Many inexpensive last minute holiday airfares do exist

by Jamie Rhein on

You’ve probably noticed the stories about how airfares have dropped and air traffic is down. Two weeks ago, I flew from Copenhagen to Columbus on two airplanes that were not full. The Continental flight from Copenhagen to Newark was empty enough that most people had seats between them.

The flight from Newark to Columbus was even more roomy. The row in front of my daughter and me was empty, and we had that hoped for seat between us as well.

With less people flying that means more competition to entice passengers to fly. My mom is heading to New York City for the holidays. This past May, she took the bus because of gas prices and soaring airline costs. Her ticket plane ticket would have cost almost $400 at the time.

She thought about the bus again until last night when I searched for airplane tickets on a whim. There were several options for a $166 airfare when I used the variable date function. Delta and Northwest were the least expensive flights, but the flight she wanted was on Delta to LaGuardia which she prefers over JFK. Flights into Newark, at least the ones I saw, were more expensive.

Not only was she able to score a flight to the airport of choice, she also was able to get flights that are direct and leave at the times she preferred. At first, it looked like she’d have to leave at 6 a.m., but after going to another day of departure, an early afternoon flight to New York appeared. She also wanted to book a return flight later in the day than what originally appeared. Again, further looking found the exact flight out of LaGuardia.

After using Travelocity to find choices, I went directly to Delta’s web site to book the ticket. The amazing detail is that she’s leaving on Monday, just days from booking the ticket. Cheap flights so close to departure used to be unheard of.

So, if you’re thinking of going somewhere for the holidays, look into flying. It may be far less expensive than you thought. These are the days of deals. To find the best ones, look for flights during the week. My mom is flying out on a Monday and back on a Wednesday. In this case, the direct flights were less than the flights that went through another airport. I am amazed.

Iceland’s economy turns away from finance to —- tourism!

by Grant Martin on

With the financial sector steadily imploding, Iceland is in a bit of trouble. As Aaron wrote about earlier this week, much of the Atlantic island’s economy was built upon credit and finance, and now that those industries are failing, the country needs extra income to keep up its highbrow status.

And where else can you quickly reap foreign investment but in tourism? Iceland Air, long one of the premium transatlantic carriers (if you want to stop in Reykjavik) is leading the charge to get American dollars by offering some killer fares to the North Atlantic this winter. Book by October 21st and you can get cheap round trip tickets from New York or Boston to the Icelandic capital for only $400 plus tax.

Add the fact that the dollar is suddenly making a killing in Iceland (as of this morning, 222 Krona to 1 dollar, from 80Krona a couple of weeks ago), and you could have a pretty nice inexpensive vacation on your hands.

Check out Icelandair’s website for further details on the deal, and while you’re in town make sure to check out the ice ring road, blue lagoon (pictured) and drink with some vikings.

Fall fares on the way!

by Grant Martin on

Ah, the summer of oil is almost behind us. Looking at the fare charts right now, either there is a giant fare war going on or fall fares are starting to get loaded into the system. Either way, there are some pretty fantabulous fares on the market right now (take that, airline analysts!)

Much of the fare sales seem to be centered around Los Angeles and Salt Lake City, for some reason. So do you have a few minutes to take a look and see what’s out there? Good, here’s the easiest way to do it.

  • Farecompare has a neat little tool that I’ve talked about before that lets you sort fares by Price and Price Per Mile (PPM). Go to this link, plug in your city, select “North America” and click Find Fares. .
  • Sort those fares by either Price or PPM (a good metric in finding good prices for long flights), then scan down the list for city pairs that you like. Departing from Detroit, the second city I found was Los Angeles, for about 200$. Sounds good.
  • Farecompare’s availbility tool is kind of janky, so next, go to Travelocity, plug in the city pairs that you saw earlier and select “Flexible Search”.
  • The results should bring up something near the price that you found earlier. Click that link and Travelocity will bring up a dynamic calendar that shows you what dates are available.

Not finding the dates you want? Yeah, that’s the problem with the cheapest fares — often times they depart on Wednesdays or Tuesdays. But if you’ve got the time to plan far enough ahead or a few extra dollars you can work around most of these setbacks.

Happy travels!

Talking travel with PBS travel host Rudy Maxa (part 2)

by Jerry Guo on

I’m here with Rudy Maxa, PBS’s “Savvy Traveler” and host of the awards-winning series Rudy Maxa’s World. His sixth season is currently airing, featuring locales such as Estonia, Argentina, and Thailand (he’s already done a whopping 65 episodes).

He began as an investigative journalist at the Washington Post and then became the “Savvy Traveler” 15 years ago for public radio. He’s now a contributing editor at National Geographic Traveler and his work has appeared in GQ, Travel & Leisure, LA Times, and Forbes, among other publications. If you’re interested in more of what he has to say, check out his blog.

Read part 1 here.

What has been your greatest adventure?

“Adventure” is a big word. Watching the northern lights from a lodge in the countryside of Iceland was magical. Safari in Kenya really made me understand where in the food chain we rank-which is well below lions unless you’re talking “zoo.” Surfing in a wet suit down a white-water river in New Zealand–on my stomach with just a little board to keep me (mostly) upright–certainly got the heart pounding.

Worst travel experience?

Waiting before dawn in a tiny, freezing waiting room at what was then Leningrad’s airport for a flight to the States. The room was cold, my fellow passengers were largely drunk, and we boarded the big, old, lumbering Soviet jet through the cargo belly. The plane had to make two refueling stop before it could make it to the East Coast.
 Favorite food and restaurant? Bar?

Thai and Italian. Oh, my, I have so many favorite restaurants around the world-Alma in the Twin Cities, where I live. Sushiko in Washington, DC. Cut and Fraiche in Los Angeles. L’Ami Louis in Paris. River Café and St. John in London. I’m not much of a bar guy, but I could live at a tiny hideaway called Vodka Tonic in Tokyo.

Where do you go to book flights? Any tips for getting the best deals?

I check third-party web sites such as Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz. Kayak is handy for overseas flights. Cheapflights shows me if booking a few weeks or even months ahead will save me money. But I also check airline web sites for deals. For last-minute deals, it’s site59.com or lastminutetravel.com. Book far ahead-given how quickly airfares are rising, if you know where you want to be for Thanksgiving or the December holidays, it’s not too soon to make reservations.

What about travel agencies? When are they a good idea, and when are they not?

A good travel agent is a real find. Use an agent if you want help planning a trip to a specific destination or if you have a complicated itinerary.

Any advice to save on car rentals?

Look for deals on rental car web sites. Enterprise, the largest North American rental car company, has the largest fuel-efficient fleet with hybrids and vehicles that average 32 and 28 miles per gallon. When searching rental cars online, don’t cheat yourself. Look at Enterprise.com: outside of three summer months, they usually offer 50% off on weekend rentals at their neighborhood locations.

Do you use travel guides when you’re on the road? If so, which ones and why? If not, do you depend on friends and locals?

I almost always depend on locals or friends who know a destination well. There is so much information on the web today, travel guides often can’t keep up. A guide is good in providing a general overview of a destination that is totally new to a visitor.

Are there any truly off-the-beaten-road destinations today? Places that aren’t in Lonely Planet.

Not really, though there are experiences that some tour companies can provide in less-visited countries. But when former outposts such as Ulaanbaatar and Libya are welcoming tourists, it’s difficult to find new, hidden gems.

How do you feel about tourism to places with authoritarian regimes. Myanmar or North Korea or Iran, etc?

While I loathe spending money in a country such as Myanmar that might support a repressive government, people-to-people contact is so important to citizens of those places. At least that’s what I learn when I ask folks familiar with such places the same question you’ve asked me.

What are some easy ways travelers can save money on the road?

If you’re planning a road trip in the US, consider renting a car that might be bigger and more comfortable than yours or one that might get better gas mileage. You avoid wear and tear on your personal vehicle and you may get a nicer set of wheels in the deal.

If traveling abroad, families should consider renting apartments or condos to save on room nights and meals. If you’re going to be in Europe 17 days or longer, don’t rent a car-lease one from a company like europebycar.com to avoid value added taxes and high insurance charges. And with tri-band cell phones (try Cellularabroad.com) and Skype, there’s no reason not to stay in touch. Get out of the big cities to save money on lodging and food.

Fare Alert! Another secret sale to Buenos Aires

by Grant Martin on

United just posted a secret sale to Buenos Aires, Argentina last night that has lasted well into today, slurpee day (7/11), from several corners from the country.

From departure points such as Los Angeles, Washington DC (Dulles), and New York City you can get to Buenos Aires LATER THIS MONTH for only about 600$ total. For high tourist season in the United States, that’s a downright steal. So if you haven’t got plans for the kids’ summer vacation, now is the time to strike.

Check your local airport to see if there are similar deals or cheap connections to a target city.

And don’t forget — it’s winter down in Argentina right now, so you might want to consider a trip over to the Andes for some skiing or maybe some time down in Patagonia watching some glaciers fight. You also might want to pick up a couple kilos of some of that delicious Mendozan wine and that Argentine steak while you’re down there.

If you’re worried about visas, American’s don’t need any pre-departure paperwork for immigration.

To book the ticket, use a flex search on Kayak over the next few weeks to find availability. You shouldn’t have a problem finding seats for flights later this month.

Happy Trails!