We’ve all been there. Searching and searching, while crossing our fingers that flight prices will go down for upcoming travel. Flights are generally the most expensive part of traveling and it can be quite frustrating when trying to stay on budget. After years of travel, I’ve found a few tips and tricks to be the most reliable and will answer the question of how to find inexpensive flights. Below I’ve pulled together my top tips for finding cheap flights! how to find inexpensive flights.
Use Specific Search Engines and Apps
I only ever use Skyscanner and Google Flights to compare flights and prices. Google Flights let’s you choose specific flights that you can then “watch” to wait for the best price available. Airfare watchdog is a great resource that will alert you for cheap flights on a specific route you might be interested in. Alternatively, I also enjoy using the app Hopper. Hopper let’s you set your destination and dates, and will alert you when the cheapest flights are available.
Alternatively, I also recommend signing up for Scott’s Cheap Flights newsletter!
Using Google Flights
Out of all the search engines, I love using Google Flights and have found it to be the best tool out there. It’s so multifunctional, allowing you to search multiple airports for both origin and destination at a time, and even browse the cheapest cities over a specific period of time if you just “want to go somewhere!”. See below for my best tips to using Google Flights.
Search Multiple Destinations – Did you know that Google Flights allows you to search up to seven different departures and seven different arrival destinations at a time? Just type in the various airport codes you’d like to search for either your beginning or end point and make sure to separate them with a comma like this: SEA, PDX, EUG
Check Out Multiple Dates – After you enter your departure and arrival cities, click on the calendar icon and you will see prices for each day of the month. This way, if you’re flexible with your travel dates you can choose the best priced flight days.
Use Google Insights– Use the Date Grid, Price Graph and nearby Airport insights to calculate the best dates and airports for your upcoming travel to help narrow down the price!
Use a Fake Location
First things first. When you’re beginning to research the best prices for flights, keep in mind that some airlines sell cheaper tickets depending on the location of the sale. Basically, the price is determined on where you’re purchasing them. I’ve found this to be especially true when trying to buy a domestic ticket overseas. For instance, recently I was looking for flights from Amsterdam to Genoa and noticed that when I searched to purchase from the USA, it was almost double the cost then if I purchased from my location being set to somewhere in Europe.
How do you do this? Well, change your country location on the airline’s website. Occasionally this will force you to run through the options in a foreign language, but if you have your Google translator mode turned on, you will not have any issue navigating. Use this article to help you find less expensive flights using this method.
Know When To Buy
A lot of websites will claim that certain days of the week are cheaper to purchase plain tickets..I have not necessarily found that to be very true, or consistent. However, I do often times use Google Flights or Kayak to pinpoint the least expensive flight prices using the month view options. This helps me easily identify the cheaper days to travel for a particular route. Obviously, I also think it goes without saying that prices will increase as fewer seats become available on flights. So try not to wait and plan ahead!
Use Credit Card Rewards
Occasionally, it seems impossible to find a good flight price. In certain circumstances I will use my Credit Card rewards to book flights. Use this blog post on my favorite Travel Credit Cards to explore cards with not only the best rewards, but the best travel related coverage.
Once you have your flights, now it’s time to choose the best hotel!
Really want to make travel a breeze? Make sure you have all of my favorite travel apps downloaded and ready to use!
Safe travels!
XO,
M
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