As a travel agent, I would always help my clients watch for when to book their flights. I’ve gathered some airline travel tips and tricks over the years and wanted to share them with all my friends (meaning YOU!). I’ve also learned some of these while working for an airline as well.
travel tip #1: Alerts
When you are planning in advance, you can set up alerts on sites like Google Flights and Kayak. If you have specific dates you need to travel, select those. If you have more of a destination in mind and are open to when you travel, you can set that up as well.
I always have a flight alert open for SLC-HNL, doesn’t matter when we go, I’m always open to going home. I prefer non-stop flights when possible but can limit it to one-stop if needed in my alert.
Other times, I need to be in a certain city at a specific time. I try to give myself a few days (+/-) the actual preferred travel date so if it makes sense and saves a lot, I can be more flexible but travel when needed.
You may have seen the recommendation to book or travel midweek, but this can vary, so I like to keep my options open and get alerts based on when I can travel or where I want to travel. Weekend travel can be cheaper, just use these sites to help you know whether it’s time to book or wait. This feature will be available as the trip gets closer so you know the odds of the price going down or not.
travel tip #2: Loyalty Rewards
Most airlines have a free loyalty program. Make sure you are signed up for those miles/points so you can use them for travel in the future. This will also get you on their email list for sales and offerings. Airlines will also package travel with flights and hotels to save you some time in finding better deals and give you bonus rewards. If you’ve traveled in the last 12 months, you may be able to get those points credited to a new account.
travel Tip #3: travel bank aka credits
If your flight cost goes down after you’ve booked, most airlines allow you to get a credit for the difference to use on a future flight purchase. If it’s within 24 hours of booking and travel is more than a week away, you may even get a refund for the difference to the original payment method.
Airlines vary if those credits expire or not, but if they do, you have a year from when you booked the original flight to use the credit. Other airlines, like Southwest, no longer have expiration dates on credits. You will want to check with the airline you’re booked with to see what their policies are.
travel Tip #4: credit card rewards
Credit card companies with airline rewards can help you with a boost of loyalty points for new accounts. You do have to watch out for annual fees, but some have enough perks to make it worth it. You can watch for higher point offerings to open your account. Not all credit cards have specific airlines attached and points can be used with any airline on their travel site.
Some favorites include:
- Chase Sapphire Preferred – $50 annual hotel credit, 5x points on travel purchased through Ultimate rewards, 3x on dining, and 2x on all other categories. $95 annual fee. Currently seeing 60,000 bonus points after spending $4000 in the first 3 months of account opening.
- Capital One Venture – no annual fee, earn unlimited 1.25 miles per dollar on every purchase, earn unlimited 5 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, 20,000 bonus miles once you spend $500 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening,
What rewards program do you use? Some banks also have their own built into their personal or business checking accounts.
Travel Tip #5: Book Direct to save on additional fees
When you find a great deal online, always go over to the airline site and book through them directly. If you need to make any changes, airlines can have an additional fee for booking through 3rd party sites. This way you won’t miss out on the loyalty rewards either.
