In summation, if you're traveling when everyone is also flying, then logically your flight price will be higher.
Try not to be too rigid with your dates, but flexible. If you're determined to visit Paris, travel there in the spring or fall, for a lot less people fly there and flight tickets are cheaper.
But if you wish to fly in mid August? You are unlucky. Hawaii over Christmas? Fat chance! Flight tickets will cost much more.
The solution to beat the high prices is to travel off-season. Look for alternative dates to capitalize on the ideal day. The less flexible your plans are, you'll be less likely to find a deal.
Besides, it's nearly always cheaper to travel within the middle of week instead of a weekend on account of the majority of flyers choosing to fly on the weekends and all the airlines increase their rates then. If you haven't already noticed, flight tickets are cheaper when traveling right after a big holiday as late night or morning flights are often cheaper since less people wish to fly then. Mondays and Fridays are often more costly since that's when the majority of business flyers travel.
Airlines are not stupid. They are on the lookout for holidays, a festival, a big sports event, and of course, like any business that wants to make a profit, they raise flight rates accordingly.
If for some reason or another you cannot be flexible with the time factor of your flight, then try to be flexible with your destinations. It's ideal to be both. However, you still can save a lot of money and find a cheap flight by being flexible with either factor.
You don't have to conduct manual searches, going city by city and day by day. Websites such as Google Flights, Skyscanner, and Momondo provide explore tools and permit you to add your nearest airport and see a world map with all the possible flights on it. This helps you to quickly compare many destinations with no need to brainstorm each potential option.
If you're flexible with your destinations, here are the steps to take to turn Google Flights into a cheap flight finder:
Step 2: Add your departing city and date. Then look at a broad range of options appearing on the map. If you do not have a certain date or destination, search through the "Flexible dates" option.
If you're flexible enough about your destinations, you'll always find a deal. But when you are set on one particular location, you are at the mercy of whatever rate pops up. But as soon as you become flexible, the whole world suddenly widens to you and you'll discover great airfare deals.
Many years ago, you were generally stuck flying with traditional costly airlines. That's not true anymore. Budget airlines today service both short and medium-haul routes all over the world.
For example, AirAsia provides incredible cheap flight deals around Australia and Asia for less than $150 dollars! Indian and Middle Eastern air carriers sell cheap flight tickets throughout Africa and the subcontinent.
Nowadays you could travel most of the route around the world using a budget airline. They may be less comfortable and you might have to pay for upgrades such as meals and checked bags, but these airlines can take you anywhere without wiping out your savings account.
Being flexible with your route you'll be flying is another way to find a cheap flight. For instance, at times it's cheaper to travel to London and use a budget airline to Amsterdam instead of flying directly to Amsterdam from the actual departure city.
To utilize this approach, learn how much it costs to fly directly to the target destination. Next, open Google Flights, type in the destination's details like country name to see the rates to nearby airports. If the difference happens to exceed $150 dollars, find out how much it actually is to fly from the 2nd airport to the main destination.
You could repeat this for departing as well. It may be cheaper to travel out from a close by airport. It may be a good practice to search other airports just to see if it's more affordable to take a flight/car/train/bus there and then fly to your ultimate destination.
Although flight rates continue climbing the nearer you get to departure, there exists a great spot along the way when airline companies start to reduce or increase flight prices based on demand. Do not wait till the last moment but do not book too far in advance. The ideal time to buy your flight ticket is about 2 to 3 months prior to your departure, or even about 5 months prior if you're flying there in their peak season.
This is not an absolute rule, but use it more as a guide. Airlines generally raise rates nearer to departure since people booking last minute are usually price-numbed business flyers so they'll pay the going price without protest. Moral lesson is, don't book at the last minute.
Cheap FlightsFor most trips, airfare is the most expensive part of the trip. While prices for transatlantic flights have gone down in recent years, they can still put a sizeable dent in any travel budget. Whether you’re a budget solo traveler or a family looking to vacation abroad, finding a cheap flight deal can be what makes or breaks your trip.
After all, if your flight is too expensive, you’re likely going to keep putting the trip off. I’ve seen it happen time and time again.
And yet every day, airlines have thousands of amazing deals — from mistakenly published fares to special promotions to slashing prices to compete with another airline. Cheap fares are out there and they can make your dream trip a reality — if you know where to look.
Today, I am going to help you master the art of finding a cheap flight. These are the exact steps I’ve been following for a decade to get the cheapest airfare possible every time I fly. If you follow them too, you’ll never be the person on a flight who paid the most for their ticket!
The first thing to know about finding a cheap flight is that there is no magic bullet or one secret ninja trick to doing so. There are a lot of myths online about how to find cheap flights. In fact, you’ve probably come across a ton of them on your search to find the best flight deal!
Most websites hire terrible reporters who recycle common and outdated myths. Here are the most common that are 100% not true:
It is NOT cheaper to buy airfare on a Tuesday (or any other specific day for that matter).
It is NOT cheaper to buy airfare on a Tuesday (or any other specific day for that matter).
You can’t predict airline prices and websites that do are basically taking an educated (but probably wrong) guess.
Airlines use advanced computer and pricing algorithms to determine prices and run sales based on the time of the year, passenger demand, weather, major events/festivals, time of day, competitor prices, fuel prices, and much more. Those so-called “tricks” don’t work anymore. The system is too smart. Throw them out. Let them die.
Don’t listen to anyone who tells you otherwise. Anyone who is telling you doesn’t know what they are talking about. These myths will 100% lead you astray.
Airline ticket prices vary greatly depending on the day of the week, time of year, and upcoming holidays, such as Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Thanksgiving, or the Fourth of July. August is a big month for traveling around Europe, and everyone wants to go somewhere warm in the winter or travel when the kids are out of school.
In a nutshell, if you are going to fly when everyone is flying, then your ticket is going to cost more.
Try to be flexible with your dates. If you are dead-set on visiting Paris, go to Paris in the spring or fall when fewer people visit and airfares are cheaper.
But if you want to go in the middle of August? You’re out of luck. Hawaii over Christmas? Good luck! Prices will be at their highest.
The solution is to fly off-season. Search alternative dates so that you can capitalize on the best day. The more rigid your plans, the less likely it will be that you find a deal.
Moreover, it’s almost always cheaper to fly during the middle of the week than on a weekend because most people travel on the weekends and airlines hike their prices then. Prices are cheaper if you fly after or on a major holiday. Early-morning or late-night flights are also cheaper because fewer people want to travel then (who wants to wake up early?!). Fridays and Mondays are expensive because that’s when most business travelers fly.
All that being said, you can save hundreds of dollars with hidden city flights, and it’s perfectly legal. It’s easy to search for hidden city flights on the website Skiplagged. Just do so at your own risk!
Finding a cheap flight is all about being flexible and getting creative. It may take some effort, but the deals are out there if you’re willing to look. Follow the tips above to get started, but don’t waste hours and hours hunting for a cheap flight. If you’re spending more than an hour booking a flight, you’re spending too much time.
Once you find a flight deal that you’re happy with, book right away, as airfares change by the minute. Remember that you have a 24-hour window to cancel in case you need to.
Use the tips above on how to get a cheap flight to get the ball rolling. Do that, and you’ll always get a great deal!
I start all my searches with Skyscanner because they search all major AND budget airlines, non-English websites, English websites, and everything in between. Even if you aren’t sure your plans, it’s best to start searching for flights today. People who wait to book are people who end up spending the most.
Airfare pricing is extremely complex, with algorithms changing fares minute by minute. It puts the average consumer at a significant disadvantage and far too often results in travelers overpaying for flights.
That's why I started Going. After I snagged the fare of a lifetime—$130 roundtrip to Milan—I wanted to help others explore the world for less and show them how to get cheap flights. Today, my team and I spend hundreds of hours every week searching for cheap flights, and when we find them, we let our members know. We also publish guides like this so that whether you book one of our deals or search for flights on your own, you never overpay again.
Be flexible with where and when to go. If you’ve picked out your destination, picked out your dates, and don’t have flexibility, 95% of what you can do to bring down the cost of airfare is already out the window. Flexibility is king. Plus, as we'll discuss below, once you get to Europe or Asia or wherever, it’s really easy to hop a budget flight to your final destination.
Sidenote: If you're looking to book the cheapest flights, be sure to search more than one date. (Clicking the calendar in Google Flights shows you cheap tickets for two months at a time.)
Our three favorite tools to search for flights are Google Flights, Priceline, and Momondo. There are also some more complex ones like the ITA Matrix, SkyScanner, and various plugins, but for most folks Google Flights, Priceline, and Momondo are plenty.
One of the reasons we love Google Flights so much is because it makes it really easy to see tons of options. First, you can input up to seven airports in the departure and arrival fields, so if you can fly from any airport on the East Coast to any airport in Ireland, voila, just put in the corresponding airport codes and you can see the route that'll be cheapest.
Just put in your departure airport and leave the destination open (or select a region, country, or state like Europe or Asia or Bali or Florida) and a map will populate with all your options. You can search select dates or browse weekend, one-week, or two-week trips in the next six months.
Another handy feature of Google Flights is that it's easy to see if moving your dates can lower the price. When you select your dates, Google Flights will show you two months worth of dates and highlight which ones are the cheapest days to fly based on the length of your trip. Often times shifting the dates by even a day or switching from a six-day trip to seven days can cut the price in half.
What are the cheapest days to travel? In general Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday are the cheapest days to travel. Friday and Sunday are usually the most expensive days. These aren't always the cheapest days to book—cheap flights can pop up anytime!
If you want to get the cheapest flights possible, focus on getting the cheapest fares across the ocean, even if it’s not from your home airport or to your ultimate destination.
Two itineraries are frequently cheaper than one. Plus you can stay and explore another city for as long or short as you like.
Here's a personal example: I used to live in Washington DC, but the best ticket I ever purchased was the ticket I mention, above, a Mistake Fare from NYC to Milan for $130 roundtrip.
It was well worth the $20 bus ride up, and I even got to spend the weekend with friends in NYC. If I had insisted on flying to Milan from Washington DC (not NYC) the ticket would’ve been around $800, not the $150 I actually paid.
The next best fare I’ve gotten was from DC to Brussels for ~$250 roundtrip. So nice I bought it twice! Even though I didn’t have that much interest in Belgium, I knew once I was in Europe, I could easily find budget flights to other European countries.
Cheap FlightsFor one trip I bought flights from Brussels to Norway (~$60 roundtrip) and for the other trip I bought flights from Brussels to Dublin (~$80 roundtrip). If I had insisted on flying from DC to Norway or Dublin (without stopping first in Brussels), I would have paid around $750 roundtrip, not the $310 and $330 I actually paid. And I wouldn’t have gotten a day in Brussels to boot! Rome2Rio makes it easy to check out local transport options between destinations.
Let’s say you and your partner want to fly from Seattle to Washington DC. At time of writing, the cheapest nonstop flight was $299 per ticket.
But a funny thing happens when you reduce the number of travelers from 2 to 1: the price on the exact same flight drops from $299 per ticket to $199.
This pricing anomaly sometimes occurs because whenever you’re booking multiple tickets, airlines want to put your entire group into a single fare bucket.
(A fare bucket is a fancy term that airlines use to denote not just which cabin you’re in, but also any privileges included with your ticket like whether it’s refundable or if it’s upgrade-eligible. The number of seats available in any given fare bucket isn’t a secret but it takes some digging to find; all we’re typically shown when we search for flights is the lowest ticket price.)
In the above example, Alaska Airlines almost certainly only had one ticket left in the cheapest fare bucket priced at $199. So if you searched for two tickets, the airline would skip over the single $199 ticket and instead only show you fares with at least two seats available, $299 in this case.
But by booking one ticket at a time, you can get the first one for $199 and the second one for $299, paying $498 total rather than the original $598.
But by booking one ticket at a time, you can get the first one for $199 and the second one for $299, paying $498 total rather than the original $598.
Does this work every time? No. But anytime you’re traveling with a group, it’s worth checking if fares are cheaper by buying tickets individually. That’s especially true if you’re traveling with a larger group, because the more tickets you buy, the greater the chance there won’t be enough seats for you all in the cheapest available fare bucket.
If you’re able to successfully use this strategy, call the airline after you book and ask to have the multiple itineraries linked. That way, if there are any changes to your flight, the whole group will be able to stay together.
It will also vary a bit by the specific destination, especially around popular festivals. Fares to Dublin for St. Patrick’s Day or to China for Chinese New Year aren’t cheap.
There's so much bad info out there about the best time to book a flight, with many people claiming it's Tuesdays at 1pm, or early on Sunday mornings. If I achieve one thing in my brief stint on Earth, it will be to convince travelers to stop believing this nonsense. It’s not true, it won’t help you get cheap flights, and if anything will likely result in you overpaying for your next trip.
The better strategy for snagging discounts on flights is to book within what I call the Goldilocks Windows.
Airfare doesn’t change weekly these days. It changes daily, hourly, sometimes even minute-ly. Neither I nor anyone else can tell you with certainty when (or where) next week’s cheapest fares will pop up.
These days, airfare is set by complex algorithms that account for hundreds of ever-shifting factors, from consumer demand to oil prices to competitor’s prices and beyond. One factor airlines no longer rely on: technological constraints that only allowed them to change fares once a week at a set time.
Though there’s no set time or date that’s always cheapest to book, there’s still a period when cheap fares are most likely to pop up. I call these Goldilocks Windows.
For domestic flights, the best time to book is normally 1 to 3 months before your travel dates. For international trips, it’s 2 to 8 months prior. If your trip is during a peak travel period (Christmas, summer, St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin) add a couple months to those windows. If you’re traveling during low season it’s more likely cheap fares will pop up closer to departure date, but prices tend to jump in the last month or two before departure, so you don’t want to cut it too close.
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