We do not receive any commission or payment from the companies or products that we mention in this post. We do receive a small referral bonus for the first 5 friends that apply for Venture One through our link, just as any of their customers would.
Flying is one of the largest expenses when traveling. Especially if you are traveling as a family and have quite a few people to buy tickets for. (See our post here about flying with children). A random initial search for your flight might leave you disheartened about being able to afford the trip. However, don’t let your dream go down the drain just yet. Here are some of our secrets for how to score great deals on flights.
Our favorite way to score great deals on flights is by using Google Flights. About 3-4 months before your trip, use Google Flights to search for a flight you are interested in. Once you find a flight (or flights) you are interested in, there’s a spot on the page where you can sign up for e-mail alerts when the price drops or increases. At some point, the price usually drops, sometimes by a couple hundred dollars per ticket and that’s when you want to snatch them!
For example, on our last trip to Hawaii, when I initially searched for flights, they were running in the price range of $700-800 per ticket. I signed up for the email alerts for that flight and watched them go up and down here and there, until one day when I got an email saying the flights were $540 per ticket. I jumped on the price as it was about $200 lower than it had been running. By using that little trick alone, I saved our family of three $600!!
Another great way to save on flights is to use a travel booking website such as Expedia. I find if you are just booking a flight, you can usually get a better deal through Google Flights which then takes you to book directly through the airline’s website. However, if you need to book a flight, hotel, and/ or rental car, you may be able to find some good package deals by using sites such as Expedia.
Groupon is another site that you shouldn’t count out! They have some really good vacation packages. Some include flights and hotels and others are deals just on hotels. The hotel prices are usually very affordable. They even offer trips to Europe where you can go to multiple countries over 7-10 days. You can sign up for emails from Groupon and they will occasionally send out their latest travel deals. One thing to consider is that their package deals that include flights usually only fly out of certain major U.S. cities. So, if you live in the rural mid-west like us, it’s not usually that great of a deal as it would cost extra to drive or fly to those major airports. Whether you are looking for a hotel or vacation package, or even looking for a nearby staycation, Groupon has a lot of options.
Did you ever consider that buying your flights and booking your travel on a certain day of the week can save you money? Flights tend to rise in price on weekends and towards the end of the week. This is because it’s the most popular time for people to book trips. However, try searching for flight prices between Monday-Wednesday. Tuesday and Wednesday nights specifically seem to have some of the lowest prices of the week. This isn’t always true depending on the flight and time of year, but it’s worth checking out.
Also regarding timing, flights usually start dropping in price 3-4 months before your trip, so this is around the time that you should start searching for flights. We have found the best deals on flights 2-3 months before our trips. I used to think that waiting until the last minute would give you a great deal, but this is not true! If you are booking with less than 3 weeks before your trip, expect to pay quite a bit more money. Don’t wait until the last minute hoping for a deal.
If you’ve ever searched for flight prices, you have probably already realized that there can be a large difference in prices between airlines. Our favorite airline to get great deals on flights with is Southwest Airlines. Their prices are frequently less than other airlines and they don’t cut corners or have hidden fees like some other low priced airlines. (We also really like their pilots and flight attendants)! Plus, Southwest doesn’t charge a fee to change your flight if your plans change. Other airlines charge about $200 per ticket for this!
Many airlines charge you to choose where you want to sit. Sometimes up to an extra $20 or more per ticket. Is it really worth paying an extra $80 or more for your family to choose which section of the plane you want to sit in? They typically (but not always) put your group in seats next to each other, but you just don’t get to choose if it’s window, aisle, or what section of the plane it’s in. Personally, I’ll keep my money and just deal with the seat I’m given.
Southwest Airlines is unique in that no one has assigned seats. When you check-in, you are given a boarding group and a number which is how you line up. Once on the plane, you just pick whatever seats are available. We’ve had good luck with this. Yeah, you might get stuck in a middle seat between two people if you are one of the last ones to board, but hey, you all get to the same destination. Many times people are kind and willing to change seats so you can sit next to your family.
Bonus of traveling with kids: you get to board either with the first or second group with most airlines!
Next Vacay is another great way to find deals on flights. You sign up for their emails for I think about $25 per year. Then every week, and sometimes multiple times per week, you get emails on awesome flight deals from the airport of your choice. I am signed up for this, and frequently see deals such as round-trip tickets from Minneapolis to Paris for $420. (That’s a steal if you don’t know!) Their service searches for great deals on Google Flights, and alerts customers when they find a good deal. I’ve even seen some destinations as low as $150-175.
Although we’ve had the best luck with the sites above, there are still many other sites that may have good deals. Make sure you compare prices on different sites to see where you can save the most money.
As long as you are financially responsible enough to have a credit card, these can be a great way to rack up points for travel. If you fly frequently with a certain airline, it may be worth getting their credit card. Many airline credit cards have an annual fee and high interest rates, but I’ve heard of people getting great benefits from them if they fly frequently. However, we chose a non-airline credit card with travel points without an annual fee.
Venture One from Capital One has no annual fee and gives you points that you can use towards travel. Our points have bought us multiple hotel night stays as well as paid for one of our airline tickets. If you book your hotel on Hotels.com with Venture one, you get 10x the points. Plus, with Hotels.com, for every 10 nights you book through them, you get one free! So, we currently have some free hotel night stays between our points and Hotels.com account.
With Venture One, if you spend $1,000 in the first 3 months you have the card, they give you 20,000 bonus miles (that’s $200)! That may sound like a lot of money to spend, but if you put all of your groceries, bills, or other big purchases on it the first 3 months, it’s pretty easy to get up to $1,000. Those are every day expenses you have anyway, so why not make some money from it? That’s how we got the bonus. Then, we just paid those expenses off right away. Since they were planned, monthly expenses, it didn’t cost us anything extra. If you are interested in applying for the Venture One credit card, check it out HERE.
You can also use the points from Venture One for other things like gift cards to Amazon, stores, and restaurants. However, don’t go into debt trying to save a little money. If you can’t pay off the amount each month (or before your zero-interest period expires) you will get charged interest, which will be more money than you saved.
Of course, if you are a frequent flyer, you can build up points to receive money towards airline tickets. I have heard of people flying from little to nothing using their frequent flyer miles. To get the most benefit from this, you would have to mainly stick to one airline and sign up for their frequent flyer program. This money saving tip doesn’t necessarily pertain to people that don’t fly much, but I wanted to include it for those that do. Even if you don’t fly much, if you do take a flight, sign up for the airline’s frequent flyer miles. You never know when you are going to fly again, and many don’t expire.
What tips do you have on saving money on flights? What’s your favorite airline? How about your favorite site to book flights on? Let us know below in the comments!
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