NWA-PCUG Newsletter Article, January 2008
Check Alternative Travel Site for Deals
By Ira Wilsker, APCUG Director;
Columnist, The Examiner, Beaumont, TX; Radio & TV Show Host

Iwilsker@apcug.net
(click to email author)


WEBSITES:
http://www.ultimatefares.com

We have all seen the TV commercials with the gnome fretting over travel problems, and have seen the black clad inspectors prancing all over a hotel snooping in every nook and cranny. One thing the internet is not short of is travel websites that offer airline tickets, hotel rooms, cruises, rental cars, and package deals combining all of the above. Many of the proprietary airline and hotel sites, such as Continental.com and Hilton.com themselves guarantee the lowest rates, but neglect to show what the competition is offering. One advantage to the direct sale proprietary travel sites is that they generally do not add a service fee for online bookings, unlike the fees charged by the independent commercial travel websites. On the other hand, the commercial travel sites can show the rates and fares from multiple providers, allowing for comparison shopping for both cost and schedule. While there are many well advertised mega-travel sites like Expedia, Hotels.com, Orbitz, and Travelocity, there are also some lesser known web sites that offer a service that some of the mega sites are lacking.

One such site that I recently learned about from a professional acquaintance is Ultimate Fares, at http://www.ultimatefares.com. While similar to the mega travel sites in appearance and function it had some different travel results when I compared it to some of the mega sites and proprietary web sites in a side by side comparison. In one example, I was looking for the lowest possible airfare from Beaumont to Las Vegas on some specific peak travel dates.

Travelocity and Expedia displayed a nearly identical selection of flights and airfares, many of which were duplicated on Ultimate Fares. What was unusual on the Ultimate Fares website was the ability of the user to choose from some unusual indirect routings where the user had the choice to choose between a lower fare (not offered on the mega sites) and a longer flight time, including connections. If for the traveler, at his personal choice, it is worth saving in some cases over a hundred dollars in airfare, in exchange for a two or three hour longer total flight time, the user at least has that choice. One specific example was on the Beaumont BPT – Las Vegas LAS example on some peak travel days in the Christmas – New Years time period, when the airlines were extremely busy and heavily booked. While the traveler could select a direct Beaumont – Houston IAH – Las Vegas route from one carrier, or a combination of carriers, both by changing planes in Houston, Ultimate Fares had some lower fares listed with some unusual city pair combinations. When I ran the comparison for this column, Ultimate Fares showed several lower fares than the mega sites, but with the longer flight times by about two hours by going from Houston IAH to the Orange County, California John Wayne airport, another change of airlines, and then a short direct flight back to Las Vegas. If the traveler is on a tight budget, and the difference in cost (savings) is worth more than the hours of additional time each way and inconvenience, then this could be a good alternative. My only concern would be for the timely arrival of the baggage after being on three different airlines! Ultimate Fares will email two confirmations to the traveler, the first the purchase confirmation, and the second will be the airline confirmation number and itinerary. This second email is the document that will be required to pick up boarding passes at the airport, so be sure to save it and print several copies, and bring the printout with the airline confirmation number to the airport!

Another area of travel deals where Ultimate Fares had rates as good or in some cases even better than the competing mega sites was cruise deals. I randomly selected some dates, and compared the featured cruises on each of the websites, and then found the comparable cruise on the other sites. In many of the cruises compared, Ultimate Fares had lower rates and larger discounts than the mega sites. In one specific example, I selected next September for a date range, and compared Caribbean cruises. Ultimate Fares showed rates for interior, ocean view, balcony, and suite cabins that were very competitive with the mega sites, and in some cases, better deals. According to Ultimate Fares, some of the best deals offered savings off of the published cruise line brochures of “up to” 77%, 75%, and 72%! Remember that on almost all travel sites, taxes and fees will be added to the quoted price, and should be included in any final comparison.

Hotel rooms and airline seats are considered as perishable commodities if not booked, and go unused. Hotels often have some last minute unsold rooms, airlines have unsold seats, and rental car companies have cars left in the lot. Ultimate Fares offers “Last Minute Deals” which offer combinations of flight, hotel, and car deals which can be booked up to 14 days in advance, and offer package discounts of up to 70%. These last minute deals would be ideal for the person or family who has the flexibility of date and location, and will accept a smaller combination of offerings in exchange for deep discounts. The smaller combination of possible offerings is not a sparse offering; as I type this in late December, Ultimate Fares has a lengthy list of last minute deals from Houston, including 230 last minute flight and hotel deals (double occupancy, car optional), 115 flight and car deals, and 47 hotel and car deals, all at package prices of up to 70% off retail rates.

Many of us rent cars at our destination when we fly to distant cities. As an example, I compared rental car rates for an upcoming week at DFW airport. Ultimate Fares listed the rates for 10 different car companies, ranging from no-name deep discount companies, to the major national rental car companies. Ultimate Fares quoted rates up to 40% less than the mega travel sites for the same cars on the same dates! Just remember to include taxes and fees, which are quoted by the website prior to actual booking, in any comparison. Now, I always heard that if a deal is too good to be true, it probably is. Ultimate Fares, while not well known, has privacy certificates from Verisign, and Trust-E, and is a member of the ASTA (American Society of Travel Agents). I looked up some of the online reviews of Ultimate Fares and they were a mixed bag of positive and negative reviews. One often repeated warning in the online reviews of Ultimate Fares (that also applies to all other travel sites as well) is to be fully cognizant that the original price quoted does not include all taxes and fees; fees and taxes can substantially increase the total cost of the trip! To be fair, Ultimate Fares, just like almost all other travel websites, does indeed disclose the taxes, fees and total price prior to the traveler entering any credit card information. I did find when comparing taxes and fees on some sample airfares between Ultimate Fares, the mega sites, and the airline websites directly, that the Ultimate Fares taxes and fees were about $10 to $30 a ticket higher than the airline site which only charges taxes and mandatory fees (but no surcharges), but competitive with the mega sites that have the same taxes and mandatory fees, but also add on some type of surcharge.

Before buying any travel services from anyone online, checkout the reputation of the seller, and use a major credit card that is likely to side with you in the event of a dispute. Be emphatically sure to review the itinerary and any taxes and fees prior to entering credit card information and finalizing the booking process, as many fares and deals are rigid and non-refundable, or have hefty fees to change an itinerary.

NOTE: Starting on January 7 my weekly "MY COMPUTER SHOW" radio show will be moving to Monday evenings 6-7pm. on KLVI 560AM. It also streams live over the internet at KLVI.COM

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