Flights and rental cars???!

[jboynton1974]

The wife and I will be heading out in June to Vacation Village at Weston. It is a 10.5 hour drive and we are contemplating driving versus flying.

Where to find cheapest flights?

Where to find cheapest car rental?

More time on beach and less time driving if we find a sweet deal!! All suggestions would be awesome!!

 

[DeniseM]

Go to a consolidator, like Travelocity, find the lowest price, then go directly to that airlines website to book it - it is usually a little cheaper without the middle man.

Rental Cars:
-Costco
-AAA
-Hotwire
-Priceline
-Alamo

 

[WinniWoman]

I use CarRentals.com. You don't have to pay ahead of time and you can cancel at anytime beforehand. I agree with Denise; go directly to airlines sites and book. I had a big issue with Travelocity last year (long story) and I will never use a consolidator again.

 

[Passepartout]

Not knowing which airports are convenient, but if you have the opportunity to use Southwest, you must book direct through them. (www.Southwest.com) Consolidators don't have SW rates. Personally, for a 10 hour drive with 2 drivers, I'd drive it and save the cost of flights and rental cars. But that's me.

Jim

 

[Egret1986]

I use Kayak.com to get pricing on flights and rental cars

Then I go to the airline or rental car company with the lowest prices and book direct.

 

[jboynton1974]

We will probably drive unless we find a killer deal on a flight. The rental car is not too bad and is cheaper than the gas it would take to drive. I'm calculating about $240 in gas down and back plus the travel time and the time I could be on the beach versus driving. Maybe we can catch a red eye flight for cheap!!!

 

[csxjohn]

We will probably drive unless we find a killer deal on a flight. The rental car is not too bad and is cheaper than the gas it would take to drive. I'm calculating about $240 in gas down and back plus the travel time and the time I could be on the beach versus driving. Maybe we can catch a red eye flight for cheap!!!

Last August we took a trip out west and looked for prices through aarp. I then booked the flights myself but used them for the rental car. The car was cheaper than going to the rental company direct.

The cheapest flight from Cleveland out there was to Sacramento Ca and the cheapest back home was out of San Diego. Unlike Fl, in Ca they have a rather large drop off fee for returning your car to a different airport.

So when we added the cost of the car, the best deal was into and out of Las Vegas.

Now the airfare from Pittsburgh was a total of $300 less than flying out of Cleveland.

We took the mega bus to Pittsburgh, round trip for 2 was $4.50. Then took a city bus to the Pittsburgh Airport and had a plane change back here in Cleveland. Could not just get on in Cleveland though, if you miss the first leg of the trip, the airline cancels the entire trip including the return trip.

The only reason I'm giving all these details is to show that you have to really look around and consider a lot of things to get the best prices.

So check all the airports within an hour or so on both ends and you may find that killer deal.

If you use trip advisor, they will email you deals on airfare, I believe, once a week.

Good Luck