(Deals as of 1/23/18)
If you go to school in the middle of nowhere or in-between a few airports, which one should you make it your business to get to?
I found the academic calendars of over 20 major colleges and universities around the country (thx Google), tracked down their spring break times (#stalkerstyle), and found their closest regional and international airports. From there I just tracked prices flying out of all of those airports, and discovered which ones have the best deals. *All the hubs I found are also the cheapest destinations to and from other hubs.*
If you want to find the deal I posted, just plug in the info to Google Flights. I found your spring break deadlines within Saturday-Saturday dates, but some flight deals I found have a return flight on the Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday of the week, and were not always a Saturday return trip. So if you can’t find that cheap flight to Miami, change the return date.
Bottom line: I did a fuck ton of research on finding central airport hubs around the country and this is what I discovered:
- Best East Coast Domestic Origin: Boston Logan
If you go to school in the northeast, you might be torn between flying out of Boston or flying out of New York. To be honest, I’ve done both and Boston is just easier. New York has a few airports and they are mostly hard to get to, hard to navigate, and in general kind of a mess. The hastle isn’t worth it unless you already live very close by. If you find a crazy deal out of New York jump on it, but for the most part their domestic flights cost the same as the flights coming out of Boston.
Most schools in the Boston area have their spring break during the first week of March, for 2018 that’s March 3rd-10th.
Deals I found between the week of March 3rd-10th for schools like BU, BC, and Northeastern:
LA, San Francisco, San Diego, Toronto, and Seattle: Less than $250
Fort Lauderdale: $132; Tampa: $112; Orlando: $97; West Palm Beach: $141; Miami: $174
Nashville: $147
Bermuda: $264
Havana: $314
2. Best Last Minute International Origin: New York
These flights are obviously more expensive, but they’re international so lower your standards please. You can get to Europe for less than $500 roundtrip from New York on short notice for spring break. If you are able to book in advance for next year, follow my flight buying guide and maybe you can save a few hundred shmackos and have a much more manageable payment schedule.
Deals I found between the week of March 3rd-10th for schools like BU, BC, and Northeastern:
Paris & Amsterdam: $417
London: $471
Rome: $431
Barcelona & Stockholm: $448
Vienna: $436
3. Best Mid-West Origin: Chicago O’Hare International
Students at schools like Michigan State, Ohio State, and Northwestern should all be flying out of O’Hare from Columbus or Capital Region international airports. It is very cheap to get a one way flight to O’Hare and it is so much more cost effective to plan that connection yourself.
Deals I found between the week of March 3rd-10th for schools like Michigan State:
Denver: $141
Orlando: $156; Fort Lauderdale: $111; Miami: $212
LA: $176
Vegas: $150
New Orleans: $221
Cancun: $214
Deals I found between the week of March 10th-17th like Ohio State:
Orlando: $118; Fort Lauderdale: $151; Miami: $192
Denver: $180
Vegas: $171
Deals I found the week of March 24th-31st like Northwestern:
Christ on a bicycle this week is just not going to work out for you guys under a budget of $300 or even $400. LAX, Vegas, or Seattle are all $350+ if that is something you can swing.
Memphis had a decent flight for $223, but anything further south is looking like it’ll cost you a kidney (your good kidney, too). If you like Texas, know that I’m judging you but, you could go to Dallas for $253.
4. Best West Coast Origin and West Coast Vacation Destination: LAX
Basically if you go to school anywhere on the west coast, it should be very, very cheap for you to swing a flight to LA. Its only $59 to get there from Seattle or Portland, so even if those airports are closer to you, LAX is still your best option for the long haul flights you plan elsewhere.
If you’re flying out of LAX to a new destination, any destination on the west coast is going to be stupid cheap, so I won’t list those options here (like Portland or places in Nevada) because there’s just too many. Also you’re already in a warm place so stfu.
Side note to west coast students: maybe you should just go to LA for your spring break in the first place. If you fly to LAX for your vacation, San Francisco/ San Diego are very short/cheap flights away.
Deals I found the week of March 3rd-10th for schools like Loyola Marymount:
Denver: $88
Cancun: $252
Mexico City: $219
New Orleans: $222
Puerto Vallarta: $250
Hawaii: Less than $400 for most islands
Deals I found the week of March 10th-17th for schools like UCLA:
New Orleans: $222
Denver: $93
Mexico City: $219
Cancun: $252
Washington D.C: $216
Chicago: $225
Deals I found the week of March 24th-31st for schools like UC Berkley and UC Davis:
Denver: $153
Salt Lake City: $225
5. Best Southern Origin: Atlanta International
Know that I 100% took into consideration every single airport from Florida, northwards. It took me for fucking ever. Everything I’ve listed below in terms of making your own connection will add up to being cheaper than if you booked with a flight-finder (Cheapo air, Kayak, etc.) that would put this together for you. This is because all airlines aren’t partnered up to connect nicely for you and sometimes you have to make the connections with separate tickets:
If you go to NC State: fly to Atlanta from Raleigh.
If you go to Clemson: drive to Atlanta
If you go to Virginia Tech: fly to Atlanta from Roanoke
If you go to UCF: fly from Orlando
If you go to Florida State: fly there from Tallahassee
And so on.
Atlanta is a huge hub, and if you’re planning on flying anywhere north of Florida then you should connect through Atlanta.
Deals I found the week of March 3rd-10th for schools like NC State and Virginia Tech:
New York: $149
Chicago: $109
Denver: $162
LA: $219
New Orleans: $93
Deals I found the week of March 10th-17th for schools like UCF:
Washington D.C: $111
Chicago: $131
New Orleans: $93
Deals I found the week of March 17th-24th for schools like Clemson and Georgia Tech:
New York: $188
New Orleans: $108
Nashville: $204
Chicago: $192
Vegas: $206
Denver: $224
San Francisco: $250
Keep in mind that destinations like Vegas don’t only mean that you should stay in that one city for the entire break. When I say Vegas you should think “drive to the Grand Canyon” not “cocaine and strippers” LA can mean some pretty rad road trips and Orlando means Harry Potter world SO NO BIG DEAL. Pick your cheap city and find cool stuff nearby with that partially college educated brain of yours.