BidonTravel Travel Updates, Tips, & Commentary

If you’re a regular reader, you know that BidonTravel strongly emphasizes checking for values before deciding where to go.

You might call this “imitating the French”—checking out the quality and price of the food in the market before deciding what to eat, instead of arriving at the store with a list of items to buy, as do so many Americans.

When thinking of traveling, watch for new routes. You know these airlines are going to promote and that means introductory low prices for you.

This year, you’ll find no better airline to check than JetBlue, which is adding a new plane to its fleet every 10 days.

Check out these new nonstop services on JetBlue. Introductory fares start at $54 each way, or perhaps less, if other airlines match.

Boston to Phoenix starts May 3rd
Boston to Richmond, VA April 6th
New York/JFK to Bermuda starts on May 4th.
New York/JFK to Portland, ME May 23rd.
New York/LaGuardia to Orlando May 3rd
New York/JFK to Richmond, VA March 31st
Orlando to Aquadilla May 3rd
Orlando to San Juan May 3rd
Washington/Dulles to Las Vegas May 3rd

Also, keep an eye on Southwest for continued aggressive expansion from Denver and elsewhere, and watch for traditional airlines like American and United to expand their international routes, where they face much less competition from budget carriers. Be the first to book and enjoy a bargain.

Posted by Don Nadeau at 04:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

"Dallas (DFW) Leads Rental Car Rip Offs" was published before, but it's well worth reading again. Your best way to save on rental cars may be by avoiding certain airports like DFW altogether, and renting your cars downtown.

We don’t mind paying higher taxes and fees when we rent cars at airport locations—we’d rather do this than face no airport improvements--but all too often these fees are despicably egregious.

Take Dallas-Ft. Worth International (DFW). The word reprehensible comes to mind.

Last we heard, rental car taxes and fees totaled an astounding 61.4% at DFW. But, if you took a shuttle into town, your fees would add up to a “mere” 17.1%.

No wonder Southwest Airlines has fought pitched legal battles for years against being forced to use DFW, instead of Love Field. There are other good reasons, but this must be one of them.

Dallas is not alone. At Atlanta, Chicago O’Hare, Denver International, and Phoenix, taxes and fees are at least twice what you’d pay at a downtown location.

There are exceptions. LAX renters face no penalty. Orlando and Minneapolis – St. Paul travelers pay little more than at city center locations.

In most cases, however, you are better off renting downtown if you're renting for more than several days.

Posted by Don Nadeau at 04:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)