Summer Travel: Money Saving Tips
- CBS MoneyWatch.com on 6/24/2010
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If you haven’t already planned your summer vacation, you may be in for some sticker shock. I recently tried to book flights for two different trips and couldn’t believe the prices. The airfares were so expensive that I was only able to purchase tickets for one of my destinations. Unfortunately, for reasons that were out of my control, I had no flexibility with my dates and couldn’t follow the steps necessary to get the best deals. If you’re lucky enough to have some leeway, here are some tips that could save you some money:
Buy Your Ticket on a Tuesday
Rick Seaney, of travel website FareCompare.com, is one of my favorite airfare experts. According to his data crunching, the best time to buy an airline ticket is on Tuesday afternoon around 3:00 pm.
Why? Seaney noticed that airlines tend to post airfare sales on Monday evenings. The competition then tries to match the bargains the following Tuesday morning. So if you wait until that afternoon, all the best fares are in the system and waiting to be purchased.
Travel on a Wednesday
Seaney also figured out that Wednesday is the cheapest day to fly since it’s the least popular day for traveling.
There’s another reason Wednesdays are the cheapest. On that day, along with Tuesdays, the major airlines charge the lowest “peak air travel surcharge”. Fly on either of those days and you’ll only get hit with an extra $10 fee, says Nicole Hockin, a travel expert and spokesperson for Hotels.com. Arrive or depart on a Sunday and you’ll have to fork over $30. Click here to see FareCompare.com’s surcharge chart.
Penny Pinch Wherever You Can
Considering all the extra airline fees vacationers now encounter, it makes sense to save a few dollars where you can.
If you have small children consider schlepping along your own car seat rather than renting one from a car rental company. The inconvenience could save you between $5 and $12 a day. The good news is that child safety seats are the one item an airline won’t charge you to check, says Hockin.
If you’re heading to a theme park, bring your own stroller. Dragging along your Maclaren will save you $10 to $30 a day.
Finally, even though hotels are offering some pretty good deals this summer, you’ll manage to save some money and get more space — a huge plus for families — if you rent a condo or house instead. You can easily access vacation rentals through VRBO.com (Vacation Rentals By Owner) or Hotels.com.
Stacey Bradford is the author of The Wall Street Journal. Financial Guidebook for New Parents.
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6 Comments so far
leave a commentThese are great tips! I ran across this article the other day and checked out the fare compare site. It was actually more helpful than the usual booking sites. I highly reccomend you all check it out if you’re traveling on a budget this summer.
We’re driving.
-Renting a small cabin at the KOA turned out to be a lot cheaper than getting a hotel room, so we’ve reserved spots along the way. We don’t have to take any gear with the exception of the linens and the toiletries, plus they don’t charge extra for dogs.
-There’s quite a few hotels that don’t charge extra for dogs. Look up pet friendly hotels before you leave if you’re traveling with a pet.
-A spill proof water bowl can be made for the dog by cutting a large hole out of the lid of a large, somewhat flat plastic storage bowl so that the lid forms a wide rim around the bowl.
-We’re taking kids, so I looked up which restaurants have “kids eat free” deals in the cities we’re stopping at.
-We’re packing as many meals as we can. Haven’t decided exactly what, but it will probably be something like premade tuna salad with crackers, banana nut muffins for breakfast, frozen hot dogs for our first night camping.
^^^ Awesome tips, Jessica! I think that when you’re traveling with kids, you HAVE to pack meals because it makes life just that much easier. Another tip I would suggest is purchasing a prepaid cell phone for the trip. I know that when I travel outside of my state, I am sometimes charged roaming charges. I got a Tracfone prepaid cell phone and they have a plan where it’s $45 for unlimited talk, text, and web. It’s perfect because I can use it without having to worry about roaming or going over my minutes…which is always important when traveling. Although it is not my usual phone or phone number, it is a great phone to have when traveling.
Absolutely great tips. I’ll keep these in mind over the summer. Thanks
Those are some great budgeting tips for travel! I’d also suggest just saving up all your travel money onto a prepaid card and then just take that with you, that way, you can’t over spend (like with a credit card), and many prepaid cards have the Visa/Mastercard logo so they can be used anywhere!
These are really helpful tips. During summer, airfares are really expensive because a lot of people are travelling to other places. So, these tips are really helpful for those who have limited budget. I also suggest that if where you’re going can be reached by land travel, why not drive there instead of flying?