I'm a travel geek / snob. Maybe not particularly frugal, but I've found
that you most often get what you pay for and deep vein thrombosis and bed
bugs are not the things I particularly want to get. I tend to be brand
sensitive across the board.

Airlines: I try like heck to stay with one airline to accumulate status
miles. This year I'll likely lose that status, but most years I make enough
trips to hit at least the low end magic number and get the few perks
granted to such lowly travelers. I have an affinity credit card for the
airline that I fly most often, so that gets me something (free checked
bags!). I avoid the low cost carriers like the plague. I want to know where
I'm sitting and as a fairly large person, I want a little leg room. Plus
the low cost carriers tend to attract more, shall we say, of the unwashed.
Sitting cheek by jowl with a drunk / stoned / smelly person is not my idea
of fun. I also refuse middle seats. And window seats on regional jets. And
propeller driven aircraft in general.

Hotels: I bounce most often between the two biggest chains since they tend
to have decent properties across all ranges of the price spectrum. Status
here isn't quite as critical and I can get discounts with AAA and use
points accumulated to get free nights. I avoid the lower end chains like
the plague as well and find that when you plug in the value of free wi-fi
and some sort of morning meal, the room rates are often not that far apart.
I do chase room rates, however.

Car Rental: My employer has a preferred rental car company that I tend to
use simply because I can show up and a car is waiting for me. I'll shop
around a little for leisure rentals and have found that Costco has some
really good rates with other major rental companies. I do my darnedest to
avoid getting in line at the rental counter, so I've joined all the rental
car frequent rental programs just so they have my information when I do a
booking.

In general, if you travel, try to join the frequent traveler programs. You
sometimes get some nice special offers and you get points that can help
offset the expense of travel. If you find yourself travelling a lot, those
points can accumulate nicely.

If you find yourself getting close to a particular status change as you
near the end of the year, take a close look at doing a "mileage run" or
"mattress run" to cross over to the next level of status. Sometimes that
status change has some meaningful perks in bonus miles or upgrades. You'd
have to realize that you're one round trip away from a big bonus.

Pat Cunningham

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