5 ways to find the flight you need at a great price

The travel recovery is in full swing: The Transporation Security Administration has counted over 2 million passengers through its checkpoints across the country several days in a row. But airlines have found themselves short-staffed and ill-equipped to handle the sudden influx. As a result, they’ve been forced to cancel flights in anticipation of disruptions. And prices have spiked.

Below we offer five tips that will help you see a better selection and less expensive options.

Use Google Flights Explore and Price Alert features

Google Flights is one of the best tools for finding flights, but it has a number of features that can make anyone an expert flight searcher. One is the Explore feature, which lets users search for destinations based on price for a given time period. If you’re flexible with your destination airport, you’re sure to find a flight with an agreeable price.

If you know where you’d like to go and have an idea of when you can travel, you can set a price alert on specific flights. Google Flights will notify you when the price changes, so you can pounce on a flight when the price goes down or hold off if the price rises.

Sign up for a flight deal newsletter

Some services scour the internet for flight deals to destinations all around the world. One of the most popular is Scott’s Cheap Flights. The team at Scott’s does the hard work for you and sends emails when there are particularly good deals worth knowing about. Many of these services – Scott’s included — have premium tiers that let you in on deals before other subscribers, along with sending you more frequent emails.

Once you’ve booked a flight, even at a low price, the airline is obligated to re-accommodate you if it has to cancel or significantly change your itinerary.

Be flexible with travel dates and routing

If your travel dates are less important than the price, you’ll likely find a price that works for you if you’re willing to travel on less popular days — a Tuesday instead of a Saturday, for example.

If you’re not set on a nonstop flight, you may be able to score a better deal if you travel with a connection through an airline’s hub. 

And, if you are traveling through a hub, you will likely have more options for getting to your final destination if a flight does get canceled or significantly delayed. 

Rely on your airline’s app for information

These days, it’s hard to get a hold of an airline agent over the phone; you can blame the well-documented labor shortage. But airline apps have become good at relaying accurate, timely information to travelers. Most apps now allow travelers to change flights from within the app. If your flight is canceled, this should be the first place you turn to in order to find a new itinerary.

Try to book in advance

During the pandemic, airlines and other travel providers saw booking windows (the time between booking and then taking a trip) decrease to historic lows. As demand increases and planes fill up once again, prices have been increasing across the board, especially for flights booked very close to departure. If possible, booking further in advance could mean finding a better price for your flight.

Bottom line

Travel is in a weird place right now. People are returning to the skies at a rapid clip, but airlines have found themselves unprepared to handle the demand. As a result, cancellations and delays are becoming more common, prices are increasing, and people are being forced to compete for a limited amount of seats on the planes that are flying. But, with the right tools and adequate preparation, you can overcome the two largest issues facing flyers right now.