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Checking In From The Mountains

September 7, 2022 In one of our earlier posts, we mentioned that we were planning a trip out to the Denver, Colorado area in the fall for my parent’s 40th wedding anniversary. The week finally arrived, and I am writing this post at the vacation rental house looking out at the lake and mountains.I mentioned in the earlier post our process in selecting the house and rental car, and that we still hadn’t booked our flights yet. That process I am certainly going to chalk up as a lesson learned. In researching flights, I had read that conventional wisdom held that booking between 1-3 months prior to the trip date would yield the best pricing when flying domestically. We started seriously planning this vacation, looking at specific pricing and details, at about four months before our anticipated trip date (before that we were still narrowing down locations and confirming a trip would work for the three families involved). So, when I checked pricing at the 4-month mark, the flight costs seemed reasonable – and I was optimistic that we might be able to get an even better deal waiting for the recommended 1–3-month window. When the next month rolled around, which was the start of the window, the pricing had jumped up a bit – and then continually rose right into the second month (I had been checking on a daily or every other day basis). I was starting to get a bit worried and getting to the point where we would just have to bite the bullet and book regardless. Luckily about a month prior – right at the end of the window, flights were back to what they had been at the 4-month mark when we first started looking. My takeaway from the experience is that if you find a good deal on airfare book it, as in my case it would have saved me a few months of nervousness all to end up with the same cost.Outside of using the flight vouchers I also mentioned in the earlier post, the other critical item we looked at were the baggage fees and rules for flying with children. We ended up flying United on the way out and American on the way back, to maximize our flight vouchers. While the checked baggage rules and fees were roughly the same, the rules for carry on and personal items were slightly different (no carry on included for United basic economy tickets – and the dimensions for personal items were slightly different between the carriers). Also slightly different were the rules for strollers and wagons and what could be gate checked (no wagons on American, and a weight limit for gate checked strollers). In booking flights for our parents and getting our three family’s arrival and departure times to line up from three separate airports (which was a challenge, and another spreadsheet in itself), we ended up booking them on discount carrier. With discount carriers there was a much wider spread in the baggage rules and fees – For instance Frontier’s checked bag limit is 40 pounds (as opposed to the more typical 50 pounds) and there are fees associated with interactions with the gate agent (checking in on-line, printing own boarding pass, and self-tagging checked bags will save you from paying an additional fee for those services). All-in-all just planning and being aware of what the rules are associated with what your fare, what it includes and what it does not – especially when flying with children.We’ve been enjoying the trip so far and have had great weather. We are almost halfway through it and are looking forward to the remainder and the things we have planned. You might also be interested in As the year comes to a close, so does Season 14 of Project Money. In preparation for writing our final blog post we reflected over what has occurred over... In the last week we had to take Robin’s car, a 2019 VW Atlas, in for a couple of recall notices we had received. Nothing completely out of the ordinary... One of the topics we had mentioned in our posts from earlier this year was an employee stock purchase plan offered by Robin’s employer. We have never participated... Being part of Project Money has pushed our family to take a more active role in managing our finances, necessitating weekly conversations that have spurred... With Thanksgiving behind us, the countdown to Christmas has “officially” begin. This year, as part of our Project Money journey, we have been planning... I had been putting this off for a few weeks/months now, optimistic that Fall might stretch on a little bit longer – but this past week’s winter weather... Over the last few weeks, we have been working to refocus, and get back to some of the basics as we start to head into the end of year holiday season... Over the past few weeks and months, I had seen several news reports about I Bonds, usually with a corresponding endorsement of their attractiveness as... We have reached the point of the year where we have one foot firmly planted into heating season and thought we would reflect on what energy saving tips...
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