Hidden Costs of Your Flight-compare offers for your next travel project ~ Travel and Leisure

If you want to compare offers for your next travel project, you should consider not only the price tag of the ticket, but also the hidden costs of your flight. This article gives you an overview of the most common outlays associated with flying, on top of the ticket price. If you have a good travel agent, he will discuss all costs of your flight with you. But if you use the booking engines in the internet, you may get a low priced air ticket, but miss out on the hidden costs of your flight

Hidden expenses may be connected to

Luggage
Change or cancellation penalties
Expenses to reach the airport
Expenses for a hotel room connected to early starting or late arriving flights
The value of your time spent on the road.

On top of these common expenses, some air carriers charge you a fee for a credit card payment or a seat reservation. Mostly a fee for issuing the ticket is charged. This may or may not be included in the price tag of your ticket. If you do not consider the hidden costs of your flight carefully, you may pay much more for your journey than you should.

Leisure travelers often undervalue their time, because they are not paid for it. And family members, who drop them at the airport, and pick them up again, do not charge for their time, either. But nonetheless time is a resource of great value for everybody. Actually, if you feel that you do not have enough money, there are ways to get more. But for time, if it is gone, it is gone.

This is why many successful people put a higher value on time with their family, than on time spent with customers or clients.

If you want to get the most for your resources spent on travel, you really need to take care of your time, and the time of your family members. Both impact the hidden costs of your flight. If you do not acknowledge them, you may believe that you save, while in fact you overpay.

I know very well that it can be a daunting task to calculate total costs of a flight, including the hidden ones. But if you really want to find the best offers, you need to spend that effort.