Traveling is so expensive, and the bulk of that cost is from flights. Don’t worry about spending an arm and a leg hitting the friendly skies. Here are six easy tips to help you save on airfare when booking your next vacation!
1. Allow flexibility for departure and arrival cities
If you live near a small town or airport, consider driving to a larger city in order to save potentially hundreds of dollars on airfare. For the cost of gas and parking, you could still offset the higher charges incurred at limited service, smaller airports. Since larger hub cities typically have more flights and fewer connections than small towns, you can also be more flexible with your dates and times. You may also be able to choose from different airlines, giving you a chance to compare prices.
2. Use a travel agent
Travel agents are in the know when it comes to special packages, hotel and resort destinations, and optimal times of year to visit certain destinations. If you’re looking for a girls’ trip, for example, they could recommend a great flight and package to Daytona in mid-March, but a travel agent would also know that may not be the best destination for families during prime college spring break!
3. Shop online or at the airport
Travel sites like Trivago, Expedia, and Travelocity well help you find the best bang for your buck when it comes to vacationing. These sites scour airline prices, hotels, car rentals and more to make sure you get the best deal. Price guarantees are often available when many of these sites.
You can always purchase airfare a lot cheaper at the airport.
4. Change your dates
Do you have to leave on a certain date? If not, be flexible and save by taking flights on different departure and return dates or varying your time just a bit to trim off some costs. Knowing that popular destination cities have conventions and events year round, it might save you a some to move your trip a few days forward or back. If you can, be flexible with your dates to save!
5. Shop with the airline directly
Once you check online for prices, call the airline directly or check their website. Sometimes the prices are lower when you simply go to the company’s website. If you do check multiple times, clear your browser cache. Prices have been known to sneak up on some sites after viewing many times.
6. Get to the airport!
Don’t be late! Re-booking flights can be costly and inconvenient. If you chose to take a flight away from your hometown, be sure to allow enough drive time. Larger airports can have longer security lines. Some airlines do allow you to pay a nominal fee for priority boarding. Check it out as it may be worth it to save you time in long lines!
Never thought of booking a flight directly from the airport. I wanna travel alot more this year but budgeting for that (along with life in general) has made me pause on it. I’m gonna give some of these a try!
Flexibility has definitely been key in finding inexpensive airfare for me. Its amazing how altering my dates by one day has made a difference of hundreds in the price.
I’m typically pretty flexible when it comes to dates and also which airport I will leave from. If the price is right, I have no problem shooting down to Austin or Houston if I am saving more than $150-200. Flexiblity is key.
I prefer to shop online for tickets as they are less expensive and if I should make an upgrade to my ticket I would do it at the airport where I get a less reasonable price.
I’ve never used a travel agent, but I’ve definitely saved money flying out of Jersey vs New York (And I love 10-15 min from JFK & LGA). I’m always flexible when it comes to picking vacation days. The only time I have “set dates” is for family and group trips.
I’m the kind to book my flight pretty close to departure date. Part of that is because some of my travels are last minute. Great advice, I’ll probably look into working with a travel agent next time.
I need all of the tips. I want to fly my family of four to Miami and the prices make me sad. I’m going to try it again because I really want to go on this trip.
I typically don’t use travel agents for flights because I’ve always been able to find a better deal. You listed some good ones but there are lots more. I’m a huge fan of Google flights, Priceline, Skyscanner, and Hopper.
I usually shop for airfare tickets online and I start shopping for tickets as early as possible. These tips will come in handy because I’m all about saving money.
We are traveling in August so these post came out just in time! Flying especially in August is super expensive so these tips are useful in helping us save some money!
I honestly thought travel agents were a thing of the past so your tip made me curious. I’m going to look into how to use travel agents more based upon this suggestion. I haven’t been particularly happy with the online pricing services last few times I’ve used them.
These are great tips for saving money on airfare. Over the past two years I’ve been able to go on 17 different trips (3 being international) mainly due to budgeting and having flexibility for departure and arrival cities and dates!
I honestly didn’t know there were still travel agents. I kind of figured that job had fizzled out since people mainly book online. But I can see where it would be so much better to hire a travel agent to book an overseas trip or something.
We usually take advantage of ticket/seat sales, booking months before the actual flight. You won’t believe how cheap those seats are! I will look into your other tips and see how I can save even more on my next vacation.
As a frequent flyer, I think the best way to save from airfare is to book early. I usually book 6 months before traveling. And I’m grateful that we have a budget airline in the Philippines and couple of times I have availed their Piso fare or one peso fare promo. 🙂
queenthrifty.com 
Great advice
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Never thought of booking a flight directly from the airport. I wanna travel alot more this year but budgeting for that (along with life in general) has made me pause on it. I’m gonna give some of these a try!
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I always use a travel agent!! They always know when to buy or use their own discount codes.
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Flexibility has definitely been key in finding inexpensive airfare for me. Its amazing how altering my dates by one day has made a difference of hundreds in the price.
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Thanks for the awesome tips! I use hotwire all the time for hotels!! I will use these flight tips!
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I’m typically pretty flexible when it comes to dates and also which airport I will leave from. If the price is right, I have no problem shooting down to Austin or Houston if I am saving more than $150-200. Flexiblity is key.
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I prefer to shop online for tickets as they are less expensive and if I should make an upgrade to my ticket I would do it at the airport where I get a less reasonable price.
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Great tips.Will be sure to take into consideration next time I plan on travelling .
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I’ve never used a travel agent, but I’ve definitely saved money flying out of Jersey vs New York (And I love 10-15 min from JFK & LGA). I’m always flexible when it comes to picking vacation days. The only time I have “set dates” is for family and group trips.
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I’m the kind to book my flight pretty close to departure date. Part of that is because some of my travels are last minute. Great advice, I’ll probably look into working with a travel agent next time.
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I always book months in advance. Thanks stopping by and hopefully I’m the future you can plan in advance and save a little $
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I need all of the tips. I want to fly my family of four to Miami and the prices make me sad. I’m going to try it again because I really want to go on this trip.
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I typically don’t use travel agents for flights because I’ve always been able to find a better deal. You listed some good ones but there are lots more. I’m a huge fan of Google flights, Priceline, Skyscanner, and Hopper.
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I never knew about booking flights while at the actual airport. I just recently got TSA pre-check and it is everything (no idea why I waited so long).
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These are some great sounding ideas air fare can be so expensive so it is always great to try and save a few pennies.
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I usually shop for airfare tickets online and I start shopping for tickets as early as possible. These tips will come in handy because I’m all about saving money.
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We always arrive early to have plenty of time to get checked through. Plan plenty of time in China are something happens
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We are traveling in August so these post came out just in time! Flying especially in August is super expensive so these tips are useful in helping us save some money!
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Changing your dates is a big one. If you can be flexible about when you fly, you can save a lot of money!
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I always use a travel agent when I am going somewhere new. I like to look for the cheapest flight I can so I save some money.
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I honestly thought travel agents were a thing of the past so your tip made me curious. I’m going to look into how to use travel agents more based upon this suggestion. I haven’t been particularly happy with the online pricing services last few times I’ve used them.
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These are great tips for saving money on airfare. Over the past two years I’ve been able to go on 17 different trips (3 being international) mainly due to budgeting and having flexibility for departure and arrival cities and dates!
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These are great tips! I don’t usually fly often, but when I do, I will remember your tips.
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Yes, some tips surely for the new travelers. Airfares can trick us sometimes, so, yes, this was an informative article all in all. 🙂
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I honestly didn’t know there were still travel agents. I kind of figured that job had fizzled out since people mainly book online. But I can see where it would be so much better to hire a travel agent to book an overseas trip or something.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We usually take advantage of ticket/seat sales, booking months before the actual flight. You won’t believe how cheap those seats are! I will look into your other tips and see how I can save even more on my next vacation.
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As a frequent flyer, I think the best way to save from airfare is to book early. I usually book 6 months before traveling. And I’m grateful that we have a budget airline in the Philippines and couple of times I have availed their Piso fare or one peso fare promo. 🙂
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I can rarely be flexible with my dates which is the reason I rarely find great deals. However, when I can, I totally do!
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This is great a love to save my coins on airfare so I can spend my money on taking in the city!!!
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