Save money the next time you fly
Each year, people worldwide spend billions of dollars just for travel expenses. In fact, in 2018, American travel fees alone totaled to more than $1 billion, according to the US Travel Association. Both business and leisure travels amounted to more than $1.1 trillion dollars in 2018.
This just shows how people are very willing to spend some good chunk of their money when traveling. However, traveling on a budget is becoming a trend. More and more blogs and websites publish articles on how to tour a specific place or country with only a surprisingly small amount.
With this, more travelers are becoming keen to save on travel expenses for as much as they can. If you have an upcoming flight in the next few weeks or months or you’re simply planning on vacationing soon, here are a few tips that can help you save some hard-earned money.
Find the time to book your flight
Contrary to popular belief, booking a flight ahead of time may not really help you score cheaper tickets. Some travelers would pay the same amount as other travelers who booked their flights a year in advance.
What you instead need to do instead is to find a time when you can sit and pin down the best flight deals on the internet. You may use the best flight ticket engines like Kayak.com and compare prices. If you usually book your flights online, also make sure that you go incognito.
Airline websites use cookies that could help them determine the frequency that you visit their page to check on ticket prices. The prices are more likely to shoot up if you are actively monitoring seat prices.
If possible, it’s best to travel on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. These are usually the days when flights have more available seats, and airlines would rather sell flight seats with a lower rate rather than flying with unpaid empty seats.
Book a stay at hotels or inns with the best deals
Almost gone are the days that you have to visit each hotel website and compare the prices they have for a few days stay. There are already a lot of apps or booking assistant websites that can easily allow you to check and compare hotel prices.
It’s always ideal to sign up on these websites for you to get better deals and discounts. You need to check what the hotel offers and what its policies are too. Speaking of policies, it’s always better to book a reservation with free cancelation. This can help you ensure great deals in advance.
You can also try to look for last minute deals, as these are usually the deals that will allow you to save more money. Also, note that staying in just one hotel for the rest of your travel can also enable you to get better discounts.
Know the fees you need to pay
Once you’re all set with your flight and accommodations, you’ll then need to check for other fees that you need to pay. This includes your baggage expenses (both check-in and carry-on baggage). If you have a pet, you should also expect to pay for extra fees even if he or she won’t ride with you in the cabin.
You may also want to expect that cheap flight tickets can still result to a more expensive flight. There are airlines that don’t offer food and drinks for free, so you should also check on that.
Locate cheap airport parking services
If you have a car you’re worried about before you fly somewhere else, an easy solution is to have it on discount airport parking. Always check on how the fees for this are calculated because the last thing you want is to be surprised by your parking fee once you’re back.
A lot of travelers experience this dilemma, so it’s best to use airport parking help services to make sure that you won’t get overcharged for this. These help services can also help you score the best deals when it comes to looking for the perfect spot to park your car while you’re away.
Off-airport or private parking lots are usually cheaper than airport parking. These places are sometimes hard to find but airport parking services or websites can help you easily locate them.
Sign-up for airline mail lists
This last item is something that a lot of people easily overlook. Who wants tons of emails, right? However, signing up for the airline mail listing is actually a good way for you to keep updated of the promotions and deals that they have.
Sometimes, these mail lists are specific to your traveling needs, especially if you frequently travel with one airline. If you really don’t want to sign up for any mail list, then you can simply follow different airlines on their social media like Twitter or Facebook.