Last fall, for example, British Airways accidentally offered a $40 base fare from North America to India. After taxes and fees were added, the total came to around $500 — still a deal, but not an obvious error to the untrained eye. Thousands of people booked tickets in a two-hour period.
Everything you’ve heard about Dead Week may be dead wrong.
If you thought the travel bargains were unbelievable this year, just wait until 2010.
Priceline this morning launched a new application called Price Maps, a hotel mapping service that lets you scroll over city maps that automatically locate and display hotels and prices. If you’re looking for a bargain on your next hotel, this might be an interesting new resource.
Maybe, according to the latest survey by Access America. Asked if they believed this was a good time to find “great travel deals” a majority of respondents — 40 percent — said they “somewhat” agreed. Only about a third of the respondents strongly agreed.
All across the travel industry, people who thought they were getting deals are discovering that they aren’t. As airlines slash their fares, passengers with advance reservations are finding that their tickets weren’t bargains. The “low” hotel rates? Turns out they had a lot lower to go. Ditto for cruise tickets and rental cars.
Between high gas prices and extra charges from the nation’s airlines, what’s a penny-pinching family to do this summer? The answers are starting to include taking advantage of more and more promotions from businesses looking to attract cash-strapped vacationers.
