What is the craziest travel deal you have ever found? I do a fair amount of travelling and am always on the hunt for a great deal being the penny pincher that I am.
1 - HOW FAR IN ADVANCE SHOULD YOU BOOK YOUR FLIGHT?
The old book at the last minute usually ends up being "get gouged" at the last minute. Generally booking a flight with less then 2 weeks to go is not recommended. And you will often pay a premium to travel during the peak holiday season as well.
These are the ideal "Sweet spot windows" for getting the cheapest flights:
USA to Canada / Mexico: 8 - 10 weeks
Domestic flights in USA: 6 - 8 weeks
North America to Europe: 10 - 12 weeks
North America to Caribbean: 10 - 12 weeks
North America to Central America: 8 - 10 weeks
North America to South America: 11 - 12 weeks
North America to Asia: 3 - 9 months
CheapAir has a couple of great articles explaining the reasons of price differences, etc...
https://www.cheapair.com/blog/cheapair-news/the-best-time-to-buy-a-flight-is-54-days-out-or-is-it/
https://www.cheapair.com/blog/travel-tips/when-should-you-book-an-international-flight/
The Key is to not book too early or too late. The exception to this rule is during the busy holiday season. You can book up to 6 months in advance for Christmas for example, since they do not need to run special pricing during these peak travel times. But at least you can get a good seat reserved.
These time frames are not set in stone, but are a compilation of analysis from several respected websites along with my personal experience combined. Use them as a guideline.
2 - ON WHAT WEEKDAY SHOULD YOU BOOK YOUR FLIGHT?
Believe it or not this can have an impact on some pricing. It seems booking on Tuesday afternoon to Wednesday is the optimum time window for finding the best deals. If I had to guess, it would be that Monday would be the day the airline executives come back from their weekend off and analyze their sales. Then they need to decide where ramp up the promo's and adjust their fares to start on Tuesday.
3 - HOW TO GET THE BEST SEAT ON A PLANE.
1st check the cost to upgrade to Business class. You might be surprised to see how little it can be in some cases. If I can avoid the long line ups at check-in, get a 2nd luggage checked-in for free, have plenty of knee space, etc... And what is the deal with that thin curtain that separates coach and Business class? Its not like the flight attendants are giving the guys up front lap dances... I also find Business class pricing far more reasonable when flying from a developing country.
Phase 1 of flying solo: Reserve your Window or Aisle seat but also making sure the opposite seat is ALSO reserved with the middle seat being empty. If you choose an end seat with 2 empty seats in your row, then a couple is very likely to book those seats as well.
If your flight is not full, you have a higher probability of no one sitting in that middle seat with this tactic... Since the middle seats are the last to be booked by most normal humans. But if the flight is very full, then it might not make a difference. This just puts the odds in your favor.
Phase 2 of this strategy is to check-in online 24 hours before my flight as close to the cut-off time as possible to double check my seating arrangement. If someone was cheeky enough to reserve the middle seat beside me, I will try to book another another window or aisle seat where no one is in the middle. I prefer not to play footsies with strangers... I am not judging...
If you are flying with someone else, then I would book the Window and aisle using the above logic. If it happens to fill up and someone takes your middle seat, most people will gladly avoid the flesh sandwich and move to one of your outside seats, so you can sit beside your partner. I also recommend checking out https://www.SeatGuru.com to find the layout of the plane, which seat is better / worse, etc...
4 - FOR INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS, FLY FROM A DEVELOPING COUNTRY
The airlines recognize that it is more challenging for consumers in economically challenged countries to be able to afford flying, as compared to those in wealthy 1st world countries. So If you can fly out from a poorer country / city, you often will see a significant savings as compared to flying from a wealthy one.
The strategy is to use an inexpensive domestic airline to get to your jump-off point FROM the "poor" country TO the "rich" one. My data on this is limited but I have noticed this to be the case in several cases and have other business associates who concur this theory. Please let me know if you have experienced this on a personal level.
5 - HOW TO FIND CHEAP DOMESTIC AIRLINES
Way back in the day, my buddies and I would do a 40 minute drive from Vancouver B.C. across the border to USA to take a cheap $99 fly by Alegiant air from Blaine, WA to Las Vegas. It was that or pay over $400 to fly from Vancouver to Vegas (a large part of that being the taxes)
And in Mexico it's cheaper for me to fly in the country and to many USA destinations using Mexican discount airlines such as:
https://VivaAerobus.com
https://www.interjet.com/en-us
https://www.volaris.com
If you want to fly to Belize from Mexico, try a "puddle jumper" to really feel the air 8) https://tropicair.com
Many of these smaller airlines will not show up on Expedia or Kayak so you can first click on Country of choice then check out the individual airlines from their. The key is to think outside the box and you might be able to save some serious cash on your next flight! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_airlines
6 - MY ULTIMATE TRAVEL WEBSITES:
http://matrix.itasoftware.com
https://www.google.com/flights
http://gurudeviaje.com
https://SeatGuru.com
https://www.kayak.com
https://www.expedia.com
https://www.tripadvisor.com
https://www.hotels.com
ULTIMATE MOBILE TRAVEL APPS:
Rome2Rio: excellent when planning how to move between destinations. Displaying different modes of transportation, the amount of time it will take, and the average price listed, Rome2Rio easily navigates for you so that you can take in your surroundings
Uber: One of the best ways to get around in most cities. But some cities are still blocking Uber In For example in Mexico it costs me about $5usd for a 30 min. ride to the airport.
Hopper: Know when to fly and buy. Score the lowest fares.” Similar to Google Flights, Hopper highlights the lowest fares possible when flying.
Yelp: Can help you find whatever type of restaurant you want, based on a specific location. In addition to food, drinks, and bars
HappyCow: For our Vegan / vegetarians this app will help you find restaurants in your area.
AirBNB: Why rent a hotel room, when you can get a fully outfitted condo with more space, a kitchen and other amenities and save money to boot! Some cities have banned AirBNB.
Hotels.com: If I can't find a decent place on AirBNB or if its banned (which is rare) my backup option is www.Hotels.com I also like the fact you can often cancel a booking at the last minute.
CouchSurfing.com: If you are on a tight budget and are cool with sharing living space with other people, then this is taking the hostel experience to a new level.
Am I missing one you think deserves to be here? If so please send me a message.
7 - BUY AND SELL YOUR TRAVEL MILES! (Proceed with caution)
Airlines REALLY frown on this practice. Many moons ago I had posted my Aeroplan miles for sale on eBay and believe it or not, I got a legal threat from the Aeroplan ivory tower to take down my eBay ad. I could not believe the arrogance of those mafioso's ... Needless to say I sold them anyway on Craigslist and shortly after cut up my credit card associated with Aeroplan. Since then I have been with Capital One for many years and have been very happy with their travel points rewards. Although I am sure in their fine print I still cannot "sell" my points...
http://www.wisebread.com/how-to-buy-and-sell-airline-miles
8 - AVOID THE ZOMBIFICATION JETLAG
These 2 tips will help you land in your new time zone far more refreshed. Having flown over 23 hours to get to Hong Kong a few times in the past, it normally takes me about 3 days to recover due to the 12 hour time zone change to de-zombify myself. This is now a thing of the past, thanks to these 2 tips you will name your next child after me for.
Try TOPICAL MELATONIN: This stuff is amazing, safe, effective and no side effects.
http://sprayable.co/collections/sleep
Do a short fast! Do not eat 12-16 hours BEFORE your desired wake-up time. This resets your inner clock. Check out the logic behind it!
http://www.wisebread.com/how-to-naturally-reset-your-sleep-cycle-overnight
That's it for now! Please give me your own tips and hacks so we can share them with our Freedom Fool community.