With a long weekend coming up in September and no plans, I wanted to see if there are any cheap flights. I’ll try to share some of the basics for planning trips and tools I use to find flights/routings to help maximize your trip and minimize your costs.

Basic planning criteria:

1. Maximize your weekends/holidays/PTO: When leaving for a trip try to leave the night before your weekend/holiday/PTO begins. This way you don’t waste the entire first day of your trip in airports.  If you take a whole week off from work, leaving on Friday night the week before, and returning on Sunday is the optimal usage of your vacation time.
2. Use red-eyes: I know they suck, but you can catch up on your sleep when you’re back at your desk at work
3. If you have status, use it: Free checked bags, priority security lanes/boarding, lounge access, upgrades – all of those help you save money, time, and hassles at the airport.

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