Hotel: $100/night. Cab: $15/trip. Food: $20/meal. Airfare: $200. Trip with college buddies: Priceless.
Getting away from the harsh cold weather, rigorous studying and heading to a relaxing tropical paradise usually does not fit into the budgets of many college students.
Escaping may seem impossible, but by following some simple tips for purchasing airline tickets, getting on a plane and heading south for the winter could be less expensive than one would think.
Travel consultants, websites and airlines all continually remind their customers to plan ahead.
“Plan ahead, do not wait until the last minute, it isn’t just the price difference, but the availability,” said Kristen Chambers, principal of Capitol Service Center.
Chambers suggested that purchasing a ticket 21 days before the planned trip is a sufficient amount of time, but earlier is always better.
Many students experience this price increase because of procrastination in planning their holiday getaways. “When I went to Cancun, the ticket was $1,100 because I waited so long to get it,” said freshman Susie Jensen, a frequent traveler.
“Look for packages, they usually end up pricing better. It would be great if you could get all you could eat, all you can drink,” Chambers said referring to spring break travel.
It is important to keep in mind the high priority and busy times for the airports. “Certain holidays are busier than others, Thanksgiving being number one and then Christmas of course. Spring break also falls in there,” said Lisa Marti, director of Gulliver’s Travel.
Flexibility on the flight date by 1-2 days is also helpful. Airlines are more flexible on prices of the tickets when they are given a couple of dates to play with. Travel agencies suggested checking the websites of Expedia.com and Travelocity.com.
Sometimes spending inconvenient time traveling can help keep the costs of the flight down.
“If you don’t mind making connecting flights or leaving at odd times, you can usually fly cheaper,” Martin said. Flying is usually the least enjoyable portion of the holidays, so why spend the majority of the budget on tickets? Do not wait until the last minute to plan your trip and you will have extra money to spend on things that really matter, like food, drinks and shopping.
