Buying that ticket outta here…
I’m sure that if you’ve ever made a major investment of your own time and money purchasing a plane ticket that you’ll know all the things I’m about to suggest. However, if you have not, then let me provide some great suggestions so that you can make sure you find the absolutel cheapest deal in air travel, domestic AND international.
Since it’s the most popular of search engines, we’re going to use Travelocity.com as our example. There are many others such as Expedia, Orbitx, CheapTickets, etc. Having provided you with other options, I have found that travelocity usually does have the rock bottom prices for flights, and the most options in searching.
OPTION #1: Search EXACT Dates
- If you search exact dates, be wary that you may not be searching for the cheapest deal. Exact dates are ticky, but if your schedule is specific, then there’s no other way around it.
OPTION #2: Search FLEXIBLE Dates
- This is what I have found to be the way to get the cheapest deal. It after entering your departure location and destination, click on the FLEXIBLE DATES option. You can choose the month in which you are hoping to depart & arrive at your destination. This will bring up the cheapest flight between ALL dates in the month you chose.
OPTION #3: Search with +/- 1, 2 or 3 Days
- I have found this to be an excellent way to see your options spread out before you. If you are a visual person, try this search. Choose your departure & arrival locales, pick the dates you want, then click on the +/- day. I tend to always search for 3 days give or take. When your search returns, the info will be in the form of a graph/spreadsheet that lines up all options possible. For a search of 3 days give or take, you will end up getting the pricing for 49 different travel combinations around the exact dates you had requested. It’s the best option to see all choices without doing individual searches again and again and again.
There are good deals to be found, but you have to search for them. Try different combinations before you jump off the handle and buy the ticket that you feel MIGHT be your only option.
Good Luck!