World Best Travel

What to Know About Your Travel Luggage

By Frans Joseph

Airlines do have luggage restrictions that you have to abide by when you travel. There are limitations to how many bags you can carry during your travel, the weight of the bags and the dimensions of the bag. You have to check before you travel what your airline’s restrictions are because every airline has different guidelines.

However, most airlines do have a limit on what you can carry on the aircraft and it is usually a bag that is up to 16″ high, 24″ wide, and 9″ deep. This is due to the proper bag storage on the aircraft. Bags are to be stored under the seat, but larger bags should be stored in the overhead compartment so it does not shift during travel.

Your carry-on bag should be no more than forty pounds and checked baggage should be no more than fifty to seventy pounds. Anything over fifty pounds will incur an additional cost.

There are some airlines that do permit large size bags for the first piece of luggage, but have restrictions for any additional pieces of luggage.

You do get a few more privileges if you are flying first class. You are allowed a little more weight for your baggage in most cases. There are many airlines that are catching on to the new rules of paying for your luggage. For some airlines, you have to pay up to $25 for each piece of your luggage. If you pay online before the date of your travel, the cost may be as low as $10 per piece of luggage.

At the time of checking in, bags are weighed and any overweight incurs a cost. If your carry-on baggage is too large and overweight, you will be asked to take some of your things out and transfer to your checked bag or the carry-on bag will be taken from you as you board the plane and secured by the flight attendant until you get to your destination.

Some airlines will even count your laptop as your carry-on and your actual carry-on would be an extra piece of luggage. The airlines are becoming rather picky and are paying attention to the luggage that you take with you on your trip. This is true when you travel during peak times and during the holidays. The airline will not tolerate even the slightest luggage overweight during those times because there are federal rules and regulations that don’t allow them to do so.

Check the airline regulations when you are taking a connecting flight to an international country. You may have more restrictions so be sure to find out more. Never over-pack. Only take the items that you really need for your travel. It is better to divide the items that you will need into two separate bags rather than overload one bag. If you can travel light, I would recommend that you do so. You may want to leave space for things that you may buy on your trip and want to take back with you.

Frans Joseph is the author of http://www.SaveTravelUSA.com , his experiences in traveling to USA can give you a lot of tips in saving money while you are traveling.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Frans_Joseph

How to Get Great Group Discounts to Plane Tickets

By Andrew A Wang

There was a time when a group discount for airline travel could be availed only if a group comprised ten or more members. But there is a new trend now. Airlines are willing to extend group discounts to groups that comprise less than ten members.

However, to avail such a discount you have to plan your travel carefully. The first thing you need to do is to plan your trip in advance. This gives the airlines the flexibility to offer you low fare tickets before they are sold out.

The second is you must avoid festive or holiday seasons. At this time most airlines run full; some of them even raise their fares to take advantage of the holiday rush. Off season travel has one more advantage. There is less rush at airports, and you can enjoy your trip more.

It is equally important to avoid the busy days. The lean days for most airlines are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. So plan your get together or getaway on one of these three days. You will find the fare more reasonable as compared to the busy days.

Even here you should be flexible. Don’t insist that all of you should be put on the same flight. You may be able to get a better deal if you don’t mind taking different flights on the same day. It may be a slight inconvenience as you will land at different times of the day but such flexibility can bring in good savings.

Another good policy is to consider multiple destinations instead of a single destination. Of course, for this there has to be an agreement within the group. But this gives the airlines a choice to put you on a flight where the fare is really low. It also helps if your destination is serviced by several flights.

The same holds true of flying from different airports. This can be especially useful if your group members are coming from different cities. Of course, this may not apply to two families living in the same neighborhood. But it can work well with an extended family or for an old boys’ reunion where different members are coming from different parts of the US.

You can even explore the possibility of taking a connecting flight. Such flights can be cheaper than point to point flights. Of course, they will take longer than direct flights, and you will have to suffer the inconvenience of changing flights. But if you are a light traveler and your group doesn’t mind changing flights then you can end up making substantial savings.

There is one more advantage in booking group tickets. You need not pay the full amount upfront. You are given a certain time to make the full payment. Of course, you need to look at the refund policies of the airlines to make sure you don’t lose the money in case you call off the trip.

Finally, you must try more than one airline while making a booking. You never know where you may get the best discount and the best flights to take.
Andrew Wang lives in Seattle area. He manages the following blogs:

* Student Loan Consolidation
* International Travel Medical Insurance Guide

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Andrew_A_Wang

Discount International Air Travel Is Not For Everyone

By : Susan Dean

Traveling internationally means something different to all of us. Some will be going on a holiday while others may be traveling for business purposes for example. Either way many people will choose the option for discount international air travel. Of course this really does depend on your financial situation and whether or not you are happy to accept the compromises that go with this form of traveling. What I mean by this is that to keep airfares at discounted prices the airlines will offer you for example alternatives such as layovers instead of direct flights. Now this may not be a bother to some people but to others it can be very disruptive to their travel plans.

I would seriously suggest to you that before you purchase your discount international air travel tickets you should really do your homework and find out whether these compromises are worth the reduced prices. For instance if you are flying with young children, you may wish to get to your destination as quickly as possible (for the sanity of all) without the hassle of stopping over at airports for hours waiting to catch the connecting flight. Children do not cope terribly well with long delays in airports. They can become quite irritable and understandably so.

Some discount international air travel options also can mean that you may not be landing at the nearest airport to where you want to go to, meaning you will have to find alternative transport to get you to your final destination. This may become quite costly. So when you add it all up it may have been much better to go for a more expensive flight. This is why I stress that you do your homework first.

Some airlines may also cut back on the extras that you get during your onboard flight. This may mean less to eat and drink. They may offer you snacks to buy which can be expensive too. Again, this may not bother some while it will bother others. Make sure when you are purchasing your tickets either through the airline or the travel agency that you ask lots of questions to make sure that you will be happy with the flight. After all whether you are flying full price or discounted it is still a lot of money to be spending when you fly internationally.

I suppose the good thing these days though is that there really is the option in the first place to be able to acquire discount international air travel. This opens up the world to so many people who probably would never have been able to afford to go overseas before but now can. So, save your money, do your homework and enjoy your time away from home for whatever reason it is that you are.

Article Source : http://www.123article.org

Airplane Safety Competes with Airplane Comfort

By : Lee Dobbins

Everyone wants to have a more comfortable flight but did you ever think about how this desire competes with the airlines ability to provide you with the utmost in safety?

The public desire for larger and faster aircraft sometimes comes head to head with the need for greater airplane safety. This fact was magnified soon after the world had welcomed the arrival of the year of 2000. One of the supersonic jets then carrying passengers across the Atlantic gave the public an eye-opening experience.

A piece of scrap left on the runway caught on one tire of a departing supersonic jet. The resulting crash led to a re-evaluation of the requirements for airplane safety. Eventually, the airlines decided to discontinue the use of those two jets. Now passengers are no longer able to get a super-speedy flight from London or Paris to a U.S airport.

For a time after that accident, airplane safety had the attention of the public. Of course, the public, as always, quickly forgot about the accident that had so recently appeared on the TV and computer screens.

Airplane designers could sense the dying concern for airplane safety, and the increased desire for a way to ease airport congestion.

Airplane designers introduced the idea of a larger jet, one that would carry almost twice as many passengers. They designed a jet with two different levels. An airline based in Southeast Asia expressed a desire to purchase such a jet.

There were a token number of test flights for the newly-designed and larger aircraft. No one seemed to question whether or not a measure of airplane safety could be properly made from just those few token test flights. The public needed a larger plane, a plane that could help to ease the congestion on the runways.

Therefore plans were made to initiate use of the larger jet plane. Once again the public desire for larger and faster aircraft had trumped the need for airplane safety. Once again, only time would reveal the wisdom of relying on this new and larger plane.

Sometimes we put our “want to haves” in front of our “must haves”, it’s only human nature to want the best of the best, but when the public clamors for more comfort the airlines must react by giving it to them. At times this can take priority over giving more safety. So next time you want a more comfortable seat or larger planes you might want to think about how this impacts the safety of air flight and your safety in general.

Article Source : http://www.123article.org

Discount Travel Saves You A Bundle

By : Susan Jan

Everybody loves to travel, but it is an expensive recreation for most. However, the cost of traveling should not stop anyone from enjoying himself or herself, as long you become adept at discount travel. Airfare is the most costly element of travel, so your ability to find discount flight options becomes handy.

Airline ticket prices fluctuate wildly, depending on the season, the popularity of the route etc. In the US a short international flight from New York City to Montreal, Canada, for example, costs approximately $300, while for about the same price, you can take a much longer domestic flight from, for example, New York all the way to Los Angeles. Regardless of the length of the route, domestic flights are cheaper than international flights as airlines are subject to less taxes and regulations, and these routes often carry more travelers so airlines can afford a discount.

To take advantage of this discount, you can split your international flight into two flights. Despite the small inconvenience, it is definitely cheaper than flying direct internationally. For example, to fly from northern US to South America, it is probably much cheaper to first fly domestic to a southern hub such as Miami, and then taking an international flight to South America. When searching for discount travel tickets, you want to fly as close as possible to your destination domestically, and you also want to fly between major hubs because the cheapest domestic tickets will always be between major hubs such as New York and LA.

Another popular discount travel flight option is charter flights. A standard airline generally has a set route and set schedule between two cites regardless of the amount of passengers. Standard airlines thus charge higher airfares in order to maintain these scheduled routes even if the plane is not half-full. On the other hand, charter companies usually charter an entire plane from an airline for a specific date and time, and therefore receive a good discount, which in turn is passed on to passengers. Airfares for charter flights also tend to get even cheaper as the departure date approaches. However, charter flights are also quite restrictive, in that there is a higher risk of charter companies canceling flights if enough tickets are not sold, and since there aren’t that many charter flights to multiple destinations, you may not be put on another flight immediately. You would probably receive a refund or you would probably have to wait one or two days for other charter flights.

The important thing about discount travel is to explore as many options as possible. If you are willing to be more flexible and to buy tickets on short notice, the cheaper your fare will be.

Article Source : http://www.123article.org

Cheap Airline Trip Tickets – Find Out How To Get Them Here

By : Ray La Foy

With gasoline prices ever on the rise, long distance trips by plane are looking better and better. Finding the best deals on cheap airline tickets requires a little Internet savvy and a willingness to shop around. The more people look around for flights and the more concessions they’re willing to make, the more likely it is cheap airline trip tickets can be had.

To get the best prices on airline tickets anywhere in the world, it pays to shop online and do the following things:

- Start looking for tickets well in advance, if possible. The best savings online or even through agents or directly from the airlines themselves will be realized the further ahead the trip is booked. A good rule of thumb is at least six weeks, but even a two-week lead will help you realize some savings on airline trip tickets. Remember though, even if you find great deals well in advance, if you don’t book the trip, the cost savings won’t be realized.

- Shop multiple locations. Some sites will offer better deals than others. Check out at least three locations before putting your money down. It doesn’t hurt to consider a combination of locations, either. Check the big online airline ticket sites, travel agents and even the airlines directly.

- Be willing to go on standby. This might make trip planning a little difficult, but the cost savings can be incredible for those willing to go this route. Airline tickets for those who are willing to go on standby can be a considerable amount cheaper. You might not travel exactly when you thought you would, but if you’re flexible on time, this option for tickets can be very beneficial.

- Take off hour flights. People who are willing to travel during off hours can often see some serious savings. Red eye flights, extended stays and so on can really help cut the cost on airline trip tickets. This isn’t the most fun way to travel, but it can pay off with reasonable prices.

- Be willing to allow the purchasing site to set your flight times. Very often if a booking site can put you on a flight where the time is available, the cost will be less than a prime time booking for airline trip tickets.

- Check with the smaller name carriers. Start up airlines can offer real savings on tickets. The frills might not go along with the buy, but the cost savings could be worth it. Another option is to downgrade flight area. Coach rather than first class, for example.

Finding cheap airline trip tickets isn’t the easiest prospect, but it can be done. Be smart by shopping well in advance of your flight, if possible, and take the time to look at multiple locations for the best deals. Traveling at off hours or on off days can also help cut the cost of obtaining airline trip tickets.

Article Source : http://www.123article.org

7 Tips You Must Know Before Buying Cheap Airfares Online

By : Steven Liew

It is a problem that most air travellers face – how and where to buy those cheap airfares online and what are the benefits in savings and drawbacks compared to buying the cheap airfares from the travel agent down the road.

If you travel by air, you would already know that airfares cost typically forms the dominant chunk of your travel bill be it leisure or holiday. And the savings can add up a lot i.e. if you know where to really get those cheap airfares.

But in the current world where there are a proliferation of travel agencies, sites and even airlines themselves advertising all sort of cheap airfares, if you buy those airfares online yourself and cut out the middlemen, the travel agents, then things could get confusing fast.

Without some guidance and understanding of how one of the world’s largest industry works (air travel), travellers are likely to find themselves short-changed for the more expensive airfares tickets or buying something they may not need that had already been built into the airfare prices.

Of course, every traveller would love it if they could just get those cheapest airfares or at least bragged to their relatives or friends how they managed to get those cheap airfares at 30%-50% cheaper than the next guy sitting on the plane. Is this possible actually?

Yes, you can do all these online yourselves but here are 7 important tips you have to know before buying those airfares online or searching for the best cheap airfare deal:

1) Know your priority first.
If cheap airfare price is everything and you can settle for some minor restrictions, then you are always better to go for the cheap consolidators’ airfares rather than that of the airlines’ own published airfares themselves.

On domestic US routes, some of the big online air travel consolidators you could check out are Onetravel.com, Hotwire.com, Priceline.com, etc.

On the other hand, if airfare price is not your top consideration (for example, you have this worry about foreign airlines reliability or security), you should then monitor your favourite airline’s own cheap airfare sales, which they have periodically every two to three months.

Or try to look for a complete package tour (which is likely cheaper in airfare ticket prices than just buying the airfare ticket alone) from the big published Internet travel agencies like Travelocity.com, Expedia.com, etc.

2) Do not waste time checking sites which have the same sources of cheap airfares.
For example, these sites may rely on the same computerised reservation system (CSR) that gives you options from the same set of published air fares.

There are less than 8 major CSR systems in the industry (you can check the sites on which CSRs are they using or ask their customer help desk) and it is better if you get your options from most or all of them to get the cheapest airfares.

Note that some sites may just be a portal or gateways to other main sites so it will be a waste of time to check your options on these sites together for your cheap airfare search.

3) Get the full itineraries available
Remember that airfare pricing are determined by a variety of factors such as dates, seating, routes (direct flights, stopovers or connecting flights for example), and their rules for cancellations, refunds or changes to the tickets.

You may find that the cheapest airfare tickets tend to have a lot of restrictions that may not be suitable to you.

For example, if you are on a rushed vacation where there are too many stopovers or connecting flights, these are likely to eat into your vacation time. Always check the fine prints before paying for any cheap airfares as there are tradeoffs to be made.

4) Always book and pay quickly on a good deal
Do not waste your time searching endlessly for the best cheap airfares deal. They don’t likely exist as airfare pricing are determined by many things as noted from above and the cheapest airfare tickets may not be suitable after all for your requirements.

If you do see a good cheap airfare deal, book and pay for it quickly.

Airlines typically may offer a few crash-down cheap airfare deals to pull in demands on limited seat availability and what you see in the advertisements may not be available to you in a few days or even the next hour unless you book and pay for those cheap seats quickly.

Keeping an eye open and putting yourself on the e-mail list of notifications by the airlines or travel agencies are a good way of spotting these cheap airfare deals.

5) There is no magical place or site to look, just the best comparison
Despite what some may claim, there are no one airline or travel site that will offer you the best available cheap airfare deal as it all depends on your requirements and travel preferences.

There are actually thousands of permutations of flights routes, prices, type of flights, seatings, timing, etc for any possible trip especially for those long-distance, lengthy, round-the-world (RTW)trips.

Hence, it is always wise to do comparison between airlines or travel agencies at all time for their cheap airfare claims or offers. Of course, just do not be a cheap airfare fanatic until you miss the forest for the trees.

6) Never assume anything on cheap airfares
The best advice is never to assume anything on the airfares that you have to pay as what is cheap could be obscured by hidden charges.

Make sure that the net cheap airfare price you have to pay have factored in other charges like airport taxes, surcharges, agencies charges, etc. before you pay or make a like-for-like comparison with other sites.

Also never assume that online airfare prices will be cheaper. Always check offline for example with the consolidators’ cheap airfares.

Also never assume that those cheapest airfares flight search function on any travel websites will actually get you the ever lowest discount fares.

They won’t as search robots are actually not exactly built that way and are quite rigid. For example, they may not disclose another cheaper airfare alternative say if you vary your destination or stopover a little bit, which brings us to a last point.

7) You need to invest some patience and efforts
Ultimately, to find those bargain cheap airfares, you still need to invest the time and effort to find them.

There are always different sites, tactics and sources to find the best possible cheap airfares (note not necessarily the cheapest) for any trips.

If you are unable to do so yourself, you could still find a trustworthy and reliable travel agent to search out those cheap airfare options for you for a small fee.

Just be sure that you ask all the relevant questions in this case as some agents may not likely be as helpful as you want them to be, to search for the lowest airfares or best itineraries for you.

In the end still, nothing beats a little time and effort to plan your trip yourself and get the best out of it at the least cost.

Article Source : http://www.123article.org

Cheap Airfares : Understanding The Basics Of It

By : Steven Liew

As a smart traveller, you should always be looking for ways to travel cheap and getting cheap airfares is the first thing you need to plan.

Savings on cheap airfares means you can save your money for something more luxurious you can enjoy on the trip – like a hotel suite or a first class flight or simply a free second trip.

And if you travel by air, you would already know that airfares cost typically forms the dominant chunk of your travel bill be it leisure or holiday.

And so, it goes without saying that saving something like 30%-50% on those airfares on average, every time, will go a long way to put extra money into your travel itinerary – that otherwise would have gone into the hands of airlines and their shareholders.

But it can get really confusing out there when people talk about cheap airfares.

Everybody is advertising cheap airfares nowadays and what you thought you might have gotten a great deal may turn out to be second or even fifth best after you found out how cheap airfares in the industry really works.

Airlines, travel agents, tour operators, travel advisors, everybody wants a chunk of your travel money and unless you know how the airfare system works, you will simply not getting the best deals in town.

And it does matter where, why, how and when you are flying because your airfare savings depend on all of the above.

And it also matters what you prefer:

- cheapest airfares without any comfort,
- cheap airfares but with comfort and style, or
- cheapest but you are actually not getting those cheapest airfares.

The best is obviously the middle choice. The first one is not exactly one that a typical traveller would choose for obvious reasons and the last one is just a throw-down and plain deceiving.

Flying on cheap airfares with comfort and style is what most of us would go for.

Well, to get the cheapest airfares but yet fly in comfort and style, you just have to understand how the airline and air ticketing industry work.

While the whole industry airfare intricacies are obviously not comprehensible by just an explanation in this one article alone (the travel industry is one of the biggest sectors in the world), travellers can still get cheap airfares and good air ticket savings by getting a basic understanding of the industry first and how all the players fit in.

One of the most important distinctions is that a deregulated market airfare system like in the US is far different from the international airfare market. The rule of thumb is that it’s certainly harder to exploit cheap airfares in a deregulated market.

This does not mean you cannot get cheap airfares in these markets, note this carefully, it just means compared to the average other Joe traveller in the market, you do not really get that significant a major advantage.

That said, there are loopholes of course, and cheap airfare tactics and strategies to exploit.

Note that there are more opportunities to get cheap airfares comparatively on international travel and it is a shame that common travellers do not exploit even these avenues.

Most sites will be advertising their cheap airfares gimmick but after understanding how the industry works, you are likely to wise up to these low airfare tactics.

Essentially, there are two major types of fares that is published and unpublished fares and this determines whether you get the cheap airfares that you want.

Published airfares are those which are available on the computerised reservation systems used by airlines and travel agents and which list down most of all the published airfares approved and filed with the respective countries’ governments.

For international airfares, these are regulated by the one sole dominant body called the International Air Transportation Association (IATA). These airfares got to be registered and approved by IATA and the respective governments who have aviation agreements between them.

IATA is the monitoring body of these agreements.

As a condition of membership in IATA, airlines agree to sell their air tickets only at IATA-approved prices. IATA regulations strictly forbid the direct discounting of air tickets directly to passengers.

In case you are pondering, more than 90% of the airlines companies worldwide are members of IATA.

The good news however is that airlines do discount their airfare prices unofficially off their published prices to travel agents/sellers who buy in bulk and get the large discount from the airlines. Right, that is where you can really get cheap airfares.

These discounts are passed on to consumers in the form of cheaper airfares. Note that strictly under IATA rules, airlines are not actually allowed to do any discounting of their approved published air ticket prices.

But it happens nonetheless as not all airlines seats are sellable at 100% their published prices.

These cheap airfares agents/sellers are known in the industry as consolidators/bucket shop/discounters (the terms are typically used interchangeably although there are subtle differences between them). Basically, you need to find these sellers for a truly cheap airfare deal.

The rule of thumb is that you should always seek out cheap unpublished fares from a consolidator especially on international routes. The next time you buy air tickets, ask your travel agents to seek out the cheapest consolidator airfares first and then compared them to the published airfares directly from the airlines.

Or buy online yourself from these airfare consolidators. Most of them don not sell to the general public (only to registered travel agents) but increasingly, many do.

Some of the good ones include www.onetravel.com, www.flights.com, www.priceline.com, etc., which are some of the largest ones in the US. You can save as much as 40%-60% of the typical published airfares and be amazed.

Article Source : http://www.123article.org

Holiday in November in the Florida Sunshine

By : Philip Howard

Most families save for months, sometimes years, to be able to afford their trip of a life to Florida when there really is no need.

November is one of the best months to go to Florida for a number of reasons and hopefully you will be able to afford it as opposed to breaking the bank or running up a massive credit card bill.

The following lists five good reasons to go to Florida in November and have the time of your life.

1. Flights are so cheap in November that it would work out more economical to travel to Florida than it would to the only hot alternatives like Tenerife or Lanzarote. A last minute booking with many airlines are as low as ?130 per adult for flight and car.

2. There are that many villas for rent in Florida, full stop, and at this time of the year villa owners, are not quite begging for your business, but are more than happy to offer you a great deal for the rental of a beautiful holiday home. Some are as low as ?350 per week; this is for the rental of the villa NOT PER PERSON, which includes all taxes and end of vacation cleaning.

3. The Theme Parks are probably the main reason families choose to go to Florida with a round of golf coming a close second. So starting with the attractions; the queues are much shorter than that in the height of the season and more bearable too. You can spend as much as two days in one theme park in August as opposed to visiting two separate ones within the same time in November. Two weeks is “Never enough time” for most first, second or even third time visitors to Florida, so the more of it you have the more you can fit in to keep all the family happy. Now for the golf; prices vary due to the weather and time of day. For example the most expensive time to play is early morning because the majority of golfers want to play in cooler conditions and this is the only time of day it is cool enough in the height of summer. November, however, is perfect to play all day and teeing off at noon doesn’t leave you exhausted once you have played 18 holes and the cost is a lot lower than playing at 7am in August.

Article Source : http://www.123article.org

How to Book Airfares to Avoid Problems

By : Don Nadeau

Most people focus on saving money while booking airfares, but may not focus enough on how to avoid potential problems with connecting flights.

Here are several tips to keep in mind when you book your flights.

Pad your connections

Pad your connection time, especially when there very few flights you can take if you miss yours.

In the U.S., airlines are operating fewer flights and filling these flights with more passengers. This means more flight delays, as it takes a fuller airplane additional time to board and deplane. Airports have also become more congested and spread out.

Yet, in many cases, the minimum connecting times allowed between flights have not changed for years. If you’re booking flights with connecting times of 30 – 40 minutes or so at airports like Chicago O’Hare, you’re drastically increasing the chances that you will miss your connection. And even if you barely make it, your checked luggage may not make that flight.

This may not matter much if you’re flying into Chicago and connecting into New York’s LaGuardia Airport early in the day, as there usually are lots of other flights available through the day if your incoming flight is late.

But, it matters a lot if you’re connecting into Billings, Montana late in the day at Salt Lake City, when there are no more flights to Billings that day if you miss your connection.

And, it matters even more if you’re connecting to an overseas point, where you may find only one flight available on that route each day. Your missed flight may bag you a 24-hour wait, or a trip via a far-less-direct routing.

Common airline rules for connections

For flights within the U.S., most airlines allow you to take any available connection within four hours. In many cases, you don’t have to book the shortest connecting time to get the lowest fare.

For international destinations, you may be allowed to book any available connection within 24 hours, depending on the airline. This means that if you’re flying from Dallas to Cape Town, you don’t have to reserve an uncomfortably short 45-minute connection, instead of a much safer two- or three-hour one.

Using Priceline and Hotwire tickets

When you use Hotwire and Priceline, you don’t usually get to choose your connecting times for the cheapest fares.

Nevertheless, if you find that your connecting times seem too short, some airlines, such as United, will allow you to stand by for earlier flights on the same day when using tickets from Priceline or Hotwire. There’s no guarantee that you will get on an earlier flight, but you’ll still have your original confirmed reservation if you don’t.

On your departure day, call or check online for an earlier flight on the same airline that has seats available to your connecting airport. You can also check to see if there are nonstop flights on the same airline available to your final destination that leave earlier than your reserved departure time. For tips I’ve given for flying standby, see the link in the bio box of this article.

Avoid changing airlines

Expedia.com especially tends to display budget prices that involve traveling three or even four different airlines on the same day. These low rates are actually a collection of cheap individual fares, which can be very tempting to book.

However, in most cases, you significantly increase your chances of problems each time you connect to a different airline, making limited savings just not worth it. Here are some aggravations you could encounter:

The airlines may operate from different buildings that are not close together.

They may refuse to transfer checked luggage.

But, most importantly, they may claim NO responsibility whatsoever if you miss your connection to the other airline. This can become a very serious problem because budget fares tend to be non-refundable with heavy penalties for changes, or with no changes allowed at all.

For example, if you miss your connection from United to Southwest, which never allow each other’s flights on the same ticket, Southwest Airlines will charge you the full difference between your advance purchase fare and the much higher same-day ticketing fare for that leg of your trip. You can’t stand by. (United is kinder – if you miss your connection from Southwest to United, you’ll be allowed to stand by for a United flight on that same day at no extra fare, in most cases. Still, standby is not as good as a confirmed seat.)

Using more than one airline (with more than one ticket) for the same trip may be tempting when traveling overseas, because of the potential savings. But, be very careful when setting up these trips. In the bio box at the bottom of this article, see the link on how to save using separate tickets.

In summary, pad your layovers and keep your trips as simple as possible, and they will usually be trouble free.

Good luck for a smooth and pleasant trip!

Article Source : http://www.123article.org