Flying smart with Jerry
You know that person in the office who always snags the best deal on tickets, knows the best sales in town and where to buy anything anywhere in the world for cheap? Here at the paper, that person is Jerry -- all around nice guy, photog phenom and bargain shopper mastermind.
Every once in awhile, Jerry's going to stop by the consumer blog and share some of his secrets. This week, he's divulging the how-to on securing yourself a plane ticket for less. Appropriate and timely, no?
I told you he was a nice guy. Read on for Jerry's Favorite Web Sites for Saving Tons of Money.
Sign up for Smartertravel for their weekly e-mail. They send you airfare deals specific to the airports you list.
Travelzoo sends out a weekly top 20 travel deals.
For hotel and rental car deals, I usually check rates with Orbitz, Expedia or Travelocity.
More often than not, however, I purchase through Priceline. The best way to do this is to first go to
Biddingfortravel which is a forum where people list successful bid prices. The forums are broken down by states and large cities making it very easy to navigate. The first entry on each forum is a list of
hotels that priceline uses in that area.
One member of the site outlined a very useful strategy for getting the absolute lowest price:
After finding a target price I go to Priceline. Two things to keep in mind with Priceline:
1. All sales are final. Once your bid gets accepted, your credit card is charged and there is little chance of getting a refund if your trip changes.
2. You can book rooms for the same day in most large markets but the cutoff time is usually 6 PM.
For strategies that maximize frequent flier miles I like the forums on Flyertalk. The MilesBuzz forum has the latest programs and promotions on for accruing miles. The Mileage Run forum discusses strategies for using cheap airfares to maximize miles. Many of these people are taking trips just to get points and coming back the same day. One of the most entertaining discussions was on the best airports to sleep in.
Happy flying!
