INDIANAPOLIS — The summer travel season is right around the corner, and it's expected to break records. AAA predicts more than 45 million people will travel Memorial Day weekend, and almost a million of them are Hoosiers.
“There always are concerns about rising prices across the board, driving, flying, hotel costs, but that does not necessarily seem to be deterring people,” said Sally French, a travel expert with NerdWallet.
According to NerdWallet, 44% of Americans plan to take a vacation this year, with travelers spending close to $4,000 in trip expenses.
“The cost of air travel is actually down about 5% this year,” said French.
However, French says that lower airline prices come with a catch.
“We’re continuing to see this trend of 'unbundling'. That’s where airlines are advertising a lower base fare, this could be a basic economy fare, but then they’re continuously charging for all these extra things,” said French.
Those extra charges include checked bags or picking your seats. To avoid those additional fees, French recommends looking into airline credit cards.
“Typically, these credit cards have annual fees, but often if you’re flying with that airline round trip just once or twice can easily outweigh the cost of the annual fee on that credit card with something as simple as a checked bag alone,” said French.
Another way you can save is by choosing to fly on a Wednesday or Thursday instead of a Friday, which tends to be busier.
French says some of the cheaper Fourth of July destinations are:
- Hilo, Hawaii
- Bozeman, Montana
- Palm Springs, California
