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Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: The Money Monk on October 21, 2015, 11:22:26 AM

Title: who knows the best way to find the cheapest flight within a date range?
Post by: The Money Monk on October 21, 2015, 11:22:26 AM: I will be travelling to visit my Dad and Grandpa soon, but since I am self-employed and they are both retired, it doesn't really matter exactly when I go.

When trying to find flights though it seems the only way to do a search is to pick a specific travel date.

Is there a good website for finding the cheapest flight within a given 2-4 week time period?
Title: Re: who knows the best way to find the cheapest flight within a date range?
Post by: squeakywheel on October 21, 2015, 11:39:21 AM: kayak.com gives you a great grid of prices in a week long spread (+/- 3 days from a given date)
Title: Re: who knows the best way to find the cheapest flight within a date range?
Post by: MacGyverIt on October 21, 2015, 11:40:56 AM: I've found Google's flights page very helpful: https://www.google.com/flights/

Be sure to look at both round trip and one way there and back. I've run the numbers as round trip/multi-city then as one way to multiple legs and often receive differing results for the same trip or a similar trip.

Mac
Title: Re: who knows the best way to find the cheapest flight within a date range?
Post by: The Money Monk on October 21, 2015, 11:58:19 AM: Quote from: squeakywheel on October 21, 2015, 11:39:21 AM
kayak.com gives you a great grid of prices in a week long spread (+/- 3 days from a given date)

Aah yes, that's the one, Kayak. I always forget about them. For some reason my mind always gets them confused with Airbnb I have no idea why.

Human brain is the worst.
Title: Re: who knows the best way to find the cheapest flight within a date range?
Post by: jacksonvasey on October 21, 2015, 04:10:49 PM: matrix.itasoftware.com can show you a month worth of the cheapest fares. This tool powers Google's flight search, I think.
Title: Re: who knows the best way to find the cheapest flight within a date range?
Post by: kofasetic on October 21, 2015, 04:21:33 PM: Go with the site that United Airlines wanted to shut down due to leaking industry secrets to the public:

https://skiplagged.com/
(https://skiplagged.com/)
The key is to find connecting flights (also direct flights) and pay just for the first leg of a flight. There are certain restrictions like do not check baggage. Carry your own. Great savings!
Title: Re: who knows the best way to find the cheapest flight within a date range?
Post by: MrStash2000 on October 21, 2015, 04:27:47 PM: Use a combination of kayak.com and Google flights
Title: Re: who knows the best way to find the cheapest flight within a date range?
Post by: rob in cal on October 21, 2015, 04:30:19 PM: Don't know if this applies in this case, but if you are looking for US to Europe flights, remember that the two discount carriers, Wow and Norwegian, are not included in Kayak or google. They offer vastly different Trans-Atlantic prices than everyone else.
Title: Re: who knows the best way to find the cheapest flight within a date range?
Post by: The Money Monk on October 21, 2015, 10:51:28 PM: Quote from: rob in cal on October 21, 2015, 04:30:19 PM
Don't know if this applies in this case, but if you are looking for US to Europe flights, remember that the two discount carriers, Wow and Norwegian, are not included in Kayak or google. They offer vastly different Trans-Atlantic prices than everyone else.

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind for the future. Luckily for my wallet this particular trip is within the US.
Title: Re: who knows the best way to find the cheapest flight within a date range?
Post by: GizmoTX on October 22, 2015, 01:05:48 AM: I don't believe Southwest Air is included in Kayak searches.
Title: Re: who knows the best way to find the cheapest flight within a date range?
Post by: msnashstache on October 22, 2015, 01:06:49 AM: 1. airwatchdog.com

2. southwest posts sales every tues which usually run thru thurs evening...every now & again they have a $49 one-way sale to certain destinations...
Title: Re: who knows the best way to find the cheapest flight within a date range?
Post by: ltt on October 22, 2015, 03:02:32 AM: Google flights.

Also, Southwest for specials
Title: Re: who knows the best way to find the cheapest flight within a date range?
Post by: I'm a red panda on October 22, 2015, 06:55:37 AM: This is my favorite
matrix.itasoftware.com
Title: Re: who knows the best way to find the cheapest flight within a date range?
Post by: MsPeacock on October 22, 2015, 06:36:46 PM: +1 on the Google flights. You can get a bar graph that shows cots across various dates and fiddle with the length of your trip.

Agreed that none of the search engines include the super discount airlines
Title: Re: who knows the best way to find the cheapest flight within a date range?
Post by: tvan on October 22, 2015, 07:35:07 PM: Southwest has a feature on their site when searching for a flight you can select "flexible dates".
Title: Re: who knows the best way to find the cheapest flight within a date range?
Post by: dess1313 on October 22, 2015, 10:09:35 PM: google.com/flights

Its great to be able to see how changing up your flights by a day or two drastically drops your price. also you can track flights and see when they are spiking or dropping in price. I saved a ton of money doing this last year
Title: Re: who knows the best way to find the cheapest flight within a date range?
Post by: cloudsail on October 23, 2015, 12:14:03 AM: Quote from: GizmoTX on October 22, 2015, 01:05:48 AM
I don't believe Southwest Air is included in Kayak searches.

Whether or not you actually want to fly Southwest is another matter...........
Title: Re: who knows the best way to find the cheapest flight within a date range?
Post by: Dee18 on October 23, 2015, 07:31:36 AM: I fly Southwest whenever their routes work. In addition to no baggage fees, they have no change fees and any time you cancel a flight you keep the full amount as a credit for up to a year. Also, I have found their flight attendants to be friendly and helpful. Their humor often makes the passengers more pleasant as well.
Title: Re: who knows the best way to find the cheapest flight within a date range?
Post by: Ftao93 on October 23, 2015, 07:43:39 AM: Quote from: Dee18 on October 23, 2015, 07:31:36 AM
I fly Southwest whenever their routes work. In addition to no baggage fees, they have no change fees and any time you cancel a flight you keep the full amount as a credit for up to a year. Also, I have found their flight attendants to be friendly and helpful. Their humor often makes the passengers more pleasant as well.

Same. I've always been treated well (much better than other domestic airlines), and I find their humor fun.
Title: Re: who knows the best way to find the cheapest flight within a date range?
Post by: Thegoblinchief on October 23, 2015, 10:45:13 AM: Another site that's been mentioned in past threads is rome2rio, which is especially useful if you're willing to consider other modes of travel (train, bus) for all/part of the trip.
Title: Re: who knows the best way to find the cheapest flight within a date range?
Post by: Scandium on October 23, 2015, 11:16:42 AM: Quote from: rob in cal on October 21, 2015, 04:30:19 PM
Don't know if this applies in this case, but if you are looking for US to Europe flights, remember that the two discount carriers, Wow and Norwegian, are not included in Kayak or google. They offer vastly different Trans-Atlantic prices than everyone else.

I swear I did a google flight search the other day and Wow came up as an option.. Maybe they just added them. I'd never heard of it until this week.

Norwegian is cheap, but unfortunately only fly out of the inaccessible trailer park that is JFK airport..