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Posted
Aug 28 2009, 04:25 PM
by
Teresa Mears
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
To keep their most loyal travelers coming back, airlines are making it easier to qualify for elite status in their mileage programs. In some cases, they're also making it easier to earn miles, The New York Times reports.
"What we're seeing is a bit of a resurgence on the airlines' part in focusing on their frequent-flier programs," Tim Winship, who writes about loyalty programs for SmarterTravel.com, told The Times.
Unfortunately, the airlines don't seem to have made it easier to actually get a seat with your frequent flier miles. If anything, cutbacks in flights have made such seats harder to come by this year, the McClatchy News Service reported.
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Posted
Aug 19 2009, 04:15 PM
by
Teresa Mears
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
It may still be 95 degrees outside, but as far as the airlines are concerned, it is time for the fall sales. If you're thinking about traveling any time this year, including the holidays, it may be time to buy the tickets.
United Airlines rolled out a Labor Day sale this week, followed by Southwest Airlines, and pretty soon all the airlines had followed up with sales. Southwest's sale is for travel through Jan. 7, with some holiday blackout dates. Frontier's sale covers travel through Feb. 10 on off-peak days. And JetBlue's All You Can Jet pass, $599 for a month of travel, is also still on sale. Tom Parsons' Best Fares outlines some of the domestic deals, and Sherman's Travel shares some good international and domestic fares.
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Posted
Aug 13 2009, 04:07 PM
by
Teresa Mears
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Everybody in the travel world is talking about JetBlue's new All-You-Can-Jet-Pass for $599, which gives you unlimited flights for a month. Is it a good deal or isn't it?
It depends on where you want to go and how many trips you want to take.
For a business traveler who flies frequently between two points on the JetBlue map, it might be a good deal, Sarah Morgan of SmartMoney notes. It might also be a good deal for people in commuter relationships, someone flying weekly to check up on aging parents or even someone who has friends and family in a number of JetBlue cities and wants to spend a month visiting them all.
Bing: Jet Bue
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Posted
Aug 11 2009, 06:17 PM
by
Teresa Mears
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Want to be the first to hear about airfare sales and hotel deals? You might want to join the microblogging service Twitter.
Twitter has become the latest place for airlines, hotels, tour operators and attractions to "tweet" their top deals. Twitter can take you deep into the Internet to find the latest information about hotels, restaurants and airfares, Everett Potter wrote in his Twitter primer for travelers in Travel + Leisure magazine.
JetBlueCheeps tweeted some $9 Boston-to-New York fares last month. United Airlines, Southwest Airlines and American Airlines also are on Twitter, as are hotels, tourist offices and numerous travel writers and sites that gather travel deals and information. BestTravelDeals.net, for example, has just expanded its services to include travel deals from Twitter. You can see them to the right on the website or follow the company's Mary Song on Twitter.
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Posted
Aug 04 2009, 05:00 PM
by
Teresa Mears
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
It turns out we are not the only ones bothered by the difficulty of making travel reservations online. A new report released today by Forrester Research found that 15% fewer travelers enjoy using the Web to make travel arrangements than they did in 2007.
Only one in three travelers believes travel Web sites do a good job of presenting choices.
"What we've seen is growing frustration," Henry H. Harteveldt, a Forrester travel analyst, told The New York Times. "Consumers see other Web sites becoming easier to use -- retail Web sites, banking Web sites, media Web sites. But travel is treading water as a category. There are very few travel companies that are really looking to improve the planning and booking process."
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Posted
Jul 30 2009, 02:07 PM
by
Teresa Mears
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
These days, buying an airline ticket is a cross between a major online research paper and playing the lottery. Which airline has the lowest fare? Will an airline with a better schedule match it tomorrow? Will there be a better deal next week? What about baggage fees?
If you live near several airports, which has the best deal to your destination? Don't forget to take into account the cost to get to the airport and the charge to park your car, which can exceed $10 a day where we live.
We thought earlier this month that airfares had gone as low as they were going to go this summer But this week, several airlines announced new sales, most for travel starting in mid-August. Can you get a better deal now? Maybe. It depends on where you want to go and when. But move quickly. The sales at Southwest (no bag check fees) and Spirit airlines end today. The sales at Delta and Frontier have various expiration dates, and other airlines have matched those prices. We're going to book some fall trips today.
Will prices be lower or higher next week? Who knows? Bing has some new tools for predicting airfares, but not all cities are included yet.
We just hope we don't have to change our plans, because the high change and cancellation fees will easily wipe out any savings from buying discount tickets in advance.
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Posted
Jul 10 2009, 03:57 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
When you've accumulated a bunch of frequent-flier miles, what's your strategy? Do you burn them on your next trip or are you more selective?
Michael B. Rubin of Beyond Paycheck to Paycheck says there's a smart way and a not-so-smart way to redeem them. It all depends, he says, on how much each mile is worth. We'll explain.
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Posted
Jul 07 2009, 05:15 PM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Those cheap airfares that beckoned early this summer are being grounded, several news sources report.
What's a summer traveler to do? Book now, many experts recommend. Delay will likely cost you.
"Indeed, there are signs that we have hit bottom, and that you can -- and perhaps should -- book sooner rather than later," Tim Winship wrote at Smarter Travel. (Note to self: Firm up those August plans right now.)
Add to the mix a big increase in car-rental fees, and frugal travelers will have fewer incentives to hit the skies or the road. (Luckily, hotel deals still abound.)
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Posted
Jun 22 2009, 12:09 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
That $29 or $39 one-way airfare sounds great, but before you buy, hold the phone until you've added in all the airline fees. Suddenly that ticket isn't such a great deal. (And don't buy it over the phone. That too will cost you extra.)
Airline fees are here to stay, no matter how confusing or annoying they are, USA Today reports. The story also says:
Sorting out the airlines' fees can be a time-consuming task. It took a week for a USA Today reporter -- who, unlike most consumers, was assisted by airline public relations staff -- to compile 28 different types of fees charged by 14 major airlines.
Holy buckets. Once you look at what reporter Gary Stoller compiled, you'll appreciate why it was a huge undertaking. Gary deserves our gratitude. (Of course, these fees are subject to change.)
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Posted
Jun 08 2009, 08:25 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Travelers on European budget carrier Ryanair will likely have to start paying for bathroom use, and may wish they had a wooden (think hollow) leg.
Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary told the Guardian newspaper in England that he's serious about charging for toilet access -- an idea he had earlier bandied about -- and also plans to reduce the number of bathrooms on his Boeing 737-800 jets from three to one.
Those bathrooms will be replaced with six more seats -- "which means more passengers will stand in line longer for the privilege of paying to potty. This can't be good for beverage cart sales," wrote Rob Manker at ChicagoTribune.com.
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