Plan your travel dates to coincide with your destinations' off-season. Traveling during the peak season ensures you will pay a significantly higher price for airfare, as well as hotels and rental cars; prices drop significantly for travel during the off-season.
Plan your flight for the middle of the week. Rick Seaney, the CEO of farecompare.com states that airfare is at its least expensive on Wednesdays.
Compare prices on different airlines and different airports. Travel websites such as Travelocity and Expedia allow you to search for a flight on multiple airlines using one search. Switching to a nearby airport is also sometimes less expensive than your original airport choice.
Shop early; airline prices are typically at their lowest three to four months prior to departure. Shopping sooner gives you time to keep an eye on ticket prices so you know when they begin to drop. Shopping any later leaves you at risk to find rising prices. Rick Seaney of farecompare.com recommends shopping for airline tickets starting Tuesday at 3 p.m. when airlines begin lowering prices.
Utilize travel website fare notifications. Visit travel websites such as farecompare.com, orbitz.com or travelticker.com and sign up for their travel alerts. By providing your travel information and your email address you will receive notification each time the price of your flight changes on all of the major travel websites.
