Tony's Tips - Air Fares - How to Get the Best Value

Today you manage your travel itinerary and you also find the best flights and fares that fit your agenda and budget…by yourself on the Internet. There are over 1,000 websites available that tout the savings you’ll accrue if you subscribe to their services or join their programs. As if you didn’t have enough to do! So where do you start? What do you really need to know that will make your travel easier and less expensive? We at Tony’s Body Shop are continually looking for information that will make your life easier. We hope that the tips that follow will help you save money, clarify your options, and enable you to have the best flight possible.

Where Do I Find The Best Airline Fares?

The three top on-line travel agents: Expedia.com, Orbitz.com, and Travelocity.com all have similar capabilities for offering you the best fares and flights on 21-day advance tickets. These web-agents also provide lists of rental cars, hotels, etc. that you can reserve at discounted rates as well. (Note: these sites all incorporate a fee for booking. To save on the fee, you can go directly to the airline/hotel that you have selected through the site.)
Discount airlines don’t submit their fares to these multiple listing sites. Therefore if you are looking for low-cost tickets, be sure to visit JetBlue, Southwest, Independence Air, Spirit Air, etc.
Travel search engines, such as www.Sidestep.com, for airline tickets, cheap airline tickets, cheap airfare, discount hotels, car rentals, travel deals, hotel reservations from multiple sites including the discount airlines you won’t find on Orbitz, Travelocity, or Expedia.
Airline consolidators buy up bulk seats on flights and sell them at discounted prices. Check out your Sunday newspapers for their advertisers, or go to www.google.com and type “airline consolidators.”
Airline brokers for multiple destinations; e.g., round-the-world tours, such as www.dfwtours.com, www.lowestravel.com, www.airtreks.com , which has an online estimator for calculating multiple stops abroad.
Flight and hotel bidding, such as at www.Priceline.com or www.hotwire.com. These agents allow you to name your own price for unused tickets and hotel rooms.

Note:

Package Deals. Often you can get the best prices when you book airfare, hotel and rental car as part of a package.
Airport Discount Parking. To save money at airport parking lots, visit www.airportdiscountparking.com, www.airportparkingreservations.com that will direct you to the least expensive lots. Some sites also list hotels that offer discounted parking and shuttle service for extended parking.
Prepayment and Cancellation Policies. When using any of these sites, check whether or not you have to prepay to book their rates, what their booking rates are, as well as their cancellation and refund policies.

What About Frequent Flyer Miles?

What are Frequent Flier Miles (FFM)? Frequent Flier Miles are like cash in the bank for flights and hotel rooms. They are points you accrue from participating airlines, credit cards, hotels, rental car companies, and some phone companies.

What are FFM’s worth? The actual monetary value is two cents per frequent flyer mile -reportedly the airline industry average. For example, if you want to redeem 25,000 miles for a free ticket, multiply the number of miles (25,000) by 2 cents per mile; your ticket is worth $500. Sometimes it may be wiser to save your miles and purchase a lower cost ticket. Some airline FFM’s have expiration terms, others do not. You can also cash in your unused miles with various plans or donate the FFM’s to a charity such as Make A Wish Foundation, etc.

Which program should I join?

If you are a frequent flyer, join the program that will allow you to consolidate your miles. The airline you choose should be easy for you to get to and the one that has the most flights to the places that you go to. This is your number one consideration, because when you rapidly accrue miles and reach the critical "25,000" mark, you can qualify for more benefits.

If you don’t travel a lot, compare the programs and choose the one that allows you the greatest opportunities to earn miles or points for all your non-flight activities. Consider your patterns of purchasing hotel rooms, renting cars, and general shopping. Check out the airline's partner list and decide which frequent flyer program is best for you.

What is the best card for earning miles? There is no easy answer to this question. Yearly fees range from $0 to $150; some of these fees are waived for the first year. Most cards give you one Frequent Flyer Mile per $dollar spent; some more during certain periods. Some cards, such as Starwood, offer you 5000 extra miles when you reach a certain point. For comparison shopping on credit cards offering frequent flyer programs go to www.webflyer.com.

We at Tony’s Body Shop hope you’ve found this information will be useful when you make plans for your next flight. We also wish you a bon voyage, enjoyable trip and a safe return home.

Something To Think About

“The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it’s the same problem you had last year.” –John Foster Dulles

“As-If Principle: If you want a quality, act as if you already had it.” –William James

“Every great work, every big accomplishment, has been brought into manifestation through holding to the vision, and often just before the big achievement, comes apparent failure and discouragement.” –Francis Scovel Shinn

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What we offer with every repair job:

Guaranteed color match

Accurate panel to panel alignment

Repairing the vehicle to a safe condition

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