TIPS ON HOW TO SAVE

1 – Plan and book in advance AND use the same airline roundtrip. When doing these two things, the difference can be anywhere from 10-60%. If you need to make changes after ticket issuance, the fees are generally lower than the unrestricted airfare would have been. If you don’t have the advance purchase, at least use the same airline in both directions to help control airfare costs.

2 – Inquire about consolidated airfares. We have contracts with major airlines to many international and some domestic destinations. There are restrictions, such as minimum stays, but the savings can be worth it.

3 – Book hotels through your travel agent. They can have access to negotiated and corporate rates, which can translate into big savings for you.

4 –Need both air and hotel arrangements? If your stay is at least two nights at your destination, then booking a ‘vacation package’ often can result in a significantly lower rates. You can have car rental and/or hotel included in the package and in certain cases may not need to stay over a Saturday night to take advantage of these programs.

5 – When renting a car, re-fill the tank prior to returning the car. Most car rental companies charge outrageous amounts to refill the gas tank, sometimes to the tune of 50% higher per gallon than the local pumps.

6 – Accept non-refundable fares. Even though they are not refundable, if you need to change your reservation and incur fees for doing so, it can be less expensive than paying a full, non-restrictive fare.

7 – When sending e-mail correspondance, compose your e-mails before plugging into the hotel’s dataline. Hotels charge for all local calls and in some cases ‘800’ numbers are often subject to surcharges. This way you can have everything ready to send prior to dial up.

AIRLINE AND FREQUENT FLYER BENEFITS

When it comes to airlines and their frequent flyer programs, how does one take advantage of membership? We have several suggestions to assist you, the traveler, to maximize your benefits.

CHOOSE YOUR PROGRAM

1 –Join one of the three major programs, Star (United & friends), One world (American & friends), or the new DL-CO-NW. Dividing our travel between the programs just limits your chances of reaching elite status.

2 – Choose your program on the basis of which specific airline combinations will suit you best. A program is only as good as its primary carrier you came in on, as that program determines your perks and how you qualify for free tickets, upgrades, etc.

3 – Check out the domestic-international hookups.. International airlines are seeking alliances with partners who can feed their routes; you, as the traveler, should think the same way and aim for elite status on a domestic carrier aligned with the international airlines most suited to you and your travels. That way all mileage and perks earned will go into the same bag.

DON’T GET TAKEN

When on an airline website, the choice of an ‘restricted’ or ‘unrestricted’ Business Class fare is usually there. For those business travelers who know that your plans change frequently will want the convenience and flexibility an ‘unrestricted’ ticket offers. But if your original travel qualifies for a lower business fare, and you book the fare with restrictions, you can often save big money if your plans don’t change.

If you do have a change in plans, you can simply apply the unrestricted ticket’s value toward a new ticket, plus the ‘fare difference’, which would have been paid anyway. If your business does go as planned, and you bought the higher unrestricted fare, you would be out the potential savings difference. If your plans do change midway, with a ‘restricted’ fare, in many cases you have not lost a thing (a penalty MAY apply, but usually not more than $100-$300 – potentially viewed as hedging your bet – against big savings).

Why Should You Travel With Artisan

The airlines say that they can't afford to pay travel agents a 5% commission (up to a maximum of $20 per ticket) and so most major carriers have stopped paying commissions entirely. But, if the airline sells the ticket to you themselves via their (800) service, they have probably incurred $20 in costs (the cost of the phone call, the cost of the employee, related costs for supervisors, etc, etc) by selling it to you directly. Even more strangely, although they 'can't afford' to pay up to $20 to a travel agent, they can offer as much as a 10% discount (with no limit) off all their fares if you buy from their website. It doesn't make sense, does it.
Read on to understand the real reason that the airlines are keen to drive you away from travel agents and to force you to deal directly with them.

The reality is that there is a major 'cost' to the airlines which travel agents cause them - a cost they are desperate to hide and eliminate. And, what is that cost? It is the cost of losing revenue every time a travel agent advises a client how to save money on an airfare (for example, by changing routing or flight times), and/or the lost revenue every time a travel agent advises a client about a more convenient schedule or a lower fare on a competing airline. With the difference in two fares being potentially the difference between perhaps $300 and $1500, good advice from a travel agent can 'cost' the airline (and save you!) a huge amount more than just $20.

Let me ask you this. When was the last time you called an airline to book a flight, and the reservations agent at the other end said 'Oh, sir, I think I should volunteer the information that there is a flight on one of our competitors that leaves at the same time, but which flies nonstop instead of requiring a change in plane, and with a fare $250 cheaper than our fare.'??? No, instead, if you ask about other airlines, they'll stifle a giggle and say 'I'm sorry, but our computer system doesn't have that information'. That, in a nutshell, is the difference between booking direct with an airline or with a travel agency.
These hidden 'costs' (ie when their otherwise captive clients are free to choose what is best for themselves rather than what is best for the airline) are potentially huge to the airlines - and this is what they want to eliminate. They want to deprive you - their customers - of access to the best comparison information and expert advice that could otherwise save you huge amounts of time, trouble, and money.

Article provided by Travel Insider

Copyright 2002 by David M Rowell.