Arthur Frommer's Blog, page 52

Don't Rely on Online Travel Agencies to Find Fares for Low-Cost Airlines

Because it is out to save every penny, an airline like Southwest does not permit its fares to appear on any of the famous, general search engines like Expedia, Travelocity, or Orbitz. Rather than search in the manner you're accustomed to, you usually need to go directly to the website of Southwest to find its bargain basement rates.

Recently, I pointed out in this blog that the very same was the case with Vision Airlines, serving the southeast of the United States (primarily) from its hub at Ft. Walton/Destin, Florida (in the panhandle of that state). You've got to perform the tiring step of going directly to Vision's website to discover those fares.

Well, would you believe that the same extra steps are needed to dig out the low-cost fares of three other cost-cutters? I am reminded by last Sunday's travel section of The New York Times that the very same situation applies to airfares of Allegiant Air (flying from 70 small cities to others located coast-to-coast), Direct Airlines (to and from its hub in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, from cities in the northeast and southeast), and Sun Country Airlines (from Minneapolis/St. Paul to and from 30 major vacation locations).

The Price War to China Heats Up: China Spree Offers a Winter $799 Air/Land Package to Beijing

Almost exactly a month ago, the long-established China Focus ( www.chinafocustravel.com ) brought down the price of a 10-night air-and-land package to five Chinese cities leaving from San Francisco in late November to $1,299. At the same time, it also reduced the price of a similar package from San Francisco to Beijing only, in late November, to $899, including round-trip air, six nights' hotel, and several other features.

Yesterday -- BAM! China Spree ( www.chinaspree.com ) undercut the price leader by $100. It responded to China Focus' tour sensation with a one-weeker to Beijing for $799 in November, January and February, including round-trip air, six nights' hotel, and much else.

I discussed the China Focus package in an earlier post. China Spree's blockbuster, like the one from China Focus, uses non-stop air on Air China and charges only $330 for the same non-stop air to Beijing from New York-JFK. The $799 price from San Francisco is available for the departures of November 16 and 23, and every week in January and February. Like China Focus, it permits you to pay a $200 deposit by credit card but thereafter you'll need to draw a check for the remaining payment.

In addition to round-trip airfare (including fuel surcharges), passengers of China Spree will also receive six nights of accommodations at the four-star, 464-room, Huabin International Hotel within walking distance of Tiananmen Square. They will be taken on three days of escorted motorcoach sightseeing tours, including one full-day tour to the Great Wall of China, and will receive full American buffet breakfast each morning of their stay in Beijing, in addition to three lunches.

Add-on fares are only $120 from Los Angeles, $190 from Washington, D.C., $300 from Dallas, $340 from Atlanta. And though fuel surcharges are included in the $799 price, an additional $79 is charged for government taxes and fees. You can obtain more information at China Spree's website, clicking on "China Tours" and then on "Winter Specials".

China Spree's $799 package, and China Focus' $899 package (as well as China Focus' $1,299 to 5 cities in late November), are, I believe, only the first of the remarkable travel opportunities we'll have for China in the coming months. As long as China maintains its current, unrealistic exchange rate for its currency, China will remain the world's least expensive nation to visit. If you haven't yet been there, you might begin planning a trip in November or, on China Spree, in January and February. And remember to check the rates of China Focus as well, for what will undoubtedly be competitive prices for January and February prices, in an extended version of its website that is due to appear soon.

Some Odds and Ends of Travel That May Get Lost Amidst Larger Developments

Tourism to Mexico has taken a heavy hit from a recent State Department warning that now lists 11 of Mexico's 32 states as areas where drug-related violence (and thus danger to the foreign visitor) exists. It may be that the Department has gone too far; it names the state of Jalisco, for instance, despite the fact that the seaside resort area of Puerto Vallarta is in that state and has experienced no problems to date. It names the newly-emerging resort area of Nayarit, whose seaside resorts are totally calm, but whose inland cities have experienced some violence. What a sad, sad situation.

Cruiselines still feel desperation cover the low-level of summer and fall bookings in the Mediterranean. It is now becoming commonplace for cruise brokers to offer 12-night Mediterranean sailings in autumn, including round-trip air to Europe from New York and two nights of hotel accommodations prior to the cruise, for a total of $1,899. (See www.onlinevacationcenter.com for several such deals). Since the airfare has a value of at least $1,000 (including fuel surcharge), the 12-night cruise is being sold for $899. Several cruiselines are apparently considering withdrawing a ship of two from autumn sailings in the Mediterranean and bringing them back early to the Caribbean.

To my mind, there have never been more fraudulent offers than the ones conveyed by postcards found each day in your mailbox. Last week, I received two offers for free-of-charge cruises from a company in Florida, which supplied no explanation for this largesse. When I phoned the number given for more information, I spoke with a raspy-voiced oldster who advised me there was no timeshare promotion associated with this gift to me, but that I would have to attend a "presentation" at a town in New Jersey before receiving the free cruise. When I insisted on more details, he hung up. Does anyone actually succumb to these offers?

The chip-and-PIN credit card that's almost universal in Europe, is about to become available to Americans. Two major banks -- Chase and Wells Fargo -- are conducting a test of the new card with selected customers of theirs, and two credit unions -- that of the United Nations and one operated for state employees in North Carolina -- are also issuing these sensible new cards that require use of a PIN code to be effective. Since the two credit unions won't permit outsiders to join, the new cards aren't available yet to the public at large, but it's obvious that a major roll-out is imminent. Possession of such a card will enable you to buy products in Europe from automated kiosks, like the ones at gas stations or railway terminals.

I need to end on a discouraging note, by pointing out that a recent decline in the value of the U.S. dollar (now priced at $1.48 for a Euro, $1.65 for a British pound) makes Europe a rather expensive place for Americans who insist on traveling as they used to, namely with hotel accommodations. If you haven't thought of doing so before, it's important that you look at such websites as Airbnb ( www.airbnb.com ) that will enable you to stay as a guest in a European home or apartment for not much more than you'd pay for a hostel. That decision on your part will greatly reduce your lodging costs and enable both a sensible and a pleasant vacation.

Darn Good Digs Reveals Outstanding Accommodations With Budget Prices and Expands its Coverage

When I first reviewed Darn Good Digs ( www.darngooddigs.com ) several months ago, I was impressed by its good intentions, if not by size of its content. An amateur effort by two well-traveled staff of the New York City Board of Education, it set forth descriptions of what they, and several of their traveling friends, considered "all time favorite places." But because they were seeking inexpensive digs in cities all over the world, their coverage was a bit spotty. Nevertheless, if they had a recommendation in a place to which you were headed, their information was impressive: they printed lengthy descriptions of the hotels and hostels they chose, and accompanied most write-up with several photographs of typical rooms in those establishments.

I returned to Darn Good Digs last week, and was now even more impressed by what they have achieved. In addition to increasing their number of constant contributors, travelers who are almost constantly on the road and therefore come up with a great many choices, Darn Good Digs can also draw on the occassional expertise of nearly 30 travel bloggers -- people identified with particular travel blogs of some distinction (like the former "Frugal Traveler" of the New York Times, Matt Gross). And each one of those bloggers has contributed a recommendation of a single cheap hotel or hostel, a place which they consider to be one of their all-time favorites.

The result is that Darn Good Digs now has a sizable number of recommendations in a sizable number of cities. Click on its world map for the area in which you're interested, and chances are now fairly good that your destination will have a recommendation of a "darn good digs" at budget-level prices.

To be fully comprehensive, Darn Good Digs will have to grow to incorporate a least 500 important cities of the world -- and it's not yet that big. But it covers enough destinations that you'd be well advised to search its listings when you next plan a trip.

A Round-Trip Atlantic Crossing on the "Queen Mary 2" is Nearly Competitive with Airline Prices

Unless you're lucky enough to snare a seat to London on low-cost Iceland Express, you will pay about $1,100 (including taxes and fees) for a round-trip, high-season flight on the standard airlines. And that's exclusive of fuel surcharge, which will probably add at least $200 -- and probably much more -- to the outlay. I mention that fact because the comparative cost of crossing by sea -- on the elegant Queen Mary 2 , in an interior cabin -- is drawing close to the airplane alternative.

Go to the website of the Cunard Line ( www.cunard.com ) and you'll discover that it will cost around $1,000 per person each way to cross the ocean this summer, a total of around $2,000 per person for the round-trip, plus tips to cabin and restaurant staff. But for that higher cost of $700 (compared with round-trip air), you will receive close to two weeks of luxurious relaxation on one of the world's most comfortable ships. After sailing overnight from New York, the QM2 takes six full days to cross the Atlantic -- six days of meals, accommodations, and entertainment rated by most as high on a scale of intelligence: lectures by noted authorities, performances by the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, excellent lounges and libraries. And you enjoy that week in both directions.

Now obviously, the only persons able to enjoy a round-trip ocean crossing are those with considerable vacation time. Two weeks are devoted simply to the crossing. But if you've got the time, the QM2 seems to me an excellent choice for a vacation from stress this summer.

Capital One Claims its Frequent Flyer Miles Will Still Work, Despite Cuts by Other Credit Cards

You have undoubtedly received notice from your favorite airline that it will no longer recognize frequent flyer mileage earned by using some popular credit cards. That's why a recent statement by Capital One, referring to its Capital One VentureOne Card is noteworthy.

According to Capital One, the appropriate use of such credit cards will enable you to "Fly free on any airline, anytime with no blackout dates" and "Miles don't expire."

It explains: "Fly free on any airline, anytime with no blackout dates. Just use your card to pay, then contact us to redeem your miles to reimburse the cost of the trip."

What's more, Capital One claims that it imposes no foreign transaction fees, and charges no annual fee.

To apply for such a card, you either phone tel. 800/514-4568, or visit Capital One's website ( application.capitalone.com ).

Carnival's New "Magic" Leaves No Doubt That Entertainment Will Be the Focus of the Voyage

Any doubts you may have as to whether the new cruiseships will be devoted to travel or to theatrical amusements have been dispelled by the press releases of Carnival Cruises for its newest ship, the giant, 3,700-passenger Carnival Magic. Simply to list the forms of entertainment on board the new vessel is to conjure up images of passengers frantically absorbed in a mammoth number of theatres, cabarets, and games rather than in the traditional rewards of the sea. You get tired simply surveying that list.

First of all, the waiters in several restaurants of the Magic will be singing and dancing waiters.

The karaoke bar will invite passengers to sing to the accompaniment of a live, ten-person band. There will also be back-up singers to provide the doo-ah dooh-ah accompaniment to amateur karaoke performers.

In other bars, there will be live bands and live singers.

In a separate show called "Carnival Legend," passengers will be invited to wear costumes and make-up resembling those of famous Hollywood performers, and will then be invited to imitate famous songs -- accompanied by a live band and, again, by back-up singers -- associated with those celebrities.

There will be three different stage shows, a separate comedy club, and a pub where drinkers will be invited to play acoustic guitars supplied to them. The comedy club will schedule several performances geared to a family audience and other performances for adults only.

Trivia contests will be held on outside decks.

And so on and on.

Obviously, the Magic will be operated to attract a very special segment of the American population. The question is: do you wish to sail among them?

Book a 6-Hour Layover to Save Money and Expand Your Knowledge of the U.S.A.

I have a friend who courted his eventual wife by taking her on cheap, weekend getaways to unexciting U.S. cities advertised at rock-bottom rates on airline websites. Schedule a weekend trip to places like Terre Haute, Indiana, or Peoria, Illinois, and you'll pay a pittance for your airfare and hotel, and you'll also find that the cities in question aren't nearly as dull as you feared (at least for a very short stay).

How about Detroit? Would you believe that Motor City -- the most blighted, declining urban area in America -- can be a fascinating stopover en route to another more promising town? A friend, Tripatini.com co-founder David Appell, recently scheduled a flight from Miami to New York City on Spirit Airlines in order to enjoy a rock-bottom airfare. The only hitch: a required, six-hour layover in Detroit en route (i.e., Miami to Detroit to New York City). He learned, to his surprise, that he was thus enjoying not only a tiny, tiny airfare, but an unexpected urban treat.

In Detroit, a twenty-minute cab ride from the airport took him to the center of downtown, and an interesting visit to the city's Greek Town filled with restaurants and shops. Nearby, he had the most exciting barbecue of his life at an iconic restaurant called Slows Bar BQ that has created a sensation in Detroit. And from there, he took another cab to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, which is on the way back to the airport. There, he discovered an institution that he now ranks among the top museums of the nation, and wrote about it in his blog post "Sightseeing in Detroit: Revelations of an Unexpected Layover."In it, and among other things, he viewed:

Presidential limousines such as the one in which John F. Kennedy was shot; the bus in which Rosa Parks sparked the seminal Montgomery Bus Boycott; the chair in which Abraham Lincoln was shot; a period replica of America's first train; the "Oscar Meyer Wienermobile"; and various and sundry planes, cars, locomotives, machines, furniture, appliances and a gazillion other items. Ever heard of Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion House? It was once going to be the house of the future, but was never put into production; the only surviving example is here, and it's utterly fascinating. There's also stuff we didn't get to see/do, such as the outdoor Greenfield Village, with more historical reproductions....

So there you have it. Though a complicated flight on Spirit Airlines isn't the most pleasant of prospects, the use of its one-stop-en-route service to New York resulted in a surprising travel experience, in a town that you wouldn't have expected to be as fascinating as Detroit turned out to be. Maybe there are reasons, as well, for scheduling a weekend in Terre Haute or Peoria.

The Department of Transportation Has Issued Specific Clarifications of Its New Passenger Protection Rules

On April 20, the Department of Transportation announced new passenger protection rules -- requiring that airlines include all government fees and taxes in their advertised prices, reimbursing passengers for baggage fees if their luggage is lost, increasing the compensation to passengers who have been involuntarily bumped from overbooked flights, extending the ban on tarmac delays to international flights -- and we reported on those new general rules in this blog. The department has now issued additional specifics of those rules, which you will want to know.

On the compensation for being "bumped" from a flight, such passengers will now receive double the cost of their tickets up to $650 if they have been delayed in reaching their destination by up to two hours. If they are delayed for more than two hours, they will receive four times the value of their tickets up to $1,300. That's double the amount of compensation that used to be required, which should considerably ease the pain of being bumped.

As for those tarmac delays, domestic airlines are subject to heavy fines if they keep passengers stranded in an airplane on the tarmac for more than three hours. The same penalties are now being applied to international airlines, but the amount of time that can be spent on the tarmac without penalty has been raised to four hours for international flights. Although the airlines threatened all sorts of dire consequences several months ago when the first tarmac-delay penalties were announced, no such calamities have been encountered. And the number of lengthy tarmac strandings has been reduced by nearly 80%, says the Department.

Finally, in addition to permitting passengers to cancel an air reservation without penalty within 24 hours after making the reservation (for a trip scheduled at least a week in advance), the Department has now prohibited the airlines from raising the price of an air ticket after the passenger has purchased it (unless the passenger has specifically agreed to be liable for such increases).

All in all, this is a time of great satisfaction for air travelers.

"Frommer's The Royal Wedding" Skips the Shelf for the E-Book Reader

There have been books published solely in electronic form, for reading on an electronic device. But Frommer's The Royal Wedding is one of the few travel guidebooks published solely as an e-book that can be read by just about every e-reader device on the market (Kindle, Sony, Nook, iPad, etc.). It is intended for use either by people actually in London at the time of this Friday's wedding (or thereafter) or by armchair spectators watching the pomp and ceremony on television from their own home cities.

It sells for only $1.99. And how long a book is it? Well, that's a product of the size of type that you choose for viewing the book. Using what I regard to be a rather small typeface 10-points in size, it comes to about 61 pages on the iPad to which I've downloaded the Kindle reading application. On an actual Kindle with smaller dimensions for the size of a page, the resulting number of pages would probably amount (for most readers using average-size type) to just under 100.

Whatever the number of pages, it makes for pleasant reading. It's a rather chatty book adopting a personal tone, and it's written by a consummate expert in all things British, Ms. Dinah Hatch, the author of two larger Frommer's guidebooks to Britain and a secret royal watcher. What I like best about it is that it's specifically geared to the events of the wedding and to the type of information helpful either a.) to a person wanting to travel to key locations related to the wedding, or to a stay in England at the time of the wedding, or b.) to one of those armchair spectators, trying to visualize the key locations in England that might be visited by actual tourists to England.

It starts with the story of William and Kate, and how they met at St. Andrews University in Scotland. It follows some of their life together (to date) and then talks about what will happen on the actual day of the wedding: who will arrive first at Westminster Abbey, who will come afterwards, and how Kate and her father will then travel by limousine to deposit the bride at the church's entrance for her four-minute walk down the immensely long aisle of that Cathedral. It talks about the parties, receptions and other festivities that will then follow the big event, and after that it quickly reviews for you many of the main attractions of London, its museums and major sites, its restaurants, shops and nightspots. And then it briefly describes key attractions throughout Great Britain, including some of the landmarks and structures that will play a role in the future life together of the new royal couple.

As I've earlier mentioned, I read the book on my iPad to which the Kindle was downloaded, and therefore I've been able to see in vivid color the many illustrations appearing in the book of the landmarks mentioned in the text -- Westminster Abbey, especially, and the several royal palaces figuring in the events.

Now why am I describing the book's contents? If this were a book printed on paper, you'd have to schedule a visit to the nearest bookstore to obtain a copy. And with public interest at its height, that bookstore might be sold out. But since Frommer's The Royal Wedding is e-book only, you can always obtain a copy and download it right after you read this blog post.

I have mixed emotions about the competition to printed books posed by e-books. But for an event happening just two days from now, it seems a perfect device for reminding you, and informing you, about all the colorful highlights of events of this sort. I think you'll enjoy this quick read. And it will cost you only $1.99.