When I look back on my past mistakes when buying flights, I can’t help but laugh. At the time(s), it wasn’t really funny though. I’ll start this off with an extremely embarrassing story to help you understand.
Last year, my friend Emily and I traveled to Tenerife for her Birthday. Although my job covered the cost of my ticket to Madrid, I had to buy my own flight from the Canaries back to the mainland (poor me, I know). I had waited to purchase my flight back to Madrid until the night before we left, I bought a ticket through the Skyscanner App with Avianca that was leaving around the same time as Emily’s (her flight was already full). Unfortunately, the privilege of free travel that came along with my job had also made me a bit careless in my methods of purchasing when I actually had to.
When I walked up to the Avianca travel desk to check in the next morning, I was overjoyed to hear that I was at the wrong airport. Tenerife had two airports (North and South) and I was about an hour long $100 taxi drive away from the North airport. In a state of panic, I immediately looked for a flight leaving from the South Airport that could still get me to Madrid on time for my flight back to the US. To my surprise, Emily’s flight all of a sudden happened to have an open seat, so I impulsively went ahead and purchased it. Checking my confirmation, I realized I had just booked a NON-REFUNDABLE flight leaving from the same airport at the same time as Emily’s, but for June 23rd. It was May. My only option then was to rush to the North Airport to take my original flight. I made it. And I only lost about $500 in the process, happy ending, right?!
Now I know what you all may be thinking, why in the world would I take budgeting advice from this girl?
My answer: The best teacher in life is experience, and I’ve got a hell of a lot of it. With all the silly mistakes I have made, I have grown more wise, like my beautiful friend pictured above.
I’m proud to say that after a few incidents like the very embarrassing one I chose to share with you, I’ve finally learned the core requirements it takes for one to save money when purchasing flights. If you have a tendency to be lazy, or impulsive like I was, you won’t be overjoyed with the information I’m advising you to utilize. But if you do take a moment to read this, I promise you will be thanking me later on.
There are a few well known tips for saving money on flights that many will swear by. However, just like the rest of the information I’ll be sharing with you in the post, I cannot guarantee these will always work. Especially in times like this, both the aviation industry and the economy are ever-changing. But, just because it isn’t guaranteed doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take the time out to try it.
1. When choosing a flight, the earliest flight of the day to your destination is typically the cheapest.
2.Try to purchase your ticket exactly 7 weeks in advance to your trip.
3. The best time to purchase tickets at a low airfare is Tuesdays at 3pm EST. US TIME.
4. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays are always typically the cheapest days to fly out.
When it comes to choosing flights and hotels, I used turn to sites like Expedia and Priceline because I believed they would save me the most. Did you know that in some cases this method does quite the opposite? While third party websites like this are very helpful in narrowing down what flight or hotel you want, I HIGHLY recommend checking the price straight from the source before following through with a purchase.
I had heard buying directly from the website can save you money in many situations, but I knew I needed to do some research to ensure there was truth to this before I blindly followed. Now have a look at one example I found for a flight from flight from Miami to Amsterdam in October.
Pictured below: Screenshot of same flight from Delta.com
Before I go any further, I want clarify that I don’t knock the use of third party websites. They are essential to research, and with many of the experiments I made in flight price comparisons coming straight from the source as opposed to a third party website, the prices tended to be mostly equal or only have a minor change. If you are loyal to one third party site, you may save more using points, or you can save if you do bundle packages, so I do not recommend completely ruling them out.
I wanted to share this example with you all to show you how important it is to check EVERY platform you can before purchasing a flight, especially the direct source. Buying directly from the source can also save you a mountain of trouble if something goes wrong with your flight and you chose to book through a third party. If any of you have ever been in this situation, I know I don’t have to begin explaining how big of a pain in the butt it can be having to hear “you’ll have to contact so and so since you booked with them if you want your refund, its not our problem.”
Unless you’re one of those people that enjoys being placed on hold and transferred multiple times while being subjected to listening to crappy jazz music over and over, then totally go for it!
Doing your research is just about the only thing that will truly give you a “best price guarantee.” In order to make the process a little easier on you, I always recommend checking out Google Flights to see comparisons. Then you can move on to all your third party websites and MAKE SURE you check the airline’s price. No platform in particular will always get you the best price in an ever-changing world. The only way to guarantee is to continuously do your research. Before I leave you all with my wisdom, I wanted to share an edited list of flight purchasing tips with you to conclude.
1. When choosing a flight, the earliest flight of the day to your destination is typically the cheapest.
2.Try to purchase your ticket exactly 7 weeks in advance to your trip.
3. The best time to purchase tickets at a low airfare is Tuesdays at 3pm EST. US TIME.
4. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays are always typically the cheapest days to fly out.
5. DO YOUR RESEARCH. Check every platform before purchasing, don’t be lazy or impulsive, and if you’re anything like I used to be, always get the travel insurance.
