I’m not great with Fuel Dumping. It’s an incredibly complicated pursuit, and I’ve only started to scratch the surface. I’m showing an example that I discovered on my own. I’d consider this “unflyable” as you’d have to fly the first flight, or the rest of your itinerary would be cancelled.
I was booking a flight between Hobart HBA and Melbourne MEL on Jetstar, a popular Australian and Asian discount carrier. As I was going through the booking process on jetstar.com, they were trying to charge me $8.50AUD per passenger for the pleasure of using my credit card. Credit card fees are uncommon in North America, however in Australia, they’re the norm, with most retailers charging a percentage fee for using your credit card. Although there’s no fee for using a debit card to pay, my Canadian debit card wasn’t eligible for their payment service. If I booked on an online travel agent, the cost was substantially more.
Today’s Sunday Reader Question is actually a question I asked myself (yeah, I cheated on the SRQ, get over it). I will be going to Oceania in May, and decided I wanted to go to New Caledonia. Qantas, a OneWorld partner, flies to New Caledonia, and therefore should be bookable on BA Avios. Unfortunately, NOU (Noumea Airport) doesn’t show up on the BA Avios search tool, nor do a number of other airports served by Qantas within Oceania and Australia. So I asked myself: how do I book BA Avios tickets on Qantas in Australia/Oceania?
A reader pointed out that it was irresponsible for me to post this because if you’re in an accident, improperly using a coupon could invalidate your insurance coverage. Follow an article by Million Mile Secrets for a more legitimate way of getting your fee waived.
If you’re ever looking at fare rules, travel agent forums (who’d be looking at those for fun!?), or out of pure interest, knowing some travel agency lingo can be helpful. Note that I’m not a licensed travel agent, rather, just did some research on some words/phrases that I’ve encountered. If you have any requests, put them in the comments and I’ll do my best. Right now the list is rather short, but as I encounter words/phrases, I’ll put them here – a handy-dandy reference guide!
Thank you Michael_V on Flyertalk for pointing this out!
Hot Wire is having a promotion until March 2, 2015 (though these types of deals usually end early), where they’re automatically discounting $38CAD off a 4-star reservation or higher, including tax. There are no minimums, that is, you can book single nights to maximize the discount. This discount only applies to their “Hot Rates,” which are opaque booking. This means that you do not know the exact hotel you’re getting prior to booking. However, with a little bit of digging, it’s not too hard to figure out what hotel you’d be staying at.
