Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
but in reality only beats competitors'
fares as often as other sites do.
Also remember to check
airline
websites,
especially those for low-fare
carriers, whose fares are often misre-
ported or simply missing from travel
agency websites. Even with major air-
lines, you can often shave a few bucks
from a fare by booking directly
through the airline and avoiding a
travel agency's transaction fee. But
you'll get these discounts only by
booking online:
Most airlines now
offer online-only fares that even their
phone agents know nothing about.
For the websites of airlines that fly to
and from your destination, go to
“Getting There” on p. 39.
Great
last-minute deals
are avail-
able through free weekly e-mail services
provided directly by the airlines. Most
of these are announced on Tuesday or
Wednesday and must be purchased
online. Most are only valid for travel
that weekend, but some can be booked
weeks or months in advance. Sign up
for weekly e-mail alerts at airline web-
sites or check megasites that compile
comprehensive lists of last-minute spe-
cials, such as
Smarter Living
(smarter
living.com). For last-minute trips,
last
minute.com
in Europe often has better
air-and-hotel package deals than the
major-label sites. A website listing
numerous bargain sites and airlines
around the world is
www.itravelnet.
com
.
If you're willing to give up some
control over your flight details, use
what is called an
opaque fare service
like
Priceline
(www.priceline.com;
www.priceline.co.uk for Europeans)
or its smaller competitor
Hotwire
(www.hotwire.com). Both offer rock-
bottom prices in exchange for travel
on a “mystery airline” at a mysterious
time of day, often with a mysterious
change of planes en route. The mys-
tery airlines are all major, well-known
carriers. The airlines' routing comput-
ers have gotten a lot better than they
used to be. But your chances of get-
ting a 6am or 11pm flight are pretty
high. Hotwire tells you flight prices
before you buy; Priceline usually has
better deals than Hotwire, but you
have to play their “name our price”
game. If you're new at this, the helpful
folks at
BiddingForTravel
(www.
biddingfortravel.com) do a good job
of demystifying Priceline's prices and
strategies. Priceline and Hotwire are
great for flights between the U.S. and
Europe.
Note:
In 2004 Priceline
added nonopaque service to its roster.
You now have the option to pick exact
flights, times, and airlines from a list
of offers—or opt to bid on opaque
fares as before.
For much more about airfares and
savvy air-travel tips and advice, pick
up a copy of
Frommer's Fly Safe, Fly
Smart
(Wiley Publishing, Inc.).
SURFING FOR HOTELS
Shopping online for hotels is generally
done one of two ways: by booking
through the hotel's own website or
through an independent booking
agency (or a fare-service agency like
Priceline; see below). These Internet
hotel agencies have multiplied in
mind-boggling numbers of late, com-
peting for the business of millions of
consumers surfing for accommoda-
tions around the world. This compet-
itiveness can be a boon to consumers
who have the patience and time to
shop and compare the online sites for
good deals—but shop they must, for
prices can vary considerably from site
to site. And keep in mind that hotels
at the top of a site's listing may be
there for no other reason than that
they paid money to get the placement.
Of the “big three” sites,
Expedia.
com
offers a long list of special deals,
and “virtual tours” or photos of avail-
able rooms so you can see what you're
paying for (a feature that helps
counter the claims that the best rooms
are often held back from bargain-
booking websites).
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