4 Ways to Find Insanely Cheap Domestic Flights
I LOVE spontaneously traveling to a new place and soaking up an experience on a whim, but let’s be real, ya girl is on a budget and if I can find a way to penny pinch on travel then I will ABSOLUTELY do that.
I had previously mentioned in my Minneapolis, Minnesota Itinerary that I randomly found that flight for a whopping twenty-eight dollars round trip, and I recently booked my flight from Denver to Phoenix for only fifty-six dollars round trip! And that was after tax!
Saving money on flights leaves me with more to spend on entertainment at the destination, and I’m ALL for that.
Here are a few of my favorite methods for finding dirt-cheap flights and spontaneous airlines deals.
(Disclaimer: This article may contain affiliate links, which give me the opportunity to earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks for reading!)
1) The Hopper app
Hopper is an incredibly user-friendly (and frankly, ADORABLE) app that shows you the cheapest dates and flight patterns for any trip that you’re looking to take.
My favorite feature on the app is that once you type in your ideal travel dates, it will automatically watch that flight for you and send you updates on if flight prices are expected to rise or fall for that flight pattern far before the airline makes the change. It will even advise you to hold off on booking a flight if it expects that you could get a better rate by booking at a later time. Once the lowest possible rate is available, Hopper will then send an update to your phone letting you know it’s time to book!
I normally have Hopper watching about seven or more flights and dates for me at any given time. Even if I’m wanting to take a trip months ahead of time, their price map is an awesome visual guide to show what to expect and how to choose the cheapest dates and flight patterns.
BONUS: The app can also monitor hotel prices!
2) Join an airline’s email list (Frontier has the cheapest promos)
I’m subscribed to several airline’s email lists but Frontier is one of my favorites for finding wildly cheap flights on a whim.
It’s no secret that Frontier is one of the cheapest airlines to fly with at nearly any given time, but sometimes their airfares fall shockingly low and their special offers can be hard to beat. That’s how I booked my Minneapolis flight for only twenty-eight dollars round trip!
Every state has an off season in their travel industry and Frontier is great about dropping their rates to DIRT-CHEAP during the off seasons. They regularly send out updates for extremely discounted flights ($100 and under) to states during months/dates when the travel demand is dropping in that area or there are seats on the plane that they need to fill.
Keep in mind that Frontier does try to make up for offering such cheap airfare by charging $40.00 per checked or carry-on bag (each way), plus fees for seat selection. But hey, if you’re up for packing light and sitting wherever they assign you, it’s still a great option.
Side note: Southwest Airlines is my second favorite go-to for email promos. They’re normally slightly pricier than Frontier but can sometimes be a better value due to including bags, seats, etc.
I’d say go ahead and sign up for both. The few extra emails in your inbox per month is worth the hundreds you could save by staying in the know on special offers as they come through.
3) Try booking your domestic flights on Tuesdays
Now, this isn’t always the cheapest option, so I definitely suggest browsing prices a few days up to Tuesday just to see how the rates are changing, but booking specifically on Tuesdays has saved me significantly on several occasions so I do recommend trying it out for yourselves.
Some airlines release their best discounts and deals for the week on Tuesday at 12:00 am, leaving the window open to book them from Tuesday and sometimes into Wednesday.
With that said, because this booking pattern has become so popularly known, the airline industry is aware that these have become hot days for bookings and some airlines have started to alter their discount days and methods. But regardless, I feel that it never hurts to check and sometimes you can score some pretty great prices.
4) Google Flights
Oddly enough Google Flights is something that I just recently started using so I know I’m severely late to the game on this one, but it’s now a resource that I’ll continue to use for cross checking all flight prices moving forward!
Like Hopper, Google Flights has a pricing calendar that shows the cheapest flight patterns for your trip, so it’s great to review if your travel dates are flexible and you want to know the most inexpensive days to book your departing and returning flights.
I’m still very attached to the way the Hopper will watch your flights and send you alerts on when to book, but I now cross reference Hopper's prices and calendar with Google Flights just to ensure that I’m finding the best deal before buying.
An awesome feature that Google offers is that you can filter your search to show flights based on your preference of number of stops, airlines, times, connecting flights, number of bags, etc.! It’s an extremely helpful resource if you have very specific needs and are looking to find the best deal to align with your preferences and flight patterns.
