Vayama.com offers new travel choices

Already we’re thinking ahead to holiday travel. One site that’s in beta right now, Vayama.com, claims it offers the best options for anyone looking for international air flights. It says it helps make connections between 191 countries.

We tested it out and it does some things well; other things are a bit disappointing.

First off, it features a two-frame display that lets you choose flight cities either by name or by using a clickable map. The map system is kind of new, but it’s just a way to visualize your flight routes. Unless you don’t know how to find and enter city or airport names in the “from” and “to” text boxes, avoid the map method of creating an itinerary.

That map option is useful, however, when checking the site’s flight deals. Clicking the deals tab opens the map with assorted destinations marked, indicating possible good deals.

The rest of Vayama appears fairly simple and ordinary. We’d be glad to hear any opinions from actual users.

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Flyertalk.com

There’s another kind of no-nonsense traveler using the Web, called a mileage runner. See the story in Wired from July 10 this year which summarizes this devoted corps of fliers who book travel and then find ways to extend the legs between cities to maximize the miles earned for their mileage plans.

One milestone cited by Wired was the case of runner Samir Bhatnagar, who “flew” from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco and ended up earning, through bonuses, a net 27,000 miles. All for a $113 ticket, according to the article.

Mileage runners use a number of key Web sites to share ideas. One of the most popular is flyertalk.com which is focused entirely on building mileage with U.S. and overseas airlines.

The way to use that site, if you want to get better results for your mileage plan, is create a user name and use the discussion forums. One very nice feature — flyertalk created a discussion group glossary. When you’re confused by the term “earn/burn,” the glossary explains: Earn/burn is the shorthand term for mileage accretion and redemption.