For me, skiplagged doesn't work anymore. I have seen some tutorials on how to calculate the dates and time that prices are more likely to drop, but cannot identify what actually works.
EDIT: typo
EDIT 2: Can we get a big data engineer in money management to answer whether this could be a matter related to pattern detection theory or just a quest with well-defined by the airfare sector limits
EDIT 3: Looks like many people are interested in this. I created /r/aircrack in case any programmers (I'm not) would like to grasp this opportunity to create a bottom-up tool that will make this easier, fairair and available to everyone.
https://matrix.itasoftware.com/
This is the backend of many travel websites, run by Google. You can’t book anything here, but you can look up flights and then go to the airline’s website.
It lets you see when the cheapest flights are within a leave/return range.
Also, if you’re really slick you can tweak *Sales City* (and internationally *Currency*) and sometimes find lower fares (try buying from poorer areas, especially your destination). If you can find a way to spoof your IP from that location, often the airline’s website will show lower prices. Market segmentation is horrible.
If you just want to go on vacation, and aren’t picky on dates or locale, follow secretflying.com or Scott’s cheap flights
I’ve been using Google Flights.
I booked 2 flights from Miami to Denver, 2 flights from Denver to Los Angeles, and 2 flights from Los Angeles to Miami for $426 total.
One way flights seems to be where it’s at.
I know it’s late in the thread but I will be staying in Denver for a few days. There have been questions regarding whether or not I’m trying to get to LA in one day.
I usually fly Southwest, they have great customer service for a budget airline and have free checked bags and no fees to cancel our change flights.
I’ve also heard deleting your cookies will do the same thing that the person suggesting using public wifi does.
Skyscanner price alerts…
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Usually I use Hopper an app from the App Store for iOS users. It watches trips and finds out when it will drop price and when it’ll be the lowest based on past trends. Once the price drops I don’t book with them since it screens out some popular airlines. I use incognito mode on chrome and proceed to surf travelocity or expendia and even the actual ticket seller prices.
Hope this helps! Happy traveling!
Try the Hopper app! I got RT tickets from Philly to London for under $800 a piece because of their alerts.
Consider the time of day you want to fly- if the start is less convenient, it may be cheaper. Shop on Thursday and probably fly then too. Look I to LCC
I like how you refer to “flights” as “airtickets.”
We’ve had a lot of luck with skyscanner.net. Keep in mind, we are traveling outside the US, are typically searching one way tickets, and are typically able to be flexible with our dates (you can search by entire month rather than a specific date if you prefer). You can do normal searches from a specific city or broader from an entire state or entire country. You can also do broader destinations, all the way from ‘everywhere’, an entire country or state, to a specific city. For example if you search US to Germany, it will first give you the cheapest flights to Germany sorted by destinations in Germany. After selecting your destination (keep in mind it may be cheaper to fly somewhere close and then take a bus/train, that is, if you have time) it will give you cheapest origins sorted by state (again, your state may not be the cheapest but check buses, other airlines, trains, one-way rental cars, etc. a cheaper AP than yours may be close or cheap to get to on a different airline-again, all about time). If, at the beginning, you selected a whole month rather than a specific date it will then show you prices for every day in that month. Obviously it isn’t always ideal to AP hop, take a bus for part of the way, not go the exact day you wanted to (if that’s even an option), etc. but, when you are able to do these things, you can save a lot of money. Either way, I would still search one way flights going both ways; just because one airline is the cheapest for a given date to get to your destination, doesn’t mean it’s the cheapest to get you home. Other people mentioned it but I always clear my cookies, use incognito mode, and a VPN as well (this may be over the top but it certainly doesn’t hurt). Hope this helps a little, last thing when buying cheap flights – don’t forget to check baggage limits/prices!
Skiplagged.com sometimes gets you mad cheap flights around 50% especially for longer flights. However most of the time it will be comparable to normal rates or save you 20$ its usually worth checking out because the sometime deals are insane.
I’ve used the ITA Matrix referred to below and plugged in the flights as multi-city instead of round-trip. For some reason, the multi-city often came in 15-20% cheaper when you put together your own connections vs letting the airline do it for you.
A potential downside to booking this way, however, seems to be that if you miss a connection, it’s now totally your fault instead of the airlines picking up the tab to rebook you, since YOU set up the connection and not the airline.
[At 320 days out when we started looking, average fares were about $50 higher than their low point. Prices dropped gradually until 47 days out (the bottom) and after that they started to rise again slowly. Once inside of 14 days they shot up pretty significantly.](https://www.cheapair.com/blog/travel-tips/when-to-buy-airline-tickets-based-on-1-5-billion-airfares/)
I’ve recently booked multi-cities destination flights and it was Kayak that gave me the best deal between Google Flights, Matrix, Kayak and Skyscanner.
Kayak was not shy to show me deals with long connection time.
Skypicker has been amazing for me. Finds even small airlines which aren’t often picked up by Google flights/ Skyscanner.
I fly all the time for work. When I am booking most of my tickets for domestic travel I will use Google Flights. It is a great program and is very versatile and makes finding deals easy. It doesn’t work well on my phone though.
In Europe I always fly either Ryanair or Easyjet. It is insane how cheap some of their flights are. Its cheaper than taking a taxi in most cities.
When I am flying trans Atlantic, if at all possible I like to fly on Norwegian Air. You can get from the US to Europe for below $300 if you are near a major airport.
When I am in Asia I like to use AirAsia. You can pay $160 a month and fly as much as you want. It can be crazy cheap, especially if you are only there for a bit and want to cover a lot of ground.
Safe travels!
I work in travel, and lately 1-way fares have been pretty good to certain destinations (I think they’ve been mostly within in the US). Also for the past several years nonstop flights have generally been cheaper. But there are always exceptions. Fares are based for the most part on how full the plane already is when you go to book it, so if it’s a popular destination (don’t forget about business traveler’s — they account for 80% of people flying on average) then just book as far in advance as possible. Flying mid-week still seems to help for a lot of destinations. Overall this year I’d say airfares are down, but again that will vary by destination. Also if you’re looking for business class and you’re flying to a major city, wholesalers can get half off on business class (so your $6K ticket becomes $3K, so it’s still really expensive), so someone like Expedia or Priceline should have access to that. But it’s all a gamble, and there’s no one website or airline that has the lowest price to every destination. If you find yourself flying to the same destination over and over again you might find a particular website is really good for that destination, but they won’t automatically be the cheapest for anywhere else.
Also, there’s a new thing that airlines are doing now to compete with the low-cost carriers where they have 3 different prices for a given flight. Delta and JetBlue so far have been the worst. The lowest price will be pretty low, but you’ll pay for every checked bag, either it won’t allow seat assignments or you’ll pay extra for seat assignments, and it won’t allow changes to your ticket. Then the next lowest fare will be a normal fare where you pay for checked bags but get free seat assignments and they’ll allow you to pay $200 to change your flight. Then the highest price will be free checked bags, priority check-in, free seat assignments, and I think a lower change fee. So once you find the fare you want, check the airline’s website to see if you can figure out what kind of restrictions that fare comes with.
Be sure to go incognito if you’re using Chrome.
Sites will retain your search info & jack up the prices the next time you look for the same flight on their site.
http://www.nomadicmatt.com/
Seriously this site, but he is no longer updating up. He wants to travel and not constantly update his website.
Check under resources. (http://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-resources/#airfare)
Also flying on tuesday or a wednesday always seems cheapest to me.
So the legit, sincere answer is a variant of “Let me Google that for you.”
This thread has been ongoing for a while, and I’m not sure if I still have the chance to share some information. But I’ve been researching this exact question for some time (a few years) now and I’ve found out that there is a surprising amount of information when it comes to booking cheap airline tickets. Basically, it’s an art form, there are even entire businesses dedicated to getting you a cheap airfare.
Something I actually know:
– First, the obvious: Back and forth is virtually in all cases cheaper than direct routes. This is because of the fact that such tickets are often used by tourists, while one-way tickets are mostly used by business travelers (who have more money).
– Now, there’s a trick. When you have the ticket back and forth, make sure that you are staying *at least one Saturday* on your destination country. This seems to be the trigger which separates you from a business traveller.
– The best time to book airline tickets is about 4-5 months before for intercontinental tickets, 2-3 months for tickets on the same continent, and 1-2 months for local tickets (the USA might have different rules).
– Nowadays, accumulating any sort of airline points if really hard. I haven’t heard of anyone being able to use points for completely free intercontinental flights unless they have actually flew several times in a year. However, the best way to get airline points is still via credit cards, but you have to be extremely careful. This website is an useful resource: http://millionmilesecrets.com/ and so is this: http://airfare.michaelbluejay.com/ (which recommends avoiding flying, and due to good reasons, but then this LPT wasn’t about convincing you to use other methods ;>)
– As suggested by several users, use all sorts of flight websites: [KAYAK](https://www.kayak.com/), [Skyscanner](https://www.skyscanner.com/), and **always** directly from the airline too.
– You don’t believe it, but sometimes it’s possible to get a discount by directly inquiring from an airline. Yes, the typical answer is “all prices are fixed”, but if you find out a convincing reason, they are able to bend the rules.
– If at all possible, travel off-season. Tickets are cheaper due to obvious reasons. Research local and destination holidays, during those times tickets can be cheaper.
– Using flights which arrive and leave at inconvenient times are often cheaper than other tickets.
– Using flights with lots of stop overs and long waits can be cheaper. However, be very sure you are actually prepared to waste time, this is not a problem if you would be using your laptop (not always with an internet) anyway, but at several times, time is so important to your life it’s not worth sparing the few ten bucks unless you absolutely need to.
– Using the **most popular** airports can be cheaper than the far-off ones. Contrary to what people think, the biggest airports have the most competition, and thus have lower prices. The smaller airports around large cities are used by low-cost carriers due to alternate agreements with the airports and the airlines, but this alone doesn’t meant that the smaller airport itself will be cheaper. Any airport in an off-the-beaten-track place will most certainly not be cheaper. Consider using other means that flying to get to a large airport to save in costs.
– At some countries, different airports can be cheaper due to special reasons. For example, flying from Beijing to Shenzen in China is **much** cheaper than from Beijing to Hong Kong, because Hong Kong is considered a separate country “for flying purposes”.
– Not directly about getting cheaper airfares, but what I do is this: When I travel, I very rarely stay just for one week. I aim to stay for months. The airfare tickets still stay the same, and you get weeks of abroad experience.
– Some airports have last-minute deals only directly when you are physically at the airport. This is done in a few European countries, at least it is or was done in Germany.
– There is a concept called “airhitch”, however, I’ve heard very negative experiences of its current status. Basically, it works that airlines sell out the unsold seats to people in such a queue, and only if there are any seats left. Best to research this topic if of your interest.
– Sometimes it’s possible to hitchhike in private airports (assuming the airports are not used by celebrities). Private pilots cannot charge money for profit, but if you are willing to pay for gas, you could get an actual ride. I’ve heard of charismatic people getting free rides in this way.
– When you have at least 5 travellers, preferably more, I’m not kidding to say to search **private flights**. Maybe you won’t get Economy tickets, but you can get an incredible flight experience which can be cheaper than Business-class tickets. You’ll also avoid the typical airport hassles of customs, security, being in hurry, and most importantly, immigration. (Can you really get turned away by the US border guards if flying privately? I’ve not heard of this happening yet.)
– Some governments have programs of **paying** for your tickets if you visit their country. The last country I heard of doing this was Japan. I can tell you how to find out: Email the consulate of your destination country and ask about this. It sounds ridiculous, but what I described has actually happened.
– If you are cunning, and manage to establish a rapport with a travel agency, assuming the agency has contacts with airlines, there are lots of hidden rules which can be used to reduce your fee. Most likely you’d have to be the customer of the said agency, or somehow know the person. This can be hard if the agency is a large company which treats travelers as cattle.
– The poor man’s method of getting free tickets is to go to an airport of your choice, have guts, and ask around if someone could buy you an airline ticket. Not much different from begging, but since when have you heard of anyone doing this in an airport? Note that some airports might ask you to leave if you do this. The plus side is that I know people have gotten free tickets this way.
– Lastly, **all airline tickets** have hidden information which contains **special information** about the passenger. This is typically used when an extremely imporant person travel: diplomats, head secretaries, Fortune 500 CEOs and chairmen, investors generals, kings and queens, filthy rich people all sorts of excellencies, and even at times normal people who have some compelling reason to warrant this special information. If this happens, price probably won’t be an issue, if it’s clear that the person **simply must** be transported.
**Please do not**
– Try to book a trip from A to C, which goes through B, but you actually leave at B. Unless you somehow manage to stay anonymous (extremely hard), I’ve heard of airlines outright **banning** people doing this. Airlines have reasons to make the portion of A-B cheaper in A-C than when directly going A-B, but it’s against their terms to leave at any other point. Be cunning if you want to take the risk.
– While I have cursory experience of Seat24 or any of the [eTraveli](https://www.etraveli.com/) brands, I’ve heard that many people say they provide horrible customer service. Always have in mind that when you aim for a cheaper price, you’ll reduce the chance of existing customer service, and tricks like hidden fees and even outright scams can start to appear.
– While the no-frills airlines are obvious for the cheaper tickets, always be aware that there are several cases when major carriers have tickets comparable or even cheaper to low-fare airlines. I personally recommend avoiding Ryanair for all reasons unless you are ready for an adventure – it’s very hard to stay at the cheap level and the business is modeled upon a draconian customer service on purpose.
– Try to find flexible routes Trans-Atlantic. There are set times where airlines are allowed to fly to **one direction**, I recall that during the day it goes towards the USA, and at night towards the Europe. At the time zones over the Atlantic Ocean, I mean. There are some exception which are almost always flights between USA and the Gulf States.
Sometimes I dream of starting my own airline where I could provide excellent customer service. I mean, flying is fantastic and bonds different cultures, and I’ve always find it quite amusing that the whole field of cheap airline travel is something requiring knowledge comparable to a Master’s degree or something. x>
I tend to look around 3 months in advance, thats when they tend to be cheapest, Also if youre looking around say September(school) or around holidays, prepare to pay extra.
There is another trick that airline companies do that it will track your PC via cookies(not yum yum cookies but internet cookies) and they will see that you’ve been interested in looking into a flight and can bump up the price once you return so , clear all your browser cookies and cache and try again.
I dont think ALL sites do it but I remember reading somewhere that some sites have been caught doing it
Sign up for some of the email blasts that come out like Secret Flying or Airfare Spot, as they do a great job with finding airline error fares. You sometimes run the risk of a cancellation, however more often than not the airlines honor the fare.
There is no rhyme or reason. No special day and no caching of your IP. When someone ‘searches’ a fare, a temp reservation is made. Seats are then removed from inventory. If a fare class (so lowest economy) is all reserved, you’re then bumped up to a higher fare. Same seat, still in economy. That’s what makes the fare change and jump by the second.
– As mentioned, take a look at the Global ITA matrix. The rules for most airlines Advance Purchase are usually 7,14,21 days prior to departure.
– Book in advance (see above) and in lower seasons.
– Set up a Kayak alert 6 months +, prior to departure if your destination and dates are set.
– Also mentioned, Google flights and their date calendars work great.
– Book 2 one way tickets vs. return. Make sure you have your return ticket handy for customs and check in if different airlines.
Source: Former travel agent and travel junkie. I flew to Sydney in August for $900 USD, South Africa in September for $400 USD , and I’m writing this from Iceland on a $200 Wowair ticket. I’m flying to Brazil in October this year for $127 USD from Miami.
For domestic US flights, check spirit online, then go to your airport spirit counter (at departures) and buy it from there. You’ll save even more, then book your bags online on spirit. The money you save booking at airport almost covers your first check in bag both ways (25-30 each way usually)
Between flightconnections.com and rome2rio.com I can figure out the cheapest way to travel by either finding some unknown (to me) airline/airport and some combination of car/train/boat.
You can also try looking for “empty leg flights”. These are private jets that had a one way trip to somewhere and now need to get back home. They are often cheaper than a commercial flight and the ticket price is for the WHOLE plane not per person. So if the plane holds 6 and you have 5 friends/family members then your individual price goes down. And yeah, they still give you the full VIP treatment.
I use Google flights. About a month and a half out from my leave date I’ll look up flights and save the cheapest one. Ill get updates from Google about price changes and around two weeks out I’ll get an update that the flight is substantially cheaper and I book it then. It’s risky and may not work for popular destinations, but this has worked for me 3-4 times where I’ve save ~$150 flying from a small town in NY to the west coast.
Skiplagged definitely worked for me last week. A one-way flight to Boston from NYC was $439. A flight to Buffalo from NYC, going to Boston on the same flight, was $93.
I was also booking to travel two days later, so that may have had something to do with it, though.
Can confirm. Google flights is cheaper. Just booked a flight on Delta last week. Checked today, $140 cheaper. I have a companion certificate for Delta so I would have used it anyway, but in the future , Google flights will be my rock.
or do what I did, marry a delta flight attendant and fly for free anytime anywhere! (full disclosure I didn’t marry her for free tickets, we were together before she became a stewardess lol)
I have yet to read the comments here, but I wanted to ask clarification on something: Are you interested in “churning”? The process of using credit card rewards to get cheap airfare.
In terms of time:value ratios, it follows the same as extreme couponing does. There’s a lot of effort up-front, but once you get it going it’s very straight forward.
/r/churning has great sidebar information
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If you’re not into doing that, then waiting for deals is another great way. There are tons of blogs out there that have data engineers putting combinations into the ITA Matrix and finding errors or finding cheap anomalies.
* http://www.TheFlightDeal.com is a great one. Just read their “Fare Availability” section then take that info and use Flights.Google.com to book directly.
* http://www.SecretFlying.com is another one. Less reliable, but when it hits it hits hard.
I’m sure there are a lot more that I don’t know about, but I mainly focus on using http://www.FlyerTalk.com in conjunction with /r/churning to get great deals. Those websites will get you to dip your toes into scoping them out, then the next step is to start getting into points.
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**Edit:** I love Google Flights, and a lot of people on here do too. The calendar is an amazingly powerful tool that EVERYONE should be using. Clicking random dates gets you to see fares that don’t usually pop up. **But remember** the airlines also have deals through their direct websites (united.com , jetblue.com , flyfrontier.com , etc…). These deals are not aggregated into search engines, you *have* to book through their websites, so don’t forget to go on there and look as well.
I spend months monitoring airfare, beginning 30 days out I’d create a search and refresh it twice a day, morning and evening. Reviewing the data showed that the prices were lowest Tuesday evening – Wednesday morning. For instance, Dallas-Boston would be $630 (American Airlines) Friday night two weeks before and $320 Wednesday morning one week before. I always buy Tuesday night or Wednesday morning one week before my trip. Never fails for me.
I usually try book my flights roughly three months before I travel and on a Tuesday or Wednesday. Also, try avoid fly on weekends. The majority of the time, this seems to have worked for me.
Site A is better than site B but I booked much cheaper on low cost C! 🙂 check my blog D!
There is no silver bullet, if you want to save on flights it’s important to know if it’s a domestic or international, high season or not, are you ready to book now, is it lastminute, have flex dates? Do you need luggage, want to use miles, and many other questions.