New Airline Fees

United and American announced new fare increases of $10 on one-way trips and $20 on roundtrips in response to rising fuel prices. Boooo! We're reasonable people; but it's frustrating considering the airlines have made billions on checked bag fees, exit rows fees, and more. The worst part is these fees don't show up on the fare price on most search engines, it's only on checkout that you'll see them. Our best advice is to book your tickets as early as possible- 21 days if you can- and grab a cheap seat as soon as you see it. Because it you go back later, chances are someone will have snatched it.

Holiday Gift Ideas: Really Last Minute Ideas

You still have a day to choose pricey overnight shipping for your gifts (unless you find a free offer); but an easier option is to give an electronic gift certificate. We wish Santa would bring us an airline gift certificate. Virgin America and American, among others, offer gift cards and virtual gift cards via email.

American Airlines No Longer on Orbitz

We've all got our go-to search engine for booking airline tickets: Travelocity, Orbitz, Expedia and others. It's a convenient way to find the best deals; but only because the major carriers participate with the sites. It seems American Airlines and Orbitz couldn't agree on their partnership terms so for now, don't expect to see American's offerings there.

If you've already bought tickets for AA through Orbitz, those tickets are valid and if you need to make changes to your itinerary, do so with AA reservations, not Orbitz.

Since we often use American for our jaunts down to SoBe; we'll check out a rival comparison site for now. Our pick? Try Kayak.com which locates good deals on different sites then redirects you there. Looks like finding cheaper plane tickets just got more complicated. We're hoping other airlines don't follow American's lead. 
photo courtesy of wikipedia.com

New Bus Service DC to NYC

Tripper Bus began service this weekend from DC to NYC, specifically from Arlington, Va. and Bethesda, Md. to 34th and 7th Ave (across from the H&M, shoppers). We've already tested Vamoose with mixed results. Tripper promises new buses, comfortable seats, outlets, and WIFI; not to mention $1 fares. Unfortunately, when we poked around the website, fares available for the next two weeks ranged from $5 to $25, still a good savings over the train or plane. JSG's Hope is headed to NY to join Anne for Fashion Week and this may be her easiest way there. Check back later in the week for a review.

Washington D.C. Bus versus the Train

In an effort to be recession-era chic, both members of JSG recently and separately tested out the Vamoose bus service from New York to Rosslyn, VA (across the bridge from Georgetown). While the price is right: $25 one way, compared to $72 for the cheapest Amtrak train, the experience left a lot to be desired.

Annie:
I got to the bus stop 15 minutes in advance of my 2 pm Friday reservation to find a line so long I asked if there were two buses for all of us. Negative. Not helping matters, it was 20-something degrees outside and windy. Note to self: Only take the bus in decent weather.



By the time I got on, the only seats were in the back. Fortunately, I did score a window seat, which is probably the only thing that saved me from having a full blown panic attack on the ride. The seats are close together and when you’re sitting in the back, you can’t see anything through the front window. Not good for the claustrophobics amongst us. On top of this, in these cramped quarters, you either have to store your bag above or put it on the floor, which is not the place I like most of my bags to touch. Fortunately, I had my patent LAMB bag, which is easy to clean. Even still, every time I wanted to get something, I had to inconvenience my seatmate. Between that and my work-related phone calls, she was shooting daggers at me.

Making matters worse, my cost savings over the train was reduced by $20 as I was originally booked on a non-refundable ticket on Bolt Bus, which apparently flls up fast and doesn’t offer refunds or let you reschedule tickets. (Bolt is the line our friends Julia All About The Pretty and Tamar Fashion Binge recommend for its free internet service, though Julia reports the seats are also pretty tight.) I paid $50 total between the two tickets instead of $70 for the train. I took Amtrak home.

Hope:
My experience was much more positive. I was headed to NYC over the holidays with my mother and two daughters. Our trip was last minute, so plane tickets were definitely out of the question and Amtrak rates weren't much better.

To NY was a breeze, my dad dropped us off in Rosslyn, we immediately climbed onto the bus and found great seats, which weren't claustrophobic at all. The bus filled up and we left within 20 minutes. We stopped once at a rest area and landed at Penn Station 4 1/2 hours later.

The ride home was a little more tedious. We had to wait in line for half an hour and there was traffic leaving the city. Fortunately, our driver made up serious time on the highway and again we were home in good time. We paid $175 for the four of us roundtrip (we earned one free ride from the four tickets we bought on the way North), a savings of about $400, which we duly used for tea at the American Girl store, lunch at the Plaza, and some cheap plastic stuff at the M&M store. The train is more comfortable and keeps you blissfully out of traffic; but the bus served us well on this trip.

Baby, You Can Drive My Car!

As one half of JSG lives in NYC, never drives and is happy to cab it everywhere and the other half lives in the suburbs and spends a quarter of her day behind the wheel, we always debate over the benefits of renting a car. It's not rocket science, but it's worth it if you're in a city that's spread out like L.A. and not in a city like Vegas where taxis and limos run like water (or is that bubbly in Sin City?) and you're going to be buzzed 90 percent of the time anyways.

On last week's trip to Phoenix/Scottsdale, when we realized it was only $10 day to rent a car and--Hello!--$25 a day for the convertible, we didn't have to think twice. Driving with the top down from the airport to the hotel turned into an adventure instead of a queasy ride in the back of a taxi. We also got quite a few stares from our fellow drivers, but that may have been because it was 60 degrees and obvious that we were tourists desperate for sunshine. Regardless, it was so fun--we may just be car rental converts!