It’s rare that you see fares between SFO and Hawaii dip below $300. But check out what we just found on Expedia!  Who knows how long it will last.

From what we can see on various sites, these fares are good for travel from late August through the end of Sept.

Thanks to BAT reader BKL for the heads up!

On Tuesday, President Obama urged federal government employees to cut back on business travel in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The president wants the federal government, now the largest energy consumer in the country, to cut its emissions from indirect sources like commuting and business travel by 13 percent by 2020.

That sounds fair enough, but the announcement did not sit well at all with the travel industry.

On Wednesday the U.S. Travel Association fired back, calling Obama’s effort to curb government employee travel “short-sighted and counter-productive…. and will further economic decline at precisely the wrong time for the more than two million Americans whose jobs depend on business travel.” (Read the full statement here.)

Michael McCormick, executive director of another travel trade organization, the National Business Travel Association stated, “President Obama’s recent statements calling for a reduction in government travel are troubling for two reasons. First, they are part of a pattern of negative and misguided comments from the Administration that hurt the travel industry at an incredibly challenging time. Second, they seem to imply that cutting travel is the goal. The goal should be to use travel as cost-effectively as possible to meet the needs of the United States…”

Who is right here? Should we be cut back on business travel to reduce emissions? Or should we encourage business travel to aid an ailing travel industry that’s just now starting to recover? Please leave your comments below!

I’m still a little bit star struck.

Last week, on the first leg of my journey home from my summer vacation on Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., I traveled with one of my all-time favorite singers and songwriters, Carly Simon.

Here’s what happened: As we were walking along the pier to enter the queue for the ferry back to the mainland, a woman in a billowy white dress, a big handbag, blonde hair and a very familiar face walked up behind us in line.

I looked at her and smiled, then looked away, and then a little bell went off in my head. I turned and looked again, and she smiled back at me, and I stuttered something like, “Did anyone ever tell you that you look like. . . um wait a minute. . . are you Carly Simon?” As a long-time fan, I knew that she lived on Martha’s Vineyard, so the possibility was not completely far fetched.

She smiled and said, “Yes, I am,” and seemed eager for a friendly chat, so I engaged. I introduced myself and my partner Barkley, told her I was a big fan and that I cut my music-listening teeth on many of her hits on AM radio way back in the 70’s. (like You’re So Vain, Anticipation, Nobody Does It Better.)

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I was looking around to see if her people, her handlers, her bodyguards or anyone else was around and realized quickly that it was just Carly, all by herself. She was toting a box of 100 or so CD’s that I offered to help her with, but she insisted on carrying it.

She told us that she was doing some very personal publicity for her new acoustical album Never Been Gone– and that the box was full of teaser CDs with two songs from it. Her plan was to stand at the entryway of the returning ferry and hand them out to passengers, and urge them to go to a record store on the Vineyard to buy the album for half price when they presented the teaser CD.

We made a little more small talk, boarded the ferry, she sat down, handed me a CD, we said goodbye, and I walked away floating about 10 feet in the air.

I found my seat, got out my iPod and started listening to her Greatest Hits album. After a song or two, I decided to go back and ask her to sign the CD she’d given me and maybe even ask for a photo.

With pen in hand, I went back to where she was seated, still by herself, and asked if she’d autograph the CD. She said, “Of course,” and pulled out a Sharpie (natch) from her big bag and asked, “Would you like to sit down? Now, Chris, is this just for you, or for you and Barkley?” (Inside, I thought, wow, she even remembered our names!)

I sat down. She signed the CD and we talked for ten minutes or so, about the horrendous summer heat wave, about her 42-year-old horse that recently died, her bout with Lyme’s disease, the brand new iPad she was fiddling around with, life on Martha’s Vineyard and about my week there.

Finally, I mustered the courage to ask if I could snap a photo and she said, “Of course, let’s do it!” I took two pics and then we huddled over the camera and she chose the best one. I returned to my seat, and continued on my journey to Boston and then back to the Bay.

What a great way to end a great vacation!

So anyway, frequent travelers . . . since this is a travel blog and not a celebrity blog, let’s add a travel angle here with a question:

Have you ever encountered a celeb or superstar on your frequent travels? If so, how did you react? I’d love to hear your stories and I’m sure other readers would like to hear them, too! Comments, please! Let’s have some fun with this . . .

This week LAN Airlines inaugurated their fourth US gateway at San Francisco International Airport with LAN Peru’s nonstop service to Lima, Peru. LAN Peru will offer four flights per week to Lima on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday with continuing service to Sao Paulo, Brazil and additional connections available to over 50 destinations in South America.

LAN will offer the ONLY nonstops between SFO and South America, which means no more stopovers in LAX, DFW or MIA on your way down or back. Nice!

San Francisco will join the existing US gateways of New York, Los Angeles and Miami.

LAN Peru will service the new route on Boeing 767-300s with long-haul reach and a capacity for 221 passengers. These aircraft offer a Premium Business Class cabin that includes full flat, 180 degree reclining seats with a completely horizontal sleeping option that only a select group of airlines in the world offer, in addition to a renovated Economy class. Both cabins feature a state of the art on demand entertainment system with personal high definition screens for every seat.

Flights arrive SFO at 7 a.m. and depart SFO at 1:30 p.m.  Business class passengers will pay a premium for that non-stop flight….LAN fares over the next few months are in the $5000 range while one-stop roundtrip flights on other airlines are more like $2300. Coach fares are in the $1200-$1500 round trip range.

Remember last year when everyone thought that no one would fly in the front of the plane again…forever? Times they are a changin’! And for the better if you are a frequent international business traveler.

Check out what American Express found when looking at its first quarter data:

Historically there has been close to an even split of passengers flying businesses class versus economy for International travel. However during the heart of the recession last year – particularly in the second quarter of 2009 – the percentage of tickets booked in business class hit its lowest rate at 36%. As the trending now shows, percentage rates are on the rise, indicating travelers are moving back to the front of the plane.

> Q1 2010 International Business Class – 41%

> Q1 2009 International Business Class – 39%

> Q1 2008 International Business Class – 51%

American Airlines has confirmed to The BAT that it will eliminate its nonstop flights between San Francisco International and Boston-Logan on November 17.

Despite American’s departure from the route, frequent travelers can still jump on a nonstop between here and Beantown on Virgin America, JetBlue or United. In fact, the preponderance of other carriers on the route is part of the reason American is bowing out.

Nonetheless, the move seemed odd to me, given the fact that American is clearly making a significant investment in SFO’s Terminal 2, which includes a new 10,000 square foot Admirals Club. (See my recent report and hardhat tour video of SFO’s Terminal 2.)

But there are larger forces at work. “We are realigning our domestic network and concentrating on flights to, from or between what we are calling our ‘cornerstone’ or hub cities– Chicago, Dallas, New York, Miami and Los Angeles. You’ll see a lot less point-to-point flying between non-hub cities,” said American spokesman Tim Smith.

That of course forced me to ask the question…What about American’s nonstops between San Francisco and Honolulu, both non-hub cities? Are those in jeopardy?

“The San Francisco-Honolulu market is a specialty market for us with lots of traffic and I don’t see American taking any actions on that route. Plus, it’s a huge market for our frequent flyers,” said Smith.

To dig in a little deeper, I called on my friend Henry Harteveldt, a San Francisco-based travel industry analyst with Forrester Research. Here’s his take:

“It’s possible that some of American’s decision-making, both here and in Boston, may reflect the loss of some corporate account business. In the Bay Area, American’s utility has steadily declined — it closed Oakland after the 2008 fuel price spike, and has not added any new routes from SFO. The airline also dropped its San Jose, CA-Austin “nerd bird” route . . . . Since American has decided it’s not going to ‘fight’ for business at OAK, SJC, or SFO, it’s possible that corporate travel managers at Bay Area companies shifted business to other airlines. Hence, a route like SFO-Boston is no longer financially viable for AA.”

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh1LlEhRzD4

Terminal 2 at SFO, the future home of Virgin America and American Airlines is expected to open next spring.

Earlier this month, airport authorities took The BAT on a behind-the-scenes hardhat tour to check on construction progress.

Take a look at the three-minute video to see it for yourself!

A few interesting things frequent travelers should know about T2:

>The terminal will be shared 50/50 by San Francisco-based Virgin America and American Airlines.

>Each airline will operate seven gates.

>American Airlines will occupy the left, or north side of the terminal. Virgin will occupy the right or south side.

>American will operate a brand new 10,000 square-foot Admirals Club. There are no plans for a Virgin America club, but airport officials say, “The entire terminal is going to feel like a club.” But if you really need a club, you can buy a day pass to the Admirals Club for $50.

>Tentative opening is April 2011.

>There will be eight security screening lanes.

>The terminal will offer free Wi-Fi throughout. (The entire airport will transition from paid to free Wi-Fi this September.)

>There will be 12 restaurants and nine retail stores in T2 including a Marketplace area that should resemble the Ferry Building on San Francisco’s Embarcadero. Most restaurants will specialize in organic, local and “Slow Food” menu items. (See below for map of concessions.)

>The renovated space will be bathed in natural light and include sky or cloud themed public art displays. Officials hope the terminal will be LEED certified.

>Total cost to renovate Terminal 2 is about $400 million.

Take a look at the three-minute video to see it for yourself!

Remember the CLEAR registered traveler program? Those who shelled out $179 per year got a special bio-metric membership card, which provided access to exclusive, shorter security lines at 21 airports across the country.

While CLEAR won the hearts and wallets of its customers, it struggled with debt and demand and abruptly shut down last June.

In recent months, a new company called Alclear announced an agreement to purchase the assets of the old company (Verified Identity Pass) and crank the operation back up.

Alclear’s first move was to update the www.flyclear.com web site, which had been dormant. The revived site encourages previous, new, or just curious travelers to fill out a form and vote on which airports where they’d like to see the service. (The site updated again on June 25 with more new info.)

CLEAR says that it will be in both Denver and Orlando later this fall. Prior to shut down, CLEAR was at all three Bay Area airports, OAK, SFO and SJC. But don’t get your hopes up for a quick return. The new company has to sign all new airport agreements, a process which could take quite a while. The site says, “We are in discussions with multiple airports to re-introduce CLEAR,” but does not mention any airports by name. Company president Ken Cornick told The BAT that all three Bay Area airports are targeted to get the service back, but he could not offer any more specifics.

(This post appeared first in The BAT blog for Bay Area frequent travelers. Sign up for The BAT today!)

The site’s FAQs also state that the new company will honor previous members’ remaining membership terms as of June 2009. (For example, those who had three months left in their term will get three months free membership.)It also says that old card will still work…so don’t throw them away!

In what appears to a bungled first step, this week Alclear sent out a confusing and unwieldy email (two full pages, 1200 words) to former members. The gist of the tome was to ask those former members who DO NOT want back in to send the new company a letter (via snail mail) asking to “opt-out” of the new program and have their data destroyed. (Here’s the full email.) Cornick told The BAT he was regretful, but said that this communication procedure was mandated by courts and privacy lawyers and they had to maintain a hands off approach.

Anyway… I was a former member of CLEAR and must admit that the service paid for itself, but not because it actually saved me all that much time. As an elite level member of several frequent flyer programs, I already had access to shorter, faster security lines.

What CLEAR did was remove the uncertainty from the airport screening process– here at Bay Area airports as well as in other airports that don’t have special elite lines, or those that have unpredictable wait times. To me, as a frequent business traveler, that kind of peace of mind was worth $179.

So, frequent travelers, what do you think? Would you sign up again or for the first time?

Here’s the full “OPT-OUT” email sent to previous CLEAR card holders.(Click here For the full post on the new CLEAR.)

NOTICE OF INTENT TO TRANSFER CUSTOMER DATA AND OPPORTUNITY TO RECEIVE FREE CREDIT FOR REMAINING SUBSCRIPTION TERM OR TO ELECT TO HAVE DATA DESTROYED

TO CUSTOMERS OF CLEAR AND VERIFIED IDENTITY PASS, INC.

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that Verified Identity Pass, Inc., the owner and operator of Clear (“Verified”), is selling substantially all of its assets (the

“Assets”) to Alclear, LLC which will do business as CLEAR (the “Buyer”).  Buyer is a private company backed by various investors including L-1 Identity

Solutions, a leading biometric solutions company listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

As part of its purchase of the Assets, the Buyer will restart the CLEAR service and offer each current or former customer (“Customer”) the

opportunity to enter into the new CLEAR service.  Each Customer that accepts the offer will receive a credit equal to the number of months that remained in

that Customer’s contract with Verified as of June 24, 2009.  Buyer will be sending you details of the new CLEAR service, including how to qualify for the

credit and what changes will be made to the Verified Privacy Policies under the new program, in the near future.

I.      OPT-OUT NOTICE TO TRANSFER OF PERSONAL INFORMATION AND CHANGE IN PRIVACY POLICY TO REFLECT TRANSFER

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that Verified is seeking to transfer as part of the Assets any and all personal and biometric data of any Customer stored and

maintained by or at the direction of Verified (the “Customer Data”).  Subject to future notice of change from Buyer, Buyer will maintain the security of all

Customer Data it receives from Verified according to all applicable rules, law and privacy policies, including applicable Transportation Security

Administration rules, regulations, and standards and Verified’s privacy policies in existence at the time your Customer Data was collected and at the time

Verified ceased operations.  Buyer has expressly agreed to be Verified’s successor-in-interest of your Customer Data if transferred to Buyer, to be

responsible to you for its violation of those policies following the transfer of your Customer Data, to use your Customer Data only for the purposes for

which it was originally collected or for which you’ve given consent, and not to disclose, sell, or transfer your Customer Data to any third party in a way

that’s inconsistent with the applicable privacy policy.

PLEASE TAKE FURTHER NOTICE that the transfer of any Customer Data requires a change to Verified’s privacy policies.  Verified’s privacy policy for

the Clear program in Section 3A (ADDITIONAL LIMITATIONS ON APPLICANT AND MEMBER PERSONAL INFORMATION) stated that Verified does not sell or give personal

information of its Customers to other businesses.  That privacy policy has been changed to reflect the transfer to Buyer of the Customer Data of those

Customers who do not object to the transfer.  This change to the privacy policy will be posted on the Verified website (http://www.verifiedidpassinc.com) in

a “redline” form that highlights the changes made to the privacy policy so you can track the changes.

II.     OPT-OUT INSTRUCTIONS IF YOU DO NOT WANT YOUR DATA TRANSFERRED

If you want to receive your free credit for the remaining subscription term, no action is necessary at this time.  We will contact you at the

appropriate time with more information about how to become a customer of the new CLEAR service.  No Customer will be billed until he or she accepts a plan of

service with the new CLEAR service.  If you do not object to the transfer of your Customer Date to the Buyer, you do not need to do anything.

If you do object to having your Customer Data transferred to the Buyer, then you must take affirmative action to have your Customer Data destroyed by

completing and mailing the attached Customer Data Destruction Election Form (“Form”) to P.O. Box 42010, Nashville, TN 37204-2010, postmarked no later than

July 22, 2010.  If you do not complete and mail the attached Customer Data Destruction Election Form by July 22, 2010 (the “Deadline”) to the address above,

you will be deemed to have consented to the transfer of your Customer Data to the Buyer.  If you complete and mail the attached Data Destruction Election

Form by July 22, 2010 to the address above, your Customer Data will not be transferred to the Buyer.  Instead, it will be destroyed within 30 days after the

Deadline and you will be ineligible to receive your credit for the number of months that remained in your contract with Verified.  If you complete and return

your Form on time, you may be contacted by Alclear or one of its affiliates to confirm your election.

PLEASE TAKE FURTHER NOTICE that in order to advise the court with regards to the transfer of the Customer Data to the Buyer and to assure continued

privacy of the Customer Data, the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York appointed Todd B. Ruback as a consumer privacy ombudsman (the

“Ombudsman”) in connection with the sale of the Assets.  The Ombudsman has reviewed and approved these procedures and has worked with Verified and the Buyer

to ensure the security and continued privacy of all Customer Data.

ABOUT THE BUYER

Alclear is thrilled at the opportunity to rebuild CLEAR. We are a private company backed by various investors including L-1 Identity Solutions, a

leading biometric solutions company listed on the New York Stock Exchange.  Your biographic and biometric data will be stored in a Government-certified

secure facility.

You may obtain further information about Alclear and its plans to restart the CLEAR service at www.flyclear.com.

Dated: June 22, 2010

CUSTOMER OPT-OUT OF TRANSFER OF CUSTOMER DATA AND CUSTOMER DATA DESTRUCTION ELECTION FORM

By signing and mailing this form to the address set forth below you are expressly opting-out of the transfer of your customer data from Verified Identity

Pass, Inc. (“VIP”) to Buyer and are forfeiting your right to receive free credit for your remaining term. By opting-out of this transfer, you are electing to

have your customer data destroyed. In order to opt-out of the transfer of your customer data and therefore have your customer data destroyed, you must

complete and mail this form to the address set forth below postmarked no later than July 22, 2010.

P.O. Box 42010
Nashville, TN 37204-2010

By signing below, I certify the following:

I was a customer of Verified Identity Pass, Inc. and I was enrolled in VIP’s CLEAR Registered Traveler program.

My name and current address, as set forth below, is true and correct. I am providing this information for the sole purpose of allowing VIP to verify that I

was enrolled in VIP’s Clear Registered Traveler Program.

I DO NOT CONSENT TO THE TRANSFER OF MY CUSTOMER DATA TO ALCLEAR, LLC AND I INSTRUCT VIP TO DESTROY MY CUSTOMER DATA

I acknowledge that, by completing and mailing this form, my CLEAR customer data will be destroyed and I will be ineligible to receive a credit from Alclear,

LLC for the number of months that remained in my CLEAR member contract with VIP after June 24, 2009.

(Click here For the full post on the new CLEAR.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzRKw567GVo

Remember last Christmas when the “underwear bomber” almost brought down a Delta jumbo-jet over Detroit?

That prompted the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to grab a big pile of federal stimulus money for about 500 more full body scanners– you know, the ones that produce images like the one you see below.

There are currently 97 of the so-called “advanced imaging units” in use at airports across the country, but TSA says that number will soar to around 500 by the end of this year– with nearly 1000 in place by the end of 2011. That means frequent travelers should expect to encounter more of them, and soon.

Here’s what you need to know:

>WHERE ARE THEY? Just last week The BAT was invited down to San Jose Mineta International to check out the four new “backscatter” scanners that are currently being deployed at that airport’s Terminal A. (Four more units should be operational in SJC’s brand new Terminal B when it opens on June 30.) At San Francisco International, you’ll find full body scanners in the international terminal only. Oakland International expects installation of scanners to begin in July (Terminal 1) and August (Terminal 2).

>WHAT ARE THEY? There are two types of full body scanners: “Backscatter” scanners, which are in use at San Jose Airport, and older “millimeter wave” scanners which are in use at the international concourse at SFO. (See video for a look at the new generation units.)

>WHAT DO THEY LOOK LIKE? The newer backscatter machines look like two big blue boxes with a small open alley down the middle. (Millimeter wave units are rounder looking with the passenger surrounded by Plexiglas for the scan.)

>HOW DO I GET SCANNED? You walk into the scanners, turn sideways, place feet in square boxes marked on the rubber floor, hold hands up and wait for the TSA agent to tell you to exit. The whole process takes about five seconds. (See video for a real-life walk through.)

>WHAT IS DIFFERENT? As usual, you must remove shoes and belts and place them with carry-on luggage in bins. But when getting a full body scan, you must also remove your wallet or any other non-metallic objects from pockets.  (Wallet removal is not necessary with the standard magnetometers.)

>WHAT ABOUT RADIATION? The TSA says that the radiation emitted by these machines is equivalent to what you are exposed to during about two minutes aboard at aircraft at altitude, and far less than what the government permits for cell phones.

>WHAT DO SCANNERS SCAN? Body scanners only expose what’s between your skin and the clothes you are wearing. They are NOT like x-rays, which penetrate your skin and show internal organs and bone. (This is a plus for travelers with artificial joints or other metallic implants who’ve been slowed down and forced to submit to pat downs at traditional magnetometers.)

>WHO SEES MY PRIVATES? The TSA agent directing you into the full body scanner never sees your image.  This officer is wearing an earpiece and is in radio contact with another TSA officer viewing your image in a remote area. Once your image has been checked, this officer then tells the attending officer to allow you to pass, or to subject you to secondary screening if he/she sees any anomalies.  (See video for a behind the scenes look at the remote viewing room.)

>WHAT HAPPENS TO THE IMAGES? The TSA emphasizes that these images cannot be stored, saved or transmitted. In addition, they do no allow officers to bring cameras, cell phones or PDA’s in rooms where images are viewed. (Except for ours, of course, but that was just for the media…)

>WHAT ABOUT ADULT DIAPERS OR SANITARY PADS? Citing confidentiality, the TSA officer at San Jose Airport would not tell me how or if the machines can tell the difference between a sanitary pad and contraband placed in the crotch area.

>WHO IS PAYING FOR ALL THIS? You are. The units cost about $150,000 a pop, which means that the TSA spent nearly $75 million on this latest round of full body scanners. (Check out how the stock of OSI Systems, parent of scanner manufacturer Rapiscan, has soared since Christmas when this order was placed)

So, what do you think, folks? Is this an invasion of your privacy, or a necessary evil for safety’s sake?

SWISS International Air Lines’ new San Francisco-themed Airbus A340 touched down at SFO today nonstop from Zurich, Switzerland. And The BAT was there to see it and join in the festivities that included officials from the Swiss consulate, media and a lot of plane spotters taking photos of the colorful new bird.

For business travelers, this is very good news. First, business class is brand new with lie-flat seats and advanced in-flight entertainment options. Second, SWISS is a Star Alliance partner, which means United Mileage Plus members can earn and burn miles on these flights.

Speaking of business travelers, it’s because of them that SWISS is here in the first place. Remember last year when SF-based Genentech was acquired by Roche? Roche is based in Zurich, and the company played a big part the SWISS decision to come here, according to Marcel Biedermann, SWISS’ managing director of sales and marketing. (Everyone chuckled when I asked  if this should be called the “Roche Coach.”) He also told me that Google, which has a large facility in Zurich, lobbied heavily for the new nonstops.

A quick look at summer fares on SWISS between SFO and ZRH shows: $1600-$1800 coach, $6000 for business class, and $12,500 for first class.

The new six-times-weekly nonstops depart SFO at 7:25 p.m. and arrive in Zurich the following day at 3:40 p.m. From Zurich, the flight departs at 1:15 p.m. and arrives SFO at 4:30 p.m. on the same day.

Here’s a fascinating time-lapse video that shows of the application of the “flower-power” San Francisco themed scheme to the exterior of the A340.

Your BAT editor took a few minutes out of his Memorial Day working in his garden (see background) to discuss summer travel trends with KRON 4 News. Nice segment!

(Stay tuned for more about those new SWISS flights that begin on June 2. I just wanted to get that psychedelic San Francisco themed plane up on my blog for all to see! Can you believe they painted a plane just for us? For now, let’s take a look at summer travel.)

I’ve spent most of this week doing radio and TV interviews about summer travel trends. (Check ‘em out! Good Morning America. KCBS. Bloomberg/BusinessWeek.)

As usual, the stations want me to peel off a list of all the great travel deals out there.

But the reality is that nearly all the good airfare deals are gone. That’s right. If you want to travel during peak summer travel season, those dirt-cheap deals you might be hoping for are, well, dust in the wind.

Here are a few sound bites I’ve been tossing around:

>Over the course of this week, most major airlines raised fares $20 to $60 dollars round trip during the peak summer travel season, which runs from mid-June to mid-August. These are some of the most aggressive fare increases for peak summer travel season that I’ve ever seen.

>When airlines are aggressive like they’ve been this week, it means that it’s very clear to them that people are willing to pay higher fares. They would not raise fares if they were not confident we’d buy them.

>Airlines are calling these fare increases “surcharges” for technical reasons. However, when you are fare shopping online, those surcharges are already added into the fares you see and compare. Don’t get tripped up by semantics. Surcharges = fare increases.

>If you’ve been waiting around hoping you might luck into a great fare, I’m afraid your luck has run out. If you find a summer peak season fare that seems somewhat reasonable, book it now, because I’m afraid it’s only going to go up from here.

>People who last week may have found a pretty good fare but thought they would wait a week were greeted with surcharges this week. A fare that was $400 last week is $460 this week.

>Travelers have had a lot of cabin fever now because they’ve shunned vacations due to recent financial worries. If they did go out, they took shorter trips or they maybe stayed at less expensive hotels or they stayed with friends. But now the summer is here. They haven’t taken a vacation in a while and they’re ready to go. And they seem ready to pay more.

>Some lower prices: While airfares are up, hotel rates are on par with last summer (which means historic lows.) Also, after a year of sharp increases, rental car rates could be down as much as 15 percent compared to last summer. In addition, travelers headed to Europe will find that a stronger dollar will lead to lower prices.

>There are two windows of opportunity for good deals this summer. The first two weeks of June and the last two weeks of August. If you have the flexibility to travel during these windows, you’ll pay less than during the peak (roughly June 15-August 15).

>Other strategies for lower fares (but higher potential for hassles): Take a one-stop flight instead of a nonstop. Take an overnight flight or a very early or very late night flight or fly on an off-peak day. Monday and Tuesday are going to be the slowest days this summer– that’s when you are going to find those surcharges the smallest.

(Photo: griffs0000 / Flickr)

Air New Zealand is offering flash sale: $483 round trip SFO-Auckland incl. tax! Must travel late May-Early June. Book by May 14. This is as low as I’ve ever seen it. Interested? Act fast cuz the cheap seats are selling out.

NOTE: frequent flyer miles are not awarded on this fare.

http://www.airnewzealand.com/hot-deal-to-new-zealand

I have not had a chance to fly Air Berlin so here’s what I have been able to pick up from a few online sources.

>Air Berlin is the second largest airline in Germany (after Lufthansa) and is considered Germany’s “low-cost” airline.

>Ironically, Air Berlin’s SFO flights don’t fly to/from Berlin. Instead, they fly to/from Dusseldorf, a wealthy and fashionable city on Germany’s western edge.

>Roundtrip coach fares for summer travel between SFO and Dusseldorf are running in the $1300 range according to a quick scan on Kayak.com. Round trip in business class is about $3400.

>Nonstop roundtrips between SFO and Dusseldorf (DUS) run just twice a week– on Wednesdays and Fridays– using an Airbus A330-200. The flight arrives SFO at about 1:20 pm and departs at about 3:20 pm (arriving in Dusseldorf at about 11:20 am the following day.)

>Coach seating on Air Berlin is tight. According to Seatguru.com, Air Berlin’s seat pitch in coach on the A330 is just 30 inches. (For comparison, Delta’s A330’s offer 31-33 inches.) There is no in-seat video entertainment. Movies play on overhead screens.

>Business class seats recline, but do not lie-flat.

>What do YOU know about Air Berlin? Please leave your comments below!