Travel&Vacation

On Monday, September 8, Expedia starting selling fares on upstart low-cost carrier Virgin America. In a press release, Expedia said Hotwire, which is owned by Expedia, Inc., will also begin selling Virgin America fares soon. Expedia’s main competitors, Orbitz and Travelocity, already sell Virgin America tickets. Why should you care? A wily blogger for BudgetTravel heard from an inside source that prices for Virgin America fares are 10 percent cheaper on Expedia.com and VirginAmerica.com than on other travel sites. This secret sale applies to fares booked by midnight PT September 11 for travel through October 29. When I checked online for round-trip Los Angeles to New York fares for mid-October travel on a variety of travel sites, VirginAmerica.com and Expedia.com both had low fares of
(Read the full post about ‘Expedia and Virgin America Join Forces, Offer Secret Sale’…)

Our Hawaii Travel Guide provides tips on planning a trip and saving money while doing so, and the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau is also a good place to look for information on events and attractions.  

It’s becoming an old debate nowadays, one we’ve covered before (and about which you’ve had plenty to say), but it’s still interesting to me when someone tries to sort out the airline fee mess and determine which carriers are the worst offenders. That’s exactly what The Consumerist did, and the results surprised me a little. First of all, what didn’t surprise me was the four airlines deemed “most fee-crazy”: US Airways, United, and Delta and American in a third-place tie. These airlines have led the charge on first-checked-bag fees and pay-as-you-go in-flight beverages. Determining the winners, however, is a trickier task. Sure, Southwest is an easy choice, with its sparse fees and pledge to remain fee-free while other airlines rack up the extra charges. Beyond Southwest, however, pretty
(Read the full post about ‘Which Airlines Are Fee-Crazy, and Which Are Not?’…)

Midwest Airlines is set to receive up to $25 million in loans from Republic Airways Holdings, which provides and operates regional aircraft, in exchange for Midwest leasing a dozen airlines from Republic. Republic will loan the carrier $15 million up front and an additional $10 million at a later date if Midwest hits certain financial goals. In all, Midwest has lined up $60 million in financing that should help the airline stay clear of Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The downside to the deal is that Republic will use its own pilots and staff for the first year of the lease, meaning Midwest will lay off 270 people, including 125 pilots, 120 flight attendants, and 25 maintenance workers, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. This aspect of the move has, understandably, drawn ire from
(Read the full post about ‘Midwest Airlines May Dodge Bankruptcy After All’…)

Fees up, dude! As a recent LA Times article points out, surfers are now getting hit with what might be the biggest new airline fee yet: checked surfboard charges. While fees for checked bags are up across-the-board, some airlines are now charging flyers as much as $300 to check a surfboard. Here is what the major U.S. carriers are charging per surfboard each way:American: $100 Continental: $100 Delta: $175 domestic, $300 for international Hawaiian: $25 interisland, $80 continental JetBlue: $50 Northwest: $100 domestic, $130 to $150 international Southwest: $50 United: $125 US Airways: $100 These fees stand in contrast to most airlines’ policies for golf clubs, which are generally counted as part of the regular checked-baggage allowance and are thus subject to whatever the airline charges
(Read the full post about ‘The Biggest New Airline Fees Target Surfers’…)

European low-cost carrier Ryanair will begin canceling bookings made on third-party price-comparison sites it says are illegal. These cancelations will begin for bookings made August 11 and beyond, and will likely account a thousand bookings per day. According to Ryanair, these “screenscraping” sites overcharge for Ryanair tickets and add unnecessary handling charges. The third-party websites in question—mostly European comparison sites like Bravofly and VTours (in German), among others—scan airline sites and match airline’s prices with their own. This allows the third-party site to match the airline itself, while never directing the customer to the airline’s site. However, Ryanair claims the scanning, or “scraping,” slows down its site, which hurts bookings made there.
(Read the full post about ‘Ryanair to Cancel Thousands of ‘Illegal’ Bookings’…)

In an August 13 press release, American announced it will waive its third-checked-bag fee for active U.S. soldiers, meaning those individuals can now check up to three bags for free. This represents an addition to the airline’s standing policy of allowing two free checked bags for service members. The move follows a wave of criticism directed at American, which was accused of hitting soldiers with excessive fees. For quite some time, American allowed soldiers to check two bags for free, and either obtain a waiver beforehand or request a reimbursement from the military for the $100 third-checked-bag charge. According to the Seattle Times, however, a serviceman recently complained to the El Paso Times that paying the $100 and seeking a reimbursement was a burden, because he still needed to
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The morning mist clears high in the Peruvian Andes, and at last you see it: Machu Picchu. You’re sweaty, you’re muddy, you’re tired—and you couldn’t be happier. You’ve arrived after four hard days of hiking, and while you know there are all kinds of ways to see this fabled lost city, you’re sure now that there’s only one way to really earn it. What’s adventure travel all about, you wonder, if not putting everything you’ve got into reaching your goal? Well, maybe not everything. You, after all, paid hundreds less than everyone else in your group for the right to reach Machu Picchu, because you knew that some adventure travel operators offer big discounts on “late availability” departures: scheduled trips that still have spaces available. It’s not a new concept in the travel
(Read the full post about ‘Huge Savings on Machu Picchu and More’…)

US Airways appears to be next in line to charge for onboard pillows and blankets, according to Today in the Sky. The airline plans to take complimentary pillows and blankets off its planes, and is simply waiting to select a vendor to provide a for-purchase option. Following last week’s news that JetBlue is eliminating free pillows and blankets and replacing them with an upgraded product for purchase, I expected a great deal of outrage to pour forth from readers. I know JetBlue’s move irritated me, for a number of reasons. To my surprise, however, most people were glad to see the end of those reused airplane blankets and pillows, and pledged to purchase JetBlue’s $7 set, which is the passenger’s to keep. So if US Airways’ scheme is similar, and the new blankets and pillows are an
(Read the full post about ‘US Airways Next to Nix Free Onboard Pillows?’…)

“If you’re worried about high destination costs, consider an all-inclusive resort.” That’s a message coming from quite a few travel suppliers these days. And, for many senior travelers, it can be a good idea. As the name indicates, an all-inclusive is a resort where one overall daily or weekly rate covers all of your destination expenses: accommodations, meals, and participant activities. Well, almost all: Many charge extra for some activities and external sightseeing excursions, and even more charge extra for alcoholic drinks. Still, the typical all-inclusive rate covers at least as much of your total daily costs as a cruise—the other all-inclusive option with which these such resorts are often compared. As I’ve looked at the field, I see some general patterns:Most, but not all,
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