How to Find a Cheap Flight
The problem for anyone is not finding a place to go but how to get there cheap. Sometimes half the cost of a trip is in the travel. Finding a cheap flight is as important as finding the right location, the right tour, the right backpack, or the right hotel. Yet with travel on the rise and oil prices, airlines are raising ticket prices to cover rising costs. That makes knowing how to find a cheap price even more important. Here are a few tips that can help you find a cheap flight:
1. Be flexible with your travel dates.
If you’re rigid with your dates you won’t be able to capture any of the pricing variations airlines use. Tickets prices always fluctuate depending on day and time of the week. Its always cheaper to fly mid week than on a weekend. Its cheaper to fly out after major holidays than before. That week after Christmas? No one ever flies and prices drop. For some odd reason, flight prices drop a bit on Tuesday nights. When searching for flights, be flexible- you will catch better deals. Allow yourself some wiggle room going there and coming back- the difference of a day can be the difference of a few hundred dollars. (Farecaster.com can help you monitor prices and tell you when is a good time to buy.)
2. Fly to secondary airports with low-cost carriers.
Most major cities have a smaller, secondary airport. This is the airport most low-cost carriers (LCC) fly into because its cheaper and it helps keep cost down, which helps keep prices down. Check out what airlines fly into these airport. For example, you can take Jetblue to Long beach, an airport equally close to LA, instead of LAX and save some money on a flight. Flying the LCCs is a good alternative whenever possible. You get less “perks” but you can save a bundle in ticket costs. This is especially true in Europe where competition is stiff.
3. Try alternative paths.
Not only does it help to be flexible with dates but try being flexible with the route you take. Sometimes its cheaper to fly to london, take a LCC to Amsterdam than flying direct to Amsterdam. There are so many low cost airlines around that if you can take advantage of a great deal to a different city then catch a LCC to your destination. This is especially true in Europe where you get flights for 1 euro plus tax! Buy working various airlines and special offers, you can help save yourself money. It is a little more work but it can give you more to spend at your destination.
4. Know what you want to pay for a flight.
People always try to get the lowest price online, wait too long, and then pay too much. We all know airline prices always bounce up and down yet in our quest to hold out just a little longer, most of the time miss the lowest price. Therefore it’s important to know what you want to pay not what you hope to pay. What’s the lowest price for YOU? Is 150 roundtrip from NY to Miami what you want? Don’t want to pay more than 900 to go from LA to Tokyo? Then don’t. Don’t wait for the perfect price- wait for your price. Then you will never have buyers remorse. Prices always fluctuate but to catch the best price, try booking 6-8 weeks prior to your departure. Also, try sites like Farecast that can help you catch a price dip.
5. Remember not all search sites are equal.
Whenever I start my internet flight searches, I tend to go right to Expedia. It is really out of habit more than anything else but I don’t just search Expedia. I’ll see what prices one site offers and then check out all the other travel sites, like priceline, travelocity and orbitz. Not all sites are created equal and you will find varying prices on each one of those sites. It’s also useful after you find a flight to check out the carriers own website. Sometimes the flight is cheaper (or the same) on the carriers website and you avoid the fees the search engines charge. (Check out the links page for search sites!)
6. Search the airline carrier’s international websites.
On that same thought- don’t forget to search the international websites of all major airlines. You might think that prices will be same across the board but remember all sites and prices are not the same. I have found New Zealand tickets from Tokyo to LA hundreds of dollars cheaper when searching the NZ version of the website instead of the US. I found tickets to and from Europe cheaper by searching the Canadian version of the British Airways website. Many times these tickets are also priced in foreign denominations which can also make the prices slightly cheaper depending on your currency. Don’t think you can’t book the flight if your not in that country either because you can! (Note: The recent fall of the US dollar has made this hard to work for Americans but easier for people on the Euro, Pound, or Yen!)
7. Take advantage of student discounts.
If you are a student, there are discounts available for you. Check out STA travel and their search engine. You can find flexible student tickets on their website and agency stores. I used them for a 400 dollar ticket from Athens to Bangkok. You can’t get much cheaper than that!
It may be getting harder to find great airline deals but they are still out there. You just need to find them!
