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Fly Away Free - Not!
Cheap Charlie · July 7, 1999

My Dad used to say, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't true." In terms of travel offers these days, my Dad's words are truer than ever.

When you hear, "Two free tickets anywhere in the United States," from a telemarketer--BEWARE! Hard as it is to believe, "I ain't found nothin' free yet (at least that's worth anything)" I bring this up because I just received two offers to join two different "Travel Clubs." The first offer I received, I tossed out. But when I received another similar offer, I decided to take a closer look.

This mailing came from a group called Fly Away Free USA (sm). The letter started out with great news! "Congratulations! You now possess the ticket to make your dream vacation come true. In this envelope is a Request Form for two complimentary round-trip airline tickets to exciting and exotic getaways … from Fly Away Free USA."

The brochure promises luxurious vacations. Wyndham Resorts and Hotels, Doubletree Guest Suites, Sheraton Hotels, beaches, conference centers and Disney World. Great!

But there's a catch.

In order to get your "two free tickets," you'll need to book a room for a specific number of nights in one of the program hotels (in some cases, up to 13 consecutive nights). Let's take a closer look.

Free Boston to San Francisco airline ticket.

For "free tickets" to San Francisco from Boston a member of the Fly Away Free USA program would have to book a minimum of eight nights in the Sir Francis Drake Hotel for the program rate of $259 a night. So the question becomes, "How much will a similar room cost normally." Rack rates range from $175 to $259, so the potential difference between program price and the normal walk-up price could be as much as $672!

Then, I checked with Quickbook, a hotel consolidator, to get the rate of their top property in San Francisco, The Pan Pacific. They quoted a rate of $210 a night. That means your "free tickets" will end up costing you, based on an eight-night stay, $392.00. Not bad, but not free. It is about the same as an advanced-purchased ticket on a major airline. However if you may also decide to stay in a more moderate hotel, such as the Prescott, for only $180.00 a night. In this case, the "free tickets" with the eight-night Drake requirement would end up costing $632.

Free Dallas to Washington, D.C. airline tickets~ For a "free ticket" from Dallas, Texas to Washington, DC, Fly Away Free USA requires that members stay at the Wyndham Bristol Hotel for five nights at a rate of $280 a night. Again, checking with Quickbook, I found a similar hotel, the Georgetown Suites Hotel, that charges $130 a night for a one-bedroom suite. The cost of a "free tickets" from Dallas to DC turns out to be $750. If you compare the five nights in the Wyndham vis a vis the elegant Willard Hotel, the "free tickets" will end up costing about $350--Still not free.

The bottom line:

These "free tickets" really are not free at all, once the hotel stay requirements are factored into the equation. The packaged trip in total may cost more than simply purchasing tickets and booking your own hotel. Reservations must be made a minimum of 30 days in advance, even more stringent than the longest airline advance-purchase requirement of 21 days. Your hotel choices are limited, for the privilege of paying more.

My suggestion: stay away. You can do about as well on your own with much more freedom of choice. These slick bargains that arrive via telemarketer or in glossy envelopes in the mail rarely save you any money unless there are onerous restrictions involved.

Charlie Leocha is the Boston-based author of Travel Rights: Know the Rules of the Road and the Air Before You Go. Cheap Charlie appears every Monday on this site. E-mail him at cheapch@aol.com or access his Web site.