Choice Hotels: Free Night After Two Stays

If you stay twice at Choice hotels before April 30 you can get a  free night on a third stay. Here’s the deal:

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More Flights, Lower Fares To Europe, Costa Rica

American Airlines will add flights in April between New York and three destinations: San Jose, Costa Rica; Madrid; and Manchester, England.

I see some pretty good fares this spring on all three of those routes, which is probably not a coincidence. Any increase in supply can push prices down in the ultra-competitive airline business.

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Beware Of Gas Station Credit Card Skimming

Here’s a reason you may not want to pay for gasoline with a debit card, no matter where you’re traveling.

Thieves are attaching devices to gas station pumps that record credit card and debit card data, including PINs, a scam known as “skimming.” In the latest twist, the thieves don’t have to wait to retrieve the device to get the data because it’s transmitted to them via wireless signals, as the Salt Lake Tribune reports.

With debit cards, thieves can reach right into your bank account. With credit cards, the fraud protection is more robust. Of course, the safest policy may be to pay with cash.

Bermuda Cruise: $589

There are inside cabins available on the April 25 sailing of the Norwegian Dawn from New York to Bermuda for $399 a person, double occupancy, which comes out to $589 per person when taxes and Bermuda’s rather substantial port fees are added.

It’s a very nice price for a Bermuda cruise, which tend to be comparatively expensive. For those of us who live in the Northeast, it’s an opportunity to cruise without paying airfare.

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Cheap One-Way Car Rentals From Florida

Tom Parsons of Best Fares recently published a great idea for a spring vacation: take a one-way flight to Florida, rent a car for as low as $10 a day (plus  taxes and fees) from Alamo and drive it back home.

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Ski Time: Low Fares To Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Fares to Jackson Hole from northeastern airports typically run over $600 during ski season, but there is a limited opportunity in March to get a round-trip fare of $329, taxes and fees included, from Bradley.

Alerted by Airfarewatchdog, I checked out the fares on Kayak and FareCompare, and here’s what I found:

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Cruise Deals On Travelocity

Travelocity is promoting a cruise sale that includes four-day cruises out of Florida for as low as $172 per person, double occupancy, which comes out to $230 with all taxes and fees included.

That rate gets you four nights in an inside cabin on Royal Caribbean’s Monarch of the Seas for a Bahamas cruise on several September and October  departures from Port Canaveral, Fla. The cruise stops at Coco Cay, a private island owned by Royal Caribbean, and Nassau.

Another notable deal: a seven-night cruise on Celebrity’s Century for $399 per person, in an inside cabin, adding up to $509 with taxes and fees. This rate is available only on the May 3 sailing out of Miami with port calls at Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Playa del Carmen and Coco Cay.

The Latest On Checked Bag Fees

George Hobica over at Airfarewatchdog.com has updated his very handy chart of bag fees on domestic airlines.

Still free for the first bag: Southwest and JetBlue. Still free for the second bag: Southwest.

Keep this in mind when you compare airfares.

A Graphic Look At Seasonal Airfares

Just on a whim I took fare information from farecompare.com and put it in a chart.

This shows the lowest available round-trip fare between New York and Barcelona as of today, by month over a 10-month period. The shape of this is, I believe, pretty standard for transantlantic fares.

 Kind of explains the whole idea behind traveling on the spring and fall shoulder seasons, doesn’t it?

Vegas Hotels Lead The Way In Fees

If what happens in Vegas really stayed in Vegas we wouldn’t have to worry about the spread of some pretty pernicious hotel fees. But we probably should.

Like banks, airlines and car-rental companies, hotels lately have been tacking new fees onto all sorts of things. Las Vegas might be the leader in this, and the wise budget traveler wants to watch out for the tricks:

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