Hotels: New app for last-minute deals

Expedia and Orbitz have stopped showing nearly all American Airlines flights. If you want to book tickets on American, you have to go directly to the airline's site, aa.com, or shop at other major online travel agencies and search engines. Expedia and Orbitz are battling with American about who controls the search results you see. The backstory says a lot about how airlines want vacationers to pay even higher prices for fares. Here's the gist: American is jealous of Southwest, which has earned fatter profits over the years. American is especially jealous of how Southwest sells its tickets only through southwest.com, while preventing online travel agencies from selling its tickets. Southwest saves money by selling directly to its passengers, because it doesn't have to pay fees to middlemen. Meanwhile, every time American posts a ticket on a site like Expedia, the airline has to pay about 10 percent in fees. Some of those fees go to the online travel agency, and some go to a middleman company that runs computer databases. In contrast, every time a ticket is sold through American's own website, all of the traveler's money goes to the airline. Even better for American, whenever a flier shops for a ticket directly on its aa.com site, the airline can up-sell the person on additional services, such as roomier seats. American decided not to fully copy Southwest. It didn't want to stop listing its fares with all online travel sites—which provide about 17 percent of its revenue. So it came up with a half-way measure. The airline invented its own computer system, called Direct Connect, and asked Expedia and Orbitz to use it instead of the middleman's computer services. This would give American the best of both worlds: The airline would continue to have its fares listed on major online travel sites, but it would no longer have to pay a fee of up to $4 per ticket to a middleman for its computer services to do so. Plus, its new computer system would let it upsell vacationers on profitable services. But Expedia and Orbitz don't like Direct Connect. They don't like it for several reasons, but the most important one for budget travelers is that American's planned new system would ultimately make tickets more expensive—driving business down. Tickets sold by online agencies like Expedia and Orbitz are 45 percent cheaper than ones sold by traditional travel agencies, says a survey by UBS quoted by the New York Times. American's new model would push up prices higher. Expedia worried that the next shoe to drop would be for American to stop providing fares to it as well, not just Orbitz. So after American recently pulled its fares from Orbitz, Expedia stopped showing American's fares in solidarity with its competitor. It's an effort to team up and stop the airlines before they gain momentum and take actions that will push up prices. Other airlines are watching the battle closely. On December 17, Delta, for one, stopped allowing three sites—CheapOAir.com, OneTravel.com, and BookIt.com—from listing its flights. What do you think? MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL An airfare search with a sense of humor: Hipmunk The best flight search tool you've never heard of: ITA Software For the lowest airfare, study says book eight weeks in advance

Ok, I'll admit it: I am a gift procrastinator. Every year, I wait too long to buy presents, and then I spend a few, panicked days right before Christmas running from store to store. If you're like me, you know the feeling. Luckily, part of my job in 2010 was to coordinate our Coolest Gift Guide Ever, so I did my gift-buying early. But we simply didn't have the space to fit in all the awesome, high-tech toys that we found into two pages. So for all you last-minute buyers out there, I'm sharing with you a special, bonus edition. Here are five travel items you can still get for every techie on your list: Gorillamobile for iPhone 4, $40. Joby electronics has plenty of useable, funky-looking items in their roster (including the cute Torch), but this new piece is ideal for obsessive iPhone 4 users. The flexible, wrappable legs make your phone an in-flight TV, a camera tripod, or a hands-free stand during facetime calls back home. Lensbaby Muse, from $100. Love the dreamy effect of lomo and Diana cameras, but don't want to spring for the full model? This plastic optic camera lens fits onto digital SLR cameras from most major manufacturers, including Canon, Nikon, and Samsung. Focus in on subjects or create cool pinhole effects simply by scrunching the accordion-like lens with your hands. Best of all, it works right out of the box—how often can you say that at this time of year? Brenthaven 5-in-1 iPad case, $60. We've praised Brenthaven's durability before, and I'll let you watch the handy one-minute video to get a full picture of all this ingenious case does. But in brief, the 5-in-1 protects your investment in a two-sided hardshell case that can also flip around to make a typing or viewing stand. Scottevest SeV Revolution Jacket, $175. Specializing in apparel that replaces the need of a carry-on bag, Scottevest has gotten a lot of attention recently, what with the new TSA restrictions. One of the company's new models, the SeV Revolution, has 26 pockets for stashing everything from a bottle of water to your bluetooth headset, plus removable sleeves and a hood. iHome Portable Speaker Case, $80. Perfect for camping or a beach-villa stay, this portable set of speakers packs a huge sound. An array of colors to choose from makes it a fun gift for the younger set. MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL The Coolest Gifts For Every Traveler Which Garmin GPS Unit It Best? 6 Money-Saving Bags

True lovers of travel don't want to be weighed down with stuff. But what to buy a traveler who doesn't want new luggage, toiletry kits, or alarm clocks? Find some gift-giving inspiration in the following roundup of ideas. (Batteries not required). • Buy an airline gift card. The money you add to the card may be redeemed toward a plane ticket. Southwest's gift card is particularly attractive because the airline charges no bag fees or itinerary-change fees. In other words, your gift won't accidentally set up your loved one to be hit with nasty fees. For international trips, opt for an American Express gift card, to buy plane tickets on any major airline. Your gift recipient can then choose which airline has the best fares and routes for their trip. But encourage him or her to travel within a year's time. After that, monthly fees of about $2 typically kick in, depleting the value. (Expect to also pay a shipping fee of about $9.) • Buy a hotel gift card. Travelocity's Hotel Gift Card, for instance, is redeemable for stays at more than 55,000 hotels—with no expiration date. You can personalize the gift card with a photo and a message, too. The big catch: Don't overload the card with money. If the hotel costs less than the value of the card, the remaining value on the card vanishes. Ugh. • Give the gift of a walking tour. If your loved one is going to a particular urban destination within the next year, look into gift certificates redeemable for a tour or activity there. A couple of examples: Viator has a variety of options in a wide array of destinations around the world, such as dining at the top of the Eiffel Tower. Alternately, Context Tours is strongest in its array of high culture walking tours of European cities. (On the site contexttravel.com, pick the city from the drop down menu first, then search for "gift certificates" in the box at the top right.) • Use your frequent flier miles to someone else's advantage. Airlines allow you to give the ticket you earn with your miles as a gift to someone else, as long as no money changes hands. The less attractive alternative is to transfer miles into another person's account. It's unappealing because airlines charge fees for this service. • Teach them to earn their own miles faster. The Frequent Flyer Master course by Unconventional Guides costs $49. The 40-page manual is supplemented with a half-dozen e-mail updates over a six month period that alert you to points-earning opportunities. There's a guarantee, too. If the advice doesn't help your gift recipient get enough miles to fly for free at least once, there's a full refund. (I gave this as a gift to myself a year ago, and I can vouch for the high quality of the material, presented in an easy-to-digest way. And, no, the guide describes several other strategies besides signing up for airline co-branded credit cards, and roughly half of the material is about how to effectively redeem the miles for flights—not just how to rack up "non-qualifying" miles.) BUDGET TRAVEL The coolest gifts for every traveler Dec 2010/Jan 2011 Must have! A genius travel beauty tool for just $15 Travel by smartphone: Mumbai, India

A self-operated roller coaster that zips through the forest sounds pretty cool to us. You don't even have to ski to enjoy most of these features and activities, all new for the 2010-2011 ski season: Big White's New Ice Climbing Tower The Big White Resort, in British Columbia, Canada, is adding a 60-foot-tall ice tower this season. How do they even build such a structure? Four telephone polls are braced together, then flooded with water that freezes. Big White's tower will be broken up (bad choice of words), or rather divided into sections for advanced climbers and beginners. Even kids are welcomed to climb, with the help of rented boots and axes. One climb costs $20, or an all-day pass is $55 (Canadian dollars). Breckenridge's New Gold Runner Coaster Colorado's Breckenridge resort, which opens today, November 12, is introducing a 2,500-foot-long elevated roller coaster that zips through the forest and is open for single and double rides in all four seasons. Okemo's New Timber Ripper There's also a mountain coaster due to make its debut this season in Vermont. Okemo's coaster, named the Timber Ripper, will rip along 3,100 feet of track and is scheduled to open on December 11. Like Breckeridge's coaster, Okemo's Ripper can be ridden by one or two passengers, who control how fast the sled-like cars zip down hills and around curves. The cars are expected to max out at about 25 mph. The Canyons' New Chairlift with Heated Seats This season in Utah, The Canyons opens a bubble-enclosed quad chairlift with heated seats -- the first of its kind in North America. The lift promises to not only be cozy, but fast, with snowboarders and skiers reaching the top of the mountain just nine minutes after sitting down on the lift's warm seats. MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL Trip Coach: Ski Vacations Shut Up and Ski: Top 10 Old-School Ski Resorts In Search of the Perfect Ski Village