I love to travel! There is nothing that makes me happier than escaping to somewhere on my bucket list. It’s the new sights to see, buildings to photograph, food to taste, places to people watch and unique stores to shop that always leave me filled me to the brim with creativity. That’s because… “travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer.”
The good news is no matter what your financial situation is, you can always find a way to get out and go explore. Like most millennials, I am not made of money. I have to budget and make smart, little sacrifices (i.e. make your own coffee, you don’t need that really cute pair of shoes, etc.) to ensure that I can invest in the things that truly matter like – exploring the world!
This year I’ve been lucky to go on some huge trips that took me across the globe to the Philippines, England, Norway, and Iceland! I credit all of it to using a few money-saving tricks I’ve learned about purchasing plane tickets. It’s taken me a lot of research the best buying tips for buying flights and since I have them stored in my brain I thought, why not share them on the blog? Here are my top three…
Use search engines to your advantage:
There is no need to hop all over the internet to compare flights from different carriers. Let search engines do it for you! Google has an extension called Google Flights and it makes everything easier by letting the user plug in their information then it presents them with a myriad of flight options and tips to save money.
My favorite aspect of Google Flights is the “Price Graph” tab located under the date selection. It helps you to get a sense of what days cost less to fly. Try adjusting the number of days to see how prices fluctuate and when you find a flight you like, bookmark it!
By shopping Google Flights religiously for a couple of weeks and bookmarking flights I liked, I was able to purchase a round trip ticket on Korean Air (the best airline I’ve ever flown on) to the Philippines for only $600!
Subscribe to travel focused newsletters:
There are a lot of travel bloggers out there who share how they get around the globe and you almost have to get lost in a rabbit hole of the interwebs to find the ones that you like and trust. So far the best site I’ve found for cheap flight updates is Scott’s Cheap Flights!
Scott does all the Google Flights researching and shares what he’s found in a newsletter every day. He lists a mix of destination cities (some I’ve never heard of which is cool), departure cities, and their respective round trip prices. Of course, I’m not buying plane tickets every day, but I believe it’s important to keep travel ideas always trickling in.
Another newsletter I like is The Discoverer. Every email is focused on one place and it tells you when to go, where to stay, what to eat, how to get around and cool places to discover. While they might not directly indicate how I can get cheap flights, the information they share can help me figure out a great time in the offseason to go that could cost less.
Lastly, an industry newsletter I recommend would be Condé Nast Traveler’s “The Daily Traveler”. I love this one because there are tons of destination inspiration, travel alerts for different countries, and airline news. In general, I always take a peek at the Condé Nast Traveler site before booking anything since it’s a trusted resource in all aspects of travel.
Book plane tickets on certain days:
Booking your trip on certain days is by far the most crucial part of buying cheap tickets! The Huffington Post recommends buying tickets 54 days ahead for the best price or at the very least 105-21 days before to hit the “prime booking window”.
I’ve also noticed that ticket prices are lower on weekdays (especially Tuesday at noon PST) compared to weekends. If you can dodge it do not buy your tickets on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. I swear every time I’m absolutely itching to get it done and buy the ticket already I notice that it costs anywhere from $40-120 more than when I was looking just the Tuesday before.
All in all, it doesn’t matter where you want to go near or far, it’s just important that you get out there and go see something new! I hope all these tips will help save you some of that hard-earned money and make you even richer in the end 🙂 Happy travels!
