4 Ways to Find Cheap Flights
Be flexible with your travel dates.
This is a great way to finally go to your dream destinations for a reasonable price. I knew I wanted to go to New Orleans for a long weekend, and it didn’t matter when, so I used the Google Flights calendar to see the lowest prices over several months. It happened that there was a good price for my birthday weekend if we went Saturday to Monday, instead of leaving on Friday which tends to be a more expensive day to fly.
Be open about where you’re going.
My husband and I go on a trip each year for our wedding anniversary instead of exchanging gifts. To save on the flight cost, we keep an open mind about the destination. For this, I use the Google Flights explore map feature to see flight prices for destinations around the globe on our desired dates. This is how we ended up going to Munich for our fourth wedding anniversary, a place we hadn’t previously talked about going but really enjoyed.
Look for sales.
I follow lots of travel related pages on Facebook so that I see when various airlines are having a sale. If your home airport is an airline’s hub, or you have a favorite airline, sign up for their emails. Through staying connected, I saw when Spirit was having a flash sale with nonstop flights to San Diego for $80 round trip. It’s also how I discovered the Emirates “two for one sale” where I found nonstop flights to Dubai for $600 (half the normal fare). When you see a sale advertised, be sure to look at the date you must purchase by and the dates valid for travel.
Pages to follow:
Track flights.
If you have a specific destination and dates in mind, track various flight options to get notified if prices drop. When my friend was vacationing in Japan, I dreamed of going there myself, so I used Google flights to start tracking some options even though they were absurdly expensive. I didn’t think a significant price decrease was that likely, but about a week later I got an email showing the price had dropped more than in half to $615. We booked immediately because price changes that dramatic can often go back up the same day.
It’s even better when you can pay for your cheap flights with points! Check out this beginners guide to free travel.
