This story has been created in partnership with Allianz Travel Insurance.
The question I am most frequently asked by readers (and friends and family, I might add) is how to find cheap flights. Most of the time, they’re wondering how to save money on Thanksgiving and Christmas flights, since that’s when most people are traveling. The trouble is, they’re usually asking me a few weeks before the holiday, which means they haven’t been following my advice.
If you want to find cheap holiday flights, here are my top 10 tips:
1. Find the sweet spot
Finding cheap flights can be tricky, especially over holidays. For many, it’s either too late to find the inexpensive fares or too early. Last week, Going.com sent out a good reminder regarding when to book: “For domestic flights, most deals pop up 1–3 months before your travel dates. For international trips, it’s 2–8 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 so it’s more like you’re booking in the winter for a summer holiday and vice versa.”
This is solid advice and if you want to score a deal, try booking in that window. However, the problem with booking too early is that airlines don’t have much incentive to lower prices so far in advance. They start looking at their load factors a few months before and if they haven’t sold many tickets, then they lower the fares.
2. Use miles and points
However, if you’re booking using miles and points, as far in advance or as late as possible is usually when you will get the best deals. I just booked my family tickets to fly to Europe next summer using American Airlines miles and I was able to find tickets for 27,000 miles each way in coach. When I looked a few months before for this past summer, those same tickets were two to three times the amount. I also looked into flying to Paris for the Olympics and wanted to leave the next day or the following and I found the same 27K deal. However, the real deal was flying business class for 57,500 miles and $5.60 in a lie-flat seat. Those prices were up to five times the price a month ago. Below are screenshots for next week compared to what it would cost in six weeks.
337,500 for one ticket one-way!
3. Be flexible
The best way to find cheap plane tickets is to be flexible. The best example is Thanksgiving. Most Americans want to fly out the Wednesday before turkey day (Thursday) and return the Sunday after. Those two days were always the busiest travel days of the year to travel until the pandemic. The one good thing about the pandemic is that it proved that people really can work remotely so a lot of people take advantage of that by traveling on days that aren’t so busy or expensive and just work from their destination, which is why those days aren’t as busy as they have been historically.
If you can just change your dates by a day or two or four, you can save significantly. With the exception of the Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving, those two days are usually the cheapest days of the week to fly. Saturday is a close third.
This year, Christmas and New Year’s Day are both on Wednesdays, so I think most travelers are going to use their vacation days to leave the Friday before (December 20) and return the Sunday after (January 5). At least, I am.
As you can see from the screenshot below (using Google Flights), the most expensive days to fly New York (JFK) to Los Angeles (LAX) on two of the Big Three airlines (American and Delta as United doesn’t service JFK), it’s much cheaper to leave much earlier in the week or fly on Christmas Eve or Day. If you’re a family of four, you can save over a thousand dollars. Keep in mind, fares are always changing and there are a lot of factors including the route. I took these screenshots on August 15:
3. Make a stop
In the example above, I searched only nonstop flights, which are obviously a lot quicker and less hassle and stress because you don’t have to worry about weather in a third city, being delayed and missing your connection or losing your luggage, the chances of which go up significantly when making a stop.
I know most people don’t want to make a stop for all the reasons listed above but if you want to save money, you can usually save significantly by making a connection or two. See the example above. This shows how much cheaper it is by the date and the screenshot below shows how much cheaper American Airlines’ flight from JFK to LAX with a stop (LAS) is.
4. Use alternate airports
Another great way to save money on holiday flights or flights in general is to use alternate airports. In my original example, I was specific with airports like LAX and JFK. However, if I just put in New York’s and Los Angeles’ surrounding airports, I can find cheaper flights. Searching Newark (EWR), LaGuardia (LGA) and Westchester (HPN), in addition to JFK and the airports near LAX like Burbank (BUR), Long Beach (LGB) and Santa Ana (SNA), gives a much wider array and cheaper choices. Below is the screenshot to prove it.
FYI: LGA is the closest airport to the Big Apple but the airlines don’t offer nonstop flights between LGA and LAX thanks to the ridiculous perimeter rule, which bans nonstop flights from LaGuardia to cities more than 1,500 miles away. It was established in 1984 to combat overcrowding and I hope the Port Authority ends it.
5. Low-fare carriers
Another way to save is to book low-fare carriers but you really have to read their fine print before booking. Airlines like Allegiant, Frontier and Spirit make the bulk of their money by offering super low fares but then have shockingly high ancillary fees, including to use the overhead bin, which can be up to $99. So if you want to take advantage of low-fare carriers, then know what you’re getting into and try to travel with very little luggage.
6. Book two tickets if traveling far to destinations like Europe
If you’re going to an international destination that doesn’t have a major airport, or one with a lot of flights from the U.S., then price out tickets separately. I’ve been advising since 2006 to price out European tickets as two separate tickets. I learned this trick while searching for a flight from New York City to Sardinia, Italy. When I priced out JFK to Olbia (Costa Smeralda Airport), the airlines all wanted around $2,000 and that was with a stop in London. I then figured out that by buying two separate tickets, the first to London on a major airline and the second to Olbia on a low-fare carrier, I saved over $1,000! Just leave plenty of time between flights so you can collect your bags, go through customs (if required), check in and go through security. Also, make sure both flights arrive and depart from the same airport otherwise, make a mini trip out of it and spend a night or two.
7. Hidden city trick
Warning: The airlines are really starting to crack down on ‘skiplagging’ or ‘the hidden city trick’ so don’t do it on a major carrier, especially if you have a lot of miles in their bank since they could take them away from you. I personally don’t think there’s anything wrong with the trick and the website Skiplagged.com has made their money from showing the hidden cities. But the short version is this: If you want to fly between point A and B but a different flight flies from Point A to Point C with a stop in Point B, you would book that flight and forfeit the last leg. If that’s too confusing, here’s the long version on how it works. Just keep in mind, this is only for travelers flying one way and not checking luggage. And while skiplagging isn’t illegal, it may violate the terms and conditions of the airline’s contract of carriage.
8. Book far in advance and roll the dice
I sometimes book tickets on American far in advance (like 300 days) if I find a cheap deal. I don’t care if it makes a connection or two because I’m betting that they will change their schedule and then I can use that to my advantage by asking to switch to a more expensive flight that might be nonstop, or on a larger aircraft and offers better times. They’ve always done it since they were the ones that changed the schedule.
9. Hold your airfares for free for 24 hours
Many consumers don’t realize that the Department of Transportation (DOT) has stated that all US and foreign carriers have to allow consumers the ability “to hold a reservation at the quoted fare for 24 hours without payment or allow a reservation to be cancelled within 24 hours without penalty.” See here for the DOT’s full rule (PDF). So if you find a great deal but aren’t sure you can take it because you need to check hotel prices, ask your spouse or check with your boss, just book it and then cancel it within 24 hours if the flight won’t work. Just remember, if you’re booking a ticket with fewer than seven days before you fly, this rule doesn’t apply.
10. Sign up for fare alerts
One of the best ways to save money is to either check airfares multiple times a day until your departure date or sign up for fare alerts, which will let you know when the price drops on the flight or route you want to take. I also set fare alerts after I book because if the price drops, I can get a travel credit by canceling my original and rebooking. Here are the sites that offer fare alerts for free.
I hope these 10 tricks help you save money or afford you to go on that dream vacation or spend time with your loved ones, not just this holiday season but any time of year.
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