5 Steps to book the best and cheapest flight
Consider a points strategy
The cheapest way to book a flight? Book it with a currency other than cash!
Credit card points and miles are incredible tools that not many people utilize. Reward credit cards give you a certain number of points per dollar spent on the card. They also offer large sign up bonuses if you time applying for a credit card well with your spending. If you are using a debit card, you are missing out on money! Even if you don’t want travel points, signing up for and responsibly using a cash back card may be advisable.
If you use a travel credit card responsibly, you can turn boring expenses (car insurance premiums, vehicle registration fees, groceries, and even rent) into points, which you can use in turn to book flights. With the right points strategy, I have booked my economy flights round-trip to Mexico, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Montana. I also booked one-way business class flights for my future husband and I for our Thailand honeymoon! Sometimes booking this way will incur a fee associated with taxes or fuel surcharges, but the fee is usually quite small compared to the cost of airfare if paid out of pocket. Overall, this is definitely the cheapest way to book flights!
2. Sign up for Going!
If you are planning to use cash to book a trip, let me introduce you to my obsession: Going! Previously known as Scott’s Cheap Flights, Going sends emails to subscribers to notify them about great flight deals out of their home airport. A free membership scores you deals on domestic flights in the contiguous Untied States, a premium membership (the one I have) costs $49 annually and includes international destinations, elusive mistake fares, a and even points and miles deals. If you love flying business and first class, check out the Elite membership, which offers the email service including business class and first class flights.
With a mindset shift, you could unlock the possibility to travel more often with less money. Most people start planning a vacation by thinking when they want to go, where they want to go, and then book flights. With Going, you could get an alert for a great flight deal, make sure that deal works within your schedule, and book your tickets to a destination you may not have originally considered. Example: I booked a round trip flight to London with a stopover in Portugal for $174 and a round trip flight to Japan for $370 (unfortunately, I had to cancel the Japan trip though!). Before receiving the email, I did not have immediate plans to travel to England, Portugal, or Japan!
3. Do ground research with Google Flights
If you are planning a trip with a set destination OR dates in mind, there is no shortage of internet tools to assist you - but my favorite right now is Google Flights.
For a set destination but not set dates - say you thought, “I want to visit Paris with my kids at some point during their summer vacation” - the first thing I would do is visit Google Flights. Enter your originating airport and Paris for your destination, and instead of entering dates, click the departure date box. When you do that, a preview for flight pricing for that route will populate on the calendar, and you can explore to see if there are any dates that will give you a better flight deal. (While researching this, I found a $333 round trip flight to Paris - I’ve spent more to go to Florida!)
For set dates but not destination - say you’re thinking “I really want to fly somewhere cool after Christmas this year to maximize my PTO” - Google flights can help here as well. You could enter your desired travel dates, and for the destination, select “Anywhere”. Google will generate a large interactive map that you can apply filters to (so you can select “nonstop” if desired, narrow your budget, filter out less desired airlines), and you could find a great flight deal this way. By running this exact scenario, I found an enticing $513 flight to Lima, Peru. Upon clicking this flight, Google Flights informed me that this airfare is on the lower side of typical - a good deal overall, but not the cheapest ever seen. All of this information together can make you a much better informed flight buyer!
4. Utilize Hopper to follow specific dates
If you have a set destination and dates in mind, I’d recommend downloading the free Hopper app. Hopper is a cute, user-friendly app that boasts many features, but the one I use often is the “Flight Watch” feature (if you are looking at the app, it is the icon with the binoculars). By entering your desired destination and dates in Hopper, you can set yourself up to be notified by Hopper when prices for your flight go up or down. Hopper will also let you know if you should book now, or wait. When I wanted to plan a somewhat last-minute trip to my grandparents’ house in Florida in April, I plugged the desired dates into Hopper and by waiting a week until the prices dropped, I saved about $50.
5. Always book directly with the airline
Sometimes it can be tempting to save money by booking via a third party (the above apps and others often offer enticing deals if you book with them!) but I always recommend booking your own flights directly with the airline. In 2024, flight delays and cancellations are all too common. Booking directly with the airline once you have found the perfectly priced flight itinerary will ensure you have the best possible customer service experience should you need assistance.
There you have it! Five steps to finding a great flight deal. If you book your lodging or cruise with Andante Escapes, I am happy to consult with you about the flights and also engage in some of these research activities on your behalf. Regardless, I hope these tips help you vacation more often for less money!
