Frugal Travel Introduction
Starting Out on Miles and Points
Usually I plan to use miles to get from Point A to Point B, but sometimes it is not worth using miles if I can book a low enough revenue flight. Or sometimes, the miles earned are a great perk of booking a revenue vs. award flight. Keep in mind when flying an award flight, there are no miles earned for the flight. No matter what the circumstances, I will go through some items I take into consideration when searching a revenue flight for myself or booking one for someone else. Since most all of us book revenue flights, I'll start here.
This post will cover the basic principles of booking revenue flights such as:
- Searching Flights
- Timing
- Flexible Travel Dates
- Consider All Fees
- Sign Up for Alerts
- Fare Sales
Searching Flights
It is helpful to have a system for searching and booking flights. I will not go into all of the countless sites that can be used in order to book a flight but will share my approach. Most often, I use a site that I can hand-pick a lot of options for the flight. My favorite is ITA Matrix because of the easy viewing of flight options and the ability to specify advanced routing. Other sites like Kayak and Google Flights have many good ways to start big and then minimize down the flight options. ITA Matrix cannot book the flight from the website, but it is helpful to figure out the flight I want to take. Then from there, it can be easily booked somewhere else.
Timing
Studies have shown that on average a domestic flight is booked at its lowest point about 45-60 days prior to the trip. Travelers booking too early (six months or so) and booking in the last two weeks prior to the flight likely paid a much higher rate. If planning around a holiday season or weekend, then bets are off. Most likely, a holiday traveler needs to think further out than further in.
International bookings are a different animal depending upon where you are going. Different locations have different demand. Europe in the winter months will not need as much time in advance, but the Caribbean in the winter could be harder. No matter what though, it is best to start looking early and looking often. The theory is that the best time to search for flights is on a Tuesday. However, this is not always the case. Airline market conditions change frequently, and many unannounced sales can be found throughout the week.
Flexible Travel Dates
Consider your priorities and the value of time. Typically Tues/Wed/Sat will generally be the lowest fare days to travel, with Friday and Sunday being the highest. If your schedule allows for flexibility, then see if there are savings for it. I like to view flight options over the course of a month. Either way, it is good to get a feel for the going rate for each month.
Three views from three different sites that show a calendar of fares are below. This could be a good starting point for what a low or high fare might be on the itinerary being searched. It enables the searcher to get a better feel for whether or not the specific dates needed to fly are in high demand or not. In this example, the round-trip flight MSP-LAX is pretty wide open between May 1 - May 18 for two to four day trips.
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kayak.com |
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flights.google.com |
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matrix.itasoftware.com |
Sometimes you might have a window of time available for travel, but not a specific destination in mind. Just be ready to go somewhere! I like to play around sometimes with Google Flights for this. Let's say I have a week from June 17 - June 24 this coming summer to fly somewhere within the United States. A screenshot is below, and it gives me the ability to zoom into the map while more cities and prices pop up.
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flights.google.com |
Consider All Fees
There is a fee for just about anything. Do not wait until packing before checking the fees. Do not even book a flight until fees are factored in. I recommend checking with the airline or a site like this that consolidates airline fee info.
The going rate these days is ~$25 for your first checked bag, but this varies among airlines. Usually if booking using a co-branded airline credit card, the fee is waived (a small perk of the card). But consider that a $200 fare on Delta is not cheaper than a $220 Southwest or JetBlue flight if needing to check at least one bag. And if bringing a carry-on, it is good to know it is free when booking the fare on Frontier vs Kayak.
If flying Spirit, please memorize this chart before flying, or you might pay as much in baggage fees at the airport as the cost of the flight. Want a glass of water on board? That'll cost you. Forgot to print boarding pass before leaving? $10.
What about change fees? Needing to cancel a flight or change a flight will run ~$150 unless you are an "elite member" with most airlines. If booking more than 60 days out and unsure on dates, check out Southwest or Alaska Airlines. However, if you know the fees, flying Spirit or Frontier might still be cheaper. Before booking, it is a good idea to weigh the total overall costs if there is uncertainty.
Lastly, do not stop looking at fares once you click the confirm button. Actually, the next 24 hours may be the most important. By law any cancellation in the 24 hours after booking will be fully refunded. Orbitz gives until 12 pm (CT) the following day to cancel at no cost. So go ahead and check the next day to see if the fares went down! If you booked online at Southwest, keep monitoring for a price drop even after 24 hours because you can cancel and rebook it at the lower price with no cost at anytime!
Sign Up For Alerts
If considering a near future flight and still on the outskirts of booking, set up an alert. I like Kayak because they send an email every morning (or select weekly) on what today's rate is and if there was a price drop/increase. Even if not planning to book a flight for a while, it gives a feel for what a good price is and what bad prices to avoid. If flying domestic, start an active search around three or four months out when fare sales start to be more active as airlines try to fill seats.
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Kayak Price Alert: There are several alert options. |
In addition to tweets from @airfarewatchdog, I really like the website airfarewatchdog. Alerts can be set up for a specific route or even from a home airport to anywhere. The nice thing is they include the prices of airlines not found on travel sites like Kayak or Orbitz. In case you did not know, Southwest, JetBlue and Allegiant Air are three airlines not found on travel search engines. Airfarewatchdog also lets you know if there are promo codes to use on a flight to get an even better deal. This is typically the case with Frontier as they tend to run 10-20% promo codes from time to time that could make this a better option than found on Kayak.
Fare Sales
Another good way to save on booking revenue flights is by keeping an eye out for fare sales. Sometimes they only last a few hours, but other times, they may last up to a few days. Either way, there can be some great opportunities.
Example: Last October, Delta had a flash sale on tickets to Hawaii from certain U.S. hubs. Within about two hours, United matched the Delta sale, and their hubs included MSP. The fare sale/war lasted less than 24 hours, but during that time, we and seven other friends were able to book round-trip tickets to Hawaii for $397 per person. It is about 8,000 United miles earned so ~ $.05 / mile earned. Based on our calculations, we can redeem miles for $.02 / mile or more with United, so really the cost was only $.03 / mile or $240. This is a pretty good fare sale to Hawaii and because we earn United miles by flying it (for future trips), it was worth it to us to pay for this flight rather than use points. Plus the best part: we get to spend a week in paradise with our friends!
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Excited to go back to the Hawaii, this time with our friends thanks to a fare sale! |
Keep in mind these are some basic principles on booking a revenue flight. The next post will continue with more technical revenue booking methods and mile earning considerations.
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