Here is a an in-depth look at our most recent experiences with flights for family travel. We aim to be as transparent as possible including the prices we paid, even if they are higher than we would now pay. As always, please learn from our mistakes (and maybe from a few of our successes too!).
Italy: March, 2016
Dan, Betsy, 13 yr old niece, 3 year old son, 18 mo daughter
- tickets purchased 6 weeks out from desired dates (not recommended!)
- Thursday → second Tuesday
- open jaw into Venice (15 hours), home from Rome (18 hours)
- 5 seats all in a row
Italy was a big trip for us. Not only because we were going back (see 2008 details here) but because we were going to try and do it with 2 kids under 4. Our niece was there as support as trade off for her first trip overseas. We were working with limited dates to accommodate niece’s spring break and were looking for open jaw tickets for a Venice-Florence-Rome itinerary. Open jaw tickets can save you and your family the cost in days and $$$ on multi-city trips by avoiding backtracking to get back to the original city.
We flew Thursday night to the second Tuesday to cover spring break plus a little before and after.
Tickets:
Betsy + baby girl = “free” with credit card miles ($101 x 2 = $202 in fees)
Dan, 3 yr old, and niece = $1260 x 3 ($3780) in regular retail costs for exact same flights as miles purchased
$3982 / 5 = $756 per person.
Without miles we would’ve purchased anything that met our criteria under $900 so while this was quite a reality check ($4000 before we even get there) it was objectively a really good deal. That didn’t mean it wasn’t painful to pay that much, just that it was less painful than it would otherwise be.
As you can see, using miles can be very helpful but do leave you vulnerable to pay the going rates for all remaining family members.
As we recently discussed, we also had a “bonus adventure” on the way to Venice which included an extra trip to Germany and a train ride from Milan-Venice ($109 for 5 tickets).
Spain: March 2017
Dan, Betsy, 13 yr old niece, 3 year old son, 18 mo daughter
- tickets purchased 4 months before; with minimal prior planning(!!!)
- Sunday → second Thursday
- round trip in and out of Madrid (13 hours there, 19 hours back)
- middle seat + window seat, in successive rows (i.e., 2 in front 2 in back)
We learned a lot of family travel lessons in Italy. The kids did great on the trip so we knew we could probably do it on our own (no additional family support), and the flights were the majority of the cost of the trip. Cheap(er) flights would play a big role in when and where we’d go in the future.
The below phone conversation occurred on November 10, 2016.
Betsy: “Hi.”
Dan: “How would you like to go to Spain?”
Betsy: “I’m working until 3pm to pick up the kids, then I’m free.”
Dan: “I’m serious. I think I found super cheap flights.”
Betsy: “Spain was on the list for our next trip.”
Dan: “You know that Flight Deal newsletter I get? The one that emails me deals every day?”
Betsy: “I think so.”
Dan: “Well, I just saw “Madrid” for $520. I think it’s legit.”
Betsy: “Wow, that’s amazing.”
Dan: “Tell me about it. And the flights are pretty good. March. 13 hours there and 19 back. The only downside is that we’d probably have to fly in and out of Madrid to keep the rate.”
Betsy: “We can do that.”
Dan: “It might mean choosing between Barcelona and Seville/Granada.”
Betsy: “But we’d have time to figure that out later, right? Almost a year and a half if we wanted to do spring break again.”
[Silence….]
Dan: “These would be for 2017, not 2018.”
Betsy: “4 months from now.”
Dan: “4 months from now.”
Betsy: “Fun.”
Dan: “More like terrifying. I can buy now on Priceline and cancel for free within 24 hours. That way we hold them for now and we can decide tonight.”
Betsy: “Let’s do it.”
Somehow, after having to refresh his search after the phone call, the flights dropped even lower! It was exciting though a bit stressful trying to grab these flights before they went away. Later that night we had a family meeting and decided it was too good of a deal to pass up; especially for a destination at the top of our wishlist.
Tickets:
$1958 for 4 tickets (no miles)
$1958 / 4 = $490 per person.
Miles are still slowly accruing, but we think we’ll be utilizing resources like this amazing newsletter many times for future family trips.
Talk soon,
Dan & Betsy