Cheap Flights
If you’ve ever researched tricks on how to score cheaper flights online and have read things like “make sure to book on certain days of the week” or “make sure to book on a private screen and not through a public one”, they may sound like ridiculous claims, but I’ve tested these theories and they have all been true for me. Here are some helpful tips and websites that will help you book cheaper flights.
Skyscanner
Search on www.SkyScanner.com first. This is my favorite website to book through. It compares flights from airlines all across the world from pretty much every website on the market. There’s even a feature on this website that allows you to search for cheapest destinations to fly to around the world from your departure city. For example, let’s say I’m wanting to fly from Houston but have no idea where I want fly to. I type in Houston in the departure section, then type everywhere in arrival search what month i want to travel, and it will give me cheapest prices to destinations across the world. This feature is perfect for jet setters and flexible travelers.
Turn off your locations settings on any web browser or search engine you are using to book your flight. If you have an iPhone, make sure to use a private browser so it cannot see your location. When websites and airlines can see where you are booking from they will increase the prices on flights to make more money off of you. I’ve tested this theory multiple times over the years of my travels and it has saved me a toooooon of money.
The day of the week you book your flight does matter. It doesn’t impact the prices as much as the last tip i gave you but if your on a budget, every dollar counts. Most expensive days for booking flights are weekends while cheapest days are Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s.
Book your flight 6-8 weeks before your departure date. Booking to far in advance or too close to date will affect the price. Normally around 6-8 weeks before your departure date is when airlines start to get worried about filling up their seats on the planes so they start dropping prices.
Going back to Skyscanner, use their feature that allows you to see cheapest days of the entire month. When booking, fill out your departure and destination like normal in the search engine, then when it gets to the departure date section select whole month. You’ll be able to see the cheapest days of every single month to fly like the shown in the photo on the right!
Chase Sapphire Travels Reward Card
Lastly, use credit card points! If you have good credit, apply for credit cards with amazing travel rewards. My favorite card is the Chase Sapphire card, which gives you a 60,000 point sign on bonus if you spend $4,000 in 3 months, which if you have bills like any other normal adult, it’s absolutely doable. 60,000 is more than enough for a one way international flight or a roundtrip domestic.
