How to Find Cheaper Airline Tickets

When I first started traveling (and was very broke) I would spend hours, sometimes even days, searching websites for the best deals on tickets. Over time I learned a few tricks. I talked to other travelers and travel professionals about how they found cheap flights. After a while I came up with a formula for finding the good prices on plane tickets. Now I spend on average 2-4 hours searching for a ticket, but I pretty much always a deal that s significantly cheaper that s what most people pay. Not long ago I booked a ticket from San Francisco to Taipei for $516 during at time of year when the vast majority of websites produced tickets that cost from $700 $1000 or more. That s about 25 50% cheaper than an average ticket and that s a pretty good example of the price that I usually pay compared to the norm. These are seven simple things that you can do to keep your flight costs as low as possible without wasting too much time searching for tickets.

1) Fly Tuesday Thursday

Ticket prices are set according to demand, so the cheapest tickets can be found on the days with the least demand. Most people, especially business people, fly on Mondays and Fridays, so those days tend to be the most expensive, while midweek flights are usually cheaper. I’ve had the best luck flying on Wednesdays (and occasionally Sundays), but it’s always good to check flights on several different days before purchasing a ticket.

2) Be Flexible About Flight Dates

If your flight dates are flexible, you may be able to find a much better price checking prices in a range of around three or four weeks. The prices of flights can vary dramatically from one week to the next. Waiting an extra seven days has saved me hundreds of dollars on a single flight before.

3) Be Flexible About Airports

If you are in or near a large center, check schedules that leave from all of the nearby airports. Small budget airlines often don t fly to major airports, but to nearby secondary ones. Those budget airlines are often much cheaper than the bigger ones.

4) Check Prices Early on Wednesday Mornings

This tip is not my own, but I believe its effective. According to Nora Dunn, a certified budget travel expert, airline companies usually set prices on Tuesdays around midnight, and that they sometimes post special temporary seat sales at this time.

5) Check Local Budget Airlines

Most regions of the world are served by budget airlines that don’t show up in big search engines. Which budget is a search engine that will tell you which budget airlines fly the route that you are looking for. Check those airlines websites for normal and special fares. They often have amazing deals. I have flown from Taipei to Manila round-trip for less than $50 on a local budget carrier before (mind you, the flight landed at Clark International Airport near Angeles City, rather than Manila International Airport, as I mentioned in tip #3).

6)  Check All Possible Booking Options

Different flight booking websites usually charge different prices for the same flight. To save time, I use price meta-search engines, like Booking Wiz and Fare Compare, that compare several booking websites at the same time.  After I have found a few flights that look promising, I check the airlines’ websites to see if they offer a better price for the flight or have any special deals. Sometimes the airline website is cheaper. Sometimes the booking engine is. Airlines also have different websites to serve different countries. If you ve found a flight that you re interested in buying directly through the airline s website, try logging into a the same airline s website for a different country (Canada, or the UK for example). Sometimes in the rounding up or down or prices and the exchange of currency you ll find an even better deal.

7) Track the Flight s Price

Yapta  is a flight search engine that allows you to track changes in ticket prices over time. Just search for your desired route, then find the tickets you re interested, and click on Track Price Drops . You will have to enter your name and email address. After that, Yapta will send you an email every time the price of one of your selected tickets changes. That way, if the airline drops the price for some reason (it happens regularly) you can snap up the ticket right away. Alternatively, if you have already purchased your ticket you can still track the price and request the airline to refund you the difference if one day you see the price drop below what you paid.

Conclusion

I m not the most talented travel hacker out there, but I don t aspire to be. I don t care to spend more than a few hours looking for a cheap flight. After that I prefer to spend my time doing fun things, rather than trying to whittle an extra $30 off my ticket.  If you re like me, then this guide should be all you need to save a bit of money without wasting too much of your valuable time.