Best Travel Deals for Spring Break Airfare

I love travel deals. especially when I can find ways to save money on ever increasing airfare. I personally use Bing s Farecaster to help me decide if I should purchase a plane ticket now, or if it s best to wait until later. I guess that s why they call Bing the Decision Engine. Not only does Bing Travel assist with making airfare decisions, but their room rate predictor is pretty awesome too.

Here are some tips from Bing Travel to help you get the best travel deal on your spring break trip:

2011 SPRING BREAK FORECEAST FROM BING: FARES EXPECTED TO BE HIGHER THAN LAST YEAR BUT HEAD TO EUROPE OR FLORIDA FOR BEST DEALS

• Higher Fares: Overall, average airfare price this year is $489, a 10.5% increase from last year’s $443 average
• Don’t lose hope! Deals still available. Airfare to top warm weather and ski spring break destinations are up 15% this year but there is still hope for finding deals! Flights from Seattle to Salt Lake City are down about 7% from last year, as are flights from Dallas to Jacksonville.  Fares to Cancun, Mexico’s spring break hotspot, from some U.S. cities are also down this year including flights from Philadelphia (-8.3%) and Atlanta (-15.7%)
• If you want to escape to somewhere warm, Florida is the ticket! Many of the best deals of the season are on flights to Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando, and Tampa.  Here are a few of the lowest average fares to Florida:

• • Atlanta to West Palm Beach, $181
  • Boston to Jacksonville, $233
  • Philadelphia to Orlando, $217

• Airfare price drop to several European destinations: Not only are we seeing a decrease in fares to Europe, spring is also the shoulder season, which means you are likely to benefit  from some great hotel rates and less crowds.  Here is a look at some flights from the U.S. to Europe with the greatest drop in price since last year:
• Top 5 Warm-Weather Routes with Lowest Average Ticket Price:

• • Dallas to Paris (-11%)
  • New York to Amsterdam (-13%)
  • Philadelphia to Paris (-12%)
  • San Francisco to Paris (-9%)
  • Seattle to Rome, Italy (-9%)

o    Atlanta to West Palm Beach, $181

o    Atlanta to Jacksonville, $202

o    D.C. to Ft. Lauderdale, $209

o    Atlanta to New Orleans, $209

o    Houston to New Orleans, $204

• Top 5 Routes with Highest Average Price Increase Over Spring Break:

o    Dallas to Nassau, Bahamas, $544 (+47%)

o    New York to Vancouver, Canada, $596 (+64%)

o    Seattle to Nassau, Bahamas, $762 (+41%)

o    Philadelphia to San Juan, Puerto Rico, $939 (+54%)

o    Chicago to San Juan, Puerto Rico, $553 (+54%)

To help you get the best possible deal despite the rise in spring break airfare pricing, Bing has great tips and tools that can help you save time and money:

1. Be Flexible. Travelers can save big by avoiding the peak travel times during spring break. For example, you can save $25-$125 per ticket by travelling from a Monday-Monday or Tuesday-Tuesday instead of from Saturday – Saturday.   Use the Bing Travel Flexible Travel graph to help determine the best days to travel.
2. Use Available Tools. Making the booking process easy, Bing Travel also allows travelers to book their trips with confidence when they use Bing’s Price Predictor . This technology and data will tell you if the lowest fare for a trip is rising or dropping over the next seven days. If Bing tells you to wait on that purchase, you can set a “fare alert” for Bing to email you when your fare is low and ready to buy. When booking a hotel, Rate Indicator helps you find the best deals by showing you which hotels are offering a rate that is lower than their historical rates.
3. Avoid Travel Surcharges. Make sure to be well informed about your airlines’ fees. Keep an eye out for holiday surcharges, baggage fees, and charges for pillows, meals and even aisle/exit row seats.
4. Get Inspired. Get the inspiration you need for your next trip by checking out Bing’s visual collection of various hot spot vacation destinations around the world. http://www.bing.com/travel/places?g=travel_destinations#toc=0

Shannon Hurst Lane lives in south Louisiana and loves spontaneous road trips with her family or a solo mama getaway. She's the creator of TravelingMamas.com with a mission to inspire moms to get out there and explore our world. Google+