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Using creative techniques to get the most value and more travel with your rewards is crucial in the points and miles world. However, at some point, your travel bank may be empty, or you might be looking to save your miles for another trip — but you've got a bug and want to travel now.
Yes, you can certainly find a new travel rewards card to fit your portfolio, but what if you want to book something now, before you've filled your bank? Easy, you just need to learn a few tips and tricks so that you can book flights at a huge discount.
How's the idea of saving thousands on international flights, while still earning Ultimate Rewards with your Chase Sapphire Reserve®, and of course, the miles from the airline when you fly?
If this piques your interest, Dollar Flight Club could be just what you need.
Sample Fares Dollar Flight Club Has Found
- San Francisco To Auckland, New Zealand For $366 Roundtrip
- Dallas To Melbourne, Australia For $158 Roundtrip
- San Francisco To London For $267 Roundtrip
- Miami To Mallorca, Spain For $201 Roundtrip
- New York To New Delhi, India For $320 Roundtrip
- Portland, Oregon To Beijing, China For $269 Roundtrip
Cheap Flights to New Zealand: $366 Roundtrip
Cheap Flights to the Philippines: $249 Roundtrip
Cheap Flights to the United Kingdom: $267 Roundtrip
Searching and finding cheap flights can take countless hours and sheer dedication just like managing all your travel rewards. Your time is valuable, so don’t hesitate to use deal searching services that do all the work for you.
How To Find Cheap Flights
Here’s some of the secret sauce when it comes to finding the absolute cheapest flights so you can explore the world for less, earning points and miles for your next trip.
1. Use Google Flights, Momondo, and Skiplagged
There are three powerhouses in the flight searching business that you need to be aware of if your goal is to save money on flights. We recommend visiting 3 websites when you’re looking to find cheap flights, which allow you to put into play these tips.
Google Flights is the best search engine in the business because it allows you to quickly browse the calendar view so you can find the cheapest travel dates for your route. Make sure you scan the calendar view up to 9+ months ahead, so you know the cheapest time frame to travel and then narrow down on the dates you want. Keep a tab on the price you found and double check those dates with Momondo and Skiplagged to make sure you have the absolute cheapest deal.
If you aren't a fan of Google Flights, Skyscanner is a solid alternative that also allows you to browse prices in calendar view, one month at a time. Their chart view is also quite helpful to get a sense of how prices might rise or fall on certain days of the week.
Momondo almost always brings back the absolute cheapest fares, even cheaper than in Google Flights most of the time, so it’s well worth a few minutes of your time to check. Skiplagged is so good they got sued by United Airlines a few years ago for saving people too much money on airfare by finding a loophole in the booking system. However, the lawsuit was dismissed, and they are up and running, helping you save money.
2. Be Creative with Stopovers in Cities
Creativity and flexibility are the keys to finding cheap international flights on both full-service and budget airlines.
Are you interested in visiting another city for free on your way to your dream beach destination? Adding stopovers in other cities can save you hundreds of dollars and give you the opportunity to see another city by actually paying less.
Airlines like Icelandair and Air France often have good deals. In addition, they could give you the opportunity to add a free stopover in the hub of that airline. For example, if you’re flying Icelandair from Seattle to Paris, you can add a free stopover in Reykjavik. Even if you stay for a night, booking a hotel for the night in that city, you could save $200 – $300 at the end of the day. Flexibility and knowing the rules of each airline could be a significant savings and trip extender.
3. Be Flexible With Airports & Travel Dates
If you could save thousands of dollars by flying out of an airport a few hours away, would you do it? What about flying out a few days later? We're assuming you've nodding your head to one or both of those.
Always start your flight search off with Google Flights as it allows you to efficiently use the calendar view to find the cheapest airports close by and browse travel dates. Make sure you browse the calendar view 9+ months ahead, so you know the cheapest time frame to travel. Then narrow down on the dates you want when you find a cheap range.
For most people, it can be tough to be flexible on date and airport since you probably don't have unlimited vacation days. The best way to mitigate that is by planning as far ahead as possible, so you have more options when a great deal pops up.
The folks at Dollar Flight Club have often found that you can save $300-$500 if you leave on a Wednesday as opposed to a Friday. In general, Friday and Sunday are typically the most expensive days to travel, with Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday the cheapest days to travel.
4. Know When You See a Great Deal
Before you book, it’s imperative you know what a good deal looks like. This way, when you see a cheap fare you know to book it before it’s gone.
Here are great benchmark prices from the United States to all over the world to keep in mind:
- Africa: $500s-$700s roundtrip
- Australia: $600s-$800s roundtrip
- Caribbean: $100s-$300s roundtrip
- Europe: $300s-$500s roundtrip
- East and Southeast Asia: $300s-$500s roundtrip
- Hawaii: $200s-$400s roundtrip
- South America: $400s-$600s roundtrip
If you end up finding cheap flights in these ranges, you should book fast, since they won’t last long at all! Remember, in most cases, you'll have 24 hours to cancel your ticket if you decide not to go forward. Book first (after you find dates that likely work), and then figure out the details.
5. Leverage Deal Finding Services like Dollar Flight Club
The team at Dollar Flight Club is there to help you explore the world without breaking the bank. Sign up for free, and you'll see how they've already saved half a million members over $500 per flight.
Bonus Tips & Tricks
- Have VPN access? Try to use your VPN to access the flight comparison sites and set your location to a developing nation with different currency (not USD, GBP, AUD, etc.) as tickets may price out lower in local currency.
- Try clearing cookies after each search or search in “incognito” or “private” browsing mode which may return a cheaper ticket.
- Check in on deal boards like Secret Flying or The Flight Deal who often post deals they hear about.
Searching and finding cheap flights is more art than science. It can take hours and hours if you want to do your due diligence. With time at a premium, consider using services like Dollar Flight Club when you’re looking to book flights; don't forget to add the appropriate frequent flier account to the ticket, and then leverage AwardWallet to manage the points you accrue.
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