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October 15, 2019

8 ways to ALWAYS finding the best flight deal

Hey ConvenienceBigs,

One of my most frequently asked questions is how to save money on plane tickets.

"Matt, I want to go to ____ but flights are too expensive! What do I do?"

When flights represent the biggest part of your trip expenses, finding that hidden deal is more important than any other part of your trip. Luckily, there are many ways to avoid being the person on the flight who paid the most.

Every day, the airlines release thousands of killer deals — from mistakenly published cheap fares to normal deals to slashed prices to compete with another airline. I've seen tickets to Asia from the U.S. as little $400 round trip! Cheap fares are out there if you know how to find them.

The below principles work no matter where you are from in the world:


1. Ignore the myths

The first thing to know about finding a cheap flight is that there is no magic bullet or one secret ninja trick to doing so. There are a lot of myths online about how to find cheap flights. Here are the most common that are 100% not true:

  • It is NOT cheaper to buy airfare on a Tuesday.
  • There is NO evidence that searching incognito leads to cheaper deals.
  • There is NO exact date or specific time period in which to book your airfare.
  • You can't predict airline prices and websites that do are basically taking an educated (but probably wrong) guess.

Airlines used advanced computer and pricing algorithms to determine prices and run sales based on the time of the year, passenger demand, weather, major events/festivals, time of day, competitor prices, and much more. Those old "tricks" don't work anymore. The system is too smart.

And anyone who is telling you doesn't know what they are talking about!


2. Be Flexible with Your Travel Dates

If you are not flexible with the dates you want to fly, you will never be able to find a cheap flight.

Airline ticket prices vary depending on the day of the week, time of year, and upcoming holidays, such as Christmas, New Year's Eve, Thanksgiving, or the Fourth of July. August is a big month for traveling around Europe so airline tickets tend to be higher that month. Everyone wants to go to Thailand in December and January. If you zig when others zag, you are going to find better deals.

Moreover, it's always cheaper to fly during the middle of the week than on a weekend, because most people travel on the weekends and airlines hike their prices then. Prices are also cheaper if you fly after a major holiday as are early-morning or late-night flights are cheaper because fewer people want to travel then (who wants to wake up early?!).


3. Be Flexible with Your Destination

If you can't be flexible when you fly, at least be flexible with where you fly. It's best to be both, but if you really want to save the most money on a flight, you should at least do one! Airline search engines have made it really easy to search the entire world to find the cheapest ticket — you no longer have to search manually. While Kayak offers the "Explore" tool that allows you to put in your home airport and see a map of the world with all the flights on it, Google Flights also has a similar - and better - tool to use.


4. Fly Budget Airlines

Years ago, if you wanted to fly between continents, you were stuck with traditional expensive airlines (i.e. Lufthansa, Thai, JAL, American, British, Qantas, etc). That's no longer true. Budget airlines now service many long-haul routes, making it possible to bounce around the world for very little money. Norwegian Airlines allows you to fly to/from Europe and Bangkok for about $250 each way. Norweigan Air has introduced cheap fares to and from the United States. Air Asia offers crazy-cheap deals around Asia, Hawaii, and Australia for as little as $100 each way.

You get fewer perks on these airlines, but you can save a bundle in ticket costs.

Just watch out for fees. Budget airlines charge fees for checked bags, carry-ons, printing your boarding pass, using a credit card, and anything else they can get away with. Be sure to add up the cost of the ticket AND the fees to make sure that the price is lower than a larger carrier.


5. Remember, Not All Search Engines Are Equal!

You need to search multiple websites as you can in order to ensure you are leaving no stone unturned. Many search sites don't list budget carriers because those airlines don't want to pay a booking commission while others don't list booking sites that aren't in English! Then some only feed prices directly from airlines.

You aren't going to find AirAsia, Ryanair, or most other budget airlines on large sites like Kayak, Expedia, or Orbitz. U.S. booking sites also tend to not have the obscure foreign airlines that you see on international sites like Skyscanner or Momondo.

There is no perfect airline search engine. Even the best have their faults. That said I have a few favorites website I always start with best they tend to be consistently the best websites to find a cheap flight:


6. Take Advantage of Student Discounts

If you are a student, there are many discounts available to you. You can find flexible student tickets on websites like STA and at agency stores. I used it for a $400 ticket from Athens to Bangkok when normal prices were around $600. Companies:

Even if you aren't a student, these companies offer regular flight deals and are worth checking out.


7. Travel Hack!

This is the best way to get cheap flights..because it gives you free flights. Airline rewards programs are a great way to get free flights, free upgrades, and free companion tickets.

Points = free flights.

As George Clooney's character said in Up in the Air, "I don't do anything if it doesn't benefit my miles account."

Think like that.

Through credit card sign up bonuses, every day spending, contests, online promotions, bonus points, and so much more, you can easily gain hundreds of thousands of points per year without ever spending extra money!

It's how I manage to fly myself, my team, and my family around so often!

To start earning points and miles that you can use toward free travel today, check my book The Ultimate Guide to Travel Hacking. It shows you exactly how to take money out of the travel equation and frequent flier programs to get free flights and hotel rooms.

8. Don't search for multiple tickets

Don't search for or buy multiple tickets in a single purchase. Airlines always show the highest ticket price/fare class in a group of tickets. For example, if you are a family of four and searching for four seats, the airline will find four seats together and show your fare based on the highest ticket class (which also means price). So if seat A is $200, seats B and C are $300, and seat D is $400, it will price those tickets as $400 each instead of adding up the individual ticket prices. Therefore, always search for tickets as a single person. Afterwards, in the checkout process, you can pick your seats so you and your family are sitting together.


So where do I search for my flights?

I always begin all my flight searches with Momondo.

Research has shown they return the cheapest flights 92% of the time. Out of all the companies I've mentioned, it is by far my favorite because it searches the little websites, airlines, and routes no one else does. I start there and suggest you do too.



****

I hope that helps demystify finding cheap tickets. If you have any questions, reply to this email and ask me. I'm here to help get you cheap flights and travel more!

Sincerely,

Nomadic Matt

P.S. - If you want to know how this all gets put into action, here are my 5 simple steps for booking a flight.

P.P.S. - Leaving soon? Use the links below to book your trip:

I personally use all these companies listed (here or on the resource page) in my own travels and, by booking through these links, the small commission we earn helps us keep the content up to date, run events, create guides, and keep the website community supported.



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