Travel Deals FAQ’s/Guidelines and Request Etiquette

Please do not take it personally if someone suggests you look here first. That's what it was designed for - to help you and other members make FW Travel Deals the best it can be.

Before posting a new topic on the board, please make sure that you conduct a SEARCH to make sure that it has not been covered previously.

Many thanks to NatHockens, amszyh, mom2boys, Rack, dumbredneck, bozo007, onecorgilover, jamielobo, and others for their inputs!

This post will be updated as needed.

Most posts on this board can generally be classified into 3 main areas:

1. Travel Deals
2. Request for help (I need air/hotel/car help planning my family vacation)
3. Request for information (Any good recommendations on restaurants in Vegas?)

Travel Deals

1. As stated above, please conduct a SEARCH to ensure that the deal was not posted previously.
2. Try to be specific as possible in your title. (Mandalay Bay $20 per night for 08/29 only on Orbitz!)

Request for Help

Before posting a new topic requesting help on the board, please make sure that you conduct a SEARCH to make sure that it has not been covered previously.

Although this board is technically a “Travel Deals” board, many people use it to gain information in helping to plan a trip. Generally speaking, this is acceptable PROVIDED that you include all pertinent information.

1. If you are looking for anything to do with airfare deals , please try HERE first.

2. If you are looking for anything to do with hotel deals, please try HERE first.

3. If you are looking for hotel reviews please check here – Trip Advisor

4. If you are looking for car rental codes, please conduct a SEARCH first. You can also try Rentalcodes.com

5. If you are seeking assistance in planning a trip, please include ALL of the following information:
a. Make sure you begin your Title with “REQUEST - …” For example, “REQUEST – Need cheap air/hotel package to Vegas from LAX in Oct”
b. Dates of travel
c. Departure city (and airports)/destination
d. # of people (adults/children) (if children, you may wish to include ages)
e. # of nights
f. Approximate budget for your trip
g. Activities that interest you
h. WHAT YOU HAVE FOUND SO FAR IN YOUR RESEARCH. Please include complete prices (incl all taxes and fees) and where you have located the deal.

Please DO NOT post a new topic until you have done the items listed above. Finally, once you have posted your information, and received feedback from the community for your trip, please try to post a message indicating the details of what you finally ended up purchasing so that others may benefit.

Request for information, CODES, etc…

You may be surprised at the number of questions and subsequent responses that have been posted to the board covering many topics.
1. Please conduct a SEARCH before you post asking for specific information.
2. Use a web search engine (like www.google.com or www.ask.com) to try to find your answer.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where can I find cheap Chinatown consolidators? - thanks dwr1127!

Do I need a visa/passport to go to….? - thanks bozo007!

Research advice for European travel - thanks tap9!

Timeshare Advice - thanks mrmarshmellow & sexyrican!

Promotion Codes for Las Vegas - thanks strosg97!

The Legal fine print of traveling:- thanks onecorgilover! Link

Road tripping? Keep your eyes on the price of gas:- thanks onecorgilover! Link

If you need to check your email while on vacation, check out these cyber cafes:- thanks onecorgilover! NetCafes

Curious about what the airlines are feeding you? Check out this site where photos of in-flight meals are posted:- thanks onecorgilover! Link

Discover which airline seats are the best by investigating the seat maps listed on this site:- thanks onecorgilover! SeatGuru

If you need to locate certain flights at your airport, this site will assist you:- thanks onecorgilover! Timetables

Want restaurant reviews and advice from fellow travelers?- thanks onecorgilover! ChowHound


Disney Questions
Mousesavers
Disney Echo - thanks mom2boys!

Cruise Questions
Cruise Critic
Cruise Compete - thanks onecorgilover!


Frequent Flyer Programs/Questions
Flyertalk

Priceline and Hotwire Questions
Better Bidding
BiddingForTravel (Priceline Only)

Last Minute Trip Resources - thanks NatHockens!
Site 59
Travelzoo
Last Minute Air Tran
AA Next Weekend Domestic Fares
AA This Weekend Domestic Fares
AA Last Minute International Fares
US Airways Last Minute Getaways
United
NWA Last Minute Cyber Saver Packages
E-Fares - US Airways E-Savers Flights


Student Resources
Student Universe - thanks amszyh!
Travelcuts - thanks onecorgilover!
STA Travel - thanks onecorgilover!

Travel Boards/Resources
Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet Travel Board – Thorn Tree
Frommers
Fodor’s
MSNBC Travel - thanks onecorgilover!
About.com - thanks onecorgilover!
Timeout - thanks onecorgilover!
ViaMichelin - thanks onecorgilover!

FatWallet Member Trip Reports

Negril, Jamaica - Couples
Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico - RIU Jalisco
Egypt, Greece and Turkey - Egypt, Greece and Turkey
Aruba - Aruba
Honolulu - Honolulu
Prague - Prague
San Francisco - San Francisco
Marrakech, Morocco and Barcelona, Spain - Marrakech, Morocco and Barcelona, Spain


List of Convention and Visitors Bureaus in the USA:
Link

If you are looking for travel advice and tips straight from the traveler’s mouth:- thanks onecorgilover!
Slow Travel
Virtual Tourist
IgoUgo
Rick Steves
MyTravelGuide



SEARCH Tips -submitted by PeanutButterAndJelly

Here are some tricks for using the search box that is directly above the list of threads.

1) How to search for words in order. Suppose you want to find a thread about borders coupon. Normally this will not match a thread titled "borders $5 off coupon" (try it in HD). If you search for borders % coupon instead, it will find it. The "%" tells the search to ignore any stuff in the thread title that comes between the words "borders” and "coupon". You can use "%" more than once. For example, 256%usb%drive will find all threads that have a "256", "usb", and "drive" in the title (in that order) even if there are other words in between (the first match I got was Iomega Mini 256MB USB2.0 Flash Drivefor $9.99 AR at Staples).

Note: if you search for 256 %usb%drive (with a space after the "256") you are telling the search to find all threads where there is a "256" followed immediately by a space, then some random junk, then "usb", then more random junk, and then "drive".

2) The character "_" is a wild card. It will match any single character. So searching on USB _.0will match threads whose titles are USB 2.0 or USB 1.0 (as well as "USB A.0", "USB B.0", etc)


Please feel free to send me updates to this FAQ, and I can update it as needed.
EDITED 11/10/05 - Updated to include section for Trip Reports
EDITED 03/23/06 - Updated to include Aruba Trip Reports
EDITED 05/19/06 - Updated to include Honolulu and Prague Trip Reports
EDITED 07/07/06 - Updated to include San Francisco and Marrakech, Morocco and Barcelona, Spain Trip Reports

Nice work. You might want to add "And Request Etiquette" if we're going to unsticky the other post.

Wow, we got that stickied in like 6 minutes.

Thanks, OP.

I think it's good that we now have the voting feature in this forum.

"4. If you are looking for car rental codes, please conduct a SEARCH first. You can also try Rentalcodes.com"

rentalcodes.com doesn't seem to be working...any other sites to recommend?

yep, it sure does work now...thanks wiseguy and nat!

I'd suggest incorporating a more prominent link/reference to travelzoo.com in this thread. I recently searched for car rental rates for the Holiday season and found the best rate quickly and easily at travelzoo. Beat Hotwire and the various codes on rentalcodes.com by $150+-- glad I checked it before booking. I've also been impressed w/ a number of their air/hotel deals (there is a link to travelzoo on the "how to search for air" thread, already).

I found it somewhat challenging to find car rental deals given the myriad options for companies, destinations, auto sizes, etc., since it was one of the first times that I've done so via the internet. I understand that this particular thread is largely meant to prevent redundant posts, but I attempted to use it to gather info for how to find the best car rental deal. There is not a separate thread for general "car rental deals" that I could find-- although the link to rentalcodes.com is quite helpful (although one still needs to page through each car company individually, from what I could tell).

So, perhaps a quick summary of where to find car rental deals might be a helpful addition to this thread. Perhaps not, but I would have benefitted from it and probably others will, too. For example, under "Request for Help, #4," I'd suggest beginning w/ a statement akin to the hotel/air deals (e.g., If you are looking for car rental deals...) and directing the reader to common (air/hotel) search engines that compare rental prices, too (e.g. Priceline, Hotwire, etc.). Then, talk about the rental codes search process in this forum and rentalcodes.com. Then, maybe mention travelzoo or any other relevant places that may contain unique deals. Just my .02. I appreciate the hard work that goes into these forums and the benefits that us users derive from them! Thanks.

Updated to include additional Trip Reports

vengadessa said:Hi,

I need to travel to India (chennai) in Novemebr/December. Which airline is the best?. I would prefer minimum flying hours. Also, any Travel agent info to contact/ any one not to contact ???

Please refer here India Travel Deals

Hi, thanks for this great resource!

I'd like to suggest an additional board for Disney-related travel:

DisBoard

They have it all broken down by parks, cruises, etc and even include a Budget Board for money-saving tips.