JetBlue's All You Can Jet deal

OK, JetBlue is doing it again. They are selling a pass for unlimited travel during a one month period. It costs as little as $499, to be able to fly on Monday - Thursday and Saturday. To fly every day, the pass will cost $699. The period of travel, incidentally, is from September 7 through October 6. They call it the All You Can Jet pass.

I just purchased mine but ran into one snag. The website initially said that no more passes were available. I was crushed. Instead, I opened another browser and, voila, I bought a pass. Perhaps what they say about airlines and internet cookies is true.

Let me know if you buy a pass. Perhaps we can meet along the road, er, sky, somewhere.

Quantity Discounts - NOT

You would think that by buying more of a product that you would get a price break. Sure, that works in practically every industry, except travel. What can you do about it?

First, let me explain a bit. You should already know, if you are a loyal reader or just a common sense travel consumer, that travel suppliers charge more when there is higher demand. Rates (airfares, cruise prices, lodging, car rentals) are at their peak, for instance, during the New Year's break in the Caribbean and many destinations. Makes sense, right? On a micro level, airlines charge more when capacity is fillings and hotels charge more during the week than on weekends.

Let's say that you are a group of four travelers. There are only two seats on a flight at the lowest price. However, when making your reservation (whatever source you use), the airline will charge the higher price times four. Hotels do the same thing. The weekend rate is substantially lower than the weekday rate but the property will charge you the weekday rate for each day; or they will charge you less each weekend day but not as low as the available weekend rate. I have seen it time and time and time again.

What can consumers do?

For the airfare situation, I will find out what the price is for one passenger (then two, then three, until I find the "magic" price break point). Many times, I have broken the group reservation into two separate itineraries to save money. For example, if two seats are available at $100 but the next two are $150, then I will buy 2 @ $100 and 2 @ $150, instead of 4 @ $150 (and save $100).

A similar process works for lodging and rental cars. I will find out the rate for each day and for each set of days. Similarly, I can make separate reservations at the same property for consecutive days in order to save money. For example, their weekend rate is $99 (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) and their weekday rate is $199. For an entire week, they may quote $199 for each day or perhaps $199 each weekday plus a "discounted rate" for $159 for the weekend. By booking separate weekday and weekend stays, I would save $180 ($60 for each of the three nights).

Add this strategy to your travel planning arsenal and save money on your next--and EVERY--trip.

© 2009, Charles McCool

The Almighty Rental Car Discount Code

Here is the secret to getting lower car rental rates. Are you listening? Ready?

THERE IS NO SECRET.

You can use a booking website, like Kayak or Orbitz, to scan and compare rates from various car rental firms. These rates, unfortunately, do not include any discounts. They are public or non-discounted rates. I call these rates the "sucker prices." Hardly anyone pays them. They are like rack rates for hotels and full fares for airfares. In my last blog post, I mentioned that discount codes are the key to getting lower car rental rates. Discount codes, then, are the secret to getting lower car rental rates; but, it is not really a secret.

How do you find a discount code?

Look, first, at your memberships. Rates on Hertz are heavily discounted with AAA discount codes; there is a different discount code (or CDP, in Hertz language) for each AAA club. Costco, Sam's Club, AARP, and many other organizations offer discount codes. ORganizations may have discounts for only one car rental firm (like AAA's discount for Hertz) or for many agencies (like Costco).

There are countless rental car discount codes and sources for discount codes. Your workplace, school or alumni association, or other group may have discount codes. In fact, if you have your own small business, contact car rental firms (and other travel suppliers) and negotiate your own discount code program. Discount codes may also appear in ads (internet, newspaper, magazines), be printed on inserts in your credit card bill or bank statement, or be presented by an airline's website after buying a ticket. The Entertainment book is a fantastic source of car rental discounts.

You can even scour the internet for codes. Just type "discount codes" and the name of the car company] into google.com. Many of the results point to unhelpful websites. Two excellent sources are Fatwallet.com and FlyerTalk.com.

Can you use discount codes for programs you do not belong to? Many people do. I have used codes that I found online or other sources to save loads of money. There were discount codes from organizations I did not belong to, nor would ever qualify for membership. I did my homework and suggest you do the same. Never use a code that is identified as for employees only, for instance. If the code is unknown, search for it online (type the code + the car company in google, e.g., avis K199060); that should reveal the source.

Now that you are aware of the power of car rental discount codes, find them and use them. No more sucker rates.

© 2008, Charles McCool