How to Save Money on Flights - 7 Tips to Find the Cheapest Tickets - My Income Journey (2024)

1. Research the Baggage Fees

A few years back I booked a flight with Frontier because it was cheaper than Southwest by about $10 per ticket. I was planning on carrying all of our luggage and just assumed that was free. Woah, was I wrong! Frontier’s carry-on luggage is $30 per item! What the?! My tickets only cost around $60 and now I’m paying 50% extra for a carry-on? That was a dumb mistake I will not make again! When you’re calculating flight prices, be sure to include baggage fees to accurately compare airlines.

2. Keep Your Flight Searches Secret

Airline websites are tracking the searches you make. If a flight is searched over and over again, then the flight must be in demand and the price goes up. Use your web brower’s private searching feature to keep cookies and tracking a secret to the airlines. Use crtl+shift+p to go incognito in Firefox or crtl+shift+n in Chrome. Also, clear your search history and cookies if you’ve already searched for the flight.

3. Pretend You’re Flying Solo

Search ticket prices as if you only need one ticket. If you need to buy six plane tickets and the airline is selling five for a cheaper price but one for a more expensive price, they will quote you the more expensive price for all six tickets. Do all your searching as if you’re only needing one ticket. Once you are quoted the one ticket price, then do the search for all six tickets and see if you are still guaranteed that lower price. If there is a price difference, see how many you can get for the less expensive price and buy those first, then buy the rest.

4. Fly on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays

Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays are the least busy days to fly. If you can be flexible on your dates, these three days typically have the cheapest fares.

5. Begin With Search Sites

Always begin your searches with the websites that do multi-airline searches for you. Many of these sites offer deals you can’t find anywhere else. After you’ve used them to find the best price, check directly with the airline’s website to see if they can offer that same flight for cheaper. I have personally had both experiences where it was cheaper through the travel site or it was cheaper directly through the airline so I recommend checking both. Here are websites I suggest using:

• CheapOAir.com – Book flights, hotels, cruises, and more! They’ve been around since 2005, won numerous awards, and have an A+ BBB rating.
• Sky Scanner – What I like about Sky Scanner is you can search by “month” and see all the prices for that month! It really helps out with my tip #4. You can also include nearby airports in your search and get alerts for price changes.
• Fare Buzz – Started in 1994 in New York, they have clients that have been with them for a long time. One perk if you use them is you can sign up free for Buzz Rewards and get points for your purchases. These points translate into Visa^® Prepaid Cards.
• EasyClickTravel.com – They regularly have coupon codes and deals available for flights, hotels, cruises, and vacation packages.
• Last Minute Travel – I used them to get a hotel for our Disney vacation since they were the cheapest I could find. My trip wasn’t “last minute”, but they do have awesome last minute deals as well as further planned out travel deals. You can buy theme park tickets through them as well.
• Smart Fares – Free cancellation within 12 hours of purchase, 24/7 customer support, and they usually have a coupon code to make your flight even cheaper!
• Orbitz – Orbitz has a free rewards program and an Orbitz Rewards Visa Card and you can earn rewards with both for the same purchase!
• Expedia – Similar to Orbitz, join their program and use their credit card to accrue points twice as fast.

6. Book 1 – 3 Months in Advance

Be sure to buy your tickets at least 30 days in advance or they will go up significantly in price. However, if you are searching too far in the future, tickets prices will be high there as well. According to one study, 54 days ahead is the ideal time to buy your airline tickets.

7. Fly During Off Hours

How much is your sleep worth? This might not be appealing to most people, but the cheapest time to fly is between 5:00 – 7:00am or after 8:00pm. If you can do it, sleep on the plane or take a nap at your hotel and you could save a bundle.

Even though flying can be expensive, using this tips can cut your costs significantly. Don’t let the plane ticket be the reason you can’t go on that awesome family vacation, visit an old friend, or explore a new city. If you need some ways to earn extra cash to pay for your trips, here are some ideas of how you can make money from home.