Bernadette in Oregon asked: My husband and I are traveling to Hawaii in Maui for a week and Kauai for a week beginning Sept. 4 and ending Oct. 8. Any recommendations for getting the lowest price?

Step one don’t buy the ticket now, wait about the end of July or early August, because that’s when you’ll be about a month away. After September 10 or so, all the kids are back in school .
Prices come down in the shoulder season of September.

To save money, remember, you don’t necessarily have to be at the beach. You pay a premium for that. Chances are that if you’re going to go to Kauai and Maui, you’re going to rent a car. Stay a block or two off the beach. You’ll pay considerably less, and you can either walk to the beach or drive the car.

The third thing to save money is to let go of the romanticized idea about renting a 4-wheel drive Jeep in Hawaii. Here’s a little news bulletin: Can you rent the Jeep? Yes. Is it 4-wheel drive? Yes. Guess what. Off-roading in Hawaii is illegal. So why are you renting a Jeep? You can’t go anywhere.

For more Hawaii travel information, check out the Ask the Locals travel guide to Maui.

Barbara asked: What do you know about the solvency, on-time and safety records of XL Airways based in France?

It’s a little confusing, because there are a couple of XL Airways. One went bankrupt already, but the one that’s based in France is still going. It’s a no-frills airline. It doesn’t have frequency. It doesn’t have mass. It doesn’t have first class, but the bottom line is, they do fly, and they have a relatively good safety record.

For more ideas, watch Peter’s CBS report on How to Save Money with Alternate Airlines.

By Peter Greenberg for Peter Greenberg Worldwide