How to ensure you get the best deal on airfare
- Abigail Gaston
- Feb 12, 2019
- 4 min read
One of the most common questions I receive from readers is, "How do you get such cheap airfare deals?" While there are many ways to secure budget friendly airfare, including airline miles programs and credit card points, there are 2 apps that I use daily to monitor airfare.
These 2 apps are Skyscanner and The Hopper. Both apps do a fantastic job monitoring my jet setting prospects, so that I do not have to worry about constantly checking in. When my identified flight routes drop in price, they notify me so that I can get the best deal. By using one, or even both, of these apps is how to ensure you get the best deal on airfare too!
What is it:
A website and app program that collects travel information from multiple brands and displays it in one easily accessible location and in a concentrated form, so to minimize your search requirement. It creates a more efficient and happy travel planning experience by doing most the work for you.
Favorite Features:
Allows you to pinpoint the cheapest months to travel.
Allows you to pinpoint the cheapest destination to travel to from your home airport, by selecting the “Everywhere” option. The everywhere option allows you to identify the cheapest destinations to fly to and from during a specific date range.
Example: You have a long weekend coming up and you would like to go somewhere; however, you are unsure as to where, but you do know you want to keep it a budget friendly trip. Enter your home airport in the “From” box and select “Everywhere” in the “To” box. Submit the rest of the info needed, then simply watch the destinations roll in!
Allows you to view an entire month of travel routes at once. This helps you to identify when the cheapest days are to fly.
If you have a flexible schedule, this is a great option. All you must do is type your travel route into the from and to boxes and instead of selecting dates, select “Whole Month.”
An annual calendar will appear, and you can select the month you are looking to travel.
You can also select “Cheapest Month” and Skyscanner will provide you with the current cheapest month to travel between the two airports that you selected.
Allows for price alerts. Skyscanner will notify you when prices drop for your specific travel route.
Note: During your initial search, Skyscanner will display what the lowest price is likely to be for a specific route. However, when you select “Shop Flights,” the price may not always populate at the lowest price previously presented.
Do not worry! What you will want to do now is select the “Get Price Alerts” option in the top left corner. What has happened, is that Skyscanner has done its job by providing you with their prediction of the lowest airfare cost; however, it is just not the right time to purchase flights yet.
By selecting the price alerts option, Skyscanner will, however, inform you when the right time to purchase is; when the lowest price you were previously informed of actually takes place. The key here is patience.
What is it:
A phone application that allows you to locate and monitor airline travel routes. It will help you to not only discover the best month to travel, but the best days during that month. It will also inform you when to purchase airfare.
How to use The Hopper:
1. Download the App
2. Identify your departure and arrival airport
3. Select round trip or one way
4. Identify if you have any filters (i.e. non-stop flights only)
5. Choose your travel dates
The Hopper has a color-coded identification system that helps you choose your dates:
Green = Cheapest
Yellow = Next Best
Orange = Higher Priced
Red = Most Expensive
When you scroll through The Hopper's calendar, you will notice some months have more green and yellow dates and others have more orange and red dates. This will help you identify when the cheapest month to fly to and from certain locations is.
Back to the "how to use" list:
5. Tap on the month you will be traveling
6. Select your travel dates
7. The Hopper will provide you with the current lowest price. Sometimes, it will tell you to book now and other times it will tell you to keep watching. You can either select “Shop Flights” or “Watch this Trip.”
8. If you are watching a trip, just sit back and relax; The Hopper will notify you of the best time to purchase. I highly recommend you utilize the filters option if non-stop flights are all you would like to see; this specification could change the "when to buy" window.
Other fun features:
The Hopper offers a "Price Prediction" section that tells you forecasts about your travel dates. These forecasts include things like the window of time for prices to vary and drop to its lowest price before it increases for good, and so on.
The proof is in the pudding:
I recently was watching a one-way flight from Detroit to New York City through The Hopper. For 2 months The Hopper periodically informed me to keep watching because they predict the flight cost to drop lower than the current price. Just last week I was informed that it was time to purchase!
When I started watching this flight, it was at $140. When The Hopper had notified me that it was time to purchase the flight, the cost dropped to $75. This is proof that The Hopper knows what it is doing and that it is a valuable tool for budget travel planning.
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