We talked all about using a travel agent/company in this post. But what about airline vacation packages?

On my recent trip to the Dominican Republic I used JetBlue Vacations. I selected a great resort and the best flights to match my itinerary. Now I will show you how.

First let’s define an airline vacation package. Airline vacation packages combine two or more components of your trip. These components include flights, hotels and car rentals. Many offer cruises too. You bundle these components and save money. Get access to unpublished rates and save a ton of money.

When you you use a third party travel company many people are dealing with your reservations. Use an airline vacation package and you will be working with the airline and hotel directly. I believe that the deals you will get by using airline vacation packages are worth giving them a try.

I’ll show you how I book my airline vacation packages.

1. Start with an airline you trust

As I mentioned earlier, I recently used JetBlue vacations. I’ve traveled with JetBlue extensively and like their routes and service.

The next few steps will vary depending on what airline you choose. However, the general idea is the same.

2. Choose your destination

This is very important because there are lots of different places you can go. Some are more expensive than others. You can go to a Caribbean country but you can also visit Asia since you’re going wherever that airline flies.

So choose an airline that flies to the place that you really want to go to. Many large airlines have vacation packages. They may not advertise them, but most do.

3. Customize your vacation package

Start by using the filters to select your budget.  Choose how many days you plan to stay. This will affect your budget. 

After staying at a couple all-inclusive resorts I believe that 5 days/4 nights is a good place to start.  Anything less than that is not enough time.

What type of hotel or resort are you looking to stay at? Check out my “ultimate all-inclusive resort checklist” post. Use the post to decide which features are most important to you.

Some features include airport transfers, adults-only sections, all-inclusive, and star rating.

An example to show the savings

Let’s look at an example together. We’ll use an airline vacation package to bundle a resort and flight. Then we’ll choose a flight and hotel, separately. Let’s see which one will come out to be less expensive.

For example, we’ll use JetBlue vacations to travel to the island of Saint Lucia in September. Our flight is leaving on September 3rd and returning on September 7th.  We are staying at the Windjammer Landing Villa Beach Resort in Saint Lucia. The reservation is for two adults sharing one room.

Booking using airline vacation packages

The all-inclusive package using JetBlue vacations comes to a total of $2,703.58. This includes the all-inclusive Ocean View Guestroom.

Booking the flight and hotel separately

Now we’re going on JetBlue’s website to purchase just the airline tickets. The total for 2 adults using the same exact flights as the vacation package comes to $1,113.70

Now we are going directly to the Windjammer Landing Villa Beach Resort website. We will select the same dates.

Then we will select the same room type and include the all-inclusive package. The total comes to $1,849.80.

Purchasing the hotel and the flight separately comes to $2,957.50.

JetBlue Vacations – Total: $2,703.58

Flight and hotel separately – Total: $2,957.50

This gives you a savings of $259.92. Not too shabby if you ask me. You are getting the exact same hotel and the exact same flights.

Here is a list of some airlines that offer vacation packages:
JetBlue
Emirates
American Airlines
Cathay Pacific
United Airlines
Delta

This is definitely a travel hack that you’ll want to use for yourself.

I’m going on another trip soon and I’m going to be using a different airlines’ vacation package. We’re going to try to save even more money! I’ll let you know what happens so you can do the same too! (Subscribe to the newsletter to be emailed when I post. The sign-up form is on the right side bar.)

This post is not sponsored by JetBlue vacations.