5 FLY SMART's

Recently airfare expert Rick Seaney listed 10 ways to fly cheap and smart.
Here are my Top 5:

1. FLY THE CHEAPEST DAYS AND TIMES











Generally, the cheapest day of the week is Wednesday. After Wednesday, the cheapest days to book departures/arrivals are Tuesday and Saturday. Airlines often file cheaper airfares that are only good on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.
The cheapest time to fly is typically the first flight out in the morning - yes, that means you have to get up at 4am. Next best times are flights during/after lunch and flights at the dinner hour.

2. FLY LOWER COST CARRIERS OR NO FRILLS











Check with Southwest, AirTran, JetBlue, Virgin America, and others - their prices are often (not always, but often) cheaper than the legacy carriers. Always check airfare prices with all carriers, but neglect to check the “cheap” airlines at your peril.

My only argument with this is just last week, I priced airfare from LAX to SFO on United, Southwest and JetBlue. After factoring in the taxes, they were priced the same with United just a dollar cheaper. LAX to JFK is a compeititive route. You might want to take into consideration the limits you will go to for comfort. Personally, suffering for cheaper airfare of $100 difference on a 5 hour flight just doesn't cut it for me.

3. FLY THE BIG HUBS











Believe it or not, a bigger airport can mean bigger savings. If you’re in a medium to small sized city, it usually pays to drive to the nearest big-city and depart from there - LAX, for example, is usually cheaper than Burbank. Surprise, surprise.
WARNING: this isn’t true everywhere; if you live in Cincinnati, for example, it can be cheaper
 to fly out of Dayton, Columbus or even Indianapolis.

4. BE FLEXIBLE. ASK FOR VACATION AFTER YOU FIND THE FLIGHT











If you are willing to be flexible (rather than shoe-horning yourself into a particular vacation week), you can save big. Use email alerts, find a great fare, and then ask for the time off. Fly to off-the-beaten-path destinations or out-of-season resorts and save.

Now here's an interesting tip that actually works. One holiday, I was planning to spend Christmas back east in New York. Unfortunately I waited to the last-minute to purchase a ticket. After frantically punching in Departure dates and 'search airports nearby' many times, I discovered that the airfare on Christmas Day was real cheap. So I sacrificed not being there earlier. No matter, I arrived just in time for a nice dinner waiting.

5. EDUCATE YOURSELF











Use all the technology you can get your hands on: email alerts, historical data, information on trends, and more. An educated consumer is going to be a happy consumer.

Totally. The more you know, the smarter you'll fly. And cheaper too. Happy flying.
+ what are Luggage Monkeys doing with your checked-in luggage?