Do you want to save $100's or even $1000's on your flights??
An expensive flight doesn’t only cut too much into your vacation budget…it sometimes means no vacation at all!
Use these tricks and the tricks in Unique Tips for Cheap Flights – Part 1, to get an amazing deal on your next flight.
Look at one-way tickets first
When you are exploring for the cheapest flight you want to know what the cheapest days are to fly out on are.
Look for one-way tickets first before round trip. This will allow you to see on the calendar the cheapest departure quick guess the site has. Once you know the best day to leave, go back to looking at round-trip tickets.
This is easier to see with the return ticket, because usually when you select your departure date you see a quick list of the return day prices on the calendar. So, how do I know that I’m leaving on the day that gives me the cheapest flight options?
You should select the +/- dates button on flight booking sites (like Kayak, Momondo, etc.) so you can see a range of prices close to your original date. That way you see the prices if you left the 10th, but also the 7th, 8th, 9th, 11th, 12th, and 13th!
Check out more about this at Unique Tips for Cheap Flights – Part 1.
Sky Scanner also has a great “whole month” and “cheapest month” tool that makes this easy. (Check both, sometimes I find better prices looking at each month separately rather than using the cheapest month suggestion.)
Sign up for email alerts
Sites like Momondo, Google Flights and Kayak lets you sign up for email alerts whenever they find a good price or price drop.
The even estimate for you if they think prices will still go down or if it’s best to buy now. (Although it almost always says buy now, so I’m pretty certain it’s biased.)
This is especially helpful if you have a specific location and dates, and are looking in advance.
Check back every few days
When you start to understand what you flight is going to cost, still check every few days.
Here’s why the emails are not always enough.
Remember those secret messages I mentioned earlier you’re your computer sends out about you and everything you do on it? It also doing the same thing for everyone else.
So each time someone is also looking for your flight the company starts taking note and raising the price the more it is searched. Not great if you are trying to get to Hawaii for Christmas. But it is also how the third-party flight deal websites know when there is a great deal going on.
The alerts are generated by people’s searches, so if no one else is looking for your flight you won’t see any of the great deals that might be there because they don’t know about it either.
When you also do your own independent searching, you get the deals first. Before they get booked up. Or the price goes up. Or they realize that they made a mistake.
Yes. You heard that right. Airlines make mistakes in pricing, all the time. That is when you swoop in and get a great deal. Go you!
Wait 15 minutes to check-out
I love this sneaky trick.
When I am all ready to go, have my flights picked out and sitting in my shopping cart…I wait 15 minutes.
Very often, when I do this the site will start thinking it’s going to lose a sell and offers me a better deal. Then I put that deal in my shopping cart instead and wait another 15 minutes to see if I get offered an even better deal!
Wash, rinse, repeat until you don’t see a cheaper flight or one that works for you.
Know the cheapest days to fly
There are also cheaper days of the week to travel.
On Mondays and Fridays, many business travelers are headed to and from work, so prices go up. On Sundays, vacationers are headed home in time for work and school, so prices go up.
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, (and sometimes Saturdays) are your opportunities to fly for a good price.
Be willing to be temporarily uncomfortable
As I said earlier, embrace those layovers because they may mean a significantly cheaper flight.
Budget airlines are not renowned for their comfy-ness. I remember a 19 year-old me flying the 7 hours to Hawaii, squished between my sister and a stranger, in a seat that didn’t recline. All because my mom found $100 tickets, instead of $600 tickets.
I 110% prefer first-class (who doesn’t prefer being pampered and a real glass to drink from). But I like saving that money on experiences at my destination instead.
Prepare, bring a pillow and a lunch instead of buying the $50 plane one. You can make it, I promise!
Buy tickets one at a time
When you book a ticket, the price is determined by an algorithm that looks at the how many seats are left and gives the price. The less seats there are on the plane, the higher the price.
If you are looking at multiple tickets, the booking website gives you the same price for every ticket. The highest of all your available tickets.
For example, if you are buying two tickets and one is $400 and the other $500, two bought together are $1000 not $900. This really adds up when buying tickets for a whole family.
Buy flights one at a time to get the cheapest price.
Book in advance, but not too far
In general, no more than 6 months out. Too far out, and they know you are worried about getting a flight so the prices are a bit higher. Too close to leaving, and a full plane means more expensive tickets.
The ideal window is four months to three weeks.
For international flights specifically, book them no less than 6 weeks out. These have the potential to rise in price the most and are more stressful to book last minute.
If you are traveling in peak times, like Christmas, Thanksgiving or New Years, book at least 6 months in advance. These tickets will sell out because they are the busiest travel times of the year.
For all you thrill seekers, airlines do sometimes drop flights significantly right before the departure dates. But they can also be shockingly more expensive…so your call.
Use a free price tracking tool
Use Credit Card Points and FLY FOR FREE
Ok, confession time. I am no good at this. But I really really want to be! I’m embarrassed to say that I just signed up for my first real credit card this week. I have been using my student credit card (yep, it’s been a bit), with horrible rewards, and bumming some rewards off my parents’ card if I travel with them.
I felt like it was time to move forward, face my credit card fears, and start figuring out the rewards. Because I want to teach you guys about it too!
After much research I got the Capital One Venture Card. Here’s an awesome site I found to compare cards. It explained the different benefits and costs so I could find one that is best for me.
The idea here is that you get points for the money in spend in your day to day life and use them to pay for part or all of your flight.
People that are good at this fly for FREE, first class, all the time!
Again, check out Brad’s Deals for detailed explanations to make the most out of redeeming credit card points.
Keep an eye out for price drops
One of my biggest pet peeves is when I buy something and soon afterwards find it cheaper. Especially when it was expensive.
Did you know that with flights you might be able to get your money back if the price drops?!
United States law requires airlines to offer full refunds to all tickets within 24 hours of booking. (Great trick to use if you see a can’t-pass-this-up deal and are not sure if you can actually go.)
If the prices drops within 24 hours, cancel and rebook it!
If it’s greater than 24 hours, you still might be able to get the difference back. This depends on the airline, and can be paid in voucher or just money back.
Be careful that some airlines charge a $200+ change fee. This may not be worth it, depending on how much cheaper the new price is.
Airlines also charge less fees and are more helpful the higher-level ticket you buy. The lowest price ticket often comes with no refund stipulations.
Check out this great article to learn more about specific airlines’ policies.
Have you used any of these tricks to book a flight? Any tricks I didn't mention?
