Holiday Fares Starting to Soar

by Adrienne Wilson on

San Francisco Chronicle has a very good reminder for those of us wanting to travel this holiday season: buy your tickets NOW! They not only dish this common travel knowledge our way, but make clear which dates are going to cost you a pretty penny and which may save you a buck or three. For instance the following dates (Friday, Nov. 17 thru Monday, Nov. 27 ) around Thanksgiving are going to mean more damage on the pocket book. No one wants to travel while the turkey is being passed around the table, but that kind of flexibility will allow you to see your loved ones without paying a mini fortune.

Other dates worth looking into are those between Thanksgiving and Christmas – the period of Nov. 28 to Dec. 16. In addition to helping you select which dates are right to go, they also spill which destinations will cost more on the inbound and return flights. You almost couldn’t ask for a better summary! Check it out.

Around the World Plane Tickets Starting at $999

by Adrienne Wilson on

Ahh, summer is slowly, but surely working its way to an end and as students prepare to bury their heads into texts for the fall, wouldn’t you know those around the world plane tickets and trips dreamt about all summer long would finally go on sale. Shame ain’t it? Who creates these sale dates?

STA travel currently has around the world fares starting at $999 with an itinerary that gets you into several kick-arse places if you’re a student taking a breather this fall. The cheapest package moves you from New York City-London-Nairobi-Bangkok-New York City and doesn’t look to include any kind of accommodation. In other words – this works out best if you know a couple of people in at least two destinations. Perhaps it’s time to make friends before you go. (See hospitalityclub.com) If you’ve got some extra dinero to spare ($1,399) then consider the Los Angeles-Tahiti-Sydney-Bangkok-Nairobi-London-Los Angeles ticket.

The sale will only last until August 31and travel must be completed by December 12, 2006.

Fly to Cyprus for Less Than $40 US or Not?

by Adrienne Wilson on

Well here’s a rather bizarre story about Orbitz, one of the third-largest online travel agencies and Italian airline Alitalia. Apparently the airline accidentally listed a business-class flight from Toronto to Cyprus at $39 US on a central reservation system which then feeds flight information to online booking agencies. CNEWS notes the incorrect round-trip airfare from Toronto to Cyprus with a stop to change planes in Italy was posted with multiple departing dates on Orbitz.com, where some very lucky and not so lucky folks will probably have the vacation of their dreams. Before word among online shoppers really began to spread red flags went off and Orbitz pulled the rate to discuss with Alitalia.

To cut the crazy tale short Alitalia will be honoring a vast majority of tickets booked on Orbitz.com for those who actually received confirmation numbers from the airline. Those who never got the airline confirmation will only be reimbursed the service fee paid to Orbitz. Having experienced an online error in the past myself I have to include a moral to this story and that moral is: If something seems far too good to be true, chances are it is far too good to be true. But ahh, those very, very lucky few! Most of all it teaches us to be extra careful when booking online where glitches may be infrequent, but can always occur.

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