Summer is the time for traveling for most people, but because of that it’s usually also the most expensive time for flights, car rentals, etc. This can suck, because why should you have to pay more to go traveling at a time that just happens to be convenient, and preferable, to everyone. However, it’s not as hard as you think to succeed in finding good travel deals, even in the summer time. It requires a little bit of work and thinking, but it’s not impossible.
Open Jaw Flights
You may know what I’m talking about, but if not, an open jaw flight essentially means that you fly into one airport and out of another, or the other way around. As an example, you might fly from Boston To JFK, then La Guardia back to Boston. If you live in area or are going somewhere with more than one airport, you should obviously check the fares to both, but also look at the fares if you change the airports in and out. Sometimes, this yields cheaper prices because it’s not necessarily as idea.
If you’re not in a huge rush or absolutely need one airport over the other, it’s definitely worth the few extra minutes to check and potentially the slightest bit of hassle once you arrive. But these can sometimes save hundreds of dollars.
Try To Be Flexible With Dates
Probably the biggest mistake people make when they’re traveling is they want to go on one specific day and return on another specific day. Unfortunately, if you want those days and nothing else you’re never going to find a good deal because you just get what’s available. If you can be flexible a few days on either side it increases your chances significantly of finding a better deal.
A great search tool for this is Matrix ITA Software. You can put in a general time frame and it will pull up a calendar with all of the different prices so you can easily see if going a day earlier or a day later will save you money.
Be Willing To Have Connections
No one likes connections, but sometimes taking a connection can save you a lot of money, and usually connections are pretty good. Once you get off the plane and go through immigration (if needed) or security again, you won’t have that much time before it’s time to hop on the next plane. They don’t need to be complicated or hard, but sometimes that one extra stop will save you tons.
When you’re booking travel for the summer, you should try and be as flexible as possible and be willing to spend a bit more time looking for your travel deals. Whether you’re hiring a car or taking a flight, these will apply to you. Check in and out of different airports or car hires, be flexible with your dates and you’ll be on your way to taking an epic summer journey for far less.
