You made the case for non-stop flights and carry-on only!

When I was a teen my dearly beloved Grandma taught me her travel rule: "Take half as much clothing and twice as much money."

Her rule has served me well… and I fondly remember that when she'd decide to go to Europe, she's stuff some undies in her purse and a wad of hundreds in the traditional woman's hiding place and off she'd go.

That's actually good advice. I tend to take way more than I need when I travel.

I'm kind of tied the the ol " Better to have and not need, than to need and not have".

I guess the question is, what do you really NEED.

The real reason of the sky rocketing costs and difficulty in travel, is they really want travel restrictions for the common folk so with the TSA, Homeland Security and " safety" bs, they can treat us like farm animals while they rob our pocket books.

2020 and the  scamdemic was just an extension of the 911 nonsense to gain more control of the populace.

This govt is a complete clown show.

Flying was much more enjoyable when it was cost prohibitive to the lower classes.

Have flown to Spokane a couple times, and the flight was always $400. Of course, I only fly with Delta and take only a carry-on since the carry-on is free. Not a checked bag person here- unless it’s absolutely necessary and that last time was a trip to California.

Also, I have purchased tickets only on Expedia since it’s a bit cheaper. Delta website is $200 more. If you move dates around, the prices do vary.

In preparation for an upcoming biz trip, I priced a trans-Pacific itinerary on the usual online sites (CheapAir, Kayak) that do a meta-search including Expedia. I compared the itinerary with AmEx Travel and, while there was some give and take on the various legs, the overall cost on AmEx was several hundred dollars cheaper.… PLUS… because I booked online, AmEx offers a special travel insurance that includes medical coverage overseas, evacuation costs, and even full refund for cancellation for any reason within 48 hours of departure.

It was only on the trans-Pacific legs that there was a significant cost savings. For the "in-country" legs it was a wash, prices within a few dollars of each other.

When it came to accommodations, Agoda was significantly cheaper on all bookings except for one. AmEx saved me about $600 on that one because it was with one of AmEx's contracted "Hotel Collection." Agoda also had the advantage of offering a variety of options: pay now, pay by, and pay at the hotel. 

It's a pain to spreadsheet the flights and hotels, but doing so saved me about 25% of the expense. Well worth the effort.

Well good. You do you! All of us have different preferences/what works under the circuмstances. If one is good at it, they can find a good deal on flights. (For example, others I know wanted to fly to Italy and only could find tickets for $1100 or more. But we did some digging, and found flights around $800, with added baggage and whatnot for reasonable prices. Better than nothing, of course.

Was there something in my post that made you imagine that I was commanding you to be me???

Thanks for clarifying.

Speaking of flying… https://www.takimag.com/article/die-in-the-air/

Meh, the 737 Max is a disaster waiting to happen.  It's just that those two crashes happened outside the United Stated, but it was still caused by the cheapness of an American company ... lest the US FAA and the American airline industry take credit for no crashes in the last 14 years "in America".  FAA also looked the other way despite whistle blowers regarding the 737 Max.

Delta earned my blackball with their COVID "vax" mandates and other (((woke))) attacks.