United and Marriott Team Up for Travel Deal

Thanks to the wonderful world of Twitter (you can follow me here or PTG here) and @MarriottIntl (easily one of the best corporate twitter accounts ever), I was able to find out about the following deal, in which United Airlines and Marriott are teaming up to help people save money on traveling. 

Exciting, no? Anyway, the gist of the whole thing is that if you book a select United Flight by April 5, you get 20% select Marriott hotel reservations. Now, obviously, there are catches to the whole deal, but if the travel works out for you, then, well, it can be a great combo. 

Said catches appear to be: "Travel is valid on Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday" (meh), "14 day advance purchase is required," "3 night, Friday night or Saturday night minimum stay is required" and travel must be completed by June 17, 2009.

The nice thing is that most of the fares are ridiculously low (you can view them here and purchase as well), with especially cheap flights out of Chicago. I need a late May flight from Charlotte to Dallas, so this doesn't really serve me well (~$300.00 is what I'm staring at) but for someone who just had a business trip to a major city spring up, this is pretty freaking ideal.

Also, this isn't necessarily something brand new, as Marriott and United are already partners, but if you're in either of the mileage/reward clubs, this would work out quite nicely.

Scope the deals here.

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Tricks of the Trade: Max Out Your Int'l Seat

Ramsey Qubein is Travelin' Light's on-the-road correspondent.

Overseas travelers can maximize their Economy class values by always requesting seats as far forward in the cabin as possible. Some airlines permit seat reservations at the time of booking, but others charge for the service or assign seats at check-in. It pays to arrive at the airport early to reserve seats as far forward as possible (remember to mention those exact words). Some airline companies assign seats from the back of the plane forward while others randomly assign seats.

Alitalia has aircraft (namely their MD-80 series) with larger Business Class seats installed, but on most flights these premium seats are not completely sold leaving them to Economy passengers in the first few rows. Travelers may not even realize they’ve been given these more spacious seats until boarding! Other airlines including Air France and Lufthansa provide Economy-style seats in Business Class and block off the middle seat for passengers paying the premium. This provides the flexibility to expand the Business Class cabin as needed, but this still proves beneficial to passengers booking window and aisle seats in the first few rows of these planes as the armrest is positioned differently offering a couple of extra inches.

This advice is strictly for narrowbody flights within Europe as many airlines operate larger equipment with a different inflight product on transcontinental or transoceanic services. Still, this signature trick of the trade is worth noting as the benefits of extra leg or arm room can always come in handy!