Is This the King of Airfare Search Sites? The Aggregator of Aggregators
Posted on 09/13/2018, 1:30 PM
For years, we've been telling you that the best places to find cheap airfare are often the "aggregators," which are search engines that scan prices from dozens of different airfare-selling websites to pick out the lowest prices and tell you which site to visit to find them. But even though these aggregators do their best to level the shopping playing field, or at least to make the shopping game l...
Your African Dream Trip Is Now Cheaper Than Ever
Posted on 09/10/2018, 8:15 PM
In the past six months, the value of the South African rand has tumbled some 40% against the U.S. dollar. In March, one greenback would get you a bit more than 11 rand. Today, you get over 15. South Africa has been a terrific bargain for years. As long as you can swing the airfare there, which regularly costs around $1,000, you'll find it incredible how cheap things are on the ground. With ...
Eat on Florence's Streets and You Could Be Fined $580
Posted on 09/06/2018, 4:00 PM
Lots of people choose to visit Italy because they respect the cuisine, but now, eating it with dignity is the law. On September 4, Florence instituted a new penalty for tourists who are caught loitering as they eat. On the narrow lanes of central Florence, local shopkeepers are fed up with visitors who linger in doorways and on stairwells to have a snack. The biggest complaint, it seems,...
Drive to Florida in a Rental Car for Only $7.99 a Day
Posted on 09/06/2018, 12:00 AM
Winter is coming, and in Florida, so are the tourists. Each year, the major car rental companies shift their inventory to where the business is, and now that summer is ending, Hertz needs to shift its cars to Florida for the winter season. That's where you come in. Hertz wants you to do the driving. The company will let you have a car for just $7.99 a day if you agree to drive it one-way from t...
Arthur Frommer: The Biggest News is the Dominance of Tourism by the Chinese
Posted on 09/05/2018, 12:00 AM
Suddenly, the press that deals with travel is full of articles about the sudden rise of Chinese tourism. All over the world, Chinese citizens have become the largest source of tourism, edging out the American, German, British and French. This doesn’t happen by accident. In recent years, the Chinese government has encouraged the movement towards international travel as a means of accomp...
JetBlue Increases Baggage Fee, Leading Way for Copycats
Posted on 08/28/2018, 6:00 PM
It's like a cautionary fairy tale. There once was a fun-loving, egalitarian airline that wanted to revolutionize the industry. All seats were given personal TVs, there was only one type of aircraft and one class of service to keep maintenance costs and fares low, and, best of all, there were no checked bag fees. "No, no, no," promised the little airline. "We will not charge to check bags like a...
$999 for a Week in Vietnam, Including Air! Outstanding, Writes Arthur Frommer
Posted on 08/24/2018, 9:00 AM
To enjoy a travel miracle—a memorable tour to an exotic nation, for less than the cost of airfare alone—is to lend excitement to life. Several months ago, we described an awesome Chinese-American named Wilson Wu who operates two-week tours of Vietnam for as little as $1,599 per person, including round-trip air from the U.S. West Coast. Now, the same Mr. Wu, through his company called World Sp...
This Fall, See Rome, Venice, and Florence by Rail for Less Than $25
Posted on 08/24/2018, 12:00 AM
Traveling by train among Italy's three most popular tourist destinations can be extremely affordable this fall, provided you buy your tickets right now. European travel booking site GoEuro has joined forces with Italo Treno, an Italian rail service operator, to offer a fare from Rome to Venice to Florence or vice versa for just €19.80 (US$23) one way. That's an incredible bargain for seeing Ro...
Another New Fee, Courtesy of United Airlines
Posted on 08/21/2018, 4:00 PM
About five years ago, Saturday Night Live scored some laughs with a skit that parodied "priority boarding" announcements at the airport gate. A uniformed Tina Fey and Taran Killam stood behind a podium and called upward of 20 different categories of flyers before they got to "Group 2" as their SNL castmates grew comically agitated waiting to board. Back then, it seemed like the madness at the gate...
Turkey Is Insanely Cheap for Travelers Right Now
Posted on 08/20/2018, 12:00 AM
Turkey's ongoing currency crisis, during which the Turkish lira has lost more than 40% of its value, is making a vacation in that country extremely affordable at the moment for travelers from places with stronger economies. As of this writing, one U.S. dollar equals 6.04 lira. According to USA Today, $1 got you 3.54 lira just one year ago. That means that American travelers can get a lot of bang...
In Late Autumn, Fly to Iceland for $99 Each Way
Posted on 08/17/2018, 12:00 PM
The following is in the nature of a “believe-it-or-not” category of travel. A scrappy budget airline of Iceland (the aptly named WOW Air) has just announced that for scattered flights to Reykjavik in August, September, and October, it will charge only $99 each way! Specifically, you’ll be able to fly to Iceland’s capital from 10 U.S. cities at that remarkable price. And these take-off...
My Hotel Is Overbooked! What Did I Do Wrong?
It happens all the time. Guests with reservations are sent somewhere else because there are no more rooms. Here's how you can avoid getting bumped when a hotel is full.
Can We Talk About Those Ridiculous Game Show Vacation Prices?
When it comes to the cost of a vacation, the price is not right on TV game shows.
Which U.S. Airports Are The Most Expensive to Fly From? Check this New List
Posted on 08/01/2018, 4:00 PM
Where you live impacts how much you pay for air travel. That’s the finding of a new study by The Boyd Group, an international aviation consulting firm. It looked at pricing from all of the major North American gateways and came up with a list of airports that are cheaper to fly from—and ones that cost more. The study was different than those performed by the U.S. government in the past, which ha...
American Airlines to Allow Carry-On for Basic Economy
Posted on 07/26/2018, 12:00 AM
American Airlines passengers who buy basic economy tickets will each be allowed to bring a carry-on bag aboard flights, starting September 5. The news was announced by American executives this week during the carrier's second-quarter earnings call with reporters. Up to now, the luggage allowance for basic economy—American's cheapest, no-frills fare, which was introduced last year—has been just o...
What You Need to Know About the (Likely) Cost of Travel in 2019
Posted on 07/25/2018, 4:45 PM
Will it be a happy new year for vacationers in 2019? Experts are predicting some price shifts. A number of factors should impact the cost of trips next year and beyond. If you’re planning on vacationing next year—and I hope you are!—here’s what to look out for. Airfares: “Up, up and away” is the price forecast from most industry watchers. Airfares, particularly from North America to Asia and Eu...
Ticket Prices Go Up at Kennedy Space Center in Florida
Posted on 07/25/2018, 4:30 PM
The price of admission has gone up at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. It will now cost you $57 ($47 for kids ages 3–11) to see NASA artifacts and memorabilia such as the space shuttle Atlantis, a moon rock, spacesuits, rockets, and more. That's a $7 increase from the previous cost. While the price might sound astronomical by museum standards, wouldn't that be appropriate, ...
Arthur Frommer: National Parks Devotees Can Utter a (Brief) Sigh of Relief
Posted on 06/25/2018, 12:00 AM
In the early months of the Trump administration, it was widely rumored that the new head of the Department of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, would propose a doubling of the entrance fees to some 100 national parks that charge admission. The reaction to that drastic proposal was so negative, and from both sides of the aisle in Congress, that it was since assumed that a far milder increase would be ...
New Zealand to Start Taxing Tourists
Posted on 06/20/2018, 5:30 AM
The price of a vacation in New Zealand is about to go up. The country's government has announced plans to charge a new tax on tourists, expected to go into effect in the middle of 2019. International visitors staying less than 12 months will be charged somewhere in the range of NZ$25–35 (US$17–24). Citizens of Australia and most Pacific Island Forum countries will be exempt from the fee. Acco...
U.S. National Park Fees Leap Higher Overnight
Posted on 06/01/2018, 1:00 PM
When Americans woke up this morning (June 1), they discovered it would cost them a lot more to enter their national parks. Nearly all the major parks hiked their entry rates by a hefty $5. Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands (pictured), Grand Canyon, Joshua Tree, Mount Rainier, Olympic, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Zion—all of them, and many more, saw their prices jump $5, regardless of whether it's for a vehicl...
