How to Get the Best Prices on Airline Tickets

In this article, I am going to share all the methods I use to find amazing flight deals. For instance, I recently bought a full service, nonstop, round trip flight from New York to London in May for $328. Before I get into the nitty gritty, I would like to offer you a short cut. If you live in NYC and would like to save some time, subscribe to my NYC flight deals. Every morning I will do all the work for you and send the best deals of the day directly into your mailbox. If you don’t live in New York you can subscribe to my general email list and I will let you know when my deal emails are available in your area.

This is a recent email from my NYC flight deals list.

Find the Best Flight Prices Trick 1: Twitter

You’ll need a twitter account for this one. Once you log on, follow these handles: Cheap flights, Secret flying, Travel Pirates, Secret Flying, Airfare Spot, and Fare Deal Alert. Then follow whatever airlines have a home base in your airport. For instance, I follow JetBlue and Delta. Now that you have your accounts set up, you will need to start checking twitter a few times a day. The best deals are gone soon after they are tweeted out, so if you are actively looking for a flight don’t forget to check often. For my deals list I check 5 to 6 times a day.

Airfare Travel Tip:

The Twitter method works best if you are open as to where to go next and are just looking for a great deal.

Find the Best Flight Prices Trick 2: Skyscanner

This method takes a bit of time but I find it amazing at generating deals. This is the primary method I use to generate deals for my email list. First, go to Skyscanner and enter your home city. For me, it’s New York. Next, type “everywhere” into the destination box. And here is the big trick, for depart choose the first Tuesday in your target month, and then for return chose the next Tuesday. Right now I am looking for direct deals, so I check the “direct flights” box. If you are not near a major airport, always leave that box unchecked. So let’s say I want to travel in May, my search looks like this.

Also Read: More Flight Booking Tips

Once I click on search, I get a large list of cities with the best deals for flights this week. I review my results, right click and open in new window any airfares that sound lower than usual. For instance, I know that usually, a direct roundtrip to Iceland is over $300. So I right click on that deal, chose open in new window. Now I can see my options. If its a “discount” airline I disregard. I keep going down the list opening new windows for each interesting deal.

If I don’t find anything I like, I go back to the search box and input first Wednesday of the month and next Wednesday as my depart and return dates. I repeat the process for every Tuesday and Wednesday of the month. Tuesday and Wednesday are the cheapest days to fly. The deals I find through this lengthy process do not come up anywhere else, including Twitter and google flights.

My results look like this.
Airfare Travel Tip:

Instead of picking a date, you can choose a “whole month” option from the date drop-down menu. This option is supposed to compare deals for you across the entire month. Sometimes it works well, but often I find much better deals on my own looking at Tuesday to Tuesday and Wednesday to Wednesday. I am really not sure why.

Airfare Travel Tip:

You’ll often find the best deals on Skyscanner 1 to 3 months before the flight.

Find the Best Flight Prices Trick 3: Google Flights

Google flights is faster than searching Skyscanner by hand but often doesn’t show the very best deals. Still, its another method worth using. On the google flights home page I click on the map option in the lower right-hand corner.

Google flights homepage – click on the map option. You don’t have to set any preferences first.

I get the map of the entire world, and then I can select my options in the upper left-hand corner. I generally pick a 1-week option, any New York airport and a month.

You can glide over the map and any you’ll find deals in green are “better than normal” deals. You can click on the number to see details. This is the most intuitive and the shortest method of looking for cheap fights. However, I rarely find my best deals this way.

Find the Best Deals Trick 4: Read the Fine Print and Use the Right Credit Card.

Before you book any amazing deals, read the fine print. Often, the flight deals that look the best are actually not. Many are “basic economy fares” and do not include bags. I try not to include basic economy fares in my list. But if you do choose to book a basic economy fare having the right credit card usually helps. All the big airlines, such as Delta, United, and American offer their own card. If you book your fares through the card you’ll get a free carry on and checked bag even with a basic economy fare. This way you can turn a basic economy into a regular economy experience.

If you do not live in NYC but would like to be notified when I create a travel deals email list for your area, please subscribe to my general TravelTipster list.

If you do live in NYC and want me to do all the leg work for you, Please subscribe to my NYC Travel Deals Email.

I hope you have enjoyed this article and found it helpful – don’t forget to share on social. Thank you for reading and see you on the road!

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Looking for vacation ideas or travel tips? You’ve come to the right place! 
On GoTravelTipster.com, you will find one-week vacation itineraries for couples and families.  Don’t have time for a week-long trip? Check out my weekend getaway ideas!
Always practical, accompanied by beautiful photography and a bit of history, my goal is to help you create – and fulfill – the ultimate travel bucket list.  I look forward to your comments and questions, and happy traveling!

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