The era of cheap travel is over,
and since the flight can represent the biggest part of your trip
expenses, finding that hidden cheap deal can be just as important as finding
the right destination, the right tour company, the right backpack, or the right
place to stay. After all, if a flight is too expensive, you aren’t going
anywhere – and today I am going to help you master how to find a cheap flight.
These are the exact steps I follow. If you follow them too, you’ll never be the
person on a flight who paid the most for their ticket!
First, know that there are many reasons why flights are
expensive. Bankruptcy has meant that airlines, which are under pressure to
make a profit, can’t reduce fares as much, and limited competition gives them
less incentive to do so. Additionally, since airlines have slashed routes and
capacity, they are flying full planes. Fuller planes also means less incentive
to reduce fares. And though oil prices have fallen substantially, airlines
aren’t going to lower fares, because for the first time in a long time, they
are making money and they don’t want to stop!
But that doesn’t mean the deck is fully stacked against you.
Every day the airlines have thousands of killer deals — from mistakenly
published cheap fares to normal deals to slashed prices to compete with another
airline. Cheap fares are out there if you know how to find them.
Here is my 13-point guide to easily finding cheap flights, based on over
ten years of travel and thousands of flights flown
Be flexible with your travel dates and times
Airline ticket prices vary depending on the day of the week, time of year, and upcoming
holidays, such as Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Thanksgiving, or the Fourth of
July. August is a big month for traveling around
Europe, and everyone wants to go somewhere warm in the winter or
travel when the kids are out of school.
If
you are going to fly when everyone is flying, then you’re going to pay higher
fares. Try to be flexible with your dates. If you are dead-set on visiting
Paris, go to Paris in the spring or fall when fewer people visit and airfares
are cheaper.
Moreover,
it’s always cheaper to fly during the middle of the week than on a weekend,
because most people travel on the weekends and airlines hike their prices then.
Prices are also cheaper if you fly after a major holiday. Early-morning or
late-night flights are cheaper because fewer people want to travel then (who
wants to wake up early?!). The difference of one day can mean hundreds
of dollars in savings.
That
is why this is my #1 tip. You’ll save the most money if you fly when no one
else is flying. You may have always longed for Paris in the summer but so has
everyone else and the airlines price accordingly. They know when a festival,
holiday, major sports event, or school break is coming up. They aren’t dumb
— and they raises prices accordingly.
Be
flexible when you fly and you’ll start way ahead of everyone
else!
Don’t
always fly direct
Not only does it
help to be flexible with dates and destinations but try being flexible with the
route you take, too. Sometimes it’s cheaper to fly to London and
take a budget airline to Amsterdam than to fly direct to Amsterdam. There are
so many budget carriers around the world that taking advantage of a good deal
to another city and then hopping on a budget flight to your destination is
sometimes the best way to go. I had to go to Paris once; the flight was $900
USD, but I could fly to Dublin for $600 and get a $60 flight to Paris. It meant
more flying time, but the $240 I saved was worth it.
To do this, I find out how much it is to go direct to my destination. Then
I open Google Flights and type in that destination’s continent to look at
prices to nearby airports. If the difference is more than $150, I look to see
how much it is to get from the second airport to my primary destination.
By working
various airlines and special offers, you can save a lot. This method
is not for everyone, however. It is more work, as you have to figure out lots of
different routes and check different airlines. But it will shave some money off
your flight, giving you more to spend at your destination.
Remember,
all search engines aren’t equal
You need to
search as many flight search websites as you can in order to ensure you are
leaving no stone unturned. Many search sites don’t list
budget carriers because those airlines don’t want to pay a booking commission
while others don’t list booking sites that aren’t in English!
It’s important to check a few sites before you book, as you’ll often see
variations in prices, and you don’t want to miss a deal. The best search
engines are the ones that have no affiliation with any airline and make their
money via advertising, not bookings. But all websites have their weaknesses and
do not include every airline. As mentioned, you aren’t going to find AirAsia,
Ryanair, or most other budget airlines on large sites like Kayak, Expedia, or
Orbitz. US booking sites also tend to not have the obscure foreign airlines
that you see on international sites like Skyscanner or Momondo. Booking sites
have blind spots — they don’t cover every region of the world and
every airline equally.
Remember — there is no perfect airline search engine. Even the best have
their faults. My favorites are:
Momondo
Google Flights (This is also the best site for searching
multiple cities)
I start all my searches with Momondo because it searches all major AND budget
airlines, non-English websites, English websites, and everything in between.
I’ve been using them since 2008 and they vet all the sites they link to as they
have strict criteria on who the operate with. Momondo is one of the most
comprehensive booking sites out there, they have the lowest price 99% of the
time, and it’s the search engine all the other travel experts I know use too.
So while the others are good and should not be ignored, Momondo should be
your starting point!
Sign up for a frequent flier program and travel hack
Airline rewards programs are a great way to get free
flights, free upgrades, and free companion tickets. No matter how often you
fly, you should be signed up for the airline’s reward program. I stick to
US-based airlines since they are involved in all the major alliances and you
can earn miles on their partner flights. For example, if I fly Singapore
Airlines, I can earn United Airlines miles because they are partners. Likewise,
if I fly Air France, it’s credited to my Delta rewards account. This way I am
always earning miles when I fly. However, if you aren’t from the United States,
simply use an airline from your home country that is involved in one of these
alliances.
Moreover,
by collecting points and miles (the art of “travel hacking”), you can travel
around the world for very little (and often free). These programs are easy to
use, and there are a lot of other ways to earn miles if you aren’t jet-setting
around the world all the time:
Watch
for special offers —
I
sign up for company newsletters because they often have featured offers not
found on an airline’s website. This could be triple miles on a selected route
or as simple as Starwood’s recent promotion — I signed up for their
newsletter and got 250 SPG (Starwood’s Preferred Guest) points. American
Airlines once gave away 1,000 points for installing a shopping toolbar into
your web browser. These bonuses don’t go into the high tens of thousands, but
you can get something over a long period of time by doing virtually nothing.
They do add up.
Use
airline shopping portals –
All airlines, hotels, and travel brands have preferred merchants. These
companies — ranging from clothing retailers to sporting goods stores to office
supply businesses and everything in between — partner with airlines’ special
shopping malls. By ordering online through an airline’s website, you can earn
additional points. For example, I once registered for Netflix through American Airlines’ website because it gave me an additional 5,000 miles. I went to
Target through Chase’s online shopping mall and earned three points per dollar
spent. I did my shopping for my apartment online with K-Mart via American
Airlines’ portal and received nine miles per dollar spent instead of just the
one I would have gotten if I walked into the store. You can use Evreward
or Cash Back Monitor to discover the current best deals across various
programs. Simply type in the merchant or product you want and it will compile a
list of bonuses the various point programs are offering at that moment so can
you maximize the programs to purchase from. (Outside the United States, Canada
has two shopping portals: Shop.ca and The Aeroplan eStore. If you are in the
UK, there is also a shopping portal at British Airways eStore.)
Dining
rewards programs –
Just like shopping portals, airlines also have dining rewards programs. You
sign up with your frequent flier number, register your credit card, and get
extra points when you dine at participating restaurants in the airline’s
network (which rotate throughout the year). Join one of the programs in the
Rewards Network (they run all the dining programs) so you can get five miles
per dollar spent once you became a “VIP member,” which happens after 12 dines.
So if you get those 12 under your belt (so to speak) early in the year, for the
rest of the year you’ll be getting five points per dollar spent!
In
the movie up in the Air, George Clooney’s character said, “I
don’t do anything if it doesn’t benefit my miles account.” Think like that.
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