Originally Posted by
straychicken
10 years ago I booked a package Orbitz that included lodging and airfare from Cincinnati Oh to Big Island Hawaii on Delta. The price for the airfare plus three nights in a 2 bedroom condo was almost exaxtly the same as the airfare directly through Delta. So it was like getting the condo free. You can make your lodging dates shorter than your airfare dates. We did that and spent an additional 4 nights in a home rental in the town of Volcano, which we booked separately.
The package came to less than $700 per person for three adults. Would jump an another deal like that now.
That sounds like a great deal - nice one!
My last trip pre-pandemic was to Mexico City for a work conference. I booked a package through Expedia with flights from DL and a couple of nights in a mid-range hotel (not an international chain; just a Mexican hotel that seems to attract mostly domestic travel). It cost about $500 all-in, with flights booked as an exception fare.
One nice thing about that fare is that, because DL treated it under exception fare rules, my MQDs earned based on mileage rather than the (very cheap) cost of the ticket. So I ended up getting more MQDs than I would have received normally. Of course that didn't help because the world went into lockdown a couple of weeks later, but it's a nice loophole to exploit in normal travel times.