A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about how I fly cheap on Spirit Airlines. There are other airlines that have similar cheaper flights and you can save a lot of money using them. Just keep in mind that there are trade-offs for the cheap fares such as no free food or beverages. I have listed links to some of these airlines below.
Check Fares Often
Airlines change fares constantly, often multiple times a week. So when it comes to buying an airline ticket, timing is everything. To get the best deals you will need to check airfare sites often. I have about three sites that I check at least once a day. The price of a fare can change in a few seconds (many times the price will change while you are looking at the fare). I was looking at an airfare to Morocco which was listed at $167 and the price jumped to $850 within five minutes.
Be Flexible
You can save hundreds of dollars by being flexible on your dates and destinations. Here is a random example I pulled up on Skyscanner
If you don't care when or where you go as long as the fare is low, try a flexible date search. There are two great sites for this type of search: Skyscanner
and Kayak Explore. Both allow you to search by date and or destination.You can see how Skyscanner works from the photos above, so I posted a screenshot of Kayak Explore below.
For this search I chose New York as my starting point. As you can see, there are blue flags all over the world. There are also blue dots which represent more prices which you can see as you zoom in on the map.
If you click
on a flag, it will bring up a box with the cheapest dates highlighted. Don't
worry, you can search for other dates but as you do your daily searches
(remember me mentioning that earlier?) you will see a pattern of where
you can fly for the cheapest rate.
Clicking on the orange "find flights" box will
carry you to Kayak where you will see and can book the actual flight.
Keep in mind that airlines can change their prices quickly and it may
take other sites a while to catch up with the price change. That is why
you will always see a + sign next to the price.
Where to Find the Best Deals
There are
several sites I use when searching for low airfare. My favorites are
Kayak Explore, Skyscanner
, and Secret Flying.
I will post more details about these sites below. You can't just rely on
one source for the best deals. There may be a great deal on one
site that doesn't show up on another.
When to Find the Best Deals
This may sound
obvious but summer is peak season for travel and therefore, everything cost
more. In some tropical locations, winter is considered peak season.
Either way, you will pay more if you travel during peak time. You will
also pay more during holidays.
For some people, being flexible
is not an option. Summer may be the only time you have to take a
vacation. If this is the case, you will have a much harder time finding a
good deal. It's not impossible, it will just be more challenging.
Take Two Flights to Get to Your Destination
This may sound counter intuitive,
but sometimes it's cheaper to fly to one location and then fly to your final
destination. For example, I am going to Rome in October. Here are
my two options to get there and the costs.
Option # 1 Purchase a ticket from Dallas to Rome -
$1121.73
(This is the price
if I booked today while writing this post)
Total cost $1121.73
Option #2 Purchase a ticket from Dallas to Barcelona,
Spain $450.00
Purchase a ticket from Barcelona to
Rome $57.60
Total cost $507.60
That is a savings of $614.13!
I found out about the deal on SecretFlying, purchased the Dallas tickets through Expedia and
the Barcelona tickets directly through Ryanair.
Ryanair ?
Expedia ?
In case you're thinking "You didn't mention these airlines when you
told me the sites to search each day" I would say your are correct.
The sites I recommend searching day are simply search engines. You
will book through the airlines themselves or through a booking site like
Expedia.
Yes, I'm gong to have to take an
extra flight to get there, and yes it's going to take a couple of hours longer
but I'll do it if it means that I can save over $600 on a flight. It
is fairly cheap to fly around Europe once you get there so find the
cheapest flight overseas and then fly to your final destination
from there.
The last time I went to Europe, I
flew to Dublin to get to Rome. It was over $300 cheaper and gave me a
chance to explore Ireland. It's a win-win deal.
A word of caution: Only book through the
airlines site or through a trusted website like Expedia, Orbitz, Kayak,
Priceline, Tripadvisor, etc. Stay away from unknown sources. I am
always finding super cheap flights on unknown (to me) airlines booking
sites. I always do a google search on the company (reviews on ?????
airline) to see what people have to say about them. Never, Ever book on
an airline site that you don't trust !
Here are the three websites that I use to find cheap airfare.
You will need to check all of them on a regular basis to get the best
deals.
UPDATE: I have added Travel Pirate. It covers more than airfare but still a great source.
UPDATE: I have added Travel Pirate. It covers more than airfare but still a great source.
Here are some low cost airlines that you may want to check out.
You can do a destinations search to see where they fly. Some of
these companies will not show up on the three sites I mentioned above so they
are worth checking out.
Keep in mind that
these budget airlines are cheaper for a reason. Some will charge luggage
fees and they usually don't serve any free snacks, meals, or drinks. Read
the fine print before you book.
SPIRIT AIRLINES - You can read about my experience with Spirit Airlines HERE.
If you would like to find out how to find Cheap lodging, even in Europe, check out my post " Unbelievably Cheap Lodging in Europe...Yes, It's Possible !" We stayed in an upscale 3 bedroom, 3 bath apartment in Malta for €48 a night. Divided by four people, our cost was only €12 each.
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