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Criteria for finding cheapest flights

Q

QueHuong

Platinum Member
I don't travel much so I'm new at this. I'm planning going to California (from Ohio) over Christmas break; so far, I've used Expedia but the cheapest option is $588. Can someone point me to how I can find the cheapest flight? For example, other sites, or picking a departure/arrival date on weekdays (vs weekends), which airline company is cheaper, etc. I know booking a flight as early as possible is cheaper, but my plan is to leave sometimes after this Friday (or this Friday).
 
no way you can find cheap flights this late. Usually the criteria for cheap fares are tues/weds/sat flights and 2-week advance booking.
You might want to search southwest.
 
SouthWest is not published on the travel sites. There may also be other airlines.

best bet is to locate the lowest fare you can find and then try PriceLine and offer 20-30% lower than what you found.

If your dates are fixed, you limit your options. Accepting multiple stops may increase your chances of a lower fare.
Find out what carriers serve your Ohio city and check out each one also. Changing carriers will drive up the costs.
 
Another thing to try is putting in more general search criteria. If you give exact times when you want to travel it will only find tickets for those exact times, and generally those are expensive. If you leave the dates open ended it will find a larger range of tickets. When I was planning a flight to Oregon for my cousins wedding I gave a 5 day depart range and a 5 day return range and it found tickets ranging from $300-$1100.

This generally only works well when you order well in advance.
 
Travelling on a holiday is very cheap, usually. Check the fares for flying on Christmas Day or New Year's Day.

edit: I see that you live in Cincinnati. That's a hub for Delta, which means fares are higher for you if you originate or terminate your travel in the hub city. If you're willing to drive to a nearby city, such as Columbus or Louisville, the fare may be cheaper.
 
Originally posted by: MindStorm
Thanks everyone...looks like roundtrip tickets are too expensive for me to travel this holiday 🙁
Click to expand...

awww.. that sucks

at least you can save the money you were going to spend on this trip and add money to it for a trip later on and make it better/longer 🙂
 
I get a really long break for Christmas, but only a week for spring break, and I'm going to be taking summer school so Christmas was going to be my longest trip.
 
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