If you’re willing to search, you can get a vacation deal. You’ll even be able to check a bag at no extra cost.
How?
Here’s a brief excerpt from an article by Zach Wichter for The New York Times in which he provides excellent advice. To read the complete article, check out others, and obtain information about deep discount Times subscriptions, please click here.
Credit: Lucy Pope/Getty Images
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Over the past decade, airlines have developed a reputation for nickel-and-diming their passengers. For the most part, the days of free checked baggage and free seat assignments are long gone. Even the days of free carry-on bags seem to be dwindling. And tickets are still expensive enough to be a major purchase for most fliers, especially around the holidays.
But according to Zach Honig, an editor at large for The Points Guy — a website dedicated to airline news and frequent-flier advice — good, inclusive deals can still be found if you’re willing to do some digging.
We spoke by phone recently about the best ways to search for those fares. A transcript of our conversation, which has been condensed and edited for clarity, follows.
Is it even possible to get cheap all-inclusive leisure fares today?
Absolutely. You can definitely find cheap fares that include bags and seat assignments and, depending on where you’re headed, even a meal. It’s all about flexibility. You need to be flexible about what date you’re traveling, or even the time of day. Business travelers don’t have that flexibility, so if you fly at times that business travelers aren’t on the road, like Tuesday or Saturday nights, you could find a better fare.
Avoiding peak holiday travel days will really make a difference. The Sunday after Thanksgiving will be probably one of the most expensive days to fly of the year. Flexibility is key.
How should people search for deals?
My go-to site whenever I’m beginning my search for airfare is Google Flights. You can find a flight on Google Flights almost as easily as any Google search, and you can see pricing for months at a time.
The other great benefit of using Google Flights is you can set fare alerts. To do that, it’s really straightforward: You put in your origin, destination and the dates you want to travel and choose the flights you want. If you’re logged into your Gmail account, click “track” and you’ll get an email whenever the fare changes. Google will also email you if it’s expecting the fare to change based on historical data.
Over the past decade, airlines have developed a reputation for nickel-and-diming their passengers. For the most part, the days of free checked baggage and free seat assignments are long gone. Even the days of free carry-on bags seem to be dwindling. And tickets are still expensive enough to be a major purchase for most fliers, especially around the holidays.
But according to Zach Honig, an editor at large for The Points Guy — a website dedicated to airline news and frequent-flier advice — good, inclusive deals can still be found if you’re willing to do some digging.
We spoke by phone recently about the best ways to search for those fares. A transcript of our conversation, which has been condensed and edited for clarity, follows.
How long before traveling should people search for flights?
Typically, we see domestic fares increase considerably within two weeks of departure. Of course, there are exceptions to that rule. If an airline has many seats available on a flight that’s going to mostly appeal to leisure travelers, you may even see fares drop on the day of travel. International flights are more likely to drop or stay the same.
It’s not unusual to see international airfares stay the same while domestic airfares shoot through the roof. That’s really where frequent-flier miles come into play, for those last-minute flights. Airlines may not drop the cash price, but they may open up awards seats.
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Here is a direct link to the complete article.
Zach Wichter is an editor at large for The Points Guy, a website dedicated to airline news and frequent-flier advice, has some tips for booking flights.