5 Ways to Save Money on Holiday Travel

Thinking about having turkey with your folks this year? Is Christmas with your in-laws this season? If you're planning a trip over the holidays, you know it can be expensive. To protect your wallet, here are a few money-saving tips to save you a few bucks.

Don't drive yourself to the airport

The cost to keep your car at the airport parking lot is astronomical. Look into alternative modes of transportation. Some cities organize group taxi rides to the airport. You and several strangers will end up riding together, but you all get to split the fare. For cab companies, it's a win because they save on fuel and you'll likely pay about a third of the full cab fare. If that's not an option in your city, try public transportation like a bus or subway. You could also call in a favor with a friend. Anything is better than tacking on hundreds of dollars for your car to sit idle.

Use Yapta to get possible refund

When you're booking airline tickets, you always worry the prices will drop the second after you buy them, right? Most airlines will offer a refund, in the form of a voucher, if the flight drops in price. It's not automatically given to you; you have to ask for it. Who wants to keep tracking flight prices, you ask? Well, you don't have to. Enter your flight number and confirmation code on Yapta and it will email you if the flight cost drops.

Get extra spending money, switch your car insurance

Looking for a way to take a few extra bucks with you for your holiday trip? Consider switching your car insurance. If your rates go up every six months, or if you haven't shopped around for insurance lately, you could be in for win fall. Check insurance rates at sites like Kanetix.ca for monthly quotes.

Be flexible with your dates

If you don’t mind arriving on Thanksgiving or Christmas, you'll get a steal of a deal. If that's not an option for you, be flexible by three or four days on the front and back end of your expected travel dates. Holiday travel is always a bit more expensive, but airfare becomes more affordable with increased flexibility.

Pack light

Baggage fees will eat into your holiday travel quick. Ship presents home ahead of time. Not only will this save you money, but TSA sometimes questions wrapped presents, so shipping them is less of a hassle. Of course, ground shipping is the cheapest option, but that means you need to plan ahead and get to the post office at least a week to 10 days ahead of time. The post office is always busy around the holidays too, so expect to wait in line.