Priceless Writer - Travel & Recreation

 
The next time you settle into a long US Airways flight, you may not have the chance to pass the time with an in-flight movie. As the airline tries to cut expenses on domestic flights, you'll find this welcomed feature axed by fall. Simply put, just another casuality of rising fuel costs with many more to come. While movie executives and Hollywood will suffer a slight blow from this decision, they do not predict other airlines to follow suit. On the bright side, you will have plenty of time to dust off that bestseller calling your name.

Is there any way to get a cheap flight, nowadays? In the past, I could uncover pretty good deals on Yahoo Travel, scanning the flight deals listed according to my specified cities. However, this feature is no longer available and as the price of gas rises – flying the "friendly skies" seems more of an inconvenience than a pleasurable adventure. New costs are popping up everywhere, from paying $15 for your first checked bag to extra fees for selecting the window seat.

If you're looking for ways to save money on airline flights, consider the following tips:

1) Travel on Tuesdays and Wednesdays

If you fly during the slowest travel days of the week (Tuesday and Wednesday), you stand a chance at saving a bit of money. The reason: Business travelers create a higher demand for seats, as they tend to depart on Monday mornings and return on Friday afternoons. Seek out flights that depart in the middle of the week – preferably in the middle of the day.

2) Fly on Slow Times of the Year

Cheap airfare comes when you travel during the slowest time of the year – meaning cancel out the holidays, summer vacations, winter getaways, and spring flings. Consider planning a trip for between Labor Day and Thanksgiving to take advantage of the best deals.

3) Purchase Tickets at the Cheapest Time of the Day

There are moments when airlines occasionally lower their ticket prices in order to fill up empty seats. Typically, these changes take place three times a day. This means that the early bird may catch a tasty worm if they seek out flights in the wee hours of the morning. Diligent flyers usually check fares every five hours to make sure they don’t miss out on the next deal. For weekend purchases, don’t forget to check early on Saturday morning and once more at 5pm.

4) Consider a Travel Package

While you may not need a rental car or a three-nights stay at the Holiday Inn – compromising with the purchase of a travel package can save money on your overall trip – especially with the airline flight. Travel sites are overflowing with vacation packages that provide hotel stays at exceptional rates and convenient car rental specials. You save big on these last-minute sales when airlines become desperate to fill their seats. If push comes to shove – you don’t have to stay at the selected hotel or pick up the rental car, but take a closer look – the airfare savings found in a travel package are usually too tempting to pass.

The cost of gas and current economic state of the United States is sadly driving airlines to eliminate many of their special perks and discount flights. I fear it won't be too long before we're kissing goodbye the complimentary bag of peanuts and Coke. So – take advantage of what we have today because you never know when cheap flights will be gone tomorrow.

Despite the horrendous price of gas threatening to spoil our 'traveling on the road' fun for the summer – thousands of motorists will still take their chances enjoying the Memorial Day weekend and warm-weather vacation getaways. While packing the sandwiches, snacks, and kiddie games are a must – conserving the gas tank is now an important part of any road trip. You just can't afford to get lost and waste this exceedingly expensive, precious resource, which is why more and more travelers are turning towards GPS (Global Positioning System) for assistance.

The GPS models of today are equipped with enough built-in memory to store the local maps of the entire continental United States with access to millions of points of interest. Helpful features, such as touch screen interface and voice prompt navigation also accommodates a wide range of languages. Some GPS units are installed into the dashboard of a vehicle, while other models come detachable for convenient portable use.

The military and motorists with fancy cars are not the only groups of people to utilize the power of satellites to navigate desert terrain or track the location of a stolen vehicle. GPS helps travelers find their way safely to Grandma's house who lives in the hills of Nevada, as well as avoid cumbersome traffic jams that truly drains your gasoline.

A GPS can also provide a helping hand for travelers by:

* delivering travel guides

* offering multi-media presentations

* connecting adventure-seekers with interpretive rangers

*  guiding hikers to safe ground

* pointing out significant highways, shortcuts, and back roads

* making marine navigation easy for boating excursions

* directing Harley Davidsons on cross-country trips

While the rising gas prices at the pump can put a damper on travel – there are a handful of uncomplicated methods of saving money and fuel when planning to take to the open road. Some suggestions are a few no-brainers, yet the majority of drivers still cease to compromise. To take better control over how you use your gasoline – consider the following money-saving tips:

Avoid Speeding – The faster you travel, the higher your aerodynamic drag. For example, driving 62 mph (100 km/h) as opposed to 75 mph (120 km/h) can reduce your fuel consumption by around 15%.

Close Those Windows – Increased drag also comes when you keep the windows open while traveling, especially if you're hitting the highway. As a result, you stand to lose a decreased fuel economy of up to 10%.

Tire Inflation – Don’t forget to check the level of tire air pressure recommended for your vehicle. It may seem minor at the time, but just one tire under inflated by 2 PSI bumps up your fuel consumption by 1%.

Limit Your Air Conditioner Use – You're probably saying to yourself  'first, keep the windows up and now cut back on the AC…' but using this refreshing car feature during the summertime places an unnecessary demand on your engine that wastes around 20% extra fuel. Don’t forget that using the defrost in most cars will produce the same results as turning on the air conditioner.

Car Check-Up – Just like paying a visit to your physician for a health check-up, your car also benefits from proper maintenance. You can boost your fuel economy by getting rid of dirty air filters, switching worn spark plugs, and replenishing decreased fluid levels.

Cruise On By – Did you know that maintaining a constant speed over long stretches of road is a decent way to save gas? Isn’t it time you rediscovered cruise control?

Go Easy on the Brake – If you can curb your habit of constant acceleration or braking hard – you can increase your fuel economy by as much as 20%. Achieving this feat is just as easy as anticipating changes in traffic and learning how to effectively accelerate and brake at much slower speeds and motions.

Clean Out the Trunk – Perhaps you haven't gotten around to removing those bags of sand and salt out of the trunk or you have a habit of driving around with every tool you own – but remember that these items can cause you to use more fuel than needed in order to move an overloaded vehicle.

Turn Off the Car - If you find yourself stopping for more than one minute – keep in mind that restarting your car uses less gas than if you allow it to idle. Can you imagine all of the damage that occurs when stuck in deadlocked traffic?

Embrace Fuel Efficient Vehicles – If you're looking for a new car, don’t dismiss the power of a vehicle that has gained high praise for fuel efficiency. The best choices to look out for include those that are smaller in size with manual transmission.

Thinking about hitting the road on a cross-country trip or plan a vacation to Grandma's house in the hills? Use the Gas Buddy to locate the lowest gas prices throughout the United States and Canada. This site offers an easy-to-manage clickable map that leads you to specific regions to explore. A convenient "local price snapshot" alerts you to changes in price from yesterday, one week-, one month-, and one year ago.

Gas Buddy is set up to deliver the Lowest Regular Gas Prices in the Last 72 Hours – organized by Price, Station, Area, and Time Reported. You will also learn the Highest Regular Gas Prices for your destination. A convenient form allows you to even report your own cheap gas findings to the site as well.

To easily locate the details regarding a particular location that offers cheaper gas prices – convenient links are available: "Find" connects to the Yellow Pages and "Map" is self-explanatory. Additional features of the site include the Top Ten Cities and States with the Lowest Average Gas Prices; helpful tips; and informative news headlines.