How to save money on your next trip (Flights)!
Planning a trip or vacation can be timely and end up costing a lot of money if not researched and picked properly. This will be an ongoing series on how to maximize your travel in regard to flights, lodging, car rentals, and more as you cut down on cost, making your dream trips more affordable. This part of the series will cover finding better deals on flights!
Planning your trip: Flights
We usually start our trip planning with the flights as these tend to have more fluctuation based on time of year and location and are more expensive then lodging in general. So, ours trips are all about the flights first. When we are planning our travels, we use two different methods to find value. The first method is if you are determined to go to a specific destination then be flexible on the travel dates. The second method is if you are determined to go on specific dates then be flexible on the destination. We will go into detail on both and provide an example, but keep in mind sometimes you might ignore these rules if you are determined to go to a specific destination during a specific time frame, in that case just be prepared to pay whatever it costs.
Method 1 for flights
The first method is if you are determined to go to a specific destination then be flexible on the travel dates. This is where you know you want to go. If that’s the case and you want tot budget, be flexible on the dates. How I research this is utilizing Google Flights. There are apps out there such as Hopper and others that are also good at analyzing the peak time of year for destinations as well, while I have used these and they do work, I tent to use Google Flights. So, lets run through an example.
Let’s say you live near Detroit (DTW) and want to go to Las Vegas (LAS). Go to Google Flights and enter those destinations in for a round trip flight. Now instead of picking dates, click on the dates and that will open a calendar. On the calendar it will show prices for different days.
If you wanted to the weekend of April 12th-April 14th (Friday through Sunday) flights are currently $314 round trip if you click on those date.
But if you were willing to go May 10th-May 12th flights are currently $232 round trip, saving you over $80 per ticket.
You can then click on the flight and carry onto the airlines website to purchase your tickets. This is a very basic example and for a popular route that usually has good prices. The value only increases at more exotic locations that may have very off peak and on peak pricing.
Method 2 for flights
So, the first method was for when you want to go to a specific destination. The second method is if you are determined to go on specific dates then be flexible on the destination. This option is for when you can only get off a certain week from work or when you know your kids will be off work so your locked into a certain time frame. We enjoy it even outside of those parameters because it feels more like exploration as you are picking a destination that maybe was not your original idea of a trip, allowing you to discover a different location then your normal preferences. For this method we utilize Google Flights as well but using a different tool that it provides. Let’s run through an example.
Let’s say you live in Columbus (CMH) and want to go on vacation from April 20th-28th as this is spring break for your kids and you want to plan a family vacation. This time when you start on Google Flights, enter your stating point Columbus, leave the destination blank, and enter the dates you need to travel on April 20th-April 28th.
Now click on explore destinations above the map to the right, this will open an interactive map that shows you prices to different places all over the United States and the World.
On the left it highlights the cheapest locations currently showing on the map. In this example going to New York City and exploring the Big Apple over your spring break would be $167 per person as compared to visiting the Rocky Mountains and Denver at $308 per person. With a family of 5 that’s over $700 in difference between the two on flights alone. You could put that money towards lodging, entertainment, or save it. If you think New York would work then click on New York icon and it will pull up the flights, airlines, and price to book that trip.
This is just the tip of the iceberg for finding the coolest places to travel on the cheap. You can isolate to different regions of the world or zoom in on a specific section of the United States to see even more airports and options appear.
Flight Summary
Today we went over two different methods for the next time your planning a trip. This system allowed for flexibility on what you need if it is specific dates or a specific destination. Keep on the lookout for an upcoming article on saving on lodging, car rentals, and a more advanced flight search, look at isolating to airlines and choosing nonstop, layover, or stopover flights, and saving more money by picking certain days of the week based on your preferences.
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