5 Ways to Book a Cheaper Flight- No credit card required.
I get it. Not everyone wants to use credit cards to get points for flight credits. Some people would prefer other methods, for many reasons. That's cool, I'm here for you too.
I could write several articles on this topic. (And I did!) But this one is about flights specifically. See also When to Use Hotel Discount Sites.
Clear waters just a free flight away? Yes please.
Here are the simplest ways to get deals on flights:
ONE:
Fly off-season.
This is difficult for people with kids or people who are teachers, but there is a way around that too (sort of). Flight prices are always more expensive when school is in session, but different regions (and countries!) are out of school at different times. In the Northeast, most schools are in session from September to June. In the south it's August to May. In California some schools are year-round and have month-long breaks three times a year in March, August and December. The cool thing about school schedules is they are public information. You can simply google the school schedule of the city you're traveling to and see when it's cheaper to travel. If your kids are out of school, but you are traveling somewhere where school is in, you'll pay less for the ride there. You'll probably pay more for your flight home but the savings one way are still worth it.
If you can, always, ALWAYS Travel off-season. If you're traveling to other countries (I.e. The Caribbean) google when their peak season is. It's usually half the price to travel during the rainy season, just keep in mind... well... it's the rainy season. If you want the happy medium, choose the transition time between peak and rainy season. That's cheaper and there won't be too much rain to spoil the trip. For example: Jamaica's peak is February. Rainy season is October and May. So November-January is probably the best time. March and April are considered spring break. Spring break is always expensive. The summer is always expensive too. A Christmas vacay to Jamaica is super cheap. Bring the fam. Christmas in paradise!
TWO:
Southwest shopping and dining rewards.
You know I love southwest, but you can actually use this tip on other airlines too. You can link your debit or credit card to your southwest (or American Airlines) account and every time you dine at participating restaurants or shop at participating stores online you get points for every dollar you spend. That's super exciting. There are a ton of restaurants on the list, and some may be your fave watering holes. You can get one point per dollar every time you eat dinner out or grab a beer! That's awesome! Rapid Rewards shopping is super fun too. So many retailers are on that list, pretty much everywhere you shop online you can be getting flight points. This year they even gave 1,000 southwest points just for filing your taxes with TurboTax. Just go to www.southwest.com and sign up for a rapid rewards account. You can then link your cards to shopping and dining rewards through your rapid rewards page!
Three:
Be flexible with dates and times.
A flight from Nashville to Boston at 3pm is $239. A flight on that same day at 7pm is $62. Seriously. Can you afford to get to your destination at midnight? For $62 can you!?
Fly on Tuesdays, Saturdays and well... any day but Sunday. Friday mornings are also expensive, so are Monday mornings.
You can fly from Nashville to Miami for $59 even during peak season if you fly out Tuesday night and fly back Thursday night. 2 day beach vaca for $120 bucks anyone!?
Four:
Schedule your life in advance.
This one is easy. Book your flight on Southwest 3 months (90days) in advance. Then check once a week to see if prices went down. Southwest lets you change flights for free so if the price goes down, you just change your flight. (In the app you can hit 'change' under your itinerary, and then when prompted just pick the same flight) and get the difference as a travel credit (or if you paid with points, you get points back). I used this strategy to fly to California for $99 each way from Nashville. For real. I got a $30 credit per person for two people since I originally paid more, so I used that credit to get a half price flight to cape cod for a summer getaway. I had points to cover the rest. Bingo.
Ok, this next one is tip four and a half since it relates to scheduling in advance...
If you're flying somewhere outside of the continental US and can't use Southwest, or if you're just wondering when it's cheapest to book several months out, there's an app for that. It's called Hopper. I tracked my trip to Hawaii for a year on hopper to find the best time to book. It ended up being 90 days out (shocking... that's what I already recommended!) Seriously though, Hopper will tell you the best time to book, and if there are nearby airports with cheaper deals. It's a very useful tool.
FIVE:
(Domestic flights only!) Book One-Way tickets.
Its not guaranteed that one-way tix are cheaper (on international flights they will be more expensive this way), but often you can find a better deal and more convenient flight times if you book individual one-way tickets. Southwest only lets you book one-ways. Most other airlines give you a round-trip fare that isn't always convenient or the best deal. It's useful to look at one-way flights from different airlines. You aren't required to fly the same airline round trip. Always check the one-way price for a deal.
It's also worth noting (though I'll write another article on this one) using Orbitz and all those sites are ok for picking which airline seems cheaper, but when you go to book, ALWAYS book through the actual airline. It's not cheaper to use Travelocity or Orbitz when it comes to flights. The airline website price is the same. Hotels, however, are a different story (a story for another day).
I hope these tips were helpful for you! There is A LOT of information in this post. If you need help navigating any of these sites or programs, feel free to shoot me a message on Facebook or an email!
Happy traveling!
-Steph
