Cabin Fever

For the last 5 years, I’ve traveled to somewhere new almost every year:

Australia, Summer 2008

Sydney

Germany, May 2010

Reichstag, Berlin

Belgium/France/Holland Summer 2011

Brussels

Paris

Heineken Brewery, Amsterdam

Cozumel, Mexico, April 2011 (first cruise)

Cozumel from the cruise port

Cruise ships!

Now I’m starting to get antsy… I want to be travelling again! My issue is, I want to go to too many places with not enough vacation days from work… *womp womp*… Oh yea, and my money tree isn’t bearing enough to fund more than one trip at a time.

So! To overcome my ‘Cabin Fever’ I’m going to just have to take local adventures until I’ve harvested enough money for a real trip overseas. I’m trying not to get too bummed that I can’t take an extravagant trip abroad every time I stumble upon an image of a picturesque city in Europe (Pinterest makes it VERY difficult!) so I figure taking these little trips to places close by will soothe my travel bug.

Some plans I have for the next few months are:

• Weekend trip to St. Augustine, FL – quaint historic city in NorthEast Florida
• Short 3-4 day cruise to the Bahamas – sometimes I see some really great last minute deals
• Roadtrip to Atlanta – so many random attractions there I want to check out

What are your travel plans for 2013??

Hot Topic: Spirit Airlines announces new $100 fee for carry-on bags

Spirit Airlines announced last week that starting November 6^th, 2012 customers who purchase/check a carry-on bag at the gate, will have to pay $100 as the carry-on bag fee.

Those who don’t fly Spirit often probably don’t know that Spirit charges a carry-on fee. If your bag fits under the seat in front of you, it is considered a personal item which is free. However, if your bag does not fit under the seat in front of you, and must go in the bin above your head, it is considered a carry-on bag which comes with a fee.

Some people find Spirit’s announcement outrageous, as do I, BUT I can understand why they’ve jumped to such an extreme.

I fly Spirit quite often, regardless of the fact that they nickel and dime the hell out of their customers. I find, it’s the only airline that flies twice daily between Fort Lauderdale and Orlando for less than $100 roundtrip.

Anyway, I witness almost every time I fly with them passengers that are “oblivious” to the carry-on fee – I put “oblivious” in quotation marks only because it’s hard to miss the numerous signs at the airport stating the fee at the check-in counter, security, and at the gate. Very often passengers print their boarding pass from home and head straight to the terminal once they get to the airport. So, when it is time to board, and the gate agent stops them and informs them that a bag of that size will cost “$40”, quarrels begin and it holds up the entire boarding process for the rest of us who understand how flying with Spirit works – you pay for EVERYTHING. Spirit not only charges for bags, they charge you for pre-selected seats; booking on their website; printing your boarding pass at the airport and several other fees. I’m not kidding, you can read more about these fees in my previous post “Airlines’ Hidden Fees”.

Sign at the airport about Spirit’s Boarding Pass fee. Note: Spirit will start charging a $2 fee for passes printed at Kiosks as of June 30th, 2012

I feel Spirit has announced this outrageous fee as shock value to their customers, and to deter people from checking carry-on bags at the gate, which holds up everyone else, thus delaying the flight.

So to avoid this horrific fee, my suggestions are, if you are flying with Spirit and cannot stuff all your clothes, toiletries and misc. items into a small bag that will fit under the seat in front of you – either pay for the carry-on bag ONLINE before you leave for the airport [Current fee: $30 / As of Nov. 6^th fee: $35]; check your carry-on bag at the CHECK-IN COUNTER [Current fee: $40 / As of Nov. 6^th fee: $50] or, just pay for a “Checked” bag, (meaning, it goes in the ‘belly’ of the plane) [ONLINE :$28-$33; COUNTER: $38-$45]. Spirit has so many additional fees, it’s hard to explain them in just one post, so you can take a look at the full list directly on the Spirit website.

Rule of Thumb: if you have any bit of doubt that the bag will not fit under the seat, DO NOT RISK IT! Also, before you book your flight with Spirit, bear in mind all these fees. Many other airlines offer FREE carry-on bags, some even offer the 1^st checked bag free. Once you’ve added all these extra fees to your shopping cart, it often comes up to the same amount as other leading airlines.

Do you think Spirit is being outrageous with this fee? Do you think it will prevent people from purchasing bags at the gate? Have you ever been caught by Spirit’s additional fees trap?

Eventful week in Airline News

It’s been quite an eventful few days in the airline industry this past week. Daily headlines of erratics in the sky like Jetblue’s hysterical pilot; raging passenger on U.S. Airways spitting and attacking the flight crew; and Delta pulling a flight attendant from a flight due to ‘strange’ behavior. It’s a little unnerving when you think about. Up 50,000 feet in the air, stuck in a small space with a bunch of crazies….

Other headlines grabbed my attention like Malaysia Airlines introduces kid-free zone in the their upperdeck economy cabin – I hope other airlines take a page out of their book, I like sleeping peacefully on long haul flights; RyanAir asks flight attendants to watch their weight, to help cut fuel costs – RyanAir isn’t the first airline to introduce this. Thai Airways and Turkish Airlines told their flight attendants to either lose weight or lose their job; American Airlines cancels close to 2000 flights by grounding planes due to damage from severe storms on Tuesday in Texas – I sure would hate to be a customer service rep for them right now.

But there was one headline that stood out to me: “Allegiant Air introduces $35 carry-on fee”. This is the second airline to charge passengers a fee to carry on a bag.  Spirit Airlines announced their carry-on fee last year. It is only a matter of time before other airlines adopt this carry-on fee. Before we know it, this will be the norm! Good thing I’ve mastered fitting everything into a bag small enough to fit under the seat in front of me when traveling for short trips.

Which travel news stood out to you this week?

Recap: January’s Travel News

January has been quite an eventful month in travel-related news, to say the least. How else to start off a new year?

Of course, I can’t recap the month’s travel news without mentioning the elephant in the room: the Costa Concordia tragedy. If you have not heard about the capsized cruiseship off the coast of Italy by now, I’m a little worried for you; That means you’ve literally been living under a rock without any communication and news whatsoever. Even weeks after the incident there are constant headlines about the ship. Like the historic Titanic, I won’t be surprised if Hollywood makes a motion picture about the whole thing. I must say, the captain’s claims and alibis make for an ‘interesting’ plot. But fun and jokes aside, my heart goes out to all those affected by the disaster.

Next up, “D.O.T.’s regulations for full fare advertising”. This has been a very hot topic for me. I’m an advocate for consumer protection! For those of you who did not read my previous post or are not up-to-date with travel regulations, the Department of Transportation (as of Jan. 26^th) requires airlines to advertise full fares (i.e. base fare plus taxes & fees). Before, if you subscribed to certain airlines to receive ‘sale’ emails, you would receive emails stating “Roundtrip from A to B for $27*” and then, when you go to the website and price out the trip, you end with a trip costing hundreds of dollars. Now, airlines must advertise from the get-go how much the flight will cost.

Of course, those regulations did not sit well with a few airlines. One in particular issuing emails with the subject heading: “Warning: New government regulations require us to HIDE taxes in fares”. What BULLSH!T. You can still see the breakdown of the fare before you purchase it, so naturally there won’t be hidden taxes.  It’s only a catch to get consumers to vote against it.

“Obama announces plan to ease U.S. visa policies in efforts to increase U.S. Tourism”. China and Brazil are at the front of the line to receive benefits of this plan. Now, this is not an invitation to discuss politics, this is just my opinion: I think this is definitely a positive move. If you’ve never had to apply for a visa to visit another country, lucky you. It’s a nerve wracking experience. Imagine spending hundreds to thousands of dollars to apply, to then be denied. Just the fear of being denied is enough to deter visitors from applying to visit the U.S.  With China’s and Brazil’s economies improving, easing travel restrictions is a competitive edge over other destinations that are already marketing to these countries.

Last but certainly not least, “Universal Orlando announces new renovations and additions to their parks”. I’m a huge fan of the Universal parks, so this announcement left me doing my happy dance. New features coming in 2012 are:

• “Hollywood Drive-In Mini Golf” – CityWalk
• “New Blue Man Group Show” – CityWalk
• Despicable Me Minion Mayhem 3-D ride experience! – Universal Studios
• Universal’s Cinematic Spectacular–100 Years of Movie Memories – Universal Studios
• The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man – New & Improved! @ Universal Studios

That’s about everything that stands out in my mind for ‘top news’. If I’ve left out something that you think I should read up on, just let me know. I’m open to comments 🙂

D.O.T. to the rescue!

For those of you who were totally freaked out by my previous post “Airlines’ Hidden Fees”, this one will be somewhat ‘comforting’. The U.S. Government has stepped in and will require airlines to be more ‘truthful’ in their advertising. If you subscribe to certain airlines to receive emails that announce their deals and sales, you may notice a jump in the cost of these ‘deals’. By the end of January, airlines most comply with these new regulations or will otherwise be fined.

“DOT rules require any advertising that includes a price for air transportation to state the full price to be paid by the consumer, including all carrier-imposed surcharges.” 

“Under DOT’s recently adopted consumer rule that enhances protections for air travelers, carriers will be required, among other things, to include all government taxes and fees in every advertised fare beginning Jan. 26, 2012.”

Just this week, Airtran was fined $60,000 for violating this regulation. The Department of Transportation will be even stricter once the regulation is in full effect.

Hooray for consumer protection!! Although, I’m not quite holding my breath on this. I’m pretty sure the airlines will find their way around this. Only time will tell….

To read the complete press release from the Department of Transportation: DOT Fines AirTran Airways for Violating Price Advertising Rules