Tips to Save on Airfare

Airfares have been pretty steep lately. So today I am going to share some tips on how to maximize your travel dollars.

Some Background

We are not frequent fliers as a family. And so none of the mileage programs or airline offers makes sense to us. Often times what we found out is that we do not fly enough to make use of any miles that we accrue on any one airline. We have also tried the credit card route in the past to try an accrue miles using those cards but again we just didn’t seem to get accumulate enough miles to redeem enough for even one ticket.

This means that we have to take each trip on its own and try to find the best deal at that time. What does translates to is scouring the Internet for the best deals that you can find on airfares. And so here are the top tricks that I want to share today.

Orbitz.com

I am sure everyone has their own favorite websites for trying to find the best airfares across multiple airlines to book a round-trip travel. But this is one of my top favorites of them all. here are the top reasons why I like it:

• Neat and tidy interface without too many ads to distract you
• Simple enough to enter my source, destination, travel dates and number of travelers
• The results are displayed with lowest fares on top by default
• Other filter options to narrow your search
• But the best part about it all is its matrix display to see if you would find a better airfare if you had flexibility to adjust your travel dates.

Here is an example of the matrix display. For one of my recent searches where I entered departure date Nov 16th and return date Nov 23rd, the matrix tells me that the cheapest fare (in green) is in fact from Nov 15th to 20th. So, if I had the flexibility around my dates, I can opt for those dates rather than what I initially planned for. It also notes the highest fare in red and highlights my initial search. Orbitz is the only search tool that has this feature and I love it. If you’ve never tried it, then you certainly should.

Google.com/Flights

The search for flights on Google is just as nice as Orbitz but slightly different. It has all the same advantages of Orbitz but without the matrix display. However, it allows me to see which dates have the best airfare even before I select it. Below is the example of a search for November showing which date has the lowest fare for departure. This is pretty neat and I love it too.

However I found the Google airport search entry a bit annoying. I could not just enter the airport code to find the airport that I wanted and it really made me type out the full city. But it made up for it by giving me better filter options allowing me to leave out airlines I absolutely do not want to fly on.

Other Tips and Tricks

Here are some other things to keep in mind as you look around for the best deal in flight fares.

Checking the Airline Website

After having done my searches using Google flights and Orbitz and comparing them back-and-forth, then the next thing left to do is to go directly to the airlines website to see if you can score that same airfare rate or maybe even lower. Most airline websites are notorious for having poor search features and so it is really helpful to first do your homework with one or both of the above sites before checking the airlines website directly.

When You Book Your Travel

Just as your travel dates impact the price of your airfare, when you do your search for airfares also really matters. It is certainly true that some days the airfares are cheaper than other days. So if you keep checking the prices every few days you will know what to expect and you will start observing the patterns of fluctuations. Generally I have found that Tuesdays or Wednesdays are a couple of the best times to find the cheapest air tickets. In fact I have been checking almost daily for the last 7-10 days on the airfare for traveling over the holidays. And suddenly, today, on a Tuesday I found the cheapest fare (a difference close to $700 total for 4 travelers). But because I had been checking often, I knew this was a good deal that I had to just take.

When You Fly

Another well-known fact is that generally airfares are lower if you are able to fly on a Tuesday or Thursday. Don’t ask me why but I’ve heard that and I’ve also experienced it in a lot of times when I’ve had to book my own airfare tickets.

Watch Out for Additional Fees

One thing you do want to watch out for is the additional fees that some airlines charge for bags and other items. So if the fare seems too suspiciously low, be sure to go to the airlines website directly to find out about all their fees and make sure you factor that into the total cost of the airfare. And don’t forget to consider those charges for all the flights.

Be Flexible with Airport

We are actually quite spoiled in the southern Californian metropolitan area but having several good airport options to choose from. Of course a couple are more convenient that others and I will always prefer to fly in and out of those airports. But I always also consider looking for flights from neighboring airports and see if the added inconvenience (and in some cases the added cost for car rental/parking etc) is worth saving those dollars.

Safe Travels

At the end of the day, it is not so much about how much money you spend or save but what the occasion for travel is. Hopefully all travel will be for fun or leisure or an opportunity to see loved ones far away. And who can put a price tag on those precious moments? While it may be really nice to be able to save a few dollars in your travel costs I am sure every penny of it is worth it for the amount of time you will get to enjoy with whatever lies ahead in your final destination.

So, wherever you may be looking to go next, hope you find the best deals and more importantly, get much more out of the trip than what you invest into it in terms of time, money and other resources.

Bon Voyage!