Two incremental improvements to the world of travel searches. Two of my favorite sites have added features:

FareCompare.com has gone live with their historical price data on fares between cities. Want to see how current fares stack up? Do a search for city pairs, and you’ll see the price trends for the last 12 months. If the slope is heading up, don’t be surprised, given the price of oil. But if a current fare deviates below the average (black) line, it’s probably a good fare, and you may want to buy. See here for a tutorial.

Fare metasearch/aggregator Kayak.com added flexible date searching to their arsenal of tools. Not a shocker for users of Travelocity, Orbitz, etc., but this is the first use of flexible searching on a site that searches multiple travel sellers’ inventories. Another reason Kayak is my favorite among the aggregators, previously reviewed here. Minor nuisance: registration is required in order to use the flexible-date search feature. (WHY???)

– The European Court of Justice, the EU’s highest court, ruled illegal a 2004 agreement that required European airlines to send personal information about US-bound passengers to the United States government. The information has been sent to the US within 15 minutes of departure, allowing Washington to run the information against its no-fly lists and other databases. The court ruled that this was a violation of privacy. However, the policy remains in place for now, but may face changes by September 30. Obviously something will have to be done, or else traffic from Europe to the U.S. could be grounded.

– The United States Air Traffic Stabilization Board’s loan guarantees to several struggling airlines after 9/11 most likely extended the life of companies that would have otherwise gone under. But at least the government didn’t lose money on the $1.6 billion venture. In fact, it made a $312 million profit. (Whether the longer-term systemic effects of the loan program work out positively or negatively for the companies, the economy, and the government’s tax receipts is an issue for economists to figure out.)

– Irish carrier Aer Lingus will leave the OneWorld alliance, dominated by British Airways and American Airlines. The airline cites a shift from the hub-and-spoke model (that favors alliances and feed from other carriers) to a point-to-point model.

– Looking to advertise to a high-income readership? Look to in-flight magazines. The average household income for United’s Hemispheres magazine readers ($119,588) exceeds the income for financial weekly Barron’s ($110,562) and The Economist ($107,024), making it the magazine with the wealthiest readership in America. In fact, five of the top ten magazines in America, measured by household income, are in-flight magazines. Even Southwest’s magazine makes the top ten, despite its budget-travel reputation. Curiously missing from the top ten are Continental and USAirways.

– High class shouldn’t mean high price (translate that into Latin and it’s a contender for my family crest). But not everyone feels the same. Niels Pedersen of Supranational Hotels argues that Europe’s posh resorts should keep their prices high this summer, and not give in to the temptation to offer last-minute discounts, in order to avoid “the wrong sort of people.” I’m not making this up. This is solid platinum snobbery at its best, worth quoting at length:

“Once superior hotels reduce their standard tariffs below 30% — and many cut them to 50% in a panic bid to fill their rooms — the clientele they attract via web portals can do harm to the image of the property,” he said. “It’s about a person’s inner values of self-esteem and self-confidence. The key test for the wealthy is whether their children will meet the right kind of people.”

Wow. I hope that no one’s inner values have been hurt by my rampant use of Priceline.

– Finally, here’s a solution to the scourge of discount luxury hotel stays. Maybe those wealthy folks will keep their eyes off the riff-raff with an exciting game of… Segway Polo!

Sure, the benefits of hybrids cars like the Toyota Prius include tax credits, lower fuel bills, and the generally warm and fuzzy feeling you get from saving energy and helping the environment.

Kimpton Hotels, the boutique chain, is offering discounts and/or free parking to guests pulling up in a hybrid. Rental cars are included.

At the Muse Hotel in New York, they’ll even throw in a copy of Honku : The Zen Antidote to Road Rage. (But why would you be driving in New York, though?)

If you ARE in New York, and you need to get to the airport, you might consider Ozocar, the car service that operates a fleet of hybrid cars by Toyota or Lexus. Each car is equipped with an Apple iBook and mobile wireless internet. It’s slower, but a lot cheaper than the helicopter service to JFK.

Renting a hybrid is tougher to do, and it’s rarely cheap. Some smaller or regional agencies advertise hybrids (Fox Rent A Car and EV Rental Cars, both largely operating in California, come to mind), and the rates are generally a bit higher than comparably sized regular vehicles. As a tradeoff, in California, hybrid cars are always allowed to drive in the multiple-passenger express lanes, even with only one driver. The time saved in traffic may be worth the premium.

But while smaller firms are trying to appeal to the increasingly energy-aware public, the major rental firms are still wedded to their standard issue Detroit gas guzzlers. And as guest blogger Dr. Vino pointed out two weeks ago, the demand for those gas guzzlers is going down. Hopefully the supply of hybrids will increase to meet the demand.

Apple’s iPod and its iTunes store are clearly the biggest fish in the musical pond. And if the makers of airlines’ inflight entertainment get their way, you’ll be enjoying iTunes in flight in the future. Assuming you have an iPod or just bought one at an airport vending machine, I suppose? In any case, it’s a far cry from the airtube headphones of yesteryear.

But don’t equate downloadable music entirely with iTunes. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great service — you can download South Park episodes, after all.

But there’s a lot of *FREE* music to be had out there. The ubiquity of Apple’s iPod and the iTunes system for downloading music (and other content) shouldn’t keep you from exploring some of the other sites out there. And a number of them are offering generous free downloads right now. Stock up before your next flight, or just stock up because it’s free:

– eMusic is offering 50 FREE Downloads which play on your computer, or on any MP3 player, including the iPod. Apparently, this doesn’t come with any nasty digital rights management software (DRM) or copy protection, either. You bought it, it’s yours. I like their attitude. You have 14 days to download the free songs, then you have to subscribe, or opt out. You keep the songs. (Update: This particular 50-song offer is only valid through May 31, 2006 — the normal freebie offer is 25 songs.)

– Want more independent-label music? Get another 50 free MP3s from AudioLunchbox.com. Similar to eMusic, with no copy protection, a subscription model, etc. PC Magazine gave it a glowingly positive review. Not as many songs as eMusic, but a very different selection.

– Real Networks’ Rhapsody also does the 14-day trial, and has a substantial 2 million song catalog.

– Less appealing, but still potentially useful, is the reinvented Napster. The catch here is that you can listen to songs 5 times (streaming) but if you want to keep the song, you need to buy it. Kinda lame. Low portability, but if you’re burning to hear a particular tune, this could be what you need.

– Far less appealing, but still with its place, if you can work the system, is Sony’s Connect.com. They don’t use MP3 (or M4A) format, but they do have 2 for 1 album downloads on Tuesdays… Sony is notorious for making it hard to copy your songs, but you CAN burn an audio CD and then rip that into MP3. (Pain in the butt, I know. Less of an issue if you have a PSP.) Plus, if you’ve really got an excess of United Mileage Plus miles, you can convert those miles into music in increments of 10,000 miles. (10,000 miles = 10 albums or 100 songs, so with one song costing $0.99, 1 mile = $0.0099. Call it a penny a mile, not a great conversion.)

Note that these are all US-based providers, and may or may not work for addresses outside the US. No promises. Sorry to the international readers on this count.

Know of any other (legal and legitimate!) freebie download deals? Drop a line or add to comments.

Rock on.

In the last week, BusinessWeek and the Associated Press have taken on the same task that this blog took on weeks ago: rating the travel aggregator sites, Kayak, Mobissimo, FareChase, SideStep, etc., for their usefulness in conducting airfare searches. (You think Anick Jesdanun of the Associated Press and Sarah Lacy of BusinessWeek read this site? Hi guys!)

Note that I went the next step and also reviewed aggregator hotel searches… Let’s see if they follow suit and do the same!

(snideness: off)

AP’s Jesdanun agrees with my assessment of Kayak as the superior airfare search, but BusinessWeek’s Lacy downplays Kayak and instead favors SideStep for its downloadable toolbar “big brother” feature. This is a reason NOT to like SideStep if you ask me. I just don’t trust these browse-along features to protect my privacy. Call me paranoid.

In aggregator news, Mobissimo has in recent weeks made some improvements, broadening the number of sites they search (and pitching the means by which they conduct their searches.) Their recently launched India-based site is a big move. But I still just don’t like their user interface, their comparative lack of information, or their lack of controls. It’s getting better, but it’s not there yet.

From the reader mailbag… reader TC asks:

How much is too much to pay for going with your airline of choice? We do not have elite status on AA but do have a bunch of miles on them–Their tix this summer cost more than Delta. Thoughts??

Great question. I’ll assume you’re looking at the same dates and same class of service. So what do you do? The answer will require a little research into how many miles you’ll earn, as well as a decision regarding what you can afford.

A slightly more expensive on a preferred carrier may be worth it if you 1) collect miles you can use, 2) get closer to elite status, and/or 3) if the value of the miles you earn exceeds the cost difference.

It’s an issue we’re dealing with ourselves right now in the house of Better Living Through Miles: My wife will need to fly from Chicago to Boston in August. AirTran, departing Midway Airport, started a fare sale earlier this week, bringing the lowest available fare for her dates to $178, including taxes. American Airlines has matched the fare from O’Hare, with more flights to choose, and thus greater scheduling flexibility. United has lowered their fares a little, but not all the way to the same level: $218, including all taxes.

Should she spend $40 extra to fly on United, or take the cheapest offer around?

She has no elite status with United, and I won’t be traveling with her, so Premier Executive status perks, such as more legroom in complimentary Economy Plus seating, priority check-in, shorter security lines, and early boarding for easier carry-on storage won’t come into play. Nonetheless, she has a respectable sum of miles in her Mileage Plus account. In contrast, she has no relationship with AirTran or American Airlines: no miles at all.

In our case, both the existing business relationship with United and — importantly — a number of bonus offers that powerfully boost the earned mileage make the United fare more attractive than the American or AirTran itinerary. There’s a double-mile offer, plus 1000 online purchase miles, 500 miles per online check-in, plus 500 extra miles for doing both online purchase and check-in. While I hope the flights will be on-time, if the flight is late for any reason, the BusinessOne guarantee gives 500 extra miles. (Note: registration for some of these offers is necessary.) Finally, if the fare drops at any point after she purchases the ticket, she can request a voucher on UA for the difference.

American has a double mile offer, (less generous) online purchase bonus, etc., as well, but those would be the only miles in her account. Especially since orphaned miles are of little use and have minimal value. For my wife, those miles aren’t very attractive.

But how much is too much? How do you figure out how much premium is worth paying, and at what point does loyalty not make any sense?

First, see how much cheaper the competition is. I tend to use Kayak or ITA Software for this.
Second, see if there are any offers (such as double miles) running for the route you’re flying. MileMaven is a great way to check this, but it doesn’t catch all the options that are available to all purchases, such as online check-in bonuses. It’s best for route-specific offers.
Finally, do the math: Assign a conservative value to the total miles you’ll earn, and compare this to the fare difference. I assigned an excessively low value of 1 cent per mile, making the 5968 total miles she’ll earn worth $59.68. $59.68 is greater than the $40 cost difference for buying the cash fare.

For a $40 premium, we’ll buy the United ticket.

This is a case study for how frequent flyer programs can extract more money out of a customer than the cheapest price. Earning miles is like crack: In our case, they’ve made it hard to break the United habit. But as long as the economics still favor collecting some miles, which we’ve had good luck cashing in for great travel, we’ll pay a few bills more when necessary.