Mummy Milli

Being on Maternity leave gives me the opportunity to travel a bit more, this matched with having Frequent Flyer points gives me the cost savings to make this happen. 

Hubby works in an industry that shuts down over Christmas break and I have been wanting to book a time to go and visit family in the Sunshine Coast. The thought got into my head why not all head up together over the Christmas break. But looking into the classic rewards flights quickly made it apparent that the timing, monetary cost and points cost were just not worth it. Even though my initial option wouldn’t work out for us the idea was lodged in my head and I was going to get us up there as a family. 

To get to the Sunshine Coast can cost as little as 9,600 points per person and $38, for direct flights on Tuesdays. Being only an hour’s drive away I searched through the Brisbane connections and while there are even more options in general to score those low points & cost airfares there just was nothing that lined up with the holidays. 

This makes sense, the busiest time of year, why would any airline have people fly for free when there are a lot of paying customers. 

Again, as I have the flexibility of time, I looked further out for other public holidays so that Hubby can come too. March long weekend seemed to line up well. I can get the cheap flights up to Brisbane earlier in the week, hire a car and drive and then Hubby flies up Friday. We all head home together on the Monday, out of Brisbane again. 

I know that the process sounds all over the place when laid out like that but this is how I manage to book cheap trips and stretch our points as far as they can go. Below I have listed the steps I use to match up the best flight and point deals with dates and times that suit us best.

Step one

Look up your ideal scenario, if that works well for you then great, book it in!

Step two

Look up close airports, do you have the time to drive? And are there better flight options this way?

In the past I have used this on a trip in Europe. Hubby and I were heading to Slovenia but the flights just didn’t line up and were very expensive. Through a bit of research we found a great deal on flights into Germany and then a cheap, overnight bus across the borders to Ljubljana.

Step three

Can you be flexible with dates? The availability of time is probably going to be your biggest chance to get the best deal. When we planned on heading off overseas for an extended period of time we booked flights months out and and then planned the quitting of jobs and such around that date.

We have also recently booked flights to Bali and, again, booked the flights first to ensure we got the best deal, before booking accommodation. This meant that what could be the costliest part of the trip, no longer is for us. We wanted to go over the Easter break and were flexible with whether we could fly out before or after, we were also happy to fly during the week. These changes meant that our points usage and flight cost was a third of what it could have been.

Step four

Think outside the box. If we were all to fly together we would only get a few days away. While this is still worthwhile, with little children, it could be quite a stressful trip. To combat this I will fly up with the children a few days earlier and rent the car, this gives me the ease of having car seats from the beginning and a car so that we can easily get out of the airport and get around. I can also head up on the day with the best flights for points and cost and if Hubby’s flight costs a bit more, to get a specific time, then overall we have come out ahead. The trip is not rushed, we fly home together,  Hubby doesn’t have to take time off work, little one fly’s for free and I still get to visit my family in Queensland for a full week.  

While this is not an extremely out of the box scenario I don’t think a lot of families would consider flying separately, particularly with a three year old and an under one. To me that is a small challenge compared to a week long trip. 

Bonus Tip

Be strategic when bidding for upgrades. On a short flight (2.5 hours) I wouldn’t even consider it, however, when we were flying back from Japan (you can my Trip Report – Japan with a Toddler here) on a 10.5 hour, overnight flight Hubby bid on an upgrade to business and got it. Monkey was still under 2 years old so we didn’t need to use points for him but we all got access to the business lounge and had chairs that laid flat on the flight. This meant we all managed to get some sleep on the long flight home. 

These four steps have consistently given us the best results, I personally work the list this way, as we often have an ideal scenario, particularly when Hubby and I both have jobs. Although in the past we have gotten some exceptional deals by doing steps 1 to 3 reversed when we knew we were quitting our jobs. This meant there were no time restraints and we were able to look for the best flights over a range of months, and to a range of countries we were interested in heading too. We hope to be able to travel that way again in the five to ten year future but for now this is how we work flights.

Let me know in the comments any of your flight tips! I am always looking for more.