How To Save Money On Airfare
Frustratingly, airlines always seem to flip flop on flight prices. It isn’t fair: you buy a roundtrip ticket to New York and the following week it’s listed $100 less than what you already paid. Having encountered this problem before, making me pull my hair out with irritation, I now want to be one step ahead of those sneaky airlines. Since I impulsively bought a ticket for the Pitchfork Music Festival held in Chicago, Illinois during July, I am now scouring different websites to find the cheapest roundtrip flight I can get.
Upon my price quotes today (Sunday at around noon) from Virgin America, United, Southwest, and American airlines, Southwest was cheapest at around $225 and United and American tied for most expensive at around $450. Stumped, I decided to do a bit of research on how to save more money on flights. Here are a few helpful tips and things to consider that I’ll be keeping in mind indefinitely!
- 8 weeks ahead on Tuesdays at 3PM EST
According to Scott McCartney of the Wall Street Journal, “Travel experts have long said Tuesday is when sales are most often in place.” In McCartney’s article, he says prices constantly fluctuate, but many sales are launched by as much as 25% on Monday nights. By Tuesday afternoon, the sale prices are matched by other airlines therefore providing flyers with the best possible price. But by as early as Thursday, sales have expired leaving fares skyrocketing.
Another thing to consider in your time frame is the eight week rule. For a long time, many travelers have said 8 weeks ahead of departure is ideally when you should purchase your ticket. It still holds true today. It’s not too close or too far away from your trip, so you won’t run into overly frequent fluctuation or over-inflated prices.
- Consider the flexibility of your trip (Peak and non-peak days)
What can influence your fare even more than the day you buy your ticket is the day you depart. If your plans are a bit flexible, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Saturday are the best days to travel because prices are typically far below Monday, Friday, or Sunday travel. The reason being because most flights are on Mondays, Fridays, and Sundays which result in higher prices. Sales and discounts are also often times bigger on off-peak days, which are another reason to leave mid-week or on Saturdays.
- Seat availability/inventory
If cheap seats sell out on a certain flight, then expect the prices of other seats to increase. According to airline pricing executives, fare analysts may decide later to offer more seats at cheaper prices. If you find that the cheapest seats have sold out, it’s best to wait it out. Keep in mind that Monday is the busiest day for fare changes so some seats that are still available may be made cheaper later.
- Social Networking deals
Airlines networking online through Twitter or Facebook announce sales instantly to potential buyers and frequent fliers. Discounts and sales are being tweeted and updated hourly to customers and only last a certain period of time, so staying posted is another safe bet to scoring a cheap deal.
Though I travel more often than most, I only fly once, twice, maybe thrice times a year. If only I was some kind of big time business exec. or touring musician, I’d be sure to rack up some frequent flyer points (If you fly all the time, be sure to check out any deals with any major credit cards you may have and various airlines, you may be able to score a free trip)! But alas, I am not anything of the sort, so for regular Joe Schmoes like me, these are the main methods to reducing the cost of a plane ticket. I’m definitely taking these tips into account when buying my ticket to Chicago this summer!
