A common complaint among active performing artists is that they sing for free and get paid to travel. Would that were the case for everyone, as the prices for Delta, Amtrak, Howard Johnson’s, or Chevron are never anyone’s favorite expenditures—though whether it’s for an audition, a vacation, or a Thanksgiving trip home, they do yield some important opportunities and memories.
Fortunately, the Internet makes it easier and cheaper to travel on a seemingly daily basis. And whether you’re flying halfway around the world or simply driving across town for your winter holidays, these 11 websites will help you save big (leaving you more money for such things as $5 bottles of water at the airport).
AirfareWatchDog.com
What sets AirfareWatchDog.com apart from the pack is that they rely on manpower rather than machines to source the greatest deals on flights both domestic and international. They tell you what the greatest deals are ($200 from New York to Sweden! $18 from Las Vegas to Los Angeles!), and you buy directly through websites such as Orbitz or Travelocity and book on known airlines like Delta, which gives both you and your credit card peace of mind. Not all of the fares are as rock bottom, and some of the deals are rather run of the mill (I’ve seen better deals than $950 from JFK to Paris); however, if you’re just in the mood for a quick escape without much opinion as to where, looking for an alternative to driving or train-ing from Chicago to Detroit, or in need of a specific itinerary and have a bit of luck, the daily e-mails this website sends out are worth a quick scan. You can also track their sales on Twitter by following
@airfarewatchdog.
Bing.com/Travel
The former Farecast.com may have been absorbed into search engine Bing, but its major selling point remains: when you search for your flights, Bing tells you when to buy with a simple color-and-arrow system. In the past, the maxim was “the earlier the better”—but now with many airlines that’s not the case, and Bing tells you when the iron is hot enough to strike. Green with an arrow up or tilted means “Buy now,” as fares are either steady or will rise. A yellow, sideways-pointing arrow is neutral. An orange or red arrow aiming downward suggests you wait, as fares will most likely drop. Generally, Bing predicts these deals with a confidence rating of 80 percent, which may average out to a B- but isn’t a bad statistic when it comes to gambling.
DoHop.com
In need of a flight between London and Krakow? DoHop.com serves as an overseas version of Kayak.com, culling from airlines and airports in your selected metropolitan area (meaning that it will look up flights from Heathrow, but also Gatwick, Luton, Stansted, and City) and include flights operated by über-budget airlines like RyanAir and EasyJet, whose fares can start as low as €0.01 or £0.01 before a modest charge for taxes and fees. These flights won’t be the swankiest, obviously, but for inter-continental jaunts (many of which last at just around an hour), do you really need anything more than a seat and a working flight? Moreover, DoHop.com has a complete listing of low-cost airlines, sorted by continent, which serves as a great resource if you want to take on the onus of scanning budget airfares yourself.
Kayak.com
If you prefer a more proactive approach than AirfareWatchDog.com, you can do the legwork yourself by going to travel deal aggregator Kayak.com. Cofounded by some of the upper-ups at Expedia, Travelocity, and Orbitz, Kayak offers the opportunity to even compare its findings against results at Priceline, Expedia, Travelocity, Hotwire, CheapOair, and AA.com. A search for a round-trip flight from New York to Chicago leaving on November 22 and returning November 27 yields results starting at $297.
Do take them up on their offer of a price comparison, however: those same flights went as low as $259 on Travelocity and Expedia. That may not seem like a huge savings, but if you’re a frequent flyer, those small savings can add up (plus they free up money for your baggage fees). What’s more, Kayak offers fare history charts that indicate the best days to fly. And you can use them for hotels, car rentals, and vacation packages as well.
MileCards.com and MileMaven.com
These two separately run websites offer similar benefits for frequent travelers. If you’ve been itching for a new credit card, MileCards.com will help you find the best option to give you airline miles, even going so far as to personalize the search with your monthly spending habits, what you spend your money on (because what good is a rewards card if it only gives you miles for buying gas when you don’t own a car?), and what sort of travel rewards you want—domestic or international flights, free upgrades, etc. Someone who spends $500 a month primarily on grocery and drugstores, dining and utilities, for example, can find a 7.4 percent reward return with a Chase Sapphire Preferred card—or if you’re loyal to United, you can get a 5.3 percent reward on their Mileage Plus Club Visa card.
Some cards also offer rebate options. Likewise, MileMaven.com scans over 300 airlines’ frequent flyer programs, telling you which flights can earn you extra bonus miles. Sister site PointMaven.com does the same for hotels.
Priceline.com
It’s hard not to love any company that uses William Shatner as its spokesperson. But beyond Captain Kirk’s negotiating skills, Priceline offers the unique option of letting you name your own price for airfares, hotels, and car rentals. Of course, it comes with a caveat: you won’t know the specific details, such as what time your flight from San Francisco to Toronto departs (or how many connections you’ll have in between) or what Roman neighborhood houses your hotel until after you make your purchase.
Additionally, with flights, you can use their name-your-own-price option only for round trip fares, so if you’re planning an open-ended move to Houston, this may not be the best option. Still, many people have had obscene luck with discounts that stretch even beyond the advertised 40 percent off of flights and cars and 60 percent off of hotels. Even better, Priceline now has an option that alerts you when another customer gets a deal on a hotel and allows you to book that same winning bid.
Yapta.com
“Yapta” sounds like a Young Artist Program website, but it’s actually a kicky acronym for “your amazing personal travel assistant.” This is an ideal website if you have already purchased airfare and want to make sure that you received the lowest price (similar to Orbitz’s price-assurance guarantee). If you booked your ticket home for the holiday months in advance and that flight from Indianapolis to Providence has dropped in price, Yapta will alert you and help you to make up the difference with a refund, if the savings outweigh the rebooking fees.
This isn’t a sure thing—according to their website, just 19 percent of purchased flights will offer a fare reduction that could leave more money in your pocket. However, it’s a smart and painless tool to add to your bookmarks that has so far saved its members $250,621,489—an average savings of $334.16 per member—since May 2007.
InsideTrip.com
Should you have a few extra dollars to spend on comfort, InsideTrip can steer you in the right direction with airfare comparisons that take into account the age of the aircraft, legroom, and on-time track record. Their overall trip quality ratings allow you to sort your results by ease (how many times have you snagged a flight deal only to be screwed over by impossible airport transfers or lost baggage?), comfort (a puddle-jumper is fine for New York to Boston; not so much for New York to Bosnia), and speed (a must if you’re making time-sensitive audition travel plans).
The website can also surprise you: sometimes the lowest fares—such as a $641 round-trip flight from Vancouver to Miami for Thanksgiving—are also some of the highest rated in quality, compared to other flights that cost almost $200 more that offer a less-than-easy trip.
HostelWorld.com
Many of the airfare websites listed above will also hook you up with hotel deals. But if you’re game to go bare bones and just want a crash pad, hostels are far from hostile territory. This is the granddaddy of all booking sites, offering photographs, user reviews, and ratings on major factors like security and cleanliness while also indicating amenities like kitchens, WiFi, hair dryers, private rooms, and laundry service. You may not need all of these if you’re spending a long holiday weekend in Barcelona on a budget, but if you’re looking to spend some extended time in New York or Vienna and want to pay a pittance, the right amount of legwork on a site like this could give you all the comforts of a home and hotel.
HomeExchange.com
It seems each week I see at least one friend on Facebook who is vacating their home for a gig and looking to sublet or switch it out with a friend of a friend who wants to spend some time in Paris or Park Slope. HomeExchange.com takes that small-scale, in-network marketing and blows it up into a full-on website with over 40,000 listings in 145 countries. The service comes with a price tag of a little under $10 per month, but they’ll give you a free second year if you don’t strike gold in the first 52 weeks. This is especially great for families, which can up the cost of travel with the frequency of being told to fasten your seat belt and stow your trays as the pilot prepares for landing.
GasBuddy.com
Not every trip (especially come the holiday season) requires a flight, but that doesn’t mean that the cost of driving from New Orleans to Nashville is going to be negligible. Unsurprisingly, several websites and apps have since been developed to give you the skinny on cheapest fuel points. GasBuddy stands out for having both a user-friendly website that even allows you to plot your road trip (accounting for frequency of fill-ups and the lowest-priced stations in the area) and a sophisticated iPhone app that shows you on a map the cost per gallon and an icon marking each station—using logos like BP and Shell to note the major chains. It may not seem like much, but those $3.45 versus $3.32 differences can add up—especially if you drive on a regular basis.
