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2013
28
January
Halifax to Dublin | How To Get The Best Package Deals
28
January
Guides
The Ydeals Noise-Free Guide To Getting The Best Deal On Flight & Hotel Packages From Halifax to Dublin
 | There are thousands of travel sites out there, all wanting you to believe they have unique or special prices on packages to Dublin. They don't. They use marketing noise to hide the fact that there is really only one source of unique prices on packages to Dublin. This guide will remove the noise and show you what that source is, so you can stop wasting so much time when searching for the best deal. |
What are the unique sources of prices on flight/hotel packages from Halifax to Dublin ?
Unique Source #1 - The Flight & Hotel Combiners
The Flight & Hotel Combiners are sites that simply mash together the latest flight prices from the major airlines with the latest hotel prices in Dublin to create a package. They tend to be U.S. based brands (but offer packages from Canada).
Where should I look to get the best possible deal?
This is the noise. The flight price component of the package from the major airlines is identical for every site that offers these types of packages. There may be a slight differences in their source of hotel prices, but for the most part they're all grabbing the latest hotel prices from similar sources, at similar prices.
The result is that the Flight & Hotel combination sellers usually all have very identical package prices to each other, and vacationers tend to waste a lot of time thinking they are comparing prices from unique sources against each other, when they're not.
Here are the Flight & Hotel Aggregators that spend the most on advertising, you have likely heard of at least one of them...
| Expedia | Travelocity | Book It | Orbitz | Hotwire |
When should I book my trip to get the best overall price from the Flight & Hotel Combiners?
Try to remember that at the end of the day, the packages offered by the Flight & Hotel Combiners are simply made up of two components:
1) The latest flight prices from the major airlines. The major airlines don't tend to offer great last minute prices, so waiting until the last minute can backfire. I find the major airlines tend to usually offer their most decent prices around 8 weeks before departure.
2) The latest hotel prices. It's more common to see hotels offer discounts at the last minute, but then you have to weigh that against the fact that the flight price component from the major airlines can rise as the date nears, meaning the package price could go up.
So as a whole I'd probably consider the flight price component as being the limiting factor, and suggest that I'd be comfortable watching prices from the Flight & Hotel Combiners up to about 8 weeks before departure. Then again, everyone has a different tolerance for risk.
One strategy can be to look for dates that have cheaper flight prices to Dublin, and then use those dates when looking for a package. You may want to read the guide Halifax to Dublin | How To Get The Best Flight Deals.
What about a travel agency in Halifax or an independent travel agent?
If it's through a travel agency in Canada, or a Canadian travel agent, they would normally try to sell you on a package from one of the Canadian Tour Operators, but since there are no Canadian Tour Operators that offer packages from Halifax to Dublin, they'd likely just book a package for you that was similar to what is available through the Flight & Hotel Combiner sites. They may or may not charge you a booking fee for their time.
What about booking a Dublin flight & hotel separately? Is that cheaper or more expensive than a package?
People often want to know if booking a package to Dublin Ireland is better or worse than booking flight and hotel separately. The answer is, well, that there is no correct answer. One or the other can be cheaper or more expensive for any given situation, at any given moment. All you can do is try both and compare.
I'd suggest starting with finding the cheapest flight to Dublin that you can. You may want to read the guide mentioned in the paragraph above.
Then find the best hotel rates you can for your dates. Remember that packages are almost always listed as 'per person' (usually based on 2 people in a room), so you'll need to do some simple math for an accurate comparison.
The easiest thing to do is usually just to take the package price that you see on the typical Flight & Hotel Combiner sites and multiply it by 2. Jot down this number.
Now take the total cost of the flights you found (2 of them) and add it to the total cost of the hotel (across all nights) that you found on your own. Compare to the number you jotted down above.
Remember that for a fair comparison you should always keep as many variables the same as possible, including the flight quality (number of stopovers, layover time), the number of nights, and the hotel involved.
Congratulations, you have essentially become your own Flight & Hotel Combiner, not all that different from what the large travel sites are doing.
What about finding a cheap flight to somewhere else in Europe, then flying over to Dublin?
Yes, this can be a strategy worth investigating. I'd start by having a look at the guide: Halifax to Europe | How To Get The Best Flight Deals.
What about packages with direct flights to Dublin?
There are not currently any airlines that offer non-stop flights from Halifax to Dublin (DUB), so as a result, there aren't any packages that do either.
What about cheap packages to Dublin from U.S. airports within driving distance of Halifax?
If you've ever read my guide about flying out of U.S. airports within driving distance of Halifax, you may know that I feel it could be worth the drive, when you see a package from a U.S. airport to Dublin that's at least a certain number of dollars less per person than a similar package from Halifax.
How much cheaper it needs to be depends on which U.S. airport you're flying from. Below, I'll list how much cheaper I feel it should be from each U.S. airport, to be worth the drive.
Packages from U.S. cities are typically similar to what were discussed under 'Unique Source #2 - Flight & Hotel Combiners'. They are packages that involve combining the latest flight prices from the major airlines with the latest hotel prices.
From Bangor, Maine (BGR)
I feel it could be worth the drive, when you see a package from Bangor to Dublin that's at least $600 less per person than from Halifax. This is not likely to happen, as flight prices from Bangor to Dublin are generally not that much cheaper than from Halifax, so packages aren't either.
From Portland, Maine (PWM)
I feel it could be worth the drive, when you see a package from Bangor to Dublin that's at least $775 less per person than from Halifax. Again, this is not likely to happen, as flight prices from Bangor to Dublin are sometimes a little cheaper than from Halifax, but not significantly cheaper.
I think I've found a great deal on a packaged vacation to Dublin!
Excellent! Please share it with your fellow travel lovers, they will appreciate it! You can post it in the YHZ Deals Facebook group (click 'Join Group', at the top-right, when you arrive), where thousands of people from Halifax are crowd-sourcing the best deals, and sharing great travel advice.
Or if you prefer, you can always give me a shout through the YHZ Deals contact form or on Twitter @YHZdeals or through Google Plus. Great deal finds are always appreciated.
Why should I trust this Halifax guide to travelling to Dublin?
 | The info in this guide is based on my observations of the travel industry in Canada over the years, including all the thousands of vacation reseller websites out there, and where all the different players get their prices from and how they interact with each other. The goal is to remove the noise of travel marketing, so people can stop wasting so much valuable time searching the same prices over and over. |
But, as social proof of it's accuracy, feel free to join the YHZ Deals Facebook Group (click 'Join Group', at the top-right, when you arrive) and publicly disagree with any of it, or make a comment below. Critiques are always welcome!
I think I have some info that could help improve the Dublin vacation package guide!
Great! Please post your info in the Facebook group above, or contact me directly. Suggestions for improvement are always appreciated. Let me know if you see something that seems inaccurate or outdated.
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