notified of special pricing is to subscribe directly.

Maximize your frequent flyer miles: MileMaven.com is a helpful web site that shows you how to maximize earning frequent flyer miles.  The database contains more than 300 airlines and frequent flyer programs, hundreds of offers, and millions of route combinations.  Enter your departure and destination cities and it will tell you about all promotions and specials (check the web site before buying a ticket).  Redeeming frequent flyer miles is a different story, see: webflyer.com/programs/award_upgrade.index 

Got a travel problem, complaint or want to know where to go for help?  Check out TravelProblems.com for a listing of resources, suggestions and ideas.  It was created by a former director with the Attorney General of California's Travel Restitution board.

Newsletter schedule change:  I've been making monthly comparisons of air fare, hotel and car rental web sites since late 2000.  At that time, there were major differences among the various sites and each comparison showed some significant enhancements from previous tests.  Over the past two years, the amount of quarterly change has slowed and enhancements have dwindled.  Because of this, I will be changing the frequency of my newsletter to every other month and comparing air fare, hotel and car rental sites only twice rather than four times per year.  While I will still strive to keep this newsletter brief, I will continue to provide more detail of the comparisons on my web site (comparisons section).

My idea of the future travel search site: someone is going to take Google Earth and/or Google Maps and use them in a travel search engine.  The future site will allow you to select your departure point (your home, not an airport) and your destination (the actual building or resort) and determine the lowest cost and fastest way to make the trip.  It will look at different airports for departure and destination and include drive times.  It will include air, rail and shuttle bus transportation and present solutions in a graphical format including maps.  It will display alternate dates of travel if money can be saved.  When listing prices, it will tell you the number of advance days required for the price.  It will tell you the savings per hour if you take a trip that is not the fastest.  It will allow you to set alerts for fare changes for specific travel dates or ranges of dates.  These steps are being performed by the shopper today but there is no longer any reason they should not be included in a great travel search site.  Who will do it and when?  In my opinion Kayak, ITASoftware and SideStep have the greatest potential to create such a site (if Google doesn't do it themselves).

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Internet Travel Tips Newsletter 12/1/05

This month's web site comparison is for car rental web sites:

Requirements: Rent an intermediate or mid-size car with unlimited mileage for the lowest price while taking the least amount of shopping time.  I want to see (on the first screen): the total price, whether the rental car can be picked up on the airport property or requires a long bus ride and whether a larger car is available at the same or lower price.  I will avoid any rental agency that lacks basic computer technology that speeds-up the rental and return process.

Methodology: Compare Expedia, Kayak, Orbitz, SideStep and Travelocity.  Then check the web site of the lowest priced offering to see if the price is the same or lower.

Recommendations: use Travelocity and then check the rental car company's web site.  I also like Expedia, Kayak and Orbitz because they allow you to see the lowest priced car with the least effort and it's easy to see if a larger car is available for the same or lower price.

Frustration with web sites:  Many sites promote their sponsored or preferred vendors by placing their cars at the top of the search results even if lower prices are available from other suppliers.  You must then find the button or link that displays all of the choices or re-sorts the results into the lowest cost sequence.  Failure to notice this can cause you to pay more than necessary.  This requirement is deceptive and a waste of your time.

Thrifty had the lowest prices 50% of the time, Enterprise 30% of the time, and the others were Dollar and Alamo although many had nearly identical prices.  Interesting fact: Dollar and Thrifty are owned by the same company.

I recommend that you join the frequent renter programs of Alamo, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise and Thrifty (the usual low cost winners) to minimize renting hassle and upgrade pressure at the counter.

You may have discount codes that can lower the price (AAA, AARP, etc.).  Some codes are mentioned at various discussion threads of FlyerTalk and at BiddingForTravel (two excellent web sites).  As pointed out by one of my newsletter subscribers, the code that produces the lowest price in Boston may produce the highest price elsewhere but it's worth trying.  Most coupons that are included in your credit card statement require a multi-day rental that includes a Saturday.  From the limited testing with various coupons and promotional codes, they did not provide a price lower than found below.

You may be able to save by using Priceline (I have) but you must first do your homework.  That means finding the lowest available price as suggested above and then checking at BiddingForTravel.

If your company or association has a negotiated discount, it may or may not provide a lower price but it should be checked out.

Details are in the "comparisons" section of my web site at InternetTravelTips.

Make it easy for the airline to do what you want:  Northwest wanted $850 for a non-stop round trip from Detroit to Indianapolis but United wanted $279 with a change of planes in Chicago.  I booked on United but could not get a seat assignment because most of the seats were gone.  That fact told me there was a chance of an overbooked plane.  I went to the United gate in Detroit and discovered the flight was running late (endangering my connection) so I asked called Northwest and found they had a seat for the non-stop flight leaving in 90 minutes.  I asked the United gate agent if they would endorse my ticket to Northwest.  The United gate agent knew their flight was overbooked and now significantly delayed.  United endorsed my ticket over to Northwest and also gave me a voucher for a free flight (with severe restrictions) and a meal coupon.  I thanked her for the help.

Looking for a hotel reservation in New York City, Chicago or Los Angeles: I've found that folks who specialize are usually much more helpful & knowledgeable, making your trip better (and can save $ as well).  Express Reservations (express-res) offers hand-picked hotels based upon their personal experiences.  They also have good information about things to see & do as well as maps.  They also link to other specialists who focus on San Francisco and Washington, DC.

Courtesy on board: With planes more crowded than last year, expect delays and cancellations to cause more problems than ever.  Flights will go smoother and faster if you help others stow their luggage on-board, step out of the aisle while you remove your coat and don't recline your seat (on a day-time flight) without checking with the person behind you.  Don't check luggage with anything that is valuable or that you can not do without such as medications or glasses for at least 3 or 4 days.

What will they charge for next:  United Airlines has finally figured-out that they can charge extra for emergency row exit seats.  I know I'm not giving the airlines new ideas, but some US airline will charge extra for advanced seat assignments (unless you are a very frequent flyer).  It's just a matter of who and when.