How to Get the Cheapest Flights

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The most common travel-related question I get asked is “how are you able to fly to all these places for so cheap?”

I’m always shocked to hear stories of friends and family spending an upwards of $1000 or more on an economy class flight to Europe. In last-minute situations this is completely understandable, but months in advance? Heck no! Why pay $1000 or more when you can pay half that (or even less)?

My friends are always shocked to hear how I flew round-trip London over New Year’s Eve for $400 or flew round-trip to China for $60. The cheap flights are out there – if you do a little research and follow a couple rules, you can be jetting around the world for this cheap, too!

Rule #1: Chase the deal, not the destination.

This is the most important rule I follow when I’m booking flights. Whenever I’m in need of a little travel inspiration, I like to check out the cities with the cheapest flights from my destination. For example, Amsterdam is always a place I had wanted to go, but it wasn’t at the top of my bucket list. When a $450 flight out of my home airport popped up for my spring break, that quickly changed. As a self-proclaimed travel addict, I’m happy to go just about anywhere. Chasing the deal rather than the destination lets me explore new places that I might have not considered while saving tons of money.

Standing in Amsterdam's Dam Square with a pigeon - how to get the cheapest flights — Spending my spring break in Amsterdam thanks to a cheap flight deal!

Rule #2: Sign up for Scott’s Cheap Flights.

Scott’s Cheap Flights is hands-down my favorite resource for cheap flights. This newsletter has a free and a paid option, and I highly recommend the paid one. For an annual fee of $39, you’ll receive even more (and often better) deals than the free subscribers. You’ll also receive the deals before free subscribers, which is key for the rare mistake deals that disappear pretty soon.

As a subscriber, you can specify which departure airports you’d like to receive deals from. Keep in mind that the major airports tend to have the most deals, so I find it worth it to receive deals from all airports. In some cases, the deals are so good ($120 round-trip from Dallas/Fort Worth to Melbourne, Australia!!!) that it would be worth it to fly/drive to the departure city.

London's Tower Bridge from the South Bank, how to get the cheapest flights to London — Seeing the Tower Bridge in London, all thanks to Scott’s Cheap Flights!

Thanks to Scott’s Cheap Flights, I’ve booked round-trip flights to London for $400 and to Amsterdam for $450, both out of my small regional airport. The normal price for these flights and these dates would’ve been well over $1000! Scott also sent out an awesome mistake fare of ~$600 flights to Asia in business class, and I was SO BUMMED when I saw it too late. Make sure to hop on those deals fast, because they can go really quick!

Again, it’s important to stay flexible live by “chase the deal, not the destination” when it comes to Scott’s Cheap Flights. If you can’t be flexible, be patient – you never know when the perfect deal will pop up! If you’re new to Scott’s Cheap Flights, click here for 10% off a premium membership!

Long flight? Check out these tips to help you make it through!

Rule #3: Utilize sites like Google Flights and Momondo.

If I’m searching for cheap flights, the first place I go is Google Flights, which offers a handy-dandy calendar tool to search for the cheapest dates for your destination. You can also search from nearby airports, which is super helpful if you have multiple convenient home airports like I do. Sometimes flight prices are hundreds of dollars cheaper from one airport compared to another, so this is a feature I use a lot!

Google Flights is super helpful if you already know your dates or where you want to go. If you don’t have a particular destination in mind, you can also search with the built-in map feature.

Another thing that I like about Google Flights is that it searches almost all major airlines and while keeping a sleek interface. Google Flights is how I helped a friend get a flight to Santiago, Chile for $650, while he was looking at specific airline sites and finding prices upwards of $1000.

Once you’ve found the cheapest dates for your destination, you can either have Google Flights direct you to the airline’s website (or a major third-party booking site like Orbitz) to book there, or head over to another flight search engine: Momondo.

Momondo is similar to Google Flights in that it searches multiple airlines for flights; however, sometimes the flights can be much cheaper on Momondo. Sometimes the price difference is $20, while sometimes its a few hundred dollars. This is because Momondo also searches smaller third-party booking sites, which will often have prices that can’t be found on the airline sites. Keep in mind however that these sites often don’t have the best customer service, so make sure to read the terms and conditions before booking. If the price difference on Momondo is small compared to booking direct, I’ll usually book direct just for the better customer service experience.

Wanna learn more about Momondo and the smaller booking sites that you may be directed to? Scott’s Cheap Flights has a helpful FAQ that you can find here!

Rule #4: Get a credit card with a good sign-on bonus.

Just a disclaimer: if you get a credit card, use it responsibly. Don’t get me wrong: I’m a college student working part-time and living off of my scholarship refund checks, so I totally use my credit cards more than I should. I still try to keep some self control though and only use it on things I need. Like traveling 😉 Also, I’m not an expert on credit cards or travel hacking with points, so I highly recommend checking out The Points Guy for some more information.

My first travel credit card was the Delta Gold American Express card ($95 annual fee waived for the first year). I got a great sign-on bonus of 60,000 miles after spending $1000 in three months, in addition to other benefits like free checked bags, priority boarding, and discounted Delta SkyClub admission.

Quito sign in Quito Ecuador - how to get cheap flights to Ecuador — Hanging out in Quito thanks to Delta SkyMiles

Soon after, I applied for the Delta Platinum American Express card ($195 annual fee), which gave me 70,000 miles after spending $3000 in three months. I also have the American Airlines Citi/AAdvantage Platinum Select card, which gave me 60,000 AA miles after spending $3000.

Thanks to these credit card bonuses, I’ve flown round-trip to Quito, Ecuador for $300, to San Francisco for $12, and to Shanghai and back from Beijing for $60. On top of that, I still have a ton of miles left!

The Bund in Shanghai, China - how to get cheap flights to China — Yes – it’s possible to fly to China and back for $60!

These minimum spend amounts may seem difficult to reach, especially as a college student, but it’s totally doable if you put everything on the card and pay it off as you go. Another quick reminder: don’t go into debt or put yourself in a difficult situation in order to meet the minimum spend amount. The miles aren’t worth the debt and stress – just wait until you know you can afford that minimum spend before going this route to get cheap flights.

Do you have any tips or tricks on how to find cheap flights? Let me know in the comments!

I hope these tips have helped you learn how it’s possible to fly around the world without breaking the bank! As I keep traveling, I hope to learn more tips and tricks on how to keep flight costs low, and I can’t wait to share them with you.