How to Find the Cheapest Flights: 20 Ways to Book the Lowest Airfare

My results came back, and the quickest direct flight was a whopping $1,159! For a one-way flight!

So then, I decided to check another booking site I’d heard raving reviews about… A magical websitethat grants young people’s wishes to travel the world for cheap: STA Travel.

And when my search results came back — for the same exact query I searched for on Skyscanner — I couldn’t believe my eyes.

What is this sorcery?!

Remember the direct Air New Zealand flight Skyscanner offered me for $1,252?

Well, STA Travel offered that same direct flight for just $773.15 — or in other words, $478.85 less than the same exact direct flight above.

So naturally, I whipped out my credit card and booked that thing before it disappeared.

In sum, I saved nearly $500 because I booked my ticket through STA Travel!

I’m still in awe.

3. Use the best flight search engines

Other than STA Travel, there are two websites we use to find the best fares.

Skyscanner is our go-to site for finding low fares. Skyscanner itself is not a booking site, but rather, it’s a search engine that scours all of the booking sites to find you the best deal. It’s always a good idea to use search engines first, and booking sites (whether third party or direct) next.

One Skyscannerfeature worth mentioning is the Everywhere Search, which allows you to find the cheapest flights to anywhere — just type in your departure airport and dates to discover where you can fly for cheap! Love.

Another great flight search engine is Google Flights, which allows you to compare and track airfares to find the best deal.

4. Book your trip in advance

While you can sometimes get lucky with last-minute deals, it’s usually best to book your flights well in advance.

Here are the very general flight booking rules!

For long-haul flights (e.g. USA to Europe or Asia), you should book three to five months before your trip.

For quick journeys (e.g. domestic flights or flights within Europe), it’s a good idea to book about two months out.

5. Know your airline

Sometimes, it can be a good idea to book even further in advance than the general rules state!

If you fly frequently with an airline, it’s a good idea to pay attention to their fare patterns so you can understand the ins and outs of their pricing.

For example, we always fly with Norwegian to Europe. From experience, I know that I need to buy our tickets as soon as possible to get the cheapest fares. Even if our trip is nine months away!

That’s because Norwegian’s fares always start out as low as possible, and once that low-price bracket of tickets is sold out, the price jumps up to the next bracket. And then it jumps up again. And again.

6. Get a miles rewards credit card

This post is all about how to find the cheapest flights. But tell me, what’s cheaper than free?!

The trick here is to apply for a great miles rewards credit card and then use it for all of your purchases. For every dollar you spend, you’ll start racking up miles, which you can redeem for flights!

I’ve used my points to cover expensive fares to places like Thailand, Norway, New Orleans, and New York City… ALL FOR FREE!

If you’re not using a miles rewards credit card, you’re totally missing out.

7. Sign up for low fare alerts

When you sign up for Airfarewatchdog’s low fare alerts, Expert Fare Analysts email you reports of the best fares, departing from your airports of choice.

I signed up to receive alerts for the Orange County, Long Beach, and Los Angeles airports. A few times per month, I receive emails letting me know about ridiculously low fares to anywhere!

At least three times, I’ve received deals too low to pass up, and I’ve booked ’em straight away.

8. Be flexible and use fare calendars

If you’re not flexible with your dates, you could end up paying an insane amount for airfare.

Flexibility within a few days can actually save you hundreds of dollars.

Here’s an example…

You think that your ideal dates for a trip to Paris would be December 15-23. You search, and the price comes out to $1,084.14.

That’s a lot of cash.

However, the fare calendar shows that if you could just move your dates up a bit, to December 6-13, the price would instead be $528.51.

That’s a savings of $555.63!

The best way to find the lowest-fare departure dates is to use a fare calendar (like in the photos above). Most booking sites have them — so be flexible and always take advantage of this great tool.

9. Buy two one-way flights