In my life, I’ve done a good bit of traveling. Sometimes it was a work trip with very specific dates and locations. Other times it was to go to a conference, and I’d tack on some extra time for site seeing. And still other times, it was a one-way ticket to go abroad for months at a time.
The reasons have always been different, but one thing is generally the same. I’m always trying to find a good deal. Sometimes it’s easier than others, but throughout the years, I’ve settled on a process I’m quite happy with.
The trick to flying for very cheap is flexibility. Being flexible with where and when you want to go is the best way to make yourself more available to fly. Usually, I like to think I’d go anywhere in the world, anytime. That’s pretty unusual, though, so here are the tools I use from most specific needs to most broad.
For Specific Flights: Flexible Search
If I am looking for something specific, I’ll generally look for flights on these websites. They have good UI’s reliable pricing, and they have good features for working with flexible options:
A couple of them let you choose the departure city and use a whole country for destination, so you can browse by the cheapest airport. Skyscanner also has a nice feature where you can search for the cheapest day of the whole month.
For Deeper Deals: Bulk Comparison
If I don’t find something I’m happy with using the above tools, these can be handy to broaden my search. They let you browse across multiple sites at the same time. It’s more work, but they can offer better results if I’m in a pinch for a good deal.
For Surprise Getaways: Flexible Destination
What I especially like about these is that if you don’t have a specific destination in mind, you can browse deals to random places from your departure city. It’s handy if you just want a deal and some inspiration.
- https://www.secretflying.com/
- https://dollarflightclub.com/
- https://www.skyscanner.com/ (select ‘Everywhere’ as your destination)
- https://www.going.com/flights
For Passive Deals: Flight Newsletters
A great way to save time is letting someone else find the cheap flights. You can subscribe to these sites and newsletters to get notified on a regular basis about good flight deals.
- http://www.secretflying.com/
- https://scottscheapflights.com/
- https://www.theflightdeal.com/
- https://www.fly4free.com/
- https://dollarflightclub.com/
- https://manyflights.io/
- https://www.travelpirates.com/
For Loose Dates: Price Trackers
Occasionally, I’ll have a specific destination in mind, but no timeline. Usually, this is something like a dream destination or family visit that may or may not need to happen, but if a good deal comes along, I want to jump on it. In those cases, I like to set up some flight alerts to notify me when the price is particularly low.
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Originally published on austingil.com.
