Saturday, November 7, 2009
The 5 secrets to cheap travel
partner
Staycations just don't compare to vacations. So use these savvy
tricks for saving cash while jet-setting.
- For the lowest possible price, book no more than 90 days before
your flight, and no fewer than 21 days beforehand. This is when
airlines are most eager to fill seats. You can also often get the
lowest fares when you leave on a Tuesday or Wednesday, since most
people don’t want to travel on those days.
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date.
- When it comes to finding deals on plane tickets to your dream
destination, bing.com is your best bet. It predicts
whether fares are rising or dropping on popular flights, and also
lets you track airfares. Just enter in your destination and the
dates you’d like to travel, and they’ll send you an e-mail whenever
prices fall.
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- Join a hotel chain’s loyalty club. Then, when checking in, tell
the desk clerk you’re a devoted regular and politely ask if there’s
any way they could give their "best customer" a free
upgrade.
- It’s way cheaper to book a rental car online than in person
once you’re there. Before buying insurance, check with your
personal auto insurance company or the credit card you reserved it
with. Many of them include coverage for rental cars.
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- Travel during "shoulder season": May or September.
Hotel and airline rates will be lower than during peak season and
there will be fewer tourists, but restaurants and attractions will
be still be open.
Check out more brilliant—and budget-friendly—travel tips
here.
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Reprinted with permission of Hearst Communications, Inc.
Related: travel, recession, flying, budget tips
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Posted by *CAT* Thu Jul 16, 2009 1:10pm PDT
I promise you I just heard on the radio talk show this morning- discussing this exact article. lol about who does staycations and who actually travels. crazy.
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Posted by Katie B Thu Jul 16, 2009 1:13pm PDT
Oh don't I know that about the rental car... I would alway book a compact or an economy car online and when I would go to pick it up they would never have a car that small and would give me a free upgrade... ;) I don't know how well that works for anyone else, maybe I am just lucky that way... but it happened every single time.
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Posted by Cynthia Thu Jul 16, 2009 5:58pm PDT
Thanks for this post. I plan to travel mid-August and the airfares are high right now. I will checkout the website you mentioned bing.com. Great ideas in the entire article.
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Posted by Kristina Thu Jul 16, 2009 10:46pm PDT
I like this, but I do want to add that I work for a rather large hotel chain with what you call a "loyalty club", we can actually see the status of your loyalty, and how often you stay at our hotel. Most of the people I work with hate hearing guests say how we should give them an up-grade of free things, so this doesnt work out too well. It's not that we wouldnt love to give people free rooms or upgrades that others would pay for, it's just not always in the budget, so that attitude gets you no where. Instead, just ask questions and seem very interested in things for "next time". With the right attitude and grateful smile, we love to help out.
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Posted by Mariela Z Fri Jul 17, 2009 5:31am PDT
I travel all the time because I moved far from my family so I go to see them a lot. Some tips that I can share:
1. Do a search with flexible dates. You will be surprised how much it ranges. This ALWAYS saves me money.
2. Look for 'bundles'. A hotel, car and airfare sometimes is a lot cheaper than airfare alone.
3. Search for deals on Hotwire, Expedia, Travelocity, etc. They always have great deals like hotels for $59 or one way tickets for $69.
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Posted by Kikki Fri Jul 17, 2009 10:02am PDT
When ever I travel to major cities, I pick a flight that I know will eventually get sold out. Airlies usually over-sell and then they have to scramble to find people to give up their seats so they can accomodate the ones they oversold. I am usually one to give up my seat. I have gotten MANY free flights this way.
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Posted by Andrea Tue Aug 18, 2009 6:29pm PDT
always do reasearch on where you are going. Are you traveling with friends,kids,other family what is there to see and do for everybody? Is there a height weight restriction short skinny people...On airlines I use a see-thru backpack so if I have something in there that shouldn't be then I or they can find it easier.
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Posted by brighton Wed Aug 19, 2009 1:10am PDT
Always do reasearch for accommodation as well as air tickets in advance, before your traveling dates this gives you time to look for a cheaper accommodation and safe travel.So you will be able to copy up with the journey without any problem.
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