How to Find Cheap Holiday Flights

How to Find Cheap Holiday Flights

Purchasing discount airfare online has become fairly commonplace because the process is so cheap, so easy, and so convenient. To assure the best airfare discounts when booking online over the holidays, airfare-now suggests following these simple strategies:

Use a Good Online Ticketing Agency

Look at any round trip airfare on the three major travel websites (Travelocity, Hotwire, and Priceline), and you'll quickly notice some pretty extreme fluctuations in the price. While purchasing from one of the big three may be tempting, you're better off in almost every circumstance to search for your airfare using Kayak.com. Why? Because Kayak is not actually the ticket seller. Kayak simply collects the airfare data from the airlines directly and then refers you to that airline to complete the purchase. If Kayak finds you a good fare on United, for example, you will complete the purchase from United rather than Kayak. This tip can save you LOTS of green!

Book Airfare Early

You've heard the old saying "the early bird catches the worm"?  When it comes to finding airfare deals, the early bird catches the "world" and is almost always safer and luckier at finding affordable rates. While airfare deals can pop up at any time, your chances of getting the cheapest flights are best when you make a 6-8 week advance booking.

Try Qualifying for Discounts

The online ticketing agencies will occasionally have reduced airfare options for military personnel, senior citizens and college students. Before booking your flight, see if you fall into any of the above categories and inquire about a cheaper ticket. Call the airlines directly too!

Plan Your Dates and Times


While flying during your normal sleeping hours may be a little less appealing than flying in the morning, this type of concession will usually net you a very nice airfare discount. Try plying with the dates and times to test this strategy and you'll be a believer very quickly. Late evening flights and weekday flights are almost always cheaper than prime time and weekend flights.Oh, and the day before or after a major holiday is the worst day to pick!

Package Deals Can Save You Plenty

Booking your flight in a travel package with hotel and rental car is usually a very wise thing to do. Compare the costs of each item separately and and you'll see that this is true in nearly every case. The Kayak.com search engine is super for this as well because it will offer you the option of adding a hotel or car when taking you to the airfare page. It's pretty slick!

I hope you're able to get where you're going a little cheaper by using these tips. Have a terrific holiday season!