Here’s how to find cheapest airline flights every time you travel
Are there any strategies to find cheap airfares every time I travel?
- Airlines use dynamic pricing, making it difficult to predict the best time or method to secure minimum fares.
- Flexibility can have a major impact on ticket prices on travel dates, times, and even at airports.
- To find a deal, we recommend shopping and checking out different airlines.
As a travel journalist who specializes in airlines, I am often asked how to find the best deals on airfares. My friend has asked me multiple times whether there is an advantage to buying a round-trip ticket for two one-way tickets.
Unfortunately, airline pricing can be very opaque and unpredictable, and my advice is usually something you should buy if it feels like a fair deal.
“The main thing I say is that if you feel frustrated when buying tickets for an airline, you think you’re feeling frustrated,” said Lindsay Owens, executive director of Groundwork Collaborative, a Washington-based economic policy think tank. “The aviation industry is actually the pioneer of the most ruthless and deceptive pricing practices. It’s no surprise that people feel really helpless and frustrated when they’re buying tickets.”
Owens is working on a book called “Gouged: The End of A America,” which includes research into airline pricing. She said that airlines are pioneering what we consider today as “dynamic pricing” and that the current confused hierarchy of airfares is due to design.
So, are there any transactions you have? Yes, but you never know if you’re getting the best possible price.
Round-trip versus one-way: Which is better?
One of the big “hacks” people ask me is whether it’s better to buy a round-trip itinerary or two one-way tickets.
A friend who works in revenue management for airlines generally says that round-trip pricing can be a little lower, but that’s not always a guarantee.
“In general, you’re going to save money on a round trip compared to one side across the board,” Owens said.
For example, if you buy a ticket from Washington to San Juan on August 20th, and you return on August 27th, you’ll pay $20 less in JetBlue if you buy it as a round trip itinerary rather than as two one-way tickets. (Airline prices may change at any time, at least at the time of writing.)
Airlines price one-way tickets higher for a variety of reasons, including ensuring that they maximize profits if travelers decide to acquire another airline for their return trip. Also, Owens research suggests that carriers generally predict that one-way ticket buyers are more likely to travel for business or are on emergency trips, making them less price sensitive.
“International travel is where the most extreme price difference remains between one-way and round-trip,” she said. “People who book one-way flights internationally are a little different from people who book two-way flights internationally.
Owens also noted that there could be a significant gap between airlines in their pricing strategies. Legacy airlines like American, Delta and United are more likely to offer discounts on round-trip itineraries, while low-cost carriers like Southwest, JetBlue and Breeze are more likely to price tickets one way.
How airlines set prices
If I can tell you this definitively, I work in revenue management for airlines.
“It’s opaque because there really isn’t any pure logic other than what the competition is happening today. It’s very difficult to explain to people,” William J. McGee, senior travel fellow at the American Economic Freedom Project, told me. “They are always betting on the system to see the last dollar they can get out of every flight.
Before the airlines were deregulated in 1978, they set airfares under supervision by the Civil Aviation Commission, based solely on the cost of operating the route, according to McGee. Since deregulation, airlines have more room to set fares, making it much more difficult for travelers to predict.
One of the airline’s rules of thumb is that night stays at a Saturday night destination often indicate a leisure trip, unlocking cheap fare buckets. But now, McGee says that guidance seems to have lost its ability to maintain it thanks to remote work.
“Because I think Americans are working so hard these days. “At this point, I’m not ready to say that Saturday night stay discounts are dead. It may not be that robust.”
When setting prices now, airlines take into account all factors, from the day of the week to departure times to route and competition demand.
“Broadly speaking, what the airline is trying to do is charge the maximum amount that can be made to fill all flights,” Owens said.
Carriers often don’t sell all their seats at once. So even the available inventory is not an indicator of where the price of a particular flight is heading.
Booking advice
“The Golden Rules are flexible,” McGee said. “If you tweak the days you go, if you tweak the airport you plan to go to, and if you tweak the times for the day, how big the difference is can be surprising.”
Both McGee and Owens agreed that the best thing travelers can do to find a fair deal on airfares is to tweak a little to itinerary if they want to find the best possible price.
“As long as you can compare shopping, it’s always a good option. The best way to ensure pricing is the combination of being flexible on all aspects of your trip. Flexible departure dates, flexible return dates,” Owens said.
Zach Wichter is a travel journalist and writes the USA Today Cruising Advanced Column. He is based in New York and can be contacted at zwichter@usatoday.com.
