One More Thing About Booking Flights
As I’ve mentioned before, I am pretty good with my money, but have yet to mastered booking cheap airline tickets, and I usually end up paying more than I have to because I don’t know when the right time to book airline tickets is. I’ve heard so many different tips from travelers:
• Buy your tickets early in the week because that’s when the sales occur.
• Buy your tickets on Sunday after midnight because that’s when airlines reset their prices and you can find a good deal. I forgot where I heard that, but I can’t do that because midnight is past my bedtime (I am an old, okay?).
• Buy your tickets at least six to eight weeks in advance to avoid fare hikes for last minute travelers.
• Or you can try gambling a little and try to score a last minute deal.
So, I have a wedding to attend in Los Angeles in 17 days, and I didn’t book my ticket until—literally—20 minutes ago. It was stressful. I should have started looking at plane tickets at least a month ago, but I was too busy being stressed out with getting this here website up and running, and by the time I started looking at tickets, they seemed too expensive—$350 or more for a one-way ticket. I am not the sort of person to try my hand with that last tip—booking a flight at the last minute and hoping to score a deal—but that’s what happened just now. Squished between $400 fares, was a fare for $266. I booked it. I’m relieved, but I’m not waiting until the last minute again. It’s too stressful, you guys. Anyone have their own tips on the right time to book a flight?
I always wait until the last minute because I like to retain flexibility, and to me that’s always been worth the premium of a higher ticket … but then again, I was never spending real money, so! IDK.
@Logan Sachon Ha, I’m the opposite! It’s always been worth it to me to potentially spend more buying my ticket four months in advance than it is for me to wait until the last minute–too stressful!
I used to use this site called Student Universe to book my tickets. It was supposedly a place where students could get discounted airfare. It seemed legitimate the first year or so I was using it but either it’s gone downhill or I didn’t know what I was doing until recently but it doesn’t seem to be discounting anything anymore.
Basically, I have zero tips. I used to recommend Student Universe to my friends and now I can’t.
the only tip i have is to never look at prices after you’ve booked
just don’t do it to yourself
Have you tried using yapta.com? It will track fare prices and alert you when they drop. After you’ve bought your ticket, it can keep tracking the fare and will let you know if it goes down again so you can ask for a refund. Note, different airlines have different thresholds for how much of a price drop they will refund – JetBlue = any amount, AA/United/Delta = $150 or more.
bing.com has a pretty good price predictor. I also like to use airfarewatchdog.com – you can subscribe for fare alerts between the cities you want to travel between and they will email you whenever a deal pops up.
Virgin America shuttles you between NYC and LA/SF for less than 300 most of the time, plus it’s a direct flight. Cannot recommend it highly enough. Otherwise, Kayak and bing and definitely keep an eye on airfarewatchdog! Or booking directly with certain cheaper airlines – Aer Lingus can be awesome for Europe.
I noticed last time I was booking a flight that if you pick your departure dates in the middle of the week (like Tues/Wed, but not Thurs), it’s significantly cheaper.
I have my own routine for booking flights since I went to school on the other side of the country and not-infrequently shuttled home for holidays and stuff. Ticket prices generally drop on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The cheapest days to fly are Saturdays and Tuesdays, so if you can adjust your work schedule, it’s totally worth it to fly then. Use priceline or kayak or something similar to compare airline fares and just keep your eye on it starting ~6 weeks before you need to fly.