If you’re one of those travelers who has logged mile after mile, you must be wondering, can we still travel for summer and keep it affordable? Yes, the good news is that we can, even in the age of high gas prices. Obviously air fares continue to go up, and of course this is a function of the cost of fuel and oil prices. But I’ve got a couple of different tricks, a couple of different sites, that I want you to turn your attention to. The biggest key, let’s remember, is having some measure of flexibility. If you have flexibility, you’re always going to be able to save a buck or two.
Now the first website, that I want you to go to is ITA Matrix. The beauty of this particular website, is that it will actually pull together an entire 30 day calendar. You can search from today all the way to 30 days from now. That is of every single airline out there, and you can search a range of dates as well. So, for example, you can go from 3 days to 10 days, and it will pull up the lowest fare and populate that into each box on the calendar. Then when you hover over, it will tell you which number of nights you stay in that particular destination is going to be the cheapest round trip air fare. And you can actually utilize this as the industry professionals do in a very robust manner but with a certain simplicity to it. It’s very friendly.
If your flexibility includes your travel destination, and you know you want to get out of town, but you just don’t know where, then you want to head to Google Flights. With Google Flights, you’re going to be able to take a look at a map. It’s got all those little dots you can hover over, and it will give you the price of any particular destination when you populate your dates. And you can even go globally. So, for example, if you want to go to Tehran to see your folks, then that would cost $1263, round trip.
So all you need then is your origination city, where you’re flying from, and then it will give you the details. I searched out of New York and then I went to this map of Europe. As you will see, there are prices that vary wildly, even though you’re going to a city that might be right next to another one. Sometimes you’ll even find that you’re traveling on the same flight. For example, if you’re going from New York to London, and then you’re connecting from London through to another city, then that flight from New York to London will cost you twice as much as it would to go through London to another city. So if you’re booking one way, a little insider secret, just get off in London. Book the cheaper one and get off.
