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MineralMan

(146,192 posts)
Sun Nov 3, 2013, 11:06 AM Nov 2013

Planning a Holiday Trip? Don't Wait.

I started looking at flights from Minneapolis to Los Angeles on Friday. It's time to head home for the holidays to visit my 89 year old parents and my siblings in the town I grew up in. What I found was pretty shocking, and it changed my plans. Instead of going during the actual holidays, I decided to go between them. The difference in the price of airline tickets on December 13 and the price around Thanksgiving and Christmas are really substantial.

If you're planning holiday air travel, don't delay in checking on flights. Prepare for some tough news. It's going to be more expensive than you think. If you can travel between the holidays, you'll find some good airfare bargains, though.

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bettyellen

(47,209 posts)
1. or ON the holidays. Kayak has a good calendar feature that shows the lowest price each day
Sun Nov 3, 2013, 11:23 AM
Nov 2013

that is really handy. And you can sort results many ways, including by total trip time, which helps since they sell a lot of 22 hour+ trips for places that are only 5-6 hours away.

MineralMan

(146,192 posts)
2. I can't fly both ways on the date of the holiday.
Sun Nov 3, 2013, 11:30 AM
Nov 2013

I have saved by flying on Thanksgiving or Christmas day, but I still have to fly home. Worse, I can never manage to be away from work for more than three or four days, so one leg of any holiday flight will be on an expensive flying day. By flying midway between the two holidays, I save a lot. So, that's what I'm doing this year. I just can't afford to travel so I can be home on either holiday.

Given the advanced age of my parents, a one-day visit just doesn't cut it. There are always things that need to be done around their place, and I take that time to take care of some chores to give my siblings a break. It's not an ideal situation, but my wife's mother lives here in Minnesota, and also needs help. She can no longer visit my parents for that reason. It's frustrating, but a reality that comes at some point in many families with aging parents.

Frankly, I can't really afford the trip at all, but not going at all is not an option.

 

bettyellen

(47,209 posts)
3. I get you. I am forced by my company to take Xmas week PTO, and it's hard to get
Sun Nov 3, 2013, 11:38 AM
Nov 2013

a full week otherwise, so I have to take Christmas day and NYE flights in order to afford it.

MineralMan

(146,192 posts)
4. It's difficult either way.
Sun Nov 3, 2013, 11:53 AM
Nov 2013

I can't imagine a time when I could take an entire week, although I'd love to spend that much time with my parents. Given my father's almost fatal illness last year, it's very clear that every trip to see them could be the last. Our decision to move here to Minnesota was based on my siblings' presence where my parents live and no such presence for my wife's mom.

Decisions. There seem to me more and more of them these days.

 

bettyellen

(47,209 posts)
5. yeah, they are never happy when I try to take a full week otherwise, and we work like dogs in
Sun Nov 3, 2013, 12:20 PM
Nov 2013

December because it is a very very busy time. We have awful deadlines, are supposed to wrap up a lot of work well before Chinese New Years (late Jan) since they take so much time off overseas. When we get back Jan 2nd, it's always a deluge. But we have a president who did nothing but cost cutting the first year, and closing our office a whole week at the worst possible time and a "use it or lose it" policy to time off were two penny pinching initiatives he implemented. Such foolishness.

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