Travel Hacks for Booking Travel
Save time and money on booking travel with the following ten hacks:
1. Use multiple travel search engines to find the lowest fare. It only takes a few moments to run your search through a second and third search engine and it can save you a nice bit of money. Top search engines include Kayak, Cheaptickets and Bing Travel. Sidestep and Farechase are comparison-shopping engines that are also useful.
2. Read the news. USA Today points out that news sites often provide the best information about hot deals. They recommend themselves and their parter company Web Flyer as well as Travelzoo.com and Bestfares.com. More up-to-date news sources include phone apps (like FareCompare for iPhone) and Twitter travel news.
3. Pay attention to flight departure and arrival times. Choose flights that are close to hotel check-in and checkout times. Consider transportation issues getting to and from the airport at different times.
4. Give yourself plenty of time. Avoid scheduling trips that have you arriving just before you need to be somewhere at your destination. Give yourself time in case there are travel problems.
5. Choose your layovers wisely. Give yourself enough time to catch the second flight even if the first flight is delayed. If possible, plan your layover in one of the country’s top airports. Las Vegas, Chicago and Denver have good airports for entertaining yourself during long layovers.
6. Select a cheaper seat. Some airlines offer middle seats at a lower cost. Use SeatPlans.com or SeatGuru to search the prices of seats on your airline.
7. Check fees before buying your tickets. Airplane baggage fees, in particular, aren’t included in the price of your ticket and can vary considerably from airline to airline. Look up those fees before you book your trip. Airfarewatchdog has a convenient baggage fee chart.
8. Take advantage of points and rewards. Use your frequent flier miles, credit card rewards and hotel loyalty program rewards when booking travel. Use them to buy the travel and make sure that you take advantage of racking up new rewards for booking your travel. Review them carefully to see which ones offer the best deals. For example, you may find that booking your flight through a travel tool such as the one offered for Chase credit card members is a better deal than booking the flight on another miles rewards credit card.
9. Use a credit card to book the trip. Credit cards offer financial protections that debit cards don’t offer. The New York Times reports that credit card companies are required to reimburse you for airplane trips that get canceled.
10. Check Deal-a-day sites in the weeks leading up to your trip. Sites like Groupon, LivingSocial and Gilt Groupe’s Jetsetter allow you to pay a fraction of the cost for hotels, spas and activities during your trip. Only one deal is offered each day, though, and you never know what it will be so you need to start looking at these sites before the trip.
Travel Hacks for Packing
Do you envy those people who pack lightly and never forget a thing? These ten travel hacks can help:
11. Buy small clear bottles. This simplifies the process of taking any liquids of toiletries on airplanes.
12. Pack on wheels. Make travel easier on yourself by making sure that all of your luggage has wheels. Add snap-on wheels to baby seats. If you must carry a backpack without wheels, pack it with the heaviest items on top so that it sits comfortably on your back.
13. Use a suitcase divider. Separate the top items from the bottom items. If your luggage doesn’t come with a divider just use a light piece of cardboard. This simplifies the process of getting through security lines if you have to open your bags.
14. Roll your clothes. This saves room compared to folding your clothes. If you have items that need to be wrinkle free, roll them inside of tissue paper.
15. Use a ready made packing list to see if you’re missing anything. There’s a good one here.
16. Pack a change of clothes into your carryon. This gives you an extra outfit in case your checked luggage gets lost or delayed.
17. Spread out books and notebooks. Don’t stack them in one spot in your bags.
18. Use luggage tags. This really makes things a lot easier in case your packed bags do get lost.
19. Check baggage restrictions. Ideally you’ll pack as little as possible. However, if you’re taking extra luggage then make sure that you’ll be able to bring it all with you. Check restrictions on weight, size and number of bags before you head to the airport.
20. Take a walk around the block with your luggage. If it’s too heavy or cumbersome to walk around your neighborhood then you’ll know in advance that you need to make some changes before the trip.
