Making Airplane Reservations

We stick to running Adventures and, therefore, can't make airline reservations for you. However, we do have a lot of experience in this and can offer a few suggestions. The internet is an excellent way to make airline reservations and you can easily book tickets online. It is also a good way to first gather information before checking with a travel agent or calling an airline directly. When checking on the internet, we suggest you proceed through the following steps, writing down the best route and fare at each step, to get the best possible airfare.

1. Check general search sites that pride themselves on offering the lowest published fares. For U.S. domestic flights, we recommend checking Orbitz and Travelocity . A site that takes a bit of getting used to but gives you information just like a travel agent will see it is EasySabre .  For international flights also check out TISS.  Try Cheap Hotels & Airline Tickets for a site that searches all major booking engines at once.

Using these same sites ( Orbitz or Travelocity ) try again using slightly different travel dates or a different, nearby airport. These sites allow you to do this by clicking on, for example, "flexible travel dates."

3. Go directly to the website of airlines you know service your route to get regularly published fares for direct and convenient flights.  Some suggested airlines include Northwest (Minneapolis), US Airways (Philadelphia), Cape Air (Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard), Frontier (Denver), and Northwest/KLM or Martin Air (Netherlands). Airlines are now trying to induce you to book fares directly on their website by giving discounts if you do so. These discounts are not always automatically in the search pages! Therefore, you should first click on "deals" or "specials" or whatever the airline uses as its term. For example, on Northwest's website you will need to search for a special web-only deal and insert a promotional code. On Alaska Airlines, by contrast, they often automatically give you a 10% discount (below published fare) just for using their website.

4. Log on to sites that offer discounted fares not offered directly by airlines.  These include www.cheaptickets.com , www.lowestfare.com, and 1Travel.

5. Leave the web for a moment and call a ticket consolidator (or "bucket shop"), an agency that buys blocks of tickets.  Check the NY Times newspaper for flights to your destination or try such consolidators as Travel Bargains (800-AIR-FARE), Cheap Tickets (800-377-1000), Consolidator Air Travel (888-468-5385), or 1-800-FLY-CHEAP.  These are often more important if you are traveling internationally.

6. Some people like to use "name-your-price" websites such as www.priceline.com . The big hitch is that you are making an irrevocable bid without knowing the times and exact routes of your flight. This is too big a hitch for us and we don't use an auction site.  A similar but better option is www.hotwire.com , which gives you a discounted price rather than making you bid. In this way, you at least can see a price and you have 30 minutes to decide, although you still don't get to pick your airline or times. Hotwire is best when you have maximum flexibility in travel times.

7. At this point, you should have written down the best possible fare for your planned Tour or Camp trip.  Book it!

In booking hotels before or after your tour, we often will provide you with suggestions in your Pre-Departure Packet.  However, you can also use hotel booking engines on the web such as Hotels.com.