We recently booked a number of flights some very complicated and others easier, but more expensive. During our research Valerie found some great tips we wanted to share with our readers. Hope you enjoy!
- Start looking and tracking airfares early on airfarewatchdog.com, a web site that tracks cheap airfares, to get a sense of the way prices can vary.
- Shop around. Check Orbitz, Expedia, Kayak and Travelocity and don’t forget the airline websites for deals. United.com, spirit.com, continental.com and others, all have bargains not found elsewhere.
- Check airfares everyday, even on weekends. Airfare prices can change up to three times a day and they take place around 10 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. during the week and 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.
- Look at alternative airports nearby that may have better fares.
- Avoid waiting until the last-minute – especially on a big purchase such as a ticket to Hawaii or Europe.
- Look for typos. If the airline makes a typo they have to honor the error and award the lower price. The majority of airfare mistakes or typo fares are put into the system Friday nights. You could save you $10, $20, even more.
For another great resource on getting air travel for cheap or even free, check out our post on how we saved over $600 dollars using some travel hacking from Chris Guillebeau’s book Frequent Flier Master.
Frequent Flyer Master is a full e-book, a 20-minute audio,and a 4-pagePriceline specific guide on the art of hacking airline miles. Click for a full description.
