Have you ever had a moment where you made the decision to travel somewhere, checked out the flight prices to go there, saw that it was not affordable, and then sadly close out of the browser?

Unfortunately, this has happened to many of us. The cost to travel over the past few years have skyrocketed (no pun intended) – and they are about to get more expensive. However, as a person who travels quite frequently, I am here to help you save some money before you book a flight. 🙂 Because travelling doesn’t have be an expensive hobby. And you don’t have to shell out thousands upon thousands of dollars just to explore the world.

Below are a few ways you can cut how much you spend on a flight. Just a reminder though, this article is mainly focused on saving on flight fares, not on accommodations (hotels and meals). This is everything I wish I knew before I started travelling. And I hope this list helps you out!

Please note: this post may/may not contain affiliate links. To read more details, please see this disclosure.

~ Travel Hacks That Will Help You Save Money For a Flight ~

• If you’re flexible – book your trip during a time when less people are traveling.

If you are looking to travel during the summer months (June-August) or Holiday season (Thanksgiving, Christmas time, Memorial Day, etc), chances are your flight will be much more expensive than if you were to travel during what is called the “off season” (or, less popular months). Why? It’s all about supply and demand – everybodyyy is travelling at that time, and most likely they will bring along travel companions (aka family or friends). Therefore, people are willing to shell out huge sums of money to travel. Airlines of course are aware of this, and will likely charge a price that is much more expensive than any other time of the year, while still offering a price that is competitive against other airlines.

So all in all – try to travel during a time when everybody else is not travelling. Also, just a heads up – make sure you do some research on the country/area before you book that flight. If you spot a flight that is cheaper than normal, there might be a reason why the price is lower than usual (climate factors, such as rainy season or hurricane season, is a common reason).

• Use Ebates to receive cash back when booking a flight

This is possibly my number 1 tip when it comes to saving money on ANY site on the internet, period. Ebates is a rewards program that gives you cash back (on eligible sites) once you make a purchase online. 

It works like this – you go on a website, activate Ebates (using the browser’s extension, which you have to install), then make a purchase. Then, you’ll receive a certain % of cash back for that purchase either via Paypal or through a check in the mail. And you don’t have to pay any extra fees – it’s literally free money.

Ebates offers cash back for a lot of travel sites such as Expedia, Marriott Hotels, Holiday Inn, and more. Not only that, but they will also notify you if they’re any current coupons that you can apply to your order so that you can save even more money.

If you want, you can automatically get $10 if you sign up using this link!

• Use your credit card’s points/miles to save money when booking your flight

They’re plenty of different credit cards that reward you points or miles for every purchase you make. But first things first, if you don’t have a travel credit card then read this article to see if you really need one.

If you have a favorite airline that you always fly with, then you can apply for their travel reward credit card. Since I’m more flexible with my airline choice, I currently use a credit card that just gives me points to use on travel. My credit card of choice right now is the  Chase Sapphire Preferred, which I really like and fits my needs. So for every dollar I spend on travel (including Lyfts/Ubers/train or bus tickets, etc) or food, I get 2x the points, and everything else counts as 1 point. There’s also the more advance version of this credit card – the Chase Sapphire Reserved – that offers more benefits, but is more expensive. I figured I would start out small and then upgrade when need be. Simple enough for me.

However, do not get too carried away with credit cards. Always remember your limits and do not overspend. We’re trying to save money to travel, after all!

• Compare flights on 3rd party search engines, and THEN book directly on the airline’s site.

By third party sites, I’m talking about Google Flights, Momondo, Skyscanner, Kayak, etc. They are all great for finding the cheapest flights out there however there are a few issues you might run into. For instance,you might have to pay an extra fee when you book your flight on their site. Also, you might find flights on the airline’s site that were not listed on the 3rd party search site (this happened to me a handful of times). And, if you book your ticket on a third party site and need to exchange it in the future, it can be a bit more difficult to do so.

• In addition to the previous point, check airlines that are NOT listed on 3rd party booking sites.

Did you know that sites like Google Flights and Expedia do not show you all of your flight options for your trip? Due to contract agreements, there are a few airlines that choose not to include their flights on 3rd party sites. In order to see their fares, you will have to go directly on to their site. So you might be missing out on cheaper flights! Two airlines that I know (off the top of my head) are excluded from most (or all) 3rd party booking sites are:

1. 1. Southwest – slowly starting to become my favorite airline. Their flights are usually inexpensive and your first two bags that you check in are free.
   2. Allegiant – a low budget airline that mainly operates in the US. However, the amount of flights on their site are very limited

If you know any more, let me know in the comments below 🙂

• Book your flight in advance, but not too far out.

So sometimes it’s not a good idea to book a flight way too far in advance. Why? In order to fill up flights, sometimes airlines would decrease the price for that flight a few weeks before hand. Or, they would have a special sale that would lower the prices considerably. There have been plenty of times when I would look for flights and almost book one, check back about a few weeks later, and one of the more expensive flights (with a better arrival/departure time) had became more affordable.

I’d suggest using this tool from Cheapoair to see how far in advance you should book your flight in order to get the lowest fare.

• Set alerts that track fare prices

You can do this by using any 3rd party booking site. Here are a few options that I personally use:

1. 1. Google flights – mainly to track if a flight I’m watching has a price drop
   2. Kayak – to receive an alert if they’re any hacker fares (or cheaper one-way tickets)
   3. Airfarewatchdog – you type in where you want to go, and the site will send an alert to your email whenever there has been a price drop for that destination at any time of the year. This is perfect for those who want to go to a specific destination, but are flexible to travel at anytime.
   4. Hopper – an app that is similar to airfarewatchdog, except on mobile and you can set a date. The app also tells you whether you should purchase the flight now or wait for a price drop.

However, please note – these sites will not tell you when flights via Southwest or Allegiant have a price drop 🙁 You will have to manually go on to Southwest’s or Allegiant’s site and manually check out the fares.

• Create a travel account on each airline’s website; earn miles while you travel

Okay so this is a piece of advice that I’m surprised not many people know about. Simply put – if you create an account before booking a flight on an airline’s site (such as United Mileageplus or Delta SkyMiles), and then take a flight with that airline, you can rack up miles/points for future trips. And the thing is, it does not cost you an extra penny to create an account. (Oh and also – I’m not referring to signing up for a credit card. This will not affect your credit in any way.)

Also just a heads up – the site will only count the miles from flights you have taken after you’ve created an account. So you cannot claim any miles from trips previous to when you made an account.

Also, it’s pretty tough to rack up miles. You can fly to the other side of the world, and still not have enough miles to pay for a domestic flight with the same airline. Which leads to my next point….

• Earn air miles by using Lyft

Do you use Lyft? Well, if you sign up for a Delta or Jetblue account, and link it to your Lyft account, then you can earn miles every time you ride with Lyft! (with Jetblue, you only earn points when you drive to and from an airport though). And as mentioned in the previous point, it’s completely free to create a rewards account for an airline.

Here’s the link for those who have a Delta Skymiles account:  https://www.deltalyft.com/

And here’s a link for those who have a Jetblue account:  https://www.lyft.com/jetblue/first You will earn 30 TrueBlue points for every Lyft, Lyft Plus or Lyft Premier ride you take to and from an airport.

(Oh and ps – yes, you can link both accounts at the same time!)

• Watch out for sales or price drops on Tuesdays

Did you know that most airlines launch their sales on Monday evenings? As a result, Tuesday is usually known as the best day to book a flight (unless it’s during the holiday season, of course).

• Check out other options besides flying.

You don’t always have to travel via plane to your next destination. There may be other options that are much cheaper – such as taking a bus, a train, or even a boat. While it might take a much more longer time to get there, at least you’ll be saving a lot of money instead of taking a flight.

• Search for one way tickets to and from your destination instead of a round trip ticket.

Sometimes, booking your destination ticket and return ticket separately is a much more feasible option than booking a round trip ticket all at once. This is especially true if you’re flying to a domestic location.

To find inexpensive one way tickets, I recommend using Kayak’s website and checking out their hacker fares.

• Get a refund if the price for your flight goes down after you’ve booked it.

Nothing is more frustrating than booking a flight online, only for the price to drop a few days after you book it. However, did you know that you can actually get a refund if this happens? In most cases, you’ll get the refund in a form of a travel voucher. If you would like more details on this, check out this USA Today article.

• Use Skiplagged to book a flight using the “hidden city” ticketing method

Now before I continue, let me just warn you – this is a more risky option. So risky, you can be charged to pay more or even kicked off a flight if airlines find out you’ve used it.

Yup, it’s that good.

So what exactly is Skiplagged? It is a site that helps you find cheaper flights by finding layovers that are your actual destination. PS – this is not illegal nor fraud in any way. Airlines hate it because they’re losing money with this method.

So here’s an example: let’s say you want to go from New York City to Nashville. You check flights from NYC to Nashville and the cheapest flight you can find is $300. However, let’s say there’s another flight that goes from New York City to New Orleans, with a layover in Nashville. And it’s much more cheaper – only $200! You book the $200 flight but instead of taking the second leg and going to New Orleans, you just get off at Nashville.

They’re two precautions you have to be careful of – first, do not check in a bag. At all. If you can, pay an extra fee to get on the plane earlier than others so that your bag will fit in the overhead bin (however, if the extra fee and the flight fare costs more than a one way ticket to the actual destination, well… that defeats the purpose).

Second, do not book round trip flights using this method. In some cases, if an airline finds that you did not go to all the way to the destination on the first part of your trip, then they will cancel your whole round trip. This article from Business Insider goes into more details into this method.

So in summary, here’s a complete list of ways to save money on flights:

1. 1. Be flexible – go when everybody else is not going.

   2. Use Ebates to get cash back and coupons on flights.

   3. Use your credit card’s rewards points to save money

   4. Find flights on 3rd party sites then book directly on the airline’s site

   5. Check out fares on airlines’ sites that are excluded from 3rd party sites

   6. Book your flight during the correct time period (rule of thumb: on average, 3-6 months in advance)

   7. Track your fares and watch out for price drops

   8. Create a flyers account and earn miles every time you ride with an airline

   9. Earn Delta or Jetblue miles/points when you use Lyft

   10. Watch out for sales on Tuesdays

   11. Check other options besides flying

   12. Book one way tickets one leg at a time

   13. If the ticket price for your flight drops, request a refund

   14. Use Skiplagged to find hidden city tickets

… and here’s a summary of App/Website recommendations:

1. 1. Skyscanner

   2. Kayak

   3. Google Flights

   4. Skiplagged

   5. Hopper

   6. Airfarewatchdog

And that is all! I hope this list helps you out. Happy saving!