how to find Cheap Airfares	Don't fly!   Flying causes climate change. (more...)	by Michael Bluejay Award-winning writer Contact me
	Cheap Airfare Tips Search Engines compared Flexible Dates International Fares Travel Modes Compared News Exit Rows Don't fly United Fan mail

	Air Travel News  Airlines now losing $60 per passenger! May 2008. BusinessWeek has a good article explaining how soaring energy costs are crushing the airlines. The shocker: Airlines are now losing $60 for every roundtrip passenger they fly. Some airlines will either go out of business or merge with existing airlines. The airlines who remain will likely get a another federal bailout -- which is rather ridiculous. Why should taxpayer money be going to for-profit businesses? This is a rather curious kind of welfare. I say, if the businesses can't remain profitable, let them fail. A bailout would be a temporary band-aid anyway. The price of oil isn't ever coming down again, so without drastic changes from the airlines, they'd need a monumental bailout every year. Fortunately, airlines have started making these changes. They've eliminated huge numbers of unprofitable (unpopular) flights, they've raised prices, and they've started charging for things that were once free -- like checked baggage and even pillows. But they're going to have to do a lot more of these things in the post-Peak Oil world. They'll have to cut even more routes and make prices even higher. This will make air travel unaffordable for many, but that's what we expect when oil is no longer abundant and cheap. There's no way around that. Expect bus and rail travel to grow massively now as the airlines shrink.   Travel Tips from The Wizard of Odds 1. Choose the Emergency Exit Row. Unless you're with a child ask for the emergency row aisle. You'll get about a foot extra leg room. (Children aren't allowed to sit in emergency aisles.) On a separate page with list exit rows and other seats with extra legroom for a couple of airlines: 2.    Try to get bumped. When a flight is overbooked the airline will ask for a volunteer to get off the plane and catch the next one. The airline offers compensation, such as a travel voucher or free roundtrip within the U.S., plus overnight accommodations if the flight is the next day. If you're not in a hurry, volunteer to be bumped if they ask. 3.   Bring your own headphones. Some flights allow you to listen to a variety of music stations, but charge $4 for headphone rental. Bring your own headphones and save your money.  Some airlines will require an adapter which I think you could get at Radio Shack. 4.  Be careful about starting a conversation with the person next to you. They might bore you for hours and you'll have nowhere to go. 5.    Hold a lemon to avoid motion sickness. 6.    Good airports: Vegas, Baltimore, Pittsburgh.  Bad airports:  Newark, JFK.   Thanks for visiting, and I hope you liked the site. I'll leave you with a couple of hand-picked ads. Find which travel days are cheapest If your travel dates are flexible, just enter the cities you're flying between and let Travelocity find which days are cheapest to fly. Being flexible with your travel dates is our #1 tip for getting the cheapest airfare. Travelocity.com If you liked my guide to Cheap Airfare, you might like some of my other sites: Saving Electricity How to Buy a House Bicycle Safety Guide to Household Batteries
Summarized Tips for getting the cheapest airfare Be flexible with your travel dates (click "flexible dates" at Travelocity, and see our flexible dates tips). Book at least 2-3 weeks in advance, 30 days for intl. flights. Fly mid-week if you can. Check fares at nearby airports (e.g., Newark, NJ instead of NYC). Most search engines have a checkbox to do this automatically. Check roundtrip fares even if you're traveling one-way. Round-trips are often cheaper, for some strange reason. Travel on Thanksgiving Day itself instead of the day before Thanksgiving. After Thanksgiving, return on Friday, Saturday or Monday instead of Sunday. Fly on Christmas Day itself instead of the days before Christmas. If you're traveling to more than one city, use the engine's special Multi-City search. Use the best website for your particular situation. See our complete tips.
My favorite online video: The Military Budget as Cookies This excellent animation from TrueMajority shows in graphic detail (using Oreo cookies) how ridiculously, large the military budget is, and how we could solve many domestic problems with a modest 12% cut. A must-see. (watch it now)

	how to find Cheap Airfares	Don't fly!   Flying causes climate change. (more...)	by Michael Bluejay Award-winning writer Contact me
	Cheap Airfare Tips Search Engines compared Flexible Dates International Fares Travel Modes Compared News Exit Rows Don't fly United Fan mail