Top 10 Cheap Flights Tips & Tricks

Of course, the ultimate cheap airline tickets are Free tickets through credit card points and/or credit card sign up bonuses.  For more information visit our beginner section on travel hacking/best travel credit cards to maximize points!  But if you must outright purchase your ticket, here are my favorite tips & tricks to scoring great deals!

#1 Secret Searches- setting your browser to private

Have you ever wondered why the price of an airline ticket continuously changes throughout the day?  Based on the cookies in your browser, prices increase when an airline route is repeatedly searched.

Always search for flights in incognito or private browsing mode to see the lowest price.  In Chrome or Safari, incognito can be enabled by holding these three keys down at the same time: Command (or control if on a pc), Shift, “N”.  For Explorer or Firefox, use: Command, Shift, “P”…either will work to go into a private search.

By doing this, your cookies reset each time you open an incognito window, so your previous flight searches won’t be remembered allowing you to score the best flight price.

#2 Plan Ahead

Domestic Travel’s ideal/rule of thumb’s timeline is 70 days prior to departure.  This can change through the year.  To book for Summer dates: 47 days, Fall dates: 69 days, Winter dates: 62 days and Spring dates: 90 days.

Check travel websites first thing in the morning: 9a or the evening, after 6p.

#3 Travel on Weekdays & be Flexible

Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the cheapest days to fly.  If you have to go to Miami on a specific date, you are stuck with that price.  If you can be flexible when you can fly out, you’ll find a better deal.  The difference one day can make may equal hundreds of dollars.

#4 Subscribe to Sweet Flight Deals

If you are already a cheap flights pro, then the following websites might already be on your radar.  If you are like me, I’m up for going anywhere as long as I can score a cheap flight.  I find these sites to be the best for deals:

The Flight Deal

Secret Flying: sometimes they post “error” fares.

Scott’s Cheap Flights (#1 for me)

#5 Best Flight Finder

I love Momondo so much that I think it needs it’s own blog post (coming soon).  It is by far my favorite flight aggregator.  If you are certain of your destination, but flexible with your dates. The blue & orange price graph allows you to see at a glance the cheapest days to fly.  When you see a dip on the graph, hover over the bar to view the price.  The example below is a real search.  By playing with the dates, you are able to secure better pricing.  You can set price alerts and receive emails when prices drop even further.  The site also will give advice.  See below “Now is a great time to book”.  At $132 round trip, I’d say so.

But if you are like me, sometimes a getaway to a new destination is all the planning I need.  In this case, you select your departure city and then select in the destination box drop down: “Anywhere”. From here, you can adjust your flight budget, then view all the cities you can fly to on your selected date and budget.  I just love playing around with good deals!

Map of flights available in my budget.

Skyscanner is a very similar site and is sometimes better for international flights.

 

And, if you are a student and under 26 years old, there are even more discounts to be had.  Check out STATravel and FlightCentre.

#6 One Ticket at a Time

Even if you are traveling with your whole family, sometimes airlines can sell multiple airfare classes at different prices.  Let’s say that you are traveling with one other person and only one seat is left in the lowest fare class, the airline will show you the highest fare class for both tickets.

If you search based on one ticket, most sites allow you to change the quantity further in the purchase section.  If not, you can always book 2 separate tickets, then call the airline to connect your reservations and arrange seating.

#7 Follow the 24 Hour Rule

After your book your flight, you can cancel or price adjust within 24 hours. If you see the price drop or change your mind, you can call the airline and cancel without penalty or receive a refund for the difference in airfare.

#8 Shoulder Season

Shoulder season is just before or after peek season and many times a much cheaper time to fly.  For example Italy’s prime season is during the summer months, if you go just after in September, prices significantly drop.

#9 Holiday Flights are Cheaper

If you must book during the holidays, try flying on the actual holiday itself.  Most people do not want to travel on Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Years, therefore many deals to be had.  This year, my family of 4 is flying Detroit to Miami on a one way ticket for less than $100.

#10 Consider using a VPN

Many airline companies charge you prices based on where they think you are. Using a Virtual Private Network (which encrypts all of your online data),  may get you better deals on flights or other travel activities when booking from another country. The algorithms on booking sites take your location into account when determining flight prices, so it’s worth trying out a few location options to see if you can get a better deal!  My go to VPN service is through NordVPN.  It’s $2.99/month or $12 a vacation.  The company does not log data and has servers in 40 countries.  I always try searching flights from the country I’m planning to visit.

 

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