Car rental: How forwarding your confirmation email can lower your rate

Have you ever wondered if pilots actually sleep in the cockpit? Or whether airlines have adjusted their flight times strictly for the sake of a better record of on-time arrivals? The answers to those questions would both be Yep, they sure do. And these insights come straight from the pilots' mouths in a worthwhile new Reader's Digest story, "50 Things Your Pilot Won't Tell You." Among the juicier tidbits are indications that pilots often fly in less-than-safe conditions. For example: "I'm constantly under pressure to carry less fuel than I'm comfortable with. Airlines are always looking at the bottom line, and you burn fuel carrying fuel. Sometimes if you carry just enough fuel and you hit thunderstorms or delays, then suddenly you're running out of gas and you have to go to an alternate airport." –Captain at a major airline Sometimes, it's the pilots themselves making for a worrisome situation in the cockpit: "Do pilots sleep in there? Definitely. Sometimes it's just a ten-minute catnap, but it happens." –John Greaves, airline accident lawyer and former airline captain, Los Angeles Also, the idea that the airlines manipulate flight times is not just some crackpot conspiracy theory: "No, it's not your imagination: Airlines really have adjusted their flight arrival times so they can have a better record of on-time arrivals. So they might say a flight takes two hours when it really takes an hour and 45 minutes." –AirTran Airways captain, Atlanta There's some practical advice in the story as well, such as what every passenger should do to avoid germs while flying: "Most people get sick after traveling not because of what they breathe but because of what they touch. Always assume that the tray table and the button to push the seat back have not been wiped down, though we do wipe down the lavatory." –Patrick Smith, commercial pilot and author, askthepilot.com

Hotwire president Clem Bason was in the office this week (a perk of being a Budget Travel staffer is the chance to get insights from industry insiders), and he gave me a hot tip I thought I'd share with you wonderful folks: reconsider Hawaii. Prices are coming down. We've blogged before about how airfares to Hawaii are painfully high and seemingly never go on sale. But Bason shared that he's been noticing a lot of airfare sales lately—and when I looked, I found the same. Check out low fares from Alaska ($169 one-way from Seattle), United ($190 one-way from San Francisco), and Continental ($382 round-trip from L.A., as part of a larger sale). Even from the East Coast, prices are more affordable than I've seen in a long time. I did a Kayak search for early-December flights between NYC and Honolulu and found non-stop prices from $643 (United). Hotel rates are also coming down. I checked out Hotwire's Hawaii offerings and found a four-star hotel from $155, a three-in-a-half-star hotel from $96, and three-star hotels starting at $89 a night. Hotwire is an opaque search, meaning you don't see the name of the hotel until after you book; you simply see location, star rating, and price. But even on a non-opaque search, like over at hotels.com (a sister site of Hotwire), I found three and four-star hotels in the $120s and $130s (can you tell I'm starting to plan a trip of my own?) Another point about Hawaii: Because it's an island, rental cars can't be moved around to match demand like they are on the mainland. So when demand for rental cars goes down in Hawaii, operators cut rates drastically (often through mega-search sites like—you guessed it!—Hotwire) to fill up the cars they've got on the lot. Bottom line? Car rentals are getting cheaper, too. MORE ON HAWAII Answers to 5 Common Travel Questions Which Hawaii Is Right for You? Real Deals: Hawaii