7 Easy Travel Hacks That Will Save You Money

Whether you travel a lot or a little, these easy travel hacks and tips can save you money.

GOOGLE FLIGHTS

In 2011 Google bought ITA software which is used by major booking sites. While you cannot book the flight directly, there are advantages in using Google Flight to look for airfares.

The software allows you to search using flexible dates, gives you the best prices for each day and has a graph that extends your search out for six months giving you the best prices.

You can also set up a price alert that will notify you in case of a price drop.

 

SPEND TIME IN A LAYOVER CITY

If your flight includes a layover for several hours in a city, contact the airline ticketing agent and see if they will extend the layover. In a lot of cases you can extend the layover from a few hours to 24 hours or more without incurring any additional costs. Since a lot of layovers occur in hub cities for the airlines you could wind up with time to explore a new city.

 

FOOL THE BOOKING SITE

Booking sites use cookies and track your IP address, telling them where you are located, when you are booking a flight or hotel. Depending on where you are located you will see different prices. Each time you visit, the booking site tracks you and in a lot of cases increases the rates. This is something called “dynamic pricing”. If you check a price, then a day or two later go back and check again you might find the price has increased. You can do a couple of things to alleviate this problem.

You can turn on private browsing in your web browser and that will help however there is an additional step you can take.

Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to log onto the internet. If you are not familiar with VPN’s they come in really handy while traveling. A VPN allows you to choose the location from which you connect to the internet. If you are in New York you can connect via an IP address in Brazil, London or anywhere in the world.

This has advantages in keeping your info private from hackers and potential identity thieves but also in booking flights.

A quick search using a VPN for flights from Houston, Texas to London, UK resulted in rates ranging from $778.26 to $912.48 for the exact same flight. In some cases, you can save over $1,000.

Whether you use private browsing a VPN or decide to use neither always clear your history and cookies in your browser after each search.

 

BUY 2 ONE WAY TICKETS

This one doesn’t always work but it is worth checking. On occasions two one way tickets are cheaper than a round trip. Another advantage of buying two tickets is you can mix and match airlines and have better choices of departure and arrival times. Some of the large booking sites give you this option by allowing you to choose the departure flight and return flight but it always worth checking.

 

TIPS FROM SEASONED TRAVELERS

 

Rob and Nat from the travel blog Love and Road shared this tip:

 

“Accommodations are one of the biggest expenses on a trip, especially if you want to stay in a nice hotel, or rent a house/apartment for a long holiday. The solution for a comfy place that you won’t empty your pockets might be house and pet sitting. Last year we saved over six months’ worth on accommodation by taking care of other people’s house and pets. A great way to have a homey feeling during your travels without spending a penny. There are plenty of websites that connect travelers with house owners, you can choose the destination, type of house, duration of the house sitting, with or without a pet … House and pet sitting is a money saver option, as you are staying in a house you can also save a few bucks by cooking at home and doing your own laundry. It works perfectly for long holidays, family trips or a nomadic lifestyle. Apart from the free accommodation, the people you meet and the local life experience, can make you holiday a trip to remember.”

 

Liz Smith from Peanuts or Pretzels shared this tip:

 

“Consider Other Airports & Buy Separate Tickets. We’ve discovered that seeking out airfare sales between alternate cities and buying separate tickets can sometimes end up saving a lot of money on flights.  For example, we planned a trip from Atlanta to Bangkok and roundtrip tickets for the dates we wanted were super expensive.  However, we searched departing from various airports in the US and found that we could go from Seattle for less than half the price!  Of course, we had to get to Seattle…but luckily we found another deal on a discount airline.  Even with buying 2 sets of airline tickets to complete this trip (ATL  SEA & SEA  BKK) we still saved over $1000 in total (2 people).

We’ve done this at our destination country too.  For example, in Europe there are so many discount airlines, trains, etc. that the most expensive part is just getting on the continent!  So we may book a ticket to the cheapest city in Europe, then book other transportation to our final destination.  Of course, you need to determine if the total savings is worth the effort, and build in lots of time in case there are delays (perhaps staying overnight).  It’s not for everyone; however, it might just work for you!”

 

Derek Freal from The Holidaze Blog shared this little known site:

 

“At the risk of spoiling a good thing, check out Secret Flying. If you are not set on one specific destination or departure date, this is the site for you. Round-trip flights halfway around the world for $500. First class seats for cheaper than economy. Accidental airline fares published before realizing that they forgot a zero or two (which yes, are still valid if you purchase the ticket online before the airline corrects their mistake). They just provide the lead, you have to purchase through the official airline websites — which sometimes close fast, especially if it’s a price error. Another plus, the site is free.”

 

So there you have it, 7 easy travel hacks that will save you money.

 

Do you have any travel hacks you use to save money?