Hey everyone – I was stumped a bit on this question when I got this email. Maybe some of you amazing readers can offer some suggestions!
This question comes from Lynn:
Can you tell me how to find the cheapest flights? Are there any hints to do this, ie when to book, etc? Thanks again. Lynn
If you have a question for Happy Money Saver readers please let me know by emailing me at karrie (at) happymoneysaver.com.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve always heard to buy first thing in the morning of a new week. So Monday morning and possibly 12am too,haven’t stayed up to check that out. Never in the evening or weekends, prices always go up.
I have read articles and it’s true you purchase tickets during the week either Tuesday-Thursday and you travel on these dates too and its cheapier. I like using orbitz as they allow you to select three days + from departure and 3 days after your selected coming back date. This shows the calendar of how much each date cost and you will see for yourself what is cheapier.
If you visit hotwire and search your dates you can register and put if you drops price it will email you. You choose your price..
Costco had an informative article a few months back. Around May/June. And I would bet Consumer Reports did some kid of article at some point.
I use cheaptickets.com – they always seem to have the best prices.
Having just did the whole shop around thing for my trip next month, here’s what I learned:
Book far out if possible. 4-6 weeks+ make rates lower. As you get closer and closer to your departure date, the rates go up. Rarely there’s a ‘weekend sale’ or ‘last minute sale’ but you can’t bank on that.
I use many commonly known sites to research. I find that sometimes Orbitz is cheaper than Expedia and vice versa. When I narrow down what airline is the cheapest, I also reference the airline website, because sometime the booking sites like Orbitz have fees that the airline doesn’t have.
Yapta.com is an amazing site, I recommend everyone use it! It’s based on the premise that most airlines will refund you money if the fare price drops a certain amount after you book the trip (most require at least a $50 drop before they refund.) You can use it after you buy to track that potential drop, OR, you can use it beforehand to track the average price of flights. When I was narrowing down where I was going to vacation this fall, I set up alerts for Seattle to Jamaica, Hawaii, Cayman Islands etc etc to see who was going to be the cheapest (PS, none of those are ever cheap.. Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and Mexico are much cheaper.. !) It emails when prices drop and a weekly summary of changes. It’s free to use.
Don’t forget Costco Travel! They tend to be a little spendier when you look at the price tag, but look at what they include, They often have a nicer/larger rental car, daily resort fees or parking fees waived, free dinners or evening cruises, or other bonuses icluded, like free room upgrades. I don’t think they do just flights, however.
Booking during the week I’ve read in several articles is the cheapest time to book, also traveling Tue-Thur is cheaper than Fri-Monday. And obviously, prices go up from about Thanksgiving through the New Year for just about any location.
Good luck! I just booked my family of three a 4 star all inclusive vacation in Mexico ($133 per day/pp which includes three meals plus room service, alcohol if we want it, activities etc etc) I pay more than that when I go to Seattle, no room service. (!)
Thanks everyone for your suggestions – great advice and I learned a LOT!
I would advise NOT to fly Allegiant. We flew with them last weekend and they were horrible. Delayed both ways and attendants were not nice at all. I know they are less expensive than other airlines but not worth it!