Spin the Globe

MATADOR Sign on, and become a travel writer overnight. You can blog about a trip, create a guide to a city, or deem yourself an "expert" on a place and advise others on their vacations. Best of all, Matador pays members to contribute short articles on destinations. Assignments up for grabs are listed on the site's Bounty Board. The money won't exactly finance a trip to Fiji—most stories net $25—but it'll cover dinner at the airport. matadortravel.com. GECKOGO This one's about where to set your travel sights: A color-coded map on the home page pinpoints which countries are good to visit each month depending on what you want to do. For example, Chile, Australia, and Tanzania are ideal places to camp in February, according to tallied member reviews. Have a question about a certain destination? Post it under the Answers tab and other travelers will weigh in with their ideas. geckogo.com. TRIPIT TripIt's community is big on sharing—users log on to arrange airport carpools and to volunteer as guides for people traveling to their cities. The site itself lends a helping hand with its impressive itinerary builder: Send your e-mail confirmations from airlines, hotels, and travel agents to plans@tripit.com, and it will compile them into a trip schedule, complete with weather forecasts, maps, and restaurant ideas. tripit.com.

Whether you call the practice à la carte pricing or nickel-and-diming passengers, the fees most airlines now charge for everything from food and drinks to checked bags aren't going away. With far fewer people flying because of the economy—especially business travelers—many carriers are counting on this revenue more than ever. "The airlines are doing it because they can't raise fares," says Michael Boyd, president of aviation consulting firm Boyd Group International. And the companies have found that add-ons can be very profitable. In fact, à la carte pricing has become so successful that analysts are predicting airlines may soon institute the even more nitpicky menu-pricing structure that's been helping Air Canada survive since 2004. For all of its flights, Air Canada offers four fare options, each with a different set of extras, such as a free checked bag or an on-board food voucher. Customers can then add or subtract other services—forgo frequent-flier miles and save $3, for instance, or pay $30 to access the airline's lounges. For now, most carriers in the U.S. simply say they are sticking with the à la carte approach and considering tacking on more fees in the year to come. So what does this mean for passengers? THE DOWNSIDES It's harder to compare prices Because fees vary from airline to airline—and only a few companies, notably Southwest, still subscribe to the old-fashioned, all-inclusive approach—it takes a lot of work to figure out the total cost of a trip on different carriers. And if every airline adopts an intricate menu of pricing options, that chore is only going to get more complicated. Travel booking and aggregator sites like Travelocity and Kayak are developing ways to display ticket prices that highlight extra charges, but the technology isn't expected to be ready until the end of 2009. For now, you're on your own to do the math. One resource can help: the free, up-to-the-minute guide to airline fees published on the blog SmarterTravel.com. The gap between advertised fares and actual prices is widening Nobody likes it when airlines promote tantalizingly low sale fares and then bury extras like taxes and security fees in the fine print. To keep consumers from being duped further, the Department of Transportation last May issued a directive requiring airline and travel-booking sites to disclose the possibility of additional baggage charges in ads and fare quotes. Ads must also state when there are fees to book a ticket by phone. But there is one big caveat: Airline and booking sites aren't required to include those surcharges in the total price, so what you end up paying may not be anywhere near what you were quoted. Air service could deteriorate, especially for budget travelers European carrier Ryanair has taken à la carte pricing to the extreme, charging customers a per-minute fee to speak to a company representative on the phone—even if you're a ticket holder calling to report a problem. While that practice would probably never fly in the U.S., analysts say the pay-as-you-go pricing structure could allow carriers to treat higher-paying passengers better than their penny-pinching seatmates. For example, a person who goes whole hog and buys an in-flight meal, a headset, and a pillow and blanket stands to get more attention and potentially better service from the cabin crew. This has always been the case in first class, but it's new to economy. "There isn't a business out there that doesn't take steps to keep its best customers happy," says Tim Smith, an American Airlines spokesman. THE UPSIDES Some people will save money by forgoing all the extras If you book online, don't check a bag, and skip the meal, you're probably paying less than if the airlines had simply jacked up ticket prices. And according to a poll conducted last fall by Amadeus North America, a travel technology company, people are becoming more comfortable with à la carte pricing for that reason. Fifty-three percent of respondents said they'd prefer to buy the lowest-priced option and then add services; only 18 percent would rather shell out for a higher-priced all-inclusive fare. There may be more one-way tickets and deals on upgrades When Air Canada implemented its new pricing structure, it also eliminated many travel restrictions that passengers hated, such as requiring a Saturday-night stay and a round-trip ticket to get the lowest fare. Air Canada now breaks down round-trip flights as separate one-way tickets on its website, showing you exactly what you pay for each leg. While U.S. low-fare airlines such as AirTran and JetBlue also sell tickets this way, most major carriers do not. The advantage for passengers if this policy catches on: the ability to shop around for the best price for each leg of a trip—even on different airlines. Carriers like AirTran and US Airways are also experimenting with selling last-minute deals on upgrades, a practice likely to become more commonplace. For instance, AirTran offers passengers at check-in, at the gate, or on the plane the option of upgrading from coach to business class for $49 to $99 per flight. Often times, that's cheaper than what it costs to buy a business-class ticket in advance. This means that travelers can decide not only which extras they want to purchase, but also when to buy them. So the next time you fly, take your time figuring out if you want to splurge on six extra inches of legroom—a $5 movie might instead do the trick.

Want an Upgrade? Enter here. Using our powers for the good of the people A year after the birth of her second child, Sugar Carroll felt it was high time for her and her husband, Bob, to get out of their hometown of Anchorage and have a parents-only getaway. So Sugar, a full-time mom, started secretly planning a trip to Maui, Hawaii. She squirreled away cash for months, signed on her mother to babysit the kids, and even managed to schedule time off for Bob directly with his boss. Since Sugar had arranged to stay with a cousin on the island, we set them up for a night at the Westin Maui Resort & Spa, where they had a champagne breakfast and a lavender couple's massage. We also sent Bob and Sugar to the source of that lavender, the 10-acre Ali'i Kula farm. There, they had a tour with the owner, made aromatic wreaths, and ate a lunch of lavender-infused chicken and lavender brownies. "We were in the mountains surrounded by clouds," says Sugar. "I kept expecting a unicorn to appear." Best of all, Bob had no idea he was going to Maui until minutes before the plane took off: "I've seen surprises like this on TV," he says, "but I never thought one would happen to me!" Many thanks to... Westin Maui Resort & Spa on Kaanapali Beach (westinmaui.com) and the Ali'i Kula Lavender farm, which offers daily tours and picnic lunches (aliikulalavender.com). For an island travel guidebook, contact the Maui Visitors Bureau (visitmaui.com).

"I Just Had to Have It!" "I don't usually bring home trinkets from my travels, but I fell in love with this carved stone elephant at a market in Chennai," says Laura. "If you look closely, you can see that there's another smaller elephant on the inside." Rock on "Everything surprised and thrilled me," Laura says. "This temple in Mamallapuram, now in ruins, was built atop a huge boulder." Body beauty At a crafts center just outside Chennai, Laura had a peacock design painted with henna on her hand. The pattern stayed on for a full two weeks. Standing by the bay "I came across a statue of Gandhi on the Bay of Bengal, in Pondicherry," Laura says. "The town was so neatly laid out and not at all crowded. It actually looked like France." A better welcome This woman is demonstrating rangoli, Indian sandpainting using fine powder. The designs adorn the doorsteps of houses and temples. Fresh start South India is full of shrines to Ganesha, the Hindu deity with the head of an elephant. He's known as the Lord of Beginnings. Wedding belles Nuptial celebrations in India are famously big. Laura had the chance to experience one thanks to her friend Edel and Edel's sister, Princy. "Princy knows the groom's brother," Laura explains. "And he told her to invite anyone. There were hundreds of people." Laura ordered her custom silk salwar kameez from a department store just a few days before the wedding. "We picked it up on the way there!" she says. Pay to play "It cost me fifty cents to be able to bring my camera into Kapaleeswarar Temple," Laura says. "I couldn't stop snapping pictures. The color and the detail work are absolutely stunning."