{"id":2322,"date":"2012-08-17T08:35:22","date_gmt":"2012-08-17T14:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/?p=2322"},"modified":"2012-08-17T08:35:22","modified_gmt":"2012-08-17T14:35:22","slug":"getting-the-most-out-of-your-travel-dollars-airfare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/travel-tips\/getting-the-most-out-of-your-travel-dollars-airfare\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting the Most Out of your Travel Dollars: Airfare"},"content":{"rendered":"

1) Airline loyalty pays off. I definitely don\u2019t love Delta, but flying them almost exclusively gets me a lot of benefits, mainly in the form of miles. The year I went to both Alaska and Hawaii, I earned elite status and was upgraded to first class on almost every flight for the next year. Obviously, choosing the airline who has a hub in your city makes the most sense. It may not always be the cheapest option, but if it’s close it may be worth it in terms of rewards.<\/p>\n

2) Get your preferred airline\u2019s affiliate credit card. Here\u2019s what I get for using my Skymiles American Express:<\/p>\n

– I got 25,000 miles the first time I used the card. That\u2019s a free domestic flight.<\/p>\n

– I get double miles from Delta.com (Why buy airfare through Travelocity or Expedia? All they do is list the airline\u2019s own fares, sometimes with additional fees.)<\/p>\n

– They often offer great promotions. I\u2019m getting 5x the miles for my flights to San Diego, LA, and Key West because I bought them during the correct timeframe.<\/p>\n

– Checked bags are free. Which means if two of you check bags once a year, you\u2019ve recouped the annual fee. ($50\/year, waived the first year.) That\u2019s one bag per person for everyone in your party, too, not just your own suitcase.<\/p>\n

– You earn miles on every purchase. If you\u2019re a credit-card-averse person, you can do it the way I do: make the purchase with your American Express, then transfer the cash to Amex from your bank account. That way you owe no interest and don\u2019t carry a balance.*<\/p>\n

3) Check airfare obsessively, even multiple times a day. I saved $150 on my flight to San Diego just because I jumped on it at the right time. My preferred search engines are Bing<\/a> (the fare predictor is pretty reliable) and Kayak<\/a> (they seem to aggregate a few airlines you don\u2019t see often on other sites). I\u2019ve found that their search parameters make finding the right combination of flights much easier, and then you can just click through directly to the airline.<\/p>\n

4) Sign up for every promotion airlines\/credit cards offer, even if you don\u2019t think you\u2019ll take advantage of them. I\u2019ve often accidentally qualified and gotten extra miles or cashback.<\/p>\n

5) Get a lightweight luggage scale and bring it with you. Overage fees for bags are insane \u2013 often close to $100. Also, it really sucks to have to tear your bags apart and shove everything in a carry-on while you\u2019re standing at check-in. Trust me on this.<\/p>\n

If your bags are too heavy, go to the local post office and take advantage of their flat-rate shipping boxes. We packed those $15 boxes full of what was easily 30lb worth of souvenirs from Hawaii, and they were waiting for us when we got home. You\u2019ll often find local shops offering this kind of shipping deal too, even in foreign countries.<\/p>\n

6) Before redeeming frequent flier miles, calculate their value. It always changes. This article<\/a> is old, but the lessons are correct: if the flight is cheap, you\u2019re often better buying it and saving the miles for something more expensive, particularly if you will earn a lot of miles for flying that route. (You don\u2019t earn miles on free flights, obviously.)<\/p>\n

That\u2019s really only valid if you fly regularly, though. If you don\u2019t and have saved up enough for a free flight, you should probably use them if you can. Many airlines also offer the option to pay for a portion of the flight with miles, so that\u2019s another situation where you need to evaluate the value of a mile.<\/p>\n

7) Be flexible. The cheapest flights are always going to be the ones with more inconvenient times. Consider going a day earlier or coming back a day later. Most airlines\u2019 sites let you search for a range of +\/- 3 days, and the prices can vary a lot. If you\u2019re a good plane-sleeper, they practically pay you to fly red-eyes. Consider flying to nearby airports and driving, too. (For example, it\u2019s almost as easy to fly into Ft Lauderdale or Palm Beach as an alternative to Miami.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1) Airline loyalty pays off. I definitely don\u2019t love Delta, but flying them almost exclusively gets me a lot of benefits, mainly in the form of miles. The year I went to both Alaska and Hawaii, I earned elite status and was upgraded to first class on almost every flight for the next year. Obviously, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[302],"tags":[305,303,304],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"geo":null,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Z5R-Bs","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3326,"url":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/travel-tips\/a-travelers-review-of-the-capital-one-venture-rewards-card\/","url_meta":{"origin":2322,"position":0},"title":"A Traveler’s Review of the Capital One Venture Rewards Card","author":"Jenni","date":"07.11.2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been a longtime Delta Skymiles American Express cardholder, since we live in a Delta hub and fly them 95% of the time. The basic card offers free checked bags and an annual $100 companion voucher. You earn miles for purchases, and double miles for purchases from Delta.com. And if\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travel Tips"","block_context":{"text":"Travel Tips","link":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/category\/travel-tips\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/storage\/2013\/07\/3127676791_72e263b01d_o.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2327,"url":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/travel-tips\/getting-the-most-out-of-your-travel-dollars-hotels\/","url_meta":{"origin":2322,"position":1},"title":"Getting the Most Out of your Travel Dollars: Hotels","author":"Jenni","date":"08.21.2012","format":false,"excerpt":"1) Book your hotels through Hotels.com. For every 10 nights you stay, you get a free night (valued at the average of the rates you paid over those 10 nights). I just got $154 off a booking in Key West. If you use the site regularly, they\u2019ll upgrade you to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travel Tips"","block_context":{"text":"Travel Tips","link":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/category\/travel-tips\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":544,"url":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/hawaii-2\/hawaii-october-2-13-2010\/","url_meta":{"origin":2322,"position":2},"title":"Hawaii: Oahu, Kauai, and Maui (and our Engagement!)","author":"Jenni","date":"11.13.2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Earlier in 2010, we planned for this to be the year to go to Europe with Steve and Colleen. Then we started checking airfare, and after a few months it became clear that we weren't going to be able to get there for cheap. So we did what any smart\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hawaii #2"","block_context":{"text":"Hawaii #2","link":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/category\/hawaii-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/storage\/2010\/11\/5082140438_2657f376b3_o.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3203,"url":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/travel-tips\/a-review-of-tsa-precheck\/","url_meta":{"origin":2322,"position":3},"title":"A Review of TSA Precheck","author":"Jenni","date":"05.2.2013","format":false,"excerpt":"My very short review of TSA Precheck: GET IT, IT'S AWESOME. REALLY. Now for a longer review. Matt and I recently applied for Global Entry, which allows pre-approved members access to expedited customs and immigration processing when entering the US. That's really nice, and the technology is cool, but the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travel Tips"","block_context":{"text":"Travel Tips","link":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/category\/travel-tips\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4165,"url":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/vegascalifornia-roadtrip\/the-great-nevadacalifornia-roadtrip-of-2014\/","url_meta":{"origin":2322,"position":4},"title":"The Great Nevada\/California Roadtrip of 2014","author":"Jenni","date":"12.12.2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Since we're planning to move toward the end of 2015, Matt and I wanted to book a trip that allowed us to take a long roadtrip with minimal time off work. Thanksgiving weekend afforded the best option for that, and really cheap airfare into Las Vegas and out of Los\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Vegas\/California Roadtrip"","block_context":{"text":"Vegas\/California Roadtrip","link":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/category\/vegascalifornia-roadtrip\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4739,"url":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/copenhagen-berlin\/the-longest-day-key-west-to-copenhagen\/","url_meta":{"origin":2322,"position":5},"title":"The Longest Day (Key West to Copenhagen)","author":"Jenni","date":"09.15.2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Thursday morning, we had the luxury of sleeping in and making leisurely preparations to go to the airport mid-morning. Flying out of Key West, the airport that's a little over a mile from our house, is a fantastic luxury; thankfully American's mileage redemption is the same from here or Miami.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Copenhagen \/ Berlin"","block_context":{"text":"Copenhagen \/ Berlin","link":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/category\/copenhagen-berlin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/storage\/2016\/10\/29098469113_bc699b9baa_o.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2322"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2322\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/queenofsubtle.com\/rt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}