When To Buy Your Airfare

This article may NOT contain the answer you are looking for, but I do hope it clears up some of the confusion and misinformation that is floating out in cyberspace when it comes to the best days and times to buy airfare for your upcoming dream vacation.

First, here is a fact about airfare prices,  they fluctuate on almost a minute by minute basis.  The fluctuation is due to computer algorithms that set prices based on the number of seats still available on a certain flight.  As seats sell, prices change.  Its good ole supply and demand, plain and simple.  There are a lot of detailed articles out there trying to give more detail into why prices are so different for the same flight on any given day, but it all boils down to economics.  If a flight is a popular route, you can count on the fact that prices will reflect it (i.e. supply and demand) and that won't matter if it is on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday etc.

Second, we get asked all the time whether it is cheaper to fly on a Tuesday vs a Friday etc.  The answer still goes back to supply and demand.  It very well may be cheaper because a lot of business travelers leave out on Sundays and Mondays and come back on Fridays or Saturdays.  But keep in mind that airlines know this and the number of flights reflect the busier days and routes which brings up the issue of availability and the number of connections.

Third, what you see when it comes to the published fare may not be the real cost of flight.  For example, you bought a ticket on "ABC Airlines."  Then when you went to choose your seat, the only available seat for the price was a middle seat near the back bathroom.  So you see that the seat is in an awful location but you also see there are other seats that you can upgrade to for the everyday low price of $60.   So you waited until Tuesday to buy that airfare that was $30 lower but ended up paying $60 more for a seat you actually want to sit in.

So with all of this said, here are the factors that should play into your decision of when you want to buy your airfare:

1) How committed are you to the trip?  If your trip dates are set due to vacation schedules and you are set to a certain departure and return date, you should consider buying your airfare as soon as you can. I say that because if your vacation destination is a popular one, the good flights (good times and connections) can sell out while you wait to see if the fare is going to drop $20 to $50.

2) Single vs multiple connection flights.  Let's assume there are no direct flights between where you are and your destination so you will have at least one connection.  You need to weigh the importance of the number of connections as well as the layover time.  Waiting to buy on a certain day of the week and at a certain number of days before your trip can put at risk losing the best connection and layover times. Was it worth the difference in airfare if you now have to stop at 2 different airports before reaching your final destination?  Each connection carries its own risks such as the chance for bags to get lost or issues with weather or airplane equipment.  The money you might save may seem insignificant if you spend the first two days of your vacation in the same clothes you started in.

3) Time of year.  if you are flying to a destination that is popular during a certain time of year (i.e flying to Europe in June or July), the prices will not only change rapidly, but again, flights can literally sell out.  The direct flight you wanted from Chicago to Rome not only could be sold out, but the longer connecting flight may also now cost more because you waited.

Let me summarize by telling you how we consult our clients when it comes to purchasing their airfare.  If we know that the client's dates are set and we know that destination is a popular one for that time of year, we always encourage them to buy as soon as possible with only a few exceptions.  We advise them to consider the single vs multiple connection.  We help them see that taking the last flight out may appear cheaper but it may not be worth it if that flight is canceled and there are no longer anymore options out that night.  We make sure sure our clients see that the cheaper flight may have a layover until the next morning which means there will be an overnight hotel stay which also now adds to the cost.  We make sure our clients know that if it is important that they are seated together, then we need to grab the flights and seats when we can to make sure that happens.

So do you see that waiting to buy airfare on a certain day or picking days of the week that you think will be cheaper may not be the best choice?  Its not a simple answer of "always buy on Tuesday because its cheaper."  Let professionals help you understand the pros and cons of waiting or not waiting.

The Waiting Game

Not sure what it is.  Is it a cultural thing? Is it a generational thing?  Or is it simply a human thing?  I am referring to this idea that waiting will somehow give you a better advantage when it comes to the cost of booking a trip.

I am curious because it seems to cross over into other areas of life.  Back in the day when I was a Realtor, I had clients who would decide to wait on making an offer on the home they wanted or decide to wait to list their home to see if the market would improve.  In most of those cases, the waiting cost them money.  I am talking about 5+ years ago.  A couple would think that waiting might cause the owner to reduce their price before they made an offer, but then get upset when that same house sold right out from under them.

I am not intending to make this a post about real estate, but I want you to see that maybe it is more than just an industry-specific notion that waiting will somehow work out to your benefit.  Because here I am now working as a professional travel consultant and I see the same exact mentality.  "Let's wait and see if airfare will go down" or "let's wait and see if that cruise offers some steep last minute discounts."  That might have been the case several years ago, but the landscape has changed.

Today...we are experiencing a huge uptick in travel across the board.  In fact, this article, "Consumer Travel Attitudes Hit a High Note," shows that more people are traveling now due to several positive factors.  That means demand is up.  Airplane seats are being filled.  Hotel rooms are being booked.  Cruise lines are selling staterooms further in advance of the actual cruise date.  I already have clients booking vacations into December of this year and hotel rooms have already become scarce at the more popular destinations.

I say all of that to say...if you wait, you might not only pay a higher cost for your trip, but you may also lose out on the place that you wanted to stay.  I have had situations where someone wanted to ponder a little longer and that pondering cost them a few hundred dollars because the cheaper airfare had already sold out.

This is going to take a mentality shift for a lot of you, but here is my advice.  Decide where you want to go.  Determine the dates as quick as you can.  Sit down with yourself, your spouse or your significant other and determine a budget that you can afford for the trip.  Then contact a professional travel planner and give him or her that info and let them do their job.  And when they come back with options, don't think that you have lots of time to ponder and check prices etc.  That price you were quoted may not be there tomorrow.  So listen to your trusted professional.  He or she knows whether the place you are going and the time that you want to go will be something that you can wait on or not.  If it is Hawaii in December...I wouldn't cue the Jeopardy music and think you have plenty of time to decide.

So I am not sure I have an answer to my original question; is this idea of waiting unique to us Americans or is it a world wide trait?  Have you waited to book only to find out that you missed your chance at getting the lowest price?  Maybe you disagree with me.  You comments are always welcome.

Do You Charge Me a Fee?

That is a standard question that travel agents get asked by prospective clients.  I am finding that the majority of today’s travelers do not understand how travel agents get compensated.  So I wanted to write and answer the question, “how doe a travel agent get paid?”

In 99% of the cases where I am working with a client on a particular trip, my services are free to the client (I will explain the 1% in a moment).  The travel “system” as I will call it, has a travel agent’s compensation built in and is invisible to the client.  For example, major hotel chains, cruise lines and even resort destinations such as Disneyland and Walt Disney World offer commission to travel agents as a way of saying “thank you” for bringing clients their way.  The price the consumer pays would be the same whether they used a travel agent or not.  Naturally there are benefits for using a travel agent, but that has already been addressed in previous posts.

So please understand that our compensation is being paid by the suppliers to us (the travel agents) there are no additional fees being tacked on to the consumer’s cost.  

But here is where the exception comes in, the 1% that I mentioned; airlines quit paying commissions to travel agents several years back due to their own economic issues.  So if a client is only interested in booking airfare through a travel agent, the travel agent has to charge a service fee in order to make any income.  Those service fees are discussed ahead of time so there are no surprises.  I personally charge a small fee unless the client has booked other commissionable items such as a hotel, rental car, cruise etc, in which case I waive my fee.

But please understand this one last point.  Almost every professional travel agent out there works off of commission only.  We do not get paid salaries.  So if you go to a travel agent for help with learning about a destination or a cruise and so on, and then choose to take that information and book it yourself, that professional just worked for nothing.  Travel agents have bills to pay and families to feed just like every other working person so please consider that before taking their professional advice and info and then rushing out to book something on your own because you think you can get a better deal.

I hope this answers the question.  Please feel free to ask other questions or offer a comment or opinion.

If I Ran an Airline...

If you are a fairly frequent traveler, one of the things that probably frustrates you the most is flying.  Most airlines have done a successful job of making it a huge hassle from start to finish.  Now granted some of the aggravation has nothing to do with the airlines and more with the security process we all most go through now.  But you would think that at least one airline would grab a clue and see that airline passengers are becoming increasingly hacked off well before they ever step through the door of an airport.

From the time you click on an airline’s website, you immediately feel tension because nothing is simple anymore.  Do you want to pay for “coach-flexible?”  Or how about the “super-triple-saver-web-only” fare?  If you have a bank account in the Caymans with a few million in it, you may even want to buy the “business class-flexible-early fare.”  That is just the beginning.  Now that you have selected the time you want with the fare that is going to require a new mortgage on the home, it is now the time to decide if you want to actually select your own seat.  Most likely there will be a charge for that so don’t tally up the final cost quite yet.  Or how about wifi or luggage?  Do you plan on actually changing clothes on your trip?  That’s gonna cost ya.  Ugh!  I am getting frustrated just typing this.

To top it all off, we still have to listen to airlines whine when their quarterly reports come out showing that they are still losing money.  So here it is, here is what I would do, if I ran an airline.

First...I would do away with different fares across all flights and all times.  Each valued guest would pay only one fare of $250 for a roundtrip ticket.  How many times have you boarded a plane and sat down and wondered what the person next to you paid for the same exact flight in the same exact row of seats etc?  If you are like me, you are afraid to ask.  You don’t want to know that you maybe paid double of what that person paid.  So away with varying fares. Away I say!  One fare only.  And if you want to sit in first class (I would do away with business class), you all pay one fare of $500 for a roundtrip flight.  No more upgrades.  No more using mileage to get bumped up.  Just pay the fare and the seat is yours.

Second, you would only be able to book a flight via the internet. You could still go through a travel agent or tour company, but they too would have to book via the internet.  That would significantly reduce the number of employees needed and would allow me to properly staff and train the customer service department which would still be accessible by phone. My customer service staff would be the best of the best to handle any form of issues that might come up during travel and they would be able to handle existing reservations etc.

Third and finally, No more nickel and dime’ing the passengers.  There would be no charge for 2 checked bags per person.  Each flight would offer free wifi.  Each flight would offer complimentary snacks and non-alcoholic beverages.  Each flight would also offer fresh baked cookies and satellite radio for free.  

Think about that now...each flight, no matter of where it flies and at what time, would all be the same flat fare of $250.  That would fill up the flights with the most desirable times and connections quicker.  If someone knew what they were going to pay, they would want to book further ahead of time to ensure they get the best times etc.  No more last minute sales to fill seats.  

So the question is, would you fly with my airline if it was structured that way?  Would you be willing to pay the $250 knowing that you were going to get great service and no more “extra fee” surprises?  Would you be more willing to buy in advance when planning a vacation?  Would the extra $250 be worth it to upgrade to first class?

Now I just need to come up with a catchy name...

Understanding Airline Costs

As I have searched for client's airfare over the past few days, I am being made aware again that the general public still does not completely understand the "real cost" of a particular flight. I will have clients that say they have found a flight for "X dollars" which appeared to be the cheapest option on the surface. That one flight may have come in $50 less than another option on another airline, but was it really $50 cheaper?

You won't know the answer to that question unless you are clearly aware of each airlines fee policy.

Southwest Airlines is always a good one to use when talking about fees due to their resistance to charge for certain items or services (such as baggage fees) above and beyond the actual airfare. So let's say you have found a flight on Southwest for $250 round trip. And for the sake of the argument, let's assume you do not want to check in early (earlier than 24 hours before your flight) just to keep it simple. You then go and search some more options and find a similar flight time on Frontier Airlines and their base fare is $199 round trip and you get all excited thinking you are about to save over $50. But let's also say that you will check in at least one piece of luggage for your trip. Southwest allows up to 2 free checked in bags per person. Frontier will charge you $20 for the first check piece of luggage each way. So now...the true cost of the Frontier Flight (round trip) is $239.

See? All of the sudden, most of the cost savings that you thought you were going to get with Frontier was just wiped away when you forgot to consider baggage fees.

We can get wrapped up in all of the other fees such as fees for pillows, blankets, advance seat selection etc, but the major cost difference between airlines (anything above the base fare) will be baggage fees. So please make sure you understand each airlines rules when it comes to checked in luggage before making your final decision, especially if you are basing your decision on cost more so than schedule.

So ask yourself these questions when you start looking into airfare:

1) Will I need to check in 1 or 2 pieces of luggage for this trip?
2) Will I care if I don't get to select my actual seat on the plane?
3) Will I care if the airline tells me that there will be a charge for any type beverage or food service?
4) Will I care if I am made to pay for a blanket or pillow on the flight?

Those are areas that airlines are finding ways of getting into your pocket book. If you answer no to all of those questions, then you will be in a better position to compare one airline's base fare to another and get a true apples to apples comparison. But if those 4 items do matter to you, then you better make sure which airline is charging what and how much before hitting the "purchase" button.

I hope this helps.

Thoughts? Comments? Questions?

Travel Tip of the Week: Stay Calm!

If you are the type to not stay calm when things are not going your way during your travels...this video is for you.

Travel Tip of the Week: Airline Travel

Understanding the Real Costs

I have been posting travel tips trying to help consumers see that there are sometimes hidden fees or extra costs associated with so-called "great travel deals." I just posted a new video earlier today again explaining that there are most likely some asterisks associated with really good deals that you need to read and understand before you get into the booking process.

I came across a so-called deal today that is a great example of what I was discussing. Here is the headline for the special:

$107 & up -- Las Vegas 3-Night Packages w/Air, incl. Taxes^*

Notice the asterisk??

Now here is the fine print associated with that asterisk:

^* Terms/Conditions:
Offer based on a buy one (1) air/hotel package, get one (1) round-trip companion airfare for free. Minimum two (2) night, two (2) person air/hotel package required. Companion travel must be on same itinerary as regular fare passenger. Must be purchased by July 22, 2009 for travel completed by January 31, 2010. Offer not available Dec. 11–14, Dec. 30–31 and Jan. 1–2, 2010. Prices do not include PFC, segment tax or Sept. 11 security fee of up to $10.60 per segment. A convenience fee of $14 per passenger will apply when booked on allegiantair.com. A convenience fee of $14 per passenger, plus $10 per segment, will apply when purchased through Allegiant Air call centers. When purchased at the time of booking, a first checked bag fee of $15–$20 per bag, per segment. and second checked bag fee of $25 will apply per person, per segment. If purchased at flight check–in, a fee of $35 per checked bag, per person, per segment will apply for the first two bags checked. Additional higher fees will apply for three or more checked bags. A segment is one take–off and one landing. Fare rules, routes and schedules are subject to change without notice. Restrictions apply. Offer not valid on previously purchased tickets.

If you look through the fine print, you will see that additional costs will apply and several others that most likely will apply depending on how you book and how many bags you check on. The actual price could be as much as $100 more per person once you add in the extra fees that the headline does not tell you.

So...just be aware of these fees and it is always a good idea to use a professional and reputable travel agent (shameless plug..ha) to help you understand what a trip will cost well before you get to the point that any payment is made.

Changes You Need to Know...

There are a few things that every traveler needs to know to make sure their trip/vacation is as stress free as possible. One of the more important regulations effects what you can and cannot pack in the way of liquids. Since I have had a few clients ask me about the details of this regulation, I thought I would paste the exact wording from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) website.

3-1-1 for carry-ons = 3.4 ounce bottle or less (by volume) ; 1 quart-sized, clear, plastic, zip-top bag; 1 bag per passenger placed in screening bin. One-quart bag per person limits the total liquid volume each traveler can bring. 3.4 oz. container size is a security measure.

Consolidate bottles into one bag and X-ray separately to speed screening.

Be prepared. Each time TSA searches a carry-on it slows down the line. Practicing 3-1-1 will ensure a faster and easier checkpoint experience.

3-1-1 is for short trips. If in doubt, put your liquids in checked luggage.

Declare larger liquids. Medications, baby formula and food, and breast milk are allowed in reasonable quantities exceeding three ounces and are not required to be in the zip-top bag. Declare these items for inspection at the checkpoint.

Also be aware that soon you will be required to have the name on your airline tickets show any middle initial or middle name that may also appear on your Federally approved identification.

The forms of identification that are now considered acceptable for travel in and out of the U.S. are (as of June 2009):

• U.S. passport
• U.S. passport card
• DHS "Trusted Traveler" cards (NEXUS, SENTRI, FAST)
• U.S. Military ID (active duty or retired military and their dependents)
• Permanent Resident Card
• Border Crossing Card
• DHS-designated enhanced driver's license
• Drivers Licenses or other state photo identity cards issued by Department of Motor Vehicles (or equivalent) that meets REAL ID benchmarks (All states are currently in compliance)
• A Native American Tribal Photo ID
• An airline or airport-issued ID (if issued under a TSA-approved security plan)
• A foreign government-issued passport
• Canadian provincial driver's license or Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) card
• Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC)

Non-US/Canadian citizens are not required to carry their passports if they have documents issued by the U.S. government such as Permanent Resident Cards. Those who do not should be carrying their passports while visiting the U.S.

If you have specific questions about any of the above or travel requirements in general, you can send me an e-mail or leave a comment/question on this post.

Travel Tip of the Week

Top 10 Reasons to Use a Travel Agent

It is one of the questions I get asked from time to time, "why should I or would I use a travel agent?" Well...here 10 reasons you might want to consider it:

1. You've Googled "Mexico vacation," and come up with 17.8 million responses. Need a little help editing those choices?

2. Remember when you used that obscure website to book your hotel, and when you got there you spent your beach vacation overlooking a parking lot?

3. How many hours were you on hold with the airline when your flight was canceled because of a snowstorm?

4. Did you really mean to spend your honeymoon at that resort whose one tiny pool was filled all day with 12 screaming children?

5. Who knew that when you booked that "villa" in Tuscany, it would be a small room with a kitchenette and no air conditioning? Funny, it looked much better on your computer screen.

6. No one explained to you that in July, it's winter time in Rio, and so you showed up there with nothing but five Hawaiian shirts and three pairs of swimming trunks.

7. How about the time you really needed a restful vacation, and you ended up in New Orleans during Mardi Gras and someone threw up on your shoes?

8. Yes, I guess that hotel must have used a telephoto lens when they took a picture of those guest rooms that you saw on their website.

9. I suppose contacting the Attorney General to resolve the fact that that Internet site has billed your credit card three times instead of once is the only route to take at this point.

10. It was definitely odd that there were no cab drivers at the airport at 3 o'clock in the morning when you finally landed in Costa Rica, but booking a transfer to your very remote hotel would have been a good thing to remember when you purchased your airline ticket and hotel online.

Always remember...a travel agent's services are free to the consumer unless a specific fee has been agreed to up front for some special services to be rendered.

Adopted from an article written by Ruthanne Terrero. Please visit the following link to read her article in its entirety. Travel Agent Central