Save Money on Flights: Check Nearby Airports!

One of the easiest tricks to save money on flights is to simply expand your search and check nearby airports. The savings can be significant.

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In our guide “How to Book the Cheapest Airfare,” we run down several tips and tricks so you can get the best deal on your next flight. Some of these will help you realize more savings than others. In this post, I’ll go in-depth on one of the most important and easiest tips: searching nearby airports for low fares.

A Real World Example

I live within 70 miles of four airports (one currently without commercial flights). Plus, I’m about 135 miles from Louis Armstrong New Orleans International (MSY). I’ll check fares available from each airport and then book the best one for me.

In this example, I searched for the best airfare between my home on the Gulf Coast and Las Vegas (LAS). I have an American Airlines travel certificate, so I planned to book at aa.com. And I wanted to stick with the same dates and a similar time period. Thus, the departure airport is the only real difference being introduced.

Starting with the closest airport, I ran a search on Mobile (MOB) to LAS. The long layover in Charlotte (CLT) on the return did not look ideal, but a good price at $295. If I was willing to pay $482, I could have a much shorter layover coming home. No, thank you.

The second airport I checked was Gulfport (GPT). The Mississippi Gulf Coast is home to many resort casinos, and the airport has long had a reputation for cheaper fares to the head office in Las Vegas. Not this time, and no midday flights were available. The price was $388; and in this case, the conventional wisdom about its low prices was wrong.

My third option was Pensacola (PNS). It is primarily a leisure destination, thanks to its nearby beaches. Leisure travelers are more price sensitive than business travelers. And a flight between two notable leisure destinations was just $261. But it leaves earlier in the day than I’d like.

Finally, I checked the region’s largest airport, Louis Armstrong New Orleans International. MSY has the best reputation for low prices in the Gulf South region. Combined with more non-stop flights to more destinations, it is often worth the extra drive. Not this time. The best I could do was $338, with long layovers in both directions.

Coming Home to a Different Airport

If you need to arrive back at the same airport you started from — maybe your car is there — then there’s no need to search further. But if you can get a ride to the airport, why not get a ride home from another airport? You may be able to save even more money on your flights. For this trip, that was going to be really easy. So I checked a couple of other options.

I discovered that the outbound flight from Mobile was the least expensive leg. But I couldn’t find a convenient flight back to MOB without boosting the price significantly.

So I did a multi-city search. The outbound leg would be MOB-LAS. The return leg would be LAS-GPT. The cost was $299, just $4 more than taking a return flight to MOB. But for that extra $4, I can sleep nearly 90 minutes longer on my last morning in Vegas and get home about the same time.

I tried one more option, this time with a return flight to PNS. It turns out to be an even more convenient itinerary. And at $252, it’s also $43 cheaper than a return flight to MOB. I’ll save money and time if I choose this itinerary.

The easiest way to check different inbound and outbound airports is with a Matrix search, described in our guide to booking cheap airfare.

And remember, you can also check nearby airports at your destination if any are close by.

Drive Time & Other Considerations

All things being equal, I’m always going to fly from my hometown airport. It’s closer and thus more convenient. Most important, when the plane touches down after a long trip, I just want to get home. And flying locally gets me home faster.

But it’s not an equal playing field, and there are plenty of other considerations:

• The time and cost of driving — Add much more than an hour to drive to an airport an hour away, because traffic. Traffic jams might slow you down. The cost of gas, and the wear and tear on your vehicle should also factor in.
• The cost of parking — You may need to drive yourself to a distant airport, when a relative or neighbor might drop you off at your local airport.
• Lack of sleep and/or hotel costs — If you have an early morning flight and the airport is more than an hour away, you have two choices: wake up really early and drive, or spend money on a hotel near the airport. Factor the hotel into your costs, or factor the sleep deprivation into your tolerance for being miserable.

Non-Stop Flights

One great reason to drive to another airport is the availability of non-stop flights. We always drive a couple of hours to take a non-stop Alaska Airlines flight to Seattle. Alaska is often (not always) less expensive than flying from my local airport. But because it’s a non-stop, it is always more convenient and takes less time. There is no layover, no missed connections.

Some airlines give their best deals on non-stop flights. Others, not so much. But even if a non-stop costs more, the time saved may be worth it.

Final Thoughts

To save money on flights, it’s always a good idea to check nearby airports. A little drive can save you a lot of money. It can save you time, as well. If I’d simply gone with local conventional wisdom (which assumed GPT-LAS is cheapest), I would have paid $136 more than the lowest price available. But by searching around and comparing airports, you can generate some real savings.

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Photo Credits: Shutterstock | Flight Search Images: American Airlines