Category Archives for Discounts & Deals.
This summer Expedia is launching a new rewards program that will apply across all 21 of their brands. Historically some have offered better rewards, like Orbitz and Hotels.com, while others have offered consistently devalued rewards such as Expedia directly, and some haven’t offered rewards at all – like Vrbo. That’s changing. You’ll be able to go earn points buying airline tickets and spend them on homesharing.
Right now there’s an amazing transatlantic business class deal originating in Europe. You can book business class roundtrip itineraries for less than $500. And this is amazing for people in the U.S., too – just book an award ticket or cheap coach fare to Europe, then book a series of roundtrips that start in Europe. At this price, why not go more than once?
You can fly across the British Airways network to places like New York; Washington DC; Austin; Las Vegas; Philadelphia and Seattle. And you can start in cities like Dublin; Paris; Nice; Bucharest; Dusseldorf; and more. Try your favorite European cities and British Airways destinations in the U.S.
Airfares have been through the roof, but right now there’s a sale on from several U.S. cities to numerous destinations across Europe – starting at just $298 roundtrip on Star Alliance member (United MileagePlus partner) TAP Air Portugal. You can fly from Boston, Chicago, Miami, New York JFK, Newark, San Francisco or Washington Dulles (the cities where TAP Air Portugal flies) to their destinations across Europe – like Barcelona, Madrid, Milan, Frankfurt, Munich, Rome (or even Porto, Valencia, Malaga, or Bilbao) – for prices ranging from $298 – $398 when sale fares are available. The opportunity was first spotted by Thrifty Traveler‘s airfare deal alert service. Here’s an example from Boston: Just how good a deal is this? The cost is almost entirely taxes and fees. The actual airfare? Just $15.50 each way. Key details…
Star Alliance member TAP Air Portugal is selling business class roundtrips from New York JFK and Newark to Vienna, Zurich, Nice or Frankfurt via Lisbon starting at $1790.
The discount applies only to base fare and Frontier pricing is mostly about taxes and fees, including mandatory booking fees. So you may not be saving as much as you think in percentage terms. Fronter base fares aren’t most of the cost of a ticket, after all.
But this is a very good deal indeed for those with status, including those who took advantage of status matches and who have free Frontier status (and likely won’t pay add-on fees as a result).
Air Serbia is offering New York JFK – Belgrade from $1099 roundtrip in business class for travel in November. Visit Serbia or use this as a jumping off point for the rest of the region, and Nikola Tesla Airport is easy for short connections.
Google and Expedia both looked at when it’s cheapest to book tickets and is it any surprise that Google’s answers are more credible? Google found that it largely doesn’t matter, while Expedia says it’s up to 15% cheaper to book on Sundays. At least they didn’t claim “12:01 a.m. Tuesday morning when holds expire” or similar nonsense.
It seems that what is happening is that the points upgrade rate – 6000 points on top of the rate for an eligible room – is pricing at $39 perhaps instead of $390. And it’s bookable from when the hotel opens in January through the end of Hyatt’s booking window late next year.
Roughly speaking you’ll get 1.5 cents per point against base fare, rather than 1.2 cents per points, under this offer. They’ve offered this deal in the past, most recently in March and it’s a good way to provide a good deal while filling up planes, and at the same time not cannibalizing higher fare paid travel that Southwest would otherwise generate – so wins all around.
Airfares have been astronomical, but have been coming down a bit. Under $600 would be a very good coach fare of late, but right now it’s possible to travel to Europe roundtrip for under $600 in premium economy on Star Alliance member Scandinavian Airlines.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
