In the Travel News, the merger of Alaska and Hawaiian airlines has been approved, with the stipulation that frequent flyer miles not be devalued and some other never-seen-before concessions by the airlines involved. The Grand Prix is coming back to Las Vegas in November. Want to go? Bring your wallet, for sure, ’cause it ain’t gonna be cheap.
In our Smarter Traveler segment, we discuss the difference of buying travel components from a third party (Trip Advisor, Booking.com, etc.) as opposed to booking direct. Mark points out that direct booking is almost always the way to go. Tom suggested sniffing around the third party sites to check out pricing. If you find a deal, you can always go direct to the travel supplier and ask them to match, which they often will. Beware of third party sites that have paid to be at the top of the page when you log on your phone/computer. Also, third party sites may have cancellation/change rules that are different from the actual supplier.
The government is investigating Frequent Flyer programs, something which is long overdue. Chris Elliott, Travel Advocate and Blogger, joins us to discuss why this is happening.
Our Odds and Ends segment shares a list of five things international visitors like about our country and its culture. Plus, a reminder about what type of picture NOT to post to social media while you are on vacation.

The Alaska and Hawaiian airlines merger has been approved 42:32 Share

Travel Guys Radio