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You really can learn to find cheap travel flight deals so you can travel the world. They’re out there. You just have to know where to look.
It’s true that airfare can be very expensive, but if you know where to look you can find super cheap travel flight deals. I’ve been doing it for several years, and I can show you how to do it too.
I will show you how to choose the best airports, the best times to travel, and the best destinations all without paying a fortune.
If you know where and how to look you can find travel flight deals to places that you’ve dreamed of going but assumed were impossible. I’ve learned over the years how to make it happen, and I’m happy to show you how too!
HOW TO FIND
AMAZING TRAVEL FLIGHT DEALS
This is the number one question I am asked. How do I find so many cheap flights?
I will begin by saying that I look a LOT! It’s kinda my hobby. I love to find great deals and plan trips. I’ve looked so much that I know the best places to look and how to dig until I find the lowest possible price. The first thing you need to know is that it is MUCH easier to find good deals if you are very flexible with dates, airports, and destinations. If you decide that you want to go to Paris, and only Paris, during a specific week, your chances of finding a great price are limited. I recommend that you look for cheap flights during a time that you can go and build a trip from there. I’ll walk you through step by step the way I do it.
#1 Choose Departure Airports
Determine how far you are willing to drive to get to the cheapest airports to fly out of. If you live in a large city with a major airport you definitely have an advantage. Your chances of finding good travel flight deals near your home are good. Don’t worry though if you don’t. You can drive to an airport or maybe take a train or bus. Sometimes you will even find a good deal from your smaller city airport. You will have an additional leg on your itinerary, but that’s ok. We are willing to drive up to about 6 hours to a departure airport if it is an international flight and the price of the flight is really good. Look at a map of the city where you live and zoom out to the surrounding states. Look at every city around you with a medium to large airport. See how many hours each is from you, and write down all of the ones you are willing to drive to. These will be the departure airports that you will set alerts for.
#2 Choose Arrival Airports
To determine your arrival airports you need to know where in the world you’d like to go. Don’t limit yourself. Pick all the areas you’d like to go. It can’t hurt to set an alert. Do you dream of seeing Europe or Asia or South America or Hawaii? Let’s say, for example, you would like to visit places in Europe. Look at a map of Europe, and write down the large cities around Europe (London, Paris, Milan, Madrid, Dublin are good ones). The large cities usually have the busiest airports, thus the better chances for cheaper travel flight deals. These airports will be the cheapest airports to fly into. They will be the arrival airports that you will set alerts for.
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#3 Choose Travel Dates
As I said before, the more flexible you are with dates, the better your chances are of finding good travel flight deals. I know that work schedules and school schedules can be limiting, but you can still travel during your vacation time and holiday breaks.
Summers and holidays are usually the most expensive time of year to travel, but it is still possible to travel at these times without paying terrible prices. We travel a lot at Christmas and never pay for expensive flights, but again, we are flexible. Sometimes we go during Thanksgiving, sometimes we go in early December, sometimes we go in mid-December and over Christmas day, and sometimes we leave after Christmas Day or even in January. Most of this time is over the Christmas season, so everything is lit up with beautiful Christmas lights. Exactly when we go depends on when the best prices are available and our schedules of course. We’ve had to plan around work schedules, school schedules, ball games, graduations, weddings, etc., and we always find a way to make it work.
If the best time for you is during the summer try going earlier in the summer, like May or June. The weather is better then, as are the prices and the crowds. I personally avoid heat and crowds any time I can. Spring and Fall are the cheapest travel times for most places because the weather, prices and crowds are better, but always check each destination’s seasonal calendar. It’s easy to google it to find that information.
#4 Set Email Alerts
Once you have your list of departure and arrival airports and some possible time frames, it’s time to find cheap airline tickets. I suggest taking 10-15 minutes each day to check Google Flights. You can also set up email alerts and wait for the prices to drop. You can do this any time, but I suggest at least 3-6 months before you’d like to go.
I suggest starting with Google Flights.
To explore ALL the possible places to visit follow these steps. See also the detailed example below. Let’s assume you’d like to travel somewhere in Europe.
- Go to Google Flights.
- Click on the Explore tab on the left.
- Select Round trip or One-way, the number of passengers, and the type of flight.
- Enter the departure airport you prefer to use in “Where from”.
- Enter Europe in “Where to”.
- Click in the next box. It will let you explore possible dates in the next six months. You can click All to search any time in the next six months, or you can click on a specific month to see what is available in that month. Then click on the time frame that you prefer. You can get more specific later. Click Done.
- You can also apply more filters just below that if you’d like. I normally don’t.
A list of destinations will display below within the date range you chose with the prices for each destination. They will also appear in the map to the right. The destinations with some of the lowest prices usually display in large boxes, but you can zoom in and move the map around and click on any of them to see more. I think it’s fun to see what pops up. You will probably see many places that you hadn’t even thought of before. Even if the lower priced destinations aren’t really at the top of your list look at them any way. It is possible that you could fly to one of those places and then take an inexpensive flight or train from there to another place that you’d really like to visit. Then you get to see multiple places!
My goal when planning a European vacation is always to just find a really good travel flight deal to anywhere in Europe. Once I find one I plan a trip around that.
Let’s look at an example.
I’ll put in Atlanta for the departing airport and see what’s available in April for a 2-week trip to anywhere in Europe. I’ll enter 4 passengers in economy, round trip.
I see several that are near $2000 (or $500 per person). And PARIS is one of them! And it’s non-stop. Click on Paris and check the dates.
The dates for these flights are April 3-18. Scroll down a bit to look at the flight details.
Click on View Flights to see all the options.
The best flights show up at the top of the list. You can book with Delta or Air France for $2087 round trip for 4 people. All of these are non-stop flights from Atlanta to Paris.
Click the down arrow on each one to see which times and duration is best. If they had connecting flights that would be listed as well. If those dates and that price works for you book it! That’s a good price!
If Those Dates Won’t Work
If you can’t go on those exact dates click on the departure date box at the top and play around with dates. Click on a good departure date. Then it will show the price for each return date. Choose the one that will work for you. This calendar is very easy to use.
If Those Prices Aren’t Low Enough
If you’d rather wait to see if the prices drop more just click on the Track Prices button near the top left. You will get an email when the price changes (goes up or down). When you get an email with a price you like you MUST book it quickly. If you book directly with the airlines you will have 24 hours to cancel it if you need to, but if you wait it is very likely that the prices will change.
Set Multiple Alerts
Using your departure airport list and your arrival airport list that you made you can set alerts to and from many different places . Click on the Flights tab on the left side of the page. Select the number of passengers and type of flights. Then you can enter multiple departure airports in the Where from box. First enter 1 airport. Then click in the box again and click the + sign. This will let you add up to 7 airports. Do the same thing for the arrival airports in the Where to box. Then click the Track Prices button. Your email is set. You will get an email when the price changes (up or down).
When you get an email with a price drop look at it even if the price still isn’t what you want it to be. That means that is the new price for those dates. If you look at it you may be able to move one of the dates by a day or two and save even more. This is when you start playing around with various dates and even various airports. If there has been a price drop in one place it is very likely that it has dropped in other places. This part sometimes takes some digging, but it can be very worth it!!
TIP— It is also worth it to check sites other than Google Flights for travel flight deals like Momondo or Skyscanner. Different sites sometimes have different prices. I’ve saved even more money on flights by doing this.
#5 Choose Destinations
Once you’ve booked a flight it’s time to start planning your trip. If your arrival airport is a place you’ve been dreaming of going that’s great! You can plan your whole trip there, or you can move around. If your arrival airport is not your dream destination stay there anyway for a day or two. You will get to see another place, and I’d bet every time that you will find things there you like. Then find other inexpensive places to travel using the same method with Google Flights. Europe and Asia both have inexpensive airlines and trains that can take you to other places in a short amount of time for very good prices. The possibilities are endless!!
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