Your Guide to Flying the Skies

How to Book Flights like a Pro:

Traveling on a budget? Flights can be a huge source of saving money. The best way to look for cheap flights is to start looking 6-8 months before your trip. I have a system that I use myself, but a lot of people use different methods to find cheap flights. Below I will share a few tips to consider before booking as well as my personal method to booking affordable flights.

Before booking your flight(s) check out these tips:

Be Flexible with your travel dates: I often find flights by tracking multiple flight dates going to and from multiple airports (if that's available to me). Typically the most expensive flights are the ones that depart on Friday and return on Sunday. If you fly midweek to midweek, you’ll find much more affordable deals.
Set up a Travel Rewards Account: Most airlines have free travel rewards accounts and if you travel enough you’ll earn points for free flights. Make sure before you book a flight, you log into your account or add your rewards number to the booking so that you earn credit. Remember, you won’t see those points until after you’ve taken your trip.
You can book Multiple Airlines: When traveling within a country to different locations, consider using different airlines. I typically hate flying smaller airlines like Spirit or Frontier but if it’s a short flight it’s worth it. Typically those airlines are best when traveling within a country.
Check Alternate Airports: If you have multiple airports in your area, see if you can check the flights from each of those different airports. I live in the Bay Area, so I typically check San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose airports for departure and arrival.
Book Separate Flights: You don’t have to book the same airlines for your departure and return flights. You can look for one way flights each way and often find better deals by booking two different airlines.
Check the Airline Rules/ Regulations: Before you book any flight, check the rules on carry on items and luggage weight. This might change whether you want to book the flight or not. Some airlines are very strict on the maximum weight you can travel with.
Why not use 3rd Party Sites: Don’t book your flight until you are 100% sure about it. If you want to change or cancel your flight later, you can but you might incur fees that are often much higher than the cost of the flight itself. Most large airlines do have a 24 hour cancellation policy so you can cancel the flight if needed within that time period at no extra cost.
Once you Book you’re Locked in: This is especially important if you have limited time in a country. First, download the maps of each location you’re visiting through Google Maps on your phone. This is important because even if you pay for data, there’s a chance you won’t have solid service everywhere you visit.
Book with your Travel Buddy: I travel everywhere with my husband and I always purchase our flights at the exact same time in the same transaction. Once you buy your flights at the cheaper cost, the next person who tries to book will not be guaranteed that exact price. Usually the cost of flights will rise once the cheaper flight is booked. It’s important to book as many flights as you can within that price if possible, when flying with a group.

Elisa’s System for Booking Cheap Flights:

Make sure you are logged into your gmail (if you don’t have a gmail address, make one)
For example’s sake, I’d like to visit Barcelona in August. The first thing I do is set my flight alerts using Google Flights.
Type in your destination & expected travel dates. If your time is flexible set alerts for various dates. If you live near multiple airports, set alerts to depart and arrive from each of those airports as well.
Open up the date grid: (bottom right hand corner)
Click on price graphs and a bar graph of the price differences by travel dates will appear. In the example below, it looks like the second week of August is more affordable than the beginning or end of August.
Click on the “dates” tab in the price graph to view the cheapest dates to travel by dollar value and time of day.
Once you’ve decided on your ideal travel date(s), go back to the main page (out of price graph) and toggle on “track prices”
Once you’ve turned this on, you will receive an email every time the prices increase or decrease on that exact flight path for all airlines available to and from each airport you’ve chosen. Your email alerts will look something like this:
I track flights up to 3 months before my trip and once I receive a notification for a cheap flight, I book it ASAP! Flight prices can change within hours so don’t hold off if it’s a good price. If at the 3 month mark, I still haven’t found deals, it’s likely I won’t find a massive price decrease, so I’ll book my flight on a weekday late night, since it seems that flights tend to be slightly cheaper during those times.

Warning: Before you book your flight, consider this:

How long is the flight? Some destinations only take a few hours on the actual plane but the cheapest flights have extremely long layovers. If the extended flight time is worth the cost for you, book it!
I sometimes will explore a city during a long layover so consider that as an option if you’d like to book that cheaper flight
What are the luggage restrictions or costs? Sometimes you’ll pay so much for your luggage which will increase your overall total for the flight. In these cases, I often consider the airline and which I like more.
Do you care about food or snacks? Cheap airlines like Spirit make you pay for literally every single little thing & it’s often not worth the “savings” because in the end once you add up the cost of your food, luggage, water and anything else you need, you never really save money.
If you need any other advice regarding booking flights, or just want to share your cheap flight wins, feel free to reach out to me!