Hi again!

It’s been a while but I have an excuse I promise. Austin and I got engaged in September!

With all the planning that goes into a wedding and obviously what will hopefully be a BADASS Honeymoon, plus the holidays, traveling for different celebrations and general life busy-ness, I’ve sort of fallen off the blog wagon. So I’m officially jumping back on! New year, new me right? ;)

I decided to start the year with an especially useful and popular subject. The question I get the most from friends and family is how to find cheap flights, especially at this time of year, when everyone is planning out their travel for the rest of the year. And for all you friends and family who are going to be researching flights to come out to our wedding, here’s some help!

Flexibility in Dates and Airports

First of all, there are a few things that always help, whether you are searching for international or domestic flights. Most people try to leave on a Friday and return on a Saturday or Sunday so the fares for those days are almost always MUCH more expensive because those are the most desirable days to travel. If you have the ability or a flexible job, I highly recommend trying to leave and return on weekdays. It’s considerably cheaper and the whole travel experience will be less crowded, stressful and busy. Also, if you live somewhere that doesn’t have a large airport or isn’t a hub for any airline, buy your longer, international or cross country flights in and out of a larger airport nearby, and buy separate budget flights from your local airport to the larger hub. For example, Chicago O’Hare has extremely affordable international flights all the time. If you live in Louisville, Ky and want to travel abroad, try booking your international flight out of O’Hare to get the affordable rates, then find a budget flight from Louisville to Chicago and it will almost always still add up to less than what a round-trip ticket out of Louisville to international destinations would cost.

Using Google Flights

So to begin searching, there is a specific routine I follow to find flights but it varies a little whether I’m looking for international or domestic flights. For domestic flights, I always, always start with Google Flights. I don’t just mean that I type flights into google, there is a specific flight search engine on google that allows you to compare airlines, dates, prices, etc. I love seeing it in the chart they use, especially if my dates are flexible because then I can click around and try different combinations to find the cheapest fare. Here’s an example below:

This is an example showing flights from Denver to Portland, Oregon in February. It’s so easy to see your best options - higher fares are in red, lowest fares are in green and average fares are plain black. To get to Google Flights, click here!

For international flights, I would say I also use google flights but I also look for any sales or deals before I even start searching fares. The best thing for hearing about deals or cheap fares is a) following travel websites or magazines on social media, namely Conde Nast Traveler, and b) signing up for Scott’s Cheap Flights email list. If you have a trip in mind or one coming up and want to keep an eye out for deals, these are the best ways to hear about incredible prices. Conde Nast Traveler and other travel magazines and sites post on their social media or on their websites when airlines are having deals or sales all the time. That’s how we found $600 round-trip flights to Greece last year! Similarly, if you go to Scott’s Cheap Flights and sign up your email address, you’ll receive emails daily about flight deals and mistake fares with details like what destinations they go to and from, how long the fares will be available to buy, what airlines they’re on, and what the typical price is for those routes, for reference. I only recommend doing this though if you have an international trip coming up, or one in mind you want to start looking for deals on. It is a lot of emails but so worth it if you are trying to keep an eye out for amazing fares.

Budget Airlines - Do or Don’t?

Now, budget airlines. I personally think of them as a necessary evil. Sure you might have to pay $10 if you want water or some peanuts and your seat won’t exactly be plush, but you’ll get where you need to go and you’ll get there cheaply. I would recommend opting for a budget airline if you are going for a weekend trip or any amount of time that allows you to pack everything you need in a carry-on. For example, Frontier is not exactly comfy to fly with, but you can get fares like the ones you saw on that chart up above, halfway across the country for $100. Obviously, if I was going for an extended time, I would have to pay for my luggage and that might add up. But for a long weekend or quick jaunt, it’s worth it. And I can bring my own snacks and water. :)

That’s all the advice I can give without getting too nitty-gritty. I hope it was helpful and you can use these ideas to find some super cheap flights! Happy new year! I hope 2019 will be full of fun and cheap trips for you all!

- Sami