bperrybap
Contributor
The biggest tip to save money on a trip is not to be completely
rigid on your travel dates & days and try to travel when others
are NOT traveling.
To get the best fares, see if there is
a charter available from your departure city.
Most of the time charters do not leave every day of the week so
you have to pick days that the charters leave on.
I use FunJet quite a bit and many times they can combine
a hotel/resort & car (if you need one) as part of a package
much cheaper than you could get by doing them seperately
on your own.
I used to get much better prices by doing it all my self
but the last year or so that hasn't been the case.
Now, I think the hotel & car folks are reducing their costs to help
close a travel deal so the packages tend have better
pricing lately.
Also, many times the lowest fares are obtained by not traveling
on a Fri, Sat, or Sun and for sure not on a Holiday or days that
touch the Holiday.
I've done trips where a total inclusive package including
food & drinks for a Thurs-Mon vacation will be cheaper than just
Airfare for a Fri-Sun vacation on the same weekend!
(Did this back in early June of this year going to Cozumel)
Depending on where you live, it can even be cheaper to
book a package deal from a big city like Dallas, Atlanta, Houston
etc, and then get airfare to that city.
Also, if you have airline miles, you can use them. Sometimes
you don't have to have enough miles to get a free ticket but
can use less miles to reduce the cost of the ticket.
Some other things worth noting:
Americal Arilines will always have great specials the 2nd week of
the 2nd month of the quarter. They want additional revenue
and will discount fares to get it. These require lastminute
travel capabilities.
The week following the weekend of a major US holiday is
usually a good travel time because many people just used
up their vacation on the holiday. Crowds are lower and
fares are usually much lower than the holiday period.
--- bill
rigid on your travel dates & days and try to travel when others
are NOT traveling.
To get the best fares, see if there is
a charter available from your departure city.
Most of the time charters do not leave every day of the week so
you have to pick days that the charters leave on.
I use FunJet quite a bit and many times they can combine
a hotel/resort & car (if you need one) as part of a package
much cheaper than you could get by doing them seperately
on your own.
I used to get much better prices by doing it all my self
but the last year or so that hasn't been the case.
Now, I think the hotel & car folks are reducing their costs to help
close a travel deal so the packages tend have better
pricing lately.
Also, many times the lowest fares are obtained by not traveling
on a Fri, Sat, or Sun and for sure not on a Holiday or days that
touch the Holiday.
I've done trips where a total inclusive package including
food & drinks for a Thurs-Mon vacation will be cheaper than just
Airfare for a Fri-Sun vacation on the same weekend!
(Did this back in early June of this year going to Cozumel)
Depending on where you live, it can even be cheaper to
book a package deal from a big city like Dallas, Atlanta, Houston
etc, and then get airfare to that city.
Also, if you have airline miles, you can use them. Sometimes
you don't have to have enough miles to get a free ticket but
can use less miles to reduce the cost of the ticket.
Some other things worth noting:
Americal Arilines will always have great specials the 2nd week of
the 2nd month of the quarter. They want additional revenue
and will discount fares to get it. These require lastminute
travel capabilities.
The week following the weekend of a major US holiday is
usually a good travel time because many people just used
up their vacation on the holiday. Crowds are lower and
fares are usually much lower than the holiday period.
--- bill
