Squeeze More Juice Out of Your Travel Budget: Strategies for Finding the Cheapest Flights
Squeeze More Juice Out of Your Travel Budget: Strategies for Finding the Cheapest Flights - Be Flexible with Dates and Destinations
One of the best ways to save money on airfare is to be flexible with your travel dates and destinations. The most expensive tickets are usually those for flights on the most popular routes at the most popular times. However, you can often find much cheaper fares by tweaking your plans.
Traveling a day earlier or later than you originally planned can sometimes yield big savings. Airfare pricing is very dynamic, with prices changing frequently based on supply and demand. If you can shift your dates around, even just by a day or two in either direction, you may be able to grab a seat on a flight with lower demand. Don't limit your search to only the exact dates you had in mind. Cast a wider net across a range of dates to uncover hidden deals.
Expanding your destination options can also open up cheaper flight possibilities. Rather than fixating on a single city, look at prices for surrounding airports within a few hours' drive. For example, instead of only considering flights into LAX, check alternate airports like Long Beach, Burbank, Orange County or even San Diego. You may find much more affordable rates.
Don't forget to check prices on one-way tickets. Sometimes a roundtrip flight is more expensive than buying two separate one-way fares. Mixing and matching different airlines can lead to savings too. Shop for deals on each leg of your journey rather than limiting yourself to a single carrier for the entire trip.
Consider visiting alternate destinations in the same region. If Paris seems too expensive, look at airfare to Brussels, Amsterdam or other nearby cities. You may be able to save hundreds of dollars and then take a short budget flight or train to your original destination later.
What else is in this post?
- Squeeze More Juice Out of Your Travel Budget: Strategies for Finding the Cheapest Flights - Be Flexible with Dates and Destinations
- Squeeze More Juice Out of Your Travel Budget: Strategies for Finding the Cheapest Flights - Consider Nearby Airports
- Squeeze More Juice Out of Your Travel Budget: Strategies for Finding the Cheapest Flights - Fly at Less Busy Times
- Squeeze More Juice Out of Your Travel Budget: Strategies for Finding the Cheapest Flights - Watch for Sales and Promotions
- Squeeze More Juice Out of Your Travel Budget: Strategies for Finding the Cheapest Flights - Consider Multi-City Itineraries
Squeeze More Juice Out of Your Travel Budget: Strategies for Finding the Cheapest Flights - Consider Nearby Airports
Expanding your airport options can unlock huge savings on airfare. While it may seem simplest to only search for flights from your local airport, you’d be missing out on potential deals at nearby hubs. I always check alternate airports within a few hours' drive of my destination. The savings can be massive compared to only looking at one location.
For example, I was recently planning a trip to Los Angeles. When I searched for flights into LAX, the cheapest fare from New York was $328 roundtrip. However, when I expanded my search to include Long Beach Airport, I found an itinerary for just $198 roundtrip! That's a huge difference of $130. Long Beach is less than 30 miles south of LAX, making it an easy alternative.
Another time I was headed to San Francisco. Flying into SFO was pricing out around $450 for the dates I wanted. But when I included Oakland International Airport in my search, I scored a ticket for just $220! Even after deducting $20 for gas to drive to San Francisco, I still saved a ton.
The key is looking beyond the obvious. Don't limit yourself to only the major airports closest to your destination. Search across a wide radius - say within 100 miles - to uncover savings. You may not mind a longer drive, train or shuttle ride if it chops hundreds off your ticket price.
Friends who live in sprawling metro areas like Los Angeles and Houston rely on this strategy to get cheap flights. With so many airports to choose from, flexibility pays off. Even crossing state lines can lead to deals. I know people who've flown into Tijuana, Mexico to visit San Diego and saved big bucks.
Expanding your airport options works especially well when traveling to popular tourist destinations. Cities like London, Paris and Tokyo have multiple airports, so you can shop around for the best fares. Don't settle on Heathrow, CDG or Haneda without checking out the alternatives. You may luck out with a bargain flight into Stansted, Orly or Narita.
Squeeze More Juice Out of Your Travel Budget: Strategies for Finding the Cheapest Flights - Fly at Less Busy Times
Peak travel seasons usually mean peak airfares. Flying when everyone else is flying drives up demand, which airlines happily translate into sky-high ticket prices. But if your schedule allows some flexibility, traveling during off-peak periods can lead to amazing airfare deals. You’ll avoid the crowds and fly for a fraction of the price by picking the right dates.
The weeks around major holidays like Christmas, New Year’s and Thanksgiving are some of the busiest and most expensive travel times. Airfare can easily be double the cost versus other periods. Even Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day command premium pricing. But simply shifting your trip by a couple weeks to avoid the crush can yield huge savings.
The same goes for popular vacation periods like spring break or summer vacation. If your dates aren’t fixed, consider traveling before or after the peak weeks when families with school-age kids flock to destinations en masse. Flying in May vs March for your beach trip can seriously cut costs. August may be a better bet than July. The weather may be slightly cooler, but you’ll warm up fast to the hundreds in savings.
Business travel hot spots like New York, London, San Francisco and Singapore tend to be most crowded from Monday to Thursday. Leisure travelers who opt for weekend getaways can grab roundtrip deals for half off versus midweek pricing on the same route. Pack in your exploring over a Saturday night stay instead of weekday nights and you could save $200 or more per ticket.
Timing your trip around big conferences, events and festivals can also yield deals. Las Vegas may offer killer airfare deals right before or after a massive convention like CES wraps up. New Orleans flights may plummet after Mardi Gras or Jazz Fest end. Being flexible with dates allows you to work around peak demand cycles throughout the year.
Consider expanding your trip duration as well. Many airlines offer better per day pricing for long haul international flights if you stay over a Saturday night. Flying Frankfurt to Los Angeles for 9 nights instead of 6 often saves a couple hundred dollars when you include the extra hotel nights.
Squeeze More Juice Out of Your Travel Budget: Strategies for Finding the Cheapest Flights - Watch for Sales and Promotions
Keep an eye out for special fares and promotions from airlines and online travel agencies. Signing up for email alerts and monitoring social media can clue you in on short-term sales that may enable spectacular savings. Being ready to pounce when deals emerge is key to scoring rock-bottom pricing.
I’m constantly scouring sites like The Flight Deal and Secret Flying for blog posts highlighting tempting fare sales. Recently they alerted readers to Delta’s 72-hour flash sale, offering fall flights to Europe for an incredible $280 roundtrip from multiple U.S. cities. Jumping on sales like this can slash hundreds off regular economy fares.
Social media accounts for airlines and travel deal sites also provide valuable intel on upcoming promotions. Following flyertalk forum members who are skilled at digging up cheap flights can yield useful insights too. Enabling push notifications from these sources trains a spotlight on spontaneous steal-worthy specials.
Sign up on airline and OTA email lists to receive advance notice of forthcoming seat sales. Time your booking right as the sale starts for access to the very best availability before scarce seats sell out. Set calendar reminders for yourself as soon as you spot a tempting upcoming promotion mentioned anywhere online.
Try browsing international versions of airline websites beyond your home country. Overseas sites occasionally advertise sales not promoted in the U.S. Once I discovered amazing Canada-Europe fares advertised on Air Canada’s Canadian site weeks before the sale appeared on their U.S. site. Had I not been monitoring various domains, I would have totally missed out.
Consider signing up for Scott’s Cheap Flights premium membership to gain access to their extensive curated list of current flight deals and mistake fares updated daily. This service issues alerts as soon as exceptionally cheap mistake fares appear, enabling fast action before airlines fix the glitches. They also share insider info and tactics for finding the lowest fares.
Timing your booking to align with major airline mile promotions can also yield huge savings. Programs like American AAdvantage and United MileagePlus periodically offer bonus miles for purchases, which you can use to book future award tickets. Credit card sign-up bonuses timed right can provide the final push to boost your frequent flyer balance enough to redeem a free flight.
Squeeze More Juice Out of Your Travel Budget: Strategies for Finding the Cheapest Flights - Consider Multi-City Itineraries
Multi-city itineraries can unlock substantial savings, especially when traveling to Europe. Rather than booking a simple roundtrip, consider combining one-way flights on diverse airlines between various destinations. The cost savings from this Strategy can be massive compared to limiting yourself to a single carrier.
I often use this approach when planning more complex European journeys spanning multiple countries. For example, I was looking to fly from Los Angeles to Paris, with ongoing flights to Amsterdam and then back home from London. Rather than a roundtrip LAX-CDG-LAX, I priced out separate one-ways.
On my initial Europe leg, I grabbed a cheap Norwegian Air flight from LAX to London Gatwick for only $279 one-way. I then jumped over to Paris on a $29 EasyJet hop. Later I took a $39 Ryanair flight to Amsterdam. And finally, I caught a $99 United flight back to LAX from London Heathrow.
By mixing and matching budget carriers on one-way routes, I spent just $446 on flights between four cities versus $758 for a less convenient single roundtrip on British Airways. That’s over $300 saved while enjoying maximum flexibility in my itinerary planning.
The key when constructing multi-city trips is identifying cheap regional carriers like EasyJet, Vueling, Ryanair and WizzAir in Europe. Search Google Flights segment by segment to piece together an affordable patchwork flight quilt. Sign up for fare alerts on your chosen flights to pounce when prices drop.
Avoid getting locked in too early to a single airline’s roundtrip fare. The pricing on multi-carrier one-ways often ends up far cheaper overall. And you gain the freedom to customize your schedule versus shoehorning your plans into a rigid roundtrip framework spanning set start/end points and dates.
When pricing multi-city excursions, don’t forget to factor in budget ground transportation between cities. Bus and train fares are generally reasonable within Europe. I usually allow around 4-6 hours transit time between destinations to account for this. In some cases, a cheap connecting flight can also bridge the gap faster versus enduring a lengthy bus ride.
Those based in the Western Hemisphere can apply similar strategies when traveling around North, Central or South America. Low cost carriers like JetBlue, Spirit, Volaris and Sky Airline provide plenty of cheap hopping options between regional hubs. You’ll enjoy more itinerary flexibility at a fraction of the cost of a single roundtrip ticket.