When it comes to scoring the best deals on airfare, flexibility can make all the difference. By being flexible on your travel plans, you open up a world of opportunities to find lower fares to your favorite destinations, or maybe discover new ones that you may have never thought of before.
Here are 9 simple ways to save money when looking for your next flight.
Book in Advance
Plan your travel in advance and book your flights early. Prices tend to rise as the departure date approaches; therefore, buying your tickets several weeks or even months in advance can help you get the lower fares.
Generally, domestic flights tend to be cheaper 3 to 4 weeks before departure, while for international destinations it is recommended to book between 3 to 6 months in advance.
However, this does not mean that you would not be able to find any good deals outside these time periods.
Airfare has become very unpredictable with the introduction of dynamic pricing, where ticket prices can fluctuate based on different factors such as low/high demand, peak/off-peak season, holiday weeks or weekends, vacation time, or number of saver fares made available by airlines.
Sometimes, it is possible to find amazing last-minute deals, but this is more the exception than the rule. So, how to know what is a good price for a specific destination? Travel search engines such as Google Flights, Momondo, and Skyscanner can show a price history for a specific flight from point A to point B. This useful resource can give you an idea of how prices can fluctuate, many times without any logic.
Saving Tip: Some travel search engines such as Google Flights and Capital One Travel offer price-drop guarantee or protection. If the fare drops after booking based on their recommendation, they will refund you the difference.
Flexible Travel Dates
There is a general consensus that the cheapest days to fly are Tuesdays and Wednesdays, leaving weekends and even Mondays as more expensive days.
Other factors that play a role in finding lower fares include traveling during off-peak or shoulder seasons, and flying early morning or late night, which tend to be more economical (although sometimes inconvenient).
Saving Tip: Consider flying on a holiday such as Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, or New Year’s Eve (we saved a lot by returning to the U.S. from Brazil on December 31). Since most people would want to travel before or after these days, airlines may lower the fares instead of having empty seats.
Compare prices
Luckily, there is a wide variety of fare comparison websites or apps these days. Some of the most popular ones are:
Google Flights
Google Flights is by far the most popular flight search engine. It offers a variety of options to find the cheapest prices both for a specific date or flexible dates (per month or the next six months). The results can be filtered by airline alliances, price, stops, etc.
A handy tool is the price history, which allows you to see the fluctuation in the cost of a particular ticket. This can serve as a reference to know if the available offer is good or could be lower.
Google recently introduced a price guarantee program, still limited, offering to pay the difference if the price of an eligible ticket drops further after it is purchased.
Skyscanner
Another favorite of thrifty travelers. Skyscanner is known for its clean and simple interface to find cheap flights from a specific city to “Everywhere” in the world.
It has options to create flight alerts to track prices as well as to filter results by departure times and airlines. The latter can be very handy when looking for fares on specific airlines, unlike Google Flights, which only offers the option of choosing between airline alliances.
Momondo
As part of Booking Holdings Inc., Momondo comes with multiple features to look for the best prices not only on flights but also on hotels, trains and buses, rental cars, and vacation packages.
It has an attractive and colorful interface as well as multiple filter tools to customize your search. For example, when clicking to choose a date, a calendar with different colors pops up, where green indicates the lowest prices, yellow mid-prices, and red high prices.
Another great feature is the “Flight Insights,” (available for some routes) with tips on cheapest times to fly and best booking options, among other interesting information.
Kayak
It’s no coincidence that Kayak and Momondo have a similar interface, as both travel search engines are owned by Booking Holdings. However, Kayak comes with additional features, such as the option to book some flights directly on the site.
Another handy feature is the “Flight Hacker Guide,” with suggestions on how to save on multi-city flights by combining different airlines.
A very useful filter is that of “Booking Sites,” which allows you to select results from a specific airline or travel site.
Hopper
For those who prefer to search for travel deals on their phone, Hopper is a mobile application that predicts, analyzes, and recommends airfare and accommodation prices. In fact, this app claims that it can predict future flight and hotel prices with 95% accuracy up to a year in advance.
Unlike other travel search engines, Hopper offers direct booking through the app, with a “price freeze” option for a small fee.
How Fare Comparison Websites Work
Most fare comparison websites work in a similar way. You can search for one-way, roundtrip, or multi-city flights from one destination to another, or simply from one destination to “everywhere” or even a specific zone (“Europe,” “Southeast Asia,” etc.) with set or flexible dates.
The results are populated from airline websites, OTAs (Online Travel Agencies), or other aggregators. The advantage is that you can compare fares from multiple airlines at once, except Southwest, which doesn’t share its flight information with any third-party travel booking platforms.
One caveat with these types of sites is that the lowest price shown could be from a third-party travel site or OTA and not directly from the airline. In general, it is better to buy tickets directly from the airline as they will be in charge of your reservation and can provide assistance if necessary.
Set Fare Alerts
Some of the travel websites mentioned above offer fare alerts for your preferred destinations. For example, if you are looking for a great deal from your home airport to Paris, France, you can set fare alerts to get notifications when prices drop for that specific route.
Generally, you will need to provide your email address to receive alerts, and when you see a price that you like, you should act fast because airfares can change significantly from one day to another or even within a single day. Also, think how many other travelers may be waiting for the same alerts!
Consider Budget Airlines
Low-cost airlines may not be glamorous and have all the thrills we hope for, but… they are cheap! If all we care about is to make it to our destination somehow, then we wouldn’t mind opting out of drinks and snacks, seat selection, or anything besides the bare minimum.
With budget airlines such as Frontier, Spirit, Allegiant, and Sun Country in the U.S., and Ryanair, easyJet, Wizz Air, Vueling, or Pegasus in Europe, only a personal item is included in the fare, and the sizes allowed vary from airline to airline, which can be frustrating for budget travelers.
Take Advantage of Sales and Promotions
This is obvious! Airlines often offer sales or promotional fares, but where to look for them? Well, keep an eye on social media, newsletters, emails, and airline websites to stay informed about these deals.
Also, don’t forget to sign up for airline frequent flyer programs (usually free) to get notified about the latest promos.
Saving Tip: Keep an eye out for new airlines or airlines offering sales on new routes. For example, the Canadian airline Lynx launched its new route Toronto-Orlando with one-way tickets for as low as $22 after a promo code!
Look for Special Discounts
Many airlines offer discounts for students, military personnel, or senior citizens. If you are looking to save in one of these categories, expect discounts between 5% to 10% on base fares. Check here for a list of airlines offering these promotions.
Save with Miles and Points
Accumulating credit card and/or airline miles and points to redeem them for award tickets is one of the best ways to save on airfare. Generally, you will only pay taxes and fees, an amount that will vary depending on the airline.
United, for example, has round-trip award fares from the U.S. to Europe for around 50k miles plus $5.60 in fees. On the other hand, airlines such as ANA may charge between $300 and $600 in fees for an award redemption.
Saving with miles and points is a whole world and there are entire websites, forums, YouTube channels, and social media accounts dedicated to this travel strategy. You can start by reading our basic guide to saving with travel credit cards.
Saving Tip: Be on the lookout for credit cards with big sign-up bonuses.
Test Your Luck with Travel “Hacks”
There are many popular travel “hacks” such as searching for flights in “incognito mode,” clearing up your cookies while searching (because airlines supposedly ‘know’ that you are looking and may raise the price every time you look for a specific destination), or using a VPN to search from a different city or country.
However, airfare algorithms have become so sophisticated and unpredictable that “hacks” like these might not work anymore (if they ever did…). You can try just for fun and -who knows- you may soon be on your way to Paris. ✈️
