Written by Stephanie at militarytravelmama.com

Traveling is important for you, it’s important for your children, it’s important for your extended family. It can be a lot of fun, but it can also be one of the most challenging things you do as a group.

Still, there are ways to save money, and make it easier on everyone. This is one of the reasons air travel became as popular as it is in the first place. You can go long distances at a lowered cost as a group, and quickly.

The chief difficulty with air travel is its associated expense; but you may be surprised at some of the deals you can get if you just play things subtly. For example, if you plan things out to the “nth” variable, you certainly may be able to book a flight months in advance. Advance booking can get you certain deals on flights.

However, there are features of an airline you can’t control. Weather is not in your command. Neither is the mechanical functionality of your plane, or the pilots at the helm. Other passengers can prove a wildcard, as can economic or political events.

Holidays are generally a mess, and levels of tourism cause flight costs to ebb and flow in patterns sometimes too large to predict. Sometimes advance booking isn’t subtle enough; you’ll spend more than you have to and have hardships that could have been avoided.

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Alternatives To Traditional Flight Planning

What you might want to consider is conducting travel in a way which takes into account these unpredictable realities. Think about it: how often have you been laid over in some airport or another for a full day, lost your luggage, or had ticket problems? Airports are stressful! But what if you excised all that hassle by allowing cost-effective flight ability to dictate travel?

There are last-minute ticket buying strategies you can check out here which reduce the cost of traveling long distances with the family substantially; you’ve just got to be strategic enough to take proper advantage. A big reason this makes sense is because one of the most pernicious variables you can’t avoid: your children.

Children who’ve never flown before may have a multitude of reactions. Even if they’re well-behaved, airports can be frightening for parents. What if your child gets lost, or encounters a strange person in the bathroom? And how do you manage their hunger when a sandwich the size of a lime is $20?

If you are able to cut out some of the other unpredictables through simply accepting what’s available at a discount, you have more energies you can put toward managing your children during a flight. You can keep them happy, this will keep you happy, and all of you will have a better vacation.

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Getting Where You Want To, Even With Last-Minute Flights

It’s also considerable that you don’t have to go to some random location just because you’re booking a last-minute flight. Oftentimes there are flights where a passenger couldn’t come, or was detained, and suddenly your family has a seat.

If you seek the flight at the right time, then there may even be open seating available. This is unlikely around Christmas, but in the middle of October, such scenarios can be common; depending on where you are and where you’re looking to travel.

Especially if you’ve got young children, you want to travel at times statistically less likely to result in full flights. Time of day, month, and year are key in such travel strategies. Provided you use the web to acquire this information, you can book last minute, get where you want to go, save money, and be better enabled to take care of young children.