Be flexible about your flight. One of the best ways to get cheap airfare at the last minute is by being flexible about your destination. If you want to get away for the weekend just for fun, be open to traveling anywhere from Buffalo to Las Vegas. Visit a travel website, type in your city as the origin and find deals offered from your hometown.
Be flexible about flight times if you cannot be flexible about location. You may have to fly to Dallas, but perhaps you can be flexible about the day you leave or return from your trip.
Save additional money by being flexible about which airline you fly with and by being open to flights with multiple layovers.
Check a website that specializes in last minute airfare, such as LastMinuteTravel (lastminutetravel.com). Websites like Travelocity (travelocity.com) and Expedia (expedia.com) also offer last minute specials on flights. Also check websites like CheapTickets (cheaptickets.com), which buy large blocks of airline tickets at a discounted price and then sell them to customers for prices less than airlines' advertised fares.
Sign up with individual airlines to be e-mailed about last-minute deals. Many airlines offer last-minute specials for flights taking off in two or three days. These airfares will often have major restrictions; for instance, you may not be able to cancel or change the flight once it is booked, or you may be forced to include a Saturday night in your stay. Still, some of the best prices can be found through the airline companies themselves, and many airlines, including Southwest, American, United, Northwest, U.S. Airways and Delta offer this service.
Name your own price at Priceline (priceline.com) or use a "blind" travel website like Hotwire (hotwire.com) that gives you good deals with the caveat that you will not know which airline you are flying on or the exact flight times until the flight is booked. If you would like to name your own price, search various travel websites to find the lowest available price for the flight you would like to take and then place a bid slightly below the current low price.
Buy a last minute travel package from a travel website. These packages typically include a round-trip flight, a several-night hotel stay and sometimes a rental car. Believe it or not, buying a last minute package is often less expensive than buying a plane ticket individually. If you already have a place to stay, it is often possible to purchase the package anyway and simply not use the hotel or other perks included in the packaged deal.
