Here are some Tips!
One of the questions I get most often is “how do I find cheap flights?” The answer is pretty simple…you gotta do your research! Here are a few tips.
The Flight Deal
Residing outside of the city, I fly out of Philadelphia and tend to fly with American Airlines (since it’s a major AA hub). It also helps to have their AA credit card – free flights using points. The Flight Deal website has played a huge role in not only my international travel but also in pointing out domestic destinations that are available for very cheap. The front page of the site features all deals they find but they also have city-specific feeds so you can narrow it down to where you’re from (if they cover your city). They cover some of the biggest airline markets in the USA and their sister site Fare Deal Alert covers many of the rest. They definitely offer some awesome deals!
Google Flights is by far the easiest flight search tool around. Flight prices update quickly and you can even type your originating airport and leave the destination airport blank and look at a map of all potential destinations! One of my favorite aspects of Google Flights is the ability to filter your search not only by airline or price but also by airline alliance. There’s an ever-so-slight learning curve with Google Flights but I’ve found it to be a slick, user-friendly interface. If you know your destination, it’s easy to pull up a calendar and see when nearby dates might be cheaper too. The best part is, once you find your flight, Google provides you a link either directly to the airline or to Orbitz/Expedia or whatever other site they found the cheapest fare at.
Here’s the thing about cheap flights: you don’t know when they’ll pop up and you don’t know for how long they will last.
Here are some guidelines about cheap flights:
If your dates are inflexible and locked in there’s not really much you can do but wait and hope the flights drop in price. Buying a flight as soon as the schedule is released is usually not the cheapest way to book a flight, airlines know people schedule things like cruises and family vacations a long time in advance and if someone absolutely has to be on a flight enough that they will book it 11 months in advance, they’ll usually pay more for that flight.
All US airlines now have 24-hour refund policies (in most cases, check with the airlines during the booking process for their actual policies). When you find an awesome deal, book it and spend the rest of the day seeing if you can arrange time off work or ensure your partner can go. This way your price is locked in and you don’t miss the deal.
Happy Flying!
