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About Rick Seaney, CEO FareCompare

Rick Seaney

Rick Seaney, co-founder of FareCompare.com - is a world-class air travel expert.

FareCompare.com presides over a kingdom of sophisticated software that searches out fares and destinations at a billion combinations per query - while keeping track of 500 airlines serving more than 270,000 markets around the globe.

And all of Rick's data is updated continuously - in real-time.

No wonder he's the media's go-to guy for all things air travel. He's got the answers. And he loves to share his knowledge.

That's why Rick and the team created FareCompare.com - to help everyone become an air travel expert, and get the best deals first -- every time they fly.

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Hero of the Hudson Says, Times are Tough for Pilots, Too

February 25, 2009 | Posted in: Pilots,US Airways | 10 comments

I think we can safely say that Capt. Chesley Sullenberger is no whiner (in case you’ve been on Mars, he’s the US Airways pilot who safely landed his crippled aircraft in the Hudson last month).

So when he airs a complaint, it’s worth listening to. The complaint? Pilot pay. According to Sullenberger, pay cuts are driving experienced pilots from the cockpit.

The man testified before a House aviation committee Tuesday and at one point (as noted in the Seattle Times) said “his pay has been cut 40 percent in recent years and his pension has been terminated and replaced with a promise ‘worth pennies on the dollar’.” The cuts began after all the bankruptcies following 9/11.

Two quotes caught my eye – Sullenger saying that he doesn’t know of a single professional pilot that wants his or her kids to follow in their footsteps, and, this one (remember, Sullenberger runs a safety consulting business in addition to being a pilot):

“For the last six years, I have worked seven days a week between my two jobs just to maintain a middle-class standard of living.” - Capt. Chesley Sullenberger

Something to think about. And maybe Capt. Sullenberger should think about Richard Branson’s offer, to “make him the best paid pilot at Virgin”.

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More Crazy (in a good way) – Delta’s Amazing Summer Deals to Ireland

February 25, 2009 | Posted in: Delta,Europe | 8 comments

Delta has Dublin for sale – and Shannon, too – at absolutely crazy prices. And some of these crazy prices are good for summer-time travel.

But first, if you can travel in March, Delta has New York to Dublin or Shannon on sale, for as low as $362 – that’s roundtrip, all taxes, all fees, all everything. You must book by March 2, and complete travel by April 2 – the details are here.

But here’s where it gets very interesting – the summer savings: Delta has an unannounced sale underway that extends into the summer – which I discovered while pouring through our data on airline filings – and I found even crazier prices. Earlier, I noted some of the great prices I’d seen – but this is turning out to be a much broader pricing situation than I first thought.

Remember, summer is when passengers usually pay a hefty premium for their tickets -normally, you can’t get a summer airfare to Europe for under $1,000. But take a look at these Delta fares – and the prices shown are roundtrip, and yes, they include taxes, etc. The price you see is what you pay.

  • Cleveland to Shannon, $415
  • Charlotte to Shannon, $463
  • Denver to Shannon, $515
  • Houston-All Airports to Shannon, $420
  • Portland, Ore. to Shannon, $515
  • Philadelphia to Shannon, $415
  • San Francisco to Shannon, $515
  • Washington-All Airports to Shannon, $415

CAUTION! These prices were good as of today, and are expected to be good through March 11, but Delta can change these prices at any time. If you like what you see, do not delay – book now!

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Summer Europe Airline Ticket $400 Roundtrip All In – Crazy

February 25, 2009 | Posted in: Airfare News,Delta,Europe | 1 comment

I was just reviewing the international airfare feeds and stumbled upon this $420 Delta Air Lines all-in July airline ticket from Houston to Ireland!

Not sure if this is a mistake since this price is available from Houston to Shannon and Dublin, but the price is ridiculous — taxes alone to Europe typically go for $130 roundtrip — and during the summer, on flights from the U.S., the total ticket price is rarely below $1,000 all-in. Going to do some more investigation to see if this is a mistake or retaliation (after all, it is Continental’s hub) — but I expect to see a lot of sub $1,000 summer deals to Europe this year … If you have the money, this is the year to go …

?

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Tips for Navigating America’s Worst Airports – ABCNews.com

February 25, 2009 | Posted in: ABC Column,Tips and Tricks | 1 comment

A couple of weeks ago, I told you about the worst – and best airports – airports that won these titles based on the most/least flight delays.

Now, here are some tips for getting yourself through the madness of these airports – with as little collateral damage as possible.

  • Don’t Be a Jerk: I cannot guarantee airline reps will solve all your problems if you’re polite, but – I can pretty much guarantee that, if you’re a jerk, you won’t get far

  • Make an Emergency Kit: Keep an airport map in your pocket, put airline phone numbers in your cell, and get local numbers to airport hotels (websites may say “no vacancy” but rooms are often set aside for walk-ins)

  • Pack Light and Here’s How: Use a carry-on bag. Can’t fit everything you need? That’s why coats with lots of pockets were invented. Need that bulky sweater? Wear it and carry the coat.

  • Don’t Be Late: Your flight is cancelled but you’re assigned a new flight next day – and told to be there 90 minutes ahead of time. You figure an hour is plenty. You figured wrong – every seat is gone. Be on time!

Read more about these tips, and navigating “worst” airports (is yours on the list?) in my latest weekly column for ABCNews.com.

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Secrets to Feeling Good While Flying

February 24, 2009 | Posted in: Passengers,Travel Tips | 1 comment

One secret? Choose an aisle seat.

That’s one of the findings of a study of medical issues associated with commercial flying: researchers say sitting in aisle seats can help ward off potential dangers like deep-vein thrombosis – because movement helps, and it’s easy to get up and about from an aisle seat.

And according to the study, it doesn’t matter whether you’re seated in business class or coach. Stuck in a middle seat? Try these in-your-seat exercises.

What about the common cold? The researchers say, don’t worry about it – unless someone else with a cold is seated within a couple of rows of you.

Another secret to feeling good while flying? Using FareCompare to get the cheapest airfare available (I’m sorry, I just couldn’t resist).

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Southwest Airlines’ Truly Unusual Airfare Sale

February 24, 2009 | Posted in: Pricing Activity,Southwest,Travel Tips | 9 comments

In the wee hours of this morning, Southwest Airlines launched a most unusual airfare sale, across the bulk of its route system.

It’s unusual because the airfares are “Click n’ Save” specials that are usually reserved for targeted cities – but in this case, they are being used to roll out a system-wide airfare sale through late June.

I spent a few hours analyzing the airfare feed and here are the highlights:

  • This is the fifth Southwest sale since New Year’s Eve but the first to include Florida destinations (Orlando, West Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale and Tampa) – and many flights to these cities are well under $100 each-way, making this a great deal for last minute “Spring Breakers”
  • The travel period for this sales extends through late June – when summer flights normally garner a significant premium – making this sale a definite enticement to book early
  • Prices have dropped an average of $70 roundtrip for 1,000 cities, and many other prices have dropped over $80 each-way

Some of the very best deals are for travel to/from the following cities:

  • New York Islip - prices dropped an average of $102 roundtrip from 53 cities
  • Reno - prices dropped an average of $88 roundtrip from 54 cities
  • Las Vegas - prices dropped an average of $47 roundtrip from 45 cities
  • Salt Lake City - prices dropped an average of $70 roundtrip from 42 cities

Some sample airfares: Nashville to New Orleans $58 one-way, and New York Islip to Orlando $75 one-way. Click here for more details on this super sale.

What Southwest is doing is — breaking the mold, attacking fortress hubs like Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York and Boston – and trying new sales tactics.

No one can say Southwest doesn’t move fast in trying times…

Next up – look for the other airlines to aggressively match Southwest’s prices throughout the day and into Wednesday – and watch this sale become a very big incentive to book early on all airlines.

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The Morning Report of Airfare Activity

February 24, 2009 | Posted in: Airfare News,Travel Tips | 0 comments

There have been so many drastic changes with airline ticket pricing behavior in the past few months that I figured it was about time I decided to put out my daily analysis of the airfare filing activity – concentrating on the cheapest prices for flights across the globe.

Reviewing last night’s 8pm domestic U.S. airfare filing activity I see the following:

  • AirTran filed a system wide airfare sale with new lows in 773 city pairs with average roundtrip price drop of $80 roundtrip. Biggest winners in the sale are Atlanta (their hub with 53 city pairs is down an average $127), Branson, Missouri (48 city pairs down an average of $123 roundtrip) and Newport News (41 city pairs down an average of $133 roundtrip). AirTran seems to have this sort of filing activity every few Mondays, so your best time to shop for airline tickets on AirTran is Tuesday morning
  • United Airlines readjusted airfares in numerous small cities like Helena, Kalispell, and Casper, dropping its cheapest prices an average of $43. The biggest winner cities averaging over a $100 average price drop were Springfield, Wausau, Traverse City, Peoria, and Greenville
  • There was a ton of filing activity related to Canada as almost all the remaining legacy airlines dropped prices to several Canadian cities. WestJet and Air Canada have both been very active recently and prices for flights between the U.S. and Canada have been very volatile, swinging hundreds of dollars roundtrip each week. If you are buying in these markets, you need to sign up for our airline ticket price drop alerts so you don’t get caught in the up cycle
  • Southwest Airlines had a lot of activity which I document in a special separate post.

On the international side, in the last 4 airfare feeds (of 5 daily), pricing activity was very volatile with some unbelievable deals – here is a brief rundown:

  • 8pm 23-February-2009

o US Airways drops prices from 155 cities to Tel Aviv by an average of $132 roundtrip, with new service this summer from Philadelphia and code shares with Lufthansa – you can get some real steals right now

o American Airlines dropped prices to Helsinki by an average of $70 roundtrip from 33 cities

o Continental dropped prices to Seoul by an average of $400 from 7 cities including Austin, Baltimore, Charlotte, Las Vegas, Orlando, Pittsburgh and Providence

o Delta dropped its price on Charlotte to Rome for travel through mid-May by $226 roundtrip ($605 including all taxes/fees)

  • 11pm 23-Feb-2009

o US Airways knocked off $100 roundtrip from 23 cities to San Jose, Costa Rica for travel through the end of May

o AeroMexico dropped Washington to Cancun by $260 roundtrip ($340 all included)

  • 1am 24-Feb-2009

o Continental matched US Airways’ drop of $400 on average to Seoul

o American dropped prices from a dozen cities to Beijing by several hundred dollars (San Francisco is its largest departure city)

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Cheap Airfare Deal: Los Angeles to Sydney for about $600 (Last Day)

February 23, 2009 | Posted in: Airfare News,Airline News | 0 comments

Right now, a roundtrip coach ticket from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia ranges from about $1000 to $4,500 (and at other times, it can cost much more).

But now the new airline, V Australia (yes of Virgin fame) has a promotional roundtrip fare for just $619 – this includes all taxes and fees. See the screen shot below:

I accidently ran across this airfare this morning when perusing some data — you have to depart on 27-Feb (no other days), stay at least 5 days and no longer than 30 days. Certainly a promotional airfare as this is a new route, but I don’t ever recall a price like this that wasn’t a mistake.

If this interests you, you can grab this deal on FareCompare. But hurry, the last day to book is today!

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updated: 2009-02-23T17:06:46+00:00