“Shop around.†Everyone knows that. Shop around and see what you can see.
But “shopping around†can mean more than just looking at one web page over another. Consider this:
I recently was looking to book airline tickets to Central Europe and
back: An open jaw flight from Boston to Prague and then from Budapest back to Boston. An agency I was dealing for a ground trip offered to arrange the flights but the price was way too high. I can do that on my own.
So I did searches on my favorite sites, Kayak, Travelocity, Bing, Orbitz, etc. A variety of prices showed up. They were a little apart but not hugely so – and they were a lot lower than what the agency was asking.
Seeing that Lufthansa seems to be in the top of the options, I went to Lufthansa’s site to see if I could save any more by buying direct.
I found that an evening-flight from Beantown at 10 p.m. and a 10 a.m.
departure return home costs $756.23. Ouch. That’s what my first look found.
Ah. But wait. I found that if I left Budapest 4 hours and 45 minutes later, the price falls to $543.21.
And that if I leave Boston a little earlier and come back on that same 10 a.m. flight, it now costs $928.45.
And if I choose to sleep a little later in Budapest and leave at 1 p.m. it’s “only†$922.03 while if I wait to leave until 2:45 p.m. it’s down to $715.43.
Same airline. Same dates. Same cities.
On those same dates and from those same cities and on that same airline I found prices of $717.23, $533.19, $749.81, $746.21 and so many more — before I stopped out of dizziness.
Why? Who knows why.
But we know this: Check around when booking flights. There’s tons of money to be saved just by changing an hour or two. I bought the two tickets at $543 and saved nearly $500 total from what was the first price I saw. By going there in the second place I saved another $500 from what the agent was asking in the first place. That will pay for a bit of strudel, I think.
This internal price shopping works on U.S. flights too. Give it a try.
Just for an experiment, I just looked randomly at Delta flights from Boston to Los Angeles and back. On the exact same itinerary but with variations on the time I found prices of $558, $498, $392, $977, $298 — yes, from $977 to $298 – and more.
Take a second and put in different hours. Change the days if you can.
Shop around. Too much work? OK, it’s your money. Me, I NEVER accept the first price without at least looking around at what bargains are hidden right there in the open.
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You may also be able to save on airfares by looking at nearby departure and arrival cities. Sometimes, driving an extra hour or two can save hundreds of dollars. Consider driving a bit further when traveling with your family on vacation and those savings are multiplied by the number of tickets which can add up. I recently looked at an itinerary for my family that would require that we drive an extra 2 hours to and from a different departure city but the lower fares would save us over $750 on the airline tickets. If you normally travel from Boston, look at Manchester, NH or Providence. If you fly from Bradley, look at Albany or Newburgh, NY. Also look at alternate arrival airports near your destination. Flights with connections can sometimes cost less than direct flights too.
Hi Bobby,
That’s an excellent point. To save $750, why not drive a few hours more — and often find a smaller or more convenient airport facility.
I was going some where a few years ago and flew out of Providence and saved a bundle — more than enough to cover a great meal in that city.
The point is well-made: Shop around. Why give the money to the airlines when you can spend it on your vacation.
denis