Book Reviews and Money Saving Tips

Last January I flew to Florida and back on U.S. Air. It was a dismal trip, shafted on seating, luggage and customer service. I vowed never to fly again. Well, I want to visit family in California. I am in Pennsylvania. Do the math, I don’t want to spend the summer driving there so I was going to try and fly. I found a flight at a time and price I was satisfied with on Orbitz. I called to verify availability of my grandson for the times and was assured he was cool. I clicked on the fare at Orbitz and got a message saying due to high travel demands that flight was no longer available. Of course, they presented a variety of alternatives, oddly enough none cheaper, all more expensive and most far more expensive. It is probably just a touch of cynicism to think that bait and switch is alive and well. It seems like anything to do with air travel is fraught with peril. I am so disgusted I will probably just forget it. If travel sites and airlines would just make even a modicum of effort to be...

If you haven’t taken a flight lately, you may want to keep going in that trend. Funny how quickly the airlines raised their prices, implemented surcharges and luggage up charges when oil prices were high and now that oil is as low as it has been in years, the airlines are still surcharging every thing is sight. I can’t wait for the coin operated toilets. Southwest seems to be able to make money and not nickel and dime you to death. If they are going to where you want to go, I urge you to use them and make sure their competition knows why your are doing it. I am reluctantly flying US Air for a trip. Southwest doesn’t go there or I would be taking them. US Air wants $15.00 for your first suitcase, $25 for your second and $100.00 for your third. In my case, I don’t need a third suitcase but I sure don’t want to spend $100 for my golf bag. Well, there is a solution. Ship your stuff. I looked into shipping companies that specialize in luggage and they were worse than the airlines. I am shi...

Recently USAirways sent me an email telling me that I haven’t flown enough lately so I was going to lose all my Dividend Miles unless I would pony up $40 per account to keep them. I knew these guys were in trouble but really, use them or lose them. So a couple a days before the deadline I tried to book a flight. Different shades of color on their calendar indicated what days you could get a flight with the miles you have. Some days were blacked out, can’t use them then, usually around holidays. Ok, that is understandable. Then some days you can use the miles but you have to use double the regular miles to get those premium days. Why they are premium is your guess. Then you try to find someway to fit your miles into their schedule. I finally found some dates I could live with, not happy with, but live with. I inputted the data they wanted, height, weight, eye color, sexual preference, first grade teacher, ad nauseam. Put in my Dividend Miles number, put in my wife’s and then got a messa...