Picture this: You sit down in your Air Pacific business class seat on your flight from New Zealand to Fiji. You open up your in-flight magazine and a boarding pass falls out. But not just any boarding pass: this one belonged to Paris Hilton, who was sitting in your very seat not too long ago.

This is exactly what happened for a Kiwi named Phil, who took home the unexpected bookmark, verified that it was legitimate, and then put it up for auction on New Zealand auction site Trade Me, with the description "This is a bit weird, but someone may want it". Much to his surprise—being self-confessed ignorant about quite how famous Paris Hilton is—the boarding pass started getting a heap of bids, at which point Phil decided to donate the proceeds of the sale to charity.]]> amandak 2009-08-31T08:54:43-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/6/3/115420/4762

One of our biggest pet peeves when it comes to booking flights is the do-si-do websites do with displaying airfares; get us all excited with super cheap prices, but then tack on another couple hundred dollars in taxes and fees before checkout. One of the biggest offenders, aside from Ryanair. that is, is British Airways and their "JFK to LHR" specials which quickly turn a tasty $250 one-way into a sour $730 roundtrip.

Why must websites and email promotions tempt us so; why not just display juicy deals with taxes included? Our most recent disappointment comes at the hands of Air Pacific, Fiji's national airline. After we received a press release boasting of "unbeatable" $565 roundtrips (and no mention of taxes or fees) between LAX and Nadi, Fiji, we nearly choked on our chocolate donut.

For a moment, thoughts of gently swaying palm trees and scuba in crystal clear water danced in our head, but arrival to the Air Pacific website revealed that actually, the price with taxes comes to nearly $900. So much for tropical daydreams. Wake us when airfare sales actually return to being sales.

Related Stories:
· Flight Specials [Air Pacific]
· What It Really Costs to Fly Ryanair [Jaunted]
· Airline Fees Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: superciliousness]]]> JetSetCD 2009-06-03T12:41:19-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/