Finding Flight Deals

We have family - siblings, parents, aunts/uncles, and cousins - all over.  We want to visit, so even though we have two kids now, we do our best to plan trips.  If we all fly that means paying for three tickets, planning on a lap baby and typically packing as light as possible so we don't have to pay for bags.

My husband is the travel guru.  He checks flights constantly.  He knows what a good fare is, what a typical fare is and what an absolutely awesome fare is.  If he knows we plan to go somewhere unusual (France, Jamaica) he will check the flights throughout the next year to see what time of year the prices are typically best. So for example, when we decided last summer that we might go to Jamaica in the fall of this year, he started looking at flights to see whether they go down or up closer to the time of departure.

My best deal ever that my husband found and booked for me was a $19 ticket price (each way) to go to Florida, non-stop; that was just me and my son before he turned two, so he was free.  I had just been in FL and I was not planning to go again, but with a deal like that, even just going for four days, it was worth it.  Our best deal to California non-stop that we have used so far has been $100 round trip per person into San Francisco.  If we had been able to fly home on a Tuesday instead of a Sunday it would have been less.  I have lots of flexibility with week day flights since I am a stay-at-home-Mom, but my husband works in an office and has to plan out his vacation days carefully.

If you're wanting to save money or visit family more, research your local airport's airlines.  Figure out who has the best deals.  For us, for where we fly Frontier has been an absolute blessing.  We have seen our families so much more because of this airline.  We pack light so that we do not have to pay for bags or more than one bag and my Mom keeps a wardrobe at our house for when she comes so she only needs a personal item which is free.  We've also sent stuff ahead when family drives through so that when we fly we have what we need.

We were hoping to have my brother and sister-in-law visit us for Labor Day weekend, but due to their personal situation - yay, they are buying a house! - they decided not to come.  We decided to look into going to visit them and other family that weekend instead and my husband ended up buying me a ticket using points that equivalently meant my ticket cost $23.  He's planning to drive out with our son while I fly with our daughter (to avoid the long trip for her both ways) and then we'll all drive home together.  We do these kinds of crazy arrangements, but it works well for us.

Singing off...We'll travel along
Gina

Question for you:What is the best flight deal you have ever had?