I’ve heard some travelers say there are certain days of the week that are best for booking flights. I think that might be wishful thinking, but I’ve found that monitoring flights over a period of time does a great job in finding a fare that’s affordable. Online services such as Skyscanner, Hopper and Kayak allow you to input your travel destinations, then send you alerts when prices go up or down. My go to app has been Google Flights and the effort has served me well recently.
A few weeks ago, I set up two flight alerts for a couple of upcoming trips. One was from Philadelphia to Los Angeles and the second from Philadelphia to Orlando. American Airlines is our preferred carrier and that’s where we accumulate our airline miles. (We’ll go over the importance of miles and points on future posts.)
Here’s how the tracking on Google Flights worked for the PHL to LAX trip:
- Originally, the best price for the trip on American was $233 per person roundtrip
- 7/16/24 – an email alert said the price had dropped to $217
- 7/18/24 – the price had increased to $253
- 7/23/24 – the price had dropped to $139 – BINGO!
I didn’t wait for any more price changes. That $139 worked for me! Granted, when I actually booked the flight, there was an additional $10 seat charge (going and returning), but I was still happy with the outcome. Similarly, the Philadelphia to Orlando trip worked out to be $167 + additional seat charges. I was ok with that fare also.
How far out should you start monitoring fares? I recently read 3-4 months in advance of a domestic flight and 6-7 months for an international flight is a good practice. Give it a try if you don’t do this now. You might find it worth your while.
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