New Air Fare war and new rules on cheap tickets

[poseidon]

For those of you who aren't paying attention to the news, there are several fare wars going on now with many carriers.

United Airlines, who is in bankruptcy, is offering some very good deals. They've not only announced deals on coach fares, but also on business-class fares.

American Airlines is also offering some great deals.

You might also want to look at Frontier Airlines. If you're flying out of Denver or to Denver, you're going to get a non-stop flight. If you're going to fly out of anywhere else to a destination aside from Denver, you'll have to change planes in Denver for it.

When you're pricing your trip using whatever source you want, keep in mind that the old rules are changing.

Old Rule: You have to stay over a Saturday night to get the best airfare.

New Rule: Not necessarily. The smaller carriers (Frontier, Spirit, etc.) have ignored this rule for awhile. In the last several weeks, the larger carriers are slowly but surely dropping this requirement.

Old Rule: You had to stay at least two nights to get a decent fare.

New Rule: Again, not necessarily. The smaller carriers (again) started letting you fly into your destination on Monday and leave on Tuesday. The big carriers are just now starting to realize the potential and are following suit.

[theworm[$]]

Hhm. I heard something recently ( I hope it wasn't here - I'm pretty sure I heard it on the news) about NASA getting involved in direct shorter flights to executive airports. The idea was to take the emphasis off of hubs and make travel less expensive and less of a hassle.
I'm not sure how this will work, but I think it could force the major airlines to look at their routes and fares.

[frazzledspice]

I don't know about Orbitz or Travelocity, since I fly with Hotwire almost exclusively (I haven't flown other than through Hotwire since August, 2000, when I flew with Priceline, although I always check out Southwest to see if they have a better deal.)

The last time I used Hotwire (I rented a car) cancellation insurance was available for a very, very low rate (about 2% of the total price, I believe.)

To me, a Hotwire ticket with cancellation insurance is much, much better than a supersaver ticket that is non-refundable.

Are all the sites starting to offer this?

[poseidon]

I think that Hotwire's fee for trip insurance was $12.00, and it's a great deal.

Again, things are changing in the travel industry, Fraz. Hotwire is a great tool as well, but isn't always the best deal, either.

Some of the downsides of Hotwire or Priceline is that you don't get to choose your travel times. You may want to take a trip from Denver to Miami and get a great price, but find that you're taking the last flight out (5pm) of Denver and arriving in Miami at 11pm, and may find that you've got the return trip being the first flight out of Miami (7am) and arriving back in Denver at 10am.

If you're flexible, that's great. But on a short trip (such as four or five days), you could very easily lose two entire days of your trip because of the travel times.

There are tricks to using Hotwire (I can't speak for Priceline) where you can determine with some accuracy which flight you're going to wind up on beforehand. I'm planning on starting a thread on that exact subject (if someone doesn't beat me to it) in the next few days.

Anyhow, one of the biggest downsides to Hotwire is the hotel feature.

[frazzledspice]

I've rented hotel rooms once through Hotwire and once through Priceline.

We rented a hotel room in Mesa, Arizona through hotwire when I went to a church conference. The church was willing to pay for the conference, and the room IF I was sharing a room, but since I brought my family, they just paid for the conference. I thought the rooms at the conference center were a little pricey and decided to try my luck with hotwire.

We got a room at the Sheraton in Mesa, AZ for $40 a night. It was a spacious room for the three of us with a mini-fridge, computer hookup for our laptop, etc. We used the pool and hot tub and they were well-maintained and enjoyable. We were there four days and I was very pleased with the money we saved.

When we rented from Priceline we stayed at a Ramada Inn in Columbia, Missouri for about $38 a night. My son (a senior in college) wanted to cook Thanksgiving dinner for us, and it was a midpoint between us and our other son. We stayed at the motel because his apartment didn't have that much room.

Because it was Thanksgiving, the housekeeper never showed up to clean the room, but other than that we were pleased with the accommodations. They had a free breakfast the next day that would rival the average casino's breakfast buffet. Eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, waffles, fresh fruit, etc., etc. I was flabbergasted.

The breakfast buffet alone, if paid for, would have covered most of the cost of the room.

I have read about people having bad experiences with hotwire and priceline hotels, but we've done fine.

[Joubert[$]]

I know that Ramada well, Fraz. You have to admit that while the locals seem to enjoy that buffet that it's pretty dingy in that restaurant. The food wasn't particularly good either as I recall.

But that's a great rate. The Fairfield runs about $60 and the Wingate runs a little more, but is newer, has better facilities and free broadband. I've only stayed at the Holiday Inn there once, but it was pretty good but pricey for them.