Sign up for email alerts with a service such as Farecompare.com to receive information on the latest airfare changes. This kind of service sends you alerts when the fare drops using your home airport and your desired destinations.
Use an airfare predictor to compare ticket prices for different dates of travel. Bing.com/travel and Kayak.com offer different ways of predicting fare prices.
Buy your tickets on a certain day and at a certain time of day. According to Farecompare.com, that day and time is Tuesday at 3 p.m. Eastern Time because airlines release their sale fares on Monday nights, and other airlines move in to match the sale prices. Matching is usually completed by Tuesday. According to Peter Greenberg, however, the best time to buy is Wednesday around 1 a.m. in the time zone of the airline's headquarters. The airlines release their new fares around midnight Wednesday. For example, Delta is headquartered in Atlanta, but if you are located in California, remember to subtract three hours and purchase your tickets around 10 p.m. your time.
