Skybus: Planning for the Return Trip

by Jamie Rhein on

It’s Sunday and on Thursday we’re taking Skybus back to Columbus from Seattle. Since we’re still in Philipsburg, Montana, it hasn’t quite sunk in that we have a bit of a trip to get to the airport. After a couple of days of debating whether we should cough up the extra $40 for the four of us (me, husband and two kids) to have priority boarding I pulled out the credit card and now we are all in Group 1. Perhaps, this $40 spent is a waste of money because, perhaps, my husband could get an aisle seat and my son could get the seat next to him without it. My husband is not a small guy, so he needs the space. My son, who is five, is a smaller guy so the two of them together make a seats together combo.

My daughter and I could sit any where, but because I booked us all together, I can’t split us up for this priority boarding deal. I suppose Skybus doesn’t want folks to get clever and have one person priority board and save seats for the rest of the gang. Rats!

Now that we’ve paid the $40, this allows us to head to the airport in Bellingham, Washington, return our rental car, and check in without worrying if we’ll have a hassle getting on the plane. If it were just my husband and me, it would be a different story. Friends of ours are taking the same flight we are but a day later. I told them to not worry about priority boarding and since they are going to be having only carry ons, there won’t be any problems there either.

So, for any of you who are booking a Skybus ticket or thinking about it–priority boarding does offer some peace of mind since the flights leave early and with airport security being enough of a hassle, at least you’ve smoothed out some of the journey. Also, if you’re not sure if you can check-in on line starting 24 hours before the trip, if you’ve paid for priority boarding, you won’t really have to worry much about ending up in Group 3–the last group to board. BUT, make sure you get to the airport early enough to check your bags and check-in. If you’re not checked in 30 minutes before your flight, you’ll lose your spot AND with the way bags are not making it to their destinations this summer, the more time your bag has to make it on your airplane, the better.

I’m looking forward to seeing this view from the plane. Marada took this shot of the plane, I would guess, when it was taking off from Bellingham and then posted it on Flickr.

Skybus, First Hand Experience: At the Airport

by Jamie Rhein on

With a 7:05 AM Skybus flight out of Columbus to Bellingham, Washington, we got to the airport at 5:30.

Tip 1: Check-in on-line; it makes life easier. We did and I was glad. (See post) Almost as soon as we walked through the sliding doors at the Skybus check-in, a Skybus person looked at our boarding passes, IDs and tagged our bags before we could even get them to the check-in counter. In a few steps we handed them to the bag screening guys before heading off for fun games called “Airport Security” and “Find Your Gate.”

Tip 2: When booking your tickets on line, double check that you’ve entered the names that you use on your official identification. It cuts down on anxiety. The missing letter on my husband’s name on his boarding pass (I left off the last letter of his legal name) wasn’t a problem either. Smooth sailing.

Tip 3: Even though Skybus doesn’t have a check-in desk at the gates–at least I didn’t see one–the other passengers will tell you which line to stand in.

Tip 4: Find a place in line and then go to the bathroom. At the gate there were three areas marked with line dividers-group 1, group 2, group 3. These lines crossed in front of the restroom doors and the drinking fountains which added to a bit to the lane confusion, plus the waiting room seats took up a fair amount of standing room. It seems there needs to be less waiting room seats since most people were standing or sitting on the floor in line. If you want a seat choice on the airplane, waiting in line is important.

In this mishmash of lines, I didn’t see a Skybus person in the mix. Someone was calling out flights over the loud speaker. Not long before it was time for us to board, that loud speaker person said, “No food is allowed on a Skybus flight.” I thought of the bag of snacks and bagels I so cleverly packed. “Give me a peach,” I called out to my husband and ate it like a mad woman. We finished off the fruit before boarding-I took one more bite before showing our boarding passes to the person who had magically appeared at the gate, but we didn’t dump the packaged snacks. No one checked.

Once on the plane, it turned into about any other flight of just enough room, oxygen masks if needed, and cushions that turn into flotation devices. The Skybus crew was busy almost the whole time passing out drinks and food to those willing to buy. The prices are doable. $8 for breakfast, but the coffee machine was broken for some of the flight. The handy crew fixed it eventually, but I held out for my java until after we landed.

The flight landed in Bellingham, Washington 10 minutes early and all four of our bags showed up at the airport. All in all, not bad.

The biggest positive was the flight was direct. As prices go, ours wasn’t all that cheap since we missed out on the deals, but Bellingham is an easy access airport. Would I recommend Skybus? Yes. I do have to say, I missed getting those little bags of pretzels and drinks though, and at times I really wished it might have been possible to talk with customer service. Not that I had anything to say really, but it’s odd to be a people person and not have anybody to talk to. We’ll see how our return flight goes.

For more photos of the Columbus to Bellingham flight (or it could have been the other way around,) click here. Marada has taken a bunch of them and posted them on Flickr.

Consumer Reports Magazine Says to Call Hotel Directly

by Jamie Rhein on

In an article on how to find the best hotel deals, Dan Serra who writes about money management for The Gazette in Colorado Springs cites a Consumer Reports finding. According to the magazine, you might have better luck with striking a bargain if you call the hotel directly. Better yet, show up without a reservation. Without a reservation you often have better bargaining power. These are general recommendations. There are exceptions for hotel bargain hunting. Here are some other tips from this Consumer Reports guide:

1. Join a loyalty program. This helps you earn free nights and discounts. My tip: If you recently stayed at one of the hotels in a chain and want to stay in another one use your earlier stay as a bargaining chip. I did this last summer with La Quinta Inn. We stayed in two different ones in the Denver area two weeks apart. We used the bargain we got with the first stay to get the second stay’s deal.

2. If you are flexible with dates you can get a better rate. My finding: Last week we almost stayed at a Marriot Courtyard in the Washington, D.C. area. Because we were going to stay over on a Friday night the price dropped considerably, even for the Thursday night rate.

3. Book early, but check in right before your stay. This way you may get a discount since the hotel wants to lock in your business, but the price might drop later. This reminds me that I need to book a hotel for our August trip to Montana. The night before our flight back to Columbus we need to stay in Bellingham, Washington. Our flight is too early in the morning to stay with our friends who live in Seattle.

4. Ask for lowest rate when you call. My experience: When I recently made hotel reservations in Owenboro, Kentucky for my cousin’s wedding in August, I checked the on-line price and also asked when I called. The AAA rate is better than the deal the hotel gave for wedding guests.

* Odd Zen writes under his photo on the Flickr site gives this bit of sage wisdom when finding a vacancy: Often the best hotel when road fatique hits is the first one you see. I bet in that case, money isn’t really an issue.

Shakespeare in the Park: It’s Free

by Jamie Rhein on

One of my most favorite experiences in New York City was when my brother and I went to a Shakespeare in the Park production of “Pirates of Penzance.” We packed a picnic lunch and headed to Central Park to stake out our spot in line for our free tickets. Yes, free. It’s stunning to think of it. Kevin Kline and Linda Ronstadt played the leads. Yes, yes, this was eons ago, but the thing is, Shakespeare in the Park is still free. The process for getting tickets is streamlined it seems, but it still takes a bit of work and planning ahead.

Here’s how to get them. Even though the Delcorte Theater starts passing out tickets at 1 p.m. on the day of the show and the Public Theater passes them out between 1 and 3 p.m. I’d get there earlier than that. That’s what we did when we brought our picnic. We went about 11:00. [The photo of the line posted on Flickr by petitsoeur on July 5 says underneath it “even the early birds don’t score a ticket. . .”] Maybe these days you need to get there even earlier. The crowd can be interesting so waiting around can be an experience on its own. The Shakespeare in the Park folks monitor the lines starting at 10 a.m.

The good thing is, since the tickets are given out only on the day of the show, this is an equal opportunity venture. No one gets to call ahead or have someone save them a spot. Also, each person can only get two tickets so no one can hoard. I like that.

If you’re planning on being in New York City anytime between August 7 and September 9, put this on your to do list. This is when the next play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is being performed.

Saving Money at Amusement Parks

by Jamie Rhein on

In the past two weeks my daughter has headed to Cedar Point (with the school percussion ensemble), Kings Island (with her track team) and Fort Rapids, an indoor amusement park (for an end of the 8th-grade bash) and my five-year-old son wants to know when it’s his turn. He has a point, but there’s the cost to consider. Because my daughter went on school trips, she didn’t pay full price. Now, we’re searching out some other deals for us.

There are some. If you want to head to an amusement park this summer, before you pull out your wallet to pay full price at the admission gate, check out some of these money-saving options.

Buy your tickets on-line or look for deals at grocery stores. Here is a link to Cedar Point’s discount ticket information. Cedar Point is located in Sandusky, Ohio. One way you can save money is to get 14 other people to go with you. For groups of 15 or more, you can save more than $10 a ticket. We have done this before. Once at Kalahari Water Park, also in Sandusky, we found out that if we had a birthday party we could all get free pizza and a drink along with discount tickets. It was no one’s birthday, but we’re not picky.

Kings Island, located between Columbus and Cincinnati has discount tickets available at Kroger grocery stores and online right now. The online price is for advance sales so you can’t buy these on the same day you’re going. Plan ahead. For a great deal on food, add the all you can eat barbeque. Last year we had a friend who had discount tickets through work. The barbeque was included. It was a lot of food and good. Other grocery stores around th U.S. often have discounts–so do banks. Ask around.

Right now, on the Universal Studios Hollywood Theme Park site, you can buy a one day ticket and get the second day free. Or you can try Rahim Rahman’s method in the picture. Lots of luck with this one. I’d let him in.

Here are four Web sites to help you find discount tickets near you. I found the above deals by looking on the park’s sites and poking around.

For more discount ideas, check out: How to Save Money at Amusement Parks. Now, all I have to do is remember my own advice.