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Airline ticket prices vary considerably day to day, from airline to airline. Ticket prices sometimes vary so much that some people claim no two seats on the flight cost the same amount unless they are purchased together. Rather than leaving the price of your tickets up to chance and poor planning, use these strategic tips to get the upper hand on your flight purchase. With a few helpful tidbits, you could save hundreds or thousands on your travel around the world. Here are some tips to get the lowest prices on air tickets:
Keep your searches top secret
You’re not crazy for thinking that a flight price has changed after searching it a few times in your web browser. Based on the cookies in your browser, flight prices do increase when a particular route is repeatedly searched, as the site wants to scare you into booking the flight quickly before prices get even higher. Always search for flights in incognito or private browsing mode to see the lowest prices.
Chase the fare, not the destination
There are many tools online useful for searching multiple airline fares at a time. You’ll instantly see a map with all the destinations listed under a set budget.
Leave on a Wednesday
It’s the cheapest day to do it, especially for domestic travel. The day with the most seats is likely to have better supply, and thus more empty seats that require discounting to fill the plane—meaning they’ll have to release more seats at their cheapest price point.
Check social media
Airlines have been experimenting with blasting fares via social media, especially Jet Blue, reports the AP. But you have to be fast: Some deals can be gone within hours. If you find something, jump on it. Some airlines announce special sales to Facebook fans as well.
Do search for tickets one at a time
Even if you’re flying with a group. Airlines often sell multiple fare classes at different prices, with a couple seats in each class. If there’s only one seat left in the lowest fare class and you search for four seats, most automated systems will show you the highest fare class for all four tickets. Try searching one at a time, just in case there are limited seats on sale. This way, you’ll rest assured that at least some, if not all, of your tickets were purchased for the lowest possible price. If you lock in the cheap fare and have the option to select seats, pick one next to an empty seat; then, immediately book the second ticket and select the seat next to the first one. It takes a little time and effort, but can really pay off.
Search flights from nearby airports
This is a very simple and effective trick to find cheap flights. Sometimes flights from local airport to your destination can be quite expensive while, on the contrary, flights from nearby airports can be really cheap. For example, international flights from Seattle are quite cheap when compared to international flights from Vancouver and the distance between the two cities is only 234 km (about a two and half hour drive). So driving or taking a bus to the nearby airport is sometimes a good way to get to your destination cheaply.
Use a travel agent
Travel agents have special undercut rates that are inaccessible to the public, although this doesn’t always ensure they can provide the best price. It is wise to do your own research first, find the cheapest flight, and present that information to them to see if they can match or beat it. This would be especially beneficial for long-haul flights, where even slight savings could equate to a few hundred dollars.
Fly two different airlines
Sometimes it’s worth it to mix and match. Most airlines now sell one-way flights at reasonable prices, meaning one might be cheaper for the outbound flight while the other works better for the return. You could even fly to one airport and depart from another.
Do search for flights midweek
Airlines tend to launch their sales on Tuesdays and end them on Thursdays, so don’t limit your searches to the weekends. Advertised fare sales generally target the next two or three months of travel and have 14- to 21-day advance purchase requirements.
Get travel alerts
Spamming your email or message inbox on your phone doesn’t seem like the most organized way to get a deal, but travel alerts often offer amazing prices you wouldn’t otherwise be aware of. If your favorite airlines or airfare search engine offers travel alerts sent to your phone or email, sign yourself up! You won’t regret the few seconds it takes to delete those extra unwanted messages when you get the ones worth several hundred dollars worth of savings.
Check if it’s cheaper to pay in other currencies
Before booking a flight, consider if the rate is cheaper if paid in another currency. Often budget airlines will make you pay in the currency of the country you’re departing from, but this isn’t always the case.
An important note when doing this – make sure you’re using a credit card that is free of foreign-transaction fees, otherwise your attempts to save money doing this will be lost
