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Travel 69 - 80
69: It's tough to time fares. Early booking no longer means the best deals. Sign up for alerts at websites such as Travelocity and Orbitz. You can track air fares on specific routes, and the site will send you an e-mail when the price drops.
70: The best one-stop way to find a deal. No single travel site lists every fare (Southwest and JetBlue don't even release fares to other sites). Sidestep.com lets you scour the sites of all airlines, hotels, rental-car agencies and consolidators for the best price.
71: The best time to find flight deals. At midnight, airlines load their computers with new fares and purge unsold reservations. Airlines release web specials for the weekend early in the week; they typically raise fares on Fridays.
72: Morning flights are less likely to be delayed. Flights scheduled to depart and arrive before 10 a.m. Have the best on-time performance. And if your flight is canceled, you'll have a better shot at booking another flight that day.
73: Your airline's phone number. Program the number into your cell phone. If your flight is late or canceled when you're at the airport, you're better off calling than waiting in line. Phone agents can do almost anything the folks at the ticket counter can do.
74: When to buy travel insurance. You may want cancellation insurance if you have to prepay for a trip that has a hefty cancellation fee. The policy kicks in if you're ill, have a death in the family or go on jury duty, or if the travel operator goes out of business. Go to insuremytrip.com for quotes.
75: When to pay for the insurance option on a rental car. In general, you're covered by your personal auto policy and, in many cases, by the credit card (but not the debit card) you use to pay for the rental. If you have filed claims on your personal policy, though, you may want to buy insurance. As long as you have a waiver from the rental agency, an accident won't show up on your own policy (and raise your rates).
76: A frequent-flier mile is worth 2 cents. That means your goal should be to get at least $500 worth of travel for 25,000 miles. But as financially troubled carriers cut back on the number of award seats, miles are more difficult to use. To score a seat, book very early (departure dates enter the reservation system 330 days in advance) or very late. To spend them down, buy an unrestricted ticket (generally 50,000 miles for domestic trips).
77: You can haggle with the front desk. At most hotels, you have to book online or through a central reservations number. But don't stop there. Unlike airline ticket agents, hotel desk clerks -- or their managers -- have the power to improve your rate.
78: Where the dollar goes furthest. Keep exchange rates in mind when you plan. Today the strong euro makes much of Europe costly. Eastern European countries that haven't adopted the euro tend to be cheaper. The dollar also goes further in Latin America and southeast Asia.
79: When using a travel agent pays. Even in the Internet age, agents sell 95 percent of cruises and 90 percent of tours and packages. For those trips, an agent can save you money and time -- and offer advice that a Web site wouldn't have, like how not to end up in the cabin next to the ship's engine.
80: It's not hard to be elite. Want upgrades, priority boarding and other perks? You need to fly 25,000 miles a year to earn elite status on most airlines. But you can find shortcuts. On American Airlines, for example, flying 5,000 miles in 90 days does the trick. Plus, elite status on one airline may entitle you to the same treatment on another. But elite matching is rarely publicized. You have to ask.
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