This is probably one of the hottest topics in travel. Everyone seems to think that there’s a secret website or something where the airfare will be cheaper than what they see everywhere else. Unfortunately, that doesn’t exist. Airfare is based upon supply and demand and post-covid, there’s a ton of demand and little supply. Of course, there are still deals to be had but you have to be flexible. If you want to travel during the holidays when everyone else is traveling, you’re probably not going to find the best deals. If you can be more flexible as to where you go and when you go, you’ll find some awesome deals.
Let’s first understand some basics and then we’ll put all of this in practice.
Some airfare basics
-Airfare is set by the airline as they issue the tickets. There is usually no website that discounts domestic airline tickets. The prices will be the same everywhere you book except some sites/apps charge a booking fee (i.e. Hopper). However, there are some rare occasions where Expedia or online travel agency site will sell the same flight cheaper. But again, this is rare and I don’t even really suggest checking these other sites for domestic flights anymore. International flights are a completely different story but that’s a topic for another post.
-Airline prices are incredibly dynamic. They change rapidly based upon any number of factors. While there are some general rules of thumb such as the cheapest airfares can be found on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, this is not even close to 100% accurate.
-Likewise, another rule of thumb is that the best time to book a flight is about 45 to 60 days out. However, some sales can be found with flights that are just 14 days or 21 days out. I’ve also seen sales several months out. Confusing huh? That’s the thing with a rule of thumb, it’s not a hard and fast rule.
Booking really far in advance is rarely a good move although some airlines put summer airfare sales out there six months in advance. Holiday travel should also be booked at least 4 months in advance because of increased demand.
With regard to last minute flights, there reaches a point about a week or two out where prices rise daily which is why last minute almost always costs a fortune.
-You should also consider as many airports as possible. If flying from a NY area airport, consider EWR, JFK and LGA but don’t forget ISP, SWF and HPN. You may find deals at these other airports. A little bit of driving can save you a ton. Same thing when you land. If flying to south Florida, consider MIA, FLL and PBI instead of just MIA. The more flexible you are, the better the deals.
-If you find a good airfare, jump on it right away. Airfares can change in seconds. There’s been a number of flights where the prices changed before I finished booking. That’s how fast it changes.
-Airfare is based upon supply and demand. If you want to go on vacation when everyone else does, you will pay more money. If you are flexible in when you go and where you go, you will save a ton.
-Google flights
This is one of the most amazing tools I’ve ever seen but the really advanced tools aren’t obvious. Use this video to learn about all of the great tools GF has to offer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISJp-2HeSNI
My favorites are the price graphs, flex search tool and the map tool where you can put in your dates and origin but leave the destination blank. I found a really cheap to Merida, Mexico during Thanksgiving by using the map tool.
-Tracking prices
If you have your eye on a destination and the dates you want to go, you have some options. One is the track price feature on google flights and the other is Hopper which is a free app. Google flights will track the exact flight and will email you when the price changes. I’m just not a big fan of Hopper but you can try it out to see what you think. However, Hopper will tell you when the price is the lowest its been in a while. That really helps. Google Flights usually has a graph feature that will show you the same thing but it’s not very obvious so most people probably miss it.
-Package deals
Sites like Expedia often give you discount packages if you book airfare and hotel directly. In addition, booking these packages on Expeida allows you to earn points that you can use for future booking discounts. The biggest discounts seem to be for travel to Europe.
-Opaque airfare
Priceline offers Express deals but you won’t get any miles. Sometimes the discount is good, sometimes its not worth it. I don’t think these are worth your consideration at all with the refunds that airlines are giving now.
-No frills airlines
Spirit, Frontier and Allegiant are no frills airlines. You will pay for everything including carry on bags and seat assignment. Thus, that good deal might not be a good deal once you add on the bag fees.
-Basic economy tickets
These should be used only if you know what you are doing and the discount is big enough. You won’t be able to earn miles. If you have an airline credit card, you may be able to reclaim some lost perks for free such as free carry on baggage. You won’t be able to make any changes.
-Refunds for price differences
Google has a new program that will refund you the difference if the price drops by more than $5. It’s only available for certain flights and at the moment, it’s only for Alaska, Spirit, or Hawaiian Airlines.
You can read more about this at https://support.google.com/travel/answer/9430556?hl=en
Expedia has a Price Guarantee for some flights. The difference here is that you have to actually pay for this and the price varies. So you could pay $30 for a price drop and then it doesn’t happen. You also need to monitor the price yourself and send a screenshot and the URL to Expedia. To me, that’s just too much work.
Southwest – I’m not a Southwest fan but they do have an awesome ability to get a refund if the price drops. You just do it right though the app.
United and other domestic airlines – After you book your airfare, you should monitor the price of the flight. If it drops, you can get a refund by way of a travel credit. How this occurs may vary from airline to airline and from person to person. On United, I’ve had to change my flight and then change it back to get the travel credit. Other people have said you can just rebook into the same flight. Yet others have said you can contact United to have them do it.
So no matter what airline you use, be sure to set a flight alert on Google flights and monitor those prices.
-Free flight changes
Somewhat related to the previous point, most airlines will allow you to change your flight without penalty. For example, you could check your return flight options halfway through your trip. You may find a flight that leaves a little earlier or a little later that is now cheaper than when you booked. You can change to that other flight for no cost and pocket the difference.
-Search only one person at a time
As explained more in this post, https://simpletravelhacks.com/save-money-when-buying-two-or-more-airline-tickets-by-purchasing-separately/, you should always search one person at a time. When you find the flight you want, change the amount of people and see if the price per person has gone higher. If this happens, decrease by 1 person until you get the original price. Then either open up a incognito/private tab and book all tickets simultaneously (DO NOT book one and then try to do another. You should be hitting the payment button on one and then doing it on another within a few seconds) or book on another device at the same time. All tickets should price out at the original low price.
-Search for one way flights and round trip flights
If you only search for round trip flights, you’ll often be limited in the amount of flights you see. That’s because when you click on the departing flight, the return flight will usually be on the same airline. If you book a one way flight, you’ll then have your full options for when you return home. It may be cheaper to fly one airline out and then a different airline back.
Even if the prices are the same as a round trip flight, I still suggest booking one ways so that it will be easier to change your flight and to get refunds. Let’s say you booked a round trip flight. If the departing flight goes down $10 and the return goes up $10, the price will be the same. If you booked the exact same flights separately, you could capture that $10 price reduction on the first flight.
Note that this does not work for international flights, at least none that I’ve seen.
-Booking a connection separately
Here’s one of those tips that doesn’t seem to make any logical sense but it just works sometimes for some reason. If you have a connection, check the price for two separate one-way tickets instead of the same ticket. Here’s an example, it I wanted to go from Tampa to Kauai with an overnight stop in San Francisco. I could book both flights together for $383. If I book the flights separate, the exact same flights are $154 and $189. If you do the math, the total is $343 for a savings of $40!
So while it may not work often, when it does work, you could save some nice money. I highly suggest that you only do this with the sane airline. If you mix two different airlines, airline 1 is not gonna help you out if you miss your second flight. Airline 2 will not wanna hear your sob story. It could get messy. If it’s all the same airline, they’ll rebook you for free if a delay with the first flight causes you to miss the second.
-Skiplagging
This is one of those things that comes up every now and then like it’s something new when it’s been around for a long time. Simply put, it’s booking a flight with a connection and purposely missing the second flight because your real destination is where the layover is. For example, you want to go from Jacksonville to San Francisco. The flight to San Francisco is $250 but there’s a flight to Fresno for $200 that connects in San Francisco. You book that flight and get off in San Francisco to save $50.
There’s a ton of articles out there about this and they go into this in more detail but simply put, don’t do this. There’s a ton of pitfalls and the airline could cancel your frequent flier account. They’re not stupid and this is not something you should do.
-24 hour free cancellation
No matter where you book the flights, you can cancel for free without penalty within 24 hours.
Putting All Of This Together
That’s a lot of information I know. Let’s put this together to see how I would suggest going about looking for a flight.
Step 1 – Figure out your airports. If the closest airport is an hour away is an hour away and the next one is 5 hours away, then you really only have one airport to fly out of. Same with your destination. Are there other airports that would work?
Step 2 – figure out your dates. Are they flexible? Or do you need to search specific dates?
Step 3 – are you open to Low Cost Carriers? Are you open to Southwest?
Step 4 – Go to google flights. Type in all of the airports you are willing to leave from and all of the airports that would work for your destination. You can exclude certain airlines like Frontier and Spirit if you’re not interested in low cost carriers. Then put in your dates and select one way and just one passenger. Hit search.
Step 5 – check out your search results. You can pick one or more flights to put an a price alert on them.
Step 6 – Now search for return flights. You can also put price alerts on for them.
Step 7 – Try the same search for round trip flights to see if there’s a price difference. Assuming there isn’t, there is no need for a price alert.
Step 8 – If you’re open to Southwest, you’ll have to do a separate search on Southwest’s website as they don’t publish their fares anywhere else.
Step 9 – When you’re ready to book the flights, determine where you’re going to book it. If you have no interest in changing the flight or getting price reductions, book with Expedia via Rakuten. You’ll get some points, not many. If you think you might move the flight or try to get a price reduction, book direct. If you want to try to save money and book a package deal, book with Expedia or Priceline via Rakuten.
Step 10 – Edit the price alerts so that you have the exact flights that you booked. Write down what you paid for the flight so that you don’t forget. If you see that the price drops at anytime, put in for a refund of the difference.
Conclusion
Although airfare keeps going up, there are plenty of deals out there if you know how to find them. Please keep in mind that finding the best airfare changes. If I were to just leave this guide static forever, it’ll be a little outdated in a year or two. It’ll probably be very outdated five years from now. Things change so what works today might not work tomorrow. Tomorrow might have something that didn’t even exist today. I’ll do my best to keep this guide updated. If you’re interested in deals or have other questions about finding the best flight deals, join our Facebook group at Travel Better, Travel More: Deals, Tips and Advice | Facebook