Airfare Secrets

Airfare SecretsHow To Get the Lowest Price on Airfare Anywhere in the World

Dear Insider Travel Reader,Thanks for purchasing the first edition of the Airfare Secrets report! I appreciate your support and intend to make this guide an extremely valuable tool in your quest for the lowest airfare.

Other reports from Insider Travel focus on hotels, cruises, and a variety of travel topics. This one is all about airfare from start to finish. Our goal is to help you beat the archaic, inefficient system that airlines use to extract as much money from your pocket as possible.

I have been flying around the world to more than 70 countries so far, most of which I have visited over the last five years. On my long-haul international flights, I often fly First or Business Class, and yet I rarely pay much more than Economy prices. I fly Economy on most domestic flights or short flights anywhere, and when I do, I usually pay less than the average coach traveler.

This report will help you do the same. Whether you travel all the time or only once a year, you’ll be able to save an average of at least 30% through the use of the techniques outlined in this report.

You may save even more. One of our premium members recently sent us this story:

The first thing I did after joining your program was to book a trip to Toronto and found that I saved the cost of my wife’s airfare based on the quote I received only two days earlier. Needless to say I will continue to be a member. David Ryan, Calgary, Alberta

I hope to hear a similar story from YOU. It is my goal that the small investment you made to purchase this guide will reap benefits that greatly exceed both the money you paid and the time you spend reading.

Keep traveling well,

P.S. At the end of the report, there is a special bonus for you on page 51 that I don’t want you to miss.

How To Get the Lowest price on Airfare Anywhere in the World Airfare Secrets

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Contents

This is about beating the system .....................4

The Starting Point ..................................5

Alternatives to Traditional Systems ................ 11

Multiple Destination Travel ............................ 14

Airline Passes ..............................................18

Free Stopovers ............................................20

Discount Airlines in the U.S. and Canada ........22

Legacy Carriers ...........................................28

First & Business Class ..................................29

Mileage Running ...........................................31

How To Exploit Airline Alliances .....................32

Travel Packages ...........................................33

How To Avoid Ticket Change Fees .................33

Domestic First Class ....................................34

Unusual Routes to save $$

and increase comfort ...................................35

Standby Travel, Walk-up, and

Bereavement Fares ......................................36

Member Stories ...........................................38

Member Questions & Answers ......................42

Charity Update .............................................47

Coming soon: Insider Travel

Secret Project ..............................................49

THANKS & SPECIAL BONUS! .........................50

Appendix A: Additional Online Resources ........51

Appendix B: “Real Person” Phone Numbers ....53

Airfare Secrets How To Get the Lowest price on Airfare Anywhere in the World

© Copyright 2007 DBS Productions & Insider Travel. All rights reserved including international. Airfare Secrets >> Insider Travel�

This is about beating the system

(1) It’s you vs. the airlines - and you can win.

Airline prices are purposely designed to extract the maximum amount of money from the traveler’s pocket. If you can pay $300 to fly from Chicago to Las Vegas, the

airline does not want to sell you the ticket for $289. They will do whatever they can to force you to pay the higher price.

Understanding that the airlines’ goal is to take as much of your money as possible is critical. It’s also important to understand that you can beat them at their own game. The airlines have strength in knowing what each passenger is paying for their ticket. The individual traveler has strength in knowing that the airlines are often desperate, because they can’t keep flying their planes if enough people aren’t onboard to justify the high cost of fuel.

This conflict pits you, the individual traveler, against the airlines. You can win the war by knowing which tactics to employ.

2) This report is mostly about Contrarian Strategies

Airfare Secrets will cover the basics of booking travel online – which web sites are the best to check, which you should avoid,

and so on. But the report is mostly about contrarian strategies.

According to Wikipedia, a contrarian “is one who attempts to profit by investing in a manner that differs from the conventional wisdom, when the consensus opinion appears to be wrong.” In travel, this means staying away from the crowd and doing things a bit differently.

Would you be willing to stay away from the crowd if it meant flying internationally for domestic fares? What if it meant flying around Canada on an unlimited pass? How about going around the world, to three or four continents in Business Class, all for the price of one round-trip ticket?

You can do all of these things and more, and the Airfare Secrets report you’re holding will help you on your way.

We’ve also set up an email list that will send you FREE updates to the report, along with additional strategies. Make sure you sign up for the list here:

http://discountairfarebook.com/confirmation

No marketing messages will be sent to that list, and your email address will never be shared. It’s just a way for us to send you new strategies and arbitrage tactics as they become available.

Understanding that the airlines’ goal is to take as much of your money as possible is critical. It’s also important to understand that you can beat them at their own game.

http://discountairfarebook.com/comfirmation



Applied to travel reservations, a contrarian is someone who looks for the deals in unusual locations, seasons, and opportunities. Always looking away from the crowd, and often finding great airfare prices with minimal effort.

(�) A note for our Canadian readers

More than 25% of our members and readers are from Canada, and they often ask that we include content that is valid for travel from and within Canada. As much as possible, we’ve done that hear. Many of the alternative approaches to global travel outlined in Airfare Secrets are fully valid for the full North American market. If you’re from Canada but enjoy overseas travel, you’ll find a ton of useful info for you.

Don’t forget about discount airlines in Canada either, because they are able to take advantage of the inefficient legacy carrier market (i.e., Air Canada) the same way that Southwest and Jet Blue have radically changed the domestic market in the U.S. Whenever I’m booking a flight within Canada, I always make sure to check directly with WestJet.com.

The Starting Point

(1) Where most people begin

In preparation for this report, we surveyed our member list to learn more about how they search for airfare prices. These are the results:

Check with online travel search engine 40.2% Check with online travel agent (Travelocity, Expedia, etc.) 28.2% Check directly with the airline 23.9% Check with offline travel agent 2.6% Other 5.1%



Most of our members already know to begin their search online, and they are roughly divided between checking first with an online travel search engine, an online travel agent, and directly with the airline.

All three of those choices are good starting points, and I always begin my search with one or all of those. However, I often find fares higher than I would like, so I certainly don’t end there.

(a) Offline & Online Travel Agents

(i) Travelocity, Expedia, Orbitz

http://travelocity.com

http://expedia.com

http://orbitz.com

Most people who have booked travel online are familiar with these three sites. Travelocity and Expedia are large travel agencies that operate online. Orbitz is a consortium owned by several major airlines.

The three sites will often display the same fares for popular routes, although occasionally you will find minor differences. Each of them charges a booking fee of at least $5, which you can avoid by researching the fares at the sites but then buying from another vendor or simply directly from the airline if the price is good enough.

We’ve often been critical of sites like Travelocity, Expedia, and Orbitz, and for good measure (we’ll get to that below). However, in fairness we should say that there are times when these sites are very helpful. We’ve occasionally bought tickets from them, and will likely do

so in the future when our other strategies won’t work or are simply not needed.

Think of Travelocity and co. as decent starting points (along with Kayak and SideStep, which we’ll cover below), and you can’t go wrong. Just don’t depend on them too much unless you want to give the airlines more money than other Insider Travel members!

One tip on these sites: if you’re searching for airfare for two or more people, begin the search for just one person. In case seats are short in the lower fare brackets, you may not realize that you’re paying more for the second person if you haven’t begun your search for just one ticket.

If you do notice a price increase on that second ticket, don’t give up – go to another travel search engine or online agent and try the same thing over again.

Think of Travelocity and co. as decent starting points, and you can’t go wrong.

http://travelocity.com

http://expedia.com

http://orbitz.com



The airlines often allocate a certain number of seats to the big agencies, so if one of them runs out (and thus tries to charge you more), you can often pay the same fare for both tickets by using another agency.

(2) Understanding the biases and inefficiencies of all travel agents

(a) The problem with online agents is the same with offline ones: they have a genuine incentive to rip you off if it creates more profit for themselves. Several of the agencies promise “low-fare guarantees” where they will refund the difference of your ticket price if you find a lower fare within a few days of booking the ticket with them. But these guarantees often have so many restrictions that they almost never honor them by paying out.

Because the online agencies earn commissions from the airlines, the two groups are often involved in public feuds over the money. When that happens, it’s not unusual for a site like Travelocity to retaliate by de-listing the airline’s fares in its search results. When this happens, the individual traveler is the biggest loser. If that airline’s fare was lower than the other option, or if it was your preferred carrier for that particular route, too bad. Only after the airline resumes paying Travelocity their commission will the listings be re-activated.

http://kayak.com

http://sidestep.com

I book several flights with Travelocity, Expedia, and Orbitz every year… but I do so only when I am certain that I am getting the best possible price.

(i) For price comparisons, I always start with Kayak.com and SideStep.com. Kayak is an online search engine that does not profit from travel bookings the way that Travelocity and other travel agents do. It won’t delist fares that don’t pay commission or deliberately steer you in the wrong direction for its own profit.

In short, search engines that don’t take commissions from the airlines are

http://kayak.com

http://sidestep.com



a great tool… and it’s where I always start my searches, if only for a good comparison tool. However, there are at least two good reasons why you shouldn’t rely on Kayak.com exclusively:

1. Kayak doesn’t list fares from Southwest Airlines and other discount airlines throughout the world. We are big fans of using Southwest in the U.S. They often have fares much lower than the major airlines, and often with fewer connections (I recently flew Southwest non-stop from Seattle to Nashville, something that’s not possible on any other airline.) Ironically, now that the major U.S. airlines and Air Canada have slipped so far in their service, Southwest’s service is often just as good as or better than the legacy carriers.

Even if you don’t have a chance to fly Southwest, there are many other discount airlines you should consider when traveling overseas. We’ll discuss many of these options later on, but for now just remember that if you only use Kayak, another travel search engine, or certainly a travel agent service like Expedia or Travelocity, you will almost never see these fares.

2. Kayak also has no way of listing Frequent Flyer or other awards flights, including upgrade opportunities or creative ways of getting around the airline’s complicated fare structure. This is one of the main topics we focus on with Insider Travel, and this is how I’m often able to travel abroad in First or Business Class for a fraction of the price that other premium travelers are paying.

It’s not really Kayak’s fault that they don’t list these opportunities – no search engine really does – but it’s important that you know about the deficiency. If you’re traveling on a flight that costs more than $300 or is more than three hours long, you really should take the time to at least consider some alternatives to the standard online reservations approach.

(�) “Traditional” Alternatives

(a) Courier

Back in the really old days, courier flights were all the rage. You could jet off to Bangkok for $199 round-trip on two days notice, or head over to Paris for the weekend for the same price. The way it worked then – and still works, in some limited circumstances – is that companies would be desperate to get some documents or cargo delivered immediately (in other words, FedEx was too slow). In return for effectively borrowing your checked luggage allotment, they would subsidize your flight.



It was a great system… and then 9/11 came around. Since then, courier opportunities are greatly restricted and really exist only from the biggest major U.S. cities like New York and Los Angeles.

We still maintain a courier directory for our members online, but it’s getting outdated, and more importantly, courier flying itself is getting outdated. It wasn’t only 9/11. Since then, multinational companies have taken advantage of new technologies to use videoconferencing and increasingly sophisticated networks to do business.

Couriers will never go out of business entirely, but alas, it’s no longer an effective strategy to rely on.

(b) Consolidators

In addition to couriers, consolidators have always been the traditional alternative to booking flights with a travel agent (the old days) and through the web (the new days). Unlike couriers, consolidators are still alive and going strong, although in some cases they are feeling the burn as airlines increasingly try to undercut their business model.

A few popular consolidators are:

http://airlineconsolidator.com

http://www.airbrokers.com

http://www.atab.co.uk

You have to be careful when you search online for “airfare consolidators.” Many of the listings that appear are not actually consolidators – they merely offer online search tools that research the same fares you could get elsewhere (and probably pay less commission). Also, be sure to always use a credit card when purchasing airfare from a consolidator. They often offer discounts of 2-4% when paying cash, but don’t do it if you like to sleep at night. Airline consolidators work on tight margins, which is good for consumers, but because of that they often come and go – so use the credit card to be protected in case anything goes wrong.

Ironically, some of the best consolidators will not have the kinds of search tools on their sites that you are used to seeing. This is because they operate under-the-radar through relatively low-tech methods. Their sites will include general info about what kinds of fares they specialize in (most consolidators are

http://airlineconsolidator.com


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regional, so beware of a company that claims to do it all), but you’ll need to fill in a contact form or call them up to get an exact quote for your preferred date and destination.

One consolidator I do like is FlyCheapAbroad.com. I have been watching their fares closely and they often have very good deals to Asia, Europe, and Africa.

(c) Charters

The last “traditional alternative” that still works well in some cases is charter flights. The following agencies offer charter flights that are usually to vacation destinations (i.e. sunny Caribbean and Western Europe) sometimes in conjunction with tours and hotel stays, and other times offering airfare only:

http://applevacations.com

http://libertytravel.com

http://gate1travel.com

In Europe, it is even more common to use charter flights to fly from a cold-climate country like Germany or England to a warmer one like Greece or Spain during the winter. If that’s your situation, you should definitely consider looking into charters.

Beware, however, that these flights usually have limited service, no special meals, and notoriously limited seat pitch. The charter companies want to pack in as many passengers as possible, so you’ll certainly get the chance to know your neighbor well on a typical charter flight.

Senior Discounts

Many major airlines offer discounts to seniors, although the discounts usually aren’t amazing. But if you book directly with an airline, be sure to mention if you or any of the travelers is a senior (and some of them are pretty loose on what age you qualify). You’ll often earn at least a 5-7% discount and sometimes more. United had one of the better programs for seniors (called “Silver Wings”) for a while, but it was discontinued in early 2007.

One airline that offers a genuinely impressive senior discount is SAS or Scandinavian Airlines. You can receive a 35% discount on all SAS Economy Fares that depart from the UK and the European Union to Scandinavia. SAS does not currently allow the big discount on their flights to or from the U.S., so you’ll have to get across the Atlantic before you can benefit from it.


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Alternatives to Traditional Systems

We’ve found the majority of our eye-dropping airfare deals through alternative strategies that we document for our readers. They involve using discount airlines, thinking outside the box, using multiple destination travel, and getting creative with Frequent Flyer miles. Some of the most applicable examples of these alternatives are outlined below.

(1) $1.�� flights in Europe

Two years ago I flew from Hamburg, Germany to the Canary Islands. I had a stopover in Palma de Mallorca, another Spanish island, on the way. Lufthansa and Iberia were selling seats on nearly the same route for more than 200 Euros. My price: about 30 Euros.

Others have done even better. Flying from Ireland, you can literally find dozens of flights for as little as 2 pence – less than 5 cents! One of our colleagues flew to Amsterdam from London on one of these flights. The cost was $2.50 for the flight, and $8.70 for the taxes. The total flight in U.S. dollars at the time was $16.78!

These incredible rates are popular because of the growth of European discount airlines. They originally copied the business model of Southwest Airlines in the U.S., but since then, they’ve perfected it to where they can often practically give away seats.

Flights may leave from secondary airports (some of which can be far from major city centers, but others are actually more convenient than the larger international airports) and often leave or arrive late at night. This helps the airline keep costs down, and no one can deny that they pass much of the savings on to the consumer.



http://ryanair.com

http://easyjet.com

The two largest budget carriers in Europe are RyanAir and EasyJet. If you’ve heard of discount airlines in Europe before, you’ve probably heard of these, and for good

reason. Both have tons of flights and relatively reliable schedules.

BUT, there are literally more than a hundred other discount airlines that carry passengers across the continent. Many of them fly only a few routes, but several have large route maps like RyanAir and EasyJet.

My choice from Hamburg to Tenerife was Air Berlin. It offered many flight options, all of which were cheap, and service as good as any U.S. airline in Economy

Class.

You can find Air Berlin here:

http://airberlin.com

Some of the other excellent choices you should consider when traveling in Europe are:

http://flybe.com

http://www.estonian-air.ee

http://airscotland.com

http://bmibaby.com

http://www.airbaltic.com

To find the hundred other options, you’ll want to check out this site, one of my favorites for booking airfare in Europe:

http://www.attitudetravel.com/lowcostairlines/europe

They now cover low-cost airlines in Asia too. It’s a great resource and is completely free.


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One note of caution about these flights: be careful about baggage! Unlike North American carriers, the budget carriers in Europe do not include generous baggage allowances. If you’re checking a lot of stuff, or even carrying on a bag that weighs more than 10 kilos, you’ll pay an extra fee. Since the airlines charge almost nothing to fly, they won’t show any mercy at the baggage check-in counter.

(2) Subsidized Flights to China

If you’re an entrepreneur, business owner, or even just an eBay seller, the Chinese government has a program to quietly subsidize the cost of your Business Class flight to China.

China Trade Shows has all the info on the trade shows that are eligible for the heavily discounted fares:

http://www.chinatradeshows.com

Also, check with TravelChinaGuide.com (or call 800-892-6988) about good package deals.

(�) $2.1� Flights within India on SpiceJet Airways

It’s not a typo – you can fly one-way on SpiceJet Airways for as little as $2.15 – and unlike the RyanAir flights, you won’t get killed on the taxes. I’m doing this myself later in the year and will report back on the experience. If you’re brave in the meantime, check out the details here:

http://www.spicejet.com

(�) Flights To Australia

Tickets to Australia from the U.S. (or Canada, via the U.S.) can be some of the world’s most expensive. This is because of the monopoly on direct flights held by Qantas and United.

Flights in Economy class can easily reach $1500, and Business Class begins at around $6000. No kidding! How do you get around this hurdle? It’s actually not that difficult: get the Australia flight pass from Qantas Airlines for as little as $999 and you’ll get your ticket from the U.S. (Los Angeles, San Francisco, or Honolulu) and three extra flights in Australia thrown in. It’s like being paid to fly!

This link may still be valid for the latest deal:

http://www.qantas.com.au/regions/dyn/us/specials/webDeals21�

http://www.qantas.com.au/regions/dyn/us/specials/webDeals217


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If it’s not, no problem: just Google “Aussie AirPass” or “Qantas Air Pass” to see what the latest availability is.

(�) “Less than Free” South Pacific Stopover

Break up your trip in the South Pacific to save a ton of money, and take a stopover in Tahiti or Fiji for less than free. This is important, because you can think of the airline actually paying you for a stopover. Enjoy your Tahitian villa and earn money by sitting in the sun before continuing on to Australia or New Zealand. It really works!

Multiple Destination Travel

(1) Round-the World Travel

Round-the-World (RTW) travel is the pinnacle of worldwide travel. Since the time of Phileas Fogg, travelers have spent lifetimes planning their RTW trip.

It’s now easier than it ever has been, and even fairly affordable, if you know how to plan. The first decision you’ll need to make is whether you use an airline alliance to book the trip (like One World or Star Alliance, both discussed below), or if you



strike out on our own, usually with the help of a consolidator, and book individual tickets to and from each destination. We’ve got both options covered below, along with a few important tips.

(a) One World Explorer Rules

Routing Rules with One World Explorer Fares

*Your journey must include at least three oneworld continents, or four from the Southern Hemisphere and Africa where three-continent itineraries are not possible.

*Your route from one continent to another must move forward in a continuous westward or eastward direction. However, there are no backtracking restrictions so you are free to roam locally at will within a continent as long as you don’t go back to your point of origin.5

* Please note, you may need to travel through a hub city to get to your desired destination.

Flights and stopovers

*You are allowed to take two stopovers in total within your continent of origin in order to get to or from a gateway to begin or return from your international travel.

*After departing from your continent of origin, you are allowed to take up to four flights to explore each of the other continents (six flights in North America).

*You can book up to two additional flights per continent, at a set rate.

*You can fly up to 20 flight segments on your trip.

Class of travel

*You can book an Explorer fare in First, Business or Economy Class.4

*For an extra charge an Explorer fare can be booked in World Traveller Plus, British Airways Premium Economy Cabin.

Fares

*Your fare is determined by the class you fly in and the number of oneworld continents on your itinerary, including your continent of origin and any continents you just pass through.4

*Fares apply all year round except some seasonal economy fares which are calculated on two seasonal rates: high and low.



Duration

*You can stay from a minimum of 10 days and you have up to 12 months to complete your trip.

Reservations

*You must have booked and received a ticket for your first international flight (and any preceding local flights) at least seven days prior to travel when your journey originates from the Americas.

*However, you can leave all your subsequent flights open-dated. You can then schedule your trip at no extra charge as you go along.

*All reservations and ticketing can be handled by any oneworld airline.

http://www.oneworld.com/ow/air-travel-options/round-the-world-fares/oneworld-explorer

(b) Star Alliance

First, if you’ve never done this before, go and download the Star Alliance Mileage Calculator. You can get it for free here:

http://www.staralliance.com/en/travellers/tools_services/round_the_world_mileage_calculator.html

(Sometimes that link changes, so if it doesn’t work, go to Google and type in “Star Alliance Mileage Calculator.”)

You’ll be able to download an amazing tool that lets you plan out an imaginary (or real) Round-the-World (RTW) trip. I have probably spent about 40 hours with this tool, creating dozens of itineraries. Most of them I will never travel on, but it is fun to dream and I do use portions of the itineraries for other trips and research.

Among other benefits, the Mileage Calculator allows you to check on every Star Alliance flight in the world. This is very helpful when you have multiple options with one airline group like the Star Alliance. By using this tool, I’ve been able to pick flights that are more likely to offer upgrades, and it also saved me from flying overseas on United once when another routing was available on Asiana (a much better airline that is based in Seoul).



I am currently using this calculator to plan my first RTW trip which will begin in July. Even though the calculator is designed for RTW trips, I used it to plan my Circle Pacific journey last September. What’s that? Keep reading.

(c) Skip the Alliances and Go On Your Own

If you don’t want to use a Star Alliance or One World round-the-world ticket, you can also strike out on your own. In fact, if you Google “round-the-world travel,” this will likely be the first (and sometimes only) option you’ll see.

Numerous consolidators specialize in RTW travel, stringing together tickets on numerous airlines to create a customized itinerary for you.

Some of the consolidators with a good reputation are:

http://airtreks.com

http://www.bigworldtrips.com

http://airbrokers.com

When I was first interested in RTW travel many years ago, I always assumed I would book my trip the old-fashioned way by using one of these brokers. Over time, I have come to believe more and more in using a Star Alliance or OneWorld ticket. They offer greater flexibility, many more flight options, and depending on where you depart from, can be cheaper as well. However, for truly independent travelers, you may find that the do-it-yourself option is a better fit.

(2) Circle Pacific

I was able to take advantage of a great deal last fall. Booking a trip to Asia, I ended up paying less than the average price of a ticket to my destination (Hong Kong), and got three free stopovers throughout the region as well.

Thanks to some creative ticketing, I went to Vietnam, Singapore, and New Zealand before flying back to San Francisco to end my journey.

The funny thing is that you can actually fly to more places for less money, and the airlines are happy for you to do it.

The secret? Using a little known booking called a “Circle Pacific” fare. For reasons that make sense only to the airlines, you can often find great value in booking an international trip as a Round-the-World (RTW) or Regional pass. Regardless of which class you fly in, you’ll likely save a lot of money.

When I booked my ticket, I asked the agent at Star Alliance if she did many Circle Pacific bookings. “Hardly any at all,” was her reply. Apparently most people don’t



realize the huge savings (not to mention extra stopovers) they can realize by booking a ticket this way.

It doesn’t make sense, but since when did the airlines make sense?

The next time you fly overseas, you can visit two or three times as many places for less than the price of visiting one... and the airlines will thank you for it.

Visit each of these links to learn more about various Circle Pacific and Round-the-World options:

http://staralliance.com

http://oneworld.com

http://skyteam.com

Airline Passes

The next best thing to a Round-the-World or Circle Pacific trip on an airline alliance is a one-airline pass. Several of these exist, but they often make it difficult to find. Below are a few of the better ones that we recommend:

1. SAS “Visit Scandinavia” Pass

The pass from SAS is valid only when you fly across the Atlantic with them – but that’s not bad news, because SAS is a comfortable airline with cheap fares. In addition to major East Coast cities, they also fly non-stop from Chicago and Seattle.

The great deal with the Visit Scandinavia pass is that you can buy up to six flights valid anywhere in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden for just $110 each (at press time). Flying in Scandinavia – or actually, doing anything in Scandinavia – is usually super expensive, so this is definitely the deal to go for if you’re headed to the region. Be sure to bring your credit card for the restaurants, though. I recently spent $22 on a medium-sized pizza in Denmark!

How to get it: call SAS directly at 800-221-2350 (U.S./Canada).



2. South America Air Pass (LanChile)

This fare by OneWorld relies on its star airline in the region, LanChile, and the hub of Santiago (airport code SCL). Prices are charged on a zone system with a minimum of three flights and no maximum.

Zone 1 Up to 269 miles (430 km) $80

Zone 2 270-579 miles (432-926 km) $110

Zone 3 580-889 miles (928-1422 km) $140

Zone 4 890-1369 miles (1424-2190 km) $170

Zone 5 1370-1849 miles (2192-2958 km) $235

Zone 6 On/over 1850 miles (2960 km) $270

How to get it: book the Visit South America pass through any OneWorld airline, including LanChile, British Airways, American, or others.

Prices are standardized, so if you’re in the States or Canada, it’s probably easiest to book with American. You can reach them by phone (after holding for a while!) at 800-433-7300.

3. Air Canada Unlimited Travel Pass

Just before we went to press with this report, Air Canada began selling an Unlimited Travel pass on a 3-month and 6-month basis.

Here are the details:

*Prices vary depending on class of service and whether you want full North American travel rights or only Eastern or Western Canada (it starts at $2100 for three months).

*When flying the Latitude class, you’ll get complimentary upgrades confirmed 24 hours prior to departure and free access to the nice Maple Leaf lounges.

*If you don’t mind restricting your flight days to 4 per week, you’ll get an additional discount.

*When you enroll in the six-month subscription at the Latitude fare level, you’ll get *immediate* top-tier Elite frequent flyer status and receive 15,000 frequent flyer miles monthly. Travelers enrolled in the Tango Plus unlimited pass receive 10,000 frequent miles per month.

*Unfortunately, no other Frequent Flyer miles are accrued when traveling on the pass, so you can’t do a big “mileage run” to load up your account.

To learn more about the pass and get your unlimited ticket to ride, call Air Canada at 888-247-2262 and ask for the North America Unlimited Pass.



Alternatively, check out the Air Canada site:

http://www.aircanada.com

(From the home page, click on “Discover our flight passes” on the left-hand side.)

This won’t work for everyone, but for some of our readers who fly every week or two, this may be just what you need. For me, though, I’m still dreaming of a worldwide pass that gives the same privileges. As soon as it arrives, you can be sure to hear about it from me.

Other Passes

There are many other Air Passes available that cover destinations from Africa to New Zealand and everything in between. For a comprehensive directory, visit this helpful site and click the links on the left-hand side to view many different options:

http://www.airtimetable.com/airpass.htm

Free Stopovers

One of the favorite tools in our arsenal is free stopovers. Whenever you are traveling on an award ticket, and often even a paid ticket, you should fully research your stopover options.

One of the important terms to be familiar with is known as maximum permitted mileage. This refers to the limit (yes, there usually is one but not always) on the number of miles you are allowed to fly on one ticket. If you thought that a ticket was only valid from one city to the next, you’re often missing out on a very clever loophole. The loophole will allow you to see more cities, rack up more mileage, and possibly even save you money – even though you are flying more.

Yes, it’s paradoxical. But like the Circle Pacific fares, airlines are not usually known for making sense. You can often arrange a “stopover” to a city that is actually nowhere near your intended destination.

Read that sentence again, because it really doesn’t make sense. But on the majority of award tickets, and many paid tickets, you can often stop over in a city that has no relation to your eventual destination, and you may even be able to take extra flights to get there.

I have personally done this several times with Delta award tickets from Europe. While flying


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to Brussels, Paris, or Amsterdam, I have been able to visit friends and family throughout the United States after beginning my awards trip. Even though Delta flies to Europe via Atlanta and New York, I could visit cities like Birmingham, Washington DC, and Miami as part of the same award with no additional fee.

Even better, because a lot of my overseas award travel is in Business Class, Delta automatically upgraded me to First Class for all the domestic flights. It’s like a truly free First Class ticket.

You probably think it couldn’t get any better than that, but actually it does. The “stopover” (I use quotes because it’s really like a separate trip) does not always need to be done within a few days of either side of the trip. Last January, I wanted to fly to Seattle from the East Coast before going back to Europe. Even though Seattle was all the way on the West Coast, and pretty much as far away from Atlanta as you could get, Delta approved the free flight. It was more than a month after I had landed back in the U.S. (on the first leg of the international ticket, from Europe) and several weeks before I would return.

My wife and I flew to Seattle in First Class, transiting through Atlanta airport just as we would a few weeks later on the way back. Does that sound like a stopover to you? Probably not, but the airlines will often consider it that way.

It works with more than just Delta. I’m doing a similar routing with a United ticket later this year and a Continental ticket in the summer. The next time you plan a trip, be sure to ask about stopover opportunities – it will likely save you at least ten times the cost of this report.

Less-than-free HAWAII Stopover

This option is also exciting. It is possible to fly from the East Coast to the West Coast (either Canada or the U.S.) in First Class and get a less-than-free Hawaii stopover. In other words, it will be cheaper for you to take the Hawaii stopover than to avoid it.

We’re grateful to Matthew Bennett at First Class Flyer for first analyzing what he calls the “Hula Loophole” by using this example:

On a flight from Boston to Los Angeles, the published First Class fare on American is $1608. However, the Boston-Honolulu fare is $1434 – less than the flight to L.A., and the flight to Honolulu allows a stopover anywhere in California. The stopover requires a fee of about $50, but even with the fee the fare is still more than $100 cheaper than the direct flight. You can think of it as American Airlines paying you $100 to take an extra trip to Hawaii. Not bad, huh?



Discount Airlines in the U.S. and Canada

The U.S. government calls it the “Southwest Effect.” When low-fare leader Southwest Airlines enters a city, prices go down for everyone, and new people hop onto planes who’ve never flown before. But Southwest isn’t the only airline driving the effect – and they’re not always the cheapest airline in a market. North America has more than a dozen reliable budget airlines, all of whom help keep fares down, especially for one-way and last-minute flights.

These aren’t generally fly-by-night affairs, either. They’re at least as stable as any of the big players (which, admittedly, isn’t saying much.) Southwest, JetBlue and Frontier have consistently been some of the most profitable airlines in the nation. Still, low-fare airlines have failed in the past, most recently Washington, DC-based Independence Air. All the airlines we recommend are financially stable and will be flying for the foreseeable future.

Some of these airlines, most importantly Southwest, won’t show up on your favorite travel agency site, though. Those that do, like Spirit, don’t usually post their lowest fares to the travel-agency sites like Expedia and Travelocity. You have to seek them out by going to their Web site with your cities and dates. Shopping around with these low-fare airlines could add take a few minutes, but it’ll often pay off in handfuls of cash. We think that’s a great trade-off.

One major American airline, US Airways, has been reinventing itself into a “low-fare” airline after its merger with America West. The new US Airways offers lots of flights across the US and to Europe and Mexico, usually at reasonable prices, and they’re more financially stable than they were before the America West merger.



DISCOUNT AIRLINES WE RECOMMEND

AirTran Airways

Founded in: 1993

Key ideas: Cheap and cheerful service in 40 cities, primarily to/from Atlanta and Orlando, with new planes and Business Class.

Sample roundtrip fares: New York to Atlanta, $178; Denver to Fort Lauderdale, $248; Boston to Newport News, $78

Web site: www.airtran.com

Is it on travel agent sites? Yes

Profile: AirTran doesn’t always have the lowest fares, but their presence in Atlanta keeps Delta from hiking fares in that city. Average by most measures, AirTran is neither anything to be afraid of, nor anything to really seek out. But they’ve been around for a while, and they’re financially solid.

Allegiant Air

Founded in: 1998

Key ideas: Delivering folks from America’s heartland to Las Vegas and Orlando.

Sample fares: Idaho Falls to Las Vegas, $118; Topeka to Las Vegas, $138; Portsmouth, NH to Orlando, $118

Web site: www.allegiantair.com

Is it on travel agent sites? No

Profile: Flying way under the radar, Allegiant shuttles folks from small cities like Killeen, TX and Peoria, IL to Sin City and/or Orlando. While they’ve had delays in the past, their super-low fares and eight-year history lead us to recommend them.



ATA (American Trans Air)

Founded in: 1981

Key ideas: Semi-merged with Southwest, so you can connect between the two airlines seamlessly. Very basic service, but at least there’s reserved seating.

Sample fares: New York to Chicago, $140; Oakland to Hawaii, $378; New York to New Orleans, $158

Web site: www.ata.com


Profile: Saved from bankruptcy by an investment from Southwest, this old-school budget carrier has replaced their old planes with Southwest-style 737s and re-jiggered their route map to fill in Southwest’s gaps, most notably in New York City and Hawaii. Yes, they’ve been cutting back recently, but the Southwest involvement leads us to consider them acceptable. When booking an ATA or Southwest flight, look for the same flight on both Web sites – sometimes they have different fares.

Frontier Airlines

Founded in: 1994

Key ideas: A comprehensive, Denver-based route network serving many Midwestern, Western and Mexican cities ignored by other low-fare airlines.

Sample fares: Atlanta to Denver, $228; Denver to Baltimore, $228,

Web site: www.flyfrontier.com


Profile: Like JetBlue, Frontier has TVs on most of its flights – but unlike JetBlue, Frontier charges $5/flight to watch TV. Still, that’s enough to get many fliers onto this reliable, profitable, and stable airline, especially since they fly many routes not covered by other low-fare choices.

JetBlue

Founded in: 2000

Key ideas: Comfy service at budget prices, based around NYC: lots of legroom, TVs at every seat



Sample roundtrip fares: Newark to San Juan, PR, $118; Boston to Washington, $80; New York to 5 Florida cities, $138

Web site: www.jetblue.com

Is it on travel agent sites? Only SideStep.com

Profile: JetBlue rocked the airline world when they debuted, with their 36 channels of TV, leather seats, and tasty blue potato chip snacks. They consistently get prizes for comfort and customer service; rows 13-25 have 34 inches of leg room, the best in the industry, and flight attendants call JetBlue flights “zombie planes” because the fliers all peacefully zone out in front of the TVs instead of getting up in each others’ faces. No down side here, as long as they fly where you want.

Southwest Airlines

Founded in: 1971

Key ideas: The original no-frills airline. Like riding Greyhound, but friendlier and not as smelly.

Sample roundtrip fares: LA to Oakland, $118; Omaha to Chicago, $98; Buffalo to Phoenix, $248

Web site: www.southwest.com


Profile: Cheerful employees, low fares, cattle-call boarding and non-reserved seats have always marked the granddaddy of budget airlines. They almost always have a sale on and sell the cheapest fares through a neat PC program called “Ding!” you can download from their Web site. Their once-legendary on-time record has sagged a bit recently, though, and Southwest doesn’t fly to New York City, though they’ll sell you a ticket on their partner airline ATA.

Spirit Airlines

Founded in: 1990

Key ideas: Cheap, cheerful, very basic service with inexpensive upgrades to a low-rent business class.

Sample roundtrip fares: Fort Lauderdale to Cancun, $158; Tampa to Montego Bay, $218; Detroit to New York, $158



Web site: www.spiritair.com


Profile: Spirit used to be known for low fares and old, dirty planes. They’re switching out their whole fleet for new planes by the end of this year, though you still shouldn’t expect in-flight entertainment or leather seats in coach class. Slightly higher fares (but still well below business class prices) get you “Spirit Plus,” a business class section with 36 inches of legroom, wider leather seats and free drinks. Keep an eye on Spirit’s Web site for some truly insane sales. I’ve seen one-way fares as low as $9.

Sun Country Airlines

Founded in: 2002

Key ideas: Comfortable service with leather seats and hot meals, centered on Minneapolis.

Sample fares: Minneapolis-New York, $227; Minneapolis-Phoenix, $299

Web site: www.suncountry.com


Profile: Sun Country Airlines rose from the ashes of a dead airline in 2002 to restore low-fare service to Minneapolis, where Northwest holds the airport in an otherwise tight grip. Their service offers plenty of comfort and regular schedules, as long as you’re flying to or from Minneapolis. But their fares aren’t particularly low, especially when compared to other budget airlines.

WestJet

Founded in: 1996

Key ideas: The Southwest of Canada.

Sample fares: Calgary-Victoria, C$184; Montreal-Toronto, C$178; Saskatoon-Vancouver, C$240

Web site: www.westjet.com




Profile: Fly WestJet, because WestJet prevents Air Canada from owning your fine nation like a Soviet ministry. Canada’s #2 airline covers its nation from Victoria to St. John’s, linking down to warm-weather destinations in the Florida, the southwest US and Hawaii. Like on Southwest, service is clean, friendly, reliable and basic. WestJet is based in Calgary, and many of its flights connect through there.

AN AIRLINE WE RECOMMEND WITH HESITATION

USA �000 Airlines

Founded in: 2002

Key ideas: Hot meals and movies while you fly to sunny destinations.

Web site: www.usa�000.com


Profile: USA 3000, owned by package-vacation giant Apple Vacations, connects fliers in the Northeast and Midwest to sunny locales in Florida, the Caribbean and Mexico. They have in-flight entertainment and meal service, putting them a notch above many other budget airlines. But their schedules change frequently, making us wary of planning vacations with this airline.

AN AIRLINE TO STAY AWAY FROM

Boston-Maine Airways / Pan Am Clipper Connection

Founded in: 1999

Key ideas: Pet airline of a multimillionaire who dreamed of resurrecting the Pan Am legacy.

Web site: www.flypanam.com


Profile: Wholly owned by the very wealthy Timothy Mellon, BMA has seen setbacks in the past few years, retreating to serve its core of Boston-Trenton business travelers. We don’t recommend flying on this airline.

Death of the airlines: At least three discount airlines have died in the past year. They include CanJet and Harmony Airlines, who provided a strong competitive environment in Canada for West Jet, and Hooters Air in the U.S., who provided chicken wings to a mostly-male business traveler audience.



Legacy Carriers

(1) A good alternative to Air Canada is Canadian Affair:

http://www.canadian-affair.ca (if leaving from Canada)

http://www.canadianaffair.com (if leaving from the U.K.)

Canadian Affair offers deep discounts across the Atlantic. Flights to and from London, Manchester, Glasgow, and Edinburgh from all major Canadian cities can often be found for as little as £99 – including taxes.

(2) United Prepaid Travel

For $5,000, $10,000 or $20,000, you can purchase a Prepaid Travel Card, from which your current-year travel purchases will be deducted. In exchange, you will immediately receive Premier, Premier Executive or 1K status immediately. Sales of the cards begin each year around February 1, and members who purchase the card this year will receive a 5 percent discount on their yearly purchases. The card is provided through Chase. One of the benefits of the $20,000 card (for those who can go that high) is six system-wide upgrades that are included. SWUs are great because they can be used anywhere in the world that United flies. If you use them on a flight to Sydney, Australia, for example, you will save literally thousands of dollars.

The prepaid travel card is a great deal if you regularly fly to Asia or Australia in Business Class. You will likely save the cost of two long-haul flights, and then have nearly $10,000 in United money to play with for the rest of the year.

If you don’t spend all the money, United may issue some of the balance to you as a travel voucher in January the following year. However, if you have thousands of dollars left, they won’t be as lenient and will impose a 50% fee before refunding the rest. In other words, use it or lose it.



First & Business Class

(1) Review sites

http://www.airlinequality.com

Airline Quality is the best airline review site out there. They’ll tell you which Business Class is worth flying and which is hardly better than Economy. (Actually, I can tell you this too – last month I flew Business Class on Turkish Airlines from Dubai to Istanbul. The seats were no different from the Coach seats, except that a divider had been placed to keep the middle seat from being occupied. What was Business Class about that?)

The site includes official rankings as well as user reviews. I always check this site whenever I’m planning for a trip and have a choice of airlines without a difference in price. This actually happens a lot due to flying with Star Alliance or One World – very often you can choose from several different routings, so it’s good to read up on your options at Airline Quality.

By the way, Airline Quality ranks airlines on a 1-5 star system. You probably won’t be surprised to learn that no North American or European carrier even cracks the top 5:

Asiana, Malaysia, Singapore, Cathay Pacific, and Qatar

(I was personally a little surprised to see that Virgin Atlantic and Emirates didn’t make the cut. Both of them made the 4-star list, though.)

Curious about who is on the bottom? The following airlines are all rated a pathetic 1-star:

Afriqiyah Airways (Libya), Air Koryo (Korea), Iran Air

You probably didn’t need the survey to know not to fly any of those airlines!

(2) Free Upgrades on Limited Seating Planes

(a) On a few select overseas flights, airlines use planes that are not optimally configured for First and Business Class travel. Because of the relatively-poor seats (they are like domestic First Class seats), the airlines don’t sell them for normal overseas premium class prices. Instead, they automatically upgrade a few lucky people who have purchased Economy tickets. To get on the list, it helps to be an elite member of the airline’s Frequent Flyer program, but it’s not essential.

(b) The alternative of the free upgrade approach on planes that have limited premium service is the new launch of all-Business Class airlines and planes.


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(i) EOS, MaxJet, L’Avion

http://eos.com

http://maxjet.com

http://lavion.com

With Only 48 Guests On A Plane Built For 220, Everything Changes. That’s how EOS Airlines markets itself: as an all-Business Class carrier offering an alternative to the more expensive Business Class fares found on traditional airlines.

EOS targets business travelers whose companies are not usually willing to shell out the high prices (up to $8,000 if you buy last minute) of Business Class travel from New York to London, but who still want to be as comfortable as possible.

Fares from EOS aren’t usually cheap, unless you view them in comparison to those $5,000+ fares from British Airways and American Airlines. Once in a while, though, they do discount below the $1k each way point.

Shortly after EOS launched service from NYC-London last year, MaxJet followed suit. The price was even lower – introductory fares were as little as $599 each way (plus taxes), but their regular fares are still under the $1k mark for each way. A few months ago, MaxJet expanded service to include Washington DC (Dulles airport) and Las Vegas.

Flights usually go to an alternative London airport like Stansted, but in our opinion, this is actually a bonus. Heathrow is crowded and far from the city. Stansted has a lot of people, but is more peaceful and even a bit closer to central London.

Not to be deterred, a French company has launched their own premium service across the Atlantic. L’Avion Airlines flies direct from Paris Orly airport to Newark airport in New Jersey, just outside the New York area. L’Avion’s fares are super-competitive and easily beat the Business Class fares from Air France.

All of the new Business Class airlines have loyalty programs, and they’re usually designed in a simple manner based on the number of flights you take instead of the number of miles flown. (It’s a good system to use when they only have one or two major routes.)

Sample fares available at press time include:

$1559 Business Class to Paris from Newark (L’Avion)


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$2552 Business Class to London from JFK (Eos)

$999 (!) Business Class to London from JFK or from Washington Dulles (MaxJet)

(ii) Lufthansa also has a regular flight from Dusseldorf to Newark in a specially configured all-Business Class Boeing 737. Each flight has a maximum of 48 passengers, and passengers receive free limousine transfers into the city upon arrival!

Our vote on all these options: MaxJet is the best deal. EOS offers fantastic service, but for the price, we’ll usually work to get a discount Business Class ticket on a major airline (more on that later). We love Paris, but the Business Class seats on L’Avion aren’t true premium seats – they are more like Executive Economy. Not bad, but given a choice, we’d go for an upgrade on Air France, Continental, or Delta. Finally, the Lufthansa flight is wonderful, but it is rarely discounted.

Mileage Running

What is mileage running? It’s the ultimate hobby for people who really, really like to fly. A small group of passionate air travelers compete to see who can rack up the most frequent flyer miles on the cheapest possible flights. They do it to accumulate elite status and max out their accounts.

The group is now starting to host seminars (in airports, of course) to help others learn how to get involved in mileage running.

It’s a bit of a strange hobby, but so is Scrabble. Check out the available postings of possible mileage runs at the FlyerTalk forum here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=�2�

A USA Today Article entitled “The Art and Science of the Mileage Run” also provides good info:

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/columnist/grossman/200�-11-11-grossman_x.htm



How To Exploit Airline Alliances

(1) Gold and Platinum Challenges

Most of the major airlines offer a little-known (and never advertised) “challenge” that will allow a new flyer to earn elite status in their frequent flyer program within 90 days. American Airlines began the challenge program and is the easiest airline to do it through. Instead of requiring 50,000 miles or more within a calendar year, they’ll hand over the keys to Gold elite status when you fly just 5,000 miles within 90 days. Platinum Membership can be had for just 10,000 miles.

It’s a great deal, and it really works. To sign up for American’s challenge, call them at (800) 421-0600 before you begin a long series of flights.

The only two caveats to this deal:

1) You can usually do it only once in your life.

2) After the first year, you’ll need to meet the regular qualification requirements in order to maintain the elite status.

There is a nice article on Budget Travel’s web site that provides more details on what they call the “Back Door” to VIP status:

http://www.budgettravelonline.com/bt-dyn/content/article/200�/02/1�/AR200�021�00��.html

(2) Elite Status Matching

Once you’re in one airline elite program, you can be in them all.

It’s also not advertised and sometimes hard to figure out, but most of the major airlines are willing to quietly match your elite status once you’ve earned it on one of their competitors.

To receive the match, fax a copy of your elite card (make sure the expiration date is clearly displayed) to the airline’s frequent flyer office along with a note that includes your frequent flyer number requesting the status match. Like the various platinum challenges, you can usually only receive this matching service once in your lifetime, so be careful.


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(�) The AmEx Platinum Card

Includes free access in Delta, Continental, and Northwest airline lounges. Delta’s Crown Room Club is especially nice because it provides free alcoholic beverages (other U.S. airline lounges, like United’s Red Carpet Club, charges for drinks, leading some people to wonder what is special about the lounge compared to the public bar across the hall).

Travel Packages

All of the major online travel agencies – Travelocity, Orbitz, Expedia, Hotels.com, and countless others – offer travel packages along with the standalone air, hotel, and car rental options. In addition, most of the major airlines, including Southwest, offer “Fly and Stay” holiday packages that combine airfare with a few nights hotel stay in popular vacation destinations.

Are they good deals? The answer is sometimes. These packages are not intended for business travelers, or solo travelers of any type. They usually require the purchase of two airline tickets and are often valid during non-peak flying days. This can work to your advantage if you are able to take a mini-break during the week and aren’t always restricted to weekends.

Some alternatives to the standard online agencies that often produce their own deals include the following:

http://www.changes.com

http://www.statravel.com (great for students, not so great for everyone else)

http://www.go-today.com

Read the reviews of packages (including the specific hotel you’ll be staying at) before you book at TripAdvisor.com

How To Avoid Ticket Change Fees

There is no standard rule about how to change your tickets when you need a new date or destination. Technically, every airline has their own rules – but over and over again, I’ve found that the rules are broken (or at least bent) at least as many times as they are followed. The majority of the time, I have been able to get my ticket changed multiple times without paying any fee. Whenever I have had to pay a fee, it has always capped out at $50.

One important tip to remember is that the change fee is almost always discretionary. In other words, the agent you deal with, whether on the phone or at the airport, usually has the


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power to waive or at least reduce the fee. It doesn’t hurt to ask, and it’s not like an upgrade situation where there is limited supply. It takes more work for them to explain and collect the fee from you than it is for them to say, “Don’t worry about it,” so be polite and this will happen more often than not.

If you’re stuck with a ticket that is technically non-changeable, don’t give up on that either. Visit an airline lounge that caters to the airline’s elite members and politely make the request. Agents there are often more senior and accustomed to handling changes due to the large numbers of frequent business travelers they see every day.

Domestic First Class

A good domestic (within the U.S. and Canada) First Class experience is largely a thing of the past. If you’ve flown even Business Class across the Atlantic, or even better, on an Asian airline across the Pacific, then you will probably be surprised the first time you find yourself upgraded to First Class in North America. Especially in recent years with all the bankrupt airlines, there are still very few perks to flying up front.

To be sure, the seats are at least a little roomier, you’ll have guaranteed space for

your carry-on bags in the overhead bin, and you’ll be the first to board and exit the plane – so you should still look for upgrades wherever they can be found – but just don’t expect a great experience that you should get on an overseas flight.

There are a couple of exceptions, and the big one is United’s “ps” (for Premium Service) from LAX/SFO to NYC. Last year United began using planes configured for international service on this route. That means a whopping 60 inches of seat pitch (compared to half of that on some airlines) and fantastic meal service. No, that’s not a typo. A recent menu featured bellinis made with fresh peach puree, beef wellington, ice cream sundaes and a “decadent chocolate surprise.” You won’t do much better than that on an overseas Business Class trip.

American is trying hard to catch up to United on the pricey LAX/SFO – NYC route, so they’re busy installing lie-flat seats on several of the planes that fly the route. Expect a similar level of service as well.

You can buy unlimited round-trip domestic First Class passes from American Airlines for $899. These passes are valid throughout the U.S. and Canada, and can often offer savings on long-haul routes (MIA-SEA, LAX-NYC, YVR-DCA, etc.). Unfortunately, this doesn’t include Hawaii. The passes are technically only available as gifts, but the airline doesn’t check up on that.



How to get it: call American at 800-433-7300 (and be prepared to wait on hold a long time!).

United Economy Plus

United offers a seating section in between Economy and First Class, and it’s worth looking it. They call it Economy Plus, which makes sense – it’s an improved seat with more legroom at the front of the Economy section.

The seats in Economy Plus aren’t sold separately; they are instead reserved for United flyers who pay $299 a year for the privilege of unlimited access whenever they fly on a regular Economy ticket. Alternatively, if you are a United or other Star Alliance elite member, you can usually gain access to Economy Plus seating for free.

Find out more here:

http://www.united.com/page/article/0,��22,1�1�,00.html

Alaska Airlines

Finally, Alaska Airlines has traditionally had one of the nicest First Class services among North American airlines. With regular service to Vancouver, Calgary, East coast hub, and a lot of West coast U.S. cities, it’s worth looking into. Unfortunately, recent reports have indicated that the service level and amenities have fallen along with the rest of the U.S. airline industry. Still, Alaska’s service may be better than any of the others right now.

Unusual Routes to save $$ and increase comfort

(1) FRA-NYC. When flying to or from Europe, one of the best flights available, especially in Business or First Class, is on Singapore Airlines. Singapore? Yes, that’s right – the Asian airline has one route that flies between the U.S. and Europe. Star Alliance elite members are eligible for upgrades, and everyone on the flight enjoys superb service no matter where they are sitting. If you have an award reservation with United and you want to go to Europe, as the reservations agent to check availability on this flight. They won’t do it if you don’t ask!

(2) NYC-HAM. Another new alternative that is similar to the Singapore Airlines deal, Emirates is now offering non-stop service between NYC (JFK) and Hamburg, Germany. The same deal applies – this is a better choice than any U.S. carrier and most European carriers. Quick transfers are available to fly on to Dubai, or you can just use the route as your termination point in Europe.

(3) Icelandair. I once flew into Reykjavik Airport and had to make a mad dash to a local airport for a connection flight. I ended up seeing about 45 minutes of Iceland along the way. Don’t do what I did, but do check into deals with Icelandair.



Icelandair flies from Halifax, Orlando, Minneapolis, Boston, New York, and Baltimore – all good cities like are sometimes underserved with international flights, like Baltimore and Halifax. All flights land in Reykjavik, but then you can fly on to nearly 15 cities in Europe. A stopover in Iceland is free! The best part is the price: flights on Icelandair are usually less expensive than those on larger carriers.

You should especially look at their vacation packages even if you don’t usually book hotels with your flights. Because hotels are so expensive in Iceland, it is often cheaper to get the hotel included for your free stopover in Reykjavik.

(4) Austrian Airlines often runs amazing deals that include round-trip airfare direct to the heart of Europe and 3 hotel nights for two people for as little as $599. At the time of writing this report, the deal was currently available for $799 (still a nice price). The hotel includes breakfast, and you can pay a bit more to upgrade to Austrian’s Business Class service, which is excellent.

Check http://austrian.com, or call (800) 790-4682 and request the “City Steal” package.

(5) Hawaii – carefully check your seat using seatguru.com or the airline’s own seat map. The best deal on Hawaiian flights, especially those going to the east coast, is to grab a Business Class seat on Northwest. Why Northwest? Because they are the only airline to use a long-haul style flat-bed seat in the Business section. All the other airlines use the normal domestic First Class seats, which aren’t nearly as good. You can upgrade with Northwest using Delta SkyMiles or transfer miles directly from American Express.

Standby Travel, Walk-up, and Bereavement Fares

Back in the day (or technically, a LONG way back in the day), standby travel and walk-up fares were a bargain. You could fly standby all around the world, and not only would you rarely be denied a ticket, you would often pay less on the theory that an unsold seat means no money at all for the airline.

Things changed, and walk-up fares gradually became the most expensive fares you could buy. Fare were literally up to 300% more as airlines realized that most people who bought walk-up fares were pretty desperate to fly, and some of them were so desperate that the price was almost irrelevant to them. Standby travel also became less and less a viable option.

Where are we now? Well, almost in the middle. Walk-up fares are rarely a bargain, but beginning in 2004, many of the major airlines in the U.S. began announcing maximum fare caps for domestic last-minute flights. Others were forced to follow suit, even though they privately grumbled.



You can now often buy a walk-up fare in the U.S. without getting ripped off (most of the time), although it won’t usually be cheap either. Air Canada hasn’t got the message yet, and on international flights for any airline, you can forget about the maximum fare rule. Whenever you have a choice, you should try to plan at least two or three days ahead if not more.

The exception to planning, naturally, is bereavement fares. The airlines recognize that you can’t usually plan when you are going to fly home to the death or serious illness of a family member. As such, all major airlines in the U.S. and Canada (and many international carriers) offer bereavement fares.

Most of the time, the fares offer open returns and the possibility of standby flights if needed. To prevent people from abusing the system, you will need to show proof of the reason for your travel. Most of the time, the name and phone number of the hospital or funeral home will suffice.

Important: You may be able to receive a discount for a bereavement fare even after you have traveled. The airlines often allow this on a case-by-case basis when someone needs to purchase a ticket immediately or simply does not realize that bereavement fares may be available.

If that happens, mail the following items to the airline with a letter explaining your situation.

boarding passes

copy of ticket

copy of death certificate or hospital bill

name, address and telephone number of funeral home or name, address and telephone number of attending physician on the physician’s letterhead along with a return address.

However, if you find yourself needing to travel last-minute due to an unfortunate situation in your family, you may be better off to simply buy a ticket using an online travel agent like Travelocity and Expedia. Bereavement fares are discounted, but the discount is usually based off the standard ticket price, not the already-discounted price that travelers often pay. Our advice is if you are in a stressful situation and you see a fare that is not terrible, just grab it so you have one less thing to worry about.

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Member Stories

We asked our members to share their best tips or personal stories with us in preparation for the report. We received more than 500! Here are some of the better ones, but we’re keeping all of them for a future report. If you have a tip or story to share, don’t hesitate to send it to us at [email protected].

When we fly to UK we try to go to Guernsey from Gatwick as soon as we arrive. If you book the flight to Guernsey at least three months in advance it is at least 1/3 of the normal fare. (The same is true connecting to Edinburgh from Gatwick). Canadian Affair run out of London and Zoom from Canada are way cheaper than Air Canada.

This doesn’t have to do with airfare itself, really, but with a side perk of flying. Many people pay for parking at the airport when they go on a long journey, and that can get expensive. But we have found that it’s often much cheaper to arrive at your departure city a day early and stay at an inexpensive but nice hotel for one night and they let you park your car there for free for 2+ weeks PLUS give you a free shuttle to the airport when you need to go. We live in Canada but we drive down to the States (Spokane or Seattle, Washington) and have stayed at Best Westerns for $60 per night. You can often arrange this with other hotels, too. It works out much cheaper than airport parking (or even Park N Fly). It’s like getting a free night’s stay at a hotel.

I’ve just returned from Italy, and one great tip I’d like to pass on is to use ‘seatguru.com.’ I flew British Air from SF to LHR to Milan and checked in 24hr in advance on BA.com with seatguru.com up as well. This site allowed me to see the seat I was assigned (not a good one!) and move to a better seat with lots of leg room. I did the same thing on my return from Italy and really was glad you told me about seat guru.

Editor’s Note: Seatguru.com is especially important on intra-European flights on British Airways like this example. Flights are often short, but some can be up to four hours long and the seats are notoriously cramped. Even worse, BA does not always allow Business Class travelers on these routes to confirm their seats until 72 hours prior to departure! And they wonder why they are facing so much competition from discount airlines.

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My son and his family lived in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. I was going to visit them 2 to 3 times a year so I always looked for the lowest price. I figured out that the lowest prices were published around 11:30 pm to 12:30 am. In February 2005, I booked a flight from IAH to SCQ for $375. RT (including tax). Off I went! That was my best price ever!

I signed up for free DING alerts through Southwest. We then chose to fly to a different airport a hundred miles away to save over $700 for our family of 6.

Once I purchased tickets from Sky Auction that were a steal. If you can go where they are selling seats it can be a great deal.

Editor’s Note: We review SkyAuction.com in our “Online Travel Auctions” report, available free to all Insider Travel members.

Subscribing to pertinent travel email listings and airfare alerts for my targeted cities. In addition to the great information I get from Insider Travel, TravelZoo.com has a weekly ‘deals’ alert that has served me well.

To get affordable business class seats, we use a consolidator and someone else’s rewards points.

I would have to say that my best deal ever was booking a flight on BMI from Chicago to Manchester last summer-- it was a glitch that returned a price of $0 if you looked long and hard enough and tried enough dates. I was patient and got the return date first (and by the way, it upgraded you to Premium Economy in the process!) of August 17. I started working backward, trying every date till I finally hit the jackpot on July 26. It was longer than I would ordinarily have wanted to be gone, but it would get me to Europe in the summer for only $218.26 (the taxes). What was really cool about this trip was that I booked it in the early fall, and soon after that my son and daughter-in-law in Chicago got pregnant, with a due date of July 18! I was ecstatic-- a ‘free’ trip to Europe, with a bonus Chicago visit with my new grandkid on each end!!

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Toronto has the highest airport taxes. Driving to Buffalo or Hamilton airport with free parking at the hotel provides a discount.

I use my Visa card for all my expenses and pay in full when due so I can collect miles to travel by air with only paying the taxes.

I was recently looking for cheap air travel to Tokyo; saw one online at Travelocity but required more info ,so I called the 800 number where the agent gave me the booked my ticket for the online price plus a hotel in Narita for one night at $59 CND. Was very surprised and pleased - everyone knows what the prices are like in Tokyo. Next time, I’ll call to book!

In my case I checked on airfare for my parents to Mexico-Montreal, they told me they had a great deal with the Mexican airline Mexicana. We checked, and even if it was a good price there weren’t seats available at that price so I checked with different sites you have sent us and found a cheaper price with Air Canada for beating Mexicana’s sale by $100 bucks. My parents were very happy and even extended their stay :)

If you’re going to multiple destinations buy all your tickets as a package. I was trying to buy a ticket once from JAC to BOS and the best I could find was about $500. Then I decided I wanted to Vegas later that month so I put that on the package too. The price then was $370 from JAC to BOS to Vegas.

In planning our trip to London England last year in May, I noticed that the fare increased tremendously in less than an hour after we purchased only 4 tickets. If purchasing a group of tickets, purchase them all in the same hour before the price increases.

One thing I just found out is that while major airlines tend to get more expensive as the departure date approaches, the charters usually get cheaper.

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Priceline.com will not deal with Canadians, as you must have a USA mail address for the credit card transaction.

Editor’s Note: Priceline.com isn’t that great for air tickets, but we do recommend it for Sheraton and Marriott hotel bookings. See our Hotel Guru report for more info, and if you are from Canada and need a USA address to use for the credit card, we can arrange for you to use ours at no charge.

Perhaps the greatest value I have ever purchased was a First Class around the world ticket when two friends decided to take three months off and see the planet. These tickets are not advertised and there are several versions that are great values. We went to 18 countries, all First Class.

I booked a group of family members at a group rate and received a 5% discount, but after checking the airlines website regularly I found they were having a seat sale on the same flight and even after giving up the $600 deposit on the group booking we rebooked and saved $1800.

Editor’s Note: When booking group tickets, also check with Groople.com.

In booking three tickets to Ireland I noticed a too good to be true price from a city near where one of the traveler’s homes. I quickly called and he agreed to drive the extra few minutes to save almost $300.

I find that if you look for airfare online the best pricing I can usually get is during Wednesday or Thursday during the week. The prices seem to be at least 10% higher on other days.

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Member Questions & Answers

We asked our members what questions they’d like to see answered in the report. We took care of most of the answers throughout the earlier pages, but here are some specific questions that we thought would be helpful to briefly tackle here, since the subjects are relevant to many people. If you need any more specific help, drop us an email and we’ll respond right away.

Can discount airfare equivalent to US deals be made available to flights departing from Canada?

Answer: It depends. Most of the time for international flights, Canadians can do better to fly through the U.S. Often this can be done without paying any more money, because airlines consider Canada and the U.S. part of the same “zone” for beginning and ending a trip.

In other words, if the long-haul leg of your trip begins in New York City, it doesn’t matter if you fly from Detroit or Windsor to connect to JFK. The price will be nearly the same, with a small difference for taxes.

How do I get more frequent flier miles without signing up for a credit card?

Answer: In the long-term, the careful selection of the right credit card program to link with your Frequent Flyer account is the best way to accumulate large numbers of miles without flying. However, there are numerous other strategies you can pursue if you don’t want a credit card. Our Frequent Flyer Bonus Report covers all of the strategies, credit card and non-credit card:

http://frequent-flyer-bonus.com

Is it best to stick with the same airline to accumulate miles or just book the cheapest price and collect several miles from different airlines?

Answer: Also in the long-term, it’s better to stick with one or two airlines that you focus most of your earning on. This will allow you to better leverage your miles. The choice of which airline to focus on depends largely on where you are based and where you fly to most often. (For example, I frequently use Delta in the SkyTeam group and United in the Star Alliance.)

However, there’s one caveat to this: when booking airfare, unless you have a very good reason to, you should never spend more to fly with an airline just to earn miles. The miles are usually not worth the extra cash, and if you need to buy miles, there are cheaper ways. The only exception would be if it is close to the end of the year and you need to earn a limited amount of flight miles to earn or retain your elite status.

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I have taken several trips through European Destinations and Gate 1. The air seems to be thrown in for almost nothing. How do they do that?

Answer: The airfare is rarely “almost nothing,” but companies like European Destinations and Gate 1 travel do a lot of business with travel companies, especially on transatlantic flights and European hotels. Flights are sometimes on charter airlines, but are often on regular U .S. carriers. You will usually, but not always, travel in groups on these tours.

They offer free catalogs from their web sites:

http://www.europeandestinations.com

http://gate1travel.com

Which airlines allow upgrades using miles/points?

Answer: Technically, all of them do. But practically, it can be hard to nearly impossible to obtain upgrades when you have booked a discounted flight in economy class. This is because most of the airlines use a loophole (or several of them, depending on the airline) that requires you to purchase an “upgradeable” ticket before you can actually upgrade using your miles. If you think that’s unfair, so do we.

Thus, a better question is, “What airlines easily allow upgrades using miles or points?” In our experience, some of the better airlines for this include Virgin Atlantic, Brussels Airlines, American, and United.

I really don’t like to fly coach unless it’s a short flight. I appreciate the space, amenities and attention you get in business or first on a long flight. I’d like to know how to get great fares not only originating from the U.S. but also for those from foreign airports to other foreign airports.

Answer: First, the good news: First Class from foreign airports to other foreign airports is often cheaper than domestic First Class in the U.S. and Canada. Also, First and Business airfare to the U.S. from foreign destinations is almost always cheaper than when you buy the ticket Stateside. A lot of frequent travelers, including myself, will try to string a number of trips together over the course of a year where my departure will technically be from Europe or Asia, even though I use the return leg of a previous ticket from the U.S. to get there. I do it every year and save thousands of dollars.

Another great resource to check out, although it’s not cheap, is Matt Bennett’s First Class Flyer:

http://firstclassflyer.com

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How do you get a great deal anymore? I check all the search engines and subscribe to a lot of emails and what sounds cheap after all the taxes and other costs attached are not lower than $400.

Answer: Flying isn’t what it used to be, when fares were often cheap and airlines almost always provided some level of basic service. That’s why it’s more important than ever to be an informed traveler. We recommend checking out all the discount airline options, considering nearby cities, requesting a stopover (which can ironically bring the price down rather than up), and of course, paying cash for cheap flights to earn mileage that can then be used to book awards tickets on the expensive flights.

What are the best days or times to shop online for bargain airfare?

Answer: It’s a bit of an urban legend that there are “best” days and times to search for bargain airfare. (We used to hear claims like “Wednesday at 3:15 a.m. is the golden hour!” I’m pretty skeptical of that.) However, like a lot of legends, there is a shred of truth in it. Airlines usually release their new fares on Tuesdays, so it’s true that Tuesday night and Wednesday may make a slight difference as they judge demand before readjusting. Be aware, though, that instead of going up, the price may go down if you wait – although it’s certainly more often going to increase.

Perhaps a better answer is to use Farecast.com, which predicts the price increase or decrease of airfare on popular routes and gives you an idea (admittedly not precise) of whether you should buy now or wait for a price drop.

How do we know which airline is the safest?

Answer: In short, most major airlines are safe most of the time. You’ve probably heard the adage that flying is much safer than driving, and it’s true. However, if you want a quick reference chart, see below. The following airlines were rated by the FAA as the top ten safest airlines in North America:

South West America West / US Airways Delta Airlines NorthWest Continental Airlines United Airlines Air Canada Aloha Airlines American Airlines

Internationally, El Al Airlines in Israel is universally considered to be the safest airline in the world. There are at least five security checks that all passengers must pass through, and all passengers are interviewed in detail about the purpose of their

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travel (past, present, and future).

When is Spirit Airlines coming to Canada? Won’t the cost of Toronto Airport probably keep them away?

Answer: Spirit Airlines has recently expanded to Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Guatemala, and Haiti… but they won’t be leaving from Canada anytime soon. If they did, fares would go down across the board, and certain big national airlines don’t like that. And yes, Toronto Pearson Airport has some of the highest taxes of any airport in North America, and the cost is usually passed on to the traveler.

Toronto to Ft. Lauderdale can be accessed for $99 last minute. I’d like to match that with a discounted flight to Panama / South America / Africa / Caribbean instead of paying the full price out of Toronto. Does that happen?

Answer: Yep, see above. This is the good side of flying from T.O. You can transfer to one of the ultra cheap Spirit Airlines flights and often pay less than $100 to hop over to the Caribbean or Central America. (South America and Africa would definitely cost more.)

As we were writing this report, Spirit offered a two-day only $0.08 / $8 sale to destinations all over the Caribbean with good date options. They do that from time to time, so pay attention and you can often get a fantastic deal. If you’re a member of Insider Travel, we’ll send you the Deal Alerts when they come out at no charge.

One caveat, though: Spirit recently introduced a new pricing model where you will pay for every piece of luggage that you check. Soft drinks and coffee are no longer free either, so be aware that you may spend more for incidentals on the trip. As long as you know that, though, it’s a great opportunity to combine a trip down from Ontario with a super-cheap connection to the Caribbean or Central America.

Are there any airlines that will let you book a flight early and rebook at no charge if they offer a special later?

Answer: Most airlines offer a 24-hour rule where you can change or cancel your ticket at no charge. This is helpful if a new special is launched right after you book another ticket at a higher price. However, 24 hours is all you usually get. Unfortunately, it’s not like Wal-Mart where you can bring something back 90 days later for a full refund. Southwest and Jet Blue are more flexible, though, which is yet another reason to consider them for domestic flights.

How can I avoid “milk run” traveling (multiple stops)?

Answer: Well, “milk run” flights are usually cheaper than direct flights due to the hub-and-spoke network of how most airlines work. If you’re buying your ticket, the

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only real answer is to pay more for the direct flight. Keep in mind that the milk run option is not only cheaper but also earns you more Frequent Flyer miles as well, since both actual miles flown and flight segments are usually counted. For those reasons, I don’t usually mind the extra stops.

If you’re on an award ticket, however, you can use this knowledge to your advantage, since presumably you don’t want to fly through extra airports for no reason. When booking an award ticket, always ask for the most direct routing. If you don’t ask, Delta will always route you through Atlanta, American through Dallas, and so on. But the award booking can often get you the direct flight instead of the milk run if it is available. Finally, if your airline doesn’t offer a direct route, ask if any partners do.

How do you feel about open jaws and multi-stop fares? I have heard of this but haven’t yet taken advantage of one.

Answer: We love open-jaws and multi-stop fares! Nearly every trip I make utilizes one or both of these options. It lowers the price, allows for a lot more flexibility, and often sends me places I’ve never been before for free. In short, you should consider creating an open-jaw or multi-stop itinerary whenever possible.

What is the IATA code and how does it work? Is it possible to make one up, or are they monitored closely? Is it worth joining a group like Global Travel and saving on airfare using their IATA code?

Answer: We are currently investigating the Global Travel opportunity and will report back to our members soon. However, the initial answer is that there are very few travel agent airfare deals these days. You can still obtain good deals on cruises and hotels as a travel agent, but with the airline commission squeeze over the past decade and the growth of Internet booking, having an IATA number won’t help you a lot right now. You’ll do better using the other tools and strategies we recommend through Insider Travel. Oh, and no – you can’t just make up an IATA number. They are checked carefully and the IATA itself would probably not be happy with you if you assigned yourself a number on your own.

Some fliers advocate waiting until the very last moment to book the flight, thinking that airlines would rather sell a cheap seat than have it go empty. Is this really valid?

Answer: Not really. When all factors are equal, we recommend buying early over buying late any day. There may be times when you get a fantastic deal (we’ve covered a couple of them in this report), but there will be more times that the price will be higher. Plus, you’ll feel more stressed at the last-minute because you have no choice. If you have to travel tomorrow, you have to buy a ticket today – and the airlines will rarely reward you for that.

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Charity Update

DBS Productions, the parent company of Insider Travel, donates 10% of all revenue to health and education projects in sub-Saharan Africa. Last year we sponsored a water and sanitation project in Mali that brought clean water for nearly 600 people. This year we are sponsoring part of a women’s hospital in Ethiopia and an educational project in Ghana. Thank you for your support of this vital work!

Also, if you have extra frequent flyer miles, please consider donating them to charity. The section below, courtesy of Smarter Travel, offers a few options on how to make mileage donations. This is a good choice especially when you have “orphan miles” that you will likely never use.

Mileage donations

All the major airlines—and most of the smaller ones as well—have miles-for-charity programs, typically as a “redemption option” in their frequent flyer programs.

The specifics, in which charities receive the miles, contribution minimums, procedures, etc., vary from carrier to carrier. Since you didn’t specify which program(s) you have miles in, I’ve summarized several airlines’ programs to give you a general idea how they work.

Air Canada Aeroplan Miles

Air Canada has one of the best mileage donation programs. You can give your miles directly to Doctors Without Borders and many other excellent charities directly from the Air Canada site:

http://www.aeroplan.com/use_your_miles/donate_miles.do



American Miles for Kids in Need

You can donate your AAdvantage miles to help American Airlines provide free transportation for children in need and their families. American supports a number of child-focused charities, including A Wish With Wings, Make-A-Wish, Starlight Foundation, and others.

American contributes one mile for every three miles you donate.

For more information, call 800-882-8880 or visit http://www.aa.com and click on AAdvantage, then AAdvantage Member Guide, Using Miles, More Ways to Use Miles, and then Donate Miles to Kids In Need.

Delta SkyWish

Members of Delta’s SkyMiles program can donate a minimum of 5,000 miles to SkyWish, which will be used to support selected charities, including Make-A-Wish, CARE, United Way, and another charity which changes every quarter (currently the Arthritis Foundation).

Donations can be made by phone at 800-325-3999, or by mail, e-mail, or fax.

Northwest AirCares

Northwest WorldPerks members can donate 5,000 miles or more, in 1,000-mile increments, to the AirCares charity of the quarter (currently KidCares), which provides air travel to children age 18 and younger who are unable to receive medical treatment in their home area.

Northwest also awards 500 miles to WorldPerks members who make cash donations of $50 or more to designated charities.

Call 800-327-2881 or visit the AirCares website for further details.

US Airways Dividend Miles Charity Program

Dividend Miles members can donate miles to the US Airways Dividend Miles Charity Program. The donated miles will be distributed equally between Make-A-Wish Foundation and Save the Children.

There’s a 5,000-mile minimum contribution, and for every five miles donated, US Airways will contribute one additional mile.

You can donate miles online by logging in to your Dividend Miles Account and following the “Donate Miles” link.



Coming soon: Insider Travel Secret Project

What’s coming from Insider Travel next? Over the next few months, we will be working nearly full-time on a secret project. Expect more details soon on some steps we are taking to launch our biggest product in history! Granted, our history isn’t that long yet… but still, we are excited.

If you’ve been with us for a while or are just curious, you’re invited to join the secret agent group that will help us with the project.

To get on the list (nothing is for sale), go here:

http://consumertravel.org/secretagent

But, don’t share that link… as of press time, we haven’t sent it out via email to ANYONE. As a loyal customer, you get the first chance to hear about our really big summer, and maybe even be a part of it. Check it out – there’s no sales pitch, just a “Secret Agent” message waiting for you at that link.



THANKS & SPECIAL BONUS!

Thanks again for getting the Airfare Secrets report! All of us at Insider Travel appreciate your business and hope that this information is helpful. Please write us anytime ([email protected]) to let us know if you’ve enjoyed the report.

If you’ve read this far, we must have done something right. I’d like to give you two free bonuses.

SPECIAL BONUS #1: Free copy of Vacations Magazine or Travel 50 & Beyond. Send your name and address to [email protected] and let us know which you’d prefer. We’ll send you a free recent issue! (U.S. and Canada residents only.)

SPECIAL BONUS #2: Free “Cruising the High Seas” report. Send your request to [email protected] with the subject line “I’d like my free Cruising the High Seas” report. It’s a $29 value, yours free.

Again, thank you for your patronage and the chance to serve you.

& Insider Travel Team



Appendix A: Additional Online Resources In addition to all the sites mentioned in the report, I personally use the below resources at least once a week.

AvoidDelays.com - This site tracks the on-time (or not-on-time) records of all major flights. Use it to make sure your upcoming flight isn’t on the worst offender list. Want an example? An AirTran flight from Newark-Atlanta is late an incredible 81% of the time. The average delay on the flight is 62 minutes. You can be sure that I’ll never take that flight if I have any other option.

Airfarewatchdog.com – I receive a lot of travel newsletters (usually more than 50 a week), but this is one that always gets read. It is customized to show me the lowest fares to all U.S., Canadian, and international destinations from whichever airport I choose.

Farecast.com – this site has received a lot of buzz in the media this year. It uses technology to predict whether a particular route will increase or decrease in price over the next few months. It’s useful when you have a long time to plan ahead.

Airlinemeals.net – Curious about what your meal will be like on your next flight? This site will tell you.

Seatguru.com – This one is very important! I check this site before every flight, especially any flight over two hours in coach class. It clearly shows every seat on most major airlines, so you know if you have a good seat or will be smashed in the middle of Row 49. If you have a poor seat assignment, you can then request a change based on the information on seatguru.com. The airline agents are always surprised when I know exactly what seat I want and request it by number, but this is the secret.

WikiAir.com – Billed as “the layover website,” this community offers a ton of suggestions and tips for your next visit to a new city.

http://AvoidDelays.com

http://Airfarewatchdog.com

http://Farecast.com

http://Airlinemeals.net

http://Seatguru.com

http://WikiAir.com



BookingBuddy.com - An alternative to the more popular (but not as good) SideStep.com, this airfare comparison tool will also search multiple sites to save you some time. They earn a commission on each completed booking, but you can also just use it for research.

Farechase.com - Search directly on travel agent and airline booking systems with this new product from Yahoo. It can be a little difficult sometimes, though.

Euroflights.info - By far the best resource site for European travel. It’s now possible to fly around Europe for a lot less than most train tickets cost.

Mobissimo.com - Mobissimo has the largest network of international suppliers. It’s a good place to start if you need a flight that doesn’t originate in the U.S. One drawback is that some international partners do not accept U.S. credit cards.

Priceline.com - Actually, it’s much better for hotel stays. But for some U.S. tickets, Priceline still has good deals if you have a lot of flexibility and don’t care about Frequent Flyer Miles.

XE.com – My favorite currency exchange site. Very helpful because some European and Asian travel booking sites display fares in local currency. (Also, you can sometimes get a better deal when booking a ticket outside of the U.S. or Canada and paying in local currency even when you’re not there.)

Site��.com – Last-minute vacation getaways that often feature great savings due to under booked hotels and flights.

http://BookingBuddy.com

http://Farechase.com

http://Euroflights.info

http://Mobissimo.com

http://Priceline.com

http://XE.com

http://Site59.com



Appendix B: “Real Person” Phone NumbersWe’re working on a “real person” airline phone number directory. In other words, a directory of phone numbers where you can actually get a hold of someone at the airline without waiting on hold forever or being connected to Bangladesh.

Here’s what we have so far. If you notice any errors or have information to share, send it to us at [email protected]. We’ll add it to a future edition that will always be free for our members.

Aeroflot 888-340-6400

Aero Lineas Argentinas 800-333-0276

Aer Lingus 888-474-7424

Aero Mexico 800-237-6639

Air Afrique 800-456-9192

Air Aruba 800-882-7822

Air Canada 888-247-2262

Air Caribbean 809-623-2500

Air Europa 888-238-7672

Air Fiji 800-677-4277

Air France 800-237-2747

Air India 416-865-1033

Air Jamaica 800-523-5585

Air New Zealand 800-262-1234

Alaska Airlines 800-426-0333

Alitalia 800-223-5730

All Nippon Airways 800-235-9262

Aloha Airlines 800-227-4900

America West 800-235-9292

American Airlines 800-433-7300

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Asiana Airlines 800-227-4262

Austrian Airlines 800-843-0002

British Airways 800-247-9297

British Midland Airways 800-788-0555

Cathay Pacific Airlines 800-233-2742

China Airlines 800-227-5118

China Southern Airlines 888-338-8988

Continental Airlines 800-525-0280

Czech Airlines 800-223-2365

Delta Airlines 800-221-1212

EasyJet UK +44 0870 600 0000

El Al Israel Airlines 800-223-6700

Emirates 800-777-3999

Ethiopian Air 800-445-2733

Finnair 800-950-5000

Frontier Airlines 800-432-1359

Gulf Air 800-553-2824

Hawaiian Airlines 800-367-5320

Horizon Air 800-547-9308

Iberia Airlines 800-772-4642

Icelandair 800-223-5500

Japan Airlines 800-525-3663

Kenya Airways 800-343-2506

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines 800-374-7747

Korean Airlines 800-438-5000

LAN Chile Airlines 866-435-9526

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LOT Polish Airways 800-223-0593

Lufthansa 800-645-3880

Malaysia Airlines 800-421-8641

Malev Hungarian 800-223-6884

Mexicana Airlines 800-531-7921

Midwest Express Airlines 800-452-2022

Northwest Airlines 800-225-2525

Philippine Airlines 800-435-9725

Qantas 800-227-4500

Royal Jordanian 800-223-0470

RyanAir +44 0871 246 0000

Scandinavian Airline Systems (SAS) 800-221-2350

Singapore Airlines 800-742-3333

South African Airways 800-722-9675

Southwest Airlines 800-435-9792

Spanair 888-545-5757

Spirit Airlines 800-772-7117

Tap Air Portugal 800-221-7370

Thai Airways 800-426-5204

United Airlines 800-241-6522

US Airways 800-428-4322

Varig Brazilian Airlines 800-468-2744

Virgin Atlantic Airways 800-862-8621

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Documents

Airfare Secrets