Weigh your options before you book
The moment people find out I’m a travel writer the first question is always about how best to save money when flying. My answer is always the same, that the most important part of this whole picture is to compare flights before you book. Some people will think to themselves that Southwest or American has the most flights from their city to their destination, and then they go onto that company’s site to find the cheapest ticket, but this is a big mistake.
In the internet age we live in, every airline has to match prices of every other airline in order to fill their planes. So even if Southwest has 20 flights a day and another airline only has 2, chances are they will be the same price, or occasionally the other airline will actually be cheaper because they have to undercut Southwest to make sure their flights are full each day. Check a site like Kayak or Priceline instead, so you’ll be able to see all the airlines at once.
Even when you use one of the better travel sites I recommend comparing at least one other to make sure you are getting the best deal possible. I use Kayak first and then I compare to Priceline and then I’m set. You don’t want to compare Kayak to SideStep because they are co-owned and will give identical results, so use Priceline.
