Travel Smart, Travel Hard

To get the biggest bang for your buck, try approaching your travel plans with an open mind. Being flexible allows you to find options within your budget. Search far and wide and use multiple sites. The ones we’ve suggested below are only a handful of what’s available out there.

Finding Flights

• Download the app “Hopper,” which is compatible with iOS and Android. t gives you updates on the best prices and predicts if ticket prices will increase or drop in the future. Hopper allows you to enter destinations and tracks the airfare letting you know if you should buy now or wait it out for a cheaper price.

• Google Flights is pretty reliable too. You can see the prices by the day so you can see what dates are cheapest. You don’t even need to search a specific location. Use their map feature to see all the destination prices at once. Google Flights gives you great visibility and lets you find flights to places you might not have thought of going to.

• Follow sites like The Flight Deal, AirfareWatchdog, and Scott’s Cheap Flights. They also tweet out flight deals every day so make sure you stay connected.

• Download your airline’s app so you can get real time updates on your phone + digital boarding pass.

• If you travel light, look into budget airlines like Frontier, JetBlue, Ryanair, WOW Air, etc. You may not be getting amenities like meals and blankets, but you’ll be saving tons of money on airfare. And hey, you’re traveling for the the destination, not for the flight amenities.

• We also just came across this article detailing a practice called “hidden city ticketing.” It works like this: instead of buying a ticket for your final destination as New York City, try finding a flight that has a layover in New York City. Once you land in NYC, get off and enjoy your vacation. It’s not totally ethical, but definitely still legal and saves you money for sure.

Vacation Packages & Travel Deals

• TravelZoo Great for international flights! Select your desired destination or you can even search for deals by continent if you’re flexible with where you want to go. The site tracks available packages and deals for your preferred destinations and emails them to you. TravelZoo partners with over 2000 companies to provide great savings for everyone.

• Kayak You see commercials for Kayak all the time, but it really does work. The site searches across various travel sites for rental cars, hotels, and flights and finds you the best deals. It often has exclusive deals you won’t find on other sites. Kayak allows you to set price alerts and use their Price Forecast feature to see whether you should buy now or wait.

Prep and Explore

• If you’re traveling international from the US or coming back to the States from an international flight, download Mobile Passport. It’s an app officially authorized by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection that lets you skip the regular line to enter the country. Easier to keep your phone in your hand than remembering to pull out your passport at every checkpoint. Mobile Passport is accepted at 20 airports in the U.S.

• TSA Precheck is such a time saver!!! Once enrolled into the program, travelers can pass through security without needing to remove shoes, jackets, belts or liquids and electronics from their carry-ons. To enroll, just submit an online application and schedule an appointment at one of the enrollment centers. At your appointment, a background check will be done in addition to getting your fingerprints taken. Once you’re approved, add your KTN (TSA Precheck number) to all your future flight tickets and enjoy 5 years of stress free security.

Different sites give you different features and different prices. You never know what you can find, so go out and start searching!

Comment and share your best travel tips for finding flights!