Tips For Finding A Great Price on Airfare
When you’re looking to make a flight reservation, you want to get the best deal possible. Lots of factors go into the price of a flight – the competition on the route, the demand for that particular route, and the number of seats already filled, among other things. Some factors are out of your control or may change in ways that you can’t predict. Fortunately, there are several ways to get a great price on your flight for your next trip.
Buy Early
Unless your plans are incredibly flexible with date, time, and even destination, buying early is the best way to ensure that you get the best price on your flight reservation. As seats fill up, airlines get more confident that the flight will eventually be full, and so they incrementally raise the price of a seat, thus causing your airfare to be more expensive. Buying an airline ticket early means you’ll be more likely to get a sale fare, as airlines often have sales when they’ve got a lot of open seats.
Bundle Airfare with Hotel
One way to get a great price on airfare is to purchase it in a package deal along with your hotel. Many times, you can save hundreds of dollars by buying your hotel and airfare together. It’s like getting several nights in a hotel for free in addition to getting a very good deal on a flight.
Be Flexible
Sometimes it’s not an option, but if possible, be flexible with the date and time you fly, and even the airport you fly from if you live in an area with several different airports. Leaving on your vacation a day early by flying on a Thursday, rather than a Friday, could save you several hundred dollars, just as returning on a Monday rather than a Sunday could result in substantial savings.
Set Up Mobile or Email Alerts
Many websites nowadays, such as Kayak.com, will send you an alert on your phone or via email to let you know when a flight you’re interested in falls below a certain price threshold. You can set the alert to check certain routes, dates, times, and prices. For example, you could ask that you be alerted whenever the price of airfare between New York and London falls below $800 on May 10th, allowing you to snag a great deal.