Deals

Flying home (or on vacation) for Thanksgiving might be a little more expensive than you expect this year, thanks to rising fuel costs and the sluggish economy. The latest word from the aviation industry is that holiday flights are getting cancelled, with airlines worried about partially full flights and the high cost of flying. The airline industry expects the number of travelers to be down this year about 2 percent from 2010, and they are cancelling flights as a result. So what does that mean for those of you that have yet to buy your tickets? You should probably hurry and buy – they will almost certainly go up, as Thanksgiving is only 3 weeks away!

We’ve come up with five simple tips to help you save money when booking your Thanksgiving flight – they are easy to follow, and might save you a bundle!

1. Avoid flying on the busiest days. The busiest travel days around Thanksgiving are the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and the Sunday and Monday after Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 24th, so avoid Wednesday the 23rd, Sunday the 27th and Monday the 28th.

2. Fly on Thanksgiving Day if at all possible. You can fly out early in the day and be at your destination before the turkey gets out of the oven! Or fly out early in the week, and head home after you have pumpkin pie – either way you might save hundreds.

3. Book a vacation instead of just a flight. Especially if you need a hotel (or just a car) in addition to your flight, look at a vacation package at the major consolidators (Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, OneTravel, Priceline). You can often save at the big consolidators – maybe even save quite a bit.

4. Check alternate airports. Alternate airports aren’t always convenient, but they can offer you big savings. If San Francisco (SFO) factors into your flight plans, check out Oakland (OAK) and San Jose (SJC). If you’re flying into Los Angeles, New York or Washington DC, there are tons of options. Normally, the inconvenience isn’t worth the savings, but around the holidays the savings could be significant!

5. Be flexible. Flexibility is the name of the game around the holidays. Flying out the weekend before Thanksgiving, then back home on Thanksgiving day might save you tons of dough – that you can then spend on Black Friday deals! Check out our MultiSearch to help see which days offer you the best deals. And hurry and book!

Resources:
Expedia
OneTravel
Orbitz
Priceline
Travelocity

There’s not much time left – 15 hours or so – but Groupon Getaways has a Avis Rental Car deal. It’s a typical Groupon-style discount, where you pay $20 and you get a $40 discount on an Avis rental through the end of the year. There are quite a few details in the fine print that you should be aware of before you buy:

Expires Dec 31, 2011
Limit 1 per rental car
Valid only in Canada and United States (excluding Alaska)
Subject to availability
Must sign waiver
Shipping address required
Cancellations must be made online
Age restrictions and available car types/models vary by state
Extra charge may apply for drivers ages 18-24
Minimum 2-day rental
Not valid with rewards points, prepaid rates, or previous rentals
$200 hold for all rentals processed with a debit card
Must enter discount number ‘AWD S666500′ at checkout

So… yeah. It’s a good deal if the situation is right, without a doubt. Especially considering that there are no blackout dates. Somebody out there should be this deal, then let me know how it goes!

View the deal at Groupon Getaways

Today only Groupon has a national deal where you pay $50 and you get a $100 credit at Southwest Vacations good on any 2+ night vacation package. It isn’t good for airfare only (you have to do airfare + hotel), but it’s still a quick and easy way to save $50!

Check it out at Groupon.com

Yes, Expedia is the first of the major travel players to follow in the footsteps of Groupon, LivingSocial and others with a daily deal-type promotion. Called ASAP: A Suddenly Amazing Price, the deals are valid to purchase between 9am to 9pm, PST until Friday, December 17. The deal changes every day, and today it’d half-price hotel reservations at Palace Station Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, a decent barely off the strip option (starting at $14 per night). Very nice!

Now that Expedia has come out with daily deals (matching Travelzoo), who’s next? Travelocity Daily Deals? Orbitz Daily Deals? OneTravel Daily Deals? I haven’t anything from those sites yet, but I’m sure we will soon!

The well-known daily deal site LivingSocial recently launched LivingSocial Escapes, their jump into the travel sector, but are the deals any good? While they do advertise at least 50% off, if that’s 50% off rack rates the deals aren’t that great.

For example, the headline deal here in the northwest is a one-night getaway at Skamania Lodge for $169 – a 50% savings off the normal rate of $339. According to their website, the Skamania Lodge offers their lowest level room for $169/night, but their Superior River View room is $339 (and looks quite nice). Also. with LivingSocial Escapes you also get some bonuses. For example, on this deal you get a $25 resort credit, free breakfast for two, and a free bottle of wine. That adds another $100 or so to the deal. All in all, this is a really good deal!

Keep an eye on LivingSocial Escapes – they currently have eight active deals, and claim that more are coming daily. View all the deals here!

Just book a Walt Disney World Resort vacation through Southwest Vacations, and you get a $500 gift card good at all Disney restaurants, or for special event tickets, sports, recreation, tours, or a massive amount of mouse ears!

Read more at SouthwestVacations.com

This new Hotels.com promotion definitely caught my eye: Save up to 40% and get a free Flip Camcorder at select hotels! I found some hotels for as cheap as $27/night, and there may be some that are cheaper. Then throw in the free Flip, and you’ve got the makings of an amazing deal!

I’ve used a Flip for about a year for family videos, and it works great. It’s about the size of a cellphone, so it easily slips in your pocket, and starts up quickly and easily for great on-the-spot videos. Plus the video quality itself is great. I highly recommend the Flip! Get it for free while on vacation, and wow!

View more details at Hotels.com

For today only, all Entertainment Books are on sale for $12 with free shipping! It’s an amazing deal – for $12 you get access to amazing travel deals. By my count they have nearly 50 rental car coupons, including double upgrades, 20% off, and more from the likes of Budget, Alamo, Avis, and more! And the rental car coupons are good until June of 2011.

The 2010 Entertainment Book also has coupons for cruise discounts, hotel discounts, vacation discounts, and more. Oh, and don’t forget the great local restaurant and activity deals. It shouldn’t be difficult to get $12 in value!

View your local book at Entertainment.com!

As I see more Winter travel deals pop up, there’s a big gotcha involved: they are often for travel to cold climates, where leisure travel sags during the Winter. I usually tell myself that it’s no big deal, I can handle the cold. Then I read this blog post from the University of Chicago. I’m shivering just reading it!

Maybe it’s time to find some warm weather deals? Las Vegas, anyone? How about San Diego? Or do we need to look at Cancun and Puerto Vallarta?

The first airfare sale of 2010 is finally here, and it’s a bit of a competition between Southwest, JetBlue and Virgin America. Fares start at $39 from a variety of airports, and you really have to compare all three to see where the best deals are in your city.

Southwest Airlines 3 Days of Deals: The Southwest Sale ends on Jan. 7, and is valid for travel every day except Fridays and Sundays through May 12, with a 14-day advance purchase.

JetBlue Shake up the New Year Sale: Ends Jan. 13 and is valid for travel through March 24 on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and/or Saturday. Requires a 10-day advance purchase.

Virgin America New Year’s Sale: Book by Jan. 11 for travel Jan. 7 through June 11, and require a 3-day advance purchase. Tickets are nonrefundable and nontransferable. Travel Tuesday, Wednesday or Saturday for the lowest fares, flights on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday are $10 more each way. Flights after March 11 are about $10 more each way.

You can definitely find some good deals if you poke around on those three sites!

Link (via LA Times)