Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category
Tripit
September 25th, 2007
MatthewAs I am getting my plans finalized for my annual trip to hawaii, I came across a great website for helping you keep your plans in order.<br />
Enjoy Better Trips With All Your Information In One Place
TripIt is a new kind of online travel service that automatically organizes all your travel plans into one master online itinerary with everything you need for your trip – including travel confirmations, daily weather, local maps, city guides and more.
Fly for $10
August 24th, 2007
MatthewNo matter how good of a deal you’ve gotten for a flight in the past, chances are you’ve never flown for $10. That is, unless you recently flew on Skybus Airlines. According to this LA Times article, this cheap, new airline is the future of air travel. And believe it or not, the airline really does set aside a minimum of 10 seats for $10, though they get snatched up quickly. But even if you don’t make it in time to get the $10 deal, one-way fares start at $50 and rise by $25 increments up to $175; the average fare is about $100. The airline is able to offer such phenomenal pricing by cutting costs in certain places. "The result is that we have a cost structure that is so much lower than anyone else," said Bill Diffenderffer, chief executive for Skybus. For example, the airline doesn’t offer any frills. Instead, passengers have to pay for music, movies, drinks and food. And flight attendants make lower wages but receive 10 percent commission of what they sell on the plane, which ranges from food to watches to perfume. In addition, the airline is offering advertising space on the outside of the plane, on the overhead bins and even on the shirts of flight attendants.
The only downsides to the airline: about two inches less legroom than traditional airlines, and you have to pay for how many bags you check and for priority boarding.
Good Travel Sites
August 1st, 2007
MatthewI have been looking at air fares lately. I came across two websites. The first is farecast.com. Farecast.com is the first airfare prediction website. They help online travel shoppers save money by answering the question; should you buy now or wait? In their beta version, they now offer airfare predictions from over 75
The second is airfarewatchdog.com. They are the only fare alert website that tracks fares on Southwest, Allegiant, SkyBus, and other airlines that the other air fare comparison sites ignore. They claim to watch airline-site-only fares and they will only alert you to really low fares.
Best Ticket Price
July 22nd, 2007
MatthewBecause airfares change frequently every day, when you book your ticket is a huge factor in how much you’ll end up paying. The variance can be $300 or more on a domestic round trip. So how can you tell when you should buy and when you should hold off? Two data-mining websites can help you calculate the odds that you’re getting a good price.
FareCompare.com looks at historical prices for trips on 77,000 city pairs in the U.S. and Canada. Type in your flights, and up comes a “Fare Trend” chart that shows whether prices have been increasing, decreasing or staying steady. A four-star rating system shows how good a particular fare is compared with past prices on the date and route you’ve highlighted. By considering volatility, you can determine whether it makes sense to wait for a dip before booking. You can’t make reservations at FareCompare.com, but you can click though to airline websites.
Farecast.com, one of PC World’s 20 Most Innovative Products of 2007, uses roughly 100 variables to determine expected price changes for flights from more than 75 cities. Plug in your details, and you’ll see four graphics: “fare indication,” an arrow symbolizing rising, dropping or flat prices; “confidence,” a percentage based on the site’s track record for predictions on the flight you chose; “average fare change,” a volatility measure; and a “buying tip,” suggesting you either buy your ticket then or wait for a possible fare dip.
Also, consider using the site’s Fare Guard feature. For $9.95, you can protect a fare for one week and receive daily e-mail updates to track the lowest fare. If the price drops after you book, you get a check for the difference.