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Did you know?
Don't have enough
frequent flier miles for a flight and
your miles are about to expire?
Some airlines will allow
you to redeem your miles for hotel
stays, rental cars, magazines and
newspaper subscriptions and even
merchandise. I only had 14k miles
for United (25k needed for a free
flight) so I used 13.3k miles and got an
Ipod 4 gig shuffle. Yeah, it's
only worth 60 or 70 bucks but at least
it's something and my miles didn't go to
waste!
Check with your frequent
flier site for various ways you can use
your miles! |
- Friday, Sunday and Mondays are
the busiest travel days during the week and will
have higher fares.
- Late night flights (red-eye)
are often cheaper than daytime flights.
- Check for dates near your
desired stay like a day before or a day after.
Sometimes fares will be cheaper.
- If your traveling alone and are
flexible, consider flying "standby". You
can't actually buy a "standby" ticket but this is
what you do. You buy the cheapest ticket
on the day you want to travel, usually the last
flight of the day, then you go to the airport on
the day of your travel at the time you want to
fly out and request a standby seat. Worst
case scenario, you'll have to take your original
flight, but most times you will be able to get
out sooner. This does not apply to
Southwest airlines unless you have a full-fare
ticket.
- Buy your ticket at soon as
possible during the summer, spring break, the
week of Thanksgiving and the week of Christmas.
During the rest of the year, good deals can be
had 3 weeks in advance all the way up to the day
of travel. I usually buy my tickets 3 to 7
days before I travel but I buy 3 weeks in
advanced whenever possible. Check airfares
often as fares can change from day to day.
- If your flying into a major
city with more than one airport, check fares to
all airports. Also consider flying into a
nearby city. But of course consider the
cost to transport between airports and the city
that the clinic is in.
- Smaller cities and airports
will usually cost more, especially at the last
minute. Airports with one or two airlines
will be really expensive no matter what.
- Use a website like
kayak to find the lowest fare.
Once you find it, provided that it's not
involving multiple airlines, you should go
directly to the airline's website to book the
flight as most travel websites charge a $5
booking fee. You can also use
travelocity's "nearby" date search
with will give you the fares for up to 3 days
before and after the dates you desire.
- Try to carry on everything, 1
carry on bag and a brief case or purse.
Most airlines are now charging $15 to $25 for
the 1st checked bag and $25 or more for the 2nd.
- If you have to check a bag, pack most of your crap in your
checked baggage. Carry on rules change
every other day and you don't want to have to
send anything home or worse, have it
confiscated. Visit the
TSA website
for current list of what you can and can't bring
with you.
Okay, so no more Skybus! |
