Travel costs money. Traveling in comfort costs even more money. If you are going on a trip that involves flying, airfare will normally be one of the largest expenses. However, there are some ways to reduce the cost:
Fare Wars
Airlines sometimes get into so-called “fare wars” – that usually happens when one airline lowers the prices on a specific route or from a specific city and other airlines match it or make the fare even lower. The reasoning for those fare wars sometimes can make sense, sometimes not. One good example would be when a new airline introduces a new route and offers discounted prices to attract customers, other airlines would often match/lower the prices in order to compete for market share. In the USA we saw that happen when Spirit Airlines, Frontier or Norwegian introduced new routes. At that time, big players like American, United and Delta almost always matched the fares. There have been some really attractive fares (round trip) like $400 flights from the USA to Scandinavia, $80 Chicago to Los Angeles/San Francisco, $70 Chicago to New York, $80 Chicago to New Orleans, etc. Websites like The Flight Deal, AirfareWatchDog, Fare Deal Alert or SecretFlying do a pretty good job tracking these deals – sign up for their newsletter, follow them on Twitter or just check their websites periodically.
Mistake Fares
The most common mistake fares are referred to as “fat finger”fares – whoever is entering prices into the system accidentally enters the wrong price. These usually don’t happen too often, rarely last more than 30 minutes and don’t always get approved. So, if you are lucky to find one, buy it quickly but wait at least 24 hours to be sure it isn’t cancelled. We’ve seen some incredible mistake fares and were able to take advantage of a few: $450 Chicago to Beijing in business class, $220 Chicago to Abu Dhabi, $350 Chicago to Montevideo. The above mentioned sites and Flyertalk are good sources to find these mistake fares.
Loyalty Programs
Similar to coffee shops punching your “member” card and giving you the 11th drink free, airlines and hotels have loyalty programs as well. They don’t necessarily function the same as the ones for coffee shops, but you do get rewarded for your loyalty to an airline or hotel. It’s worth signing up for all major airline/hotel loyalty programs and if possible, sticking to them. Keep in mind that most airlines belong to one of the 3 main alliances – One World, Star Alliance or Sky Team. So even if you can’t stick to one airline, at least stick to the airlines that belong to the same alliance – just make sure you pick a loyalty program that works for you so you can collect/redeem miles.
Redeeming Miles/Points
Once you have enough miles/points with a particular loyalty program, you can redeem them for a free flight or a free stay. Just keep in mind that not all programs are the same – number of miles/points required for an award vary from program to program; some have various fees associated with an award, others impose fuel surcharges on awards, etc. Because of that, it makes sense to do some research ahead of time to figure out what program works for you. Also, keep in mind that there are some airlines that don’t belong to any alliances but they do have partnerships with other airlines that you can earn/redeem miles on.
Credit Cards
As strange as it may sound, you don’t have to fly with a specific airline to earn miles and you don’t have to stay at a particular hotel in order to earn points. If you are based in the USA, major banks offer different credit cards that earn miles, hotel points, credit towards travel or cash back. It’s possible to collect miles/points just by swiping your credit card while doing your regular shopping for groceries. Even more exciting is that some credit cards offer sign up bonuses – if you play your cards right, you could earn a vacation just for signing up for couple credit cards. Just make sure you don’t abuse it and pay off your credit cards in full.
Buying Miles/Points
This could be surprising to some people but airlines and hotels do sell miles/points. Most of the time it doesn’t make financial sense to buy them, but in some cases it might work. If you want to fly business/first class, buying miles might be the cheaper option; if you plan on staying at a hotel that is at the very low or very high end of the award chart, it might make sense to buy points. So this is an option that could be worth doing on a case-by-case basis.
Shopping Portals
Most of our shopping is done online. Why? To earn extra miles/points! Most major airlines and credit card programs have online shopping portals, which direct you to the actual store’s website and pay you extra miles/points for shopping there. If that sounds confusing, here’s how it works: let’s say you need to buy something from Macy’s and you know it will cost you $100. You have a few options:
- go to the actual retail store and buy it; if you use a credit card that earns miles/points, this purchase most likely will earn you a minimum of 100 miles/points ($100 X 1 mile/point)
- go to Macy’s online site and purchase it online; if you use a credit card that earns miles/points, this purchase most likely will earn you a minimum of 100 miles/points ($100 X 1 mile/point)
- go through a shopping portal which will direct you to Macy’s online store. This will net you extra points in addition to the 100 miles/points mentioned above. To maximize your points, use Cashback Monitor (or other similar sites) to see which portal has the highest payout. Just make sure to register for all shopping portals before using them.
Dining Programs
The Rewards Network company will pay you miles/points if you spend money at a participating restaurant. All you have to do is pick what miles/points you want to earn and register the credit card that you will be paying with. Simple as that. Miles/points will be transferred to your account automatically, no need to collect receipts.