If You're Retired, Be Inspired About Off-Price Flight and Hotel Deals

If your 9 to 5 (or 8 am to whatever) job slavery days are over and you have all the time in the world, look before you book. You should already know that flights and some hotels raise their prices sky high on weekends and holidays. For instance, our favorite Las Vegas hotel right on the Strip charges $60 a day from Sunday night through Thursday, $200 on Fridays and Saturdays. During holiday seasons and major conventions the same room could cost $300 and up. Other resorts and major city hotels also do the up and down price manipulations. For the same gotcha reasons, rising and falling prices apply to air tickets and other travel-related deals. Our favorite airline, as with all competitors, has a complicated price schedule that could mean booking the right flight at the right time could result in a savings of 50 percent or more. Most travel agents recommend seniors who can fly at any time will get best prices by selecting red eye (late night) flights on Wednesdays. Many agencies and travel websites claim to offer frequently updated info on bargain flights.Two that give all kinds of updated and relevant senior travel bargains are kayak.com and farcast.live.com. Excuse the pun, but everything about travel is up in the air right now. With the Obama administration in the White House and Congress totally controlled by the Democratic Party, seniors should watch and wait to see how the changes will affect prices, as well as all aspects of both domestic and foreign travel in 2009 and beyond.