Begin your airfare search early. Airlines post their best deals soon after the flight routes are loaded into the sales database in order to fill a plane as quickly as possible. Start looking for flights as soon as you know your travel dates in order to take advantage of those deals. Four to five months in advance of your travel dates is not too early to begin searching.
Travel in the off-season. The best airfare bargains by far are found in the lesser-traveled off-seasons and shoulder seasons. Airlines see a rush in passengers during the summer months and over Christmas and Easter holidays, but have to offer much lower prices outside those times of the year to fill planes. Bargain airfares can be found in late spring and early fall (the shoulder seasons) and even deeper discounts are on offer in the less-traveled late winter and late fall months.
Book your flight on less-traveled days of the week. Friday and Sunday are the busiest travel days of the week, with Monday not far behind. In order to secure the best deal, make your departure and arrival days mid-week or Saturday flights. If you must travel around a major holiday, try to find a flight on the holiday itself, if it works with your plans. The unwillingness of many to travel on a holiday means there are often bargains to be found.
Use online flight comparison tools. Sites like Skyscanner, Trip Mama, Side Step and Smarter Travel offer an easy-to-use online comparison tool that checks several third-party travel sites at once so that you can compare flight deals side by side in one easy step. Go to the comparison website, enter your travel information, including departure and arrival airports and dates, into the booking form and select three or more third-party travel sites. The comparison tool will send your information to each site and a new pop-up window will display fares for you to compare.
Check Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airlines on their direct websites. Low-cost carriers often don't use third-party travel sites for booking and may have the lowest fares for your travel route. Be sure to check their websites directly for airfares in addition to using the online comparison tool above.
