How to Save Money on Airfare

Traveling smart doesn’t have to be a headache. Travel websites are abundant and discount airfare, while sometimes can be a challenge, are available and affordable. This guide will teach you ways to take advantage of online travel deals and how to save money on airfare.

No matter what you may have heard, tickets are not sold at a fixed price. Almost all airlines have a complex system in place to determine ticket prices. They have a set number of seats that are sold for a set price and then move onto the next set of seats for another discounted price, and so on until all the seats are sold. At any given time when you try to buy tickets you can come up with a number of different prices. The secret, however, to saving money on airfare is know when, where, and how to buy the tickets.

When you are searching for ways to save money on airfare, you want to be sure to follow the tips mentioned below. Although these are just a few of the many ways to you can save money on airfare, you can be sure that the savings will be tremendous. It's important to note before you start your travel plans how much you are able to spend on your airfare. By setting aside a budget first you can easily and effortlessly narrow your search down.

It’s becoming increasingly popular for airlines to have their own “private” sales events. They will often reserve their best fares for their own sites. Excluding Southwest Airlines (which has now become the second largest carrier by passengers flown) most airlines that do this are smaller domestic airlines or large international carries.

A few examples include: Air New Zealand, Aloha, Malaysia, Frontier, Qantas, Singapore, SAS, and Spirit Airlines.

Alaska Air usually has a weekly “20% Off” rate if you buy at the right time. Some carriers like USA3000 and Allegiant Air will not share their pricing data with other websites and often include special promotions only on their site. By searching airline sites individually, you can increase your ways to save money on airfare.

When it comes to fares, not all booking websites have the same fares. You may even find that some sites differentiate between prices on international ticket several hundred dollars. Last year, Travelocity had a special fare on Virgin Airlines for only $400-$700 roundtrip (including taxes) to London! Those prices were solely exclusive to Travelocity and weren’t even available on Virgin’s website. Remember, to do your research and check all major ticket vendors like Hotwire, Kayak, and Cheapair.

One of the best ways to save money on airfare is searching with flexible dates. You can save hundreds of dollars just by changing the itinerary travel dates by a day or two. Almost all major travel websites will offer you a broad search that maximizes this cost saving strategy. If you are searching for international flights, Orbitz has become the leader in this are. Unfortunately it can be hit or miss with their flexible fare finder for international flights but you can search up to 30 days in advance. 

Combine those “special weekend deals” to increase your savings on airfare. If you subscribe to newsletters from discount airfare websites, chances are you will get weekly weekend getaway deals. And those great deals you see can be combined making for even more savings in your pocket.

If you have been waiting for a Miami to New York flight, but haven’t seen it chances are you can still get there and save money on your airfare at the same time. If you see flights from Miami to Washington, D.C. for $79 and another flight from Washington, D.C., to New York for $109 you can combine them to increase your savings. Just make sure to leave enough time between connecting flights.

Look for hidden specials or services from major airlines like Southwest’s daily “Ding”, software that provides an audible “ding” sound on your computer to alert you to discounts on Southwest's low fares. Frontier, Spirit, and Allegiant Air have all begun sending out daily fare busters via newsletters you can sign up for at their website. Hotwire, Kayak, and CheapAir all offer newsletters that can alert you to new deals either daily or weekly. You can also find Jetblue’s secret Tuesday sale from 10am to 6pm EST by following their Twitter page (http://twitter.com/jetbluecheeps).

When you combine air & hotel packages, it’s almost always cheaper then to buy just the airfare package alone. In fact, buying together is usually cheaper then buying the airfare without the hotel! , Site59.com, provides a comprehensive list of discounts and deals available directly to you and have become an online leader in comparison to the rest of the travel websites in this respect. If you are on Travelocity, you may notice the "TotalTrip" options when searching for airfare. That's because they own Site59.com. When you see these available (and most likely you will) check these options because it could save you money especially if you are traveling with another person or as a group. Using this is a great way to find last minute deals!

Airlines love to play cat and mouse with airfares and it seems that it’s primarily to annoy their competitors. You can check a Boston to Los Angeles flight before going to bed one night and it might be $240 round-trip. When you wake up the next morning, don’t surprised if that fare dropped $80 to $100. This is a new tactic deployed from major airlines who offer airfare good for up to 330 days from purchase but may be a sale only lasting a few hours. Early mornings and weekends are the best times to look for airfare. 

You can expect that domestic airfare will change in price up to 3 times per day during the week and at least once per day on weekends. Airfare changes similar to the stock market, you need to check them every day and sometimes to get the best pricing, maybe two or even three times throughout the day. If you are really trying to save money on airfare, you will want to make sure you check frequently throughout the day to really get the most bang for your buck.

This falls right in line with those special weekend deals. Even if there isn't a special or deal with your flight literary, that's ok because it’s almost always cheaper to combine two fares into one. The two-fare strategy can save you hundreds of dollars. Check for flight deals on destinations that are half-way to your final destination. For instance, if you are flying from Seattle to Miami, you may look for a direct flight from Seattle to Houston and from Houston to Miami. Many online fare discounters will link to routes that can have cheap flights and combine the fares for optimal savings.

Always make sure to purchase on an airline that will refund the difference if the fare goes down. Check to make sure that your ticket isn’t non-refundable. Some airlines will charge up to $100 as a “service” or “administrative fee” to change your travel itinerary. United and US Airways will both give you the entire fare difference without taking a fee. Jetblue & Southwest will offer you a voucher good for the purchase of a future ticket in the amount of the difference. American and Delta airlines, however, will take the $100-$300 fee! Even on airlines where you have a non-refundable ticket, sometimes being polite and contacting them directly can result in that difference being reduced.

By now, it’s not secret that airlines charge extra, especially with rising fuel costs. These are often passed to the consumer as “peak travel charges”. Fortunately, there are days that are better to travel on than others. And flying on lowcost, budget friendly airlines like Southwest or Jetblue don’t have these surcharges. Flying on Tuesday or Wednesdays and avoiding Sundays will save you money airfare and on your travel plans each and every time. You can find out specific days to fly on by using the chart at FareCompare to find the best days.

Pricing for airfare is now almost entirely “a la carte” wherein they charge you extra from baggage, meals and even blankets in flight and everything in-between. Fare Compare has an airline chart breaks down those fees so you know ahead of time what to expect before buying those tickets. Use this helpful tool to help you save money on your airfare when you travel.

This “trick” has probably saved me a few hundred dollars over the last few years and I want to pass it along because it’s a simple way to ensure you are always getting the best price each and every time you search for airfare.

When you browse a website, you often are given a “cookie”. These are special files that contain information about your visit such preferences or information about a product or service. These can be referenced later by that website at any time to make it easier for the website to deliver a more customize and personal experience.

When you clear your internet browsers “cookies” before you search, you give Airline Search Engines a fresh start. Without first clearing your internet browsers history and cookies and you perform the same search again you will likely be shown the previous airfare results you searched for earlier. I've noticed that by clearing your “cookies” you can sometimes get different pricing than what was previously offered. This can be most helpful in in the late evenings and early mornings.