AIR FAIR SPECIALS

airline deals: Car hire - Renting a car abroad is often considerably cheaper if you book the rental on the internet before you go on holiday. All of the major car hire companies will offer a decent online discount. When you pick up the car, make sure you take digital photographs before you leave the rental office. Hire companies tend to catch people out on windows, wheels and the undercarriage, so take extra care over these. If you find anything that isn’t noted down on the list of damages already present on the car, make sure you show it to one of the staff and get it signed off before you leave. At the airport the car rental companies will try and encourage you to buy extra car insurance with warnings about huge amounts of excess if you don’t. This extra insurance is typically at a high cost, normally £10 - £15 extra per day. You can ignore them and buy independent cover before you fly. Two companies who specialise in this type of insurance are Icarhireinsurance and Insurance4carhire. Their prices start at around £39.99 for annual European cover.6Mobile Phones - Before you set off on holiday, talk to your mobile phone network (or check its website) and find out what the best way to keep down roaming charges is. The networks will have a variety of price plans, however, you will often have to opt in before you travel to get the cheapest rates. Examples of this are Vodafone’s Passport plan, which requires customers to call 5555 from their Vodafone mobile, and T-Mobile’s booster packages which cost £5 for 30 days. With the rise of smart phones, such as the iphone, it is important to remember to switch off ‘data roaming’ functions. This avoids nasty surprise costs when you return home. Additionally, remember that you pay to receive calls as well as make them when you are abroad - texting is the low cost option. Another option is to buy a sim card while you are abroad, and keep in contact with your fellow travellers that way. Sim cards are relatively inexpensive and can be bought in advance from a company like 0044, who sell sim cards for a variety of different countries.7Dynamic Currency Conversion - Make sure not to agree to paying in sterling, rather than the local currency - the costs will be higher. Restaurants and shops use a currency conversion rate known as dynamic currency conversion. This tends to be at a bad rate and could cost you up to 1%-1.5% more. This is the same for cash machines, if they give you the option for GBP, always say go for the local currency.8Beat budget airline charges - If you purchase a flight for two with Ryanair on a debit or credit card you will be charged a card fee of £20. You can avoid this by signing up for a MasterCard prepaid card, good value ones to choose are caxtonfx’s Global Traveller card and fairfx’s Anywhere card. If you’re going away for a short break, remember that budget airlines charge for luggage. You could save yourself money by taking only hand luggage and no checked in baggage.