Would you fly to your vacation separately to save money?

[LuckyRobin]

My husband and I both flew to Tennessee on separate flights since he was coming from Alaska and I was coming from Washington. It would have cost more for him to fly home to Washington first than to go directly. If it were international, I think I'd be okay with it if we were flying to an English speaking country. We also flew home from Georgia on separate flights, but we were able to go to the airport together because we had flights the same day. I'd be hesitant to do it to somewhere where no one spoke English. I could probably get by okay with my middling Spanish and French, but would still be somewhat uncomfortable, even then. I would definitely not go to a country alone that had cultural differences with how women are to be treated or to behave.

[YLTL_Dan]

We're currently traveling overseas so this is quite relevant for us. We don't even check separate flights to see if it's cheaper because of the uncertainty it causes. I've flown for ~9 years for business and my wife has flown a lot too, but you never know what will happen with one flight and I'd rather have us together and pay a little more. Yes, $1,000 is an extreme example that'd make me consider it more, but anything less than $500 I wouldn't do.

Domestic is different as well, but think of all of the things that always go wrong on longhaul flights. Flight delays and cancellations could make you lose 1-2 days on your vacation and you also wouldn't even be together! Also, what happens when you arrive at the airport and don't have phone service? There have been numerous times our original plans have changed once we landed due to forces outside of our control. However, as we were always together we made it through okay.

It's tough because I'm all about saving money, but when it has potential of negatively impacting your vacation in a big way, I don't think it's worth it.

[Mjenn]

We've done this frequently, and always find it advantageous. But then, we have lived in many different countries and travel a LOT. In fact we did it most when I was on maternity leave with my first and I could be a lot more flexible with dates, then I would sometimes travel when it was cheapest, and DH would follow when he could manage with work.

Only since we have had our 2nd child have I put my foot down (although only at the last minute), we had been planning on me going over a week early and visiting friends & family due to lower rates, but i chickened out. So DH figured out a way to work remotely and we all traveled on the cheaper tickets.

[snafu]

Are you kidding? The international airports all have English speaking staff whose focus is to help foreign travellers since English is the language of business. Non American airlines and airports are still doing their best to keep passengers happy and resolve issues. Just imagine how terrifying it must be for foreign speakers to arrive at your local airport. They can't make themselves understood and no one tries to explain what barriers have arisen. In my experience both staff and other passengers are unnecessarily rude and rough in large USA departure zones.

[Tonyall]

I would do it for $1. Sometimes I prefer to fly alone.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Do you have kids? We did on our recent vacation but I don't know how often I want to fly with two kids solo. Granted 12 hours on a plane with a 3 year old and 11 month old even with her own seat, is painful for most parents. Solo? It was hard I will admit.

I travel a lot and no kids? Hell yes we'd do it. With kids? Depends where and how long?

[Gailete]

I used to work with an Indian doctor and it was the ONLY way she and her husband would travel. I believe that they felt if one plane went down there would be a survivor to care for children (who might not be on the trip) or at least some of the children if they were divided between parents on the trip.

Personally I think that traveling is PART of the vacation and I would want hubby with me and he wouldn't dream of letting me go flying somewhere alone as I need too much help. Airport security isn't the kindest to the disabled! I walk with a cane and they love to take them away and then want you to balance with your arms over your head while they do a scan. If I could do that I wouldn't be using the cane in the first place!

[My English Castle]

We do

Almost every time we fly to the UK, we fly separately to maximize the FF miles. yep, it can be a pain, but for $1000, we always do it. We try to synchronize them so we can drive to the airport together and arrive close to the same time.

[rennigade]

Sure, we would travel separately under certain conditions. We would have to arrive at the destination on the same day...and it would have to save us a minimum of $500. Without those two factors I wouldn't even waste my time.

[scfr]

This actually just came up in my house. We're planning a trip overseas this fall. DH is going to leave a few days before me, because he has some business to take care of. No reason for me to take time off of work to be there while he's in business meetings (it's a country I've been to many times and there's no sightseeing I want to do). We'll meet up overseas for 8 or 9 days of vacation, then return home on different flights. I'll be stopping off on the West Coast to visit my family for a few days before flying home. We'll be on different schedules and airlines because it fits with our schedules and it's also a money saver. I'll be using airline miles to fly for free, and DH will be flying on another airline because it's cheaper.

[josetann]

$1,000...that's the majority of a round-trip ticket. How much are you guys spending on tickets? Or maybe I'm the only one here who flies economy?

I haven't done it overseas yet, but would. Actually, my mom flew to Australia via New Zealand; we (our family of four) flew over there to meet her and spend a few days in New Zealand before her final flight to Australia to visit us. Well, when booking flights, hers was New Zealand to Australia round-trip, ours were Australia to New Zealand round-trip, and there was a difference in cost between carriers. In other words, while we all flew from New Zealand to Australia at around the same time, we were on different flights. Well, wouldn't you know it, ours went off without a hitch, and my mom's was delayed, delayed, delayed until late that night (flights were scheduled for very early morning). She was not a happy camper and extremely stressed out. I'll try harder to ensure we're all on the same flight next time, to reduce her stress (unrelated note, but on the return trip her flight from Aus to NZ was delayed, flight from NZ to Fiji was delayed, flight from Fiji to LAX was delayed, and she barely made it on her first US domestic flight, had literally a minute or two to spare...she was jinxed!).

Wife and kids flew back from Alaska to Tennessee once on different flights than me; I briefly toyed with the idea of going first-class since it'd not cost that much (free luggage allowance, I'd take ALL of our luggage for free)...but I'm pretty sure that flying first-class while she handled two young kids by herself would be a decision that'd haunt me for the rest of my life. So I slummed it out in economy.

Anyways...yeah, I'd do it, even for less than $1,000. Anything under $100 I'd probably stick together, over that and I'd start looking closely. Sometimes we can make a mini-trip out of a layover, so I'd pay a bit extra for that. But if we're just getting from point A to point B, I like to go cheap.

[debtfreeme]

Hell, yes! Sometimes it is nice to fly alone/speprated especially on a long trip. Alone time is good!

[Mesem]

If it would save me $1,000, yes!

[FrugalSensei]

I'm all for saving money but that's a tough one because you never know what might happen in terms of airline snafus like delays, cancellations and losing luggage. Statistically it is rare for those things to occur but if the trip was to a foreign destination (versus home or some other place where you can hang out in someone's home) and it was for less than 7 full days then one snafu could really cut into fun time. And, assuming you're not living the high life, those fun times probably take a long time to save up time off work and money for. I'd be tempted to suck it up and fork out the bucks for peace of mind. But like I said in the beginning - that's a tough one for me. Would need to consult the 8-ball

Btw, snafus can happen to you even if you fly together, I get that. I'm just saying that I'd consider going through everything together at a cost of $1000 than saving the money and risking separate experiences apart. Just the view of someone who has run into Murphy (of Murphy's Law) one too many times.