Vacation for Less
Ways to stretch your travel dollar.
by Andrea Peck
Vacation planning for military families typically begins with one critical question: “Are we moving this summer?” Only after assurances that a PCS move – or deployment – will not derail talk of a summer getaway, does the conversation shift to where the family would like to vacation.
Kenya, Vietnam, Morocco and Croatia, are the top family vacation destinations of 2008, according to the New York Times. But no one I know has those countries on their short list of vacation options. Instead, most military families opt to explore the region of the country or world in which they are currently living.
Where spouses are going
Jennifer Stark, a Navy wife finishing school in New York while her husband is stationed in Hawaii, extols the virtues of Hawaii as the picture-perfect vacation or honeymoon destination.
“Downtown Waikiki and the beach are beautiful,” she said. “Any family can find things to do there even if they just stay in town. Shopping, nightlife and the beaches. Nothing could ever top it in our book.”
No matter whether your vacation plans are exotic or mundane, travel experts say the keys to finding good deals are planning, persistence, and access to the Internet.
An all-inclusive vacation to Jamaica, Brazil or the Dominican Republic can be a great option for travelers who prefer to spend less time searching out bargains and more time enjoying them. When booked through SatoVacations, military rates can start as low as $74 per person, per night.
Monnie Riggin, vice president of worldwide leisure programs for CWT/Sato Travel’s military and government markets, said there are no “one size fits all” answers when picking a vacation destination. Instead, knowing what you want from a vacation is essential.
“Find out what appeals to you,” she said.“ All-inclusives are good values if those are the destinations you are interested in. There’s family focused and single focused. It just depends on where you are in life and what you like to do.”
What the experts say
Theo Brandt-Sarif, founder of Travelexpert.com, explains that knowledge is power when it comes to landing cheap airfares or using frequent flyer miles for reward travel. Because his children are in school, Brandt-Sarif labels himself an “inflexible traveler.” Nonetheless, he routinely finds travel bargains by heeding his No. 1 travel tip: Snag the cheapest fares by booking airline tickets or reward travel 330 days in advance, on the first day U.S. airlines load their flights into the computerized reservation system.
While the idea of planning a trip nearly a year in advance may seem unrealistic, Brandt-Sarif says holidays offer a prime opportunity for advance ticketing.
“If you want to leave the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and come back to the base on Sunday, the best price you’ll get is by booking a year in advance,” he said. “There will be a few tickets at the lowest price for peak days of travel. As those seats are taken, the next bucket of seats they sell will be at a higher price.”
Airlines charge a penalty if a nonrefundable ticket is changed, but Brandt-Sarif said the savings from routinely booking in advance offset the cost of an occasional re-booking penalty. Moreover, he pointed out, airlines allow one year from the original reservation date to use a nonrefundable ticket.
While it’s common knowledge that Tuesday and Wednesday are the cheapest days to fly, the best day to book airline tickets is a different story. Domestic airfares can change up to three times a day during the week and at 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.
“There’s no rationality to the system,” said George Hobica, founder of AirfareWatchdog.com.“ Airlines really do play games with these fares.”
Tricks of the trade
Because of these frequent fare changes, periodically check whether a ticket you are holding has gone down in price. Two days after booking a flight from Seattle to Las Vegas, I received an e-mail announcing Alaska Airline’s latest sale. Though I had purchased the airline’s “bargain” fare, the same seats now were being offered for $42 less. Because Alaska, Southwest, and United protect customers when a nonrefundable fare drops in price, I received an $84 voucher for future travel. Other airlines charge as much as a $100 fee before refunding any difference in the form of a voucher.
Hobica created AirfareWatchdog.com because he knew the average traveler could not unearth the best fares in such a complex system. His airfare experts search for promotional fares and sales seven days a week, alerting travelers – who receive his free newsletter or visit the Web site – to the hidden deals.
For example, among the site’s “Top 50 Airfares of the Day” in February was a $159 round trip from Baltimore to San Antonio on Northwest as well as a $284 roundtrip from San Francisco to Costa Rica.