The Traveling Professor helps well over 100 travelers a year get the best airfares. Whether they are on one of The Traveling Professor's small group tours or if they are traveling on their own, it is always a pleasure to help them get the best air itinerary possible. Not only do I book about 75,000 to 100,000 air miles for myself each year, I am also booking hundreds of thousands of miles for other travelers too. So, here are my most basic tips on how to get the best airfares.
Let's face it. Flying is miserable these days. Coach class seats are tight to start with and no one wants to get stuck in the dreaded middle seat. So, why not just upgrade to a premium class like first, business or premium economy? Well that can be expensive. For example, I priced a R/T flight between JFK and Madrid in October. The coach class fare is a bargain $483 departing on October 30 and returning November 6. But upgrading to business class is a whopping $2676. Premium economy is more than double the price at about $968. But there are ways to get a better seat without spending so much money.
The major overseas legacy carriers: American, Delta, United and even British Airways, Lufthansa along with their "alliance airlines" control the most passenger traffic between the U.S. and Europe. You have heard the horror stories of poor customer service, old planes, unfair fares, tight seats, lousy meals, passengers being treated like cattle, etc. But now, there are some new kids on the block in terms of airlines going to Europe. Are they worth a look? You bet they are. Check out The Traveling Professor's blog post and find out how to get to Europe cheaper and in more comfort.
It seems like airlines are giving away frequent flyer miles all over the place today. Get them by using a credit card, flying, buying flowers, dining in restaurants, even when buying electricity for your home. Getting frequent flyer miles is easy - but spending them is another story. Airlines have "cheapened" miles earned by making flights unavailable for redemption with frequent flyer miles or simply raised the number of miles needed to ridiculous proportions. In this blog post The Traveling Professor shows you the easiest way to find the diminishing award flights available on American Airlines.
The Traveling Professor runs several small group tours to Italy each year. We travel to major cities like Rome, Venice, Florence, Sorrento. We also take small group tours to Italy to smaller cities like Padua, Verona, Lucca, Siena, and Vicenza. Italy is not always the easiest place to fly to and fares can be high. In this blog post, The Professor shows you how to save a significant amount of money on your next tour to Italy with cheap airfares.
In our blog post yesterday, we examined how airline award miles have become devalued, are harder to redeem, and have added extra fees. Today we talk about accumulating points through credit card spending to help people fund their travel endeavors. So, check out The Traveling Professor's blog post on using points instead of airline reward miles.
Being a frequent flyer and a member of American Airlines AAdvantage program, I have accumulated millions of miles since I became a member in 1984. I have accumulated these miles mostly through purchases on credit cards and through flights themselves. I would use these miles to get "free" flights or upgrades. Is it worth it to accumulate and redeem miles anymore? Please read my blog post and see what The Traveling Professor has to say.
The second most costly part of a tour, after lodging, is airfare. Airfares were sky-high a few years ago and it is my opinion the legacy carriers like American, Delta and United were gouging the consumer, despite lower fuel costs, on their fares to Europe. It was my prediction that other "discount" airlines would come along and take advantage of a lucrative market by offering lower-fares to a variety of destinations in Europe. But be aware, not all discount airlines are the same. In this article, The Traveling Professor names his favorite discount airlines to Europe.
Usually I stay away from credit card offers. There always seems to be some sort of catch and the bank winds up on the winning side of the deal and not me. But I got a Chase Sapphire Card Reserve Card and used its benefits to turn it into AT LEAST a $1,000 net profit for me. To see how you can do it, read my blog post.
The Traveling Professor has spent the last several blog posts giving advice to air travelers on how to make the most of buying tickets, maximizing their award miles, getting the best itinerary, and using their elite status. The last series of blog posts today gives general, but important tips to air travelers.