Tips for Tracking Last-Minute Travel Deals

Joel Strauch, Special to PCWorld.com

Dang that Aunt Bertha! She's decided to host a last-second holiday reunion, so now you have to change your flight plans. But maybe you should just skip Bertha's bash and spend a week in the Caribbean. Or take a jaunt to Ireland. Or go watch your alma mater crush its bowl-game opponent.

Wherever your travel plans for the holiday season take you, the Internet can help you find the best bargains.

Best Case Scenario

Last-minute flights over the holidays rarely come cheap, and now a lot of the online travel sites assess a $5 or $10 booking fee. But on the Internet you can play around with arrival and departure dates, which can make a trip much more affordable.

Travelocity's flight search lets you find out what the lowest possible cost will be for any given flight and then choose the dates that work for you at that price.

Competitor Expedia has a "Fare Compare" feature that shows you when the lowest cost tickets are available. This feature helped me find a ticket from Milwaukee to Orlando from December 23 through 27 for only $208, with about a week's notice.

Both Travelocity and Cheap Tickets offer last-minute deals from major cities, and they include a hotel room or a rental car. Most of the deals I found wouldn't let me stay over December 25, but I could leave or arrive on that date. If you're looking for the best prices around the holidays, traveling on the Big C can knock some digits off the ticket.

Bowling for Bowls?

But maybe you had enough of the in-laws over Turkey Day and you're planning something a little different for the holidays.

Sports fans can find the best packages for attending bowl games at Last Minute Travel. This service offers local accommodations sorted by price, and it even provides links to purchase tickets for most of the games.

Football fans can also check with their team's alumni Web site for more information on heading to the game. For example, Ohio State's alumni page contains leads for getting tickets to the Fiesta Bowl and details about the pre-game pep rally. Washington State University's alumni site will help get Cougar fans to the Rose Bowl (or at least into the pre-game party).

Beyond the Border

Looking for something more exotic than a pigskin battle? Winter is the best time to travel to Europe--at least from a financial standpoint. Round-trip flights from the East Coast can be had for $300 or less, with left-coast flights often only around $50 more.

But it's the packages that will get you the best deals. Go-Today currently offers a New Year's celebration in London. Leaving from Newark or Boston, it runs only $649 per person for the flight plus six nights of hotel accommodations.

For the more adventurous, Sceptre Ireland lets you fly to Dublin and gives you a week with a rental car and six vouchers to stay in any of the more than 250 participating bed-and-breakfasts across the Emerald Isle. The price during January leaving from Los Angeles is $629 per person.

And if you feel that your immune system can handle the risk, you can't find a better time to book a cruise. Even five and seven night cruises can be had for under $300. In less than a month, you could be hanging out for a week in the Caribbean. With luck, you'll be enjoying the weather, not feeling under it.