Published May 3, 2012

Nothing that really excites me is happening in air travel this week. So I say "Road trip!"  Come with me to a place far far away and long long ago on a visit to Princess Leia.  Okay so maybe you're not the Star Wars geek I am, but based on the New York Times review, you're probably still going to love Carrie Fisher's one-woman show Wishful Drinking. Says Times theatre columnist Ben Brantley, "...Carrie Fisher has arrived on Broadway with the intention of clamping those unflattering Danish-pastry-shaped pieces right onto your head — I mean, figuratively, of course, though in the case of one (un)lucky selected audience member per show, literally. What’s more, you’re going to like it. A lot."

And the other thing you're going to like is that you don't have to go to Broadway to see it, or pay Broadway prices.  The show is on the road now and will be at the Hobby Center in downtown Houston from May 15-20 with discounted tickets starting at an amazing $12.  Get all the details HERE.

In the last few years a crop of really cool boutique hotels have sprung up in downtown Houston. The hipster Hotel Alden has rooms starting at $139 the weekend Fisher is there.

Published April 26, 2012

Think fast and you may be able to score one of the best fares from our neck of the woods to the west coast that I've seen in months. On just two days in May, the 30th and 31st, I found departures from New Orleans to San Francisco on American, with a return the following week, for $252 roundtrip including all the taxes and fees. But move fast, I don't expect these seats to be around long. I found this deal using the new "flex month" feature at Kayak.com. Click on the "my dates are flexible" link to find it.

Published April 12, 2012

Got the envie for a little big city fun? Have I got a fare deal for you: $10 roundtrip from New Orleans to Atlanta. Nope this isn't the latest discount airline. It's new service by Megabus from New Orleans to Atlanta in shiny new buses that offer panoramic windows—not to mention free wi-fi and at-seat plug ins so that you can continuously update your Facebook status with everything you're seeing out those windows.  I found $5 each way fares in early June, but Megabus sometime offers fares as low as $1 but you have to be really really attentive to score one of these. Much easier to find are fares in the $18-$29 range. And for those of you already anticipating the next LSU football season, there's service from Atlanta on to Athens so you would make a complete LSU vs. Georgia game weekend adventure out of this if you plan ahead.

Published April 5, 2012

Southwest is currently offering an excellent $202 roundtrip fare on its nonstop flights to Denver from New Orleans through the end of May. The cheap thrills continue once you get there with a dozen free tours available around town that include the Coors Brewery, and on the opposite end of the beverage spectrum, Celestial Seasons, the maker of my beloved Red Zinger Tea. Also free are tours of the Denver Mint (no samples) and the Money Museum where you can learn about the Federal Reserve System (Hey I think this sounds fascinating.) Denver also has a bike sharing program and more than 850 miles of paved off-road bike  trails…and May should be perfect biking weather. Think fast, the sale is currently scheduled to end at midnight tonight.

Published March 29, 2012

So ultra-budget Spirit Airlines isn’t happy with the new rules that require airlines to display the total cost of a flight, rather than the price before taxes. And while I think this new regulation is good for consumers, I sort of see their point.  Right now for example, they have a fare sale on select days ahead starting at $68 one way from Fort Lauderdale to San Jose, Costa Rica. A terrific deal. And they do comply by showing you the total fare first, but then they break it down pointedly into “base fare” ($27.99) and “government’s cut” ($40.07). There is currently an excellent $154 roundtrip fare from New Orleans to Fort Lauderdale (this is the total cost) so there’s a two-vacations-for-the-price-of-one possibility here.  Spirit’s fares are heavily restricted, so I wouldn't want to risk trying to connect to one of their flights in the same day, so I’d plan to fly into FLL a day or two before, rent a car, shop a little on Las Olas Avenue, drive into Miami for some stone crabs and a little Cuban coffee—before I grab this deal to Costa Rica. And yes Spirit does charge even for carry-on luggage, a practice that has some folks hopping mad.  Folks who obviously haven’t bothered to note that even with that charge, their fares are often hugely cheaper than other airlines to certain destinations. Getting this deal will take some effort.  I'd go first to Spirit Airline's website and find dates available for their fare, then use Kayak's new flexible date calendar feature to find the best dates from here to Ft. Lauderdale.

Published March 22, 2012

It's that migratory time of year—when the snowbirds fly home to Milwaukee from their winter in the Arizona desert.  And that means it's time for rental cars to migrate too, out of Arizona to someplace they'll be needed in the summer ahead.  So once again this year, Avis will let you rent a car one-way for a week for as little as around $100, if you take it somewhere they want it to end up. (Taxes will almost double that, but still an excellent value.) And fortunately Las Vegas is one such spot where they want the car to end up.  Which for example, gives you plenty of time to drive north from Phoenix through lovely Sedona, past the Grand Canyon, on to Zion National park—before you get to Vegas. A very nice drive indeed.  Fares into Phoenix and out of Las Vegas are decent too.  Pick the right dates this spring and the fare can be under $240, including all the taxes. I used the Flex Month feature on Kayak to track down the best dates. To take advantage of the Avis one-way deal you must pick up your car between April 1 and May 31.