Is there an alternative way to reach your destination instead of the obvious path? Can you locate an inexpensive flight to a nearby location using a different airport?
Frequently, the answer is affirmative, and being a bit adaptable can lead to substantial savings.
I utilize this strategy several times each year, yielding significant savings. When I traveled to Europe last year, my initial itinerary included Berlin, Prague, and Budapest. However, I arrived in Amsterdam because United had an excellent deal utilizing frequent flyer miles. A couple of nights later, we took a train. When we returned home, it was from Madrid instead of our final stop in Barcelona, saving us $200 each on the return flight.
The previous year, we concluded our journey in the Czech Republic, but we did not depart from Prague. Instead, we took a train to Munich to catch a flight home, which was much cheaper.
Such options aren’t exclusive to Europe, though. I’ve made similar arrangements for cheaper flights to Asia, South America, and back to Mexico. In the United States, exploring alternative airports can offer substantial savings if you’re going to the right city. NYC has three airports, along with Philadelphia not far off. Chicago has two plus additional options close by. D.C. features three airports, and all are now accessible via train or metro.
Only a Few Countries Have a Single Flight Choice
If you’re traveling to Antigua in Guatemala, you must first arrive at Guatemala City. For Las Vegas, it’s not particularly practical to consider other airports. The only route to the Galapagos Islands is through Quito or Guayaquil. However, in many other areas, alternative airports are available, so don’t despair if the obvious selection is pricey. Get imaginative, and you might uncover another affordable flight within your means.
When engaging with other travelers, particularly those taking short getaways instead of extended trips, I frequently encounter a peculiar mental block. They perceive a destination as being defined by the airport location and struggle to grasp the concept that it’s easy to travel elsewhere—without being part of an organized tour.
I might suggest, “You can find a low-cost flight to Cancun and then just take a bus or the Maya Train to Merida.”
“Whaaaatt?! How would I manage that?!” is a common response, as if I’ve just informed them they need to navigate a massive obstacle course filled with alligators.
I’ve heard individuals say they haven’t visited Place X due to costly flights, yet they could fly to a city two hours away in another country for hundreds of dollars less and simply cross over. They just can’t seem to connect the dots.
Overland Transit Information Is at Your Fingertips
I found this mindset strange back when all that information was in guidebooks, but I find it even more baffling now when a well-phrased search can yield instructions after a few clicks. There are websites/apps like Rome2Rio and 12Go that have figured it all out for you.
Certainly, you might need to take a taxi to a bus station or navigate to the airport shuttle window, but that’s more like level 3 of Candy Crush than solving a calculus problem.
Clever long-term travelers know to always “search for the second right answer,” as Roger Van Oech noted in his classic creativity book A Whack on the Side of the Head. Just because you find a low-cost flight on Kayak to the bustling San Jose del Cabo airport doesn’t mean your vacation has to be spent in pricey Los Cabos. You can catch a bus at 4:00 and be enjoying a sundowner in La Paz just hours later.
The following morning you could be swimming with whale sharks or participating in an excursion like this:
Securing an affordable flight to Cancun doesn’t imply you must spend more than an hour there. Take the airport bus to the downtown station or the free shuttle to the Maya Train station, and you can set out on your own to an incredible place.
The train will take you all the way to Bacalar or Palenque if you’re adventurous. Plus, the prices in those additional locations will be more favorable as well. You could even catch a domestic flight from another terminal and travel nearly anywhere else in Mexico affordably on one of the Mexican domestic airlines.
If you’re lucky enough to reside in Europe, you have access to some extremely low-cost flight options. I checked for a month from now on Google Flights, and here are just a few one-way options from London, in U.S. dollars.
Dublin ($20)
Edinburgh ($22)
Prague ($32)
Vienna ($32)
Krakow ($59)
Madeira ($89)
Vilnius ($44)
Kosice