Is Egypt ready for tourists?

There's a theory that once the airfare surpasses the price of the land portion of a trip, travelers will opt out of said trip. Whether or not that's true, tour operators and vacation packagers are worried that increasing airfares, spurred by improving demand and surging fuel costs, will give travelers a sticker shock that will make them think twice about that vacation to Italy, Hawaii, or farther afield. One way to avoid that, they say, is for travelers to trade in the last-minute, price-shopping that may have worked at the height of the recession for a book-sooner-rather-than-later strategy. "We have a 'perfect storm' in 2011 of reduced capacity and much higher demand, and this is leading to airlines operating very profitably on those routes and they have all declared clearly that they will not be increasing capacity in 2011," said Paul Wiseman, president of escorted tour company Trafalgar Tours. In fact, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, airline capacity in available seat miles domestically and internationally will actually increase 4.5% this year after posting a 0.5% decrease for 2010. But as business travelers return to the road, tour operators are worried that leisure travelers who wait too long to book will be fighting for seats, at a price. And that certain high-priority destinations, like Europe, will be the first to go. Wiseman said that Trafalgar has been comparing air prices between October and now and that 2011 fares have already risen by at least 30% in some cases. He said that in October, British Airways round-trip flights between Los Angeles and Rome were around $1,100. "If you shop British Airways from Los Angeles to Rome out June 10 back June 20, it currently shops at $1920.87," cited Wiseman. A recent search on britishairways.com found the same flight for between June 10 and 20, for $1,675.87 (without an overnight layover, with an overnight layover it was a couple hundred lower). Regardless, even the lowest current price represents around a 50% increase over Wiseman's October example. Jack Richards, president and CEO of Pleasant Holidays, said the political unrest in Egypt and Libya hasn't helped either. "These are large oil producing countries and the political unrest makes the markets nervous and uncertain so the price of oil has been driving higher airfares," said Richards. Richards advised that if customers find a reasonable fare, they should book the flight as soon as possible to lock in the price and avoid higher airline-imposed fuel surcharges. To encourage vacationers to book earlier, several tour operators have air-inclusive specials in the market. Trafalgar started off 2011 with a Europe promotion that boasts $1,000 in savings per couple on air-inclusive packages with British Airways flights, or $800 in savings per couple on all other air-inclusive packages, good for bookings made through Feb. 28, 2011. Another tour operator, Globus, rung in the new year with an offer of 10% off per person on the land portion of a 2011 air-inclusive Europe vacation when booked and paid in full by March 1, 2011, for travel between May 1 and December 31, 2011. More from Budget Travel: Airlines hike fees for baggage 95% of Americans plan to travel more in 2011 http://blog.budgettravel.com/budgettravel/2011/02/earn_flight_reward_points_on_f.html

In the future, you may be able to look up the names of most of the strangers in your hotel lobby, thanks to the Internet. Other hotel guests may be able to look up your name online, too, if you decide to let them. Is this a good thing? Many people already have profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn, and other networking sites, opting to allow total strangers see some information and photos about themselves—with more details available to an approved network of friends. Add to that the craze for geo-location devices, like the iPhone, that pinpoint your location on a map, and "check-in" services, like FourSquare, that let you publicly post where you are right now—or where you plan to be soon. Eventually, travelers may walk into a hotel lobby and choose to post online, via their portable Web-enabled device, who they are and where they are. They may also look to see information that other guests staying at the hotel have posted about themselves. Using a Facebook-integrated app, you can learn the names and interests of many of those other people in advance of speaking with them. This information may make it easier for you to strike up conversations. GoMio.com is aimed at the youth hostel market with its "Who Else Will Be There?" feature, which allows users to view the Facebook profiles of other users who will be at the same place at the same time. Grindr, the controversial gay mobile dating app, is debuting a version for heterosexual GPS-powered dating tool within a few weeks. Women walking into a hotel lounge, for instance, will be able to see photos and personal information about male users nearby, arranged by how physically close to those other users are. (Don't want someone to see your Grindr profile? Push a button to block your details from appearing on that user's device.) On the bright side, if you ever stayed in a hostel or hotel, you may recall feeling nervous when you walked into the common area and saw other guests who are roughly your own age. Which of them speak English? Where are they from? Do you have a mutual friend in common somewhere in the world? But looked at another way, is it risky to share this much information to strangers? After all, most people traveling are relatively isolated (from family, friends, and co-workers) and somewhat vulnerable. Do you really want to advertise the details of how far you've traveled and how long you're going to be around to any stranger that's signed up for a service? Let us know by posting a comment: Would you like to share your online profile with other guests at your hotel during a trip? MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL What's the best social network for travel? (25+ comments) Where are you going in 2011? (200+ comments) New travel stress: Facebook oversharing (10+ comments)

Airlines keep hiking fees on baggage, as fuel costs rise. In fact, airlines never got rid of the baggage fees they tacked on to cover rising gas prices ages ago. When fuel prices dropped, those baggage fees stayed high. So why do airlines need to raise fees again? Airlines have been hiking fees in response to the rise in oil prices in recent weeks. The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that average oil prices will be $14 higher per barrel this year than the average last year, affecting jet fuel prices. Spirit Airlines's unique fee for carry-on bags—much criticized by Budget Travel readers—just worsened. This week, the airline announced that it would charge $25 for bags that weigh between 41 and 50 pounds. Its previous weight allowance was 50 pounds. US Airways is hiking fees on overweight checked baggage, starting March 1. Bags weighing 51 to 70 pounds will cost $90, up from $50. Those airlines are just the latest in a series to hike fees. Hipmunk, the metasearch site, created a striking visual graphic showing the explosion in bag fees (shown here). Interestingly, only Alaska Airlines delivers a customer service in exchange for its hiked fees. Alaska offers a Baggage Service Guarantee, promising you a $20 travel credit or a mileage bonus if your bag isn't at the carousel within 20 minutes of your arrival, as reported by CNN.com. For a full list of fees, check out this just-updated AirfareWatchdog Fees Chart. Besides airlines have never reduced their baggage fees from the last oil-price run-up. So what do you think? Is it fair for airlines to raise fees again? MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL Spirit to charge $20 for carry-on, yes, carry-on bags Sick of airline baggage fees? Get your Holiday Inn and Kimpton hotel to pay for them Will United add more baggage fees?

On March 1, Southwest Airlines will change the rules for its Rapid Rewards program (newrapidrewards.com). What's the upshot? The new rules are more complicated. They make points dependent on the price of the tickets you buy and the types of tickets you buy (such as refundable or non-refundable). Up until now, travelers earned a free ticket simply after buying eight round-trips. Under the new rules, if you always buy tickets with the same class of service, Southwest is giving you $1 back for every $100 you spend. In other words, you'll earn a free ticket after buying ten round-trips, assuming each ticket costs the same. What's changing: Earning points Fliers will earn points for every dollar spent. You'll earn 6 points per dollar for cheap, nonrefundable "Wanna Get Away" tickets, 10 points per dollar for fully refundable "Anytime" tickets, and 12 points per dollar for expensive Business Select tickets, which comes with perks like free WiFi and drinks. You'll also earn bonus points for buying tickets in the nicest classes of service, which means that business class tickets are much more rewarding than before. What's changing: Redeeming points There is a different calculation for each class of service. For a free "Wanna Get Away" ticket, you need to earn 60 points per dollar of fare to have enough for a free ticket. Case in point: If the fare for a specific flight is $100, you need to earn 6,000 points for a free ticket (60 times 100).For a free "Anytime" ticket, you need to earn 100 points per dollar of fare. For a free "Business Select" ticket, you need to earn 120 points per dollar of fare. What about expiration dates and blackout dates? You can keep all of your points alive if you have some "account activity" every two years. "Account activity" can mean opening a Southwest Chase credit card, redeeming miles, or buying a ticket. Under the old system, each flight is worth one "credit," and credits expired after two years. The airline says there are getting rid of blackout dates and dropping limits on how many reward seats are set aside on any given flight. What if you don't have enough points? You can buy points. It costs $50 for 2,000 points, and then $25 for every additional set of 1,000 points. How does you do under the new rules as a budget-conscious traveler? Not as well under the old system on average, though it depends on the type of flights you take and how often you fly Southwest. In general, the change favors high-spending travelers. If you are someone who mostly flies short-haul flights at the dirt cheapest prices, you're going to have to work harder now—spending about 20 percent more, roughly speaking -- to earn the valuable long-distance or last-minute flight. What's the best deal under the new rules? Buy lots of "Anytime" tickets and then redeem for a cheap "Wanna Get Away" ticket. What about the credits you've already earned but haven't used yet? Each old credit is worth 1,200 new points each. For a short time, if you have a bunch of credits and just need a little more to get a free round trip you can convert points from the new system to earn the last gasp of credits for one last award. What do you think about the new Rapid Rewards program? Sound off in the comments! MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL Are you less likely to fly in 2011? (90+ comments) Delta drops fees for booking reward seats at the last minute JetBlue revamps its rewards program