I’m craving some serious sun…I need to get out of here ASAP. Assuming I’m not the only one searching for flights out on a daily basis, below are 5 tips for saving money on flights. Use these tips and maybe you’ll have a chance at lounging on a boat, soaking in the rays and sipping on a margarita somewhere like this:
1. Leave on a Wednesday: flights are always cheaper on days when less people want to fly. Wednesdays are typically the cheapest days, along with Tuesdays and Saturdays. Fridays and Sundays are usually the most expensive. A great tool to check for the cheapest days to fly is Skyscanner. Select your departure location and destination, and instead of entering the date to fly select the entire month. This allows you to see ticket prices by day.
2. Book on Tuesdays at 3PM EST: rumor has it that this is the the best time to book flights as it’s when airlines release their deals
3. Book departing & return flights separately: booking your departing and return flights separately can save you some serious cash. Check different airlines and different airports. More often than not, it’s cheaper when you split your trip up this way.
4. Set your browser settings to incognito/private when searching for flights: yes, it’s creepy, but websites track your browser cookies and can increase prices when they see the same trip is constantly searched. Setting your browser to private will prevent this from happening.
5. Don’t wait to book: it’s best to book 6 weeks in advance for domestic flights, 2-5 months in advance for international flights. An awesome resource to see whether or not flight prices are likely to increase is the price forecast on Kayak. When you search, it will appear in the top right corner of the results page:
**BONUS tip – follow airlines on Twitter for exclusive deals (most are short lived so you have to check regularly). Some airlines to follow:
@AlaskaAir |@AmericanAir |@United |@DeltaAssist |@JetBlue |@SouthwestAir |@Lufthansa |@VirginAmerica |@FlySwiss|@VirginAtlantic |@EasyJet |@JetBlueCheeps |@British_Airways
Hopefully these tips will get you somewhere warm very soon. Happy Travels 🙂
