Heads up for holiday fliers

Still going home for Thanksgiving. It's a promise we all made to our Grandmother before her passing. I'll be driving home, luckily, it's less than 500 miles, so I won't have to deal with the airport headache. Travel at night, beat the congestion, and save on gas. I'll be staying with my favorite aunt, like I always do. As a family, we pool money together for those who can't afford the trip/lodging.

My parents live in California.  I live in Georgia.  They had asked me to come home for Thanksgiving since I was unable to make it home earlier this year.  I waited a bit too long to get my ticket, and the price jumped about $60.  However, I have paid for it and will be going back to California for a week.  As far as transportation, I'll be using one of my parents' cars for about 2 days and I'll pay for the gas (which is now lower there than it is here).  As far as getting from the airport to my parents, it's sort of a compromise.  The Flyaway bus will take me a little over half the way, and my dad will end up driving the last 20+ miles to get me.  The Flyaway costs only about $7 round-trip to the airport, which is a great cost saver.

My husband and I just had our first child a month ago. We are taking him to grandma and grandpas for Christmas. We haven't seen his family in over two years as we are stationed in Alaska and they are in the lower 48. But having an Alaska Airlines credit card allows us to buy a full price ticket and then a $50 companion ticket. Basically buy one get one free, the three of us are flying round trip for $900, we can't beat the savings elsewhere.

We are traveling from Kansas to Ohio to see my husband's 80 year old parents.

We are taking our 2 daughters, son-in-law and first grand-child.  (Great-grandchild to his parents!)

Our tickets were almost $3,000.  And that is before $15 for each first bag per passenger.  $25 for each second bag per passenger.

It's an 1100 mile trip.  We considered driving to KC & flying out of there (because it would be much cheaper plus they have a non-stop flight) but it is a 4 hour drive in good weather.  And with a baby, it could be a nightmare.

This will be baby's first trip to Ohio. 

We want to see the grandparents while they are still around.

I don't know if we'll be able to spend that much money again for flights.  For that kind of money, we could BUY A CAR!