Thanksgiving will be here before we know it, and that means holiday travel season is upon us. One of the most stressful parts of the holidays can be the travel and the costs associated with it. OneTravel.com, a leading online travel agency, has insights on things you can do while planning your holiday travel to help you get where you need to go stress-free and without breaking the bank.

 Plan Ahead

One of the best tips for saving money on holiday travel is to plan your trip well in advance. Determine how much flexibility you have when choosing your travel dates. The earlier you do this, the more time you’ll have to be a savvy travel shopper. According to OneTravel’s data, the day before Thanksgiving is consistently ranked among the top five busiest days to travel each year. If you can travel on Monday or Tuesday of Thanksgiving week, you will likely get a better deal and you’ll avoid the excessive airport crowds.

 Pack Light

Most domestic airlines charge for checked baggage, and if you’re flying with a Basic Economy fare, you may even be restricted with your carry-on options. Find out in advance what’s included with your ticket, so you can plan accordingly. If you are flying with a Basic Economy ticket and you arrive at the gate with a full-size carry-on, the airline will likely make you check the bag and charge you their checked baggage fee. This is something to consider when comparing ticket prices before you purchase your flight.  If you can bring a carry-on, try to limit yourself to that one bag. This will save you the fee, as well as save you time at the airport, since you can avoid the baggage counter altogether.

 Send Gifts Through the Mail

When doing your holiday shopping this year, consider shopping online and sending the gifts directly to your destination. If you have gifts that you need bring on the plane, it’s a good idea to hold off on wrapping. If your bag gets flagged by security, there’s a chance they’ll have to undo your hard work and unwrap the gift to resolve the alarm.

 Bring your own snacks

If you’ve ever reviewed your expenses after a trip, you’re probably aware of just how expensive food and beverages are at airport terminals or on airplanes. One way to avoid this is to visit the store before you leave and stock up on snacks for the airport and the flight. Although you can’t bring beverages through security, pack an empty water bottle. Many airports have installed bottle-friendly fountains that make it easy and cost-effective to stay hydrated.

For more information, please visit www.onetravel.com, plus follow our social media pages, www.facebook.com/onetravel, www.twitter.com/onetravel, and www.instagram.com/onetravel.  Download the OneTravel app for Apple or Android for an on-the-go travel concierge experience.

About OneTravel

OneTravel is a leading online travel agency that offers deals for savvy travelers seeking both quality and value. Launched in the mid-1990s, OneTravel is now recognized globally for providing one-stop shopping for all travel needs. Customers have access to millions of cheap flights including business class and first class airfare, hotel rooms, car rentals, and cheap vacation packages to top destinations around the world. Visit OneTravel’s social media pages at www.facebook.com/onetravel and www.twitter.com/onetravel. For an on-the-go travel concierge experience, download OneTravel’s app for Apple or Android.

CheapOair MilesAway blog named 2018’s Best Blog at prestigious digital advertising awards

MediaPost recently named Fareportal, the travel technology company powering CheapOair and OneTravel, the winner of its OMMA Award for Best Blog. The company’s CheapOair MilesAway travel blog was honored for celebrating diversity by creating inspirational and educational content on the achievements of persons from differing heritages.

Fareportal’s entry examined whether good business and being a good world citizen go hand-in-hand.  The CheapOair MilesAway blogsite, supported by the brand’s social media presence, tell that story, every day. From the beginning, encouraging diversity has been the bedrock of the company’s strategy both inward facing, and through external messaging. Much of Fareportal’s strength in sales of international flights has been attributed to its ongoing focus on multi-cultural themes such as Black History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, and Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month.

Kathi Moore, Fareportal VP Branding & Communications commented, “CheapOair and OneTravel exist to make travel accessible to all. Our focus on multicultural representation and outreach stems from this reality. Travel at its core is all about experiencing what the world has to offer. We just help tell that story.   I am extremely proud of the Fareportal Communications team.”

“The goal of our content is to spark conversations and actions and, so each day, we try to create content that our core audience segments care about,” said Morlette Cowan, Creative Content Manager. “We want them to be inspired to travel but we’re also hopeful that, through content, they’ll see that we are a brand that cares about the special moments in their lives. If we can engage them enough to come back for more, then we’re doing our jobs as storytellers.”

The OMMA Awards were created in 2004 by MediaPost to honor agencies and advertisers that push the potential of digital advertising.

About Fareportal

Fareportal is a travel technology company powering a next generation travel concierge service. Utilizing its innovative technology and company owned and operated global contact centers, Fareportal has built strong industry partnerships providing customers access to over 450 airlines, 1 million hotels, and hundreds of car rental companies around the globe. With a portfolio of consumer travel brands including CheapOair and OneTravel, Fareportal enables consumers to book online, on mobile apps for iOS and Android, by phone, or live chat. Fareportal provides its airline partners with access to a broad customer base that books high-yielding international travel and add-on ancillaries.

CheapOair.com, a leading flight-focused hybrid travel agency, has announced the release of its Super Flex Deals, a low-fare calendar and bar chart showing alternate airfares for two months surrounding the selected travel date. The new feature gives customers valuable insight into when fares will be at their lowest and has the potential to offer significant savings to customers with flexibility.

The intelligent page only displays if a cheaper fare is available within the 60-day window specific to the customer’s origin, destination, and desired trip length. The page is fully interactive where customers can click on the calendar or fare trend bar to see a lower-priced option. Super Flex Deals are an extremely beneficial decision-making tool for price-conscious consumers who haven’t chosen their travel dates. Customers will see the potential savings instantly rather than having to spend hours performing many searches to find the best price.

“Our data indicates that many of our customers are undecided on their destination or their departure date when they first visit our site,” said Sam S. Jain, Founder and CEO at Fareportal. “By analyzing search data over a long period of time, we saw that customers were performing many searches to find the best price. Our technology team developed the Super Flex Deals algorithm using cutting-edge methods to maximize the savings our customers can get when they book through CheapOair.”

“We are a data-driven product team that is constantly looking for ways to improve our customer experience,” said Marcel Jones, CheapOair Product Owner. “Based on how customers were interacting with our site, we determined the need for an intelligent algorithm that could provide a 60-day view of when prices are cheapest.”

 For more information, please visit www.CheapOair.com, www.cheapoair.com/mobile, or our social media pages, www.Facebook.com/CheapOair and www.twitter.com/cheapoair.

About CheapOair

CheapOair is a flight-focused, hybrid travel agency that enables consumers to book online, on mobile apps for iOS and Android, by phone or live chat. CheapOair (https://www.cheapoair.com, 1-646-738-4820) bridges the gap between an online and traditional travel agency with certified travel agents available to help find deals and offers to destinations worldwide on over 450 airlines, 1 million hotels, and 100s of car rental companies. Partner airlines benefit from access to CheapOair’s broad customer base that books high yield international travel and add-on ancillaries at above the industry average. Follow CheapOair on Facebook and Twitter to learn how to travel the world for less.

Partnership showcases the in-flight experience with seat photos and descriptions prior to booking

Fareportal announced today it has integrated Routehappy by ATPCO Universal Product Attributes (UPAs) into its seat selection map, a first for a consumer travel brand. The integration – which is live on Fareportal’s CheapOair.com and OneTravel.com websites – shows flight shoppers photos of the selected seat with a description of associated features so consumers can see what seat type, legroom, and experience they will have before booking a flight. This feature appears when consumers are shopping for flights for two or more passengers.

UPAs provide visually appealing media such as photos, videos, and 360-degree cabin tours, along with headlines and descriptions of an airline’s products and services based on aircraft type, cabin, time of day, and more. The hyper targeting capabilities of Routehappy Hub, the content management solution which powers UPAs, enables Fareportal to target the seat images across different sub-fleets, cabins, and seats so that consumers see only accurate and relevant UPAs for the specific flight they are shopping. Once a consumer has selected a flight, they will be shown a seat map that incorporates this targeted, dynamic seat content for 19 carriers.

“Fareportal is always looking for ways to incorporate next generation features into the flight shopping experience,” said Sam S. Jain, Founder and CEO at Fareportal. “As the first consumer booking channel to integrate UPAs into our seat map, we are providing our customers with more choice, greater transparency, and added value. Fareportal will continue to push new integrations that make our customers’ flight shopping experience easier.”

“The use cases for Routehappy rich content are endless, as are the pain points it solves. This original integration of our UPAs at the point of sale showcases the benefits we deliver to airlines, who can now merchandise their products more effectively on third party channels. It also highlights the benefits for shoppers and the advantages of a more consumer-friendly experience. Fareportal’s seat map shows that the retailing of flights is only getting stronger,” said Jonathan Savitch, Chief Commercial Officer at Routehappy.

To see the integration live visit CheapOair.com and begin a flight search or see an example of the integration on Routehappy.com.

About Fareportal

Fareportal is a travel technology company powering a next generation travel concierge service. Utilizing its innovative technology and company-owned and -operated global contact centers, Fareportal has built strong industry partnerships providing customers access to over 450 airlines, 1 million hotels, and hundreds of car rental companies around the globe. With a portfolio of consumer travel brands including CheapOair and OneTravel, Fareportal’s booking platforms enable consumers to book online, on mobile apps for iOS and Android, by phone, or live chat. Fareportal provides its airline partners with access to a broad customer base that books high-yielding international travel and add-on ancillaries.

 About Routehappy by ATPCO

Routehappy by ATPCO, the industry standard for airline rich content, helps airlines and distributors differentiate and better monetize their products. Routehappy’s Scores & Amenities API provides flight scores and cabin amenity data, including aircraft, seat, layout, entertainment, Wi-Fi, power, fresh food and relative duration. Routehappy Hub is a cloud-based solution that helps airlines create, manage and distribute targeted product and ticket attribute content, in standardized formats UPA (Universal Product Attribute) and UTA (Universal Ticket Attribute) wherever flights are displayed. Routehappy is a wholly owned subsidiary of ATPCO. Based in New York, Routehappy by ATPCO serves airlines and distributors worldwide. For more information, visit www.routehappy.com. To see Routehappy rich content in action, visit www.routehappy.com/use-cases.

CheapOair.com has announced the debut of a value scoring system for flights on the CheapOair Mobile App. The flight-focused online travel agency is the first in its category to introduce this feature which will help customers determine the relative value of their flight options.

When searching for flights, app users will be presented with a score which considers factors such as price, availability, and amenities. Based on a proprietary algorithm, the app rates each flight at one of four levels: Great, Good, Fair, or Backpacker.

A search performed that returns a nonstop flight on a legacy carrier for a low fare might be rated “Great”. Meanwhile, another option that is similarly priced but has a stop, plus the airline charges extra for seats and baggage, would be rated lower.

“Airline pricing models have changed in recent years, and customers are often left unsure of what’s included and what’s not,” said Sam S. Jain, Founder and CEO at CheapOair. “Our new Value Score will help our customers evaluate each flight option to see if they are getting a good deal.”

“The cheapest flight doesn’t always end up being the best option for customers when you consider luggage, seats, or the amenities provided by that airline,” said Michael Nuciforo, VP Mobile at CheapOair. “We want to ensure our customers make the best purchase decision for their needs when they book with us. This is just another tool they can use to put their minds at ease.”

For more information, please visit www.CheapOair.com, www.cheapoair.com/mobile, or our social media pages, www.Facebook.com/CheapOair and www.twitter.com/cheapoair.

 About CheapOair

CheapOair is a flight-focused, hybrid travel agency that enables consumers to book online, on mobile apps for iOS and Android, by phone or live chat. CheapOair (https://www.cheapoair.com, 1-646-738-4820) bridges the gap between an online and traditional travel agency with certified travel agents available to help find deals and offers to destinations worldwide on over 450 airlines, 1 million hotels, and 100s of car rental companies. Partner airlines benefit from access to CheapOair’s broad customer base that books high yield international travel and add-on ancillaries at above the industry average. Follow CheapOair on Facebook and Twitter to learn how to travel the world for less.