Good reminder! I have used Priceline quite a lot for hotel rooms, but have not used them for flights

T his is a guest post from Emily Guy Birken,  a freelance writer, recovering English teacher, and stay-at-home-mom. She lives in Lafayette, Indiana, with her mechanical engineer husband and infant cheap last minute air travel son. Her musings on life and parenting can be found at  The SAHMnambulist .  She is a frequent contributor to PTMoney.com
Even though you may have just put away the swimsuits and pool toys, now is actually the right time to start thinking about your holiday travel plans.  It used to be that you could wait until a few weeks before cheap last minute air travel Thanksgiving or Christmas to buy your airline tickets, but those days are long gone.  If you know that you're going to visit Grandma Lil or Uncle Morton for the holidays this year, these pointers will help you avoid paying through the nose:
1.  Don't wait!   In the past, it was possible to take advantage of last-minute deals right before the holidays, but it's a mistake to count on those deals this year.  Airfare prices have gone up several times already this year, and the longer you wait to buy your tickets, the more expensive they will be.  Also, if you find airfare in your price point, go ahead and pull the trigger.  You won't gain anything by waiting.
If your plans aren't set in stone, you could take the chance that there will be a last-minute discount on your fare.  But don't count on this if you know it would break your mother's heart that you're not home for the holidays.
2.  Be flexible .  The majority of Thanksgiving travelers will fly on the same days each year: the Wednesday before turkey day and the Sunday after.  These are the days that maximize the time with the in-laws within the constraints of the four-day weekend. However, they are also the most expensive days to fly (not to mention the most crowded cheap last minute air travel and frustrating days in an airport).  If you have any flexibility in your plans, plan to fly in on the Monday before the holiday cheap last minute air travel or on Thanksgiving day itself, and fly back out again on the Friday, Saturday or Tuesday after the holiday.
As for Christmas, the most expensive days to fly vary each year, but you can save a lot if you're cheap last minute air travel willing to fly on Christmas day, or plan your trip so you're arriving before December 17 and/or leaving after January 2.
3.  Make your travel time a little longer.   We all know that flying out of hub or large airport can make a big difference in the ticket price.  Willingness to drive several hours to the nearest hub airport can save you green—which will help you afford all those family presents.  Another strategy is to take connecting flights rather than non-stop cheap last minute air travel service.  It does add to your travel time, but it can save you a great deal of money.
4.  Use frequent cheap last minute air travel flier miles .  Even less-than-seasoned travelers cheap last minute air travel can take advantage of  free airline miles .  Though it might be difficult to accumulate enough miles this year to fly home for free, you can sign up for a frequent flyer program now and start using your flights home, travel for work and credit card perks toward a free flight in the future.
5.  Shop around.   It's important to remember that not all the major domestic airlines show their fares on comparison sites.  Make sure you're not overlooking an airline that flies from your city just because cheap last minute air travel it's not listed on an aggregate cheap last minute air travel site.
6.  Know the rules on checked luggage .  Even once you've purchased your tickets, you can still get some rude surprises.  Check the rules and FAQs on your airline's website to know whether your checked bags fly free.  Based on that, you'll know if you need to mail your gifts ahead and just pack a carry-on.
My thoughts:  Emily mentioned some very good points on reducing holiday travel expense. I would like to add that tickets cheap last minute air travel for odd time of the day (say 8PM) is generally cheaper than morning flights (say 8 AM). If you can make your travel schedule a little more flexible you can catch the cheapest flight of the day.
I usually book tickets through bidding at Priceline. The main advantage is you might get an unusually lower rate. There is a hack I use on Priceline, start a couple of months earlier, and start bidding with a very low price, chances are you will get rejected. Priceline won t allow you more than one bid per day for same destination and origin, you can gradually increase bid price by one dollar each day (if you can change origin or destination, it gives you freedom to bid twice a day). Continue this process for a few days. I always get my bid accepted cheap last minute air travel within a few days.
The main drawback of Priceline is you can specify only the dates not the time of the day. You may lose an entire day if you get a late night flight or you need to take a day off if booked on a morning flight instead of a night flight.
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We are in town for the holidays however we will be traveling to New Hampshire for a family reunion around the 4th of July. I usually use a few online travel sites to compare prices and then adjust departure dates to find the best price.
cheap last minute air travel Oh yeah $50 charge at minimum for an over-sized or overweight baggage, its too much. Travel with less items helps. If you travel to a particular place every year, keep two sets of clothes and accessories to reduce amount of baggage.
Good reminder! I have used Priceline quite a lot for hotel rooms, but have not used them for flights. I like your strategy cheap last minute air travel of bidding once a day for several days in a row, raising your bid just $1 each time. I wouldn t have thought cheap last minute air travel of that. For hotel rooms I usually raise my bid by $5 and/or add new areas of the city I ll accept or change the number of stars. We ve gotten some very nice rooms for about $50-60 that way.
Southwest Airlines still offers one free checked bag they are not on the aggregators sites. If you have a Delta credit card (forget the type, MasterCard?) you also get one free checked bag per passenger. That comes in handy for international cheap last minute air travel flights.
cheap last minute air travel Delta has a tie up with AMEX. Are you sure those cards offer free luggage allowance? I would look at. Remember to keep start and return journey dates free ..you ll never know which flight you will be booked in to.
[...] SB presents When and How to Buy Holiday Airline Tickets to Save posted at One Cent at a Time, saying, Summer is now gone, when you are waiting for the leaves to change color, this is the best time to buy airline tickets for holiday travel. How to get the cheapest airline fare this holiday. [...]
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