Why Flights Cost More and How to Save: Expert Tips for Budget-Friendly Travel

Flight prices soaring? You’re not alone! In this episode of All Things Travel, Ryan and Julie break down why airline prices are higher than ever and share practical tips to help you find the best value for your travel plans. Whether you’re flying domestically or internationally, these hacks will help you navigate the skies without breaking the bank.

Key Topics Covered:

✈️ Why Are Flights So Expensive?

• Taxes, fees, and surcharges that inflate ticket prices
• The impact of supply and demand on airfare
• How airline staffing and fleet shortages affect costs

💡 Top Tips for Saving on Flights:

• The importance of flexibility with dates and airports
• How to use Google Flights, Skyscanner, and Southwest’s Low Fare Calendar
• Leveraging points and miles to offset costs
• Avoiding hidden fees with budget airlines

📍 Flight Hacks to Maximize Value:

• Why nonstop flights can save more than time
• Setting price alerts and knowing when to book
• Real-life strategies Ryan and Julie use for their own travels

Whether you’re planning a family getaway or a solo adventure, this episode is packed with actionable advice to help you take off for less.

Call to Action:
Need help planning your next trip? Let Ryan and Julie craft a stress-free itinerary that fits your budget and travel style. Contact us today to start your journey!

#AirfareTips #TravelHacks #BudgetTravel #AllThingsTravelPodcast #CheapFlights #TravelSavings

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Transcript

j_1_11-24-2024_194811: 0:00

Hello and welcome to All Things Travel. Travel may be on your wish list, but the pricing of it may not be meeting your wishes. Flights specifically have been busting a lot of my clients budgets this year, so today we're going to dive into what is going on with flights. Listen in with travel advisors and destination experts Ryan and Julie. He is your travel professor teaching you everything you need to know to have a magical vacation and I am a Disney loving Maryland mom of three and a specialist in family travel. Whether we're discussing incredible destinations, Top vacation tips or sharing personal stories. It's always all things travel. All right, Ryan. So I'm sure you've noticed this as you've been working with clients over the past year. Flight prices really put a damper on travel

ryan_2_11-24-2024_194810: 0:50

Yes. In fact, it's getting to the point where if somebody wants a package, I will factor in the flight. So they know the full cost or I will have them check flights before we even really get into looking at different options. Because. in some cases, it's doubling the cost of the vacation.

j_1_11-24-2024_194811: 1:12

I was working on a trip recently for a client to the Dominican, I believe, or maybe Cancun, but the flights were double the price of the all inclusive resort. in that situation, we're having to factor in flights so much more than we used to that is almost deciding our destination at this point. a lot of clients are asking me, why are the prices so high? what can I do to get to a lower cost? Here comes this episode where we're going to tell you all those things,

ryan_2_11-24-2024_194810: 1:38

Yeah. So the first part of the episode, we're going to talk about the why and then the second part we're going to give tips on booking the best, flights possible. And that's not always the cheapest, but there's definitely some things that go into the cost of flights and how to think about that. But first, I want to remind everybody, if you did not listen to last week's episode, we gave you three great options for cruising as an adult couple or adults group. Also, make sure to check out our new website, allthingstravelpodcast. com. Julie and I have been working hard to put up some fun freebies, provide more information about the podcast, and really have a landing place for you to have all things travel fun. Information.

j_1_11-24-2024_194811: 2:22

so let's kind of start with why your flight price is so high because there's been a lot going on the past couple years That have contributed to this I hear all the time that Last time I flew, it was nothing like this. sometimes it helps to have an understanding. I know it doesn't change the price, but it helps to understand. one of the biggest contributors to increased flight prices right now are airline taxes and fees. And the taxes and fees, can really add a lot to the base fare of your flight. They can vary a lot depending on whether it's a domestic flight or an international flight. So this is just two really quick examples that I will give. So if you're looking at a one way nonstop flight from New York to San Francisco with Delta Airlines, a main cabin ticket costs 378 per person. But the base fare of that ticket is only 337. So when you're on that main website you're like, Oh, 337, not terrible. But page.

ryan_2_11-24-2024_194810: 3:23

of pages, really where it can change that. Can it.

j_1_11-24-2024_194811: 3:27

when you break down all these fees, there's a transportation tax, a passenger facility charge, Essentially, you're paying 40 in taxes and fees on that ticket, which is about 12%. But, compare

ryan_2_11-24-2024_194810: 3:40

this to an international journey, because this is also taking a big hit on my client's trips, A round trip ticket from JFK to London on Delta, the main cabin is 852. The base fare is 338. Wow.

j_1_11-24-2024_194811: 3:57

is 487 in taxes and fees because of all these additional things like a customs user fee, an immigration user fee, an air passenger duty fee, I It doubles the cost. That's a big effect on your flight price.

ryan_2_11-24-2024_194810: 4:15

there's a couple other things that impact the overall cost of a flight that could be carrier imposed fees. Usually that has to do with fuel prices, availability of seats.

j_1_11-24-2024_194811: 4:27

all those Boeing 737 planes are not currently in use, which is a huge drop in the amount of seats

ryan_2_11-24-2024_194810: 4:33

you're absolutely right. it's basic supply and demand. You've got staffing, so there's been changes, there's been shortages. We're still, catching up from COVID as far as, staffing with pilots and flight attendants and, and gate workers and all those folks. As there's less staff, as there's, as the fuel costs are more, as there is less seats, then the, the price goes up. So, it, it really is understanding what goes into a, I don't want to wrap this section up.

j_1_11-24-2024_194811: 5:05

What comes into staffing your flight? I have had clients, and even I myself have been at a gate waiting for a flight attendant to show up because maybe they were coming off of another flight that was delayed. Or maybe the flight attendant that was supposed to be on your flight or pilot timed out and they are waiting for someone to cover for them. I feel like I've learned a lot about schedules of pilots and flight attendants in the past couple of years. all just comes down to, there's not as many workers.

ryan_2_11-24-2024_194810: 5:34

in the next part of the episode, we're going to give you some tips for yes, we know that there's, there's taxes and fees that go into, inflating our airline prices. So what can we do about it? But first, Julie, I want to talk about where in the world is all things travel. a new location for us that popped up, is Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

j_1_11-24-2024_194811: 5:55

Okay.

ryan_2_11-24-2024_194810: 5:56

So I want to catch a little league game with our listener and Really get into Americana of Little League softball and baseball. Does that not sound like a fun summer activity?

j_1_11-24-2024_194811: 6:07

that sounds great.

ryan_2_11-24-2024_194810: 6:09

So we are really excited that Williamsport, Pennsylvania is listening to all things travel do us a favor listener reach out to us via Facebook our website email We've got multiple ways because I would love to send you a little thank you gift for being featured on the show. Alright, Julie. what are some ways that we can try to save money when it comes to finding the best value for a flight?

j_1_11-24-2024_194811: 6:34

number one thing to do is to be flexible with your dates. And your airports the airline websites and Google flights really help with checking the flexibility of these things if you move, you can see more than one date at a time think about this, where I live, and I know it's very similar for you Ryan, I live with access to probably three or four different airports if I really wanted to.

ryan_2_11-24-2024_194810: 6:57

I do too.

j_1_11-24-2024_194811: 6:58

being flexible with what airline you fly out of can really change the cost. for example, I live close to BWI hub for Southwest. But Southwest doesn't go to every destination I want to go to, which means it would have to be a connecting flight. But if I drive to Philadelphia Airport, they are a hub for American Airlines, which goes to a lot more destinations. especially in the Caribbean. and even some international with a nonstop flight. So then I don't have that extra flight cost. I'm going to list the top 10 airports that offer cheaper flights. you've got the Fort Lauderdale Airport, FLL, which is an alternative for Miami flights. You've got San Jose Airport, which is alternative for San Francisco. Sacramento International Airport. San Antonio International. Ontario International, which is not in Canada. It's an alternative for LAX. Philadelphia, Orlando International, which just added on Terminal C, so that's why that makes this list. Harry Reid, which is LAS, which is Vegas.

ryan_2_11-24-2024_194810: 8:05

want to put in an honorable mention for number 11, which is often my home airport, Indianapolis International Airport.

j_1_11-24-2024_194811: 8:12

But just being aware of what's around you and, checking those other things. That's something I have found myself doing a lot for clients. I'm working on a trip right now that's going to, Spain and Italy, and we're pricing okay. But if you fly at a BWI, it's this price. But if you go up to Philly, you can get nonstop both ways and it's a little bit cheaper. So something to really be aware of.

ryan_2_11-24-2024_194810: 8:32

another thing that can impact flight costs, for folks that like to use their miles or points, you can avoid paying some of the government, taxes when you redeem those. for instance, the JFK to San Francisco flight that Julie talked about earlier in the show, would cost about 20, 500 Delta SkyMiles plus just 5. 60 to cover the September 11th tax. This cuts the other 34. 83 in taxes out of that, flight. That's an interesting thing to think about when you have those credits and miles, to maximize those and save some money.

j_1_11-24-2024_194811: 9:12

Definitely. so I mentioned Google Flights earlier, and there's a couple points here that I want to definitely talk about If you don't know what it is, Google Flights is a way to price out flights from multiple airlines at one time. It's pretty reliable, and I actually use it pretty frequently. But there's a couple of key features that they have. to help you find the best flights at the best cost one of the first things you can do is if you don't know where exactly you want to go But like, you know, you want to go to caribbean island You can enter your airport that you're departing from Or if you don't know exactly which one of that you could even just type in baltimore for myself And then it's going to give me multiple options nearby baltimore then you just click on the anywhere feature and it's going to give you flight costs from your desired departure port All over the place and you can pick from there where you want to go based on the price of your flight

ryan_2_11-24-2024_194810: 10:05

another thing that I like about Google flights is the date grid and price graph and some of the other sites like Skyscanner where it basically shows you how prices change as you make slight adjustments to your departure or return dates. for instance, if you depart on a Thursday instead of a Friday, it will show you how the price changes. And you can scroll side to side to see what today's prices look like for the trip. It's a really good way to research how to maximize that cost of your flight.

j_1_11-24-2024_194811: 10:37

southwest has a similar option you can go to their low fare calendar And as long as you're flexible with the timing of your flight You can also pick your days based off of what has the lowest fare google flights also has a couple insight features they will give you with all the data that they collect what the history of that route is so it will be able to tell you if this is a good time to buy. It'll say, hey, prices right now are typically low for this flight or prices right now are high than they typically are for this flight. And that will maybe give you an idea of if you should wait or not wait

ryan_2_11-24-2024_194810: 11:12

with this site, you can also set price alerts so you can decide how much you want to pay, or how much you're willing to pay and it will alert you when that may be an option.

j_1_11-24-2024_194811: 11:23

The very last thing to mention, and Ryan alluded to this earlier, the cheapest flight is not always the best flight for you. when you think about budget airlines, like, Spirit, and Frontier, Their base fare is very low and it's going to seem really enticing until you get to that checkout page Where you have to add your luggage in and it is like 75 a bag and things like that So just consider If you're going international chances are you're going to have more than one bag to bring so maybe it's better to pay That better price up front or that could be a way that you are also budgeting it You're saying i'm gonna pay the lower amount now and then i'm gonna pay Basically like a second payment later, whichever being aware of baggage fees and the other things that you're gonna have to pay is really important when you're looking at these flights

ryan_2_11-24-2024_194810: 12:12

Great suggestions, Julie. I really like some tips that you gave here today having to do with flights. So as we wrap up, what is your flight hack that you use personally or with your family for finding that sweet spot when it comes to price and value?

j_1_11-24-2024_194811: 12:29

I literally check my personal flights every day to see if they've changed in price

ryan_2_11-24-2024_194810: 12:35

I will tell you when Julie and I are flying to the same meetings, she will text and be like, I just saved 12 on Southwest. Get on and look at your flights again. nine times out of 10, she saves me some money. So there you

j_1_11-24-2024_194811: 12:48

Yeah, Southwest is one that it's really easy to change. we've talked about it before that after you book your Southwest flight, if the price changes, you can just modify it and get that money back as a credit, which the credits no longer expire. So you can use them at any time. if I'm getting 12 back per person, that's not no money at all. That's a pretty good chunk of change.

ryan_2_11-24-2024_194810: 13:08

it's always worth taking the two minutes to go in and check. Absolutely.

j_1_11-24-2024_194811: 13:12

the first thing is always going back and checking my prices on my flights. The second thing is that I'm always trying to be flexible with, does it make more sense to stay an extra day? Does it make more sense to fly home to a different airport? Does it make more sense to switch my time a little bit? So I think being flexible is the thing that I use the most.

ryan_2_11-24-2024_194810: 13:32

So mine's going to sound a little counterintuitive. But for me One of the ways that I find the best price for the money and value is I look for a non stop flight whenever I can, especially when I'm going from Indianapolis to Orlando, because that's a pretty common trip for me, because I know it's going to save me time. Often, it's usually not. That much more money if at all and it decreases the variables of anything happening with layovers with Changes at the airport you never know what's gonna happen and the more that I can decrease those variables I'm gonna save myself a lot of stress. money and time

j_1_11-24-2024_194811: 14:16

absolutely.

ryan_2_11-24-2024_194810: 14:18

You want to plan a trip to an amazing destination but you don't know how to get started? As your travel advisor, we work with you to create a customized itinerary for your vacation and take the stress of planning away so you can focus on the fun and creating memories. You can reach me at ryan at creatingmagicvacations. com

j_1_11-24-2024_194811: 14:38

And you can reach me at Julie at CreatingMagicVacations. com or go to our new website, AllThingsTravelPodcast. com.

ryan_2_11-24-2024_194810: 14:47

We look forward to talking to you next week on All Things Travel when Julie discusses some great tips and advice for family travel to Costa Rica.