How to Find Cheap Airfare

I just bought our plane tickets to Shanghai today. For two one-way tickets from Newark, NJ to Shanghai, China we paid a mere $725. Yes, you read that right, only $725 and that INCLUDES all taxes and fees. Each ticket was only $362.50.

It might sound like we really lucked out, but the truth is I have spent some time researching cheap airfares and websites, as well as learning some of the “trick” behind cheaper airfare. I thought I would share a little of what I have learned so that if you are thinking of taking a trip, expensive airfare won’t stop you.

Be flexible- This is one of the biggest tips I can give. If you can be flexible, you can save a lot of money. And when I say flexible, I don’t mean weeks or months. I’m talking about a 2 to 3-day window around your ideal date. We saved $40 a ticket by leaving one day earlier than intended. (Which works out okay for us, since we will arrive in Shanghai a day after we left New York.)

Look at other airports – When flying into a city there are usually multiple options. Sometimes they are obvious (like LaGuardia vs. JFK in New York City) but other times you need to do a little searching. For instance when people fly into New England they often go to Boston’s Logan Airport. But only 45 minutes away by car is Manchester, NH, home of an international, often cheaper, airport. When you go to a smaller airport you have the added benefit of avoiding city traffic, and overall less hassle.

Know which websites to search – Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz and Priceline are usually the first place people go to check for flights. After all, they usually have some good deals, and you can check out a number of flights all at once. But the problem with those sites is they compare the prices of only a small number of airlines. Usually budget airlines as well as many international carriers are left out of the search.

So where to look for the best deals? Try Kayak.com or the partner site sidestep.com. The great things about these sites are, not only do they search hundreds of airlines you can easily put in flexible dates or locations. If you are looking for strictly budget airlines try searching on whichbudget.com or for cheap Europe airfare check out flycheapo.com.

Since I’m talking about good deals, I should mention my favorite travel website: travelzoo.com. This website collects the best travel deals from all over the internet and sends the top 20 deals weekly into your inbox. We have gone on trips from Iceland to China at amazing prices with the help of this website.