One of the last refuges for a really easy-going vacation is a beach. A long stretch of white sand, blue water, warm sun and gentle breezes can undo the tension in anyone. It’s fun, restorative, relaxing and doesn’t have to cost a fortune. Certainly beach vacations in distant places like Thailand and South Africa, are costly options for those of us living in Europe or North America, but there are lots of affordable beach vacations to be found.

A great place to start is by checking out the authoritative beach website, www.beach.org. It devotes a page per beach and details what makes each individual beach unique. And it’s not just about exotic locales, either. Beach.org showcases beaches all around the world, some on our own backyards.

For example, people in the Canadian province of Ontario will be thrilled to discover beaches with thick white sand, sun and fun on the shores of Lake Huron at Sauble Beach. The small town atmosphere ensures an affordable beach vacation; you can choose from inexpensive motels or ample camping spots to ensure you save money on your visit. It’s about a 2-hour drive north of Toronto, so you won’t even use much gas getting there. The same is true of Cobourg Beach, an idyllic spot in a historic small city just an hour east of Toronto.

Staying in Canada for a moment, the Atlantic province of Nova Scotia has 4700 miles of coastline on the Atlantic Ocean and Bay of Fundy. It is littered with beaches, some sandy, some rocky, all spectacular. Mavillette Beach is very popular among locals. It’s long, with deep sand and a protective ring of low shrubs surrounding it. Being on the Bay of Fundy, Mavillette Beach also offers that visual spectacle of the highest and lowest tides in the world. Mavillette Beach is easy to access from Maine; a ferry crosses The Bay of Fundy from Saint John, New Brunswick (close to the Maine border), to Digby, Nova Scotia (home of the world’s best scallops!) in 3 hours, and then it’s a short drive to dozens of beaches in the area. Mavillette Beach is about 2 hours by car from Halifax and its international airport. Visitors from the eastern seaboard of the U.S.A. frequent Nova Scotia’s beaches, and find this affordable beach vacation to be easy on the wallet, even when they factor in food, accommodations and watersports.

In America, there are also lots of beaches to visit. The big ones, like Virginia Beach, Miami Beach and Huntingdon Beach tend to be very busy and pretty expensive. Affordable beach vacations in the U.S.A. can be found at beach.org; it’s easy to locate potential beaches because the site is divided into world regions. While searching for affordable beach vacations, don’t forget that some of the countries in Central America are emerging as fairly safe and very inexpensive havens for beach tourism. Panama, for example, has become a choice destination of an affordable beach vacation. Belize and Costa Rica are cost-effective and safe; Honduras, San Salvador and Nicaragua have worked to ensure their crime issues do not extend to their resorts, but be sure to find a package, all-inclusive deal so that you stay at the resort itself.

Mexico, if you stay away from the big, famous places like Cozumel and Cancun, offers some very inexpensive beach holidays, but you need to do thorough homework to ensure these more remote locations are safe and that the accommodations are at least adequate, if not luxurious. And there are smaller beaches on islands like Cozumel that are much less busy and much more affordable.

An affordable beach vacation is always east expensive if you can pitch your tent on the beach and cook your own food over a fire. Look to the many beaches of the Greek Island of Corfu for exceptional beaches where you can camp. Those and many more are to be discovered on beach.org. We highly recommend it as an affordable beach vacation resource.

Once again, the parent company of American Airlines has filed for bankruptcy. Is it even possible for a full fare carrier to remain competitive in an era of no-frills airlines?

Perhaps we’re simply at a point in history where the legacy costs of substantial union contracts for airline pilots, flight attendants, maintenance personnel, counter staff and baggage handlers are simply too high to compete against discount operators. Most discount operators are also savvy in the way they streamline their aircraft purchases and select a minimal number of aircraft models. This greatly reduces the operating costs and associated maintenance fees required to run an airline.

We clearly hope that American is capable of reorganizing in a way that maintains gainful employment for the tens of thousands of American employees who’ve been through this multiple times. At the same time, it’s important that they align their costs to match today’s reality of revenue streams in a discount marketplace. It can’t be easy in these recessionary times.

Whenever an airline files for bankruptcy protection consumers become concerned and begin to book flights with other carriers. I would expect that we will see significant seat sales in the near future as American Airlines attempts to maintain customer loyalty and keep their planes flying full.

Photo by randomduck/Flickr

“Code sharing” between two airlines can mean cheaper flights for you

In the interest of filling aircraft to capacity, airlines sometimes form partnerships on individual flights. For example, someone booking a flight from New York to Berlin might do it through Delta Airlines, if they are an American visiting Germany, or through Lufthansa if they are a German visiting America and about to fly home; both people will be on the same actual airplane, but will have booked through different airlines.

No matter through which airline you have booked your flight, one or the other airline will actually own the airplane and its logo will be emblazoned on the fuselage or tail, or both. Using the above example, let’s assume the plane is in the Delta fleet; odds are that booking directly with Delta, even though it is also technically a Lufthansa flight, will almost always cost less. You have the right to ask which airline owns the aircraft operating the flight, and with that knowledge, you can contact both airlines and research pricing.

How can you know if your flight is code-shared? It takes a little time and investigation, but may well be worth the savings. Certain airlines refuse to engage in code sharing, and because this can change, we don’t see the sense in posting which ones they are. You’ll be able to figure out who is partnered with your chosen airline by doing your homework. For instance, our hypothetical scenario for Delta and Lufthansa isn’t likely because Delta is part of the Sky Team Alliance (which includes Aero Mexico, Air France, Alitalia and Air Jamaica, to name a few) and Lufthansa is part of the Star Alliance (which includes Air Canada, Air New Zealand, Swissair and SAS Scandinavian Airlines, also to name a few).

So, in order to boil it all down to who is code-sharing, here is what to do:

• select an airline and destination

• decide on a flight date and time, and note the flight number

• check out which partner airlines are in its alliance (this can be done by going to the airline’s website and searching for “partners”)

• search your airline partners’ schedules and see if there are flights identical to those of your chosen date, day and time, taking off and landing in the same location

• find out (by making a toll-free phone call) who owns the aircraft and get that airline’s airfare for the flight

Then all you have to do is book, by phone or online, the less costly of the two. It’s worth the time you’ll spend doing a little research to put together a cheaper airfare.

Is direct the best approach?

It’s not always the case that booking directly with an airline nabs the cheapest airfare. There are lots of ways to book an airline ticket. Conventional wisdom says that contacting and airline directly, by phone or through the internet, will result in the lowest fare, but that isn’t necessarily true. Competition is fierce and aspects such as block airline ticket purchases by a third party can heavily affect pricing. Eliminating the middleman might seem to make sense, until you perform a comparative analysis.

The main ways of booking airline tickets are:

• booking directly with the airline

• using a traditional travel agency

• through an online agency such as Expedia, Travelocity or Orbitz

Being flexible about which airline you fly with helps. And if you book directly, you lose that flexibility (although if you have a points and rewards system in place with one particular airline and/or associated credit card program, that could be a moot point). Travel agents still know (despite what you can learn on the internet on your own) a lot more about travel than the average person, and are often privy to deals that the layperson has no access to, so perhaps their modest fee is worth it. Online agencies sometimes have the best deals and constantly update, but not always.

Flight ticket prices vary frequently due to a litany of factors, so your timing counts, as do their changes, some of which may be last minute. It’s almost like playing the stock market. If you monitor, you can see changes as they happen and jump on the best deal.

The airlines’ objective is to sell every seat on an aircraft as far in advance of take-off as possible; this is simply how they can see their way to making a profit. Because of this, if there are perhaps 20 seats remaining unsold the day before the flight is scheduled to go, those seat prices may be cut, even drastically. The airlines would rather have some revenue per seat than none, but they won’t risk cutting the price until the last minute in case they can get full price.

Booking directly may afford you the cheapest airfare, but maybe not. Take the time to do the research and compare, compare, compare. You might be surprised at what you find.

Photo courtesy of hirotomo/Flickr

For those who care about the cost not the accouterments

Thanks to the economic times, many airlines have cut back on extras, like complimentary meals and drinks, but there are still bare-bones basic airlines that never did offer luxury, just low price airfares without the bells and whistles. Known in the industry as “low-cost carriers”, no-frills airlines use a mixture of criteria that enable them to charge less for a flight ticket. Occasionally, because these airlines work so close to the financial bottom line, they don’t survive, and you want to ensure they are well established so that your return flight doesn’t get canceled as the result of a bankruptcy.

The tendency is to regard no-frills flights as ones that lack the niceties, but the fact is they can be much more stringent, effectively eliminating all but essential services, or charging fees for everything you can think of. Most no-frills airlines have fleets in the Airbus A320 or Boeing 737 classes of aircraft, with no section for business class and not a lot of legroom; these types of aircraft are often inconvenient or unsuitable for special-needs travelers.

Some of the “frills” removed by no-frills airlines include:

1. seat recliners, window blinds, headrest covers
2. food and drink
3. on-board entertainment such as music and movies
4. refunds or the ability to transfer to a later flight if you missed the one you were booked on
5. priority boarding and pre-boarding seat selection
6. free baggage check-in

A number of no-frills airlines, where it is legal, operate with a non-union staff. How does this affect you, the traveler? It shouldn’t because laws in the nations of the world dictate training standards for employees who operate and maintain aircraft.

Most no-frills flights are direct (stop-overs cost more money in airport landing fees for the airline), land at smaller, less congested airports, and some use mobile stair units instead of jetways for boarding and disembarking because airports charge less for those. Many fly so that they take off and land at non-peak times, such as very early morning or late evening, to avoid higher airport landing fees. A few, such as Australia’s Jetstar (a subsidiary of Qantas), have limited routes; in their case, they only fly to places within 10 hours of Australia.

America’s Southwest Airlines remains the largest no-frills carrier in the world, but it has lots of smaller competition from the likes of Ireland’s RyanAir, and other American no-frills airlines such as Spirit Airlines, JetBlue Airways and Frontier Airlines, some of which service select segments of the United States and do not fly internationally.

Ultimately, if you book a no-frills flight, pack light, pack a lunch or snack, take a book to read, and if there is something about your flight that doesn’t live up to your standards of travel, count the money you saved!

If you can wait, you may get a great price

Gone are the days when poverty-stricken students could rush an airport ticket counter, grab a flight for a song and make it home for the holidays. Stand-by ticket policies have changed and continue to evolve as airlines shift and adjust to the economic times.

A stand-by airline passenger must have a ticket, but it does not necessarily have to be for a specific flight (this varies airline to airline and country to country, depending upon local laws), and they need to be flexible as to which flight they take, be that earlier or later, sometimes as late as the next day. Stand-by travel depends entirely upon seat availability.

Generally, stand-up airfares are lower than regular ones, but some airlines charge a fee of about $50 USD in addition to the ticket price, so be aware of this and ask if such a flat fee will be attached to your stand-by ticket at the time you purchase it. And remember that stand-by tickets, unlike days gone by, are not always available at the last minute; if a flight is full, it’s full.

When you pay the lower fare associated with a stand-by flight ticket, you also get lower priority in your treatment by the airline. Upon arrival at the airport, speak with the ticketing agent or (if you have your ticket beforehand) the gate agent and be sure your presence is known. That way you’re less likely to be overlooked when that last possible seat opens up on the flight of your first choice.

Stand-by tickets work best for individuals or friends who don’t care if they sit together on a flight. Odds are higher that single travelers will get a seat than a group of seats for a family. On busy or sold-out flights, sometimes a single seat comes up as unoccupied just before take-off and one person will get it, where others will be left behind; this doesn’t work for a family hoping to travel as a unit.

If you are planning to travel stand-by, travel smart and take only carry-on luggage. Because of the nature of stand-by tickets, it’s possible, if not likely, that a checked-in suitcase will not be on the same flight as the passenger it belongs to. If you must take check-in baggage, be sure to pack an overnight bag of essentials in your carry-on so that if you have to wait for your main luggage, you can get by for 24 hours.

Knowing the ins and outs of stand-by means learning the individual stand-by policies of the various airlines you might be considering, so be sure you do your research. If you’re flexible about travel times and ready for a little adventure, a stand-by flight may be a great way to save on airline tickets for you.

When you buy or fly can affect the price you pay

Depending upon your choice of seating (economy versus business or first class), the day of the week or time of day that you fly bears some weight on what you pay as airfare. Even the day and time you book your flight affects how much (or how little) you pay. A great deal of statistical research has been done using airlines database information, and certain trends and habits of airline ticket sales are known.

Airlines that discount seats often have to fly outside peak travel times in order to save on airport landing fees, passing the saving on to passengers. In accordance with that, they schedule their departure and arrival times (based, of course, on anticipated flight times between destination points) to coincide with reduced airport landing fee times.

Relative to this, the lowest price tickets are on “red eyes”, flights that depart in the middle of the night. This is far more typical of eastbound flights, such as Toronto to London or Los Angeles to New York. Next cheapest are the very first flights allowed out of the airport in the morning, which is generally, in urban-zoned airports, 6:00 a.m. Other lower fares can be had immediately after lunchtime and during the dinner hour.

Fridays and Sundays are the most expensive days to fly, understandable given that people would leave on a Friday and return on a Sunday for a weekend away. Wednesdays have proven to be the cheapest flight days for domestic travel, followed by Tuesdays and Saturdays. A Monday to Thursday round trip is also a good travel time for discount airfares.

Unless you have a family gathering you must attend, avoid obvious peak travel periods such as before and after American Thanksgiving, and around Christmas. However, traveling on Christmas Day or on New Year’s Eve, when most people have already arrived at their destinations, can result in great airfare discounts. And traveling in the autumn can net some great seat sales and airfare savings.

Even the purchasing of airline tickets has its best times. The industry wisdom says at 3:00 p.m. (Eastern) on a Tuesday is the best time to find a discount airfare deal. Tuesdays offer up the week’s cheap travel fares, but be aware that these are pulled just before the weekend, so if you are booking from Thursday afternoon onward, you’re probably paying more.

When booking airline tickets and taking flights, discounts are a matter of day and time. Mark that in your appointment calendar!

When scheduling a flight, whether that flight be domestic or international, all passengers are advised to familiarize themselves with the airport that they will be flying out of, as well as the airline that they will be flying with. Unfortunately, not all air travelers know how to go about doing this. If you are looking to familiarize yourself with international airlines or airports, namely the ones that you will be using, you will find that you have a number of different options.

Perhaps, the best way to learn more about an international airport is to use the internet to your advantage. You can do this by performing a standard internet search. You will want to search with the name of the international airport that you would like more information on. For instance, if you are looking for more information on Des Moines International Airport, you will want to search with the words Des Moines Airport or International Airport. Whichever international airport you search for, it is likely that your search will return a number of results. One of those results should be the online website run by the airport in question.

Once at the online website for an international airport, you will find that you now have access to an unlimited amount of information; information that you were likely looking to obtain. Although all online websites will vary, you will find that most airline websites display the same information. This information may include, but should not be limited to, information on incoming and outgoing flights, air travel rules, shops and other dining establishments, parking, airport directions, and terminal locations. You are advised to examine all of the information on the site, regardless of whether or not you feel that you need to know it.

As previously mentioned, it is likely that your internet search will return a number of different results. In addition to the airport’s online website, you will also find sites that discuss the airport in question. Many times, these websites are operated by travelers who frequently use the international airport being discussed. You may be able to find detailed information on low-cost dining or information on quick and easy ways to maneuver around the airport. While this information may be useful to you, it is important to remember that it is not guaranteed. For the best information, you are advised to examine the online website operated and monitored by airport staff.

In addition to using the internet, you should also be able to obtain information on the airport in question by directly contacting them. If you are researching a local international airport, you should be able to find the contact information for that airport in your local phone book. When contacting an international airport for general information on their services and features, you will want to try and reach the customer service department. Customer service representatives should be willing to answer your question, where as the maintenance department will likely be unable to assist you.

Although not all international airports recommend it, you could also learn more about the international airport that you will be using by visiting it. If you live within a reasonable driving distance to the airport or if you are in the area for another reason, you may want to quickly stop by. While this is a great way to familiarize yourself with the airport, you will not have access to all areas. All airports have restrictions when it comes to security checkpoints, passengers without boarding passes are not allowed past them. Stopping by the airport, may enable you to scope out the parking situations, as well as obtain informational brochures on the airport, if they are available.

When it comes to international airport shopping, parking, or dining, you may also be able to receive recommendations or tips from those that you know, especially those that have flown out of the international airport in question before. Regardless of where you get your information from, you will find that are an unlimited number of benefits to knowing everything that you can know about the international airport that you will be using.

Each year, a large number of Americans fly for the first time. As exciting as it is to be a first-time flyer, many first-time flyers are at a disadvantage. That disadvantage is not knowing everything about the airport that they will be using or the airline that they will be flying on. If you are a first-time flyer, you are advised against going into this exciting experience with unanswered questions. Instead, you are advised to get the answers to your questions.

When it comes to first-time air travel, there are an unlimited number of questions that many have. Some want to know what the best international airports are to fly out of and others want to know exactly what an intentional airport is. If you are planning of flying out of the country, it is advised that you familiarize yourself, not only with local international airports, but international airports as a whole. You will likely find that after doing so you will not only know what you are doing, but you will also have a better appreciation for international travel.

In the United States, there are two main types of airports. These airports are domestic airports and international airports. Perhaps, the best way to learn more about international airports, namely what they are, is to compare them to domestic airports. Domestic airports are more commonly found in the United States, when compared to international airports. This is because essentially any airport is considered a domestic airport.

A domestic airport is defined as an airport, in the United States, that offers flights to and from other cities or states, also in the United States. Since their planes will not be leaving American soil, the flights are considered domestic flights. Essentially, an airport that houses domestic flight is referred to as a domestic airport. On the other hand, there is an intentional airport.

An international airport is an airport that offers flights from the United States to other countries. Although they tend to advertise the fact that they specialize in international flights, most international airports not only have international flights, but domestic flights as well. For that reason, international airports are often larger in size, when compared to most domestic airports.

The size of an airport will also have a direct impact on how you will go about getting around the airport. Since most, but not all, domestic airports are relatively small in size, many only have a few terminals. These terminals are also likely to be connected or be all in the same building. International airports are a different story, in fact, some international airports are so large they have to shuttle their passengers around from terminal to terminal.

Although there are a number of differences between international airports and domestic airports, there are some similarities between the two. These similarities most commonly include the baggage and passenger screening processes. Due to concerns about airport security, namely on international flights, the airline industry has started to follow a number of strict rules. These rules often include bans on dangerous objects and intense screening, such as the removal of all shoes. In most international airports, domestics flights are not always separated from international flights, this means that all passengers will have to go through the same security checkpoints and examinations.

As you can see, it is easy to learn about international airports, especially when comparing them to domestic airports. Now that you know exactly what an international airport is and does, you can now start searching for an international airport that can offer you the services that you need, if you haven’t already done so.

When it comes to air travel, many Americans do not just stay inside the United Sates, many leave the country. In fact, international travel is rapidly increasing in popularity. Many individuals are now taking honeymoons overseas, as well as attending business meetings or scheduling family vacations. If are planning on being one of those individuals, there are a number of important things that you need to remember. Perhaps, the most important thing that you need to keep in mind is that you will be in another country; another country that may have a whole other set of laws and regulations.

While it is a given that different countries have different laws, many air travelers are unaware that different countries also have different air travel rules. Unfortunately, many believe that the rules enforced in the United States are worldly. It is true that many of the same rules are enforced, all around the world, but there are some differences. For that reason, you will want to take the time to learn those rules. You can easily learn these rules by contacting the United States Embassy or by requesting more information from the international airport that you plan on flying in or out of.

Although it is advised that you and all other foreign air travelers research the laws and air travel rules of another country, particularly the one you will be visiting, not everyone does. Whether you choose not to research these rules or you can’t, you are advised to proceed with caution and use your common sense. This not only includes packing your bags, but how you handle yourself in a foreign airport. Perhaps, when it doubt it is always best the follow the air travel rules enforced in the United States. If you are questioned on your behavior or actions that you took, it is best to state that you were unaware of the rules that were you breaking, if any.

As previously mentioned, it is best that you use your common sense, when it comes to preparing for international travel. This begins by having all of the necessary documents, which are needed for international air travel. Even if you are not required to bring it along, you may want to think about carrying your passport with you at all times. In the event that you are detained by airport security or by local officials, this piece of identification could come in handy.

It is also important that you pack your bags the correct way. If you are flying out of the United States, no matter where you are traveling to, you will be required to follow all American air travel rules. This includes the carryon luggage ban of liquids and sharp objects. Since the United States tends to have more air travel rules and security procedures than other countries, you may not have to worry about your luggage violating a ban in another country. However, you should be worried about what you try and bring home with you. The United States has numerous restrictions on items being imported from other countries, including gifts. In most cases, you will find these gifts are not sold in airports, even international ones, but it is still advised that you refrain from purchasing exotic gifts, such as alcohol or live animals.

In addition to the points mentioned above, it is extremely important that your follow any requests given to you by international airport security officials. Unlike in the United States, where you may just receive a warning for your inappropriate behavior or actions, you may be subject to additional consequences. Those additional consequences, which may include being arrested by local authorities, will vary from country to country. Regardless of what the consequences are, it is still advised that you follow any instructions given to you, by international flight crews or by airport security.

By keeping the above mentioned information in mind, you should have nothing to worry about. The truth is that as long as you think before you speak or act, you should be okay, even in an international airport or a foreign country.