How to Find Cheap Flights

I’ve mentioned ways Michael and I save to fund our trips before, but today I want to share how we go about finding airfare when we are booking flights for long weekends (or regular weekends!) away.

This post is not sponsored but contains affiliate links. I may receive a small commission (at no cost to you!) if you make a purchase after clicking one of these links. Thank you for your support!

Before I do, I want to let you know that I am definitely not an expert on snagging the cheapest flight (sometimes there’s just not a cheap fare available for the route) and that things are always changing in the airline industry. However, as an avid traveler, here are a few resources I’ve found helpful and things I’ve learned along the way when booking flights for a specific date, but not necessarily a specific destination. What you won’t find here are “hacks” like skip-lagging or ways to earn points on airline credit cards, as I often don’t have the time to spend chasing down those fares and deals

When searching for airfares, there are three websites I use the most when booking a flight departing from the United States: Google Flights, ITA Matrix, and Southwest.

Why only one airline website? Because the other two are aggregators for nearly every other airline. Both are Google-run, but both have their own separate strengths and weaknesses. And Southwest does not allow their fares to be published on another site, so I always end up searching their flights separately.

Here’s how I use each of the three sites:

THE BEST WEBSITES TO SEARCH FOR CHEAP FLIGHTS

Google Flights

Google Flights is easily the most user-friendly of the three, and the one I recommend to friends who are just dipping their toes into air travel. When searching for specific dates, you can input up to five departure airports (I have five or six airports all within a two-hour drive, which I’m willing to do if I’m taking a direct flight), and set the destination option as general or specific as you’d like. You can adjust preferences such as price, times, and duration and click around the map to get pricing for different cities. Of course, you can use it to check flights to a specific destination as well; there is a feature where you can select your departure and destination, and select the length of stay. The website will then provide suggestions for the lowest-priced dates for that trip. Google Flights does have its limitations, however, since you can’t select or exclude certain airlines and it doesn’t seem to always show all fare possibilities. Despite this, it’s still my first stop when looking for a flight, especially to a larger city.

—

ITA Matrix

ITA Matrix is also a Google-run platform, but this site is clunkier (in fact, when searching for flights, there is a pop-up that appears encouraging you to use Google Flights for faster results) and not necessarily intuitive. That being said, it allows for more departure airports and destinations and makes it easier to select nearby airports. ITA Matrix also provides a nice calendar of fares spanning one month, if you request that data when searching. The downside is that it is really slow, and it often crashes when you give it too much data to sift through. I prefer to use it when I’m trying to link together two one-way flights, or when I want to fly an open-jaw route (into one airport, and out another). It also seems to find more possible routes when I’ve finally narrowed down my destination.

—

Southwest

The final site I visit is Southwest. As I mentioned, they don’t allow their fares to be published online, so you won’t find their prices anywhere else. I’ve found their flexible dates feature helpful, though the part of the site I love the most is the Getaway Finder, which works much like the Google Flights map search since the map used is Google-based. For whatever reason, they’ve removed the link from their site, as well as any mention of this feature, but somehow this link still remains active (annnnnnd it’s gone). You can select your departure airport and dates, and adjust the price to within your range before selecting a city to fly to. From there, you’ll view all fares for that day. Southwest is one of the few airlines that still allows free checked bags, which is a positive point for many. There are weird quirks to flying them, of course, mainly their open seating policy and sad snack offerings.

TIPS FOR FINDING CHEAP AIRFARE

Set a maximum price for your flights

This will vary by your budget and lifestyle, but my threshold is typically $150 for an overnight trip, $200 for a three-day weekend, and $300 for a longer trip (across the country or to Canada, Mexico, or the Caribbean), and $600 or so for a trip across the Atlantic (or the Pacific, but I haven’t done that yet!). Give yourself freedom to modify, because you don’t want to miss out on a great opportunity over $20, but try to stick to your budget when possible.

Take any extra fees into account

Spirit, Frontier, and Allegiant are all known for their fees, but even the legacy carriers are joining in on these bare-bones tickets by tacking on extra fees for certain amenities on some of their fare tiers. It’s always best to do the math before you click “purchase,” as you may end up spending more in the long run. The only low-cost carrier I’ve flown is Allegiant, and only when I am going to be gone for a short time and can travel with just a personal item, or when Michael and I can share a carry-on suitcase. Spirit and Frontier may receive our business one day, but we just haven’t seen a good reason to fly them yet so far (2023 update: at this point, we’ve flown them all! Spirit, Frontier, Sun Country, Allegiant, Avelo… you name it).

Keep looking, but spring for the fare when you see one at your price point

I’ve regretted waiting too late to buy a ticket, and suddenly the price jumps and I miss out. Usually, it’s fine and I just pick another destination, but when your gut says go, just go for it!

There isn’t necessarily a “right time” to buy a ticket

We’ve all heard that “flight tickets are cheapest on Tuesdays” but I haven’t found that to necessarily be the case. Sometimes the deal is there, and sometimes there just isn’t a deal, like during the holidays or peak summer travel. What I have seen, though, is that Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays are often the cheapest days to fly. I also have found that buying tickets three-to-five weeks out for a domestic flight and three months out for an international flight is the sweet spot for both cost and trip-planning time.

When booking an international flight on an international carrier, check in the local currency

To share a personal example, I’ve saved $100+ per ticket when booking flights on Norwegian Airlines in Kroner rather than dollars simply by using the Norwegian version of their site.

Keep checking the fare after you book

You’ll want to read the fine print, but most airlines offer free cancellation within twenty-four hours after booking (it’s actually the law here in the U.S.). If you see a cheaper fare, rebook and then cancel your first flight. Many airlines charge exorbitant change fees (except Southwest) and it’s often not worth it to do so after that cancellation window passes.

All this being said, be mindful of the cost of your time

Flying to an airport sixty miles away from your destination may save some money, but it will cost you both time and transportation headaches. Layovers and parking in an off-airport lot can save you money, but you are losing out on valuable vacation time. I’ve done all of these things, but have only found that it’s worth it when taking a really long overseas trip and have been able to save several hundreds of dollars by doing so.

Enjoyed this post? You may also like:

What are your favorite websites for searching for flights? Let us know if we’ve missed anything!