How to get cheap flight tickets?

Question

Béatrice Mascolo · Answer

For most trips, airfare is the most expensive part of the trip. While prices for transatlantic flights have gone down in recent years, they can still put a sizeable dent in any travel budget. Whether you’re a budget solo traveler or a family looking to vacation abroad, finding a cheap flight deal can be what makes or breaks your trip.

After all, if your flight is too expensive, you’re likely going to keep putting the trip off. I’ve seen it happen time and time again.

And yet every day, airlines have thousands of amazing deals — from mistakenly published fares to special promotions to slashing prices to compete with another airline. Cheap fares are out there and they can make your dream trip a reality — if you know where to look.

Today, I am going to help you master the art of finding a cheap flight. These are the exact steps I’ve been following for a decade to get the cheapest airfare possible every time I fly. If you follow them too, you’ll never be the person on a flight who paid the most for their ticket!

Here’s how to find a cheap flight no matter where you want to go in the world:

The first thing to know about finding a cheap flight is that there is no magic bullet or one secret ninja trick to doing so. There are a lot of myths online about how to find cheap flights. In fact, you’ve probably come across a ton of them on your search to find the best flight deal!

They are all lies. They will lead you astray.

Most websites hire terrible reporters who recycle common and outdated myths. Here are the most common that are 100% not true:

Airlines use advanced computer and pricing algorithms to determine prices and run sales based on the time of the year, passenger demand, weather, major events/festivals, time of day, competitor prices, fuel prices, and much more. Those so-called “tricks” don’t work anymore. The system is too smart. Throw them out. Let them die.

Don’t listen to anyone who tells you otherwise. Anyone who is telling you doesn’t know what they are talking about. These myths will 100% lead you astray.

Airline ticket prices vary greatly depending on the day of the week, time of year, and upcoming holidays, such as Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Thanksgiving, or the Fourth of July. August is a big month for traveling around Europe, and everyone wants to go somewhere warm in the winter or travel when the kids are out of school.

In a nutshell, if you are going to fly when everyone is flying, then your ticket is going to cost more.

Try to be flexible with your dates. If you are dead-set on visiting Paris, go to Paris in the spring or fall when fewer people visit and airfares are cheaper.

But if you want to go in the middle of August? You’re out of luck. Hawaii over Christmas? Good luck! Prices will be at their highest.

The solution is to fly off-season. Search alternative dates so that you can capitalize on the best day. The more rigid your plans, the less likely it will be that you find a deal.

Moreover, it’s almost always cheaper to fly during the middle of the week than on a weekend because most people travel on the weekends and airlines hike their prices then. Prices are cheaper if you fly after or on a major holiday. Early-morning or late-night flights are also cheaper because fewer people want to travel then (who wants to wake up early?!). Fridays and Mondays are expensive because that’s when most business travelers fly.

When searching on Google Flights, simply click on the date field to expand the calendar view and you’ll immediately see the cheapest days to fly within a two-month window. On this search from Austin to NYC, you can see that prices on certain days can be twice as much as on others:

Airlines are not dumb. They know when a festival, holiday, major sports event, or school break is coming up — and they raise prices accordingly.

Be flexible with your dates and times and you’ll save yourself some major money.

If you can’t be flexible with when you fly, at least be flexible with where you fly. It’s best to be both, but if you really want to save the most money and get a cheap flight for your trip, you at least need to be flexible with one or the other.

Airline search engines have made it really easy to search the entire world to find the cheapest ticket. You no longer have to search manually, city by city, day by day. Websites like Skyscanner and Google Flights offer explore tools that allow you to put in your home airport and see a map of the world with all the flights on it. This allows you to easily compare multiple destinations without having to brainstorm every possible option. You’ll likely even find some interesting destinations you hadn’t even thought of either!

If you are flexible with where you want to go (i.e., anywhere but home), here’s what to do:

Step 1: Go to Google Flights and click on the map:

Step 2: Next, put in your departure city and the date. Now you can look at a wide variety of options on the map. If you don’t have a specific destination or dates, you can search via the “Flexible dates” option:

If you’re flexible on dates but have a preferred amount time you’d like to be away, you can filter by that too. You can select weekend, 1-week, or 2-week time frames:

The truth about airfare is that there’s always a deal to some destination — it might just not be your first choice. However, if you’re flexible about where you want to go, you’ll always get a deal and save a ton of money in the process.

When you are locked into one place at one time, you are stuck with whatever price shows up. Nothing can change that. But when you become flexible, suddenly the entire world opens up to you and you’ll find amazing cheap airfares!

Years ago, if you wanted to fly between continents, you were mostly stuck with traditional expensive airlines. That’s no longer true. These days, you can fly most of the way around the world on a budget airline. Sure, they might not be as comfortable and you may need to pay for premium upgrades like checked bags and meals, but they bring the world to your doorstep without breaking the bank.

Budget airlines mainly service short and medium-haul routes. While most budget carriers (notably Norwegian Air) scrapped their long-haul routes during COVID, I imagine some of them will return once the travel industry recovers.

For now, budget airlines mainly operate regionally so it’s really easy to find a cheap flight, even during this age of higher prices.

Here is a list of the most affordable airlines in the world:

(Pro tip: If you aren’t sure which budget airlines fly where, visit your departure airport’s website to get a list of airlines that fly there.)

Flying budget airlines is a good alternative to flying “the majors” whenever possible. You get fewer perks, but you can save a bundle in price.

Just be sure to watch out for fees. That’s how they make money! Budget airlines often charge fees for checked bags, carry-ons, printing your boarding pass, using a credit card, and anything else they can get away with. Be sure to add up the cost of the ticket AND the fees to make sure that the price is lower than a larger carrier.

You’ll also want to double-check the location of the budget airline’s airport at your intended destination. These airlines often fly in and out of airports that are quite far from the actual city, with limited and expensive transportation options.

For example, the shuttle to Beauvais, the budget airport for Paris, costs 29 EUR one-way. If you’re flying roundtrip, this means that you should add about 60 EUR to the price of your plane ticket to see if you’re even saving much by flying a budget airline.

Not only does it help to be flexible with dates and destinations but being flexible with the route you take is another way to get a cheap flight. For example, sometimes it’s cheaper to fly to London and take a budget airline to Amsterdam than to fly direct to Amsterdam from your departure city.

I did precisely this when I was going to Paris. The flight from the US was $900 USD, but I could fly to Dublin for $600 and get a $60 flight to Paris. It meant more flying time, but the $240 USD I saved was worth it to me.

To use this method, find out how much it is to go directly to your destination. Then, open Google Flights and type in that destination’s continent to look at prices to nearby airports. If the difference is more than $150 USD, I look to see how much it is to get from the second airport to my primary destination (either by budget flight or train, if it’s not too far). You can use Rome2Rio to help search for the best ways to get between a nearby airport and your primary destination.

You can also do this for leaving too. It might be cheaper to fly out from a nearby airport. I often search other airports to see if it’s cheaper to fly/drive/train there and then fly to my final destination. For long international flights, it can be worth the added time!

If you do book separate segments, be sure to have at least three hours between connections. This will give you space in case there is a delay as your second flight won’t wait for you (you booked with a separate airline, so they won’t care if you’re late or not).

Leaving a three-hour buffer will also cover you for an insurance claim since most insurance companies require you to have at least a 3-hour delay before you can make a claim.

This method is more work since you have to figure out lots of different routes and check different airlines. But it can lower the price of your flight, which is worth the extra effort if you end up saving a few hundred bucks.

Note: If you ever have a delayed flight to or from Europe, you might be owed additional compensation (upwards of 600 EUR). Here’s how to find out if you’re entitled to compensation!

Before you start looking for specific lights, make sure you’ve signed up for some newsletters. Joining the mailing list for airlines and last-minute deal websites will give you access to the absolute best deals out there. Sure, 99% of them might not fit your itinerary but keeping your eye on the deals will ensure you don’t miss an amazing opportunity.

More often than not, cheap flights are only available for a limited window (usually 24 hours). If you aren’t always scouring the web for sales, you’ll likely miss out on the best deals.

I would have missed out on a round-trip ticket to Japan for $700 USD (normally $1,500) as well as a $500 flight to South Africa if I wasn’t signed up to flight deal websites.

Additionally, airline newsletters often offer frequent flier bonuses. If you’re a travel hacker, those points and miles can add up to free flights and awesome upgrades.

Aside from joining airline newsletters, the best websites for finding travel deals are:

In order to find the best deal, you need to search multiple websites. Many major search sites don’t list budget carriers or obscure foreign carriers because those airlines don’t want to pay a booking commission. Others don’t list booking sites that aren’t in English. And others still only display prices retrieved directly from airlines.

In short, not all flight search websites are created equal and all have their pros and cons.

Since there is no perfect airline search engine, you’ll want to search a few to compare. Even the best have their faults. That said, I have a few favorites I always start with as they tend to consistently show the best results. To me, the best websites to find a cheap flight are the following:

Typically, I start all my searches with Skyscanner because it searches all major AND budget airlines, non-English websites, English websites, and everything in between. They vet all the sites they link to as they have strict criteria on who the operate with. It’s one of the most comprehensive booking sites out there and they have the lowest price 99% of the time. I’ve been using them since 2008, and it’s the search engine all the other travel experts I know use too.

If you are a student (or under 26), there are many discounts available to you. You can usually find prices 10-20% off the standard fare. Travel agencies like Flight Centre and Student Universe can help find you a cheap ticket. Don’t overlook them!

Additionally, keep in mind that most student discounts transfer over to airline partners. For example, Lufthansa offers a student discount, which means you can use that discount on partner airlines such as Swiss Airlines and Austrian Airlines. This will allow you to go much further afield while still saving a ton of money.

If you’re not sure which airlines offer discounts (they don’t make this information easy to find), visit their website or call them. Doing a little digging to save 20% (or more) will be worth it!

When you book directly with an airline, you’ll only be able to fly that airline and any partner airlines it has. That means your options will be limited when it comes to finding the perfect itinerary or saving the most money.

Usually, that will suffice. However, if you’re chasing greater savings, try booking your tickets on separate airlines. For example, if you’re flying from New York to Paris, you might have a stop in London. Booking both legs as one ticket will be simple, but it likely won’t save you money.

Instead, book your New York to London flight as one ticket and then your London to Paris ticket with another airline. That will allow you to shop around for the best bargain. it’s more work, but the savings (and flexibility) can be worth it.

This is what most third-party booking websites like Kiwi.com do. They piece together trips using whatever flights they can find to ensure you get the cheapest price.

If you’re hunting for the lowest possible price and aren’t happy with what you’re finding on the airline’s website, try booking separate segments. You might just stumble onto a great deal!

As soon as you know you want to travel somewhere you should sign up for a travel rewards card. Airline rewards programs are the #1 way avid travelrs like me earn free flights, travel perks, and free hotel stays. They offer flight upgrades, huge welcome bonuses, credit toward rideshares like Uber or Lyft, access to free events, access to airport lounges, and much more.

No matter how often you fly, you should be signed up for a reward program. You don’t need to do any extra spending either. I earn over a million miles a year — without flying or spending extra money. That translates into dozens of free flights (often in business class) for myself and my family.

If you are smart with your money and collect points and miles (the art of “travel hacking”), you can travel around the world for very little (and often free). Here are some articles on travel hacking that can help you get started:

If you’re traveling with friends or family, don’t search for or buy multiple tickets in a single purchase. Airlines always show the highest ticket price in a group of tickets which means you’ll end up paying more money.

Airlines have tons of different price points for tickets (these are based on a variety of factors). They want to sell tickets in the highest fare bucket possible and, when they group tickets together, always list prices in the highest fare bucket.

For example, if you are a family of four and you’re searching for four seats, the airline will find four seats together and show your fare based on the highest ticket price. So if seat A is $200, seats B and C are $300, and seat D is $400, it will price those tickets as $400 each instead of adding up the individual ticket prices. If the price difference is large, that translates into a sizeable extra expense.

For that reason, always search for tickets as a single person. Afterward, in the checkout process, you can pick your seats so you and your family are sitting together. And even if you end up not beside one another, that’s a fair trade for saving a few hundred dollars.

If your country’s currency is currently strong compared to others around the world, search airfare in a country where the currency is weaker.

For example, when the US dollar was strong and the New Zealand currency weak, I found a one-way flight from Australia to NYC for $1,000 USD. However, when I searched on the New Zealand version of the airline, I found the same ticket for $600 USD.

It was the same airline, same flight, and same booking class — it was just booked in a different currency. This tip does not always work, but it works often enough that it’s something worth trying if your currency is currently doing well.

(Tip: Always use a no-foreign-transaction-fee card to avoid paying a surcharge.)

Airline fares keep rising the closer you get to departure, but there is a sweet spot when the airlines begin to either lower or increase fares based on demand. Don’t wait until the last second but don’t book far, far in advance either. The best time to book your flight is around 2-3 months before your departure, or around five months before if you are going to your destination during their peak season.

This isn’t a hard and fast rule, though, so use it as a guide. I could go on forever about airline pricing models but airlines raise prices closer to departure because the people who book last minute tend to be price insensitive business travelers so they will pay whatever. So don’t book last minute!

This is a more advanced (and riskier) way of finding cheap flights, but if you’re adamant about spending as little money as possible, it’s worth looking for hidden city fares. This is when you book a flight that has a layover in your desired destination. You then get off the plane and exit the airport at the layover city instead of continuing onto the final destination that you booked the ticket for.

For example, say you want to fly from Austin to Atlanta. A flight from Austin to New Orleans with a stop in Atlanta might be cheaper than booking Austin to Atlanta directly.

As you can imagine, this practice can get complicated and tricky. There are a few crucial elements to keep in mind, namely that once you skip a leg, the airline cancels the rest of your trip. That means that you cannot buy round-trip flights and do this practice on your departure flight, because your return flight will be cancelled. Also, you cannot check bags, as they will end up in the final destination on your ticket, not where you get off.

Additionally, airlines strongly frown upon this practice, so you don’t want to advertise that this is what you’re doing, and you don’t want to do it often, otherwise you might get flagged.

All that being said, you can save hundreds of dollars with hidden city flights, and it’s perfectly legal. It’s easy to search for hidden city flights on the website Skiplagged. Just do so at your own risk!

Finding a cheap flight is all about being flexible and getting creative. It may take some effort, but the deals are out there if you’re willing to look. Follow the tips above to get started, but don’t waste hours and hours hunting for a cheap flight. If you’re spending more than an hour booking a flight, you’re spending too much time.

Once you find a flight deal that you’re happy with, book right away, as airfares change by the minute. Remember that you have a 24-hour window to cancel in case you need to.

Use the tips above on how to get a cheap flight to get the ball rolling. Do that, and you’ll always get a great deal!

I start all my searches with Skyscanner because they search all major AND budget airlines, non-English websites, English websites, and everything in between. Even if you aren’t sure your plans, it’s best to start searching for flights today. People who wait to book are people who end up spending the most.

Use this widget to plan your next trip:

Jatin msnh · Answer

That's why I started Going. After I snagged the fare of a lifetime—$130 roundtrip to Milan—I wanted to help others explore the world for less and show them how to get cheap flights. Today, my team and I spend hundreds of hours every week searching for cheap flights, and when we find them, we let our members know. We also publish guides like this so that whether you book one of our deals or search for flights on your own, you never overpay again.

Here's how to find the cheapest flights to anywhere in the world.

This is the way most people approach getting a flight:

Typically this results in high prices.

Instead, if getting a cheap plane ticket is your priority, flip that approach:

Be flexible with where and when to go. If you’ve picked out your destination, picked out your dates, and don’t have flexibility, 95% of what you can do to bring down the cost of airfare is already out the window. Flexibility is king. Plus, as we'll discuss below, once you get to Europe or Asia or wherever, it’s really easy to hop a budget flight to your final destination.

Sidenote: If you're looking to book the cheapest flights, be sure to search more than one date. (Clicking the calendar in Google Flights shows you cheap tickets for two months at a time.)

Here's what we at Going consider a good fare for our members:

Our three favorite tools to search for flights are Google Flights, Priceline, and Momondo. There are also some more complex ones like the ITA Matrix, SkyScanner, and various plugins, but for most folks Google Flights, Priceline, and Momondo are plenty.

Remember that Southwest doesn’t show up on search engines and OTAs, so check directly on their website.

>> Read our guides to finding cheap flights with Google Flights, Momondo, or Kayak

One of the reasons we love Google Flights so much is because it makes it really easy to see tons of options. First, you can input up to seven airports in the departure and arrival fields, so if you can fly from any airport on the East Coast to any airport in Ireland, voila, just put in the corresponding airport codes and you can see the route that'll be cheapest.

If you're even more flexible, you can use the Google Flights Explore Map.

Just put in your departure airport and leave the destination open (or select a region, country, or state like Europe or Asia or Bali or Florida) and a map will populate with all your options. You can search select dates or browse weekend, one-week, or two-week trips in the next six months.

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Another handy feature of Google Flights is that it's easy to see if moving your dates can lower the price. When you select your dates, Google Flights will show you two months worth of dates and highlight which ones are the cheapest days to fly based on the length of your trip. Often times shifting the dates by even a day or switching from a six-day trip to seven days can cut the price in half.

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What are the cheapest days to travel? In general Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday are the cheapest days to travel. Friday and Sunday are usually the most expensive days. These aren't always the cheapest days to book—cheap flights can pop up anytime!

If you want to get the cheapest flights possible, focus on getting the cheapest fares across the ocean, even if it’s not from your home airport or to your ultimate destination.

Two itineraries are frequently cheaper than one. Plus you can stay and explore another city for as long or short as you like.

Here's a personal example: I used to live in Washington DC, but the best ticket I ever purchased was the ticket I mention, above, a Mistake Fare from NYC to Milan for $130 roundtrip.

It was well worth the $20 bus ride up, and I even got to spend the weekend with friends in NYC. If I had insisted on flying to Milan from Washington DC (not NYC) the ticket would’ve been around $800, not the $150 I actually paid.

The next best fare I’ve gotten was from DC to Brussels for ~$250 roundtrip. So nice I bought it twice! Even though I didn’t have that much interest in Belgium, I knew once I was in Europe, I could easily find budget flights to other European countries.

For one trip I bought flights from Brussels to Norway (~$60 roundtrip) and for the other trip I bought flights from Brussels to Dublin (~$80 roundtrip). If I had insisted on flying from DC to Norway or Dublin (without stopping first in Brussels), I would have paid around $750 roundtrip, not the $310 and $330 I actually paid. And I wouldn’t have gotten a day in Brussels to boot! Rome2Rio makes it easy to check out local transport options between destinations.

We call this two-step booking the Greek Island trick and it can save you hundreds.

Let’s say you and your partner want to fly from Seattle to Washington DC. At time of writing, the cheapest nonstop flight was $299 per ticket.

But a funny thing happens when you reduce the number of travelers from 2 to 1: the price on the exact same flight drops from $299 per ticket to $199.

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This pricing anomaly sometimes occurs because whenever you’re booking multiple tickets, airlines want to put your entire group into a single fare bucket.(A fare bucket is a fancy term that airlines use to denote not just which cabin you’re in, but also any privileges included with your ticket like whether it’s refundable or if it’s upgrade-eligible. The number of seats available in any given fare bucket isn’t a secret but it takes some digging to find; all we’re typically shown when we search for flights is the lowest ticket price.)In the above example, Alaska Airlines almost certainly only had one ticket left in the cheapest fare bucket priced at $199. So if you searched for two tickets, the airline would skip over the single $199 ticket and instead only show you fares with at least two seats available, $299 in this case.But by booking one ticket at a time, you can get the first one for $199 and the second one for $299, paying $498 total rather than the original $598.

Does this work every time? No. But anytime you’re traveling with a group, it’s worth checking if fares are cheaper by buying tickets individually. That’s especially true if you’re traveling with a larger group, because the more tickets you buy, the greater the chance there won’t be enough seats for you all in the cheapest available fare bucket.

If you’re able to successfully use this strategy, call the airline after you book and ask to have the multiple itineraries linked. That way, if there are any changes to your flight, the whole group will be able to stay together.

In North America and Europe, the cheapest time of year to fly is usually:

The most expensive time to fly is usually:

It will also vary a bit by the specific destination, especially around popular festivals. Fares to Dublin for St. Patrick’s Day or to China for Chinese New Year aren’t cheap.

There's so much bad info out there about the best time to book a flight, with many people claiming it's Tuesdays at 1pm, or early on Sunday mornings. If I achieve one thing in my brief stint on Earth, it will be to convince travelers to stop believing this nonsense. It’s not true, it won’t help you get cheap flights, and if anything will likely result in you overpaying for your next trip.

The better strategy for snagging discounts on flights is to book within what I call the Goldilocks Windows. Airfare doesn’t change weekly these days. It changes daily, hourly, sometimes even minute-ly. Neither I nor anyone else can tell you with certainty when (or where) next week’s cheapest fares will pop up.These days, airfare is set by complex algorithms that account for hundreds of ever-shifting factors, from consumer demand to oil prices to competitor’s prices and beyond. One factor airlines no longer rely on: technological constraints that only allowed them to change fares once a week at a set time.The bad news: there’s no predictable time or date when flights are cheapest to book.The good news: cheap flights are popping up all the time. That’s what Going is for.Though there’s no set time or date that’s always cheapest to book, there’s still a period when cheap fares are most likely to pop up. I call these Goldilocks Windows.For domestic flights, the best time to book is normally 1 to 3 months before your travel dates. For international trips, it’s 2 to 8 months prior. If your trip is during a peak travel period (Christmas, summer, St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin) add a couple months to those windows. If you’re traveling during low season it’s more likely cheap fares will pop up closer to departure date, but prices tend to jump in the last month or two before departure, so you don’t want to cut it too close.

You also want to pay attention to times when you know airfare is actually going to go up. At that is at the 21-, 14-, and 7-day marks before departure. Most fares include an advance purchase requirement, which mandates that a particular fare bucket is only available if booked, say, 21 (or 14 or 7) days or more in advance of travel.Airlines know leisure travelers tend to book flights early and business travelers tend to book flights late. Airlines want to make sure they milk as much money as possible from business travelers who don’t care what the flight costs (it’s their company paying, after all), so they increase fares on the type of tickets business travelers buy, including last-minute bookings.‍

If you’re hoping for legitimately cheap, not just cheaper, flights, planning further in advance is the way to go. But if you've got to book last minute, just make sure you're doing so before the 21 mark.

>> Read our guides on finding cheap flights for Christmas, New Year's travel, or Spring Break or read about the best time to book a cheap flight

If you know exactly where and when you want to travel, use a site like Kayak or Google Flights to set an airfare alert and get notified if the fare drops below the current price. This works best if you have a specific location and dates, but some deals can still slip through the cracks. For example, if you set up a fare alert for Seattle to Paris, you could miss out on an amazing deal to London (which is only a short train ride away).

If you’re looking for cheap flights in the United States, be sure to search Southwest.com separately since Southwest flights don’t show up on any flight search engines. The Southwest Low Fare Calendar shows you the cheapest days for your route.

You can also find some cheap hidden fares on Skiplagged, but be sure to read up on the basics of hidden city ticketing so you know what you’ll be doing.

Budget airlines get a bad rap and some cases, it's warranted (we're looking at you, Spirit). But not all budget airlines are created equal. Several new ones, like Avelo, Breeze, and PLAY meet our standards for airlines.

Plus, budget airlines can be the best and most economical way for connecting your long-haul flight to your final destination. You may not want to fly a budget airline across the ocean, but when a flight from one end of Europe to the other costs $50, a budget airline flight gets a lot more appealing.

On foreign airlines, it can sometimes be cheaper if you book using the foreign version of their website and use a foreign currency. It's not full-proof. Sometimes there are no savings and sometimes the savings are so small as to not be worth the effort, but in other cases you can save a hundred dollars or more, so it's often worth checking. Just make sure you book with a credit card that has no foreign transaction fees.

You found a great fare. How long will it last? It's hard to say for sure! Unless it’s an advertised sale (which usually aren’t that great to begin with), there’s no public end-date on any given fare. The rule of thumb is that the better the fare, the shorter it will last.

In general you shouldn't expect most great fares to last longer than a few days. If it's a Mistake Fare, it could be gone in a few hours, or even minutes.

Okay, but how can I act fast enough to snag a great fare if you've got, you know, responsibilities and stuff? Well, there's a handy regulation called the 24-hour rule that says for flights to or from the US, airlines must allow you to cancel free within 24 hours.

So, if you aren't sure you can get time off work, for example, rather than wait to hear from your boss, you could go ahead and book the amazing deal you found before it disappears. If your boss comes back and says you can't go, as long as it's within the 24 hours, you can get a full refund.

You can also use this trick if you book a flight and the price goes down within 24 hours. Just make sure you book the new flight before you cancel the old one.

Airline schedules sometimes change. And when they do, that presents an opportunity. Under federal law, if an airline cancels or significantly changes your flight itinerary, you’re eligible for a full cash refund. Rather than give you a refund, airlines would rather just move you to a different flight, which makes schedule changes a valuable opportunity to improve your flight.Say you originally bought a 6am nonstop flight because it was cheapest. If the airline decided to make that a one-stop flight, you could switch to a more convenient time—without having to pay more. If you had a connecting flight and the airline changes the time, you could see about switching to a nonstop. And if it’s a trip you no longer want to take, schedule changes let you get a full cash refund.

>> Read more about how to use this loophole to change or cancel your flight

Dick Anupama · Answer

Ignore the Myths. Be Flexible with Your Travel Dates and Times. Be Flexible with Your Destinations. Fly Budget Carriers. Don't Always Fly Direct. Keep an Eye for Special Deals. Remember Not All Search Engines are Equal. Take Advantage of Student Discounts.

Jannik Chorro · Answer

This is it. This is what you've been waiting for: The ultimate guide that covers everything you need to know for how to find cheap flights.

Flights are often the biggest expense when planning a trip, especially now with flight prices skyrocketing … but they don't have to be. By using the right tools, having the right mindset, and employing some money-saving strategies, you can cut the cost of your typical flights in half – or more. You don't have to be a pro: Affordable airfare is in reach.

But to do it, you need the right information. There's plenty of bad guidance out there on the best tips and tricks to find cheap airfare and discount flights. It's hard to tell what you should be doing when you're on the hunt for a cheap flight. What is the secret to finding cheap flights?

We understand the struggle, so we've narrowed down some of our most important tips on how to find cheap flight tickets. There's a lot to unpack here, but here's what it boils down to…

Anyone looking to score a deal on flights has encountered their fair share of myths for how to book cheap flights. When money is involved, there's no shortage of so-called “experts” or influencers peddling bad intel.

These are some of the most common myths you've likely heard – or maybe even believe yourself – that you should put to rest if you really want to book flights for less.

“Do flight prices go down on Tuesday?”

We know you've heard it. Maybe you've even stayed up into the wee hours of the morning in hopes of snagging a bargain.

Don't be embarrassed, you're not alone. From friends and coworkers to supposed studies and even major publications, the myth that airlines sell their best, cheapest airfares on Tuesday has cemented as a universal fact. But the fact of the matter is that this recommendation on finding cheaper flights to anywhere, well… it's wrong. Sorry, but there's no magical best day to book flights in order to score a cheaper fare.

That old myth about finding cheap flights on a Tuesday is outdated. You can find great discount flights any day of the week. And big travel days like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Travel Tuesday are more about marketing than real savings.

While it's convenient to think you'll nab a cheap flight by searching on a special day, it's just not the case. Flight prices are constantly changing. Airlines load new fares every hour, and they can add or subtract how many flights are available at a certain price at any moment. We're sorry to say that it's unpredictable when the cheapest flights on the flights you want may pop up.

What's more, airlines never advertise their best, lowest budget fares. So if you're on the hunt for an insane mistake fare or a deeply discounted flash sale to Europe or the Caribbean, you probably won't get it by seizing on a Black Friday sale or entering an airline promo code.

Instead, jump on the best deals whenever you see them. And there's one surefire way to make sure you see all the cheapest flights – but it may what you thin…

That old “flights are cheapest on Tuesdays!” trope is just the tip of the iceberg of myths surrounding cheap airfare that you need to purge from your memory.

We hear this one again and again and again, so let us put it to rest.

Bloggers and influencers pass these “travel hacks” on like they've stumbled on some big secret. Travelers want to believe it because it's a simple, easy-to-understand explanation.

But the truth is that they're flat-out false.

There's a familiar script when planning travel: Pick a spot, plan your dates, book your flights, and go. There's just one problem: That process is costing you money.

Setting your travel dates in advance before booking flights is the single costliest travel-planning mistake you can make – it can easily cost you hundreds of dollars. It's time to break the habit. And you can do it by following what we call The Flight First Rule.

Flip that script on its head and start by searching for flights, letting the price guide you to the cheapest dates possible. If you can be flexible with your travel dates, you can often score huge savings on flights by just slightly changing your tentative travel dates.

For example, Google Flights will alert you when shifting your travel dates by just a day or two can result in huge savings. If you've already booked your hotels, you may not be able to take advantage.

Google Flights also has a handy calendar view which will guide you, using green, to the cheapest dates to travel. You can easily skip from month to month to scope out the savings.

Lesson learned: Book your flights first! Then move on to the rest of your trip.

Say it with us again: Flexibility is key. And when you're trying to score big savings, it can go beyond shifting your dates and destinations. Being flexible with your route can help you save even more.

We get it: You want to fly nonstop as much as possible. We do too. And while it may seem counter-intuitive, sometimes taking an extra stop on the way to your final destination can pay off with savings so big that it's worth it – especially if you're crossing an ocean.

Let's say a nonstop flight from Chicago-O'Hare (ORD) to Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG) will cost you $950 or more. But by opening your search up to one-stop flights, you find flights for $430 that makes a pitstop in Reykjavik (KEF) on the way to Paris.

Yes, the savings can be that massive. Of course, it's up to you if you're willing to spend a bit more time traveling in exchange for a deal. But paying less than half the price sounds like a good tradeoff, and it's a great way to find cheaper flights.

A savvy traveler can get creative when it comes to flights and save even more on travel. Here are some of our favorite ways to think outside the box and save hundreds on flights:

Getting a good deal on flights can all come down to timing. And in many cases, it's less about when you buy your flights and more about when you actually get on the plane. It's all about capitalizing on the cheapest days to fly.

Speaking of when to book your flights…

Most people don't have all day, every day to be searching for hidden flight deals, unadvertised flash sales, and mistake fares.

We do. And we've got you covered.

Sign up for Thrifty Traveler Flight Deals and you'll get some of the best international and domestic flight deals we find each day right to your inbox.

Once you sign up for alerts for cheap flights, consider upgrading to Thrifty Traveler Premium+ to get 90% more flight deals. Premium members get domestic and international deals, as well as award alerts to use points and miles plus business and first class deals tailored to your home airport so you only see the flight deals from your hometown.

And that even includes insane mistake fares like this one:

We're not the only flight deal service out there (though we're a bit biased!) We recommend checking out other flight deal websites like The Flight Deal to keep your eyes peeled for awesome deals.

There are dozens of sites out there promising to help you find cheap flights. Ignore them all and start every search with Google Flights.

Google Flights is hands-down the best flight deal search engine out there: it's one of the main tools we use to find affordable flights deals every day! You should start each and every search for cheap airfare with Google Flights. It's packed with powerful features that other search engines simply don't have.

If you're new to using Google Flights, don't worry. We're happy to share what we know on how to get cheap airline tickets. And if you couldn't already tell, we are a little obsessed and have written about nearly every tool and feature it has to offer.

If you're thinking to yourself, “What's an OTA?” you're not alone.

OTA stands for Online Travel Agency. Think KAYAK, Priceline, Expedia, Orbitz, and many others. Some of the most popular sites and smartphone apps out there for finding cheaper flights are OTAs.

These sites purchase fares from airlines and then sell them to travelers, sometimes at a mark-up … and sometimes even cheaper than you can get them directly from the airlines. And then there are even more popular platforms like Skyscanner and Momondo, which act as OTAs of OTAs. They aggregate the cheapest flight deals from tons of small online travel agencies.

Because of the way these sites operate, online travel agencies can save you money – and sometimes a lot of money. They're worth checking out, though we still recommend starting any search with Google Flights before you check with some of these sites to see if you can save even more.

And most importantly, these savings from third-party sites can come at a cost. There are tradeoffs to booking through an OTA. Chiefly, you're using a middleman to book your flights. If you book with Expedia then need to change or cancel your trip, you have to go through Expedia to do so – not the airline you're flying with. Some major sites may have the customer service to handle your request, but many smaller sites (with the biggest savings) do not.

And in this day and age, booking directly with the airline is more important than ever. So do the mental math and make sure those savings are worth it.

Read more on why we recommend booking directly with the airline when you can.

The 24-hour cancellation rule is your excuse to be impulsive.

The U.S. government has a federal law that requires airlines to provide a full, 100% refund for any flight that touches U.S. soil if you cancel within 24 hours of booking. It doesn't matter if you're flying a U.S. carrier like American or Delta or a foreign airline like Lufthansa or Copa: If your flight departs from or arrives in the U.S., you're covered.

There are a few important caveats to this rule to keep in mind:

Put it all together, and you can use the 24-hour rule to book an insanely cheap flight the moment you find it. After that, do the legwork to make sure you can get the vacation time or your favorite travel buddy can come with. Not going to work out? Just cancel within 24 hours of booking and get your money back.

Read more on the 24-hour rule, and why it's such a great way to find flight deals.

We like to focus on finding cheap flights through deals on the major, full-service carriers. These are the big airlines with names you know like Delta, American, and United or big foreign carriers like Lufthansa, SWISS, Japan Airlines, and Emirates.

But there's no question that budget airlines have their place for travelers looking to save. Whether you're flying within the U.S. or down to the Caribbean, criss-crossing your way through Europe, or heading all the way over to Asia, there are a ton of low-cost carriers (or even ultra-low cost carriers) that pride themselves on offering low fares.

But be warned: These cheap fares can be a mirage. These airlines survive by nickel and diming passengers for everything imaginable, with high fees to check a bag, bring a carry-on, pick a seat, and buy food onboard. Some of these airlines even charge an extra fee for printing purchasing tickets online – a fee you can avoid by buying your tickets from the airport.

So if you're content traveling with just a backpack, you can often come out way ahead on these fares. But for anything else, you'll want to do the math and make sure you're actually saving once you've added up all those “extra” costs that may come free with a spendier ticket.

We've rounded up some of the best low-cost carriers, arranged by continent.

Not seeing cheap deals from your airport? Think you're stuck paying $1,000-plus to fly to Europe or Asia? Think again.

Positioning flights can be a game changer to save hundreds on international travel. These are short domestic flights from your hometown airport to a second hub in order to hop on a cheaper fare. You can score huge savings by booking an international flight from major airports like Los Angeles (LAX), San Francisco (SFO), Boston (BOS), New York City (JFK), or Chicago-O'Hare (ORD), then book your positioning flight to get there.

If you've got international travel on the brain, broaden your search to some bigger airports that are relatively cheap to fly (or drive) to. Just be sure to give yourself enough time between these flights in case things go wrong. And consider packing in a carry-on bag to simplify your connections.

Read our guide to using positioning flights to score huge savings on international travel!

What's better than learning how to book cheap flights? Learning how to book free flights.

We know points and miles can be intimidating at first. We've been there. But trust us, it's worth the effort to save even more on flights. The good news is that there are a few points and miles programs that are perfect for getting started. If you're looking to dip your toes into points and miles, we've got a few favorites.

This is our top card for beginners – and for good reason. Chase points are extremely valuable and easy-to-use, as you can book flights straight through the Chase travel portal (it looks just like searching with Expedia!) with points. Find flights for $400? Make it free using just 32,000 Chase points from your Preferred Card.

Want to know more? Read our full review of the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card!

You can currently earn an 80,000-point bonus after spending $4,000 within the first three months of card membership. And there are some amazing ways to put those Chase points to use. This is a limited-time offer!

Click Here to get more information about the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card.

There's a new travel card on the scene, and it might just be the best we've seen in years.

Launched last year, Capital One launched the The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card – a souped-up version of the ever-popular Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card that’s chock full of extra benefits. That includes access to Capital One Lounges and Priority Pass lounges, a $300 annual travel credit for bookings through Capital One Travel, a credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck, great travel and rental car insurance protection, and more. The annual fee clocks in at $395 a year, but the benefits can easily outweigh that. It’s the reason why we think the Venture X annual fee shouldn’t scare you off.

Here’s the best part: You can currently earn 75,000 Venture Miles after spending $4,000 in the first three months. Considering you earn at least 2x for every dollar you spend on the Venture X Card, you’ll earn a total of at least 83,000 Venture Miles.

Click Here to learn more about the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card.

Chase Sapphire Preferred vs Capital One Venture X Card: Which one is right for you?

If you're ready to learn more, read our guide to getting started with credit cards, points, and miles. From there, check out our Points Principles series, where we tackle hot travel rewards topics and reader questions.

That's it. That's all it takes to find cheap airfare and start flying more for less. There's no magic in how to buy airline tickets, or magic day or time to book cheap flights. If you're really set on finding cheaper airfare, it all comes down to using the right tools and, more importantly, having the right mindset.

Use these tips and tricks to rethink the way you book flights, and save hundreds on your next trip. If you do, you'll discover a whole new world of discount flights – and that finding cheaper flights isn't rocket science.

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