Airfare and lodging costs can be the difference between a cheap trip and an expensive one. As my friends and I are still relatively young with little expendable income to spare, our collective trip planning usually involves the following questions: “Can we drive there?” and “Do we have somewhere free to stay?” As a result, most of our trips take us to nearby cities where friends and acquaintances live—which is an effective solution, but one that involves many visits to Pennsylvania and Connecticut and little else.
Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to save money on flights and lodging that don’t involve eschewing them altogether—life hacks I didn’t even realize existed until I began reporting this story. Like, did you know you can download apps that will alert you the moment the price goes down on that flight you had your eye on? Or that hotels will often offer you better deals on rooms you’ve already booked if you find that room available for a cheaper price after the fact on some other site? The list goes on. And here it is:
“I make sure to use incognito mode on Google Chrome when searching for flights to keep my computer from tracking my history. Sites like Kayak, Expedia, and Priceline can raise the price of the same flight every time you search for it, and incognito mode keeps this from happening.” —Mona Molayem, 28, a travel blogger who takes five international trips a year
“I track flights with minor date and time variations so I can figure out the absolute cheapest time to travel. If you’re flexible—say, if it doesn’t really matter when you leave or arrive—this is a really great way to find prices you can’t resist.” —Carolyn Scott-Hamilton, 40, a travel blogger who spends half the year traveling
“I like to travel mid-week, because flights are usually cheaper then. I’m also pretty flexible, so I’ll pick an earlier or later flight based on what’s less expensive.” —Krysten Dornik, 30, a food blogger who took 22 trips last year
“With Priceline, you can input your ideal price range, departure time window, preferred number of stops, and favorite airlines, and let the website do the work for you. It’ll find the cheapest available deal based on the criteria you’ve given it, and you can manipulate it further until you find the flight you want.” —Mona Molayem
“My favorite service for flight monitoring is Next Vacay. It's super simple to use: All you have to do is input your local airport, and Next Vacay will send you daily emails alerting you to flight deals at that airport and other airports nearby.” —Andi Eaton, 38, a travel writer who travels about once a week
“I always set alarms on Skyscanner to places where I need or want to visit in the near future. It lets me know when prices go down, so I can take advantage of great deals and save money on flights. It also lets me know when prices go up, so I can either catch them before they increase any further or put that trip on the back-burner for now.” —Inma Gregario, 34, a travel blogger who takes at least one trip a month
“I follow @SecretFlying on Twitter to keep up with last-minute deals. They post some of the cheapest fares I’ve ever seen (including a $247 round trip ticket from Boston to New Zealand), and they update their feed daily.” —Tania Elliott, 35, an allergist who loves to travel and takes about 15 trips a year
“You can use a website called Skiplagged to find discounts on one-way flights by searching for ‘hidden city’ tickets. Basically, you purchase a ticket that has your destination as a stop-over on a multi-leg flight (thus making it a ‘hidden city’). These flights are often cheaper than direct flights to those destinations.
But warning: You won’t be able to check any bags. Since you’re getting off the flight before it reaches its final destination, any checked bags would head to the next stop without you. You should also avoid using your frequent flyer account number; airlines frown upon this money-saving method, and might cancel your return flight if they discover you doing this.” —Mona Molayem
“When traveling abroad, I usually fly out of a different airport than my ‘home’ one. I live in Indianapolis, but I’ve discovered that flights to Asia and Europe are way less expensive from Chicago. It's about a three-hour drive, but I save almost $2,000 by flying out of Chicago, instead.” —Lori LeRoy, 45, a travel blogger who takes at least six trips a year
“If I'm not totally sure about a trip I want to book, Expedia.com has a 24-hour flight cancellation policy, which has proven super helpful. Plus, if you book on a Friday, you have until Monday to cancel your flight because the policy only runs on business days—meaning you have a whole weekend to sort out your plans.” —Mona Molayem
[Ed. note: We’ve also seen 24-hour cancellations on Orbitz.]
“I save up miles using my Chase Sapphire Reserve card; I get three points per dollar spent on travel and restaurants, which I can then use to save money on travel. I actually just booked a July trip to New Zealand and paid for it fully with miles.” —Kim Kessler, 43, a PR representative who spends about five months each year traveling
“I save money on travel by letting good deals dictate where I go. I use the TravelPirates app and follow The Flight Deal on Facebook to stay abreast of the latest travel deals. When a cheap ticket pops up that sounds amazing, I book it right away and plan later. I sometimes have trouble making decisions, so I love letting the deals decide for me.” —Jacquelyn Kyle, 28, a writer who takes at least four trips a year
“Every now and then, Amazon will offer sales on Hotels.com gift cards—meaning you can get a $100 gift card for something like $80. I subscribe to Amazon Lightning deals so I know about these sales the moment they happen. (Other websites, like giftcardgranny.com, cardcash.com, and raise.com, also sells gift cards at a discount.) —Mona Molayem
“A lot of hotel chains have a ‘best rate guarantee’ policy; if you’ve booked a room and find a cheaper rate for it on a hotel aggregation site like Hotels.com, Expedia.com, or Priceline.com, the hotel might credit you the difference, give you cash, give you points, or offer you a discount on your stay. Every hotel is different, so familiarize yourself with the policy. Typically, you only have 24 hours to find and present them with the better rate.” —Mona Molayem
“When I use Airbnb, I try to choose the ‘private room’ option instead of booking the whole home. These are less expensive, but they still offer you the privacy of having your own room.” —Latifah Al-Hazza, 25, a freelance travel journalist who takes at least four trips a year
“Hostelworld.com is my go-to site for finding somewhere to stay. It has a huge inventory of hostels, bed and breakfasts, and hotels, giving travelers tons of affordable options to choose from. The site also includes reviews from other travelers, so you can see which options are the safest, cleanest, and most welcoming.” —Trang Pham-Nguyen, 29, a travel blogger who used to live abroad and now takes full advantage of her vacation days
“Couchsurfing.com is like Airbnb, but free; instead of paying for a bedroom somewhere, you simply stay for free on someone’s couch. The hosts are usually locals who just want to tell you more about their hometowns. And Couchsurfing holds meet-ups so you can meet other locals and travelers in the city you’re visiting.” —Trang Pham-Nguyen
“The best way to save money on travel is to plan the whole trip yourself. DIY means more work, but you can typically save money on things like hotels, flights, and tours if you don’t go through an agent. —Jamie Harper, 36, a family travel blogger who takes about 20 trips a year
