How One GRS Reader Saved Over $1,000 on Airfare
Published on - September 25th, 2010 (Modified on - September 27th, 2010) (by J.D. Roth) The time has come. I’ve packed as lightly as I know how (which may not be light enough), we’ve installed the housesitter, and I’ve scheduled a month’s worth of great guest posts here at GRS. As you read this, Kris and I are now jetting our way from Portland to New York City to Venice, Italy. We’ll spend the next two weeks exploring Venice, Florence, and Rome. After that, we’ll take the night train through Switzerland to France, where we’ll spend about a week in Paris and a week boating up to Normandy and back. All without a laptop computer. How will I survive?
To celebrate this long-awaited vacation (we’ve been saving and planning for 18 months), I wanted to share one of the entries to the 2010 GRS video contest. Elise describes how she saved over $1000 on airfare!
Elise wanted to travel from Dallas, Texas to Baku, Azerbaijan in November. Normally, she’d just book the flight through Orbitz. But she didn’t like the $3917 price tag she was quoted for three passengers, so she decided to shop around. At Priceline, she found the exact same flight for $2812 — a savings of over $1100!
But she didn’t stop there! Elise used other tools at her disposal to get the price down by another $90.
Now, $90 isn’t big money. But by being creative, Elise was able to put a little more money in her pocket, money that can be used in Baku for more interesting things, like food and entertainment. (When planning for travel, I always remind myself that every penny I save on travel and lodging is a penny I can use for something fun.)
As I look to do more-and-more traveling, tips like this become handier. I had three conversations yesterday with folks who have decided to sacrifice other things in their life in order to travel more. I think I’ve reached that point, too.
I already made some budget/saving adjustments to fund our trip to South Africa in February. But I’m also plotting how I can do some other trips in the near future. Kris and I know we want to visit Patagonia (Chile/Argentina) for our next major trip (2012? 2013?), but before then, I want to make some jaunts on my own. How can I make a backpacking trip across England work? How can I afford to travel to Ethiopia with Chris Guillebeau next year? I don’t know the answers yet, but I’m dying to find out.
This article is about Money Hacks, Travel
SEARCH FOR RECENT ARTICLES
Don’t forget to check the add-on fees that airlines are charging these days. A search for the “luggage allowances” for major airlines will show how much you’ll pay in addition to your fare.
loading....
Why do you want to take a night train through Switzerland? Taking a train ride through Switzerland offers the most spectacular views you can imagine. I would advise you take the day train.
loading....
I just gave up satellite t.v. ($100 per month) so that I could travel more. When I realized that’s nearly $1200 a year, I knew I’d rather spend that traveling than paying for something I really didn’t watch all that much. I now get my favorite shows streamed online via Hulu (my computer is connected to my t.v.) and I have Netflix.
In the end, I’d rather travel than sit on my butt at home and watch t.v.
Some people cannot live without cable or satellite t.v. I am not one of them.
loading....
Also, if you are booking hotels in other countries BE SURE to take into account a five star hotel is very, very, very different in Europe than it is here.
In college when I took a group tour in Europe, the company that handled all the plans assured us that all the hotels we stayed in were either 4 or 5 star – but in Europe that does not mean luxury. Most of the time they were very much like dorm rooms and multiple people had to share bathrooms.
So be sure that if you decide that “I don’t really need to stay at 4 star, I’ll stay at a 2 star!”, that a two star hotel might be a no star hotel here in the states! You might be sleeping on a cot in a basement!
loading....
So what did she do to save the $90?
loading....
I loved that video. My favorite thing about it was Mr. Rebates. Yesterday I requested my first Mr. Rebates payment. It isn’t a lot but I agree those little things add up. I also agree with making sacrifices in other areas to allow time and money for travel. Unfortunately, I travelled a lot when I was younger and didn’t have the funds so I had to make sacrifices after the fact. Not a great plan but this website has helped me understand those mistakes. I have a friend that made tremendous sacrifices in his 20s and 30s and is now retired. He and his wife go out on year long trips and JD, you absolutely must go to Patagonia. They loved it and I loved the pictures! Have a wonderful trip.
loading....
I think when traveling, sticking with one airlines/hvg a frequent flyer acc helps a lot. I travel overseas a couple times a year and am now a preffered customer/member with my airline of choice. This helps coz I don’t hv to pay for checked bags and I also get to experience some privileges which while to some might seem worthless/not a big deal, but when you’ve travelled for more than 24 hrs and there’s a huge line in front of you, gttg to go to the front of line (coz of FF status) helps a lot. And I get economy plus seats for free and dun hv to pay extra for them
loading....
@ #5 Meg: She signed up for an account at mrrebates.com and linked to Priceline to get 2% (about $50), and she used her Discover card, with a 5% promotion (at the time she booked) on up to $800 in travel charges, to earn the other $40.
loading....
@Rachel211
In Italy a 4/5 stars hotel *is* luxurious! A 3 stars is a good hotel (the one I went to this summer on the Alps had sauna, inside swimming pool and the restaurant was great) and 2 stars can be very nice hotels, worth more than you pay, it depends. But definitely not basements.
J.D., you’ll skip the rest of the North? No Milan, the lakes, Turin?…
loading....
JD – those were good ways she saved $90 since they are quick. But I would caution people from making it more drawn out and time consuming than it is worth. Saving $40 for someone who is making more than $40 an hour, then misses the price because they “thought about it” too long, well. You lose money and time. In airfare, if you don’t put it on hold, it can be a matter of minutes or hours between a fare at $180 jumping to $300.
Hope your travels are fantastic!
loading....
Saving a $1000 is not a good title for this post, she really saved around $90.
I dont consider checking the most popular airline sites for the best price savings.
However Mr. rebates and Discover were legit savings.
But what she should have done is gone to evrewards.com then figured out who has the best cash back.
In this case fatwallet had 3% back.
loading....
@ Matt – USA Today just published a listing of the breakout of airline fees in a series of fairly comprehensive charts http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2010-09-26-airline-fees-breakdown_N.htm
loading....