What’s Your Best Hack for Finding Cheap Flights?

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Drewping_@reddit

Honestly getting a credit card with an airline has saved us so much on flights. My wife and I put pretty much all our purchases on our American Airline card and at least once per year we’re able to cash out our miles to make some ridiculously cheap flights. Last year we flew Madrid - the west coast USA for $50 a person. Plus now we’re “gold members” or whatever so we always get free checked bags, preferred seating, and priority boarding.

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ForgotPassAgain007@reddit

Alaska airline has a companion fare benefit. Once a year you buy one ticket and get one for just the tax n fees, about 50 to 100. This is in addition to earning miles with them

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PetalHotties@reddit

Thanks for that!

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ifthisisit_@reddit

Wow that’s a steal! Which one do you have?

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Drewping_@reddit

Just their basic card - “platinum select”, I think. I’ve never tried a card with any other airline, so I’m not sure how it compares with similar cards for other airlines. It was free for the first year and then $99 each year after.

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ifthisisit_@reddit

Thanks for the info! I have been looking at options recently. Do you also get lounge access?

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jlemien@reddit

Being flexibility and doing some exploring/research are the best approaches.

Being flexible with day, time, and destination. Rather than searching from Chicago to Paris on Friday evening, instead search for from anywhere in the Midwest to anywhere in western Europe at any time within the next six months. The more selective/picky you are, the more you should expect to pay (in general).
Using a search tool like Matrix or Google Flights (both of which show multiple options and allow you to filter and rank according to a variety of criteria).
Use airline rewards (or similar) credit cards.

There are a handful of websites and email newsletters that share special deals, but those are rarely feasible unless you have 100% flexibility in your schedule, and even then they only depart from certain cities. Thus, if you live in New York city and are retired then you can probably take advantage of those deals. If you live in Des Moines and work as a teacher, then there will probably never be any special deals that are accessible to you.

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Vientulio_@reddit

Azair for Europe is great if you don't mind layovers, bit old school, but does the thing. Skyscanner also works time to time

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phoenixchimera@reddit

can you share some of the sites/newsletters?

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jlemien@reddit

Jack's Flight Club and Going™ | Formerly Scott's Cheap Flights are what popup when I searched Google.

Tickets cannot be purchased directly from Matrix. Use Matrix to see what flights meet your criteria, then purchase the ticket from somewhere else. I've used Matrix to find the information for a flight, then I purchase that flight directly from the carrier (or from a booking service like Kayak, Expedia, Skyscanner, etc.).

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explorefordays@reddit

I always use the “everywhere” feature on Skyscanner. I look at dates I want to book a holiday and then search “London” to “everywhere” and it’ll list all the flight destinations for your chosen dates, starting with the cheapest.

I then usually pick my trips based on what locations are cheap at the time. I did 3 days in Gdańsk in Poland as flights were £20 return at the time. You can also see which is the cheapest international flight if you fancy going a little further!

I’ve found flights from London to New York for £390 in May which I think is soo cheap.

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Gonzo_B@reddit

Use hubs.

Instead of flying round-trip toThailand, for example, fly round-trip to the major hub city of Hong Kong. It will be cheaper. From there, round-trip flights across the region are very cheap. I was able to see HK, Thailand, Taiwan, Australia, and New Zealand this way—cheaper than just flying to any two of those destinations from the US.

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AItinerant@reddit

Bangkok is bigger and cheaper than Hong Kong though?

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cev2002@reddit

That's not a great example. Bangkok tends to be one of the cheapest options in Asia.

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jeniberenjena@reddit

Ticket prices seem to drop lowest on Tuesdays if you are tracking a fare, check the price on a Tuesday

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countytime69@reddit

Go off season, got a flight and cheap hotels because I went to Italy in Feb. Also, it helps if your flexible to go when you find a cheap fight. I never have a checked bag vacuum sealer bags in carry-on on bag.

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Throw_Me_Away_1738@reddit

What bags do you use? I couldn't imagine asking a hotel to bring their vacuum to you...

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sc12345sc@reddit

I have some specifically for carry-ons that use a double valve system instead of a vacuum seal. You can sit on them or roll them to squeeze out all the air, no vacuum required. They aren't nearly as compact as my actual vacuum seal bags, but they definitely get the job done. I don't remember the brand now, but I can check later.

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juststupidthings@reddit

Would love to know! I onebag and use grocery bags in packing cubes and push the air out lol

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sc12345sc@reddit

Mine are the brand Hibag!

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tasteless@reddit

married a flight attendant. as long as we don't get a divorce it will work pretty well.

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18SoCal@reddit

hopper app seems pretty cool

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tsunamiev@reddit

Used this Aug 2022 for trip to Barcelona, Madrid, Ibiza, Italy then France for $700

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betterme2610@reddit

I use my cc for everything and pay off monthly. Zero cc debt or it negates the point. Usually I have found the rates for buying flights through my cc (Chase) are slightly higher than buying on the airlines website. Which means I shop both and make a determination. Typically I buy one flight whole with points, and one separately slightly cheaper through the airlines website. This is my method when doing round trips to a destination at a particular time (seeing family) etc. sky scanner when just looking for anywhere

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coreyosb@reddit

Be flexible with your origin/destination airports when possible and reasonable. You can use Google Flights to search for the most sensible combination.

IE: I lived in Chicago and would fly home to South FL often. I would search with an origin of ORD/MDW and destination of PBI/FLL. I didn’t mind leaving from either Chicago airport but I would always prefer arriving at PBI because of distance to my final destination. However, PBI was routinely hundreds of dollars more, so I’d often go to FLL and still save a ton after backtracking north to my final destination.

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misterfistyersister@reddit

Scott’s Cheap Flights.

He started on Reddit a long time ago, posting mistake fares by airlines. Now it’s bigger, but the same premise.

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Happy_Cartoonist8796@reddit

Do you pay a yearly fee or use the free version?

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misterfistyersister@reddit

I’ve been using it long enough that I’m grandfathered into the old fee scale. But yes, I pay a fee.

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vertin1@reddit

skiplagged and skyscanner

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Relevant-Ad8794@reddit

Affirm

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Mentha1999@reddit

I use Kayak Explore. Find cheap option/route and go there for vacation.

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Primary_Breadfruit91@reddit

Wish they’d add business class to the search parameters.

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pureroganjosh@reddit

Not really for looking for flights but a top non the less, Book as far in advanced as possible.

The amount of people who think they'll get a better deal waiting is unreal.

I flew UK to Indonesia return in high season (December ) for £1000

I checked the price of that flight a month before I went out of curiosity, same flight, same airline, same times but £2400 cost.

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Aggravated_Seamonkey@reddit

Momondo.com, I learned about it in an AMA with Scott from Scott's cheap flights. I've found great deals on this site, and it is the only one I use now.

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startupdojo@reddit

The best hack is to monitor the locations you want to go to so that you know how much the flights cost, off and on season. So many people think that they got a good deal on flights when in reality, those flights are a dime a dozen.

As for off season... there is a reason why it is called the off season. You risk crap weather, things being closed, etc. So yeah... it's cheaper. You have to think why you want to go somewhere. You will not get great hikes or vistas in Iceland in December - even though flights are dirt cheap and accommodations are cheaper also.

If you have some foresight, the best thing to do is to research how many airline miles you need to get to your destination, and then look at what credit card signup bonuses will get you the necessary miles. 2 credit card signups will get you almost anywhere, but you have to research closely - you will be on the hook for some fees and taxes and some are not that low either...

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FirefighterSlow9495@reddit

Skyscanner.com or google flights

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cwhitel@reddit

Just read the title but not the post? Alright now

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wes7946@reddit

https://www.kiwi.com/en/ is a great resource for dirt cheap flights.

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Eternitywaiting@reddit

I chose Kiwi for multi-destination trip spaced over 3 months, four flights. I read Kiwi was good for keeping costs down for that type itinerary. There were some cons to Kiwi, but can’t recall what they were. It worked out well for us though.

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kenlin@reddit

kiwi's 'hacks' can cause people problems

self-transfer (separate flights, not one itinerary, so delays can leave you stranded)
airport-transfer (have to make your way from one airport to another on your layover)
extreme layovers

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Eternitywaiting@reddit

Some of that sounds familiar. I’m sure you’re right. Fortunately we didn’t have any glitches with departing/arriving, our flights were spaced 4 weeks apart.. but I was nervous each flight based on the things you just described. We’re flying more now so am interested in all opinions & experience. Thanks 😊

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trailtwist@reddit

Use skyscanner/google flights to get a general idea then follow up on the airlines sites, sign up for newsletters, follow on social media etc.

In some cases the aggregators won't pick up some small micro airlines so if you want to dig deeper, check the arrival/departure page for your airport and see if there are any brands you are missing.

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