Flights are all over the place these days. I’ve always gone by the “7 week rule” when purchasing my flights - where you plan to purchase them about 7 weeks from your trip. They tend to have the best prices.
Recently, however, I discovered some airlines were tacking on an extra fee for processing the purchase online. They call it a Carrier Interface Charge. If you purchase your tickets online or through their customer service number/call center, they will charge an extra $20-25 per ticket per flight (depending on the airline). That means if you’re flying round trip, that amount is doubled. So far, I have only seen this with Frontier, Spirit and Allegiant Airlines - but these are also, a lot of the time, the most budget friendly. Now this may not seem like a lot - especially if you’re traveling by yourself, but when you have a larger family, this could be quite a bit of money. 💸
I do have a solution, though. Depending on your distance to the airport, there is an option to avoid paying this fee. As long as there is an attendant at the ticket/check-in/baggage check desk, you can purchase your tickets at the counter. This will save you the $20-25 per ticket. The last time my husband and I flew I tried this. Online, I was quoted $150 round trip for both of us. I went to the airport and purchased the same, round trip tickets for $60!! You read that correctly - $60 TOTAL for round trip tickets for us both. 😱🤯
So the next time you’re ready to purchase flights, check the fees. If you see the CIC and you’re close enough to the airport your departing from, head on over and save yourself some money 💰
Let us know in the comments what other hacks you would love to learn about!
Your Bibbidi Bobbidi Bestie,
Victoria 💖
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