Travel Secrets Revealed
By Christine Krzyszton
Who in their right mind shares their most harbored travel secrets?! I do; I always do. My friends are always asking me how I travel for free, get elite services, and find other great travel bargains and I’m happy to share. You see, most people won’t use a fraction of the information I give them but I feel great if even one person does and gets a great deal.
Travel secret #1:
If you book a flight and the price for that exact itinerary goes down, most airlines will issue you a voucher for the difference. Airlines usually have a price variance requirement, for instance the new price must be more than $25 less or some other dollar threshold. So if you’re debating as to whether to book a particular flight, find out the airlines policy on how they handle price reductions and go for it. I do this frequently and use the vouchers as sort of a travel savings account.
Travel secret #2:
Ask and sometimes you will receive. When checking into a hotel, always ask for an upgraded room. You might say something like, “if the hotel is not completely full tonight, could you make it possible for our family to have an upgraded room?” Upgrades are usually available to their most frequent guests but when hotels have plenty of available rooms they’re likely to make your stay as comfortable as they can in hopes of repeat business. This technique can work equally well for your car rental.
I believe the key is to ask in a way that the desk agent feels they are granting a wish.
Travel secret #3:
Being in the right place at the right time when a flight is oversold can reap great rewards if you volunteer to give up your seat. Getting “bumped” from a flight and receiving a free voucher or ticket is more likely to happen however when you stack the deck in your favor. You increase the odds significantly if you review the seat map when booking your flight and select the fullest flights. Be sure to add some flexibility to your travel plans so once you volunteer you can still get to your destination in a reasonable time. I fund much of my free travel this way.
Travel secret #4:
Use promotion codes. Before booking a hotel or rental car, search the internet for a discount promotion code. These can be found on sites such as www.flyertalk.com, in the travel discussion forum at www.fatwallet.com or just by typing in what you want in the search box on your search engine. Never book anything without one if you can help it.
Travel secret #5:
Don’t narrow yourself to a predetermined destination. Figure out “when” you can go, then start looking for a destination that fits your budget and state of mind. This is the best way to save money when you travel. As I’ve said in the past, “if you go where everyone else wants to go when everyone else wants to go there, you will pay top dollar”. What fun is that!?
Travel secret #6:
Never use a credit card that doesn’t give you points and/or miles. My opinion is that you should never spend a penny that doesn’t get you closer to a free hotel room or airline ticket. In addition, never open a credit card that doesn’t give you points or miles for doing so. My most recent acquisition was a Chase Continental Airlines card that gave 25,000 miles for signing up, the equivalent of a free airline ticket. You can literally gather enough points and miles in a year to take several free vacations.
A word of caution: becoming obsessive about traveling for free may lead to endless hours of searching for ways to make it happen. Personally, this activity now borders between a hobby and a part-time job and has reached the point where I don’t have enough time to do all the free travel I’ve earned. I think that’s a good thing.
If you often travel by plane, maybe you’ve figured out how to pack efficiently, navigate the airports, and handle any unforeseen event that may present itself. If you travel once a year, let’s say for the holidays, you may not be so savvy. Most holiday air travel glitches can be avoided or minimized by simply anticipating and preparing for them. Then again, if you want your holiday travel experience to basically suck, here’s my advice:
When you arrive at the airport for your early-morning flight, there is a little game you can play with your sleep-deprived family to avoid getting to the correct departure gate on your first try. This game works best for connecting flights at a very large airport. The fun begins when you check the arrival board versus the departure board for your flight information and continues when you swear you read that your flight was departing from gate B2. In fact, you were actually reading the arrival schedule and you have no clue from which gate your flight departs. Don’t worry, this information can be found on the departure board. MORE
Copyright 2009 Pithy Media, LLC