4 ways to save on holiday travel

Traveling over the holidays can be wonderful, especially if you don’t experience any bad weather or travel delays. Experts say it can even be wonderful for your wallet, if you’re willing to be flexible.

Here are a few tips to help you get the best travel deals this year.

Set flight alerts: Who has time to search for deals? Let sites like Hopper.com, AirfareWatchDog.com, Kayak.com or JustFly.com do the searching for you. Enter your destination alerts and they do the rest, letting you know about price drops and flash sales.

Be spontaneous:If you are open to travelling at the last minute then you may want to consider the Skyscanner app. You can create an alert for a particular flight, and the app will send you updates if the price drops. Skyscanner also lets you select “anywhere” for a destination, allowing you to consider any number of special deals departing from your local airport.

Split it up: If you have the time, experts say there may be discounts to be found using one-way tickets through separate airlines versus a direct roundtrip fare. Enter the destination and possible dates in your favorite flight alert site or app and compare prices to see if this strategy works to your advantage.

Think outside the box: Willing to fly on the holiday itself? If so, you can save money and the normal hassle since most people book flights before the festivities begin.  Forget about traditional hotel chains and explore deals on sites like Airbnb, Booking.com or VacationRentalsByOwner.com. Think about giving car-sharing rentals like Turo.com or Getaround.com a try. And when planning road trips, be sure to sign up for the free Gasbuddy app, for the cheapest gas while earning a discount for each fill up. Could you get home for holidays on the train? You may save time and money, especially given how often airline flights can be delayed.

 

Myriam DiGiovanni

Myriam DiGiovanni

After writing for Credit Union Times and The Financial Brand, Myriam DiGiovanni covers financial literacy for FinancialFeed. She is also a storytelling expert and works with credit unions to help ... Web: www.financialfeed.com Details