What is the best way to get cheap flights?

Is it better to wait till the last minute and hope for a cheap flight to pop up or book well in advanced? Any tips from experienced flyers?



FYI I live in Canada, trying to go from Winnipeg to Vancouver for a long weekend.What is the best way to get cheap flights?
The first thing is timing. If you buy too early, you鈥檒l pay too much. However, if you wait too long, you鈥檒l also pay too much. I鈥檝e been on both sides of this, myself. I鈥檝e bought too early and also bought too late.



Start looking at flights around 6 months before you want to travel. That will give you an idea of what a typical flight costs. Around 3 months before your trip, start checking daily. If you see the price go below the normal price you saw earlier, buy the tickets.



I always start with Kayak ( http://www.kayak.com ). It鈥檚 a search website that checks various other websites, such as Orbitz and CheapTickets. It will list all of the airlines that fly the route you want, with the exception of some discount airlines (most notably Southwest). My typical process when looking for a flight is the following:



1. I look on Kayak to see what airlines fly the route I want, and which airlines are reasonably priced. I write down the top 3 or 4 airlines.



2. I check the airline websites from my Kayak search. For example, if the cheapest airline Kayak gave me was Continental, I鈥檇 go on the Continental website to see the fare.



3. I take a look at the discount airlines that fly that route and compare their price. I鈥檇 be sure to check Southwest鈥檚 prices, as their fares don鈥檛 show up on Kayak.



4. Keep an eye on the flight prices until I see them go down, or unless they seem low enough already.



I have never seen a ticket be cheaper on a search website than on the airline鈥檚 website. The advantage to using a search website like Orbitz/Travelocity/Priceline/Expedia is that you can combine airlines to give you the most convenient itinerary possible. However, this will cost you more, too. I鈥檝e only purchased from Orbitz once, and that was because I waited until the last minute to buy an international flight during Christmas. Needless to say, I paid quite a bit and didn鈥檛 have very many options.



Good luck.

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myrtle