Ask questions before you make your purchase.

Many people purchase travel insurance just in case something happens before or during their travels. Some were very glad they did when the big eruption occurred in Iceland this Spring and closed much of the airspace in Europe.

For those of you travelling in the near future, please keep in mind, travel insurance covers events unknown at the time of purchase. An ongoing event is not covered by travel insurance.

411 Travel Expert spoke with one the major travel insurance providers in the U.S. recently. We were advised any new purchases of travel insurance covering travel interruption from volcanoes would not include the current and ongoing Eyjafjallajökull volcano emissions. We were told a new eruption from a different volcano in Iceland would be covered. The insuror would track the path of the disrupting dust trail to make certain from which volcano it originated before benefits would be payable.

Be sure you ask detailed questions before you purchase your travel insurance so you don't waste your money on something for which there is no protection.

Happy Travels,
411TravelExpert.com

The TSA will soon require your full name, gender and date of birth to permit you to pass through security and board a flight.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has delegated the collection of your name, gender and date of birth to the airlines as part of their Secure Flight program. Some travel agencies have begun collecting the information already.

The TSA set Aug. 15 as a target date for the airlines to begin compliance, but many airlines and travel agencies are still updating their reservation systems to accept the new information. So instead of a hard deadline, Secure Flight is being rolled out, airline by airline, over the next year or so.

You will no longer be able to book flights using just your first initial and last name. Passengers using their middle name and surname may encounter delays.

Frequent travelers should begin changing their frequent flyer program names. For example, if you have always flown as W. Smith and your full name is William Jacob Smith, you need to start changing all of your ID's to William Jacob Smith. Airlines match your frequent flyer miles by name and account number. If the name in your reservation is different from the one on your ticket you could lose mileage you hoped to accrue. If you have a passport, it is best to change your drivers license and all mileage accounts to the same name. It is much easier to make changes to mileage programs and your drivers license than to change your passport.

Don't delay as TSA hopes to start enforcing the new rules during the first quarter of 2010.

Happy Travels,
411 Travel Expert

When you buy a ticket, review the fare rules before you get locked in. Some airlines give you 24 hours after the purchase to cancel for a full refund with no penalty. All fares are different and may have different rules and penalties.

Airline fare rules are long, complicated documents detailing everything from advance purchase requirements to complete listings of flights to which they do not apply. In the future Travel Expert will make an effort to post details of fare rules and things to watch out for. Right now it's much more informative to share with you an internet joke about airline fare rules than to go into a big explanation. .

Below is a dialogue where the Airline is replaced by a Paint Store. The dialogue puts airline fare rules in perspective.

Customer: Hi. How much is your paint?

Clerk: Well sir, that all depends on quite a lot of things.

Customer: Can you give me a guess? Is there an average price?

Clerk: Our lowest price is $12 a gallon, and we have 60 different
prices up to $200 a gallon.

Customer: What's the difference in the paint?

Clerk: Oh, there isn't any difference; it's all the same paint.

Customer: Well then, I'd like some of that $12 paint.

Clerk: When do you intend to use the paint?

Customer: I want to paint tomorrow. It's my day off.

Clerk: Sir, the paint for tomorrow is the $200 paint.

Customer: When would I have to paint to get the $12 paint?

Clerk: You would have to start very late at night in about 3 weeks;
but you will have to agree to start painting before Friday of that
week and continue painting until at least Sunday.

Customer: You've got to be *&%^#@* kidding!

Clerk: I'll check and see if we have any paint available.

Customer: You have shelves FULL of paint! I can see it!

Clerk: But it doesn't mean that we have paint available. We sell only
a certain number of gallons on any given weekend. Oh, and by the way,
the price per gallon just went to $16. We don't have any more $12
paint.

Customer: The price went up as we were talking?

Clerk: Yes sir. We change the prices and rules hundreds of times a
day, and since you haven't actually walked out of the store with your
paint yet, we just decided to change. I suggest you purchase your
paint as soon as possible. How many gallons do you want?

Customer: Well, maybe five gallons. Make that six, so I'll have
enough.

Clerk: Oh no sir, you can't do that. If you buy paint and don't use
it, there are penalties and possible confiscation of the paint you
already have.

Customer: WHAT?

Clerk: We can sell enough paint to do your kitchen, bathroom, hall and
one bedroom, but if you stop painting before you do the bedroom, you
will lose your remaining gallons of paint.

Customer: What does it matter whether I use all the paint? I already
paid you for it!

Clerk: We make plans based upon the idea that all our paint is used,
every drop. If you don't, it causes us all sorts of problems.

Customer: This is crazy! I suppose something terrible happens if I
don't keep painting until after Saturday night!

Clerk: Oh yes! Every gallon you bought automatically becomes the $200
paint.

Customer: but what are all these, "Paint on sale from $2.50 a quart"
signs?

Clerk: Well that's for our budget paint. It only comes in
half-gallons. One $5 half-gallon will do half a room. The second
half-gallon to complete the room is $20. None of the cans have labels,
some are empty and there are no refunds, even on the empty cans.

Customer: To hell with this! I'll buy what I need somewhere else!

Clerk: I don't think so sir. You may be able to buy paint for your
bathroom and bedrooms and your kitchen and dining room from someone
else, but you won't be able to paint your connecting hall and stairway
from anyone but us. And I should point out sir, that if you paint in
only one direction, it will be $300 a gallon.

Customer: I thought your most expensive paint was $200!

Clerk: That's if you paint around the room to the point at which you
started. A hallway is different.

Customer: And if I buy $200 paint for the hall, but only paint in one
direction, you'll confiscate the remaining paint?

Clerk: No, we'll charge you an extra use fee plus the difference on
your next gallon of paint. but I believe you're getting it now sir.

Customer: You're insane!

Clerk: Thanks for painting with FastJet.

411 Travel Expert hopes you enjoyed the story.

Happy Flying, and WATCH out for fare rule traps,
411 Travel Expert

AAA and AARP members get special rates at most Hotels. The savings on a single night's stay could be more than the cost of your membership.

Most major hotel chains offer substantial discounts to American Automobile Association (AAA) members. The cost of membership ranges from about $57.00 to just over $100 depending on the type of membership you purchase. Discounts vary depending on the hotel and usually remain available down to the last few rooms available. At a medium priced hotel you may save about $40 per night. Higher end hotels may save you up to $150 per night. As you can see, a membership is worth the cost from as little as one night's savings.

Some hotels offer AAA rates to Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) members. Many others have separate discounted rates for CAA members.

American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) members also receive discounts at most major hotel chains. Some require a minimum age of 62, others just require proof of membership. Membership in AARP can cost as little as about $38 for a five year membership. The savings from a single night's stay at a hotel can pay for the membership. AARP's minimum age for membership is 50.

In a recent search of hotel rates for the month of August, 411 Travel Expert found most major chains offering four basic room rates. RACK, the standard walk-in rate. BEST rate, a discounted rate driven by the market and the economy. SENIOR/AARP rate, consistently lower than the BEST rate. AAA rate, consistently lower than the SENIOR/AARP.

BEST rate depends on season and market. The current recession has driven the BEST rate down. In normal economic times the BEST rate is usually never offered during high season. AAA and AARP rates are generally offered all year round.

Motels tend to offer smaller discounts for AAA and AARP members but will still average up to a 20% savings.

Overall hotel and motel rates have dipped considerably with the current economic situation. It is a great time to save on hotel costs. And of course, it's a great time to save even more by joining AAA, CAA or AARP. Always ask for the discount when you make your bookings.

Happy Lodging,
411 Travel Expert

Weather determines: How you pack, How you feel, What you do and even the Price of your trip. Many people never stop to check the weather before they plan their trip.

Bali, Costa Rica, Kenya, Paducah, Tashkent and just about any location on Earth have an easy place to go to on the internet to find out current, future and historical weather.

Just go to a search engine, e.g. Google or Yahoo, and type in your destination and the word weather.

Current weather and the 10-day forecast are a great help for choosing what clothing to pack. But, to maximize your enjoyment, you should investigate seasonal weather while you are planning your trip. Most people plan their vacations well in advance. There are charts for everywhere that tell you what the weather is like during the time you plan to visit.

Seasons are important too. Not just fall, winter, spring and summer, but Rainy, Dry and Windy are out there to influence your trip. Costa Rica is great place to visit anytime of the year but between May and November it might rain every day, not always the whole day but usually part of it.

Arizona is a great place to visit but Phoenix and Tucson are usually over 100 degrees from June to the beginning of September. Alaska even has the debatable and mysterious mosquito season.

A recent Yahoo search for "Kenya Weather" gave as the very first result a chart of major cities with their high's and low's, humidity for both morning and evening and the precipitation averages for each month of the year.

Booking your trip online may be difficult but picking the right time to go somewhere is made much easier by simply searching for the weather that you most enjoy.

Pricing usually comes in high, medium (shoulder) and low season. Keep in mind, Europeans live in Europe all year. Costa Ricans live in Costa Rica all year. If your personal travel needs don't require perfect weather you can save a bundle. London is rarely bitter cold and in February the airfares are low, the hotels are much cheaper and all the tourist sites are still there, they just have shorter or no lines to get in. This is true for most destinations that have a busy tourist season. Off season can be very relaxing.

If you are doing your own travel planning, make sure you think about the weather.

Happy Travels,
411 Travel Expert

When cities have the same name or multiple airports, make sure you are flying to the right one. It is very easy to end up anywhere from a few miles to thousands of miles from where you thought you were going.

As travel experts, we know to ask which city and airport passengers want to fly to. When the passenger says Portland, we ask Maine or Oregon? It may surprise you but frequently passengers arrive at the airport, check-in and board the plane then later realize the trip is very short or very long and find out they are headed to the wrong destination. You may think this incredible or even stupid, but it happens.

Some cities have several airports. When flying to London you can choose from Stansted, Luton, London City, Heathrow or Gatwick. If your final ground destination is Crawley and you fly into Luton, you still have over 80 miles to go after you land, and you will pass at least one of the other airports to get there.

For New York City, if tickets to LaGuardia and JFK are $60 less than Newark, your savings will be eaten up by ground transportation costs to get to Hoboken or Jersey City. Going to Santa Monica? You might find a cheap fare to Ontario, Long Beach or Orange County but compare that to the cost of a taxi ride from Burbank or LAX.

One of our travel experts has a favorite story about cities with the same name:

The passenger needed to go from New York to London for meetings then return to Charleston, SC to pick up his boat. As with all customers, all parts of the trip were double checked, even down to the car that would take him to his boat in South Carolina. Things went smoothly until some meetings were canceled and he needed to change his return date. Passing the change information to his assistant in London, she used a local agent in London and the flight was changed to a day earlier. The assistant advised our travel expert of the change and asked him to change the local car arrangements in South Carolina. In the e-mail, the assistant provided the new flight information. Our travel expert immediately noticed the new flight would take the passenger to West Virginia where Charleston is 467 miles from his boat in the other Charleston. The travel expert changed the flights to Charleston, South Carolina and sent the new flight information to the assistant including the tidbit about the 467 miles. Within seconds, the assistant called the travel expert to thank him for saving her job and they both had a good laugh. It is given, there's no real need for the assistant to be aware there are two Charlestons with airports. But surprisingly the booking agent in Britain never questioned which Charleston was the destination. Thanks to the constant alertness of a travel expert and an efficient assistant, the passenger was never aware of, nor inconvenienced by, a potential nightmare.

When searching for fares and flight information many people like to make up airport codes that sound right but are not. WPB is a great representation for West Palm Beach were it not in Madagascar. The code for West Palm Beach is PBI. 

Happy flight searches,
411 Travel Expert

When you are traveling keep an eye out for signs and make it a point to familiarize yourself with local law. Try to be observant when walking around unfamiliar areas. If the wording of a sign seems peculiar, it may be a revenue trap. Mostly tourists try to be aware of traffic laws when they travel. In urban areas, there may be as many pedestrian laws as traffic laws. Go to the full story of A Tourist's Walk in Central Park for a real eye-opener.

Large cities spend a lot of time and effort attracting tourists. Tourists are a great source of revenue. Hotels and hotel taxes, restaurants and the sales taxes benefit the local economy by providing jobs, tax revenue and sustaining many small businesses. To protect the interest of all, rules and regulations are passed into law.

Though most laws are not intended to be revenue specific, the local authorities in a weak economy may cite you for minor infractions that in other times would have gone ignored.

In Washington State a slight swerve of your car and a blood alcohol content of .023 (well under the legal limit) can result in prosecution for a full blown DUI as their law is written. That sip of wine and tiny swerve can cost you five to fifteen thousand dollars.

In Phoenix you can be cited for not using your turn signal prior to changing lanes. In many towns and cities, U-turns are forbidden whether signed or not.

In New York City the rules can be drastically different than most other cities you visit. When driving, right turns on RED are forbidden unless signed otherwise. There are three different categories to explain the time your car is not in motion, they are, Stopping, Standing and Parking. On any given street any combination of the three may be enforced. Dropping someone off is called Stopping. Waiting for someone is called Standing. When the driver exits a stationary vehicle is it called Parking.

When walking about New York City please keep an eye out for signs. In the City's Parks most signs are brown or dark green with white or gold writing. Recently a couple from Texas walking with their son and daughter-in-law were fined a total of $200 for not obeying a sign. The sign, had they noticed it, given the make up of their family group, would have reasonably appeared not to apply to them. Not having seen the poorly posted sign, they were unaware they were entering a playground and thought they were continuing out of the park. They were stopped by a policeman and told they were not permitted in the area without children under the age of fourteen. Had they read the sign, which only used the word "children" with no reference to small, or age, it is unlikely they would have thought passing through the area to exit the park would cost them $50 each. The couple has definitely decided the law that applied to their citations is definitely in the spirit of revenue generation more than protection of a playground area. Click on any of the photos below to read the full story of The Texas family's walk in Central Park.

       
                                                                          
Be on guard for local laws when you travel. Chewing gum is against the law in Singapore unless for therapeutic reasons and with a prescription. It really doesn’t matter what your thoughts are on the customs of another country or the local laws of another city. Ensure you know the customs before you leave home and that way you won’t run afoul of the law and end up being punished simply for being ignorant of accepted practices.

411 Travel Expert

Pet Airways begins service in July from many regional airports near major cities.

This is a new way for pets to travel. Pets are referred to as PAWSENGERS. All pets travel inside the main cabin in climate controlled comfort. A Trained Pet Attendant is always monitoring your pet.

Pet Airways uses Beech 1900 aircraft. It is a 19 passenger plane that has had the “human” furnishings removed; like the seats and overhead bins. Pets are placed in their private pet carriers which are secured using their proprietary restraint system especially designed and created by Pet Airways.

Watch the Pet Airways Commercial by clicking here.

Pet Airways plans to expand their route system soon.

Happy Travels,
411 Travel Expert

If you ever wondered how your 5 day car rental quote of $200 could cost you over $400, read on!

Frequent car renters realize the base price quote is really only an idea of the cost. General reservation systems today usually print an estimated total along with your reservation confirmation.

To tell this story we will analyze a five day rental of a midsize car at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport from August 10th to August 15th of this year. The reservation confirmation says the car is $200.45 for the five days and estimates the total cost with mandatory taxes to be $304.37.

Here is the breakdown:

    Sales Tax is 10%
    Airport concession recovery fee is 11.11%
    County Tax is 5%
    Facility Fee is $4.00 per day
    Frequent Flyer Surcharge is $0.06 per day
    Transportation Fee is $2.20 per day
    Vehicle License Fee is $2.50 per day

Then there are the options:

    LDW (Loss Damage Waiver) $15.99 per day
    LIS (Liability Insurance Supplement) $9.99 per day
    PPL (Personal Protection Plan) $5.45 per day
    SLI (Supplementary Liability Insurance) $8.95 per day
    UMC (Uninsured Motorist Coverage) $5.99 per day

Then there is optional equipment:

    CSI and CST (Infant or Toddler Seat) $6.00 per day
    NVS (Mobile Navigational System or GPS) $11.99 per day

A family traveling with one toddler choosing the GPS and the LDW and receiving airline frequent flyer miles for the rental should expect a minimum charge of $466.49. If they drop the LDW the minimum is $386.54. If they choose all the coverage options their total would be a minimum of $618.39. We use the word minimum because some of the options may be taxed.

Why all the taxes and fees? The rental car company collects taxes as prescribed by local law. Fees are collected to recover the cost of transporting you from/to the airport to/from the car location, the cost of the car rental location and the cost of licensing and registering the car. Many cities charge out of state or out of city residents a tourism tax or fee depending on local law. Additionally, any airline or hotel loyalty points (a.k.a. Frequent Flyer Miles) are charged at as little as $0.06 per day with a usual maximum of $8.00 per rental depending on how miles are accrued.

The optional coverages are strictly up to you. Your personal auto insurance may cover you for rental cars. If traveling on business your company may provide a blanket policy covering rental cars. If you are uncertain as to whether you are covered it is best to investigate prior to renting a car. If you choose to take all the optional coverages and adhere to all the laws of the areas in which you drive, you should be covered for most incidents and be able to walk away from a rental with no further obligations. Choosing not to take optional coverages will leave you in the position of sorting out any liabilities with your insurer. If using your credit card as the insurer be sure to investigate any limitations or maximums your card provides. Some credit card insurances are not great enough to cover the cost of replacing an automobile.

Happy Renting,
411 Travel Expert

This is the easiest and most relaxing way to enjoy touring around your vacation destination. It can also be one of the most expensive ways. Location Location Location.

You can arrange for a car and driver/guide in advance or on the spur of the moment at your hotel. You can also negotiate with taxi drivers on the spot.

Pricing will usually be relative to the economy of the country or city you are visiting. The type and quality of the vehicle can be a major factor in cost. Your language requirement will also affect the price you pay. Prestigious car service companies charge premium rates but have really good reputations and new cars and are known for punctuality, courtesy and professionalism. Carey Worldwide is a great company to use.

Below are some examples of cost for hiring a car and driver in a variety of locations. Please note pricing fluctuates with fuel prices.

    Paris, France: Comfortable newer model executive sedan runs about $130 per hour with a 2 hour minimum and additional for tolls, parking and telephone usage. A five hour city tour with English speaking driver guide and late model comfortable sedan arranged with a deluxe hotel's concierge runs about $850.  
    London, UK: Comfortable new model executive sedan, $140 per hour with a 2 hour minimum. A quick tour by Black Cab from Hyde Park Corner to Greenwich Observatory, Cutty Sark, Tower Bridge and back costs around $300.
    Quito, Ecuador: Comfortable newer model sedan, arranged by your hotel, for local touring $20 per hour. The same for a day trip out of town, like to Santo Domingo los Colorados is $20 per hour plus a trip charge of $100. A day trip to Otavalo uses the same hourly rate with a lower trip charge.
    Panama, Panama: Older model taxi arranged directly with the driver runs about $35 per hour.
    Phoenix, Arizona: Comfortable newer model sedan, $92 per hour.
    New York City: Comfortable newer model sedan $160 per hour
    Mexico City, Mexico: Older model sedan/taxi suggested by hotel $50 per hour. A trip to the Pyramids from the Pink Zone or Zocalo and return $250, about 5 hours.

As you can see, the prices are all over the place. The bargain is usually with the licensed taxi driver and his colleagues. Using your hotel's concierge or travel assistance staff costs more but gives you peace of mind. And booking before you go requires using only those higher end service providers which market their product worldwide.

Happy Touring,
411 Travel Expert