Tag Archives: flights

What to Know Before You Take Off This Summer

Bankrupt airlines, grounded planes, record high-fuel prices, and delayed flights. Those are just some of the issues you can expect to deal with during the busy summer travel season. If you are one of the millions of travelers planning to take flight in the next few months the outlook for a smooth ride looks bleak. Here’s what travel experts say you can expect if you’re departing on a family adventure this summer: DELAYS AND CANCELLATIONS The FAA’s maintenance audits will continue through June 30th meaning the possibility that your flight could be delayed or cancelled is quite high. For those … Continue reading →

Is Mother Nature Really To Blame For Airline Weather Delays?

Weather history was made this evening in Wisconsin. A rare series of January tornadoes ripped through a county just south of where I live, demolishing buildings and houses, downing power lines and leaving more than a dozen people injured. The ferocious storm also caused delays at area airports including Milwaukee and Chicago’s O’Hare. Totally reasonable. However, there have been many times when I wondered if airlines were telling the truth about weather delays. For example, a couple of weeks ago United Airlines cancelled 1,200 flights and blamed various winter storms for doing so. But then, a couple of days later … Continue reading →

Back In School Travel Deals

Now that kids are back in school and family vacations are over (at least until the holidays) airlines and hotels are dropping prices in an effort to buffer the blow. Most carriers and resorts take a hit when the busy summer travel season ends so they offer deep discounts to sway customers to travel off-peak. The following are some promotions you might find appealing enough to take advantage of: AIRLINES United Airlines is offering great rates on select flights. The ones I have listed are one-way fares based on travel departing after 7 p.m. on Friday, September 14, 2007, or … Continue reading →

Eight Cent Airline Tickets?

Eight cents? If you’re wondering if it’s a typo, it’s not. Spirit Airlines is offering flights for as little as eight cents. They also have eight-dollar flights, and eighty-eight dollar flights. Crazy Eights! Or Loco Ocho in Spirit Air talk. Jump on this quick as they have to be purchased by June 20, 2007 at midnight, and all flights must be concluded before November 14, 2007. All available dates are Tuesdays and Wednesday, traditionally low occupancy days for airlines. The good news is that they’re not limited to airports in close proximity to each other. Do you live in the … Continue reading →

Mother’s Day Travel Deals

Mother’s Day is a little more than a week away. Do you know what you are getting for your mother? If not, perhaps, I can help. Whether your mom is a world-traveler or someone who prefers to stick closer to home the following travel deals may make the perfect gift. GUTSY WOMEN TRAVEL DEAL The female oriented travel site is offering a special promotion for Mother’s Day: $200 savings on each of nine tours, including tours to California, Sedona, Canada, Paris, Central Europe, Italy and Peru. The $200 savings is applicable to the following tours: · The 7-day Magic of … Continue reading →

Cashless Flights

Prior to boarding a flight I always make sure I have extra cash on hand. I use the money to purchase food or drinks for family members who decide the snacks I packed for them are not up to par with the cookies and chips they can get in the snack boxes offered on the plane. (Which means I end up spending $5 for an entire snack box just to have them dig out the little Oreo package that contains all of four cookies.) And, yes, there have been times when I have forgotten to bring smaller bills. This, of … Continue reading →

Avoiding The Bummer Of Getting Bumped

Have you ever been bumped from a flight? If you have never experienced this extreme inconvenience—brace yourself—travel experts say if you plan to fly somewhere this summer the chances that you may be denied boarding is sky high. As if the headache-inducing delays and thousands of pieces of lost and damaged luggage wasn’t enough to contend with, now we have packed-to-the-max planes to stress us out. Frankly, I’m not surprised that the likelihood of passengers getting bumped is rising. After all, the number of fliers is steadily increasing (a lesson I learned the hard way just a few months ago). … Continue reading →

“You’re No Sanjaya! You Have To Board Like Everyone Else.”

Catchy title, eh? Wish I could take all the credit for coming up with it, but truth be told, it is an actual quote from a real-life passenger trying to board a flight alongside “American Idol” judge Paula Abdul. Typically, each week I post a “Sunday Travel Funnies” blog. Well, this is it; only I changed the title in hopes of grabbing your attention. Anyway, back to Paula Abdul and the quote heard round the world. According to news reports, Abdul created quite a ruckus recently when she tried to board a Southwest Airlines flight from San Jose to Burbank, … Continue reading →

Plans For A New Airport From A Surprising Source

Okay, this blog straddles the line between “Travel” and “Pop Culture.” However, as you read on you’ll see why I decided to place it in the “Travel” category. Ketchum, Idaho may be getting a new airport, but the money to replace the existing one wouldn’t be coming from the federal government, rather it would be courtesy of one of the area’s most famous residents—Bruce Willis. According to the Idaho Mountain Express, the popular actor and ex-husband of superstar Demi Moore, may be considering the move after he was “spurned in his attempt to donate land for an airport that would … Continue reading →

So Where Do I Sit?

If you have ever flown Southwest Airlines then you are familiar with its “free-for-all boarding process.” The airline doesn’t assign seats. It never has. But, soon that could all change. Southwest executives recently announced that it has “spent $5 million to enhance its reservation system as part of an internal test to see if it could easily implement assigned seating.” In other words, the airline is “simply exploring” the idea of assigning seats, based on the number of complaints it has received from customers about the current boarding system. That would be me. Whereas, I don’t think the airline should … Continue reading →