Sep 9, 2008
Now we've seen everything. Heard about the latest ploy to sell tickets on the airlines?
It was the ancient Greeks, I believe, who first said: "Whom the Gods would destroy, they first turn mad." The Associated Press has just released a story whose opening words are:
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JetBlue Airways Corp. is auctioning off more than 300 round-trip flights and six vacation packages this week on eBay, with opening bids set between 5 and 10 cents.You can get the details at www.jetblue.com/ebay.
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Aug 4, 2008
Better news: a reduction in airfares to Australia, provided you book by August 15
The Australian airline, Qantas, has just announced a short-term sale on its fares to Australia, by folding taxes and fuel surcharge (a big one) into the total price charged for the trip. What results is an all-in round-trip airfare of $1,251 to $1,271 between Los Angeles or San Francisco and either Sydney or Brisbane. And to repeat: that's with everything -- including the dreaded fuel surcharge and taxes, which usually add many hundreds of dollars to such long-distance (15 hours or more) flights.
Prices are good for departure between next week and September 21. And routes can be modified: you can add $100 to fly into Melbourne or Cairns, or tack on standard fees to fly from other American cities (such as $300 round-trip for New York, $250 for Dallas, and so forth).
To realize how good these prices are, consider the following: $1,200 round-trip to Australia is what you would have paid a few years ago, before the price of fuel skyrocketed. By the upcoming November, the start of Australia's summer and its high tourist season, just a one-way economy ticket will cost $1,000 until next March or April.
As with so many good airfare prices these days, this will only be available for a short time. Qantas insists the fare be booked online by August 15. Allow the website to search for flexible dates to increase your chances of avoiding the sold-out flights.
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Prices are good for departure between next week and September 21. And routes can be modified: you can add $100 to fly into Melbourne or Cairns, or tack on standard fees to fly from other American cities (such as $300 round-trip for New York, $250 for Dallas, and so forth).
To realize how good these prices are, consider the following: $1,200 round-trip to Australia is what you would have paid a few years ago, before the price of fuel skyrocketed. By the upcoming November, the start of Australia's summer and its high tourist season, just a one-way economy ticket will cost $1,000 until next March or April.
As with so many good airfare prices these days, this will only be available for a short time. Qantas insists the fare be booked online by August 15. Allow the website to search for flexible dates to increase your chances of avoiding the sold-out flights.
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May 27, 2008
Because domestic airfares are bound to increase with the widely expected post-summer cutbacks in capacity, it's best to buy your autumn tickets now
There was a time when travelers could benefit by waiting until the very last moment to book their airfares for trips within the United States. There was always an airline with unsold seats, desperate to sell them at a reduced price.
No longer. The fact that American Airlines has already announced that domestic air capacity will be cut back by at least 10% once the heavy summer season is ended, virtually guarantees that airfares will ascend even higher once September is reached. By purchasing your autumn/winter air tickets now, you are bound to get them at a lower price than later.
That was the advice from Hugh Crean, General Manager of Farecast.com (now owned by Microsoft), who was interviewed by my daughter, Pauline, on yesterday's radio edition of the Travel Show (www.wor710.com). He was emphatic in expressing the view that we have only begun to witness the airfare increases that will eventually be put into effect, especially with fewer flights and seats available for a public needing to fly. With a reduced number of planes, the airlines will necessarily take advantage of their ability to raise the fares for people clamoring for seats.
He also mentioned in passing:
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturday afternoons will remain the best days to fly at lower cost. Flexibility is the key to finding a lower fare -- your willingness to travel a day earlier or a day later may result in a different and lower fares. And the best fares will be obtained directly from the airlines and not from the various, famous, airfare search engines.
Airfares have already risen by 20% in recent months. They will now undoubtedly go higher in the future.
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No longer. The fact that American Airlines has already announced that domestic air capacity will be cut back by at least 10% once the heavy summer season is ended, virtually guarantees that airfares will ascend even higher once September is reached. By purchasing your autumn/winter air tickets now, you are bound to get them at a lower price than later.
That was the advice from Hugh Crean, General Manager of Farecast.com (now owned by Microsoft), who was interviewed by my daughter, Pauline, on yesterday's radio edition of the Travel Show (www.wor710.com). He was emphatic in expressing the view that we have only begun to witness the airfare increases that will eventually be put into effect, especially with fewer flights and seats available for a public needing to fly. With a reduced number of planes, the airlines will necessarily take advantage of their ability to raise the fares for people clamoring for seats.
He also mentioned in passing:
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturday afternoons will remain the best days to fly at lower cost. Flexibility is the key to finding a lower fare -- your willingness to travel a day earlier or a day later may result in a different and lower fares. And the best fares will be obtained directly from the airlines and not from the various, famous, airfare search engines.
Airfares have already risen by 20% in recent months. They will now undoubtedly go higher in the future.
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Labels: airfare
May 22, 2008
Will wonders never cease? Try $380 round-trip to Hawaii from the west coast
Here's an oddity: without the slightest publicity, Continental Airways (www.continental.com) has quietly revised the price of its round-trip airfare to Hawaii from Los Angeles, in late summer, to $380. The fare is good for flights from August 18 until pre-Christmas; it requires a seven-day advance purchase; and it is at least $160 cheaper than the next, lowest, end-of-summer airfare offered by Hawaiian Airlines. I owe this discovery to the blog known as Beat of Hawaii (www.beatofhawaii.com), whose authors apparently make random passes at the websites of the Hawaii-bound airlines, simply inserting dates at random to see what they get. This is probably a price for a limited number of seats, and will undoubtedly get withdrawn after a few days, but if you act now, you can assure yourself of an awfully cheap Hawaiian vacation.
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Labels: airfare, deals, hawaii
May 20, 2008
Sound the trumpets for the world's best airfare bargain: it's to Bali!
I caught this one courtesy of Jane Wooldridge, travel editor of the Miami Herald, who points out that Cathay Pacific has quietly reduced its round-trip fare between New York and Bali to $865 (same price as is offered from Los Angeles and San Francisco round-trip to Bali). You'll need to book by May 31, and travel on selected dates in September through November (see the details by clicking on "Deal of the Month" at www.cathayusa.com), but you'll go at an unprecedented price.
You can, of course, do almost as well by booking an air-and-land package to Bali through Roe Gruber's Escapes Unlimited (www.escapesltd.com). But her arrangements are usually for short-term stays only (like a week or two). Here, you can go to Bali for a month, let's say, and enjoy some of the lowest lodging and food costs of any destination -- as well as the enchanting atmosphere and graciousness of the Balinese. Bali (especially the central uplands around the town of Ubud) is one of the few places to really deserve the description of island paradise.
While checking the Cathay Pacific website, you'll also note that this top-rated carrier is continuing to offer its 2008 All Asia Pass for $1,099 per person from either New York, Los Angeles or San Francisco (no extra charge from New York). And what does that bring you? Round-trip air to Hong Kong, as well as round-trip air between Hong Kong and Bali, Singapore and Tokyo. It's a world's wonder, a ticket to the best of Asia, four capitals, for one airfare outlay of $1,099.
You can, of course, do almost as well by booking an air-and-land package to Bali through Roe Gruber's Escapes Unlimited (www.escapesltd.com). But her arrangements are usually for short-term stays only (like a week or two). Here, you can go to Bali for a month, let's say, and enjoy some of the lowest lodging and food costs of any destination -- as well as the enchanting atmosphere and graciousness of the Balinese. Bali (especially the central uplands around the town of Ubud) is one of the few places to really deserve the description of island paradise.
While checking the Cathay Pacific website, you'll also note that this top-rated carrier is continuing to offer its 2008 All Asia Pass for $1,099 per person from either New York, Los Angeles or San Francisco (no extra charge from New York). And what does that bring you? Round-trip air to Hong Kong, as well as round-trip air between Hong Kong and Bali, Singapore and Tokyo. It's a world's wonder, a ticket to the best of Asia, four capitals, for one airfare outlay of $1,099.
May 2, 2008
When is it best to start booking airfares for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the New Year? How about now!
Various airlines have announced that they are accepting bookings up until January 31, 2009, with JetBlue especially prominent in emphasizing the wisdom of quickly reserving flights for those long-in-advance dates. Why? It's because recent cut-backs in airline capacity are making it not simply smart but necessary to snare your airfares sooner than you ever have in the past -- if you hope to use air transport over those heavily-booked periods. Scarcely a week goes by but that major airlines announce that their domestic flights are being reduced by at least 5%, or that certain routes will be serviced by smaller planes than before. Which means that space will be unusually tight for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's.
Though you're obviously not thinking about what life will be in seven, eight or nine months from now, you should. Sit down, take out a calendar, choose your dates, log on, and make those holiday reservations -- now.
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Though you're obviously not thinking about what life will be in seven, eight or nine months from now, you should. Sit down, take out a calendar, choose your dates, log on, and make those holiday reservations -- now.
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Apr 18, 2008
At last! A Chinese website enabling you to obtain low-cost air tickets to and within China -- directly from the Chinese
For several years now, Ctrip.com has been China's leading source of travel news, accessed by a multitude of Chinese readers. But although it maintained a barely-working version in English, it was the Chinese-language website on which most attention was lavished. Lots o' luck.
Ctrip.com has now given its English website a big facelift and a crystal-clear address, www.english.ctrip.com. And it has also created a phone number (011-86-21-34064888, ext. 6) for inquiries or to make a booking (you'll hear a Chinese-language announcement until you press extension 6 at the end of the Chinese statement). Starting now, you won't find cheaper tickets to China, or within China, than on Ctrip's English-language site.
Prices are set forth in Chinese Yuan (CNY), which you convert into dollars by dividing by 7. Thus, 2,100 Yuan equals $300. Here are some examples of they're presently offering (all round-trips):
You can also e-mail Ctrip at e_service@ctrip.com. And you can book beach vacations in China (you've been dying to do so) at sharply-discounted rates. See you on the sands at Qingdao!
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Ctrip.com has now given its English website a big facelift and a crystal-clear address, www.english.ctrip.com. And it has also created a phone number (011-86-21-34064888, ext. 6) for inquiries or to make a booking (you'll hear a Chinese-language announcement until you press extension 6 at the end of the Chinese statement). Starting now, you won't find cheaper tickets to China, or within China, than on Ctrip's English-language site.
Prices are set forth in Chinese Yuan (CNY), which you convert into dollars by dividing by 7. Thus, 2,100 Yuan equals $300. Here are some examples of they're presently offering (all round-trips):
- Vancouver and Shanghai on Air Canada: 3,670 Yuan ($524)
- Chicago and Shanghai on American Airlines: 3,150 Yuan ($450)
- London and Shanghai on China Eastern Airlines: 4,080 Yuan ($582)
- Saigon and Guangzhou on Vietnam Airlines: 1,610 Yuan ($230)
- Shanghai and Xian on China Eastern Airlines: 1,000 Yuan ($142)
You can also e-mail Ctrip at e_service@ctrip.com. And you can book beach vacations in China (you've been dying to do so) at sharply-discounted rates. See you on the sands at Qingdao!
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Labels: accommodations, airfare, budget travel, china, websites
Fifty years ago, 
Arthur Frommer is generally acknowledged to be the nation's foremost travel authority. He is the founder of the
