ASK MILLIONS OF TRAVELERS HAVE LEARNED TO ASK ARTHUR FROMMER Arthur Frommer Ask Arthur Frommer is a condensed encyclopedia of smart travel. It answers nearly every major question, discusses every major issue, covers every step of travel, reduces every travel expendi- ture, and shows you: • How to get there in the most effi cient and economical ASK way, whether your destination is at home or abroad Arthur Frommer • Where to stay and where to eat in whatever city or other location you select & travel better, cheaper, smarter • How to maximize the enjoyment of your trip and reduce your expenses • How to overcome scores of obstacles or problems • How to make the best, most cost-effective use of travel literature and the Internet The book also contains Arthur Frommer’s outspoken (and entertaining) comments on travel issues and controversies. Like any encyclopedia, it is a standard reference work to be & consulted every time you contemplate a trip or are looking for vacation suggestions. Ask Arthur Frommer is an indispensable travel part of anyone’s travel library. better, cheaper, $19.99 USA/$23.99 CAN/£13.99 UK ssmartermarter Find great deals, the latest travel news, trip ideas, and more at Frommers.com The ultimate travel guide that answers every major question by Arthur Frommer 01_418499-ffirs.indd i 2/25/09 10:22:29 PM Published by: WILEY PUBLISHING, INC. 111 River St. Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774 Copyright © 2009 Wiley Publishing, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978/750-8400, fax 978/646- 8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201/748-6011, fax 201/748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions. Wiley and the Wiley Publishing logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its aĀ liates. Frommer’s is a trademark or registered trademark of Arthur Frommer. Used under license. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. ISBN 978-0-470-41849-9 Editor: Michael Spring Production Editor: Heather Wilcox Photo Editor: Richard Fox Production by Wiley Indianapolis Composition Services For information on our other products and services or to obtain technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 800/762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317/572-3993 or fax 317/572-4002. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic formats. Manufactured in the United States of America 5 4 3 2 1 01_418499-ffirs.indd ii 2/25/09 10:22:30 PM About the Author Arthur Frommer is widely regarded as the nation’s foremost travel author- ity. His books, articles, and speeches have profoundly changed the travel habits of Americans and the products of the travel industry. He is the author of Europe on $5 a Day, which set off a torrent of transat- lantic travel; the author of Ā e New World of Travel, which brought awareness to ne w f orms o f al ternative, me aningful tra vel; t he f ounder o f F rommer’s travel guides, consisting of more than 340 yearly volumes of realistic, value- conscious travel; and the founder of Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel maga- zine, t he fi rst g lossy designed f or a verage-income tra velers. H is w eekly newspaper columns on travel are syndicated nationally by King Features; his weekly radio program on travel is broadcast nationwide by the W.O.R. Radio Network; his infl uential daily blog on travel appears on Frommers.com; and he has als o written scores of other travel guides a nd magazine a rticles on destinations and modes of travel. Millions of Americans have learned to ASK ARTHUR FROMMER! 01_418499-ffirs.indd iii 2/25/09 10:22:30 PM Disclaimer Although the prices and other details in this book were accurate as of the time the book was produced, it should be stressed that this is a p eriod of unusual turbulence in tra vel. Th e reader should expect revisions in t hose prices or details, the imposition or withdrawal of fuel surcharges, and even the occasional bankruptcy or disappearance of both small travel fi rms and large airlines. 01_418499-ffirs.indd iv 2/25/09 10:22:30 PM Acknowledgments I am grateful , fi rst and foremost, to Mike Spring, who rejuvenated Frommer’s travel guides w hen he b ecame publisher of them in 1994 a nd soon built them into t he nation’s leading s eries of travel guides. Th ough h e re tired from that position in mid-2008, he agreed later that year to edit the manu- script of Ask Arthur Frommer, and I am deeply indebted to him for shaping and gr eatly im proving t he b ook in a m yriad o f wa ys. To m y da ughter Pauline, for making hundreds of helpful suggestions, and always alerting me to the travel discoveries for which she has developed an awesome repu- tation, I am as always lovingly appreciative. I am so very proud that she will now carry on the Frommer name and bring our kind o f advice to a ne w generation of travelers. Th is book began as a da ily blog on Frommers.com, and for launching that diary with such skill and imagination, I owe a great debt to Bob Bosch, David Lytle, and Jason Clampet. In addition to editing my daily entries, Jason also rounded up the photographs illustrating this book and did s o with great talent. But although he also discussed with me a gr eat many of the assertions in this book, the responsibility for them is solely mine. 01_418499-ffirs.indd v 2/25/09 10:22:30 PM This book is for ROBERTA whose values, love, and wisdom have so improved the journey of my life 01_418499-ffirs.indd vi 2/25/09 10:22:30 PM Contents 1: “Into the Wild Blue Yonder . ” All about airfares, airlines & airports . 1 Aggregators ...................................................................................................2 Next time you crave the lowest possible fare, use an “aggregator” ...................2 A Danish aggregator seems to produce the cheapest U.S. rates! ........................3 Mobissimo.com is also coming on strong (for international fares) .....................4 Airfares (& Flights) ....................................................................................4 Arrange to receive “alerts” about air bargains from your city ..............................4 Yapta’s an amazing tool that lowers your airfare ...................................................5 FlightStats.com tells you the time needed for connecting fl ights ......................5 Eight basic tactics for offsetting those high airfares ..............................................6 Fight back! What to do about those pesky new fl ight fees. ..................................8 Airfare Consolidators ..........................................................................10 Don’t overlook the savings from using an airfare consolidator .........................10 But don’t be oblivious to the rules that consolidators impose ..........................12 Airfare Search Engines .........................................................................13 Scarcely any major search engines list the really cheap airlines ..................13 At last, JetBlue lists its fares with the major search engines ..............................13 It’s useful to consult the foreign search engines, too...........................................14 Make sure your search engine looks at fl exible dates ..........................................14 Airlines ............................................................................................................15 Spirit Airlines has become a mighty force in low-cost travel .............................15 Some of Europe’s upstart airlines seem a bit shaky .............................................16 Airports ...........................................................................................................17 There’s a new protocol for going to airports—learn it well................................. 17 Those early departures mean we’ve gotta go to the gate................................... 17 1 hour of connection time just won’t work any longer ........................................18 For those long layovers, sleeping at airports will save the day ....................18 Print your boarding pass at home before leaving for the airport ..................... 20 Wise food choices are essential for good airport nutrition ............................... 20 Six websites ease the major discomforts of using airports .................................21 It’s those short-haul fl ights that are jamming our airports ................................22 Cut-Rate Carriers (Europe & Transatlantic) ...........................22 Three cut-rate carriers & three websites will whisk you about in Europe ................................................................................................................22 It’s important to know how to use Europe’s new cut-rate carriers ...................23 Upstarts are fl ying the Atlantic—go