Best Tips To Find Cheap Flights Every Time!
Are you tired of spending endless hours looking for cheap flight deals for an upcoming trip? Then you are no different then countless of other travelers. Knowing when the best time to purchase can be a dart toss. Even worse is waiting to purchase your tickets and finding out that price the has gone up!
I’m here to save you some time! My professional background lands within the revenue management division for a major airline. That does not necessarily give me the secret sauce to flight deals but it does help to keep me up-to-date on flight hacks.
With your frustration in mind! I thought it would be fun to compile a list of tips that will help you find the CHEAPEST flight each time you travel! Friends ask me ALL the time when is the best time to buy and how to get the cheapest deals?!
Well here it is! Let’s go ahead and alleviate some of this stress and give you the best tips to getting the cheapest flights. You don’t need to be a frequent flier or have millions of miles to benefit from these tips. I’m confident that they will help save you time, frustration and money!
Finding Cheap Flights
Use the Best Search Engine Tools
Price comparison websites help you find the cheapest fares between airlines. These search engines compare the same destination and departure dates. The queries delivery the lowest prices from each airline that fly’s the route. My favorite search engines are listed below:
Skyscanner: This platform helps to find the best deals to save money. It offers a free booking comparison with defined categories such as: solo travel, weekend getaways and travel style. These categories help pair you to the perfect destination that awaits!
Google Flights: Has a useful calendar that finds money-saving alternatives if your dates are flexible. Also has a “discover destinations” tool that allows users to select dates and potential locations in order to find cheap flight deals.
Momondo: Unlike some engines, Momondo includes small, low cost carriers into its search.
Despite working for an airline, I still book and purchase flight tickets. I think each search engine listed above does a fantastic job. I utilize Skyscanner and Momondo the most.
Be sure to check them all out before booking! Remember that it’s always a good idea to look at the actual airlines website when searching flight deals.
Buy In the Local Currency
If you’re looking to book a flight to another country, consider buying locally. Some airlines provide discounts to the local citizens of the country. A few ways you can benefit from these discounts is by searching the airlines website within the local currency, masking your IP address (using a VPN), and using the airlines regional website (Searching by .uk/London, .ca/Canada, .mx/Mexico). Make sure you are fully aware of any foreign transaction fees associated with your credit card.
Booking Around Ideal Times
Knowing where to travel can make a world of difference. Summertime travel can be very expensive due to the level of demand. Similar patterns existed with holidays and special events.
January through May and September through early December are the cheapest times to travel. The most expense time to travel is during summer, Christmas and New Years.
Cheapest Time To Book
If you know you’ll be traveling during the holidays, then the best time to book is as soon as airlines list the flight. This typically happens 12 months prior to departure.
For traveling during other times of the year, purchasing at least 90 days in advance will usually be the best deals. As you get closer to departure, airlines have cutoff rules and restrictions on their fares that can change the cost significantly. These include:
Advance Purchase: Purchasing fares as far out in advance can save you some money! Airlines have different restrictions on their fares which include, 7, 21, 30, and 90 day advance purchase. The closer you are to departure, the higher the fares can be.
Staying over a weekend: When booking your ticket, if your trip spans over the course of a weekend, the airline can see that you are a leisure traveler. They know that leisure travelers are more price conscious, and will provide a lower fare.
Weekday travel: The reverse is true for weekday traveling. Leaving on a Monday and returning any other weekday during the same week can cost you more! When you don’t stay over a weekend, this can flag you as a business traveler. Business travelers are not price conscious (most are traveling on their companies dollars), so airlines will charge more for bookings that do not span over a weekend.
Leaving on a Friday?
Leaving on a Friday or Sunday has higher demand and can be a lot more expensive. Friday’s and Sunday’s are when travelers are typically leaving or returning from their trips. Avoid traveling on these days.
Early out?
Looking for the earliest flights of the day can save you hundreds. This is most applicable to leaving and returning on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Early morning flights during the week can be more expensive because this is when a lot of business travelers catch flights.
Major Airport Hubs
When your travels are flexible, you can find many cheaper deals. Being flexible with dates, destinations and even airports can save you some. If a city has multiple airports, be sure to check prices for each airport in the city. Different airports can show hundreds of dollars difference in price.
Major hubs can also be cheaper. If you live in a smaller town, look for flight deals to a major hub, then find another flight to your destination. This may not always yield the cheapest results but definitely worth searching.
Spotting Error Fares
This tip requires some luck but occasionally airlines make mistakes. These can be human errors, computer errors or currency conversion mistakes. This can provide extremely mouth-dropping discounted fares! Be sure to have your credit card ready you find these deals as they go fast! Also, wait before booking your hotel accommodation as some airlines may not honor a glitch (most will).
Airfare Watchdog and Flyer Talk are great sites to find errors or flight deals
Sign Up for Emails and Alerts
Sign up to receive the newsletters from your favorite airlines! These can tell you about special flight deals and you can find out new sales FIRSTHAND! You can also find deals on the social media sites for these airlines. Follow the airlines that you fly with the most.
One-way
Generally, round-trip tickets are going to be cheaper than buying a one way ticket. However, sometimes you can find cheap one-way tickets that combined will be cheaper than a round-trip. Look for one way tickets to and from your destination in your flight search and see if you can snag a deal!
Mix and Matching
The cheapest route can come from mixing and matching deals. You can find sale fare one-way tickets on one airline, while finding a return deal on another airline. Skyscanner does an excellent job at combine flights from different airlines automatically.
