Aaron’s Affordable Guide to Figure Skating Event Travel

Note from Ice Mom: This guest post comes from Aaron Harris of Axels, Loops, and Spins.  Aaron is truly a figure skating fan and a terrific blogger: he’s knowledgeable, has interesting opinions, and he’s always respectful to both skaters and readers. What I have long admired about Aaron is the way he manages to attend so many figure skating events live. I once asked him if he had a trust fund. Nope. He has a system. Thanks, Aaron, for sharing it with my readers.

My favorite way to watch figure skating is live…it’s so exciting! As a blogger, it’s the perfect way for me to bring my perspective and passion for the sport in a very real and up close way. However, while attending big skating events may be fun, it can also be costly. Here are some tips I follow when I plan on attending a big skating event to squeeze the most out of every dollar.

First, figure skating tickets are often sold in two or three tiers (the closer to the ice…the more expensive the ticket). They are also sold on a first-come, first-served basis. I often purchase my event tickets the day they go on sale and I’ll buy the cheaper seat. Sure, I won’t be right at ice level, but I’ll have a fairly good seat that’s just a row or two above the expensive seats…nearly as good for 20% less!

Unless the event is fairly close, you’ll likely be flying to the event destination. As we all know, flying can be costly, but I have a smart way to curb those flying expenses. We all have bills. Electric bills, house mortgages, cell phone bills, cable bills, etc. I use these to my advantage. First, find a low APR mile earning credit account and open it. For example, I have a Chase United Plus Visa. Every major airline has one, so I suggest choosing one based on the airport and airline hub closest to you (for me it’s Chicago O’Hare and United Airlines). If you’re not interested in opening a credit account, many banks (Bank of America for example) are offering mile-earning Visa debit cards for checking accounts. I only use my Chase Visa to pay bills. After I pay my bill, I immediately pay off the balance to avoid interest charges. I earn a mile for every dollar spent, so over the course of a year I can literally earn enough miles for two, maybe even three award fares. That means a free flight to wherever the skating event is being held! Even if you don’t have enough miles for a full award fare, most airlines are encouraging passengers to purchase tickets by allowing them to use partial amounts of miles to reduce airfare cost. The more loyal you are to one airline, the more perks that come…access to internet lounges, free class upgrades, free baggage check, etc. All these things can help reduce the cost of flying as well.

If you are going the more traditional route of paying for airfare, make sure you are getting the best price. There are two Web sites I recommend for finding the lowest fare possible. First, for U.S. domestic flights, I use Kayak.com. This site will search all the major airline carriers simultaneously and find the cheapest available fare. You can use this site for hotels and rental cars as well. If you are traveling to an international event, I suggest using Vayama.com. Like Kayak, it searches all major carriers, including international air carriers, to find the best possible fare. If you live in an area that is served by a low cost carrier such as Southwest, Air Tran, Jet Blue, or even Ryanair or EasyJet in Europe, check their Web sites because usually their fares don’t publish to airline fare search engines and they can be significantly cheaper. Often events have a deal with one particular airline. If they do, they may offer a discount; check the event literature or Web site for more information.

Once you arrive at the event destination there are a couple decisions to be made.

First decision: what mode of transportation do I use? If you’ve driven to the event or get a rental car, that can be a great convenience, but it comes at a cost. Besides the cost of renting a car, there are parking fees at events, often parking fees at hotels, and of course gas. If the event location has a good public transportation system, you might ditch the car for the subway instead. It might also be cheaper to just take cabs occasionally. You just kind of have to step back and think which is the cheaper option based upon the event location. Ideally, you’re going to be within walking distance of the event, but that isn’t always possible.

Second decision: where do I stay? Every skating event usually has an official hotel. I rarely stay at this hotel because it is usually one of, if not the most, expensive hotel. Often, within a block, you can find another hotel that is just as nice and half the price because it isn’t associated with the event. If you have opted for a rental car or drove to the event, you can save even more money by staying in the suburbs or out of the downtown area for way less (and often those hotels don’t charge for parking!). As a blogger, I’m looking for free Wi-Fi as well. Paying for Internet can be costly.

Finally, make sure to check out the event official Web site. Often they have all kinds of special deals, coupons for local stores and restaurants, special transportation deals, maps, etc. At your hotel, check with the concierge and inquire about any special deals or discounts offered to guests of their hotel.

If you put in a little leg work before the event, you can really reduce the squeeze on the purse or the wallet and make what originally looked like a very expensive undertaking suddenly fit into your budget!

Aaron will be available for questions. If you have questions for him, please leave them in the comments for him to read and reply.

Are you a travel maven? Do you know the secrets of online reservations? Are you the kind of person who can pack anything into a carry on and have the bag weigh three pounds? Have you ever checked figure skates onto a plane? Did they treat you like a terrorist or an athlete? Share, share, share!

Do you have a question for Ice Mom or the Advisory Board? Are you an expert who would like to share your expertise with all of us? Do you have an idea for a post you’d like to read? Let me know! I love e-mail! icemom.diane@gmail.com