How To Get the Cheapest Airline Ticket
Airlines are tricky, using their cookies and algorythms to encourage you to pay more for your plane tickets, so you need to be clever in order to get the best price on airline tickets. Check out these tips to make sure you get the cheapest airline ticket!
***RESEARCH ONLINE INCOGNITO***
Super important!!! Always surf the web incognito when shopping so vendors don’t raise the price to you next time you visit. Going dark means your cookies are reset each time you open a private window. Cookies are used to track your browsing behavior online and often companies will raise the price as they see you continue to show interest in a product, in this case a flight. This is the single most important thing to do to get a cheap flight ticket!
To go ‘dark’ and research in “Private Mode”, do the following depending on your browser (The web address bar will actually turn black so you know you’ve done it correctly):
Command on Mac or Control on PC = C
- Google Chrome or Safari: C+ Shift + N
- Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer: C + Shift + P
- Alternately, on top menu bar, click “File” > “New Incognito window” (or) “Private Browsing Window”
Do General Basic Research with Flight Aggregators
Aggregators scour the web for available flights so can help you score a cheap airfare. Different aggregators allow you some flexibility in checking to see when the best time is to fly to your destination. Many allow a matrix so you can see prices over the entire month to determine the best “Days of the Week” to travel to your destination and also the best time of the month to travel. Make notes on what is a low cost flight, the best days of the week to get there and the best time of the month. These aggregators make it super easy to compare flight prices!
Google: The Airport you want to go to + Wiki:
Click on the link and make note of other area airports: Example “Paris airport wiki”. Charles De Gaulle (CDG) in Paris appears. You also see that “Orly” is a regional airport, where you might get a budget airline flight to.
Then scroll down to the bottom of the page to see which airlines service this airport and LOOK FOR BUDGET AIRLINES that may not appear on the aggregator sites (example: Southwest Air).
This will give you an idea of popular routes, which are more competitive and therefore most likely to offer the lowest airfare.
Make notes of the best airports to fly into your destination and the budget airlines that service it (also check any regional airports the same way).
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Determine YOUR “Best” Airports:
After poking around the aggregator sites, using all of the flexibility functions, determine your best airports to concentrate on:
Best Regional Airport:
What are the biggest airports near me that I can get to in a few hours? For me it would be Raleigh or Charlotte. Look at the budget airlines on the Airport wiki for the airport near you to see what major airport you can get to cheaply to determine your Best Major Airport for your upcoming destination.
Best Major City Airport:
Is there a budget airline that services it from an airport near you going in the direction you want to head? For me, it would be Boston, NY and DC (even though I live in NC) if I want to get across the Atlantic, or Fort Lauderdale if I want to go to Central or South America.
Your Regional Airport:
It never hurts to check the price of your small local airport. There is a chance that once you discount the aggravation, drive time to a major airport and the accompanying costs of parking, possible hotel and meals if you have to go a day early, etc. that the extra expense would be worth it). I can only get to Atlanta or Charlotte from my local airport.
Discount Airlines Caveat:
You need to consider the TOTAL cost of your trip (and add in aggravation and time if the airport is a LONG way from where you need to go (use the free Rome2Rio app to help determine time and cost). Sometimes budget airlines airports are NOT the airport you think you are going to, so CHECK before you buy (I once bought a ticket that lured me in, thinking I was flying out of DC, but it turns out is was Baltimore, which meant a train and more time)!
Read the FINE PRINT on discount airline tickets:
You will often get charged extra for:
Baggage – Food & Drink – Printing Tickets – Etc
Baggage is especially tricky. Some allow ONE item in carryon meaning your purse, for example must fit in your carryon. They also weigh and measure and are strict! BUY any baggage allowances online before you get to the airport or they will really charge heavily for it when you get there.
Best Times to Buy a Ticket:
Domestic: I choose about 2 months. Rule of thumb is 1- 3 months ahead of time
International: I choose about 3 months. Rule of thumb is 2 – 8 months.
Exceptions: If you are travelling for a busy holiday, there will be little discounting (although sometimes you can travel cheaply if you fly on the actual holiday, like Christmas). You usually need to book these tickets really far in advance to make sure you can get a ticket.
If you have total flexibility in your travel dates, you can sometimes score a really cheap last minute ticket, but this is becoming less common as the airlines are getting better at predicting need (when’s the last time you were on an empty flight?).
Set up Price Alerts:
Each of the aggregators will encourage you, usually through a pop up window, to sign up for airfare alerts. When you have plenty of time to buy (see guidelines above), set up alerts for your best airports determined above.
I also set up a general alert for my main local airport (RDU) so I can scan deals when I’m not even in the market.
Sign Up for the Secret Flying Newsletter
With Secret Flying you will get a daily digest of great deals from everywhere, so when you see a great deal from your Best Airport research, you can pounce. It also lists error fares (when an airline accidentally posts a boo boo, like $177 instead of $777), and if you are lucky, you can snag a super cheap ticket until the airline corrects the error.
Consider “Flipping” Your Trip and Find the Flight Deal Before You Book Your Adventure
Use the map feature on the aggregators to look for deals.
Sign up for daily Secret Flying email to get news of new deals and error fares (when a price error is ridiculously low – the airline will honor until they correct the boo boo).
First fInd a great airfare, then poke around this Active Travel Adventures website by using the search bar to find a cool adventure.
Search by:
Activity – Time of Year – Budget – Who the trip is best for – Location – Accommodations
Example: France + October
Cross the Ocean Cheaply
Look for a cheap flight to get across the ocean from your country. You can usually get to the connecting airline using a budget airline. Example: You want to go to Madrid but you see a great deal from Boston to Paris using the map feature of an aggregator.
You buy a cheap flight to Boston and a cheap flight to Paris (or using the Rome2Rio app see whether flying, bus or train is the best option for you).
Buying Your Own Connecting Flights
You can save a lot of money by purchasing your own connecting flights. But BE CAREFUL! If you don’t buy your tickets at the same time, then YOU are responsible if you miss your connection, even if through no fault of your own.
Options if you miss your connection and you booked the flights directly:
1. Book all at once through Kiwi and they will be responsible.
2. Your Travel Insurance Policy may cover the extra cost of a new ticket
3. Make a mini vacation at the stopover and get there a day or two early
WARNING!
Let’s say you want to go to Minneapolis and you find a great deal on a flight to NYC that connects via Minneapolis. Airlines consider this a no no if you book the round trip ticket and then get off the plane in Minneapolis. They will usually cancel your return flight and consider you a “No Show” leaving you stranded. They refer to this as “Skiplagged”.
What if you want to do a Round Trip flight with different End and Start points?
Some tours start and stop in different destinations. You have two choices:
1. Book an “Open Jaw” round trip ticket. This does exactly what you want. Let’s say your tour starts in Bangkok, but you end in Laos. You can buy an open jaw round trip ticket that allows you to do this without returning to Bangkok. However, consider this option:
2. Check the Rome2Rio app to see what your options are to go from your tour end point back to Bangkok. There is often an inexpensive puddle jumper or train that can save you a lot over the Open Jaw ticket.
Great FREE! Travel Apps:
Download these apps to get super easy and helpful recommendations on how to get from one place to the other. My favorite is Rome2Rio as it covers the world. Go Euro is great for Europe, too.
These apps break down your travel options, from walking, bus, train, plane and taxi or shared ride. You can see the general price range and time it’ll take. You can even directly book bus, plane and train tickets directly through the app! And it’s in English, so no need to decifor foreign schedules!
Using these FREE tech tools makes it super easy to get a cheap airfare without spending a whole lot of time! Once you do a bit of preliminary research, you let the alerts passively keep you aware of flight price trends and deals, so you’ll know when it’s time to pounce and buy a cheap plane ticket.
Omio app (formerly GoEuro)
Use Credit Card Promotions:
I hate to even mention this, but it IS an easy way to score cheap flight tickets. Please do not use unless you can pay off your balance EACH month and have great credit. No good deal is worth going into debt for!
Credit Card companies are anxious for your business, figuring once you get used to them, you’ll stick around for them to make more money off of you. To encourage you to sign up for their card, many offer Bonus Loyalty Points you can use towards travel. For example, the Chase Sapphire card is at the time of this writing, offering 60,000 miles if you get a new card (for $95/year) and spend $4000 in the first three months. Those points are the equivalent of about $750 in travel. If you don’t want to pay the annual fee after the first year, you need to make a note of the anniversary so you can cancel the card before it renews!
Travel Hackers have encouraged this ‘join and dump’ program and the card companies are starting to decline those that do so. Therefore I believe we are at the tail end of this deal.
Nonetheless, I have used it with much success (except for the one time I forgot to cancel one in time with a $195 fee – ouch!) and have racked up hundreds of thousands of miles. I get a new card when I know I’ve got a big expense coming up (like insurance for my rentals) so I can meet the minimum purchase requirement with no problem.
Cheap international flights (and cheap domestic flights for that matter) can be relatively pain free if you use these cheap flight booking tips. Let me know how you make out!
Check out Active Travel Adventures for destination ideas (listen to the podcast for destination ideas on any podcast app or by going directly to this link). Also check the back catalog of the Adventure Travel Show podcast here!
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