Get your travel documents in order. Before researching flights, make sure your passport is up to date. Some countries won’t allow a U.S. citizen to enter on a passport that is six or fewer months away from an expiration date, so check with your destination country. A safe bet is to renew your passport if it’s close to its expiration date. Also, find out if your destination country requires visas, and obtain those well in advance of your flight.
Do your homework. Research which airlines fly to your destinations, and if there are specialty or country-specific airlines. Sometimes, foreign airlines have better rates than U.S. airlines flying to an overseas destination.
Consider reward travel. Booking an overseas flight is a great opportunity to use all of those flight miles you’ve racked up. If you are a member of frequent-flier programs, check your airlines to see if they go to your destination. If so, see if you can use reward miles to book your trip. If you are a member of any other travel-reward program, such as through American Express or other credit card companies, see if you can transfer points you’ve accumulated with those programs to the frequent-flier program that flies to your destination.
Use online travel sites. If you can’t book international travel on reward miles, there are a plethora of websites that aggregate flights and fares from various travel sites to help you find the best fare and itinerary. Those sites include travelzoo.com, kayak.com, orbitz.com, expedia.com, cheapoair.com, cheaptickets.com and priceline.com. Using these sites can help you discover which airlines often have the lowest fares to your destination, and then you can go directly to airline sites to explore your options there as well.
Be flexible. In an ideal world, you’d be able to book a flight directly from your departure city to your arrival city for a reasonable fare. But be prepared to connect for cheaper fares--maybe more than once. If your travel dates are flexible, consider traveling on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Saturday, when fares tend to be less expensive.
