Have you ever spent countless hours searching for cheap airfare airline by airline?  Have you ever gotten locked out of your reservation when it was almost complete? Have you spend time searching all of the major airlines directly looking for just prices within your ideal range? Did your reservation session timeout because you did not have all of the necessary information you needed to complete your search in the time allotted?  If your answer is yes to any of these questions is yes you have been searching harder rather than smarter for airline flights for your upcoming travel plans. 

Searching for airfare can be a very tedious task.  The countless choices of special travel packages, pop ups, advertisements and requests for information that you didn’t know you needed during your search can make shopping for airline tickets all the more confusing and time consuming.  The online reservation process is supposed to save time not waste it.  A few simple tips can help you get through the task of getting the lowest airfare quickly and efficiently. 

• Save time by shopping for flights using an online travel company search engine rather than the specific airline. 

• There are thousands of available travel companies such as Travelocity, Orbitz, or Expedia to name a few.  These are designed to shop for the lowest price that best fits your criteria.  Let the engine do the work for you.  Many search engines have options to narrow the search to a preferred airline. 

• Have your reservation information at your fingertips. Knowing the logistics of your travel arrangements will expedite the process.  Knowing the time you can arrive at the airport on your departure date and the time that your ride can pick you up when you land, helps you narrow your available search for flights to meet your specific needs. 

• Decide before starting your reservation if you will need a hotel and/or a car. Travel packages can save you money. You should consider these before you reserve.  You can‘t go back and change your mind after you have made your final reservation. 

• You will need a credit card to reserve. Have this available before you even start searching.  You will usually also be asked for the 3 digit security code on the back of the card.  Ensure that this is legible before you start your reservation. 

• Follow the instructions on the online reservation form. The form asks for specific number formats for certain information such as dates and telephone numbers and has drop down boxes for other information   Take your time and read each option and fill in the boxes exactly.  Why have to go back when you can fill it out correctly the first time. 

Vacation is supposed to be enjoyable.  Searching for tickets can be a quick simple fairly painless task if you spend a few minutes preparing before you begin shopping for those tickets.

Planning a vacation?  Here are a few pointers to keep some of your hard earned cash in your pocket.

GETTING THERE

1. Set a budget.  Depending on where you go your budget will reflect the location. Remember to budget in shuttle service to/from the airport and any taxis or transit fares.  Keep a running total of expenses while on vacation.  If you go over for one day then the next day you will have to adjust your spending to make up for the difference.

2. Airline prices fluctuate rapidly.  When investigating for the best deal go directly to the airline and online, as they usually have the best deals. Signing up for email alerts and sale or discount sites such as itravel2000.com  are beneficial but beware that you may be over run with reports from your favorite travel sites.  When a deal comes up, nab it.  They usually don’t last long. Fly off-peak months and off-peak days. If you are taking your family, check for child discounts or youth fares.  Some airlines still offer them.  A quick online search reveals that southwest.com has child fares (ages 2-11) and youth fare (ages 12- 22).

3. Travelling by car? Higher gas prices may put a damper on things but try to maintain a speed between 50 and 60 mph usually results in the most efficient gas mileage.  Do a tune up on your car before leaving home.  The correct tire pressure and engine tune up could increase your car’s efficiency. Check AAA website for the best route and gas prices along the way.

WHILE YOU ARE THERE:

4. Do not under any circumstances eat the in room snacks or drink the in room drinks.  This includes the mini-bar and other teasers they put out for you.  You are paying, big time, for the convenience of them all.  A $5.00 bottle of water?  Better you should go out, stretch your legs and find your own water for $1.00.  That $6.00 bag of chips may seem good now but save your money.

5. Check out the parking costs.  Some travel hotels do not factor in the hotel parking and this adds up.  If your hotel is gouging on your parking, see if there is a suitable car park down the street.  Often a short walk can find you a suitable less expensive option.

6. Plan on having a picnic lunch or dinner or even both.  Buy your grocery items in the store and go to a local park, beach even in the hotel lounge, if they have one, and have a picnic.  It is fun and a great way to relax and save money on eating out.

7. Check for free events before you get there.  Often free walking tours, outlining local attractions or architecture can be found at the local tourist outlet.

8. Avoid shopping in touristy areas.  You are more likely to pay more for items.  Find out where the locals shop and spend your money locally.

9. Take advantage of family and friends.  Family and friends of families are often willing and enjoy showing off their city to visitors.

10. Enjoy your vacation.  Keep your money in your pocket and remember each time you save, you are putting yourself in a situation to better enjoy your trip.

There is a trend in the travel industry towards hiring collection agencies in order to collect on bills that clients leave behind.  This is due in part to the economy and travel companies attempting to get paid for things that they had previously let slide.  These bills include things like unpaid hotel bills, car rental bills for traffic and/or parking tickets, and even expired licenses on vehicles that they rent out.  Here is how you can protect yourself.

Check the details.

Before driving away in a rental car, check the registration and make sure that it is not set to expire on your trip.  If so, demand a different car.  When you check out of your hotel, make sure all charges are accounted for and paid via your credit card.  Check with the front counter before you leave – even though you can check out without doing so – to make sure there are no surprises once you are gone.

Check your booking.

Any small glitch can cause a big problem when you are buying travel related services on the Internet.  Make sure you only click on the ‘submit’ button ONCE to make sure that you are not double-billed.  Call and confirm your order.  This extra step can prevent a big headache later.

Check your rights.

You are not required to pay bills or debts that are not yours (in other words, you did not incur the charges because of your actions).  Make sure that you watch what you sign for when on a trip and staying in a hotel.  It is easy to get complacent and just sign whatever is set in front of you.  If you find that you are being charged for something that you did not authorize, be sure to fight it vociferously in order to keep a bad mark off of your credit because of an unpaid bill.

Check the rules.

You have 30 days in order to respond to any charges that are being brought against you by a collection agency in regards to unpaid bills.  Use this time to dispute the charges via certified mail.  If you are being constantly harassed, then contact a lawyer who can help you further.

Making sure that your trip is a successful and pleasant event is easy when you follow the tips above.  Most travelers will not have problems, but if you do, make sure that you take the necessary steps to keep your name and credit clear.  It is worth the effort.

With vacation months upon us, we are witnessing the annual rise if fuel prices that accompany them.  The price to fill up a tank will set you back less than last year, so be glad.  But, that does not mean that you should not be careful to spend as little as you can on gasoline for your vehicles.  Here are some steps that you can take that will save you money for vacation driving.  But it doesn’t stop there – these tips will help you save money even after you return.

Get Maintenance.  One of the areas that people tend to stop spending money on when financial times get tough is the maintenance of their vehicles.  This is the worst thing that you can do because your vehicle continues to wear out mile after mile.  Stopping regular oil changes and other preventive maintenance tasks will just add to that wear.

Your vehicle will not last as long and that will cost you more money in the future.  Either by having to repair the one you have or you are ready to buy another.  Another way that avoiding regular maintenance will cost you money is at sale or trade time.  Your vehicle will be worth less money because of the extra wear that shows up.  Make it a priority to have your oil changed every 3,000 to 5,000 miles and do the other things like filters as well in order to keep your car or truck in peak running performance.

Go Slower.  Learn to drive with less accelerator action.  Take off more slowly from stop signs and traffic signals.  Slow down to posted speed limits or just below.  Use your cruise control on long stretches of highway.  Small actions like these have a direct effect on how much you will save on a tank of fuel.  In fact, make it a game.  See how many miles you can go until you are at the point of needing more gas.  Once your indicator gets down to 1/8 of a tank, then fill up and try again.  Just be careful if you are out on the highway that you have enough gas to get to the next station down the road.

Lighten the load.  If you take fewer items, that keeps the weight of the vehicle lower which saves on fuel by keeping it from having to work harder to pull that load.  You have to be practical here, though because you have to take the essentials for your vacation, too.  If you end up having to wash clothes while on vacation just because you took less so that you could get better mileage, then you will have just defeated the whole purpose of this task.  Also, avoid taking car top carriers if possible.  These cause excessive wind drag which will reduce your mileage significantly.

The small things add up and you can realize a lower vacation bill if you take the steps above and use them to your advantage.

A large percentage of people who have OnStar on their vehicles don’t even know what their service provides them.  Here is a break down of what the OnStar services provide, to help you determine if it’s worth the fee once your free trial year ends (most GMAC vehicles give you one year of OnStar for free when you purchase a new vehicle).

Safe and Sound Plan: (approximately $19 per month or $199 paid a year in advance)

Emergency Response – special accident detectors located all around the car will notify OnStar operators if you are in a crash, even if your airbags do not deploy. They get a live connection into your vehicle to talk to you and will dispatch emergency vehicles to your exact location. Even if you are unable to call for help or talk when the operators use your OnStar system to talk with you, GPS will determine your location, and details about the crash are relayed to the OnStar operators screen, including where the impact of the accident took place, whether the airbags deployed or not, how fast the vehicle was going during impact, and if the car rolled over or not.

Emergency Services – there is a button in your car that allows you to connect with emergency operators. You can notify the operators if you see someone else in an accident or broke down, get assistance if you become lost, or if you need medical, police or fire assistance. And OnStar can notify authorities of lost children under AmberAlert.

Roadside Assistance – if you run out of gas, your tire goes flat, or your car stops running, you can use your blue OnStar button to talk to an advisor. The GPS will help locate you even if you don’t know where you are exactly. A nearby service provider can be contacted and dispatched to help you.

Crisis Assist – before, during and after a crisis event (severe weather, natural disasters, etc) – the onstar operators can help you find evacuation routes to get out of harms way, or provide you with the nearest fueling station if you’re running out of gas.  If you are in need of food, water, medical assistance or a hospital, OnStar can direct you to the nearest source, as well as help you find accommodations or shelter if needed.

Stolen Vehicle Slowdown – if your car is stolen, you can use any phone to dial into OnStar’s stolen vehicle assistance toll free line.  Onstar’s GPS locating system will find your vehicles exact location and provide the information to local authorities. The police will get  the vehicle in their line of sight and then request that OnStar slow the vehicle down. OnStar can then use a remote signal that will slow the vehicle down gradually, making it impossible for the thief to get away.

Remote Door Unlock and Remote Horn & Lights – If you lock your keys in your vehicle, you can call OnStar toll free from any telephone, verify who you are, and then OnStar can unlock the car remotely. You won’t need to call a locksmith to help you out or pay any fees for the service. If you forget where you park, you can call the toll free customer service number at Onstar and after identifying yourself, the advisor can flash your exterior lights and make your horn go off, helping you locate your vehicle.

If you would like to receive turn-by-turn navigation services, you can upgrade to the directions and connections plan, which includes everything under the Safe and Sound plan, and adds the ability to push your blue OnStar button and ask for directions. The directions to your destination are sent to your vehicle; and the vehicle will tell you when to turn and which exits to take until you reach your destination. This plan is approximately $29 a month.

If you are a subscriber to either OnStar plan, you are also able to participate in the Onstar Vehicle Diagnostics Report at no additional charge. Each month, OnStar will perform a remote diagnostic and maintenance check on the vehicle’s key operating systems and email you a report of the findings. If your oil is low, you’ll know. If your tire’s air pressure is incorrect, you’ll know. You can check your key systems while driving – if your check engine light comes on, just push the blue button and a real-time diagnostic check is performed and an advisor will let you know if you need to get service right away or if it can wait until you reach your destination.

Most cars with Onstar also feature hands-free calling, which lets you call through your OnStar system, voice activated, so you don’t need to take your eyes off the road. You do need to purchase minutes for the car phone, or enroll in Verizon’s nationwide plan to share the minutes between your Verizon cell phone and your car.

Is Onstar worth the monthly expense?

I suppose it depends on a number of factors, but for me, $19 a month is a small price to pay for the additional safety features the service provides my car (or $199 per year, paid in advance). I have two small children who are almost always in the vehicle with me, and I like knowing if we’re in an accident and I’m unable to call for help – they’re going to send help for me right away.

Another option for OnStar subscribers is the possibility of getting lower insurance rates. If you drive less than 15,000 miles per year, you could qualify for mileage discounts with GMAC insurance – since they can use your OnStar to track the miles driven. The insurance provider indicates that many people who switch to GMAC insurance with their OnStar service save an average of 25% on the cost of their insurance with the low mileage discount.  Additional discounts apply for individuals who finance their vehicles through GMAC or have other GM products.

In the last few years, a number of “service review” websites have been developed that allow consumers to share their experiences with restaurants, hotels, entertainment destinations, professional services, and even doctors with one another. When a professional receives positive reviews on review sites like Yelp.com, they often see a significant increase in business. Conversely, those who don’t poor reviews are often hurting for business. Some who have received bad reviews have as gone as far as litigating commenters who post negative reviews.

The first lawsuit of this kind occurred after a man named Christopher Norberg wrote a negative review about the chiropractor he visited, specifically with some of the chiropractor’s billing methods and how they were not fair in dealing with insurance companies. At first the chiropractor complained and demanded that Norberg remove the review, but Norberg reviewed. Eventually the chiropractor, Steven Biegel of Advanced Chiropractic Center, sued Norberg for libel and invasion of privacy. Eventually, the case was quietly settled out of court.

Another suit occurred in January of 2009 when a pediatric dentist of Foster City, CA sued two consumers over negative reviews that they had written on Yelp.com. The consumers had criticized the dentist for giving their son fillings that used Mercury. The Dentist, Yvonne Wong, commented “I don’t want these lies to be posted on the Web site about me–I’m not looking for money” to the San Francisco Chronicle. Wong stated that she was forced to sue for libel after Yelp.com refused to take the reviews down.

Although these suits are currently few and far between, there is a trend emerging. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t ever post less than favorable reviews on sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor, but rather that you should be careful with what you write. Remember to stick to the facts. It’s perfectly okay to express your opinions, but make sure to do so in a manner that’s honest and won’t open you up for a lawsuit.

There was a day when airlines would truly reward you by collecting frequent flyer miles by taking several flights per year or earning them by spending money on your credit card. You could collect points, and every few years take a trip on behalf of the airline at no cost to you, and enjoy a much more affordable vacation. Unfortunately, those days have come to an end. Frequent flyer miles are now as a valuable as Confederate money was immediately after the civil war.

In an effort to cut costs and increase revenues, the companies that operate frequent flyer rewards programs have made it much more difficult to redeem and use flights. If fewer trips are taken with frequent flyer miles, which means their expenses are lower and they make more money at the end of the day. Because of this profit incentive, airlines have systematically made it much more difficult to actually use the frequent flyer miles that you have.

Airlines have dramatically reduced the number of frequent flyer seats available on flights, so that you have to book months ahead of time to find available seats for you to use. This allows them to have more seats for paying customers, and makes it almost impossible for you to redeem your miles. Airlines have also made it so that you will need to pay ‘double miles’ to many of the frequented vacation spots in the United States.

There has also been a dramatic increase in the number of junk fees that you can expect to pay when making use of your frequent flyer miles. You’ll be hit with things such as fuel surcharges, convenience fees and other fees that don’t do much more than paid the profits of the airlines that operate the programs. You can expect to be hit with anywhere from $50.00 to $75.00 in fees per ticket whenever using your frequent flyer miles to book a flight.

About a decade ago, frequent flyer miles had about the equivalent value of about a penny each, but now that value is much more like .40 cents. Frequent flyer miles are essentially “fools gold.” When considering a rewards program for your credit card, you should probably choose another option than frequent flyer miles. Cash back is usually a good option since it’s guaranteed money in the bank, but there are some instances when it makes sense to get some of the other types of rewards.

Speed cameras are a law enforcement technology that almost nobody likes. In fact, some upright citizens have gone as far getting laws passed that prevent speed cameras from being used as a law enforcement technology, such as in the state of South Dakota. Other states, such as Arizona, are having a hay day with their use of traffic cameras and are now raking in over $175,000,000 per year from their use. AAA is now actually warning drivers

One should be skeptical when a state or local official makes a statement that they want to ‘help protect’ their citizens by using cameras on the streets to monitor your speed while driving. There’s little evidence that speed cameras help reduce the amount of speeding and accidents on the road, and more often than not, the motives for placing speed cameras are purely financial. One Arizona county actually decided to ditch the speed cameras because they felt the cameras made the roads less safe.

The state of Arizona is probably the worst offender of the bunch. AAA is actually warning drivers about Arizona’s speed cameras. They’ve hired an Australian contractor that installs speed cameras, mails out the tickets, and provides the collection services. The contractor they’ve hired gets $30 from every ticket given, with the rest of the money given to the state of Arizona as revenue.

If that wasn’t bad enough, Arizona decided last summer that they weren’t making enough revenue from speed cameras, so they decided to lower the speed limit in the state in hopes of generating additional revenue. Fortunately, the tickets that are given out won’t place any points on your license and are strictly against the vehicle, and it’s essentially just a “speeding tax.”

Why aren’t Arizonians in outrage about these outrageous tactics used by their state government? It turns out that the state is only placing them on roads frequented by out-of-state travelers (mostly tourists). This way, the residents of the state will benefit from the revenue from the speed cameras without having to face a brunt of the costs from speeding past one of the cameras.

There’s probably not much any of us can do about these speeding cameras, other than choosing to vacation somewhere other than the state of Arizona. If you’re driving through the state of Arizona, be on the look out!