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Archive for September 2009


Winter Fare Sale from Southwest

September 29th, 2009 — 9:49am

A new Winter Fare Sale from Southwest is out, and the prices a great – and they have a bunch of available options, too! I checked a few different flight options and found many non-stop flights for $69 each way. If you are planning any travel this Winter, it’s worth checking out! You have to book by Oct. 15, but you can fly through Feb. 11, 2010!

Link at Southwest Airlines

Comment » | Southwest

Should You Prepay for Gas With Your Rental Car?

September 28th, 2009 — 7:19am

Prepay for Gas with Rental Cars?

Should you prepay for gas with your rental car? That question has always stymied me a little bit when filling out the paperwork with my rental car. Sure, it’d be easier to not have to find a nearby gas station and do a last-minute top-off when I’m already late for my flight, but gas is expensive – and I don’t want to over-pay by prepaying. In the end, mostly I just don’t want to get scammed. So what’s the best choice?

According to auto rental consultant Neil Abrams, only a small percentage of consumers choose the prepay option. For those that make that choice, they pay a price close to the local price at the pump. If you don’t prepay and you don’t fill the tank before dropping off the car, you’ll be charged a premium for gas – often several dollars or more over the price at the pump at nearby gas stations. Strangely, however, selling gas isn’t a big profit source for rental car companies. With the costs of fuel storage, labor costs, and productivity issues included, there are significant costs in the process of filling gas tanks by the rental car companies. According to another auto rental consultant, Mike Kane, in the end car rental companies price gas the way they do to scare you into doing what they want – return the gas tank full.

So what’s the answer then? In the end, it comes down to what you’re doing with the car – but usually you should turn down the prepay option. If you need a car for limited amount of driving (for example, a long weekend in Las Vegas with a few rounds of golf at different courses), you won’t use enough gas to make prepaying worthwhile. However, if you will be using the car a lot and have an early flight out (and you don’t want to drive around an unfamiliar city looking for a gas station at 4 am), prepay and forget about it. Just make sure that when you return the car the arrow is near the ‘E’!

Comment » | Car Rental

Three New Southwest Vacations Promotions

September 8th, 2009 — 6:08am

Southwest Vacations is jumping on Fall travel quickly, posting four new promotions this week.  Here they are:

Flight to the Fight Sale: In this Las Vegas package you get the standard flight, hotel room and car (if you want it), but your package also includes tickets to the Mayweather/Ramirez fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.  Book by Sept. 14.

Friends Fly Free to Orlando: Book a package to Orlando and every other person flies free, every other night is free, and every other Sea World/Universal ticket is free! Book by Sept. 28.

Friends Fly Free to Las Vegas: When you book a Vegas package including airfare and hotel, every other person flies free, get one hotel night free (if you stay at least 4 nights), get a free Loughlin tour, and half-off select activities. Book by Sept. 28.

These end up being good deals, especially if you take advantage of the discounted event tickets, as those tend to be very expensive.

Comment » | Las Vegas

     

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