How to Save Money on Airline Tickets

Finding airline ticket deals and discounts are the best ways to save money on a vacation. In the pre-internet days, travelers would scour through local and national newspapers to find the best deals. Some would make telephone calls to their favorite travel agent and their competitors. These practices are still relevant today.

Fortunately with technology it has become easier to save money on airline tickets. Here's how...

Hopper app

Hopper is a smartphone app available on iTunes and Android and according to the description found on the Apple app store, Hopper may help you save up to 40% on your next flight. This app analyzes billions of flight prices daily to predict how prices will change. It even notifies you when to purchase the ticket.

We put Hopper to work on the iPhone by typing in a flight from New York (JFK) to Seattle (SEA). The next screen shows color coded rectangular boxes with prices ranging from $200 to $500+. Obviously, prices during the holiday seasons starting from December 15 to January 3 are in the $400s and $500s for a round trip ticket.

Our desired date for this test was February 18 (JFK-SEA) and February 21 (SEA-JFK). We added the dates and the best price if we acted now is $262 round trip. However, we were given the option to ‘watch this trip’ to get notified by Hopper when prices dropped or before prices increased.

The fun part about Hopper:

Price prediction – it shows us from November 30 to January 17, which is about 30 days before departure, prices will likely cost $25 or more if we wait. And from January 18-February 12, prices will probably go up to about $30 more.

Insider tips – Hopper shows travel dates that may likely reduce the airfare for travelers who are flexible.

You can find out more by checking out Hopper in app stores.

Credit card points

Ever read about how travelers score free air tickets using credit card points to your favorite travel destinations? You can have it too if you choose a suitable credit card and know the ins and outs of using the right credit card to pay for your daily expenses.

With American Express Gold Skymiles Credit Card, your welcome bonus offer is 30,000 bonus miles after you make $1,000 in purchases within the first three months. You will also receive a $50 statement credit after your first Delta air ticket purchase within the first three months. Sometimes, Delta offers up to 50,000 bonus points to new applicants. There is no annual fee for the first year and after the first year, there’s an annual fee of $95 per year.

Free round trip domestic air tickets start at 25,000 points. Here is our example of a round trip air ticket from New York to Seattle. It requires only 27,500 points. So with your new American Express Gold Skymiles Credit Card, you pay just $11.20 for taxes, fees and charges.

Use multiple booking sites to compare airfares

Here at Travelmath, we provide you the tools to compare airfares through multiple booking sites. The screenshot below shows our entries:

The next screenshot shows you the sites to compare prices:

Our search through these multiple booking sites (five to be exact) gave us the lowest price at $249 and the highest at $354. These are direct flights with various carriers from JFK New York to Seattle on the same departure days.

Drive and fly

We know of friends who opted to drive from their hometown in Syracuse to Boston. They flew from Boston to Orlando, saving the family of six over $500. You will need to make time to research online on the flights and airport parking facilities.

Departure time

Using the same example, New York to Seattle, flights departing at 7 am ($316), 4:29 pm ($316) and 6:59 pm ($316) on Delta were $317 cheaper than the same flight at 11:29 am ($633) and $178 cheaper than the flight at 11:25 am ($494).

Remember, your round trip airfare prices will depend on both departure times (going and returning). To get the cheapest round trip air ticket, you must select the cheapest price both ways.

Did these tips help? Let us know.