Tips For Getting Cheap Airfare

Michael Bluejay writes:

#1 Be flexible with your travel dates.

If you insist on traveling on specific dates you'll pay a lot more. If you can leave or return even a day earlier or later you'll often save you a lot of money. Use Travelocity to find airfares for flexible travel dates. (Click "flexible dates".) Orbitz also has a flexible date finder but it's not quite as easy to use.

This is our #1 tip for getting the best airfare! Ignore it at your peril.

Sample fares we just checked¹:

• $444 - Insist on leaving on the 5th and returning on the 7th
• $333 -Willing to leave on the 5th and return on the 8th

If you're super-flexible and don't need to book right away, then try a fare watcher like My Yahoo to monitor prices on a daily basis, or sign up to get the airline's weekly email of discounted fares for unsold flights.

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#2 Book at least two weeks ahead, preferably three.

When you buy early you save. Book at least two weeks before your flight (preferably three), and at least 30 days for international flights.

Sample fares we just checked²:

• $444 - Booked 5 days in advance
• $261 - Booked 19 days in advance
• $192 - Booked 26 days in advance

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#3 Staying over Saturday no longer necessary.

So far as I can tell, the old conventional wisdom of staying over a Saturday night before returning is no longer necessary. I tried several searches and the return flight was never any cheaper if I set it for Sunday or later.

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#4 Fly mid-week if you can.

Weekend flights are usually more expensive because that's when most people fly. Flying midweek usually means a cheaper fare.

Sample fares we just checked³:

• $412 - Leave Sunday, return next Sunday
• $337 - Leave Monday, return next Monday
• $337 - Leave Friday, return next Friday
• $314 - Leave Tue/Wed/or Thu, return next Tue/Wed/Thu