How to Book the Cheapest Airfare

Check out our How To Guide to find and book the cheapest airfare. Plus, when to book the cheapest flight, and when not to.

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When friends and co-workers ask for my help with their travel planning, the first (and often only) question is: How do I book the cheapest airfare? It’s a great question, but one without a simple answer. Here are a few tips.

Best Day and Time to Book?

Fare Compare says that the best time to purchase airfare each week is Tuesday at 3PM Eastern Time. Yes that’s very specific. The idea being that airlines introduce fare sales on Monday or Tuesday. Competitors then respond with their own sales, and by Tuesday at 3PM, the sales are all more or less locked in. Thus, you’ll have the best selection of cheap fares at that time. Don’t wait too long, though, because cheap fares get snapped up quickly.

In my experience, I haven’t had much success with this trick. Airlines often don’t include their best fares in published sales. Instead, they use complex algorithms to determine the price they should charge between two points. And those algorithms usually have more impact on ticket prices than a fare sale.

Book Seven Weeks in Advance

There is some research to suggest buying early, but not too early, is better than buying later. The Airline Reporting Corporation says you’ll pay about 10 percent less than the average fare when you buy your tickets seven weeks in advance.

That said, great fares happen all the time. Don’t get locked into buying airfare seven weeks out, just because a blogger suggests it. Do some searching, learn what a typical fare would cost to your destination, and buy when you see the price drop.

Sign Up for Fare Alerts

If you have some time before you fly, sign up for fare alerts covering your destination. Kayak and Google Flights both offer these services. You pick your destination, and get notified when the price drops. I’ve used Airfare Watchdog to track airfare prices, as well.

Use The Matrix

Before booking travel, I always check the Matrix Airfare Search. It’s my first step toward booking the cheapest airfare possible. You cannot book your flights here, but you can check fares. You’ll get a fairly comprehensive listing of airfares, often better than what’s available from actual booking sites.

The Matrix gives you plenty of ways to search, most of them more complex than you’ll ever need. You can search by exact dates, a range of dates, multiple departure and destination airports, even connecting cities. Scott MacKenzie of Travel Codex has written an excellent introduction to finding great airfares with the Matrix Airfare Search.

Once you know a low fare exists, and where it exists, you can easily buy it directly from the airline.

The Matrix Airfare Search was developed by ITA Software, now part of the Google empire. In fact, it’s the building block for Google Flights. If you’re looking for a simple search tool with at least some of the same capabilities as the Matrix, you may be more comfortable with Google Flights.

Fly Off-Peak

The cheapest days to fly are usually Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. If you’re flexible, you’ll probably save a little money by choosing to fly on one of those days.

And since nobody likes waking up early for a flight, a 6:00 AM flight is more likely to cost less than the same flight at 11:30 AM.

As for time of year, consider traveling outside of peak season. You’ll often save money if you go during the off-season, or even shoulder seasons. Europe tends to be really nice in September and October. The tourist hordes have mostly gone home, and hotel prices are down. So are the fares.

Learn Which Airlines Fly to Your Destination

If you don’t know which airlines to search, you just might miss the lowest fare. But thanks to our friend Wikipedia, every airport in the world seemingly has its own article. Each one includes a comprehensive list of airlines that serve the airport, along with the destinations they serve.

Search Nearby Airports

I’m always amazed at how many airports are located close together. On the Central Gulf Coast, where I live, there are FOUR airports within 70 miles of my house. Most of us, of course, know which airports are close to our homes. If you’re using the Matrix Airfare Search, you can easily find and search flights to airports near your destination, as well.

When you fly to a nearby airport, the savings can be significant. So it’s worth an in-depth look. A few years ago, my wife and I wanted to fly to Toronto. But we found flights to Buffalo for a lot less. We added a night at Niagara Falls with the money saved.

Search Southwest, But Not JUST Southwest

Flights on Southwest Airlines do not appear in search results alongside other airlines. To find an airfare with Southwest, you much check their website directly. By keeping its fares exclusive to Southwest.com, the airline is hoping you’ll check with them — and only them — when booking your travel.

Don’t make that mistake! While Southwest has a reputation for low fares, it’s not always the reality. You should not assume Southwest is offering the best price. Do your homework and compare prices with other carriers.

Allegiant Airlines is another airline that doesn’t appear in the search results alongside other carriers. You’ll need to check their website.

Traveling to Europe?

If your travels take you to Europe, one good trick is to grab any cheap flight across the pond and go from there. Europe is blessed with a bunch of low-cost carriers, along with excellent rail service. If you want to save money and you’re not in a hurry, fly to a major European hub. Then grab a cheap flight or train to where you really want to go.

One important caveat: Allow yourself plenty of time between your trip to/from Europe and your travels within Europe. Ryanair will simply not care if your inbound United flight arrived late. You’ll be on the hook for any fees to make changes. I’d suggest you plan to spend an extra night or two at your arrival city before moving on.

Avoid Baggage Fees

Some airlines will nickel and dime you to death. So check out any additional fees for which you may be responsible, and add them to the total price when making comparisons. Baggage fees are a particular pet peeve, and I’ll do everything I can to avoid paying them.

Southwest famously doesn’t have baggage fees. That means you’ll save a minimum of $30 in each direction if you need to check a piece of luggage.

The other major airlines all charge extra for checked bags. Ultra-low-cost carriers like Frontier, Spirit and Allegiant even charge for carry-on bags! But you can avoid baggage fees on the country’s biggest carriers — American, Delta, United, Alaska, and Jet Blue — if you have either elite status in the airline’s frequent flyer program OR one of their co-branded credit cards.

I have 13 credit cards currently, including one for each of the legacy carriers. These cards all come with annual fees, but they include a free checked bag for me and my travel companions (up to a specified limit). One annual flight round-trip flight with two passengers easily covers that fee.

Sadly, there really is no way to avoid baggage fees on the ultra low cost carriers. But the flight itself will likely be super cheap.

Do You Really Care Where You Go?

You may think this is ridiculous, but I’ve visited many destinations based purely on the cost of airfare.

I’ve been to Switzerland, thanks to a $330/round trip fare. I’ve flown to Greece for $750/round trip. I’ve been to Vietnam, because the fare was just $850/rt. None of these destinations were specifically on my radar. But when I found these cheap fares, I snapped them up and now have memories to last a lifetime.

If you’re trying to save money on your next vacation, the cost of the destination will also matter. My cheap trip to Norway, for example, was anything but cheap once I factored in costs on the ground. But Vietnam, where a bia hoi (fresh beer) was under 20 cents, was one of the best and least expensive trips of my lifetime.

I’ve found a couple of terrific sources for inexpensive flights:

• The Flight Deal — Get daily emails with info on cheap flights from a number of cities, including New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. The service is free, but they make some cash if you to book via the links on their site.
• Fare Deal Alert — Same as The Flight Deal, but the cities from which flights originate are different, and include Houston, Detroit, and Orlando, among others.
• Scott’s Cheap Flights — For $49/year, you’ll hear about great prices from the airports you choose. Scott’s Cheap Flights likes to alert its customers to “mistake fares,” which the airline supposedly did not mean to make available.

Use Your Accumulated Points and Miles

If you’ve signed up for an airline’s frequent flyer program, good for you. I’m a member of all the U.S. airline programs, along with a few others. The miles you earn are valuable, and you should treat them like cash. You wouldn’t overspend your hard-earned cash for a ticket, nor should you overspend your miles.

But if you have the miles and can get good value from them, then do not hang on to them longer than necessary. Airlines are constantly devaluing the miles you have. Use them when they are worth the most.

Should I Book Basic Economy?

While you look to book the cheapest airfare, you’ll need to decide whether or not to book a Basic Economy fare.

In response to the popularity of ultra low cost carriers like Frontier and Spirit, all of the major legacy carriers have introduced a basic economy product. What that means is a bit different with each airline, but generally, you’re purchasing a ticket that can’t be changed, canceled or upgraded. Your seat will be assigned at check-in, and there is no guarantee that you’ll sit with your travel companion.

I like to choose my seat and always skip Basic Economy fares for that reason alone. On Alaska Airlines, where I have MVP status, I don’t want to lose a potential upgrade by purchasing Basic Economy. When purchasing standard fares, I’ll often get bumped up to Premium Class or First Class. With Basic Economy, it’s not an option.

That said, if you’re not picky about where you sit and are at least 95% sure you’ll be taking the flight as scheduled, then Basic Economy may be another path to savings. Check the restrictions before you book, and confirm you can live with them. Chances are, you’ll get one of the worst seats on the plane. But that’s what you signed up for, and there is no point in complaining about it. If you want better seat selection and more flexibility, don’t book Basic Economy.

Final Thoughts

Most of us don’t fly First Class. We just want to get from Point A to Point B for less. At Planes, Trains, and Travel, our goal is to help you find the best travel experiences at the best value.

But while we like saving money, we don’t want to feel like cattle when flying. When you know how to book the cheapest airfare, and you know how to use points and miles to your advantage, you can save a bunch of money — and often get a better experience. You can spend more at your destination, and less on the flight there.

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[Photo Credit: N509FZ via Wikimedia Commons]