Can you still find discount flights to Seattle?

Discount flights to Seattle used to be a common occurrence. Aside from major holidays, you could find cheap tickets to Seattle as long as you planned ahead.

Not so much anymore.

With prices on everything increasing, and with the price of oil going absolutely crazy, a lot of airline experts think that ticket prices are going to just keep going up.

My wife was even listening to the radio and heard someone predict that flying is going to become what it used to be... something that is only reserved for the elite (because only they will be able to afford it).

I don't know if that's true or not, but whatever the case, it's going to get harder to find discount flights to Seattle (or anywhere else you might want to go) without doing some serious planning.

So what can you do? Well, if you're having trouble stomaching the costs of a flight, it might be time to think unconventionally. First of all, do you have to fly? Have you checked prices for the train? It will definitely take longer to get there, but taking the train (or even the bus) would definitely be an adventure for you and the kids.

Another thing that I've started to do is pay for everything using my airline miles credit card. I figure that if I'm going to have to pay more for a flight, I might as well do what I can to earn more miles and more free flights. It can be tricky to make sure that you pay everything off at the end of the month, but it can definitely be worth it when you earn that free flight.

Plus, if you try and get a free flight early enough, you'll only have to spend 25,000 miles (usually), so it's cheaper than it used to be. Sometimes when we go to Seattle, one of us will go with the kids on the cheapest flight we can find while the other one comes on a different free flight. That way we're at least saving a few hundred dollars.

Another option that you might want to try and use in addition to Kayak.com (my favorite travel search engine) Priceline.com. With Priceline, you can try and set your own price. I know some people have gotten some really good deals using the site, but I've never had any luck. But, hey, with prices going crazy right now, it's best to do everything you can to try and find cheap airline tickets to Seattle.