There are some great ways to save on plane tickets, if you do some research and planning you can have the trip of a lifetime cheaper than you could fill up your gas tank (especially lately).  

Here are my favorite ways to save on plane tickets:

1.  Compare Prices

My favorite site for comparing flight prices is Google Flights.  You can select multiple cities as options you are willing to fly from/to and see most of the worlds airlines all on the same page.  Click the + to keep adding more airports!

You’ll be surprised by smaller airports.  In South Carolina for example flights from Charleston can be half the price of flights from Charlotte (a much larger airport).

South West is the only US carrier not available on Google Flights, so make sure to at least double check they don’t have a lower price.

2.  Know When to Buy

Cheapair.com conducted a survey a couple of years ago to show the Best time to book the cheapest tickets.  Admittedly, this window is always changing and it’s more of just a good guess.  The solid number their study came up with was 47 days in advance is the best time to book your airline tickets.  More broadly: one to four months out is the booking window you should be aiming for.

3.  Have Flexible Travel Dates

The least desirable days to fly are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.  Usually people fly on Fridays and Sundays to make the most of their vacation days or to revolve around their work week.  If you have a flexible schedule at all, try to fly out on Tuesday, Wednesday or Saturday – even if it’s only once instead of both ways.  This will definitely save you some money.

Tip:  If you have really flexible dates, use the calendar search tools on Google Flights to see the cheapest days a month at a time. Read More→