My wife and I are flying back to Seattle in June for a friend’s wedding.. of course our trip is free and we are in First Class. Normally I wouldn’t use my miles for First Class on such a short flight, but flying from Anchorage to Seattle would have either cost us $600/each, 35,000 miles/each for economy class or 45,000 miles/each for First Class, so which option made sense? These first class tickets would have cost us just over $1,200 each so I’m happy with spending the 45,000 miles.
Whenever I plan a trip I usually check out what deals are available on this site. The Daily Getaways site, by US Travel can save you money from car rentals, hotels and different attractions. I usually use the site for hotels and car rentals, but to make the deal really work, you have to check all of your options. The site is kind of like Groupon, where you can buy a $50 reward certificate for $25. Right now Alamo is offering this exact deal. Since I have an American Express card I can also save 10% more on my rental. The deal sounds great, but don’t get deceived.
When I check Expedia for rental cars in Seattle I find that Alamo is $127 MORE than Advantage. Since I can use a max of 3 coupons, that means I could save $75, but that price would still be higher than the price of Advantage, even with the 10% discount for being an American Express card holder. Not all deals will make sense and this is where you have to do your research. Don’t fall for every offer you see. I have been doing online marketing since 2007 and can easily notice marketing tactics and one of the biggest tactic is to make a deal look so good that you instantly buy, without researching your options.
When I saw that deal for Alamo I first noticed that I could use 3 certificates and instantly save $75. From the offer it looked like an excellent choice, especially since we need a rental car for a week while we are in Seattle.
Be sure to look at the Terms of Service of any offer to see if you these reward certificates can be combined. Since car rental rates change constantly, this deal might be valuable to you.
Always research ‘all’ of your options before making a decision. Sometimes better deals will be available and sometimes there won’t be any deals, the key to saving money on traveling is to know all of your options.
