This is the best of times, the worst of times for flying. Airline news can be kind of boring and often frustrating, but if you don’t keep up on it you can miss out on deals and get socked with ugly penalties.
Chris Elliott has a great interview over at Tripso with one of the best travel columnists in America, Scott McCartney of the Wall Street Journal. Interview with the Middle Seat columnist. It’s the best rundown of everything that sucks about the industry I’ve seen.
My most recent column from there is about how your airline magazine may be getting thinner and dumber.
Booking bonuses are back from Continental and Delta. Now that Priceline , Expedia , and others have eliminated booking fees for flights, the airlines have to work harder to get you to book through them. So they’re offering a 500-mile frequent flyer bonus, like they did in the good ole days when they using a carrot to get us to stop phoning their call center instead of a stick.
Last summer you would easily spend $1,500 for a return flight to much of Europe. Right now you can find a business class seat for less than that on some routes. Stretch out time if you’re feeling flush.
Spirit Airlines doesn’t plan to make your flight any better, but they would like you to please lower your expectations . I’d say avoid these guys altogether, but they do offer a cheap way to get to Central America.
The UK foreign travel office lifted its advisory against traveling to Mexico, so flights and charter tours from the UK will resume within the week. Other countries are following suit.
The best way to keep up on flight deals is to just let them come to your inbox. For U.S. departures, you can get general deals from Travelzoo or Booking Buddy , get flight deals from your own airport on SmarterTravel , and get an alert when the price drops on a specific itinerary from Travelocity.
And remember, the best defense against extra baggage fees is to travel light !
没有评论:
发表评论