The flight to your destination is usually the most expensive part of your entire trip. Finding a great value on your flight is the best way to stay within budget, while allowing more funds to be allocated to the fun stuff, like noms brews & views. Below outlines tools and tips for finding a great deal on flights both domestically and internationally.
1. Fly with Rewards
Looking for a budget flight? How about a free flight? Despite sounding too good to be true, there are many travel credit cards out there that reward customers for signing up for their travel cards.
We have found the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card to be the best deal, offering 80,000 bonus points after spending $4000 in the first 3 months. 80,000 bonus points is the equivalent of $1000 in travel credit, which means you have earned yourself a free flight to your dream destination. If you have any big purchases coming in the near future, applying for this card is a no brainer! It allowed us both to travel round-trip to Hawaii for free.
Read more trusted reviews of this card on NerdWallet
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Without a doubt, Google Flights is the most underrated travel tool for finding great flights. There are so many incredible features in Google Flights that allow you to access all of your options and find an optimal flight to your destination. Google Flights can aid in determining the right time of year to travel to your destination, which airport to fly into and out of, and suggestions for the best time to buy your flight.
One of the features we most frequently use is the "flexible dates" feature which allows you to find the most affordable flights to an entire continent over a 6 months range.
Budget Tip: When flying to Europe, fly into any city regardless if it is a destination of interest or not. Once in Europe, you can get a flight to other countries/cities for a low as $15!
If you have a destination and month of travel determined, use Google Flight's "track prices" feature. You will then be alerted via email whenever the price fluctuates.
Budget Tip: A general rule-of-thumb is that flight prices will be at their lowest 6 months out from your departure date.
3. Skyscanner
Skyscanner is another great resource for flight comparison. On Skyscanner, you can find out which dates provide non-stop flights to your destination, search by airline, and get price alerts sent directly to your email. You can even search for hotels and rental cars within the same platform.
