Law #17: Leverage super simple tools to find the best flights
The Law
The ability to travel is a precious privilege. Flying opens an entire gateway to explore what can feel like new worlds. Flying with a budget-conscious savvy allows you to explore more, stretching your resources further. Regardless of the breadth of your resources, explore how to get the most out of travel searches with today’s latest tools.
Your Keys to Power
Monitor flight prices by setting up alerts. Google Flights has a feature that allows you to set up an alert for your flight itinerary. You can set alerts for specific or flexible days and use as many filters as you like, for instance, a particular number of stops, fare class, or connecting airport. Your option for setting these alerts will be limited only by how far in advance airlines schedule flights, but outside of that restriction, you’re free to set up as many alerts as you’d like. Once you set up an alert, Google will notify you of any significant changes in airfare. If you’ve chosen flexible dates, it’ll let you know details about times that may be best to travel based on fluctuating airfare costs.
Take advantage of Google‘s price grid. The price grid feature within Google Flights lets you see how much flights might cost on certain days very quickly. To see the grid, enter your origin and destination airports and click on the drop-down to select travel dates. When you see the drop-down calendar, it’ll display the cheapest days to fly that fit your parameters in green. If you want to include filters—you want to exclude flights with connections since you prefer nonstop flights—you can exclude options that don’t fit specific parameters. That way, you won’t see flights you aren’t willing to entertain. Once you’ve selected flight dates from the grid, the results will appear, with the most economical options appearing typically within the first few search results. The most economical options within those search results will also appear with the price listed in green.
Plan ahead. As has been the case for quite some time, it’s often beneficial to purchase airfare as much as possible in advance of your travel dates. Prices tend to trend upward closer to travel dates because flight inventory reduces as people buy seats. While it’s not always a given that purchasing flights closest to your travel dates will be more expensive, the pattern generally holds, and you’ll likely do better purchasing tickets in advance.
Consider splitting tickets. Google Flights offers split tickets when itineraries from different airlines are reasonable. A split ticket means buying one ticket from one carrier and another from a different carrier. As long as you pay attention and are careful, it’s pretty easy to manage an inbound flight on one airline and an outbound flight on a different airline. Things get a bit trickier if multiple partner airlines are involved in a single direction of a flight, for instance, multiple carriers for just the outbound flight. Exercise more caution if more than a single carrier is handling one direction of travel, and even more careful if you check the bag under those conditions.
Check nearby airports. Google Flights has a nifty search feature that allows you to select multiple outbound and inbound airports to search at the same time. This feature is excellent because it will add fares from all airports into a single matrix, allowing you to determine which options offer the best rates for your trip. With that information in hand, be savvy with your assessment. Sometimes it’s not only about the cheapest airfare but the cheapest overall experience. For instance, it may cost you $40 more to fly to an airport closer to your destination, but being closer may reduce your on-the-ground travel expenses to and from the airport by as much as $80. If that’s the case, the most economical and convenient experience may be a slightly higher-cost flight with shorter on-the-ground transit.
Explore Google’s “Explore” tool. Google Flight’s "Explore" tool is fantastic. It allows you to enter exact or flexible dates when you’d like to travel and an origin airport from which it will generate a map of flight opportunities. The engine visually shows you the cities you can travel to within a specific price range on a scrollable and clickable map. Enjoy moving around the globe to see prices to destinations within any territory and zoom in and out of regions to explore deals that fit your travel desires and price range. Explore is a very efficient method of searching and an innumerable amount of potential destinations at once with a powerful search tool. Depending on where you’re flying, particularly for destinations like Europe where there is an excellent series of ground transportation systems, you could search like this to find the best city to fly into a region and then navigate other cities and countries by rail or local airlines.
Check out discounted airfare networks. If you have the patience to get old school with it and deal with the travel agent, you may score on business class or higher class travel. Networks like this work with business and first-class travelers to secure discounted fares based on privately negotiated contract rates, boasting an average ticket discount of $2,100. Sometimes it works, with the most success in international airfares.
Practical Application
Use your points. If you rack up enough travel points on credit cards like these or through airline travel programs like these, you may be able to score reward travel.
Don’t check bags. Depending on your flight class, you may not be able to check bags for free. One sure-fire way to ensure that you don’t pay for bags, particularly on domestic flights where baggage allowances are slim, is to leave the big ones at home and take a carry-on instead.
Master your upgrades. One of the best ways to save money on higher-class ticket fares is to qualify for upgrades, which means you only pay for lower fares while relying on upgrades. Here are some tips on how to qualify for upgrades.
Take advantage of complimentary lounge access. Using credit card perks or membership programs to access lounges allows you to rest comfortably and avoid spending money on things like coffee, snacks, and meals. Also, some business or first class airfares permit lounge access, but always verify it is included before purchasing.
Don’t cut it too close. With increasing airport difficulties, particularly delayed and canceled flights, be careful not to cut it too close with your booking window—book well in advance—and with your connections—give yourself plenty of time to make connections.
Authority
“Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.” - Leonardo da Vinci
“I travel a lot; I hate having my life disrupted by routine.” - Caskie Stinnett
“Jobs fill your pockets, but adventures fill your soul.” - Jaime Lyn
“Investment in travel is an investment in yourself.” - Matthew Karsten
“I heard an airplane passing overhead. I wished I was on it.” - Charles Bukowski
“Airplane travel is nature’s way of making you look like your passport photo.” - Al Gore
A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step…the step taken to climb the ladder which gets you into the airplane…” - Ankala Subbarao
Our Vote
As a frequent traveler, I have used all the options for buying flights. When I used to fly internationally often when I ran a business consulting firm, I leveraged this travel agency to help secure fantastic business class flights from the US to parts of Asia and Africa. Over the years, I have become a Google Flights pro, able to manipulate flight searches in a matter of minutes to find the best-valued fares based on about a dozen search parameters—I’m picky. 😬
Reversal
Seldom should you spend more than you must to secure the same value. However, there may be times when you don’t need to use these types of online tools to find flight options. If your resources permit you to join private jet clubs like these, or you own all or part of an aircraft, you’ll probably never need to spend time looking at these types of tools. But if you’re not there yet, don’t miss out on the opportunity to increase value while potentially lowering your flight expenses.