Early birds will fly cheaper as oil prices soar

Airlines have no problem in playing ‘follow the leader’ with regard to fare increases.

Last week American raised its prices by $10 for flights in the lower 48 States.

Continental, United, US Airways, JetBlue, AirTran have all jumped on the bandwagon.

Delta went a bit further by raising some routes by $20.

It was the sixth price hike for 2011 — and two more than the airlines had for all of 2010.

With the uncertainty in the Middle East, it’s likely there will be more price hikes this year as fuel prices continue to soar.

I mentioned it last week, and it bears repeating here, if you know where you are travelling later in the year and can afford to buy your ticket, you are probably better off purchasing it now.

Cruise deals

A few weeks back I wrote about Continental Airlines cruise offers.

Well, US Airways is offering up to triple air miles for every dollar spent at its cruise website: www.usairwayscruises.com.

The special triple miles deal ends on March 31.

The airline is also offering a 110 per cent best price guarantee — if you find a lower advertised rate for the general public, it will refund you 110 per cent of the difference.

That’s not a bad guarantee — if the difference is $80, that’s $88 coming back to you — good enough to book a shore excursion or pamper yourself with a spa treatment.

You will have to notify US Airways Cruises within 48 hours of booking your cruise with them.

Going green

For those of you who are always looking for a way to do your part to help save the environment, the Hertz Corporation will soon allow you to rent electric vehicles in New York, Washington D.C. and San Francisco.

If you want to use this service, sign-up at www.hertzconnect.com.

Hertz is currently offering a one-year free membership for those who do sign up.

Holland America

If you’re the type of cruiser who likes to be onboard the ship as soon as it opens, Holland America has good news for you — your stateroom will be ready two hours sooner.

Previously the stateroom would not be available until 1:30pm, but the cruise line has engineered a faster turnaround in getting cabins ready.

So, if you board at 11:30am, you will be able to get into your room at that time.

United-Continental

The two airlines have made it easier to transfer miles between them as they work through their merger deal.

Next year United Mileage Plus and Continental OnePass will be combined into a single programme.

If you want an award ticket on United but don’t have enough Mileage Plus miles, you can move miles from your OnePass account to make up the difference.

Or vice versa.

You can only transfer miles once a day and it has to be in 1,000 mile increments.

There is a limit of 200,000 miles per transfer and you can only transfer miles between accounts in your name.

If you change your mind, you are allowed to transfer the miles back into the other account.

Transferring your miles will not affect your elite status in either programme.

Hilton hotel deals

The HHonors reward programme is offering a plethora of low rates in its ‘Experience Spring’ sale.

Sample rates include: Boston ($119), New York ($169), Hawaii ($239), and Nashville ($119).

It also has rates as low as $99 for the following cities: South Bend, Indiana; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The short link for the deals can be found at: http://bit.ly/i2BDB4.