New Travel Benefit For Many US Military Veterans

7612POSTS

4 years ago

An official link to the Department of Defense website in the United States:

~~~~~

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

American Forces Travel Privileges Extended to Eligible Veterans

JULY 16, 2021

The Department of Defense announced today a policy change to the current shopping privileges on the American Forces Travel website.

As directed by acting Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Virginia S. Penrod in a memo signed April 12, 2021, the department will extend online access to the website to honorably discharged veterans of the uniformed services...

(announcement continued on website)

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Michael P. Carter Contributor

102POSTS

4 years ago

Thanks, I will check it out. Peace and Love

1 member reacted to this post

Tyrion Lannister Active member

54POSTS

4 years ago

So I checked the PAL fares today MNL-LAX-MNL for mid October to mid November.

AFT was one (1) dollar cheaper than Expedia!聽 : )

PAL's Website was $1,524 more expensive!

The fares may be skewed depending on how often the refresh is running but I found this an interesting baseline nonetheless.

carlisom78 Active member

76POSTS

4 years ago

Tyrion,

聽 Here is a tip many people are NOT aware of. Before conducting a search on fees for air travel clear your browser history. If you don't the search engine will see that this is your second or third search for airfares from point A to point B. Every time you do another search without clearing your browser history THE TICKET PRICE GOES UP!

Carl

Tyrion Lannister Active member

54POSTS

4 years ago

carlisom78 wrote:
Tyrion,

聽 Here is a tip many people are NOT aware of. Before conducting a search on fees for air travel clear your browser history. If you don't the search engine will see that this is your second or third search for airfares from point A to point B. Every time you do another search without clearing your browser history THE TICKET PRICE GOES UP!

Carl

I fooled them - I used a different browser for each search from behind my VPN...

Enzyte Bob ViP

4301POSTS

4 years ago

Concerning Airfares. . . . . .

It's been 20 years ago since I did a comprehensive search for airfares. Before moving to Las Vegas I lived in Pittsburgh PA. I had many trips to Vegas on vacations and always hunted for the lowest prices.
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(1) Not all airlines use booking sites such as Expedia, but book on their own sites.
(2) Airlines use algorithms so they constantly adjust their prices sometime daily.
(3) Prices differ depending on what day of the week you are flying to and from.
(4) Prices differ depending on the season and for holidays.
__________________________________________________________________________________

I did searches well in advance, weeks, months and years. I developed a baseline when and where the price was lowest. I learned the baseline on how much the minimum fare would be. It ran in cycles depending on 2,3 and 4 above.

Once I saw the baseline dipped to the minimum fare of the past, I would book my flight.

*Now if you have deep pockets or your schedule doesn't allow this, all is mute.
__________________________________________________________________________________

Businesses get carried away using algorithms, hotels use this changing their prices constantly, sometimes on the same day.

Before one vacation I found a good price at The Rio Hotel and Casino, but I had to leave for work. After work the room price had jumped and I was planning to book for 10 days, so the price was a couple hundred dollars more.

So instead of booking online at the Rio website I called them. I explained the price jumped on me and they booked my room at the lower price.
__________________________________________________________________________________

The Las Vegas apartment complex I lived in used algorithms depending on vacancies. Sometimes the rents differed by several hundred dollars a month.

1 member reacted to this post

Lotus Eater ViP

1976POSTS

4 years ago

There is very little evidence that online travel sites are gaming the system the more you search for a specific trip. But this is a Pandora鈥檚 box and inevitably sucks in conspiracy theorists with half baked ideas based on minimal factual information.

I don鈥檛 work in the travel industry but logic would dictate to my mind that the more a consumer searches online the more price sensitive they are.

Yes there are general markers such as the day of the week (mid week will always be cheaper) and of course the time of year particularly school holidays when the laws of supply and demand kick in.

But are some readers on this forum perhaps being too diligent when searching for the lowest price and missing the wood for the trees?

I am based in the UK and travel extensively to Asia for business & pleasure always departing from London Heathrow which has the best route network option.

Over the years I have consistently used the same airline and accrue loyalty points and frequent flyer miles that can be used for future flights and upgrades. I book using the airlines website directly which is easier and has more functionality in choosing your seat which on a long haul flight is important.

Without doubt I could find cheaper flights with the same airline via online booking sites but the ticket issued will give you less miles and benefits. Given that most readers on this site are long haul travellers (even the flight from Sydney to Manila is 8 hours) how many times have you wished for an upgrade on check in?

I am now an Etihad Gold Class member and have been upgraded to business several times because of my loyalty. If I鈥檓 not upgraded I still have the airmiles for future flights. I can use business class lounges in any airport even if flying economy (Coach

). Oh and I get an extra baggage allowance too. The airline also has an online shop where you can cash in your points for household goods (end of commercial)

I do accept though that our American friends are sadly not blessed with the range (& in flight service) of flights & carriers available from Europe to Asia, particularly the big three Arabian Gulf super carriers.

Ironically it was the US that taught Europe the benefits of aviation competition in the 80鈥檚 and 90鈥檚 and now has to put up with an effective oligopoly of price gouging airlines..

1 member reacted to this post

Enzyte Bob ViP

4301POSTS

4 years ago

Lotus Eater wrote:
But are some readers on this forum perhaps being too diligent when searching for the lowest price and missing the wood for the trees?

I am based in the UK and travel extensively to Asia for business & pleasure always departing from London Heathrow which has the best route network option.

Without doubt I could find cheaper flights with the same airline via online booking sites but the ticket issued will give you less miles and benefits. Given that most readers on this site are long haul travellers (even the flight from Sydney to Manila is 8 hours) how many times have you wished for an upgrade on check in?

I am now an Etihad Gold Class member and have been upgraded to business several times because of my loyalty. If I鈥檓 not upgraded I still have the airmiles for future flights. I can use business class lounges in any airport even if flying economy (Coach ). Oh and I get an extra baggage allowance too. The airline also has an online shop where you can cash in your points for household goods (end of commercial)

There are several layers of travelers, you are a frequent flyer so you adjust your choice by the number of perks.

Some frequent flyers have deep pockets and some infrequent flyers like me have no pockets.

Then there are people like me who don't fly often, some times years between flight. So we wish to do it economically. I didn't mind booking in steerage for my wife and myself and crammed in on my flight from LAX to Manila.

A savings of thousands of dollars. That was three years ago, the only planes I see now are flying overhead.

Unrelated while living in Las Vegas the perks are called "Comps" short for complimentary. . Ranging from free meals, rooms even airfares聽 and limos. You put your players card in the slot machine/pokies and the casino can see your level of play and they award points, which is upgraded and shown on the machine you are playing on.

There are different level of comps/perks measured in points. I don't know how many times I've seen players trying to accumulate points for a free rooms, with winning money being secondary.

The daily聽 revenue from one slot/pokie can exceed the cost of an average room.

2 members reacted to this post

Skip Scott Contributor

138POSTS

4 years ago

I also did a comparison. Found most rates were right around the AFT price. I use Cheapoair frequently and find that they can get good prices. Had one time that they failed to confirm a reservation, but fortunately caught it before the date of the flight.

1 member reacted to this post