Spending too much time looking for deals? Here’s how to find affordable high-end trips fast and easy.
If you’re like most people, you go through three steps to book a vacation trip:
- Dreaming: Every trip starts with a dream. It can be inspired by an effective TV ad, an evocative movie location, a well-written travel story, or simply by friends or family sharing their own experiences. Whatever the spark, it won’t take long until you are planning the trip.
- Planning: Once planning starts, travelers typically visit a whopping 38 websites—yes, 38—to find the perfect hotel and the best airline deal, according to Expedia.
- Booking: Now that you have your destination, travel dates, and hotel set, you’re ready to book the airline tickets.
So Last Century Thinking
Ditch that old-school thinking that causes you to leave the airline booking for last because— let’s face it—it’s definitely the least “fun” part of trip planning. But here’s the problem: by the time you’re ready to book the airline ticket, you can’t find any deals because you’ve boxed yourself in by the dates that your lodging has availability. You spend weeks planning but don’t take into account where the airline deals are. Flip that model now!
Stop booking backwards and use FCF’s screaming deals first
Do not box yourself in. Do not set yourself up for failure by going where there is no deal.
Embrace the FCF mindset. Start by booking where the deal is—the airline deal that is. Even if it’s not the one you were thinking about, one of your bucket-list destinations is probably nearby.
Instead—let FCF find the best airfare deals, then plan the rest of your trip around those. Just keep a broad wish list of destinations, so when the opportunity arises to snag a great deal on airfare to one of them, you’re ready to pounce.
Who Only Has One Place to Go on Their List?
I don’t know anyone that wouldn’t get excited about five (if not 50) different places to go next. When you generate that bucket list, you’re going to want to keep a couple things in mind. Flexibility is key.
At the very least, consider a few different regions (or a few different places within a given region) for your next trip, and go with the one that affords the best travel opportunity during your time frame—or look at a few different places within a region, for the same reason.
For example, you can find a deal in First Class to Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific, a ticket that can easily run $30,000+; you can book for free using your Amex Rewards, Chase, CITI, or Marriott/Starwood points. Or see check out a First Class deal to Australia on Qantas, First Class deal to Asia on Singapore, First Class to Asia on All Nippon, and many others.
How to Stop Booking Backwards
You can no longer afford to book a trip based on backwards thinking of dreaming, planning, and booking—unless you’re happy paying the higher rates. Rates that the airlines offer can often be double, or more, as you are at their mercy based on your dates and destination.
Let’s look at it this way. Here’s what happens when you plan the way most people do and book your airine ticket last. Those ticket prices skyrocket, but you pay them anyway, which means—in the big-picture view of your overall trip—you end up settling for a lower quality experience overall. You can’t take as many excursions or eat at the best restaurants because you forked over all of your money to the airline.
When you settle for a lower-quality experience, you defeat half of the purpose you’re getting out of town to begin with.
Or you pay the high rates and feel like you’ve been had.
Don’t suffer low-quality experiences or defeat yourself before you get started or feel like you’ve been had because you don’t have to.
Instead: Check out FCF’s newsroom for special flash deal alerts to anywhere near your desired destinations. It’s a completely different way of thinking: find a flight DEAL to or near your top 5 or 10 bucket list destinations, book the ticket, and then plan the rest of the trip.
The Upgrade Mindset
Let’s take Sally Sue, who has Asia, especially Bangkok, on her bucket list. She comes across an FCF Sweet Redeems alert with Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong, which has three months (July, August, and September) with very good mileage award availability in First Class.
She decides to book a trip in September to Hong Kong, and then depending on award space, will try to add the Bongkok ticket on the same ticket as Hong Kong. If there’s no award space, she’ll buy a second round-trip ticket from Hong Kong to Bangkok in Business Class for $500 (economy at $200 could also be an option, as the flight time is only three hours). That’s a win, as she gets her bucket-list destination, plus a second amazing destination, Hong Kong, at a great deal.
How to get an affordable dream trip, fast and easy:
Check the Weather: Arm yourself with knowledge. Just type the city and weather by month into Google to find out what to expect. For example, the Sydney monthly weather forecast provides month-by-month temperature averages.
Consider Other Cities/Destinations: New Zealand on your list? If you don’t see a deal to Auckland in the FCF newsroom, but there’s a First Class seat for less than the price of Business Class to Sydney, why not check out Sydney for a day or three on your way? Then tack on Auckland to the trip, while you’re in that part of the world. You may not be Down Under again, so take advantage of the opportunity. That’s what we call an Opportunity Traveler.
In other words, book the deal you find on the long-haul flight when it comes up and then research the cost for nonstop flights to nearby destinations afterward. But wait, there’s more! Half the time you can get those extra connecting segments added on for free. If you book far enough out, you’ll have time to figure out the other cities you want to visit, as well as the hotels and other travel arrangements needed. And the best part? You’ll travel in comfort—and be a lot less cranky upon arrival.
When you’re less cranky about flying, you don’t think about flying.
When you don’t think twice about flying, you take more trips.
When you take more trips, you’re more enriched and rejuvenated.
Be enriched and rejuvenated.
Time to Lock in the Deal
If you know what nearby cities you want to visit, then check the cost for connecting flights from where the fabulous deal takes you. If you are unsure of what other cities you want, book them at a later date.
The key is to book the most important part of your flight—the long-haul great-deal flight—now. More on how you can be an Opportunity Traveler.
More on Connecting Cities
If you come across a deal that is not from your departure city, know that you can often add a connecting city from almost anywhere in the U.S. For more on how to make FCF’s Sweet Redeems work with connecting flights, go here. Don’t see your origin and/or destination cities in an FCF headline? Go here. And for more on how to take advantage of discount long-haul flights, go here.
Scout out Local Events: Keep an eye out for special events, which can enrich your travel further. For example, if you see an amazing FCF deal to Melbourne, but you really want to go to New Zealand, why not hit the Melbourne Cup horse race on the way? (Known locally as “the race that stops a nation.”) Then you can add on a flight to Auckland and enjoy two destinations, instead of just one. Major events are one of my favorite ways to experience other cultures.
Redeposit/Change Mileage Award Ticket: If you find a $30,000 Cathay Pacific First Class flight for a bargain, don’t think twice about the redeposit or change fee of $25 to $120 (cost varies by type of service) if you wind up not wanting to take the trip or working around the dates of an itinerary that’s heavily discounted.
Just grab the deal now and try to make an awesome trip of it. You don’t have to figure it all out right away. If you do need to change later, that fee is peanuts compared to the huge savings you’ve scored.
The point is—deals disappear quickly, so be prepared to jump before they are gone.
Look at Hotels (Cruises and Packages) in Advance: This way, you’re prepared when the great air deal comes up. For example, know that you can stay at a Saint Regis in Singapore starting at about $270, that’s not too expensive in that location before traveling onward to your final destination. Research the iconic hotels that you’ve always wanted to stay in to get a high-level sense of their cost without spending weeks trying to account for every dollar of the trip.
At the end of the day, you win—and win big—by aligning the air deal with the hotel or package cost. Well, if you adopt the priceless FCF mindset that is…
Conclusion
If travel is your thing—or you wish it was—keep your bags packed. Travel the world comfortably. Live while you’re alive.