Shopping for flights for your next trip? Internet booking portals have an inherent logic. I bet you've spent hours researching flights, comparing prices, wanting to be convinced you've found the very best deal, even if it's only $5 less. I think that's a foolish approach. Here are my top tips for making airline reservations.
1. Non-stops are always better than connections, even if they cost more. Why?
a) You'll save hours. You can fly San Francisco to New York in five-and-a-half hours, gate to gate. Stopping en route will add at least two hours to your trip, likely three or more hours. Time is our most precious resource, so make the most of yours!
b) You won't miss your connection. So many things can go wrong, and if they do, you'll be massively inconvenienced. Anything from bad weather to mechanical problems can delay your flight. Do you really want to spend the first night of your vacation at an airport hotel in Chicago, Salt Lake, or Detroit?
c) Your bags won't miss your connection. While checked bags usually make it onto your next flight, they don't always.
2. If you must connect, pay attention to connection times. Are you comfortable with a 40 minute connection in Dallas, a 75 minute connection at Paris Charles de Gaulle, or a 90 minute connection time at London Heathrow? I'm not. Though they're legal connections, you could find yourself running through an unfamiliar airport to make your flight.
3. Make sure all your flight reservations are on one PNR (passenger name record). If something should go wrong and you misconnect (miss your connecting flight), the airline owns the problem and will get you on the next flight to your destination without making you pay more. If you have two separate tickets, you're out of luck.
4. Keep all flights on the same airline or alliance. If you're ticketed on two separate airlines, you may not be able to check your bags all the way through. Connections are usually much easier on the same airline. For instance, if you're flying Delta out of LAX, fly Delta into LAX. Flying in on Southwest would require you to change terminals and go through security again.
5. Size does matter. Is flying painful because your knees are pressed into the seat in front of you? Pay attention to seat pitch. That's the distance between your seat and the seat in front of you. There are planes with as little as 28" of space for your legs (yes, I'm talking about you, Frontier and Spirit). Some airlines offer as much as 39" of pitch, even in coach. Here's a chart.
6. Look at the final price, not the come-on fare. I'm not a fan of (so-called) low cost airlines or the "basic economy" fare on major airlines, as you'll end up paying for everything — checked bags, putting bags in the overhead compartment, reserving assigned seats, printing boarding passes at the airport, checking in at the airport, in-flight meals, in-flight drinks, etc. I've heard of passengers who ended up paying more for their bags to fly than for their own tickets.
7. What price loyalty? Frequent flyer programs used to be a great deal, but now they're a good deal for the airline ... but not for you. When's the last time you were able to use miles to upgrade into First Class or to get a free business class seat on the specific flight you want on the day you want at a decent redemption rate? I remember the good old days when I could upgrade any seat on Continental for 5,000 miles. No more!!!
Think your status will get you an upgrade? Think again. Elite upgrades are becoming less frequent. The airlines would rather sell their comfortable business class seats at a discount rather than give them away for free to their best customers.
8. You don't have to be your own travel agent, and the good news is that there many experienced air agents out there. Did you know that if you book through Expedia, Orbitz, or CheapoAir, you've hired a travel agent? Only trouble is, you're booking through a robot. A robot can tell you the lowest come-on price ... but a robot cannot advise. A live human travel advisor knows the questions to ask and can tell you, for instance, whether an open-jaw flight makes sense. "You're starting your trip in Paris and ending it in Nice. Did you know you can fly back from Nice and still get a round-trip price?" Your OTA doesn't know anything about you or your trip. A professional can help you avoid pitfalls that amateurs don't even know about.
1. Non-stops are always better than connections, even if they cost more. Why?
a) You'll save hours. You can fly San Francisco to New York in five-and-a-half hours, gate to gate. Stopping en route will add at least two hours to your trip, likely three or more hours. Time is our most precious resource, so make the most of yours!
b) You won't miss your connection. So many things can go wrong, and if they do, you'll be massively inconvenienced. Anything from bad weather to mechanical problems can delay your flight. Do you really want to spend the first night of your vacation at an airport hotel in Chicago, Salt Lake, or Detroit?
c) Your bags won't miss your connection. While checked bags usually make it onto your next flight, they don't always.
2. If you must connect, pay attention to connection times. Are you comfortable with a 40 minute connection in Dallas, a 75 minute connection at Paris Charles de Gaulle, or a 90 minute connection time at London Heathrow? I'm not. Though they're legal connections, you could find yourself running through an unfamiliar airport to make your flight.
3. Make sure all your flight reservations are on one PNR (passenger name record). If something should go wrong and you misconnect (miss your connecting flight), the airline owns the problem and will get you on the next flight to your destination without making you pay more. If you have two separate tickets, you're out of luck.
4. Keep all flights on the same airline or alliance. If you're ticketed on two separate airlines, you may not be able to check your bags all the way through. Connections are usually much easier on the same airline. For instance, if you're flying Delta out of LAX, fly Delta into LAX. Flying in on Southwest would require you to change terminals and go through security again.
5. Size does matter. Is flying painful because your knees are pressed into the seat in front of you? Pay attention to seat pitch. That's the distance between your seat and the seat in front of you. There are planes with as little as 28" of space for your legs (yes, I'm talking about you, Frontier and Spirit). Some airlines offer as much as 39" of pitch, even in coach. Here's a chart.
6. Look at the final price, not the come-on fare. I'm not a fan of (so-called) low cost airlines or the "basic economy" fare on major airlines, as you'll end up paying for everything — checked bags, putting bags in the overhead compartment, reserving assigned seats, printing boarding passes at the airport, checking in at the airport, in-flight meals, in-flight drinks, etc. I've heard of passengers who ended up paying more for their bags to fly than for their own tickets.
7. What price loyalty? Frequent flyer programs used to be a great deal, but now they're a good deal for the airline ... but not for you. When's the last time you were able to use miles to upgrade into First Class or to get a free business class seat on the specific flight you want on the day you want at a decent redemption rate? I remember the good old days when I could upgrade any seat on Continental for 5,000 miles. No more!!!
Think your status will get you an upgrade? Think again. Elite upgrades are becoming less frequent. The airlines would rather sell their comfortable business class seats at a discount rather than give them away for free to their best customers.
8. You don't have to be your own travel agent, and the good news is that there many experienced air agents out there. Did you know that if you book through Expedia, Orbitz, or CheapoAir, you've hired a travel agent? Only trouble is, you're booking through a robot. A robot can tell you the lowest come-on price ... but a robot cannot advise. A live human travel advisor knows the questions to ask and can tell you, for instance, whether an open-jaw flight makes sense. "You're starting your trip in Paris and ending it in Nice. Did you know you can fly back from Nice and still get a round-trip price?" Your OTA doesn't know anything about you or your trip. A professional can help you avoid pitfalls that amateurs don't even know about.
copyright (c) 2017 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® Member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.
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