Ways to Save with On-Line Booking

Neil’s post on cookies, the computer kind, not the kind you eat brings up one way to travel budget smart. Here are some other ways when you reserve on-line so that you don’t get dinged and pay a bigger price than you have to.

When using a travel site, look over the pre-checked boxes carefully. Some services may be checked off and you don’t want them. Travel insurance is a biggie for this one. Budget Travel magazine mentioned Rail Europe has having a $10 per ticket insurance fee that is automatically checked unless it is unchecked. Use that mouse.

When price comparing, make sure that you are including taxes and fees in your comparison. Some sites list those things up front. Others wait until you are getting ready to book to give those amounts as almost and afterthought. Oh, by the way. . .

One thing I have done is to use a site like Travelocity to find out what flights are listed as being cheap and then go directly to the airline site to book. Sometimes the airline lists fares for less than a budget site does.