People will tell you that to get cheap plane tickets you need to go to this website or that. What many don't realize, however, is that the web site with the cheapest plane tickets will not always be the same one. One week it will be Hotwire, and the next week it will be Expedia or Travelocity or Priceline.
Also, some web sites will more consistently have the cheap plane tickets of a certain type or destination. One might specialize in finding deals on international flights. Another might have the most last-minute deals. Bottom line? When using the internet, you really have to check a lot of web sites if you want to consistently find the cheapest tickets.
Other Cheap Plane Ticket Tips
The more flexible you are, the better the deals you can find. Of course, you may not want to fly at night, or make several connections, or tie your luggage to the roof of the plane (okay, that one's a joke). But in any case, when you fill out the search forms on the internet sites, leave most of options open. This means checking "no preference" for seat type or time of flight, and if they allow it, checking the box that says "check for flights from nearby airports," and the one that says, "2 or more connecting flights".
The more options you give the airlines, the cheaper they are willing to sell the tickets. This doesn't mean you have to accept the deal that the web site finds for you. This is just a starting point. Afterwards, you can check the price of flights that meet your preferences more closely. If it only saves you $10 to add an extra connection, you may want the more direct flight. But what if it saves you $170 to add an hour and an extra connection? At least you'll know what your options really are.
If you have some flexibility on the dates, always check numerous dates. I've found that leaving a day later or a day earlier can save hundreds of dollars on plane tickets. In general, the cheapest days to travel on are Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday. (I also just checked for a trip we may take this December, and traveling on the 24th was $80 cheaper than the 23rd.) But whatever the norms, plane ticket prices are unpredictable, so check many dates if you can fly when you want.
Buying two separate tickets can sometimes save you a bundle, especially on international flights. When I went from Traverse City Michigan to Ecuador, the cheapest plane tickets online were $1,700. But it was just $300 or so to Miami, and from there to Ecuador it was just $400. Buy two tickets and save $1000 - that sounded good to me (but in the end, I found a way to go for $413 round-trip).
Finally, if you really want cheap plane tickets, consider flying somewhere else. Of course, you can't do this if you're taking the flight for business or to visit family. But if you just want a nice vacation, pick several places you would love to go, and go to the one you can fly to for less. You might have an even better time than you would have at the original destination. Even better, the cheap plane tickets might save you enough money to pay for another short vacation somewhere else.
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