“How I Stupidly Spent $500 on an Un-Cheap Plane Ticket”

March 25, 2010 | Posted in: Airfare Mistakes, Tips and Tricks | 3 comments

cheap plane ticket

Another first-person story from an anonymous traveler, who paid too much. “I should have known better,” she admits – but, we’re all human, we all make errors. Learn from hers!

Yes, even before I saw Rick’s post on “Top 5 Tips to Get the Cheapest Airfare this Spring and Summer” – I knew that procrastinating was stupid. Really I did. Unfortunately, nobody put a gun to my head and said “get your ticket today”, and so I let it slide.

Big mistake.

Make that, two big mistakes. For some reason, I decided that this weekend event I had to attend in the Midwest required me to fly out on a Friday and return on Sunday. I could’ve gotten an extra day or two off, but nooooo. It didn’t occur to me to ask.

With the result that I made reservations on the two most expensive days to fly (well, they usually are) plus, I waited until just a couple of weeks before departure to book the tickets. Idiot. Somehow I forgot that there are fewer flights these days, and that other people might possibly want to travel when I want to travel.

Anyway, I’ve flown this route numerous times for $300 (and occasionally for a lot less). But I paid $500. On Southwest. You should have seen what the other airlines were asking.

I better have a real good time on this trip, that’s all I can say. Oh, I can also say, read Rick’s tips – and follow them. Seriously.

DOT Fines United – Airlines Must Treat Passengers Fairly

January 15, 2010 | Posted in: Airfare Mistakes, DOT, United | 0 comments

DOT fines United Airlines Treat Passengers Fairly

The Dept. of Transportation (DOT) has fined United Airlines $30,000.

Here’s why: The carrier failed to include the “7.5% federal excise tax in fares in the initial search results page of its website”. Not that United failed to include it, mind you — that it wasn’t included in the initial search. According to the DOT, this lapse lasted just 60 hours, or two-and-a-half days.

United said this was a unique “programming error” and once they caught it, they immediately fixed it.

Good for them, but even better for us that the DOT is paying attention, and will not let even unintended errors slip by. Of course, it is the law – but it’s also, as the DOT’s Ray LaHood suggests, a matter of fair play: “Our fare advertising rules are designed to ensure that consumers know how much they will pay for a ticket and are able to compare prices when choosing which carrier to fly.”

Hear, hear.

British Airways May Owe You Money for their Airfare Mistake

November 30, 2009 | Posted in: Airfare Mistakes, Asia | Comments Off

Were you one of the bargain shoppers that snapped up that $40 “too-good-to-be-true” flight from the U.S. to India on British Airways last month?

If you did, you learned it was too good to be true – it was a mistake made by the carrier which quickly removed the fare and canceled the bookings but not before more than 2,000 of you bought tickets.

British Airways has made a gesture – it is offering those folks a $300 discount on travel to India (which must be booked by this Thursday, Dec. 3!) – and now, in an agreement with the U.S. Dept. of Transportation, BA will also compensate customers for cancellation penalties and other expenses they might have racked up due to the airfare mistake.

This could include cancellation fees for hotels or rental cars – anything, really, that cost you money as a result of the original airline mistake.

See the British Airways website for details on how to claim your compensation.

Air Canada Fall Prices thru Summer 2010 to Germany

October 26, 2009 | Posted in: Airfare Mistakes | 0 comments

Air Canada filed what appears to be a mistake for U.S. travel to Germany for the next year at fall prices.

The cities and prices are listed below, I don’t think they will be around for long.

Best way to shop for them is using our Where-To-GoSM Dealfinder.

Air Canada Fall Prices thru Summer 2010 to Germany

The Seven Do’s & Don’ts for Getting the Cheapest Airfare – Every Time

Cheap Airfare Tips

Want to know the secret to getting the best airfare deals?

Just follow my simple “Do’s and Don’ts”. Over the years as CEO of FareCompare, I’ve been refining my “how-to” system, and now, with FareCompare’s data and a sophisticated new tool – a unique tool, I might add – I’ve narrowed it down to these seven tips.

You may think these are too simple. I say, try them.

Seven Do’s & Don’ts for Getting the Cheapest Airfare

#7 – “DON’T” Wallow in Ignorance: When you start shopping, you must know what is a “cheap” airfare, and what is an “expensive” airfare. Not so simple.

Sure, plenty of airline websites and airfare shopping sites will tell you, “This is a great deal!” but is it really? It might be a few bucks cheaper than usual but that doesn’t make it “great”.

Here’s how to tell: follow airfare prices for a few months – and avail yourself of historical graphs -so you get a real feel for prices. Knowledge, as they say, is power.

#6 – “DO” Be Flexible: Try to be available for travel, when the great deals come along.

Easier said than done? Only if you do no planning whatsoever. Say you have a regular 9 to 5 job and a set amount of vacation time: before you go airfare shopping, talk to your boss about the possibility of an “elastic” vacation period – so you can travel when it’s cheapest. Perhaps you can work out an agreement that will allow you to take your vacation time during a certain 3-month stretch without having to commit to the exact days – until you’ve found your great deal. Be respectful, and be creative.

#5 – “DON’T” Follow Conventional Wisdom: It’s tempting, but it’s not always right.

Here’s the problem with “conventional wisdom” – it’s usually true, but not always – and a good example of that is, “airfare sales typically begin Monday evening”. Yes, that’s often true – but airlines can suddently offer terrific deals on individual flights without a formal sale.

You see, airlines file airfares several times a day, and are constantly tinkering with the prices depending on variables such as, is the plane filling up – or are ticket sales slow? So airlines can (and do!) come out with cheap individual fares any time they see the “need” – and if the plane starts filling up, that cheap airfare will disappear quickly.

#4 – “DO” Have Fast Reflexes: You’ve got to be ready to click, to save.

As I noted in #5, cheap fares can disappear in a matter of hours or even minutes. If you see a fare you know to be a good one, you have to jump. After all, airlines never put all the seats of a plane on sale, and sometimes they just tweak the prices on a few – and you have a lot of competition for those few cheap fares. Know that the great deals will not last.

#3 – “DON’T” Be a Slave to Your Computer: And really – you don’t have to.

If you think you can keep up by searching scores of sites day after day, you are mistaken. Sometimes, while you’re searching one site, you’ll miss a deal that crops up on another site – while a third suddenly pops off with news of another sale. And when are you going to sleep? Face it, human beings are no match for computers

#2 – “DON’T” Sign Up for All the Airline Alerts: Learn to consolidate.

Feeling smug because you’ve signed up for every airline email alert? Congratulations! However, do you really have time to open them all, let alone compare the different price quotes?

Something else to consider: do you really think the airlines will let you know when they’ve made a mega-mistake? Won’t happen.

#1 – “DO” Use the Latest Technology: A tool that does the drudge-work for you – in real-time.

Find a tool that sifts through all airfares – the instant they’re filed – and alerts you to prices changes in real-time. A tool that also alerts you to “airfare mistakes” – and those out-of-nowhere deals or one-time fare tweaks. And you might as well set this tool up so it alerts you to only those fares that interest you – for example, fares from your home airport.

There is such an amazing tool. It is unique to FareCompare. We call it, FareCompare’s Deals from “your home airport” on Twitter. Yes, it’s a mouthful. It’s also the best way to find the best deals – every time.

Sign up is simple. And once you find that great deal – let me know, would you?

Spring Break in Moscow – $200 Roundtrip

March 13, 2009 | Posted in: Airfare Mistakes, Airfare Sales, American | 6 comments

Update: At 1:00am this morning American added another 100 cities (all the smaller ones in their route system) to the list with these once in a lifetime prices — maybe it isn’t a mistake …

Recently Hillary was handing out “Reset” buttons to thaw relations with Russia, but this is ridiculous.

Tonight American Airlines made what appears to be a mistake on some new and very low priced airfares from the U.S. to Moscow (they didn’t include the $224 fuel surcharge), so if you are looking for a Spring Break Deal (travel good through end of April) this is an absolute winner with prices out the door ranging from $200 – $350 (Russian visa costs about $131 so be aware).

Must connect in Chicago to Moscow (no outbound flights on Mon/Wed and no inbound flights Tue/Thu).

This deal may not be around for long as it looks to be a mistake, so it is likely to get fixed shortly.

Summer Europe Airline Ticket $400 Roundtrip All In – Crazy

February 25, 2009 | Posted in: Airfare Mistakes, Airfare Sales, 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 …

?

Money Coming to Victims of Price-Fixing

July 25, 2008 | Posted in: Airfare Mistakes, Europe, Fuel Surcharges | 4 comments

Did you purchase tickets for a “long haul” flight on British Airways or Virgin Atlantic, sometime between Aug. 11, 2004 and March 23, 2006?

If so, you may be due some money – between $7 and $34 per flight.

Visit http://www.airpassengerrefund.co.uk/ and find out.

This is the result of a settlement that’s been reached in a class action lawsuit that alleged that the two airlines illegally conspired to fix prices of fuel surcharges — surcharges place on those “long haul” fares.

We spoke with one frequent flier based in Europe, who figures he could be owed as much as $600 dollars. The businessman’s reaction was, why did the airlines allegedly conspire in the first place? “Considering that BA and Virgin have always been mortal enemies, it surprises me a bit.”

If the money comes through, the businessman figures he’ll simply spend it on another airline ticket — and yes — he will be more than happy to fly on British Airways or Virgin Atlantic.

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