I am currently on travel in Disney World, Florida. I’m here because my daughter has her very last Cheer Competition (EVER!!!) here. It is a major International event that is run by one of the premier cheer athletic organizations in the country. That’s promo speak for “you pay through the nose for this”. The competition lasts from Thursday through Sunday with preliminaries early on and finals on Sunday. Pay attention to that last sentence, because it’s more important that you think.
Travel Hack Number One
Buy your airline tickets early. Yes, there is a possibility that if you wait the cost MIGHT go down. However, in our particular case, that didn’t happen. We were looking at over $500 per person (four of us) and that may or may not have included luggage fees. We didn’t book our flight until about three weeks before the date to leave. By the way, Tuesday is still the cheapest day to fly. Which brings me to my next point.
Travel Hack Number Two
We’re staying from the Tuesday before until the Tuesday after the competition. The tickets were much cheaper to fly on a Tuesday. So, when you’re already behind the eight ball with your trip planning/financing, you make the necessary accommodations to offset. We were able to save a few hundred dollars each by flying on these days. It was tricky though, because airlines now sell you a round- trip fare for one price but for your return trip, make you pick from a list of possible flights. These return trip flights are listed in order of popularity it seems with the least popular first. The ones at the top of the list are at no extra charge, but as you go down the list into the seemingly more popular/better timeline flights, they add a charge to your round-trip fare. There’s a way around it, which brings me to my next point.
Travel Hack Number Three
Buy two one-way tickets instead of round-trip. You are still faced with the “popular” charge of the return trip, but the flight out to your destination seems to be cheaper. We were able to save another couple hundy per person by booking two one-way fares to and fro.
So, how much did you save, Dave?
Whelp, I’m glad you asked. I’m proud to say, that even though we did it completely wrong by waiting to book our flights, we were able to fly a family of four from California to Florida for just over $1000!! Not bad for someone that started booking WAYYY too late in the game.
So, that’s it, right?
Nope. You don’t have any luggage. Your luggage needs a ticket to fly as well. Four people, at $30 per bag equals $120. So, you have to figure that expense as well. Oh, so you want to bring your luggage back home too? Yeah, well then double that $120 to the tune of $240 and that is your new luggage fee for your trip. You can save some money by having two people per bag, using the larger sized bags. However, you have to be sure that they each stay below 50 pounds and the combined length dimensions are not over something like 67 inches. I believe they use length plus width added together to come up with that number. Anything over those figures and the airline charges you a flat $100 per bag. Thereby negating any savings that you may have had by sharing a bag.
Travel Hack Number Four
Remember that sentence that I wanted you to pay attention to? The one about the competition running from Thursday through Sunday. Yeah, here’s some advice. Tuesday to Tuesday might be cheap to fly, but the money you save doesn’t always offset the money you spend staying extra days. As a family of four, I have to feed these vultures every day that we are here. Disney food. Presumably made by the hands of Mickey himself, based on the prices, and quite frankly, the taste. It’s not good this year, not as good as last year and it was only marginal then. You certainly do pay for it though.
You also have to book rooms for the additional days. In our case, that is an additional $180 per day beyond the initial requirement. We have two of those, one at the beginning and one at the end.
So, Let’s Do Some Math.
Four people for two additional days. You need to figure about $200 per day for food ($400), and that’s conservative, believe me. Plus, a room for the additional two days at $180 per day ($360). Add that up and your bare-bones additional cost is $760. That is how much more you spent “saving” on your flight costs.
Don’t forget the “unmentioned” expenses. You are out of work for two additional days. The kids are out of school for those two additional days as well. Not a financial crisis for them, and they are probably happy about it. You however, are losing at least a little bit of money plus some accumulated vacation time that might be better spent elsewhere. You booked your flight late so that expense is still looming come trip time. That added expense plus the extra days in a hotel and the anxiety of not knowing how much more money you will need to spend makes it difficult to relax on your “vacation”.
For those of us in financial battle, every dollar that was not an expected expense takes a chink out of our armor. By spending that money upfront, on airline tickets that would have us there on the specified days, the days that were originally budgeted, I think the trip would be less scary and more enjoyable.
So, What Did We Learn?
There is no making up for not booking your flights as early as possible. You have more/better flight options and quite honestly, you get that expense out of the way and so far down-range that when trip time comes, that money spent isn’t even a thought anymore. Staying extra day to obtain better airline fairs is not real savings. The costs you incur while doing so and the fear of the financial unknown are not worth it. And of course, the bottom line is that vacations are not cheap. Certainly not when you have to rely on other to provide your travel and lodging, at a price, of course.
I’ll let you know how this little adventure unfolds. We’re off to see a Mouse.
Dave
CONS: Disney gets you in the wallet for everything, airlines get you in the wallet for everything, the kids eat too much.
PROS: As usual, family time is awesome, making memories, what happens at Disney World, stays at Disney World, hehe.