Please note that American Express will only provide retirees with travel assistance if you go to their office in the Main Complex. The following are useful travel websites:  RE.: "COMBINATION" WEB SITES For booking travel on one's own over the internet,the big three are Expedia, Orbitz, & Travelocity, all of which offer air, hotel, and car reservations. Also offering bookings in these same three categories are Hotwire,Priceline,Yahoo Travel,and in spite of their names which would indicate they deal in only one aspect of travel, Cheap Tickets and Hotels.Com. Following are useful websites: www.kayak.com www.alltitudetravel.com www.expedia.com www.orbitz.com www.travelocity.com www.hotwire.com www.priceline.com www.travel.yahoo.com  www.cheaptickets.com  www.hotels.com www.aarp.com www.attitudetravel.com and kayak.com both offer  a compilation of airlines and other servcies as opposed to sites above which are airline or hotel  specific. RE.: AIR ONLY SITES & AIR CONSOLIDATORS/WHOLESALERS SITES All airlines have their own websites and most are represented in travel agency c omputer systems and in the "combination" sites listed above. Some low cost carriers are not represented in either the most commonly used "combination" websites or in travel agency computer systems such as Amadeus, Apollo, or Sabre. They include the US domestic carriers Southwest and Jet Blue and European carriers such as Ryan Air. Their websites are: (For US only) www.jetblue.com www.southwest.com (For travel within Europe) www.ryanair.com  www.easyjet.com  www.airberlin.com  www.transavia.com  www.sterlingticket.com  www.skyeurope.com  www.hlx.com  www.flybe.com  www.wizzair.com  Wholesalers/Consolidators Wholesalers, also known as consolidators, are airline ticketing agencies which have contracts with various carriers to sell seats for international travel at a fare lower than the "published fare", which is what one is quoted when calling an airline directly. These wholesale fares are most effective in reducing costs on a)last minute travel (where there is not a 7 day advance purchase time available), b)one way travel, and c)travel involving lengthy stays. These agencies generally deal in economy seats but some sell business class tickets as well. Two old and reliable Washington wholesalers are the Atlantic Fellowship @ 202-232-6990 and Mill Run Tours @ 202-467-5525, the latter located near the World Bank at 1725 K Street NW . RE.:CARS Auto rental companies, as do all airlines and hotels, maintain their own websites and are sometimes discounted by organizations such as AAA. Also, many are represented in the "combination" sites listed above. For European travel in particular and foreign travel in general, www.autoeurope.com is excellent. Auto Europe may also be reached at 1-800-223-5555 but it should be noted that internet bookings offer a 10% discount. RE.:RAIL AMTRAK may be reached by calling 1-800-USA-RAIL or accessing www.amtrak.com. Amtrak is also discounted with AAA membership. For both passes that must be purchased in the US as well as point-to-point tickets within Europe, go to www.raileurope.com. RE: HOTELS Hotels, like air & rail tickets and rental car reservations, may be booked in a variety of ways. A major difference between booking transportation and accommodations is that in the case of accommodations, one might possibly get the best rate by going directly to the source - the hotel itself or the chain or consortium that represents it. The "combination" sites listed at the top are perhaps the main source for finding reasonably priced - or discounted - hotel rooms, but the ones listed below are dedicated to hotels only. www.venere.com  www.laterooms.com  www.asia-hotels.com  www.all-hotels.com  www.tiscover.com  www.utell.com  www.hotelrooms365.com  www.tablethotels.com  www.hotelbook.com  www.hotels-london.co.ukIf  If you go to www.Google.com and enter "cheap hotels in...", filling in with the desired destination, many other sites will be listed. RE:Up to date aircraft departure and arrival sites. Several sites will provide you with up to date and actual flight arrivals and departures. This is particularly valuable if you are expecting or picking up travellers at busy airports and could avoid lengthy waits. Before going to an airport, check one of these websites: www.flightstats.com www.flightarrivals.com/ www.flytecomm.com/cgi-bin/trackflight www.flightview.com/ For flight departures and arrivals in Europe check this site: http://www.europe.org/airports.html ANK, May 2007        |
