I got a comment on the blog yesterday from Marilyn - who is rightly upset that I recommended buying holiday airline tickets early this year - she followed that advice, and then watched as prices plummeted in the past 2 weeks.

In hindsight, I have to admit I blew the call - although I did follow my own advice, and bought my Thanksgiving tickets back in June, firm in my belief it was the right call. And back then, it was the right call - but things changed - did they ever!

I don’t think anyone anticipated all the late summer/fall drama on the economic front. But let me go back, and review for you what led me to my “buy now” recommendation:

• Attempted airfare hikes: There were 21 attempted airfare hikes - almost one a week in the first half of the year - corresponding to the run-up in fuel prices to nearly $150 a barrel. And remember, major financial institutions were predicting $200 a barrel oil by the end of the year. At that point I expect to see at least 5-8 more airfare hikes before the end of the year
• Seat cutbacks: airlines announced massive seat cutbacks for holiday travel - cuts of 200,000 seats daily which are now in place. Full Planes = Higher Airfares
• Airline losses: airlines had lost billions of dollars and were very unlikely to be in the holiday spirit this year as they struggled, not so much for profits - they struggled to survive
• Checked bag fees: fees for bags (and other services) - which were not all completely in force at the time - would have tacked on as much as $130 roundtrip to a ticket

I wish I had known that oil was going to drop in 4 months from $150 to $60 a barrel - and not increase to $200 as energy experts predicted. Although that in itself wasn’t going to drive down prices as the cutbacks in seats were already in place.

I wish had known that there would be an epic global meltdown sending us into financial crisis that may take years to climb out of - a crisis that no one seemed to anticipate (and if they did, they sure didn’t raise the alarm). This caused millions of potential travelers to re-evaluate - and forget about flying.

Believe me, had I known about the financial crisis, I sure would have taken steps on behalf of my 401K - which I guess today should be more properly referred to as a 201K.

So what can Marilyn do now?

• Rebook to the New Lower Price for Free: Some airlines don’t charge a fee to rebook for the same flight at a new lower price, up to the date of departure - these airlines include Alaska, JetBlue, Southwest and United
• Rebook to the New Lower Price at Discount: As long as you are staying on the same flight most other airlines have a lower “rebooking same flight fee” rather than the normal (and steep) $150 domestic change fee (change = different flights); these airlines include AirTran - $15; Northwest - $50; Delta - $100; Midwest up to $100; and Hawaiian (note that the fee is $150 on American and US Airways for any changes).
• Rebook for the $150 Change Fee if Savings are Greater — If the price has dropped more than $150, for the same days or even other days, Marilyn should change her ticket and pocket the difference in a voucher - almost all non-refundable domestic tickets now have a $150 change fee (up from $100 in the past year); note that Southwest doesn’t have any change fees - while Virgin America charges just $75 and JetBlue charges $100

We spend countless hours each month working on technology to help people make better buying decisions and we will continue to do so and make recommendations that we feel are in the best interest of every air traveler.

In the new generation of flying, procrastinators will generally not be rewarded - outside of unforeseen external events.

Marilyn, I apologize for being off on my call, but I promise to work even harder for you and your fellow air travelers to make sure they make the best purchasing decisions year in and year out - with a combination of both technology and educational information - on FareCompare.com.

It’s happening soon! Please join me for a live chat today, with the fine folks at the Rocky Mountain News newspaper. It’s at Noon EDT, 9am PDT.

Just click here to get to their website; follow their directions, then fire away! Ask me anything about travel.

Or just follow along with the chat. Should be fun — and informative.

Being Travel Agent-in-Chief for Grumpy Santa’s Excellent Adventure has kept me incredibly busy—too busy, I’m afraid to answer much of my mail.

But I promise, I’ll start getting to more and more of your letters in my “Ask Rick” feature, starting this weekend.

I really enjoy your letters. You readers ask the best questions!

One of our readers, Marla, wrote to me last week about a trip she is planning to Europe for June of 2008. Marla’s trip, like many trips to Europe, involves more than one destination. I’d like to look at the options Marla has in hopes that it will help her and others to plan easy, affordable European summer vacations.

Here is what Marla had to say:

4 people traveling. Leaving June 2008 from DFW. We are flexible with our travel dates and can leave anytime from the 11th on. We would like to travel for approximately 10 days, but that is flexible too. We want to fly from DFW to Athens, Greece. Stay for 4 or 5 days and then fly to Paris, France and stay another 5 days. Then fly home to DFW.

We of course are looking at coach because of price but since we are buying this far out would like to compare it to first class and see if there is any way to get a deal on first class tickets.

I haven’t been able to figure out if it is better to buy round trip tickets to Paris and then round trip tickets from Paris to Athens, or try to find a flight to Athens with a layover in Paris on the way back. Also it has been mentioned that if I do the first scenario, it might be cheaper to buy the Paris - Athens leg from a European air carrier.

This is what’s called a Circle Trip (a three or more leg trip back to the origin with no surface (rail or car) breaks). Generally speaking, each leg of the trip is priced as half of a round-trip (you would never try to price each leg separately as one-ways, the price will be 4-8 times higher)…

I have heard a number of international travelers kick around the idea of buying three coach seats next to each other instead of buying one business class seat.

The thought behind this is that they will have plenty of room to stretch out, and they will still save a substantial amount of money (the cost of one business class ticket can easily be double that of three coach tickets).

OK, at first sight, this might sound like a great idea, and people have pulled it off successfully (check out this NY Times article to get the lowdown on a success story).

As time permits I will be selecting questions from the Ask Rick Blog Post (in the comments section) and providing some advice. Be sure on all questions to include departure, destination, airline, time frame (as they apply).

Kim asks:

I just discovered the Aloha flight I booked from Maui to Sacramento has a stop. We will be traveling with my daughter who will be 22 months at the time and I really need a non-stop. I contacted Alohas reservations and the would allow me to change the flight for a $125 fee plus any increase in the ticket cost. When I looked online the return flight available was actually about $5 less than what I originally paid, not the $86 increase they quoted me. Is there any way to get them to waive the $125 and get the lower priced airfare?

I wasn’t familiar with the non-stop from Maui (Kahului, Airport Code: OGG) to Sacramento (Airport Code: SMF), a quick check on Farecompare.com flight schedules shows the flight and the list of airfare prices on this route.

As background, airline change fees are governed by a rule on the airfare called — oddly enough — “Penalties” — and to some degree requirements in the Aloha contract of carriage and other applicable reservation fee policies (like charges for making a phone call to an airlines reservation agent).