Cheap Flights

 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.

 When searching on Google Flights, simply click on the date field to expand the calendar view and you’ll immediately see the cheapest days to fly within a two-month window. On this search from Austin to NYC, you can see that prices on certain days can be twice as much as on others:

 Airlines are not dumb. They know when a festival, holiday, major sports event, or school break is coming up — and they raise prices accordingly.

 If you can’t be flexible with when you fly, at least be flexible with where you fly. It’s best to be both, but if you really want to save the most money and get a cheap flight for your trip, you at least need to be flexible with one or the other.

 Airline search engines have made it really easy to search the entire world to find the cheapest ticket. You no longer have to search manually, city by city, day by day. Websites like Skyscanner and Google Flights offer explore tools that allow you to put in your home airport and see a map of the world with all the flights on it. This allows you to easily compare multiple destinations without having to brainstorm every possible option. You’ll likely even find some interesting destinations you hadn’t even thought of either!

 If you are flexible with where you want to go (i.e., anywhere but home), here’s what to do:

 Step 2: Next, put in your departure city and the date. Now you can look at a wide variety of options on the map. If you don’t have a specific destination or dates, you can search via the “Flexible dates” option:

 If you’re flexible on dates but have a preferred amount time you’d like to be away, you can filter by that too. You can select weekend, 1-week, or 2-week time frames:

 The truth about airfare is that there’s always a deal to some destination — it might just not be your first choice. However, if you’re flexible about where you want to go, you’ll always get a deal and save a ton of money in the process.

 When you are locked into one place at one time, you are stuck with whatever price shows up. Nothing can change that. But when you become flexible, suddenly the entire world opens up to you and you’ll find amazing cheap airfares!

 Years ago, if you wanted to fly between continents, you were mostly stuck with traditional expensive airlines. That’s no longer true. These days, you can fly most of the way around the world on a budget airline. Sure, they might not be as comfortable and you may need to pay for premium upgrades like checked bags and meals, but they bring the world to your doorstep without breaking the bank.

 Budget airlines mainly service short and medium-haul routes. While most budget carriers (notably Norwegian Air) scrapped their long-haul routes during COVID, I imagine some of them will return once the travel industry recovers.

 For now, budget airlines mainly operate regionally so it’s really easy to find a cheap flight, even during this age of higher prices.

 (Pro tip: If you aren’t sure which budget airlines fly where, visit your departure airport’s website to get a list of airlines that fly there.)

Cheap Flights

 Flying budget airlines is a good alternative to flying “the majors” whenever possible. You get fewer perks, but you can save a bundle in price.

 Just be sure to watch out for fees. That’s how they make money! Budget airlines often charge fees for checked bags, carry-ons, printing your boarding pass, using a credit card, and anything else they can get away with. Be sure to add up the cost of the ticket AND the fees to make sure that the price is lower than a larger carrier.

 You’ll also want to double-check the location of the budget airline’s airport at your intended destination. These airlines often fly in and out of airports that are quite far from the actual city, with limited and expensive transportation options.

 For example, the shuttle to Beauvais, the budget airport for Paris, costs 29 EUR one-way. If you’re flying roundtrip, this means that you should add about 60 EUR to the price of your plane ticket to see if you’re even saving much by flying a budget airline.

 Not only does it help to be flexible with dates and destinations but being flexible with the route you take is another way to get a cheap flight. For example, sometimes it’s cheaper to fly to London and take a budget airline to Amsterdam than to fly direct to Amsterdam from your departure city.

 I did precisely this when I was going to Paris. The flight from the US was $900 USD, but I could fly to Dublin for $600 and get a $60 flight to Paris. It meant more flying time, but the $240 USD I saved was worth it to me.

 To use this method, find out how much it is to go directly to your destination. Then, open Google Flights and type in that destination’s continent to look at prices to nearby airports. If the difference is more than $150 USD, I look to see how much it is to get from the second airport to my primary destination (either by budget flight or train, if it’s not too far). You can use Rome2Rio to help search for the best ways to get between a nearby airport and your primary destination.

 To use this method, find out how much it is to go directly to your destination. Then, open Google Flights and type in that destination’s continent to look at prices to nearby airports. If the difference is more than $150 USD, I look to see how much it is to get from the second airport to my primary destination (either by budget flight or train, if it’s not too far). You can use Rome2Rio to help search for the best ways to get between a nearby airport and your primary destination.

 You can also do this for leaving too. It might be cheaper to fly out from a nearby airport. I often search other airports to see if it’s cheaper to fly/drive/train there and then fly to my final destination. For long international flights, it can be worth the added time!

 If you do book separate segments, be sure to have at least three hours between connections. This will give you space in case there is a delay as your second flight won’t wait for you (you booked with a separate airline, so they won’t care if you’re late or not).

 Leaving a three-hour buffer will also cover you for an insurance claim since most insurance companies require you to have at least a 3-hour delay before you can make a claim.

 This method is more work since you have to figure out lots of different routes and check different airlines. But it can lower the price of your flight, which is worth the extra effort if you end up saving a few hundred bucks.

 Note: If you ever have a delayed flight to or from Europe, you might be owed additional compensation (upwards of 600 EUR). Here’s how to find out if you’re entitled to compensation!

 Before you start looking for specific lights, make sure you’ve signed up for some newsletters. Joining the mailing list for airlines and last-minute deal websites will give you access to the absolute best deals out there. Sure, 99% of them might not fit your itinerary but keeping your eye on the deals will ensure you don’t miss an amazing opportunity.

 More often than not, cheap flights are only available for a limited window (usually 24 hours). If you aren’t always scouring the web for sales, you’ll likely miss out on the best deals.

 I would have missed out on a round-trip ticket to Japan for $700 USD (normally $1,500) as well as a $500 flight to South Africa if I wasn’t signed up to flight deal websites.

 Additionally, airline newsletters often offer frequent flier bonuses. If you’re a travel hacker, those points and miles can add up to free flights and awesome upgrades.