Tips for Booking Cheap Flights this 2024 for 2025
1. Planning Your Trip
Considering alternative airports
Cheap Flights: JFK and LGA are both major airports located near New York City. However, the price of flying into/out of each airport can vary greatly. Fetching airfare quotes can be a tedious process, but it is something that must be done if you are looking to find the cheapest tickets. This is an important comparative analysis that can save you money. Many airlines service one area in a region better than another and the cost benefits can greatly help your quest for cheap tickets. Always remember to factor in transportation to and from the airport to decide if it is truly cheaper (Cheap Flights).
Being flexible with your travel dates
I can stress how important this point is. Being flexible with your travel dates will increase your chances of finding a good deal. Airfare prices for the most part are very volatile. Airline ticket prices can vary greatly depending on the time of day your flight is scheduled to depart. The day of the week is also a factor; weekdays are usually cheaper than weekends. Finally, seasons greatly affect ticket prices. Winter flights are often cheaper because this is off-peak season. Prices can double if you are exiting or entering a region in its high season.
Choosing the right time to travel
Travel off-peak. Price of air travel is heavily dependent on when you travel. Steer clear of travelling during school holidays, this is when majority of people will travel. Christmas and Thanksgiving are two popular American holiday times, being an expensive time to travel. Avoid the summer, this is a popular time to visit Europe. Consider travelling in the late summer. There is still beautiful weather in Europe, airfare is cheaper and the tourist mobs are gone.
Flying undoubtedly represents the largest portion of your trip expense, especially if you are going overseas. An extremely expensive purchase, this can be quite frustrating when trying to find the cheapest possible tickets. Here are a few tips.
1.1. Choosing the Right Time to Travel
Travelling during high season, be it for the Easter holidays, summer vacation or Christmas, can be considerably more expensive than at other times of the year. At the same time, travelling to some countries during low season can be hugely affected by weather with the result that it is a period when it is better not to travel at all to certain countries. Luckily for you, that doesn’t apply to Japan! The best way to counter this is to consider carefully when the high and low seasons fall for your destination.
High season for Japan is the New Year’s holidays in late December to early January, the Golden Week holidays in late April to early May and the summer holidays in August. Travelling to some countries during low season can be hugely affected by weather with the result that it is a period when it is better not to travel at all to certain countries. Luckily for you, that doesn’t apply to Japan! The best way to counter this is to consider carefully when the high and low seasons fall for your destination.
High season for Japan is the New Year’s holidays in late December to early January, the Golden Week holidays in late April to early May and the summer holidays in August. If you are working as an ALT, your main opportunity for travelling will be during the spring, summer and winter breaks between school terms. Your travel dates will be very close to the beginning and end of these holiday periods, so it’s best to be planning and thinking ahead.
1.2. Being Flexible with Your Travel Dates
Sometimes a last-minute change in your plans can prove to be cost advantageous. If you’ve obtained time off work, are between jobs or are just feeling adventurous, you may find that waiting until the last minute to confirm your flight can result in a great deal. This tip is not for the faint-hearted and often requires a lot of research and confidence.
Be warned; playing the waiting game can be a bit of a gamble as flights can become full, fares can increase and you may end up getting stung with the complete opposite of a bargain. However, this tactic can pay off if you’re the kind of person who is up for an adventure, not fussed about time constraints and has a knack for finding the needle in the haystack.
Consider a shift in the season of your travel. In most places, off-peak season can mean considerable savings. Take into account the myriad of festivals and public holidays that can spike tourism and ticket prices, it is often in these periods when you can utilise your flexibility to save some cash.
Being flexible with travel dates is a good way to secure cheaper tickets. Often, a difference of a day or two in your departure or return date can save you hundreds of dollars. It’s always best to check the matrix of dates as some websites show a calendar view of the fares.
1.3. Considering Alternative Airports
To put the idea of alternative airports into perspective, I recently found a round trip ticket from Chicago to Athens for $1000 USD. By using this method and taking into consideration all of the options with alternative airports, I was able to find a better than half price deal at $500 USD taking a round trip to Stockholm.
Essentially we saved $500 per ticket simply by considering alternative European destinations to Athens. This was truly the result of quite a bit of extensive online research, but the fruits of the labor paid off and led to a significant travel savings. The money we saved from this will be put towards future trips since we were able to stretch our travel budget. This is a great way to travel more often and see more destinations. Just think, now you have an extra $500 spending money in Stockholm!
You may have noticed that when you enter your departure city into a flight search engine, the list of available destination airports pops up. When booking flights, taking the time to consider exiting or arriving at a different airport could save you a good chunk of change. A great way to scope out possibilities on different airports or regions is to use sites such as Wikipedia. By searching for the airport you are considering, you will be able to find a wealth of information including airlines that serve each airport, rental car options, and public transit options.
This information will shed light on what destinations are easily reachable from a specific airport, which could be very useful in finding a cheap last minute flight if your destination is not served by a specific regional airport. By doing some easy legwork and utilizing internet resources, you could uncover an excellent deal on a round-trip ticket using an airport you did not previously consider.
2. Searching for Deals
If you are wanting to thoroughly explore options for your flight and make sure you are getting the best deals available, you’ll want to check various sources. One of the most thorough ways to compare prices is to use a flight meta-search website where you can see the widest range of airlines offering the best flights in your requirements. The meta search engine will then direct you to the airline’s website or an online agency to book it direct and avoid booking fees!
At this stage, it may be very tempting to just book the flight directly from the airline, but for the best long-term deals, it would be more practical to check the fare for the same flight on an online travel agency. If the price is lower, it can often be matched with an airline who will then give you a further discount in price. An online travel agency has been known to discount their offered price on the direct flights price due to contractual agreements with the airline.
Fare alerts are a great way to stay on top of the best deals on flight bookings. FareCompare.com is one of the many websites that offer this service. You set the dates and locations for your trip, and it will constantly email you with the price of the flight and whether it has gone up or down. This is especially useful for travelers with more flexible schedules and those hunting better deals on last-minute airfares.
2.1. Using Flight Comparison Websites
When searching for flight deals, many travelers tend to go directly to an airline website. However, this isn’t the best way to find the best deals. The best deals are often found on online travel agency websites. Using flight comparison websites is a great way to find deals. These websites search the internet for various airlines discounting their flights and offer comparative rates. Some flight comparison websites include Mobissimo, Kayak, Farecast, Skyscanner, the well known and liked Travelocity, and Expedia.
Using flight comparison websites can help travelers find the best deal for a ticket. This is especially useful for travelers not only on a budget, but for those looking for the best all around travel experience for their money. With the economy in the shape that it is in, now is the time to be smart and resourceful with your money. Using a flight comparison website is a resource for consumers in order to ensure they are getting the best deal possible. No consumer wants to pay anymore than they absolutely have to, and this source is a great way to help travelers accomplish that.
2.2. Signing up for Fare Alerts
Research was conducted by preparing a fare alert through kayak.com and creating an account with Southwest Airlines to familiarize with their system. In both cases, the options were highly customizable and intuitive to use, with clear and simple instructions. Emails received from the third-party fare alerts are straightforward and offer a static link to the search results for that itinerary. This means a price change would be easy to compare. With the airline systems, a login is required to revisit the search results and compare prices, but special discounts for members only may be sent in conjunction with fare alerts, giving an added incentive.
Fare alerts offer a systematic means of tracking fare fluctuations for a specific itinerary. Airfare tends to be seasonal and fare changes may occur multiple times a week; fare alert systems are designed to capture these fluctuations in a timely manner. Step one is to decide on the dates, the destination, and the highest price you are willing to pay. This is important, as fares may change quite dramatically to some areas.
Fare alerts can be set up through third-party websites or through the airlines themselves. Third-party websites offer a range of options for fare alerts and will deliver periodic emails when price changes occur. However, airlines are increasingly preferring to retain customers by offering the alert through their own websites, real-time updates when logging in, and various incentives to purchase tickets.
2.3. Checking for Special Promotions and Sales
If you want to save money on your flight, checking for special promotions and sales could be a great approach to take. A lot of airlines will run promotions on certain routes throughout their allocated sales period. This is usually winter and low season which is end of summer. Valuable places for these promotions are in newspapers, online on the airlines website and various online promotion websites. It will be to the consumers advantage to keep a keen eye on these.
Some airlines offer credit cards with free flights as a bonus if you were to spend a certain amount of money. It will be worth taking up this offer, especially if you were going to spend that money anyway. If you were going to pay for the flight using the card anyway, the free flight is essentially saving money off the flight. Be sure to pay off the credit to avoid interest and late fees.
2.4. Utilizing Airline Rewards Programs
This is a commonly overlooked means for flying frugally. Many airlines and credit card companies offer rewards programs which could earn you free or discounted airfare. The key to benefit from these programs is to join one or two and stick exclusively to those. Joining too many will disperse your spending and you may be unable to accumulate enough points in a single program to receive a substantial benefit.
It may seem contradictory to credit conservation and frugality, but a credit card with miles incentives is highly effective for budget travelers. Provided that large debts are avoided, using the credit card for normal spending such as groceries and paying off the balance each month, one can earn frequent flyer miles to be used on future flights.
One can also take advantage of immediate savings through rewards programs. Many airlines offer free membership to their programs and this can come with discounts such as Delta’s recent offer of up to $100 off for all new SkyMiles members. Research is needed to make sure you are aware of all the benefits you can receive and also to ensure that you aren’t signing up for a program that will lead to increased spending and debt. Like with fare alerts, a critical first step is to set up a designated email account in order to avoid the risk of junking up your primary account and missing out on important travel information.
As your travel date approaches it would be wise to frequently check mileage balances and the requirements for free travel as these are subject to change. This would be an ideal time to sign up for a rewards credit card. These can be a great way to gain extra mileage, with offers such as 20,000 miles for spending $500 in the first 3 months. Make sure that there is no fee for the first year and you are willing to cancel the card if the mileage to spending ratio is not worthwhile. This is all contingent upon the ability to maintain responsible credit card spending and payment.
3. Booking Strategies
While the old adage “time is money” may no longer hold true in a society increasingly more pressed for time, it certainly still holds water in the world of flying. And no concept does more to fit with that saying than booking in advance. Airplane ticket prices can often be a bit of a roller coaster, both in that they wax and wane dramatically in a short amount of time, and because the ride is sure to be overly expensive yet somehow also jarringly abrupt.
Airline reps have been known to often overstate the desirability of booking flights early, but various studies do show that there is a sweet spot to booking a flight, or a time when the cost is at its lowest. Research has found that the prime booking window for a domestic flight is between 21 and 105 days in advance. Conversely, the price of a domestic ticket tends to stay stagnant until it hits about 14 days before the flight, at which time the price is likely to skyrocket.
11th hour flyers are in some luck if they are looking to fly further than US borders though, as the prime booking time for an international flight is 21-150 days in advance and prices stay the same until roughly two weeks before the flight. The long and short of it is that those looking to penny-pinch on flight cost should absolutely plan ahead, and potentially even go as far as to buy a ticket too ahead of time, with the understanding that they may lose out a bit if anything changes with their flight.
On the other side of the coin, those who need to fare a flight last-minute could only stand to benefit from the high cost of a late domestic flight, given that an increase in the price of a domestic ticket to that of an international ticket taking flight within two weeks is a good sign that they should have just booked the international flight a few months back.
The journey, not the goal, is what gives life meaning. It’s an old and cliché concept, but despite that, it truly does ring true. And it also happens to have quite a bit of application when it comes to plane travel. The process of just getting on a flight can be a taxing one, and much as how pressured gas can turn coal into diamonds, travelers under certain financial constraints can benefit from a multi-step process. The concept is not too complex; a direct flight from point A to point B is certain to be the most convenient, but it is not always the cheapest.
Step by step, splitting the process of a direct flight into two or more separate flights has the potential to uncover some cost-effective options. This can be done with a bit of creative searching on a flight database, or simply with booking each step of the process individually. Be warned, however, that airlines do not always look favorably upon the concept of “flight scrumping” and a traveler may miss out on some standard accommodations when dealing with connecting flights. Such travelers will also be kept on their toes because while it may be a surprise that costly direct flights are often at a premium price, the converse is also true: that cheap connecting flights tend to fill up fast.
3.1. Booking in Advance vs. Last-Minute
But the issue of booking in advance is a complex and contentious one. There is this idea that booking very early or late can be the best as that’s when there are the cheapest deals. But after doing some research it’s quite clear that booking too far in advance or too late before the departure date can lead to prices that are substantially higher than the average. On a Price Economics article, a panel of Airline Insiders were interviewed over whether booking really early actually saves money. They concluded that the airline’s strategy is to milk the less price sensitive customers and procrastinators who will book flights a few days before the departure date.
Evidently then, they hold off on releasing cheaper priced standard tickets until it’s about 6-8 weeks before the flight as to not devalue the seat. Now the less price sensitive customers can afford to pay more and the premium is paid for early booking, but the average price between booking too early and too late is well, pretty average. So if the cheap doesn’t bother you then just book whenever, but there’s no doubt that waiting until about 6-8 weeks before a flight will likely yield lower than average prices and money saved is never a bad thing.
Booking too far ahead can be costly if the price for a seat drops later. Airlines don’t tend to start dropping prices on their flights until it’s within about 4 months of the flight date. Waiting for a price drop can be hard, but the best way to find out whether the price is likely to drop is by setting a reminder for the flight of interest through Skyscanner. A small window will appear which says “price Alerts”, and after selecting this the dates of the flight will be saved with an option to receive updates on price changes.
This then sends email alerts to the user with information regarding the price changes. It pays to keep an eye on price trends, because if they’re heading downwards, you can wait and risk it, but if they’re going up, you’ll know to act quickly.
Though if you’re into it, it’s almost a game rotating dates looking for a price drop. Experiment with date combinations, try one-way versus two, and timing. Get yourself acquainted with Google Flights, which is perhaps the most powerful search tool for finding cheap airfare. On the results page there’s a neat applet which presents a bar graph of prices, daily, over a two week period. This is a good way to see which day has the cheapest tickets and can facilitate decisions on departure or return date. Try also to clear the browser cookies before searching for a flight.
Prices can increase if a particular route is checked a few times and the user returns to find the same route more costly than it was the last time. By clearing the cookies, airlines will not remember the search and the user can save money. Prices are simply not set in stone, so if it looks too pricey, come back later and there’s a good chance that there will be a cheaper alternative.
Evidently with all these strategies it’s a good idea to not book something last minute as it’s become apparent that planning ahead is the best way to save money. But how far in advance is best?
The common consensus is that booking 6-8 weeks before departure is the best time as the price will tend to be reasonable whilst still being available seats.
3.2. Splitting Your Trip into Separate Bookings
Try out a few scenarios on the airline booking system. Sometimes a round trip is cheaper and sometimes it’s better to go with the flow and book the two one-ways when they get cheap; there’s no right answer, only the right answer for you. An advantage of splitting the bookings is that different airlines often offer the cheapest equivalent of a round trip fares (when you add the two one-ways) by using a good search engine and assignable departure airports you can get a really cheap total fare.
This takes a bit of playing around and requires the flexible destination and date searcher. This method is a little unorthodox and requires a bit of research and patience but can yield great results. This method is really effective if there’s a stop involved. For example, I recently went to Canada; I found that flying to New York then getting a separate flight to my final destination was much cheaper than a standard direct flight. Although this method is rock bottom in terms of price on the downside there is increased risk due to the lack of protection of a single booking.
If this doesn’t phase you remember that to calculate the total fare of taking two airlines if the luggage will need to be transferred and the layover is over 24 hours it may cost extra. This may eat into the fare saving and is also a general inconvenience; so avoid it where possible.
3.3. Considering One-Way Tickets
Booking a one-way ticket is often considered the more expensive option, but it can be more affordable than people realize. Sometimes airlines have leftover seats on flights that aren’t in demand. A one-way ticket to an international destination can be cheaper than a round-trip to the same place. There are search aggregators in major countries or regions, such as Europe and Asia. For these regions, you can also find budget airlines with one-way fares. It often pays to check both options. Budget airlines offer significantly cheaper fares than their full-service counterparts.
However, budget airlines get a bad reputation for nickel and diming travelers for additional costs, and it’s not uncommon for the final price to be not that much less than a full-service ticket. Make sure to take into account additional fees, such as for your checked bags. Another thing to consider with one-way tickets is whether you want to combine airlines. This can be advantageous if you want to arrive in one city and leave from another. It can also be a good strategy if you want to hit up a destination on the way to somewhere else. Again, this requires some research to find the best combination of flights for your itinerary.
3.4. Avoiding Peak Travel Seasons
Peak travel seasons vary by geography, but if you’re interested in regional travel, a good place to start is with a map or calendar as to when places you’d like to travel to are safe for tourists. Often, summer, Spring Break, and Christmas are full of tourists in areas of interest depending on the season, however, this too is variable. If the location you are interested in is just a tourist hotspot, the prices will be irregular and much alike to on-season prices. If the area is a business spot or the city is hosting an event, prices are likely to be inflated.
Keep in mind observances within a local area such as festivals and national holidays as these can bring in huge influxes of tourists to areas that normally wouldn’t have them and can heavily affect air travel prices. Large events can cause the prices for accommodation to rise as well, for one such example: the Rio Carnival and its affect on flight prices in and out of Rio and even to other locations in Brazil.
If you’re flexible enough to avoid major events, you’ll most likely be able to find a cheaper flight. Using the Rio example, the Rio Carnival takes place during the week prior to Lent so during the weekend before prices will already be rising with a heavy increase on the Monday and Tuesday of the actual event. Using the knowledge of the increased prices around these times, we can compare them to prices in off-peak travel seasons and find that we do indeed save a worthwhile amount of money by avoiding the Carnival and the surrounding dates.
3.5. Being Open to Connecting Flights
For example, someone looking to travel to the San Francisco Bay Area from parts of the United States such as Chicago, Dallas, New York, or Las Vegas will find that direct flights into SFO, San Jose (SJC), or Oakland (OAK) can be quite costly. Subsequently, they can try to take a connecting flight from a major airline hub to one of those bay area airports.
Using the above example, a person flying from Dallas to San Jose may find it cheaper to take a Southwest Airlines flight from Dallas Love Field to Las Vegas, and then take another Southwest flight from Las Vegas to San Jose. This method is substantially cheaper than taking a direct flight to San Jose from Dallas. In essence, flexibility with your travel plans can lead to a significant savings on airfare pricing.
For the most part, considering connecting flights is unavoidable. Depending on where you hope to go, there may really be no flights that travel directly there. Most non-stop flights go to major hub airports, and from that point travelers should look for a connecting flight towards their final destination. Often times, these second flights don’t cost too much more, and you will get to your destination for much less than a direct flight. Another upside to taking connecting flights is the difference it can make in airfare pricing.
4. Additional Tips
One other additional tip to consider is the use of flight price comparison websites and apps. With the rise of internet popularity and accessibility, there has been a large increase in travel websites and apps. These range from companies built specifically for travel comparison, to ones that are aggregators that compile information from other travel companies. These comparison tools will often times offer a similar price for a flight, but can offer drastically different prices for two flight itineraries. Different booking websites and travel agencies will often times have exclusive deals for the same flight, too. So how does one find the cheapest deal? This is where the comparison tools come into play.
By looking up the same flight on different websites, one can find the best deal by comparing the prices from all the sources. Now doing this can be time consuming and cumbersome, but there are some comparison websites such as Kayak and Skyscanner that have tools that compile the flight information from many different sources of travel agencies and airlines, saving you time and energy. Keep in mind, although comparison tools are very useful, it is possible to find an even cheaper deal by booking straight through the airline. So if time isn’t an issue, feel free to use the comparison tools as a reference and check the price of the flight directly on the airline’s website.
4.1. Clearing Browser Cookies and Using Incognito Mode
Airlines, like many other businesses, use cookies to track whether you have looked at a certain flight before, recognize what you are interested in, and then raise the price knowing you are more inclined to buy. To combat this, it is recommended to clear your browser cookies or use incognito mode while searching for flights. Cookies can be cleared by going into your browser settings and clearing browsing data.
A keyboard shortcut can also be used: Ctrl+Shift+Delete for Windows and Command+Shift+Delete for Mac. Using incognito mode is also simple and can be done by opening a new incognito window in Chrome or a new private window in Safari. This method of browsing will prevent cookies from being stored while you search, meaning the first price you see for a flight will still be the same when you go back to book it.
This practice can help you save money but could also be considered as quite time-consuming. The difference in price because of cookies can depend on the website and how often you have been searching a certain flight, so it is hard to tell how much you will save. If you only make a small saving, it may not seem worth the hassle, but in some cases, savings can be substantial. It is worth giving it a try and testing if it really does make a difference for the flights you are searching for.
4.2. Considering Budget Airlines
Budget airlines offer lower fares but may sometimes come with hidden fees. Keep in mind the possible baggage surcharges, on-flight meals, extra leg room, and other additional charges. Budget airlines are few and far between these days, as most major carriers have lowered their prices to compete in this field.
Once you’ve paid for your ticket (be wary because there are several ways to pay – see below), you may find the airline is now nickel and diming you for various services and the fees can add up and make your cheap fare not so cheap. Of course, the actual airline should be your absolute last choice for jumping on a fare. Always check if a better deal is available through a travel agency or if booking a package deal is cheaper. Look up online reviews of budget airlines and see if it is worth it.
4.3. Being Aware of Extra Fees and Charges
This last tip is an important one, the price of booking a flight may seem like a fantastic deal only to be surprised that the price of actually getting to your destination costs you double what you expected. The reason budget airlines are able to offer cheaper flights is because of the extra costs, some charge for baggage, seat allocation, priority boarding, to name a few. You need to weigh up these costs against the benefits of cheaper flights. Often if you still come out saving a good deal than if you were to fly another airline, it can still be worth it.
However if you are a traveller who knows you will not enjoy your flight experience without the added benefits, it may not be worth the costs. On the other hand you may find discount airliners are a perfect match for your travel preferences. Another extra cost to be aware of is the price of transport to airports. Low cost airlines often fly to airports further out of your destination city. Make sure to consider the extra time and money you will need to spend to get to your accommodation. All these costs need to be added and viewed in comparison to the total cost of flying with another airline where everything is included.
This can be done by first knowing what to look for. Sometimes these extra fees are not always evident at the time of booking and can sneak up on you. Usually you can find information on extra airline fees on websites such as travel blogs and forums. Similarly after making a flight booking it can be beneficial to search for others’ experiences with the same airline and any advice they have to offer on saving costs.
4.4. Booking Flights Individually vs. as a Package Deal
Choosing whether to book flights individually or as part of a package deal can be a tedious process. The upside of package deals is obvious: it’s a convenient way to get a holiday organized quickly. These deals often include accommodation, and sometimes even other activities, at the same time as purchasing the flights. This can be the best way to go if you’re traveling to a popular tourist destination where package deals are common.
They are commonly used for vacations to places like Hawaii, where arranging flights and accommodation separately might not be the best use of time. Package deals can also be the best choice if you are traveling alone, or with lots of adults, because discounts are common and prices are lower in some cases when purchasing all together.
The downside of package deals is what makes booking individual flights look like a better idea. Often, only a set amount of flights are available when booking the flight portion of a package deal. Even though it may be the off-season for the destination, flights might be very limited. This can be a problem for families or people wanting to fly at a specific time of day, as it might not be possible to customize the flight time when going through a package deal. Customization is the main advantage of booking individual flights, as it gives you greater control over the itinerary, and in many cases, a cheaper flight.
