When the flight costs as much as the vacation itself?

[Anonymous]

I am very much appreciating this thread so far. Family of 4 and the price of flights means that we have only taken one trip with flights so far. We just decided that this is not the year for a family vacation with flights. Maybe 2026? I have a hotel credit card, but maybe it’s time to add one that could work for flights.

[Anonymous]

Good. Stop flying so much.

[Anonymous]

I have a 15 yr old car that I would not to drive to see distant family (but is perfect for my 3 mile commute).

Persistently high airfares will likely lead me to replace this car - that technically does not require replacement— with a new model that I feel safe/comfortable driving to the midwest. Last time I flew to home state (mid market airport) the airfare was $480/pp.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Flights are a huge expense. I always check now to get a ballpark price on flights before I fully book a trip. We're going to Bermuda for 6 days and the very nice resort is $4500. The flights for 4 of us will be $2800. That's a lot of money considering it's a 3 hour flight and such a short part of the trip. But, we decided it was what we wanted to do and how we wanted to spend the brief vacation window we have this year.

Thank you, PP. This made something click in my head. Adding to your sentence, “… so if we want to visit this place, we have to spend the money to get there first.”

I’m booking the flight now! Thank you, everyone!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a budget traveler this is often my experience, flights are the most expensive part! It's definitely shaping our choices this year.

+1. It never occurred to me that flights wouldn't be the biggest cost, but apparently I'm not spending close to what people here are on hotels.

[Anonymous]

Your title suggests you think of flights as separate from the cost of vacation. It's part of the cost of vacation. You figure out your total budget and go from there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a 15 yr old car that I would not to drive to see distant family (but is perfect for my 3 mile commute).

Persistently high airfares will likely lead me to replace this car - that technically does not require replacement— with a new model that I feel safe/comfortable driving to the midwest. Last time I flew to home state (mid market airport) the airfare was $480/pp.

At that high mileage, would probably make more sense to rent a car instead.

[Anonymous]

As a family of 4 we did not travel this year due to the cost of flight the hotels were cheaper. Ugh. Looking into spring break flights and I shudder to think of the cost.

[Anonymous]

We travel during school off days or holidays people don’t travel ( eg before Christmas). Use google flight to track cheaper airfare days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a 15 yr old car that I would not to drive to see distant family (but is perfect for my 3 mile commute).

Persistently high airfares will likely lead me to replace this car - that technically does not require replacement— with a new model that I feel safe/comfortable driving to the midwest. Last time I flew to home state (mid market airport) the airfare was $480/pp.

At that high mileage, would probably make more sense to rent a car instead.

I was gojng to suggest the same thing. I used to do this when I lived in a city with no car and it was so much cheaper than buying a car! If you’re only going a couple times a year renting is definitely the way to go.

[Anonymous]

It’s another reason why cruises are popular — buying a flight to Florida so much cheaper than buying a flight to Belize.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your title suggests you think of flights as separate from the cost of vacation. It's part of the cost of vacation. You figure out your total budget and go from there.

This was my first thought. A flight isn’t a separate line item. It’s part of the trip, so budget accordingly.