Moneysaving tech tips
Technology is expensive; using it when you travel shouldn’t be. But it is. Hotels add surcharges to your bill that penalize you for plugging your laptop into a phone line. Airlines take you for a ride, both figuratively and literally, when you want to check e-mail from your seat. Even conveniences like a fax machine, VCR, or television can add to the price of your trip.
Lost tickets
Q: My husband and I recently flew from Spokane to Honolulu. We were issued paper tickets for the round trip, which we booked directly through Alaska Airlines. Part of our itinerary, however, was on Northwest Airlines.
Four days prior to our return home we discovered that we couldn’t find the return trip tickets. We tore our [...]
Six more gifts
In these belt-tightening times, buying an expensive holiday gift for a friend or loved one isn’t always possible. If that’s your predicament, then check out last week’s column in which I reviewed six great gifts for under $100. Still with me? Then here are six holiday gifts for travelers on a bigger budget who want value from their gizmos…
Charge card caveat
The offer from American Express looked too good to be true. For just $135, the cost of signing up for the Platinum Card, Mitch Sackson was being offered a free airline ticket for a companion. The Bluffton, SC, retiree applied without a second thought, hoping to earn his reward for an upcoming trip to San Francisco. Then he read the fine print and discovered he was right: the offer was too good to be true.
Nonrefundable trouble
Q: Please let your readers know that when you buy a ticket from an airline’s website it may come with additional restrictions. I booked a trip for my grandson and myself to Paris on Iberia. Shortly after that, I suffered another angina attack, and my cardiologist told me not to travel until my condition stabilized.
I [...]
Unpublished business
Sometimes what doesn’t get published is as important as what does.
Case-in-point: an expose on travel awards that I’ve been researching for the last year. After countless phone calls, many hours of researching and writing, and more than a few arguments with my editors, the story now appears to be dead.
But every good story deserves a [...]
Six cheap gifts
It’s that time of year again, tech travelers. With the holidays just a few weeks away, here’s your cue to start dropping hints about the gift you want for Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, winter solstice, or whatever your holiday of choice is. If you’re an interloper who thinks that traveling with gadgets is only slightly worse than checking voice-mail on vacation, then read on, anyway. You might find a worthwhile present for a road warrior friend in this column’s fourth annual holiday guide.
We’re on our honeymoon, honestly
At the end of an impossibly long line at the Thrifty Car Rental counter in Miami, a weary agent asked us for our reservation. I handed her a copy of the itinerary. We’d booked a compact Dodge Neon for a week. “But if you don’t have any Neons on the lot, I’d gladly take something bigger,” I said, hopefully. “Not a chance,” the agent laughed.
Is my ticket illegal?
Q: I will be traveling from Austin, Texas, to Bombay next month. But instead of a single round-trip ticket, I have one round-trip for Austin-Paris-Austin and another roundtrip for Paris-Bombay-Paris. I booked these tickets myself online. It cost me a few hundred dollars less this way as opposed to getting one ticket for the entire [...]
Will fares fall now?
Will yesterday’s tragic crash of American Airlines Flight 587 in Queens, New York, translate into lower airfares? It’s an opportunistic, if not offensive question, to be sure. But for business travelers who are watching the bottom line, it’s one that must be asked. After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, airlines aggressively reduced fares in an effort to lure travelers back.
Now what?
This morning’s crash of American Airlines Flight 587 in Queens, New York - whether caused by a mechanical or man-made circumstances - is leaving many air travelers shaken and confused.
It’s bad enough that this latest air disaster happened just two months after the worst hijacking incident in U.S. aviation history. But the latest tragedy adds [...]
On the road with AOL
Let’s forget for a moment that America Online is the world’s dominant Internet service provider. Let’s also ignore the fact that it owns an empire of film studios, television networks and magazines. Instead, let’s try to answer just one question: Should you take AOL on the road with you? I won’t make you wait until the end of this column to find out. The answer is: no - and yes.
Theme park savings
More than half of all corporate travelers try to turn a business trip into a vacation by tacking a few extra days to the itinerary, according to a recent YP&B travel survey. And there’s probably no place where conventions and vacations converge more than in the central Florida theme park capital of Orlando. Saving money on a business trip may come as second nature to you, but how do you cut costs when you’re taking the family to a destination such as the Magic City? It’s mostly a matter of timing. “By planning your vacation at the right time you can avoid crowds, save money and enjoy the best weather,” says Bob Sehlinger, author of the Unofficial Guide to Disney World.
No refund on a rental
Q: We are scheduled to travel to Italy later this month, where a group of us are renting a villa. But after the events of September 11, several of the women decided that they couldn’t take the risk of traveling internationally because they are mothers.
I contacted the rental company to see if we could postpone [...]
Use your powers of persuasion
Oh, the shameless things travelers do to save a buck. One of my favorite examples comes from Mary Hunt, who publishes a newsletter dedicated to helping people save money. I once inquired about her favorite strategy for cutting lodging costs, and she answered: “Ask if the price they’re giving you is the best they can do.” It’s that simple? Well, yes.