How to get a good deal on an airline ticket?

C

Clockworks

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Aug 23, 2004
Messages
5,269
I was wondering how do I find a good deal on an airline ticket? Is there such a thing as Bing Cashback for airline tickets or coupons of some sort? I want to go to Portland (PDX) from Milwaukee (MKE) during Spring Break.
 
When you search on sites such as travelocity make sure you select the flexible dates option. When I flew to LA the past time, I saved $40 by going a day earlier and coming back a day earlier. So my trip was still the length of time I originally wanted. They also allow you to search nearby airports, and for me being in the DC area where we have 3 in pretty close proximity, this helps a lot.
 
What about tickets to Japan? Last year it was ~$800 round trip in June, this year its like $1300 .. :\
 
Some of these links are dead but many of them offer some amazing deals, particularly the airfare compare sites that show how to get the cheapest fare to a destination using last minute tickets or alternate airports/routes. There are also sites that show special offers for people who fly on Thursday instead of Friday, Monday return instead of Sunday, etc...

http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/travel-discussion/312271/
 
I like www.travelzoo.com

I've signed up for their mailer and get an email now and then with some really nice deals on airfare, vacation packages, hotels etc...

It's how I got my $10 each way tickets on Airbus from NC to Boston, MA. As well as hotel roomrates @ $73 a night for Sheraton, Park Plaza etc in downtown Boston.
 
Remember to check out Kayak.com, Sidestep.com and other such sites. Also, my photographer friend constantly uses Kayak Buzz (i think) where he will put in a destination and given timeframe and it will come up with some of the best deals. You can always try the PriceLine Negotiator too where you can "bargain" for a price. Something we always do is look LATE at night for some reason the deals are always better then, ie. looked for tickets from Reno to Denver for a couple days during the day (different times) and always was getting around $500 round trip.... look at like midnight at the end of the week and found tickets for $350, same flights just cheaper.
 
farecompare.com is a good place to look. They are known to notify readers of deals before they're available.

Of course it also depends where you live. If you live on the East coast, West coast or, to a lesser degree, Chicago, you can find very good deals overseas. If you can find a consolidator you can get decent deals too.
 
timing is important too.

Just buying off an airline's website far off prices are initially high. Then as they worry about filling the plane, prices drop for a while. Then about 3-4 weeks before they start going up again. Because if you're making a reservation 3-4 wks out or less, you probably have to travel.

That 3-4 week number probably varies depending on the kind of flight, though.
 
I tend to save more if I book the flight in advance. The more days before the more I save. I also don't travel as often so tread carefully :)
 
Enlightened Viet said:
I tend to save more if I book the flight in advance. The more days before the more I save. I also don't travel as often so tread carefully :)
Click to expand...

Only up to a point. In most cases, if you book a flight 6 months out, you will not get the best price. Farecompare use to have historical charts that showed how prices varied for a given day (or perhaps month). I don't know if htey still have that or not.
 
Yeah, it's hard to find, but there definitely seems to be a sweet spot when it comes to prices. lol, of course you generally don't find the sweet spot until the prices jump up overnight. You then know that you should have made reservations the day before.
 
For tickets to Japan, you want to use Japanese distributors like JTB and HIS. They pretty much always have the absolute best prices.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top