Debunking Some Travel Myths

Recently the U. S. News had a column talking about some travel myths that were not altogether true. I thought I'd review a few of those and add my own comments about them.

We are always getting the questions “what are the least expensive days to travel”, and we have usually said Tuesday, Wednesday, and in some cases Saturday. For the most part, that holds true because there is a lot of commercial travel on Mondays and Fridays, and domestic travel is usually heavy on Sundays, both of which increases the price. On the other hand, the founder of Airfarewatchdog.com, George Hobica, says “there's really no magic formula”. Research show that to find the best deals, purchasing your tickets between one and four months prior to your trip will likely yield the lowest rates.

That generally holds true, but I just had an unfortunate experience where I made my reservations for our annual Alaska trip back in September, and got a really good fare for a July trip. However the airline had a schedule change that made it impossible for me to get off the ship and make the flight they rebooked me on, and the only one they offered as a substitute left at 7:30PM with a layover in Seattle for 3 hours then on to DFW, getting in at 5:40AM.....24 hours after I got up to get off the ship!!! So, to get suitable transportation, I had to pay an additional cost of $150 per ticket to get home at a reasonable time......which ended up to be about the same amount if I had waited until February to purchase my ticket. I still say, purchase your ticket when you know you are going to go, the earlier the better.

Another myth regards the thought that if your flight is canceled or you're bumped from your flight, you'll get free vouchers and other perks. The Department of Transportation's rules require airlines to provide you with compensation if you are bumped from your flight or if you're involuntarily denied boarding because your flight is overbooked. If your flight is canceled, an airline must either refund your fare or put you on the next available flight. That is what Alaska Air did with me, but the alternative arrangement was absolutely unmanageable, so I had to pay the additional cost.

A common myth that really gets overblown is that it is easy to get sick on a cruise. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported only nine cruise ships with norovirus outbreaks in 2015; a small segment of the total cruising population. A 2014 CDC report estimated that approximately 20 million people contract norovirus every year with the cruise industry accounting for just 1 percent of all reported stomach flu outbreaks. They reported that people are 750 times more likely to contract norovirus while on land than on a cruise ship.

Another myth that gets my dander up is that it is a whole lot more expensive to arrange travel through a travel agent than just doing it on your own. Just today I had a call from someone who informed me that they were looking to go to a certain destination from Abilene, and had spent a couple of hours in the process, and told me the amount of the best rate they could find...could I beat it? Well, I checked, and made the suggestion that if they could consider going in the afternoon instead of the morning, we could save them about $50 a person, and that included our service charge. The agents at The Travel Factory are in the business to save our clients money as well as their precious time, plus we will be here to assist with any questions or problems they might have. Call us today at 698-1421 or toll-free 800-760-4040. Come by for an face-to-face visit at 4150 Southwest Drive, or consider visiting our website: www.thetravelfactoryabilene.com.