AIR TRANSPORTATION
I’m not a big fan of airports, but getting to good Cruise ports it is necessary.
a few things to keep in mind when booking are; you do not have to fly the same carrier back as you do flying out so you can sometimes find one that fits your schedule better or may have a better price. Southwest airline has 2 free bags per passenger which is a good Advantage if you plan on bringing more stuff back then you take with you
Delta Airlines / is one of the nicer Airlines I have flown but their tickets are usually a little more expensive.
First bag $25 2nd $35
carry on and personal item free
Spirit Airlines usually have very cheap initial rates but charge more for luggage their seats are closer together so you don’t have as much leg room, if you’re short like me that’s not a big deal, they charge for about anything and everything so if you can keep it to one bag per person and make sure your “personal item” is not too big too or they will charge you for it being a “carry on”, you will be ok.
one personal item free (18″x14″x8″)
bags $30 ea 51-70 lbs $55
American Airlines is fine and sometimes will have good rates.
free personal item, free carryon
$25 first bag $35 second
Southwest Airlines, we really like them, they have nice planes, friendly stewardesses and usually good rates, and they have best rewards program & Companion Pass Program of any of the airlines.(go to the end of the page for info on how to get to get some free flights and how their companion pass works) The only downside is they don’t have red-eye flights so in some cases if you were to fly out on them you may need to stay in a hotel overnight which is what we did on our last trip, which just gave us another day of vacation and gave us a chance to see Fort Lauderdale Florida.
you cannot book or find rates for southwest on Expedia and other sites like that, you have to go to their site
personal item and carry on free
2 checked bags up to 50lbs free
Frontier, I have never flown on Frontier but my aunt has and has found some good deals with them too.
free personal item, $30 carry on
$25 first bag $40 second bag
TSA Precheck, if you have wondered what the TSA Precheck is and how it works, basically you can get TSA Precheck for $85 and it is good for 5 years, it give you access to shorter lines and you don’t have to take off shoes, take laptops out of backpacks and a few other little things. the way you get it is to fill out a form online takes 5 min. you can schedule an appointment at an enrollment center, they will take fingerprints, ask a few interview questions then run a background check, my wife and i had our KTN (Known Traveler Number) by the next day, it was pretty easy, it is most useful if you fly a lot. TSA site to find more info and enrollment center locations
Global Entry, this is the one we should have done right from the start, it is $100 and good for 5 years, it gives all the benefits of Precheck, Global Entry is a U.S.. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) program that allows expedited clearance for pre-approved, low-risk travelers upon arrival in the United States, the way you get it is similar to getting precheck, fill out a form, get an interview at a Global Entry Enrollment Center, the only problem with this one is there are not as many enrollment center locations. Global Entry site
so the main advantage to these is it could save you some time getting on a flight and global entry can help you get through customs faster(as we were getting off our last cruise in Florida we were in line to go through customs behind a few hundred people and we saw the line for Global Entry and it was empty, every once in a while someone would come to it and they were next in line at the customs counter)
Southwest Rewards for free flights– this happens 2 ways, initially when you get approved for a southwest visa you can get 50,000 bonus points (offers vary) which would usually get you 2 round trip tickets in the US (from Las Vegas to Florida usually runs about 25,00 points round trip) some are more -some less.
the catch? heres what is involved, (based off one of the cards i got, some newer offers are offering different point amounts and different yearly rates, etc.)
1.spend $2,000 on the card in the first 3 months
2. the card has about 17% interest rate, keep it paid off!
3. the card has a $100 yr fee, but after your one year anniversary you get 6,000 bonus points (worth about $100 in airline tickets), but you can cancel the card at any time (after you get your bonus points ) and it does not do anything to points you already have.
4. when you book a flight with points you pay $5.60 tax each way for domestic flight and aprox. $25 each way on international (varies a little).
here is where you can apply for the card to get 50,000 bonus points (some other links will only give you 40,000) as of 2019
so with that you can either get the card and use the bonus points and cancel it (if you cancell a card you will still keep your points, but they will expire in 2 years if you are not using or adding to) or use it for earning more points. this is a great card to have it you plan on flying a lot (especially it you have a business you can run purchases through)
what kind of return do you get on purchases? you get one point for each dollar spent, (two on southwest flights and some of their hotel and car rental partners) there are some other things you can redeem points for which work out to about 1% return which is pretty typical for cards, the real benefit is in the flights, it works out to about 1.5-1.75% (sometimes better) redeeming for flights.
some examples
Las Vegas, NV to Fort Lauderdale, FL (round trip)
purchase tickets $391
points 23,600 (+11.20 tax)
at 1% return on other card those points would be worth $236 , your getting $390 worth of tickets for the $236 you would have gotten on another card at 1%, this is getting you about 1.6% in value.
Las Vegas to Cancun, MX
purchased $380
points 20,000 +$50 tax (about 1.5% value after paying tax)
second way to get free flights, Companion pass (no other airline has anything close) after earning 110,000 points in a calendar year you earn a companion pass with unlimited use , they fly anywhere you do and just pay the tax ( $11.20 round trip in the US) and it is good from when you get it until the end of the next year.
to make this happen you will need to be able to run $4,000 between the two cards in the first 3 months, and then 6,000 more before you want to use the companion pass.
best way to get it- apply for a card in your name for the 50,000 bonus points , apply for a card for your spouse (or business card) for 50,000 bonus points but make sure you use the same rapid rewards number on both cards(if you don’t have a rapid reward number when you get the first card they will give you one, use that as the rapid reward number on the second application) then between the 100,000 (now 125,000) bonus between the 2 cards and the 10,000 run through them it will get you companion pass. (because the points need to be in the same calendar year if it is later in the year it may be better to wait until January get your points) more info on rules here.
so with the companion pass traveling with your spouse your value/ return on the card increases dramatically, looking at our example of a flight to Florida
Las Vegas, NV to Fort Lauderdale, FL (round trip for 2 people)
purchase tickets $782
points 23,600 (+22.40 tax)
this is getting you about 3% in value.