"Red-eye" flights are often cheaper than daytime flights that depart or arrive at more convenient times. These flights are named for the red-eyes of their sleep-deprived passengers who may have to get up in the middle of the night to travel to the airport. However, if you don't mind sleeping on a plane, or if you're already so jet-lagged that your eyes will be red on any flight, an early-morning flight can be a cheap way to get from one destination to another.
Choose an unpopular time of year for the route you are flying. When other travelers don't want to fly, the price of all flights, including red-eye departures, decreases dramatically. Red-eye flights are cheapest in the defined "low season" for any given route. For example, the month of September is the low season for US Airways flights from the U.S. to the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America. Flights from the U.S. to Europe are cheapest in late January and throughout February; South American routes from the U.S. are cheapest in May or October.
Book your red-eye flight either well in advance or at the last minute. Airlines and consolidators tend to offer cheaper tickets on early-morning flights when the seats are first made available to the public, between one year and three months from the time of travel. Within three months of your travel date, your chances of finding a cheap red-eye flight are lower. However, if you are able to book at the last minute, a day or a few days before you travel, airlines and consolidators may offer bargain pricing on leftover red-eye seats.
Consider taking a flight that makes one or more connections to reach your final destination. In general, direct flights are more expensive than flights making one or more stops. For example, a red-eye flight from New York's JFK airport to Manchester, England, may be much cheaper if you spend a long layover at the Philadelphia airport. In the case of a red-eye departure, balance whether the money saved by booking a longer overall journey may be balanced out by more money spent on food, entertainment or accommodations at stopover airports.
Compare prices on the flight and route you want to take. Consolidators may have very different prices for the same red-eye flight than the airlines themselves. If you join an airline's loyalty rewards program, you may get a discount on your flight booked direct with the airline. You can also earn or apply air miles toward discounted or free travel. Some consolidators allow you to patch together a cheap return flight by using one-way tickets on multiple airlines.
