The travel tips, deals, and news weekly feature is brought to us thanks to Mike at InFlightOut. He is always on the look out for great deals and sharing them with us. Follow him on Twitter @inflightout.
In this post, you will learn how to request flight mileage on old itineraries, why one-way tickets cost more than round trip, 5 creative ideas to save on car rentals, learn now to receive InFlightOut news on your kindle, some travel news and how to get a free subscription to Sherman’s Travel Magazine.
TRAVEL TIPS
How to Request Flight Mileage Credit On Old Itineraries
By Mike Grasso
Even the most seasoned travelers forget to include their frequent flyer number to their flight reservation on occasion (or can place blame on the forgetful corporate travel agent). Or perhaps you included your frequent flyer number but the airline failed to credit your hard earn miles. Either way, fear nothing as you can request mileage credit for previously flown flights up to 24 months in the past, as long as you were a member of the respective airlines frequent flyer program at the time of the flight. The best documentation to have on hand would be your boarding pass or other documentation showing the airline's ticket and flight number.
Here are direct links to major U.S carriers, and information on how to submit your mileage credit request:
United (last 12 months of travel)
American (last 12 months)
Delta (last 6 months)
Northwest (last 9 months)
Continental (last 6 months)
Southwest (last 24 months!)
Virgin America (last 12 months)
Why One-Way Tickets Cost More Than a Round-Trip
By Mike Grasso
Last week a reader forwarded me an itinerary in which the round-trip ticket price cost less than two separate one-way tickets on identical flights. It was an American Airlines flight between San Jose and Dallas/Ft Worth. The ticket prices out to $349 round-trip, but the exact same days and flights booked as two separate one-ways comes to $454 ($227 each way). "What gives?" the reader asked.
At play here is supply and demand. When most people fly somewhere, they usually need to come back, causing a demand for round-trip tickets. In response, you find many airlines fiercely competing in this market. One-way flights are less popular, and most mainline carriers don't compete, resulting in an upward spike in those fares. Although the supply of seats remains constant - regardless if sold as one-way or round-trip, the demand and competition exists for round-trips.
But there are exceptions. Southwest Airlines, for example, sells all their flights as one-ways. In response to this, you will find mainline carriers such as American and United offering equivalent one-way fares in markets they compete with Southwest in. Take San Francisco to Los Angeles, for instance. Southwest frequently sells this route for $49 each way. Other carriers flying between these cities match Southwest pricing, choosing not to bump up the cost of the one-way flight, as they would otherwise do on non-competitive routes.
5 Creative Ideas to Saving on Car Rentals
By Mike Grasso
Sure we've heard the advice to use websites sites as Kayak which search multiple sites at once, enabling you to easily compare car rental prices. Great recommendation, but if you are a bargain shopper (and who doesn't love a great bargain?), it's only a start. Here are five creative tips to ensure you drive off the lot paying some of the lowest car rental rates available:
- Once you locate the appropriate fare and car rental agency, do a web search for discounts that can be applied to your reservation. Literally hundreds of discount codes are available for use, it’s just a matter of finding the right codes. My favorite site for finding these discounts is fatwallet.com. Be mindful of the terms and conditions with discount codes. For example, if you are using a discount code which nets 25% off to Stanford Alumni, you should be prepared to show your credentials.
- Book early and revisit later. Most car rental agencies in the United States do not require prepayment of rentals. So make your reservation early, then revisit as your rental date nears. This allows you to take advantage of any last minute car rental discounts, but also piece of mind knowing if, instead rates happen to spike up, you still have your original reservation.
- Consider Priceline’s, “name your own price” bidding option. When companies have a surplus of cars on their lot, they turn to Priceline to unload these at discounted prices. I’ve easily saved 40% on identical car rental reservations by using this Priceline feature. Drawbacks: You don’t know which car rental agency you are matched with until your bid is accepted. Also, full prepayment is required, and changes are generally not permitted.
- One more place! Check with Hotwire.com – another favorite of mine. Like Priceline, they do not give you the choice of car rental agencies, but they are upfront about the price of the car rental – often heavily discounted. I’ve found $14.99/day rentals at SFO before.
- Finally, just before you click that purchase button, review your itinerary. If you are flying to Seattle, make sure the quoted car rental is for the airport (assuming that’s where you want to pick up), and not a downtown location. Are your dates and pick-up times correct? Are the discount codes being properly applied to your reservation? Sometimes getting so caught up searching so many sites, it’s easy to overlook the small – yet most important details. Resolving issues early on will help ensure a smoother process when you pick up your car later.
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TRAVEL NEWS
United Airlines To Reduce International Capacity By 7%
This week, during their quarterly earnings report, United Airlines announced an extra 7% cut in international capacity for the last four months of the year. According to airliners.net, all UA hubs are impacted by the reduction in flights. If you have upcoming international itineraries on United, be sure to check for possible schedule changes. Below is a listing of impacted flights from San Francisco:
San Francisco (SFO) to:
London (LHR) - 2nd daily flight suspended
Tokyo/Narita (NRT) - 2nd daily flight suspended
Certain other routes are flying fewer flights during the week and/or operating smaller aircraft.
American Hikes Baggage Fees Another $5
In a press release, American Airlines announced it plans to hike the fees for checked bags another $5. The extra charge applies to tickets purchased on or after August 14, 2009 for all flights within the United States and U.S territories. The new fee is $20 for the first bag, $30 for the second, up from $15 and $25 respectively. As is the current policy, elite members, full-fare economy, as well and first and business class passengers are exempt from baggage check fees.
To compare, many other U.S.-based airlines charge around $15 to check a single bag. Southwest and JetBlue are the lone airlines who continue allow one piece of luggage free of charge.
Airlines Seek to Unload Frequent-Flier Miles
From the Washington Times Monday comes a story discussing why airlines, United Airlines in particular, are suddenly choosing to unloading miles from their "books" at an accelerated rate. For example, United recently offered discount award redemption's, and effective August 1, 2009 eliminated all "close-in" processing fees. Are United Airlines and other carriers putting customer service back into focus, or is there something more at play here? Read the full story here.
San Francisco to Pittsburgh Route Switching to United
As we reported this past Summer, U.S. Airways is discontinuing nonstop service SFO to Pittsburgh, PA effective August 18th. The red-eye flight currently offered once a day by U.S. Air will instead be replaced by an afternoon departure on United Airlines.
Schedule effective August 18, 2009:
SFO - PIT
UA368* DP 1:00PM AR 8:49PM, Airbus 319.
PIT-SFO
UA433* DP 8:42AM AR 11:10AM, Airbus 319.
*Flight numbers to change effective 9/1/09
TRAVEL DEALS
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