How I Learned to Fly for Next to Nothing

It was a chilly Tuesday night in my tiny apartment when my phone buzzed with an alert: a roundtrip flight to Paris for only $280. I nearly dropped my cup of tea. Was this for real? I had been dreaming of visiting Europe, but as a recent grad on a shoestring budget, I assumed international flights were out of reach.

Yet there I was, staring at a fare that cost less than my monthly grocery bill. I booked it on the spot, my heart pounding with a mix of disbelief and giddy excitement. That spontaneous click became one of the best decisions of my life – a week in Paris filled with fresh croissants and moonlit walks along the Seine, all thanks to a dirt-cheap flight.

And it wasn’t a one-time fluke. Over the years (and many budget adventures later), I’ve learned that flights don’t have to be expensive if you know the right strategies.

The secret sauce? It really comes down to timing, flexibility, and knowing where to look. In this guide, I’ll share how anyone – yes, even you with the “broke traveler” status – can find ridiculously cheap flights. We’ll cover how to time your booking just right, stay flexible to snag the best deals, and use all the insider tools (like fare alerts and mistake fare trackers) that seasoned travel hackers swear by.

By the end, you’ll have a toolkit of tips to consistently fly for a fraction of what your fellow passengers paid.

Perfect Timing: Book Smart and Fly Cheap

One key lesson I learned from that Paris trip is that timing is everything when it comes to airfare.

Airlines operate with complex pricing algorithms, and fares bounce up and down like a yo-yo. Forget the old myth that you must buy your ticket on a specific day like “Tuesday at 1 p.m.” – in reality, airfare prices change constantly and great deals can pop up any day of the week .

Instead of chasing a secret day to book, focus on when to book in relation to your travel date.

Start searching early, but not too early. There’s a “Goldilocks window” for booking flights when fares are likely at their lowest .

For domestic trips, sweet spot is usually about 1–3 months before departure; for international trips, start looking 2–8 months ahead . If you plan to travel during a peak season (say a Christmas vacation or midsummer in Europe), you’ll want to book on the earlier side of that window – or even a few months beyond – to beat the price surge .

On the flip side, for off-peak times you might snag a deal closer in. The idea is to give yourself enough lead time for sales to emerge, but not so much that you’re buying when airlines have no incentive to discount.

Aim to fly on less popular days if you can. Airlines price tickets partly on demand, which means weekends and Mondays (when business travelers and holiday-goers fly) tend to be pricier. Mid-week is often a gold mine for lower fares. In fact, research shows the cheapest days to fly are usually Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Saturdays .

For example, instead of flying out on a Friday and back on a Sunday, see if shifting to a Tuesday-to-Tuesday trip saves money – I’ve saved hundreds by moving a departure or return by just a day.

It’s not a hard-and-fast rule, but it’s common to find a Tuesday or Wednesday flight costing significantly less than a Friday one .

Timing isn’t just about booking far in advance – it’s also about when during the year and even what time of day you fly. Seasonality matters: try to avoid the peak travel periods if you can.

A flight around Christmas or midsummer is going to be far more expensive than one in early February or late September. Traveling in the off-season or shoulder season can slash your costs dramatically .

For North America and Europe, the cheapest times of year to fly are generally January through mid-May and September through early December, outside of major holidays . I once planned a trip to Japan in late fall rather than the summer and found airfare for nearly half the summer price.

The weather was still great, and my wallet was much happier. By contrast, if you must travel during peak times (say, an event like New Year’s or a destination’s high season), expect to pay a premium unless you plan ultra-early or get a stroke of luck with a sale.

Bottom line on timing: Start searching in that prime window, keep an eye on mid-week and off-peak options, and don’t buy into the “only buy on X day” hype.

Good deals can surface at any time, but strategic timing tilts the odds in your favor . If you give yourself the gift of time and vigilance, you’ll be the early bird catching that worm (or in our case, the traveler catching that $280 Paris flight).

Be Open with Dates and Destinations

If timing is king, flexibility is queen in the realm of cheap airfare. One of the biggest mistakes travelers make is locking in on exact dates and a single destination from the start.

I get it – you have vacation dates set in stone, or you’ve got your heart set on a particular city. But if you can wiggle even a little on your schedule or location, it can lead to huge savings. In my experience, being flexible has turned a “maybe someday” trip into an affordable reality more than once.

Start with your travel dates. Shifting your trip by just a day or two can make a night and day difference in price. For instance, moving a weekend departure to a Monday or Tuesday could literally cut the fare in half .

I’ve seen a $600 flight drop to $300 simply because I chose to fly out on Wednesday instead of Sunday. Airlines use dynamic pricing – if a certain date isn’t filling up, they’ll drop the price to entice more bookings. When you search for flights, use tools that highlight the cheapest dates.

On Google Flights, after you enter a route, a calendar pops up showing two months of fares, color-coded so you can spot the low prices at a glance .

Similarly, other sites like Kayak and Skyscanner offer flexible date searches (like weekend or monthly views) to help you pinpoint the bargain dates.

Always check the days around your target date – you might find that leaving on Thursday instead of Friday, for example, could save you enough cash to cover a couple extra nights of hotel.

Being flexible isn’t just about dates – it can also mean being open to nearby airports or even destinations. Is your heart set on Rome?

Awesome – but if a flight to Milan is $200 cheaper, why not fly there and take a cheap train down to Rome? Sometimes a small pivot can save big bucks. I once planned to visit San Francisco but found a crazy good deal to Los Angeles instead – so I booked L.A., spent a few days there, then took a budget flight to SFO.

I got to see two cities for less than the price of one direct trip. Consider searching “nearby airports” for both your departure and arrival. Major metro areas often have multiple airports (think London has Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted… or New York with JFK, Newark, LaGuardia), and the price difference can be surprising.

A flight into a smaller or secondary airport might be cheaper (though do factor in any extra ground transportation cost to the city).

Another way to flex your destination is to let the deals guide you. Instead of saying “I’m going to X on these dates, now what’s the airfare?”, try flipping it: “What destinations are cheapest from my home airport during the time I want to travel?” This approach opened my eyes to places I might not have considered.

There are fantastic tools for this kind of search. Google Flights’ Explore Map is one of my favorites for dreaming up trips based on price.

You simply enter your departure city and leave the destination blank (or set a broad region like “Europe” or “South America”), and you’ll see a map showing prices to various cities all over the world for your selected dates or month .

It’s how I discovered a $120 flight to Denver one spring and ended up hiking the Rockies instead of hitting the beach as originally planned. Skyscanner has a similar feature – you can put “Everywhere” in the destination field, which will list out countries and cities sorted by price .

It’s a brilliant way to uncover which destinations are a steal at the moment.

Being flexible might also mean considering a “positioning flight” or a two-step trip. Say you want to go to a smaller city abroad; the direct flights are pricey, but there’s a super cheap flight to a big hub nearby.

You can fly into the hub for cheap, then hop a budget airline or train to your final stop. I’ve personally done this flying into a major European hub during a sale and then taking a $50 budget airline flight to my actual destination. (Fun fact: In one instance, I scored a mistake fare from New York to Milan for $130 roundtrip, then took a $20 bus to get back home to DC – wacky, yes, but I saved around $600 versus flying direct to DC !).

The point is, the more open you are, the more opportunities you have to save. If you can be adaptable on your travel dates by even a few days, you could save yourself hundreds .

If you’re open to where you go, you can let price guide your next adventure – and maybe discover an unexpected new favorite place.

Use the Right Tools: Flight Comparison Sites and Apps

When I first started hunting for cheap flights, I did it the hard way – visiting dozens of airline websites, scribbling down prices, trying to compare. It was tedious, and I often missed the best deals because I just didn’t see them in time.

The game changed when I discovered flight comparison websites and apps. These are now my go-to starting point for any flight search.

They aggregate fares from multiple airlines (and often online travel agencies), giving you a bird’s-eye view of your options.

Think of them as search engines for flights – you input where and when you want to go, and they do the heavy lifting, scanning the airlines and agencies for the cheapest fare.

Popular tools include Google Flights, Skyscanner, Kayak, Momondo, and Hopper, among others. Each has its own strengths, and using a combination will cast the widest net. For example, Google Flights is incredibly fast and user-friendly.

After Google acquired ITA Software (an airfare data company), it supercharged Google Flights with powerful search features – making it arguably the best overall tool for flexible date searches and filtering options .

I love how I can enter multiple airports (up to 7!) in the departure or destination field on Google Flights to see fares from or to various cities at once .

And the interface lets you quickly adjust filters (number of stops, specific airlines, flight times, etc.) to zero in on the ideal flight. Google Flights also integrates a nifty price tracking feature (more on that later) and will even tell you if current prices are high, low, or typical for that route.

Then there’s Skyscanner, the globally beloved flight search engine. Skyscanner was one of the first sites to include tons of budget airlines in its results, which is a big plus for finding rock-bottom fares . Its interface is clean and straightforward – great for both fixed and flexible plans.

One feature I use often is Skyscanner’s “Whole Month” view. Instead of picking exact dates, you can look at a whole month (or even “cheapest month”) to see a calendar of fares and identify the lowest possible combination, much like Google’s calendar view .

Skyscanner also lets you search to “Everywhere” as mentioned earlier, which is fantastic when you just want the cheapest getaway anywhere. Keep in mind, Skyscanner sometimes finds fares via online travel agencies (OTAs) that may not appear on Google Flights or Kayak.

In fact, Skyscanner’s strength is its simplicity and its inclusion of different booking sites – it might unearth a deal from a smaller European budget airline or a lesser-known travel site that others miss . (A quick tip: if Skyscanner shows a fare from an OTA you’ve never heard of, do a quick check of its reviews/policies or see if you can book the same fare directly with the airline. The goal is a cheap flight, and a smooth booking experience.)

Kayak is another powerhouse that I frequently use in tandem with Google Flights. In many ways Kayak is similar – it searches across airlines and OTAs, has flexible date tools, and lots of filters.

One thing I like about Kayak is its “Hacker Fares” – sometimes it will piece together two one-way tickets (often on different airlines) if that’s cheaper than a round-trip, which can save money.

Kayak’s flexible date search allows you to enter a range or choose options like “+/- 3 days” or look at weekends or months at a glance . The results can show a matrix or list of date combinations with prices.

It’s great for when you know you want roughly a week-long trip sometime next June, for example, but want to find which week is cheapest. Kayak also has an “Explore” map similar to Google’s if you want inspiration on where to go for the budget you have .

Another neat Kayak feature is their price trend or forecast on some routes – it might say “Prices are lower than usual” or give a prediction like “Prices will likely rise soon” which can hint whether to grab a deal now or hold off (though I take these predictions with a grain of salt).

Overall, Kayak is great at finding deals through a wide net of sources, especially because it often includes smaller OTAs – it might even dig up a slightly cheaper price than Google if an OTA is undercutting the airline’s price . Just note it might be a bit slower or occasionally show outdated prices that adjust when you click through (that’s the “lag” of scanning so many sources ).

You’ve probably heard of Hopper too – the cute bunny app that tells you when to buy your ticket.

Hopper is a mobile app that specializes in price prediction. It analyzes tons of data to give you advice like “wait, prices may drop” or “buy now, this is likely the lowest price” for your route.

They claim about 95% accuracy on predictions . Hopper also has a calendar that color-codes dates by price, and you can set it to watch a trip for you. It will notify your phone with push alerts if the price drops or if it thinks it’s about to rise soon.

I’ve used Hopper when I’m casually planning a trip far in advance – I plug in the route and let it ping me when it thinks it’s the right time to book. One thing to note: Hopper sometimes offers to let you freeze a price for a small fee or sells travel insurance and such; those features can be handy but also read the fine print.

The app itself is free to use for watching prices. It’s “best for” folks who prefer a smartphone approach and want guidance on when to pull the trigger on buying.

Finally, there are specialized deal services like Going (formerly Scott’s Cheap Flights). Going isn’t a search engine where you input your specific trip; instead, it’s a service you sign up for that emails you deal alerts.

Think of it as a team of cheap flight experts doing the searching for you, and sending you a message like “Hey, here’s an amazing deal: New York to Costa Rica for $300 roundtrip – usually $600+.” Going’s free tier sends a limited selection of deals, and they have premium memberships that send more frequent and exclusive deals (including the elusive mistake fares).

The cool part is they often alert you to deals you might not have even thought to look for. For example, I’ve gotten emails about flash sales or error fares to destinations I wasn’t actively searching, and it’s led me to some spontaneous trips.

With Going, you’re not limited to one route; you can get alerts for price drops on a bunch of routes or destinations you’re interested in – including those crazy cheap mistake fares that general tools might overlook .

It’s like having an advance warning system for fares that are shockingly low. (Going saved my bacon on that Paris flight; I had set up an alert and they emailed about the flash sale – without it, I probably would have missed the deal in the few hours it lasted.)

So which tool should you use? All of them! (Well, not literally every single site, but use a combination.) Typically, I start with Google Flights for a baseline because it’s fast and great for exploring options.

Then I’ll often cross-check on Skyscanner or Kayak to see if any smaller sites or different routings can beat that price. If I have time, I’ll set a Hopper watch or Google Flights alert (or both) if I’m not ready to book yet.

And I keep an eye on my Going alerts or other newsletters for surprise deals. Using multiple tools ensures you don’t miss out – no single website has every airline or every possible discount. For example, Google Flights won’t show Southwest Airlines prices (Southwest requires you to check their site directly), and some budget European or Asian carriers might not appear on certain aggregators .

Also, one site might find a fare $10 cheaper via an OTA that another didn’t include. It pays to shop around on these platforms.

Below, I’ve put together a handy comparison of some of the top airfare search tools and what each one is best used for. This cheat-sheet can help you quickly decide where to search first for your particular needs:

Comparing Popular Airfare Search Tools

Note: It’s often wise to use a combination of these tools. For example, start with Google Flights for speed and baseline pricing, check Skyscanner or Kayak to see if an OTA or budget airline has it cheaper, use Hopper or Google’s alerts to wait for a price drop, and keep Going’s emails handy for surprise sales.

Also remember to double-check final prices on the airline’s own website; once you find a good fare on a search tool, sometimes you can book direct with the airline for the same price (which can be preferable for customer service or using travel credits, etc.).

Track Prices and Set Fare Alerts (Your Money-Saving Radar)

Alright, so you’ve done some searches and found a decent fare – but maybe you’re not ready to book yet. Or perhaps it’s still a bit higher than you’d like to pay and you’re hoping it might drop.

This is where monitoring prices effectively comes in. Airfare can be like the stock market – volatile. Prices might creep up or tumble down based on seat inventory, sales, or competition.

Instead of manually checking the same route every morning and night (I’ve been that obsessive person, trust me), you can let technology do the work for you: enter fare alerts.

A fare alert is like having a little watchdog that keeps an eye on a specific flight or route and notifies you of price changes. Most major flight search sites offer this feature, and it’s a game-changer for budget travelers.

For example, on Google Flights you can toggle on “Track prices” for your search, and Google will send you an email whenever there’s a significant drop (or rise) in the fare .

Kayak offers a similar alert system via email. Essentially, you input your route and dates, hit “set alert,” and then sit back and relax while the system watches the fare’s every move.

I’ll share a personal example: when I was planning a trip to South America, I knew roughly I wanted to go to Peru in the spring, but I had a few months to play with.

I set up a Google Flights alert for “New York to Lima” for a couple of date combinations I was considering. For weeks, the price hung around $700. Then one day, an alert popped up in my inbox saying “Price drop for your tracked flight: now $450” – boom!

I jumped on it and saved $250, without having to constantly re-check. If I hadn’t had alerts set, I might have missed that brief dip.

How to set up fare alerts: It’s usually straightforward. On Google Flights, perform a search for your route and dates, then simply click the toggle or button that says “Track prices” (often accompanied by a little bell icon). Google will prompt you to sign in (if you aren’t already) so it can remember your alert preference, and then it will start emailing you updates .

On Kayak, you might need to make a free account, then look for “Price Alerts” in the menu – from there you can create an alert for a route and date range. Other sites like Skyscanner or Hopper’s app also have alert functions (Hopper’s basically built around alerts and will push notify you).

Even Expedia and some airline websites allow price alerts now. Use whatever platform you like best, or multiple for good measure.

A smart strategy is to set alerts on at least two different services, say Google Flights and Kayak, for the same trip. This way you’re covered in case one misses something or has a delay.

Usually they’ll both catch a big drop, but I’ve had Kayak email me a deal slightly faster than Google once, or vice versa. Plus, some alerts might include deals for nearby dates or similar routes, which is a nice bonus.

Now, one thing to keep in mind: fare alerts are typically for a specific route (e.g., NYC to Madrid on certain dates). They’ll notify you if that exact search’s price changes.

But what if there’s an even cheaper option for something slightly different – like a day earlier, or to a nearby airport? Basic alerts won’t always catch that. This is where a premium service like Going shines, because they’ll alert you to deals even if you didn’t specifically ask for that route – for example, they might tell you “Flights to Barcelona are super cheap right now” when you were originally eyeing Madrid, as long as you’re open to Spain in general.

In one of their tips, Going mentions that if you only set a Google Flights alert for Atlanta to Madrid, you’d get notified when that drops, but you might miss a great deal to Barcelona that could also fulfill your travel dreams .

So if you can be flexible, consider broadening your alerts (or just keep an eye on general deal newsletters).

For most of us, though, setting a handful of price alerts on our key routes is sufficient and incredibly helpful. Just remember to actually read the alert emails or notifications when they come. If you see a great price, be ready to act (more on that in the next section).

A fare drop might not last long, especially if it’s part of a sale or a brief inventory quirk. Don’t procrastinate too much when that magic number hits your inbox – jump on it!

One more pro-tip on monitoring: in addition to alerts, I sometimes do a quick check of the price history or trend if a site offers it. Google Flights, for instance, will sometimes show you a small graph of how the price has changed over the past few days or weeks for that itinerary, and whether it’s low, typical, or high compared to usual.

Hopper, as mentioned, literally tells you its prediction of future price movement. While these aren’t perfect crystal balls, they give a sense of whether you’ve found a real low point or if waiting might pay off.

I’ve had cases where an alert came in and I saw it was the lowest in months – easy decision to book – versus times an alert came but the data said “this price is about average, and we expect it might drop more,” in which case I waited a bit longer (and indeed snagged an even better deal later).

In summary: monitoring flight prices effectively means using price alerts to your advantage. It’s the “work smart, not hard” approach.

Instead of obsessively refreshing airline pages, let the algorithms track the fare for you and simply tap you on the shoulder when there’s news. It’s like having a personal assistant who watches the ever-changing prices 24/7.

Combine that with knowing the right timing (from our earlier section) and you’ll be poised to book the moment a great deal arises, without the fear of missing it. Your future self – blissfully sipping espresso in Rome with the money you saved on airfare – will thank you.

Pounce on Mistake Fares and Flash Sales

Now we come to the really juicy stuff – those almost mythical ultra-cheap fares that make you do a double-take.

You might have seen headlines like “Traveler finds $30 flight to New Zealand” or heard whispers of people flying first-class for economy prices because of some error.

These are often mistake fares (also known as error fares) or limited-time flash sales, and they are the holy grail for bargain-hunters.

They’re rare, unpredictable, and gone in a blink – but if you manage to snag one, you’ll have an epic story (and extra cash) to show for it.

Mistake fares are exactly what they sound like: mistakes. Maybe an airline employee dropped a zero from a price, or a currency conversion went awry, or a technical glitch posted the wrong fare.

For a short window of time – sometimes just minutes or hours – a ticket that should cost $800 is suddenly on sale for $80. These errors can lead to savings of 50–90% off normal prices . We’re talking incredible deals: think roundtrip to Asia for a few hundred bucks, or business class tickets for the price of coach.

They’re rare (experts estimate truly crazy mistake fares might pop up only every few weeks or months globally ), but they do happen. And because airlines usually fix the error quickly, timing and alerts are everything if you want to grab one.

I’ve been lucky to catch a couple of mistake fares in my travels. The New York–Milan $130 roundtrip I mentioned earlier was one – it was so cheap I honestly thought it might get canceled, but the airline honored it and off I went to Italy for pocket change!

Another time, I saw a fare from Chicago to Tokyo for about $250 (normally $900+) because the airline accidentally listed a sale for the wrong city pair. A friend and I booked it without a second thought.

The thrill of those bookings is like winning a lottery – you feel like you beat the system.

So how do you find mistake fares? You have to be plugged in to the right channels. Because these deals disappear fast, being one of the first to know is crucial.

Here are some insider strategies to improve your odds of catching mistake fares and other flash sales:

• Set up deal alerts and memberships: As mentioned, services like Going (Scott’s Cheap Flights) alert their premium members about mistake fares as quickly as possible. Their team is constantly watching and when a mistake pops up, they shoot out an email notification. This gives subscribers a heads-up maybe sooner than the general public . Other deal alert sites or newsletters (e.g. Dollar Flight Club, Airfarewatchdog, Secret Flying) also share mistake fares when they find them. Subscribing to a couple of these increases the chance you’ll get an alert in time. Many offer free versions; Going’s free tier won’t include mistake fares but their paid tier will .
• Follow social media and forums: Believe it or not, Twitter and Reddit are gold mines for deal spotting. Accounts like @TheFlightDeal, @SecretFlying, @Scott’sCheapFlights (Going), etc., tweet out flash deals and mistake fares. There are also Reddit communities (subreddits) like r/flightdeals and r/traveldeals where people post any crazy low fares they come across . If you’re active on those platforms, consider turning on notifications for those accounts or checking the forums daily. Sometimes a mistake fare goes viral on social media, which means it might get fixed sooner, but at least you’ll know about it while it’s hot. (Pro tip: set Twitter alerts on your phone for a couple of those deal accounts – your phone will ping when they tweet a deal. It has led me to many a spontaneous booking at odd hours!)
• Sign up for airline newsletters and sale alerts: Flash sales are official limited-time sales (not mistakes) that airlines or online agencies announce – often via email to their subscribers or on their websites. For example, an airline might have a 48-hour “Autumn Sale” with great prices. These aren’t as steep as mistake fares, but can still be fantastic (like 30%–50% off regular prices). I’m subscribed to newsletters from airlines I frequently fly, so I get notified of their promo codes or flash sales. Some airlines even have “promo code” sales that they only send to subscribers. It’s worth using a separate email or filters if you don’t want your main inbox flooded, but those emails can contain gems. Also, follow airlines on social media; they sometimes announce flash sales on Twitter or Facebook too. Flash sales typically last only a few hours to a couple of days, and the best deals can sell out within hours , so you want to know about them as early as possible.
• Use fare deal websites: Websites like SecretFlying and The Flight Deal have dedicated pages listing recent fare sales and mistake fares. I sometimes just check SecretFlying’s site in the morning to see if any new error fares popped up. It feels a bit like checking the news – except the news might say “Hey, flights to Hawaii are $200 roundtrip today.” Jetsetter Alerts, Airfarewatchdog, and others offer similar curated deal lists . These can save you the effort of searching by surfacing deals proactively.

Now, very important: When you do see a mistake fare or super hot deal, be ready to act fast. These fares can literally vanish in the blink of an eye. I’m talking – I’ve seen errors fixed in under an hour. If you think too long, you might miss it.

Here’s what I do: the moment I identify a mistake fare I’d want, I book it immediately (most airlines allow a 24-hour cancellation window for free if it’s a flight to or from the US, so that’s a safety net – you can always cancel within 24 hours if you reconsider or if it was truly a mistake you can’t take advantage of).

Book first, decide later – because you likely won’t get a second chance at that price. Also, book directly with the airline if possible when it’s a mistake fare .

Sometimes an OTA might still show the fare but then fail to ticket it if the airline rejects it. Booking directly gives you a better shot at the airline honoring it, and you get that 24-hour cancellation guarantee by law for flights departing the US.

Flash sales (the intentional kind) usually have a bit more breathing room – you might have 24-48 hours to book – but the cheapest seats will go first.

Mistake fares, assume it’s now or never. I keep my credit card info handy (saved in the browser or in a password manager) so I can checkout quickly when a deal appears.

Let me tantalize you with a few real examples of mistake fares that have actually happened (so you know what’s possible). These were documented deals that savvy travelers jumped on：

• Chicago to Rome for $249 roundtrip in business class – Yes, lie-flat seats for the price of a normal economy ticket!
• New York City to Nairobi, Kenya for $242 roundtrip – You can’t even get a domestic flight cross-country for that sometimes.
• Los Angeles/San Francisco to various cities in Asia for $600 roundtrip in business class – often what economy would cost.
• San Francisco to Buenos Aires for $233 roundtrip – South America for under $250!

Those are some of the unicorns of airfare. While you might not catch something that extreme on every trip, even a garden-variety flash sale can be a big win – like a $400 roundtrip to Europe (when it’s usually $800) or a $99 one-way to a domestic destination that normally costs $300.

The key takeaway: keep these channels on your radar. You don’t have to obsess 24/7, but integrate deal alerts into your routine so that when these rare opportunities arise, you’ll know and can act.

One more thing: if you snag a mistake fare, please don’t call the airline to ask anything before it’s ticketed or just to “make sure it’s real.” There’s lore in the travel community of well-meaning people calling and causing the airline to notice the error and shut it down (and potentially cancel everyone’s tickets). Book it, wait and see if the ticket gets issued.

Often, if they decide not to honor it, they’ll simply refund you. But many times they do honor it (great PR for them, or sometimes they’re obliged if you have a confirmed ticket).

So just quietly celebrate and start planning your trip – and maybe have a backup plan if it falls through, but usually, you’ll end up with an amazing bargain story to tell.

Ready for Takeoff: Final Thoughts

By now, we’ve covered a lot of ground (or air?). You’ve learned how I stumbled into the world of cheap flights through a lucky break and how that opened my eyes to the fact that travel can be affordable with the right approach.

We’ve gone over the big three – timing your booking and travel dates smartly, staying flexible to unlock deals, and leveraging tools/alerts to find and catch low fares.

These strategies, especially when used together, can turn dreams of far-flung adventures into reality even on a tight budget.

A few parting tips to wrap it all together:

Always start planning a bit earlier than you think you need to – this gives you time to watch prices and react when a deal comes.

Always be willing to compare and contrast; never assume the first price you see is the best.

Keep an open mind about where and when to go – you might end up somewhere amazing that wasn’t originally on your bucket list, simply because a great fare beckoned you.

And when that opportunity comes, seize it! Some of my most memorable journeys happened because I said “why not?” and booked a cheap flight to a place I barely knew about.

So go ahead: set some alerts, play with flexible date searches, subscribe to a deal newsletter or two. Happy flying and happy savings!