E-TRAVEL TIPS AND INFORMATION By Bob Rosenthal, May 2010. Dear Travel Friend Every month, Travel Travel will email you up-to-date travel industry information which should not only be interesting but could affect your future travel arrangements and decisions. This month we concentrate on credit cards and frequent flyer charges. We hope this information will be of use to you in your future travels. FREQUENT FLYER PROGRAM INFORMATION Frequent flyer programs offer benefits above and beyond free air travel and are an incentive program operated by airlines to reward customers for their continued loyalty. As a traveler, you can earn free miles for the miles you fly on a particular airline. The more frequently you fly with an airline, the greater your reward or miles earned. Hotels, rental car companies and many other major companies have extended the program to miles earned with dollars spent. Mileage bonuses are offered as an incentive to sign up for a frequent flyer program. Frequent flyer miles are credited to your account, like a bank account, do not earn interest and accumulate as you travel. Most US airlines have similar policies. Accrued mileage will not expire as long as there is activity in your account over a certain period of time. Mileage in your account can be redeemed for an air travel award. When deciding which frequent flyer program to join, check program ratings at websites such as www.freddieawards.com. Consolidate your frequest flyer miles with a convenient airline that operates from a hub out of an airport in your region. Choose a program that allows you the best opportunities to earn miles or points. Accure at least 25,000 miles to qualify for different levels of elite status. For your non-flight reward activities, consider hotel, rental car and general shopping purchases. You don't have to use accumulated miles and points for travel only. Pay attention to contract terms and conditions and fine print before you sign up. Consider alliances between US and foreign airline carriers so travel can be organized to flow from one carrier to another, especially if you are a frequent international traveller. Have Travel Travel check if it may be smarter to save your miles and purchase a lower cost ticket to certain destinations than using accumulated miles. Airlines have a reputation for blackout dates and limited seat availability for frequent flyer customers. When redeeming frequent flyer miles first ask your travel agent to find out what frequent flier flights and dates are available and then arrange your travel based on flight availablity. If redemption and keeping track of your frequent flier miles is complicated, contact Travel Travel. For a reasonable fee, we will take care of the frustration and hassel of frequent flyer mile redemptions and transfers for you, your family, friends or travel group. Consider donating excess unused miles and make frequent flyer travel available to charities of your choice. Unfortunately like anything else "free", frequent flier programs are subject to taxes and fees. You will probably have to pay fees when redeeming miles for tickets and tax for the purchase of the tickets, all passed on to you, the consumer in the form of miscellaneous fees. YOUR FREQUENT FLYER MILES AFTER AIRLINES MERGE When Continental and United or any other airlines merge in the future, you probably won't lose your frequent flier miles. Frequent flyers are considered the airlines best customers, so they won't do anything to cause flyers to loose miles. Past merging airlines have merged their frequent flyer programs and consolidated personal accounts. One of the major benefits airlines expect from a merger is the ability to fly fewer unprofitable seat- miles and not just eliminate duplicate routes. That means cutting back on total flying and not just reducing capacity. For the airlines, frequent flyer programs have been free seats given on award , that would otherwise go unsold. But, load factors have changed over the years. With merger cutbacks, the frequent flier will have an increasingly tough time finding award seats at the lowest basic rates and will probably have to use more miles for a confirmed seat. Today, frequent flyer program miles are about money, not value. Frequent flier loyalty is measured by your elite frequent flyer status. The higher your status, the better your redeemed perks. Selling frequent flyer miles to credit card companies has become highly profitable for major airlines and they will sell as many frequent flier miles as they can instead of selling cheap tickets. The bottom line is that you won't loose miles with future airline airline mergers, but award seats will become scarcer and it will be more difficult using the miles accumulated in your account, for the airline travel you want. CREDIT CARD FOREIGN CURRENCY TRANSACTION FEES Traveling internationally and charging your credit card you may have noticed increased fees on your statement. Most credit card companies charge a fee of from 0% to 3% per purchase when you use your charge card overseas. The Foreign Curreny Transaction Fee is separated into two charges. First, Visa or MasterCard charge a 1% fee on any purchase made, to convert international money into US dollars. Second, the card issuer may charge up to another 2% fee on all purchases. Both charges are usually passed on to the consumer. Currently, Capital One's Visa or MasterCard, are not charging foreign transaction fees. Other major card companies fees are: American Express and Discover - 2%, BOA, CitiBank and Chase - 3%. Always contact your credit card company prior to traveling overseas to ensure they explain and you understand the fees you will be charged for foreign charges. QUESTIONS? Please email us at tvltvl@travelx2.com or contact us should you have any suggestions, travel questions or comments. Our professional consultants are at your service and ready to help you with your travel needs. TRAVEL TRAVEL. . . . . . YOUR TRAVEL CONNECTION !  Travel Travel Inc. 5140 N. Union Blvd., Suite 200 Colorado Springs, CO 80918 719 593-1591               JOIN US ON      AND   Website: www.TRAVELX2.COM. Email: tvltvl@travelx2.com. Please forward Travel Travel E-Tips and Information to family or friends who may be interested. You have received this newsletter because you are either a past client of Travel Travel or have networked with us. Should you want to stop receiving future Travel Travel E-Travel Tips & Information, email us at tvltvl@travelx2.com, enter subject "Stop Newsletter" and note your name and address.