Cheap flights can be hard to come by when the holiday season starts. Many flights are 75% more expensive towards the end of the year. There are ways to avoid the price hikes if you know the system. Cheap tickets can be found but watch out for those hidden fees.
George Hobica of AirfareWatchdog.com says “Airfare is kind of like the stock market, you want to buy low and fly high.” Due to the fact that it’s the busiest time of the year for travel, airlines take full advantage by raising the rates.
The following is a list of tips to ensure you get the best deals. For full version check out this article featured on nbcnews.com
• Book Thanksgiving before Halloween, for winter holidays book 80 days ahead.
- Overall, flight prices this year are down 7.8% according to the travel app Hopper. The average rate for a round-trip, domestic flight is around $323. Once Halloween hits, the prices start to increase as much as $1.50 a day followed by a $6 hike the 10 days before thanksgiving.
• Using the “Fare Bucket” rule, you can save big and cash in on cheap flights
- Here is a quick breakdown on how “fare buckets” work. First start a search for your flights using the total number of guests flying and note the price. Next, try a new search for just you. You may see that the single ticket is cheaper verse your search for multiple tickets. The reason for this is when you select just one ticket you may be getting the last one available at that price, in a certain bucket. You see, airlines release tickets in different “buckets” or groups. To beat the system here you want to buy just one or two tickets at a time to make sure you get the best prices and any available tickets in the cheapest bucket.
• Watch for Hidden Fees – Shop around
If you have loyalty to a certain airline, that’s fine to build up points but you want to make sure you’re getting the best deal. A great resource for comparing cheap flights is Google Flights. When using this tool be sure to search for one-way fares as well as round-trip. Another great feature of Google Flights is the recent addition of the price prediction tool. This tool lets you know how long the fare on that flight is good for and when it’s likely to go up and by how much. It figures all its predictions using historical data. Note that the fare is not always accurate but the time it will expire usually is.- Don’t book any airline until you do your research for any potential hidden fees an airline might have. In my experience Southwest Airlines has the least amount of fees of the carriers I’ve flown. In some cases, the real low-cost airlines like Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines charge for dumb things like printing a boarding pass or carrying on a bag.
Remember this, if the flight looks like it’s to good to be true then most likely it is. Use tools like Google Flights and be sure to check out AirfareWatchdog.com to secure the lowest rates on cheap flights.
