The main purpose of my trip was to appear on Fox News and talk about great tips to save money on summer travel. I know some of you may be saying, "Oh, God! Fox News?" Yes, Fox News is my reply. There is nothing conservative or liberal about travel and they have a bunch of viewers. I appeared on Rick Folbaum's program on April 6th. Rick is a great guy and we always have fun during the segments. Here's a link to the deals I talked about. Historic vacations and summer travel deals
I know you are probably wondering what I said about saving money this summer. Here are a few tips:
1) Look at airfares and for the best prices on Tuesday's around 3pm. Most airlines announce their weekly sales on Monday night and it usually takes about 24 hours for those sales to appear on web sites and in their reservation's system, so Tuesday at 3pm is a good time to see the best deals.
2) Don't book airfares more than 31/2 months before you travel. Most airlines don't announce their sales until 3 months before your intended departure date. If you book more than 31/2 months before, you will be able to buy the ticket but you may miss a lower price that the airlines will advertise two or three months before you want to travel.
3) Always go to the airline's web site first. If you don't see th ebest price there, look at www.kayak.com. I like kayak.com becasue it lets you search dozens of web sites all at once and then find the best price.
4) Use web sites like www.farecompare.com and www.yapta.com so you can be alerted to when airfares go up or down. Both sites will notify you when the airfare changes and when is the best time to purchase your ticket. www.yapta.com will also tell you if the price drops after you buy your ticket. Here is a major secret. Most airlines will refund money to you if the price drops after you paid more for a ticket. The secret is, you have to call them and tell them you noticed that the price dropped. Obviously, the airline is not going to call you.
Here is another link to some great vacation deals: Joel's Exclusive Vacation Deals
I flew Jetblue to New York. I like Jetblue because they have happy flight attendants. Everyone seems to enjoy their job, which makes my flight all the better. Jetblue also has TV's, radio, free snacks and non-alcoholic drinks. They still fly you around as if you matter to them. They also have some great deals on airfare. For $40 bucks more, each way, you can sit in a "more-legroom" seat that gives you more space and lets you go through security faster and board the plane first.
I also love Jetblue because they are wonderful to people who travel with their pets. I travel all the time with my dog, Lola. Lola has traveled all over the world. She loves airplanes and she's even taken the train with me from Florida all the way to New York.
Lola is a service dog. She has been trained to alert me when my blood sugar is low. I have been a diabetic for 26 years, so Lola is quite important for me. Jetblue makes traveling with a service animal fun and easy.
That leads me to the title of this blog," Some airlines just suck." I said on Fox News that American Airlines sucks and it didn't go over too well with American Airlines. I probably have to learn to censor myself a little but then I wouldn't be honest.
Compared to airlines like Jetblue, American does suck. I used to travel American when I flew from Miami to Los Angeles. So many times, when I checked-in at Miami's airport, the customer service agents claimed they didn't speak English. Many times, my bags were lost or delayed. The seats were uncomfortable, the planes were small or old and there was barely any service onboard. They didn't have TV's, radio and if you wanted snacks, there were none. American is trying to improve things. They have implemented wi-fi on most planes but they are still years behind the Jetblue's of the world.
The major problem for American Airlines is they can't compete effectively with the newer, low-cost airlines like Jetblue, Virgin America or Southwest. American, United and US Airways all try to compete but they keep missing the most important part about getting people to fly with you: customer service.
You can see my clip on Fox here. Tips to avoid high summer airfares
As I mentioned before, When I was in New York, I stayed at Le Parker Meridien. This hotel is in a great location. It's definitely not the best hotel in New York City but it is very nice. The views of Central from the tower rooms are fantastic. The rooms are not terribly small but they are not large at all. The beds are extremely comfortable and they have big screen televisions in every room.
Le Parker Meridien is on 56th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues. It is one of the few hotels in New York that has a pool. At Le Meridien, the pool is on the 42nd floor, so you see the city as you swim.
The breakfast restaurant in the lobby is called Norma's and it was rated by Zagat as having the best breakfast in New York City. They also have a place called, 'The Burger Joint." It was rated by Zagat as having the best hamburger in New York City. Breakfast was amazing but the portions were way too big. My cheese omelet was about the size of frisbee. When I ordered bacon, they gave me ten pieces. Skip dinner the night before and you will be fine. The best thing about Le Parker Meridien is the location, the rooftop pool and the views.
The best place to be in New York when the weather is so perfect is Central Park. It was absolutely beautiful. While walking around in Central Park, we ran into Ty Pennington from "Extreme Makeover, Home Edition." He was shooting a segment for his new show called, "The Revolution," on ABC. He interviewed my girlfriend and me. He was doing something about Mother's Day and he asked me what was the best gift my mother ever gave me?" I told him, "she adopted me." A collective "Aw" was heard by all.
Oh yea, as for my girlfriend meeting my parents, I think it's time to go ring shopping.
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