If you’re not used to traveling a lot, you might not know there are some tricks you can use to make sure you always get the best deal.

Let’s talk about flights.

Typically the best time to book a domestic flight is around 6 weeks out. Booking too early will ensure you’ll probably pay quite a bit more but if you wait until last minute and book too close to your travel date the rates can get pretty high too. So it’s a watch and wait game in some ways. 😉

Here are some tips to help you get the best deal though…

Search for flights weekly.

Typically Tuesday is a good day to search and purchase flights. If you start well in advance and just check in weekly, you’ll get a feel for what flight prices will be and you’ll know when the price is getting better so you can choose when to book. There are apps you can use to track flight prices like hopper or google flights as well and they can recommend when it’s a good time to book. I like to be in control of my search too so I do my own search each week as well and look at all the options I’m interested in. 

Search on an incognito browser window.

If you aren’t using an incognito window, the site will remember your search and the more you look, the higher the prices will go. Make sure it’s a “new” search each time by searching incognito. The way to do this varies by browser and by device so if you aren’t sure just google it and you can find step by step instructions. 

Book directly through the airline.

Once you find the flight/price you want, book directly through the airline. Never use a third party to book a flight because if anything goes wrong at all the airline will not work with you to fix it. Trust me — we learned this the hard way many years ago.

There are some situations that third-party apps can be good and save you lots of money but flights are not one of them. Even if it’s a little cheaper, it’s worth paying the extra to know you'll be taken care of by the airlines if anything goes wrong. And we all know that things do go wrong with flights all the time! 

What about you?

Do you have other tips to help get the best deal on flights? We'd love to hear what tips and tricks you might have too.