Finding a Cheap Flight – Here are my tricks

Not so long ago, my wife and I celebrated our 10^th wedding anniversary. To celebrate our union and the fact that we barely left our province since we have kids, we decided to book an amazing trip to Hawaii. We stayed for 10 days at the Sheraton in Maui. Honestly, this is the most beautiful place on earth!

Unfortunately, the most beautiful place on earth is not the cheapest one! The flight cost to go to Hawaii could be quite expensive. Since I really wanted to enjoy my vacation, I wanted to make sure I cut transportation costs. I’ve found a few tricks I wanted to share on how I was able to save a few bucks on my flight to Hawaii.

Check for Prices Several Months in Advance

I checked about 6 months prior to telling my wife we were going to Hawaii. To be honest, the first reason why I did this was because I wasn’t sure I could afford it! What I realized by checking so much time in advance is that I had an idea of the “regular price” for airplane tickets. Since I don’t go to Hawaii each year, I had no clue how much I had to disburse.

Then, when I was ready to make my purchase, I knew how much to expect.

Try Combining More than One Service

I’ve booked my hotel with the same agency I booked my flight. It was giving me the equivalent of two free nights (considering it was $400/day, it definitely worth it!). It’s only normal that the online agency will give you more rebate if your bill is bigger. I could have had a bigger rebate if I had taken the car rental with the same agency but I was lucky enough to get an even better deal by renting from a local agency that was far from the airport, but closed to the hotel.

Read Forums

Honestly, the first place to check for any trip is travel forums. Real people talking about real trip, no advertising BS, I always spend a few hours on those forums to read about stories. You get tricks to pay less for your airplane (best time of the year, connections, best companies, etc) but you also get a lot more information about where to stay and where to eat!

Checkout for Reward Points

This takes time and it is annoying, but if you register to all reward points with hotels and airplane companies, you will eventually earn free trips or free nights for your next vacation. Each time I travel, I make sure I register to all those “preferred guest, five stars , members only” programs. There is a fortune for you to take simply by spending a few minutes to register to each of them.

The best thing is they keep track of your points for you so you don’t have to remember which one you used the last time!

Overall, my trip to Hawaii cost about $9,500 for two for 10 days. It’s far from being cheap, but we did so much it was worth it! This is a place where you can do pretty much everything you want and discover a whole new world governed by Mother Nature. Let me know if you have been and how you liked it!