If you skip a flight segment, your reservation will be canceled
As a quick reminder for travelers who have multi-leg airline tickets (such as point A to B and finally to C), you really do need to show up for all your flight segments. Don't just hop off at point B, expecting your return flight to remain valid.
Granted, in some cases this scenario will appear to be cheaper, and possibly more convenient for you (such as if you drive one of the legs instead), but it'll just end up costing you more in the end.
We keep getting questions as to whether airlines will cancel remaining segments if you don't show up for a previous flight segment, and the answer is a resounding "yes they will."
Get open-ended flights Down Under
If you ever plan a trip to Australia and New Zealand, and would like to have an open-ended ticket, here's an option that might save you some money: Buy a non-refundable fare and pay a change fee.
Air New Zealand (www.airnewzealand.com or (800) 262-1234), for example, has very reasonable economy-class fares on its Web site, and the lowest fares come with a $150 change fee (the change fee is just $100 for the roomier premium economy fares, which are refundable minus a $300 fee). You could book a trip with set dates and then pay the change fee later.
Air New Zealand is a good choice for flying to Australia or New Zealand because it doesn't charge a higher fare if you stay more than 30 days. Many airlines do. And its change fees are less than you'd pay on other airlines.
And here's another tip: If you're flying from Chicago to New Zealand, and want to stay more than 30 days, you might be better off buying a fare from Midway or O'Hare to Los Angeles or San Francisco (perhaps on Southwest), and then a second fare from those gateways to New Zealand, perhaps overnighting in the gateway city to break up the long trip. If you try booking one through fare, you might run into 30-day-maximum-stay and other restrictions on the entire fare (Chicago to New Zealand), because the most restrictive fare rules will apply to the entire trip.
Delta's adding new food options
In the past couple of weeks, we've mentioned Delta Air Lines' (www.delta.com or (800) 221-1212) new fees for frequent-flier tickets and booking tickets other than online. To sort of counter that negative move, Delta is introducing new food-for-sale options.
In November, the airline will begin offering celebrity chef Todd English's creations on flights within the 48 contiguous United States of about 2,000 miles (four hours or more), and by spring 2008, the new food items will be available on flights of more than 750 miles, out of several cities including Chicago.
See pumpkin launching in Moab
In medieval times, catapults and trebuchets were used to launch projectiles into enemy territory. This lost art will be rediscovered this fall as the Youth Garden Project presents the second annual Pumpkin Chuckin' Festival on Oct. 27 in Moab, Utah.
The festival will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Old Airport Runway just south of Moab, and will include contests for people of all ages, live music and entertainment, vendor booths and a wide range of characters roaming the festival grounds. The festival's namesake is open to anyone craving an experience that requires creativity, ingenuity and love of launching stuff.
Entrants compete in one of five divisions: catapults, trebuchets, cannons, human-powered and a special youth division; thus, the machines will be powered with either human or kinetic energy. Prizes will be awarded to the top team in each category. Registration is open to would-be craftsmen (and women) through Oct. 10, with an entry fee of $40 that includes four adult entry passes to the festival and four T-shirts.
For more information on the Pumpkin Chuckin' Festival, visit www.youthgardenproject.org/pumpkin_chuckin.html or call (435) 259-2326.
More information on the Moab area can be found at www.discovermoab.com.
Reach GeorgeHobica athobica@gmail.com,Kim LiangTan at KimLiangTan@aol.comor visit www.airfarewatchdog.com.