- Start with Bing's holiday travel calendar tool -- go to the boxes on the bottom left above which the text reads, "Plan trips --->See low fares over the next 30 days" and enter your cities in the dropdown menu, click and see which days are the best holiday travel days (as in cheapest). We used Atlanta and Boston (above top), and the resulting graph shows us that for Thanksgiving, for example, November 18-19, 24, 28 and 30 are peak travel days, meaning most expensive; November 22-23 and 29 are "off-peak" airfare days, though still spendy; November 26-28 are slightly less than off-peak; and November 21 is the best day to fly, with close to low / normal fare days. We checked prices for November 21 and 28 in order to make a decent vacation and get back to school for Monday classes, and they were heinously expensive (though better than peak). So - choose one of those off-peak or less than off-peak days to begin and end your travel... but first, compare!
- Compare the costs above to that of a student airfare provider (check this week's current student airfare deals, too). We found a student airfare from STA for $141.70. And we found one for $166.70 from STA on Wednesday! Compare that to $237 from Priceline for Wednesday (above right) -- yeah, student airfares rule. (More about that on the next page).
About's Guide to Budget Travel, Mark Kahler, points out that you may find a great deal at a smallish airport. He uses a Cincinnati-Birmingham example -- by driving 100 miles to Lousiville, KY, instead of using the Cincinnati airport, he saves $218 (from $306 to $88 round trip). Wow - drive a little and save a lot.
Go on to the next page for more about student airfares, including standby: 1 2 3 4 5
