Cheap Flights

 Yes, the savings can be that massive. Of course, it's up to you if you're willing to spend a bit more time traveling in exchange for a deal. But paying less than half the price sounds like a good tradeoff, and it's a great way to find cheaper flights.

 A savvy traveler can get creative when it comes to flights and save even more on travel. Here are some of our favorite ways to think outside the box and save hundreds on flights:

 Use Google Flights to search to – and from – multiple different airports in an area. Flights into London-Heathrow (LHR) might be expensive, but look into whether you can save more by flying into London-Gatwick Airport (LGW) instead. You can search to and from multiple cities in Google Flights – here's how to find cheap airfare using Google Flights.

 Book multi-city or open jaw flights to cover more ground on your trips without backtracking and wasting time (and money).

 Use stopovers to see two cities for the price of one! Several airlines offer free (or very cheap) stopover programs to spend up to seven days in their home city. Take advantage and make your travel budget stretch further.

 Getting a good deal on flights can all come down to timing. And in many cases, it's less about when you buy your flights and more about when you actually get on the plane. It's all about capitalizing on the cheapest days to fly.

 Flying on off-peak days like Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays is often much cheaper. Avoid busy travel days like Sundays, Mondays, and Fridays when you can.

 The shoulder season (from May through June and August through September) is your best friend. Prices are often much higher during the peak summer, as well as around Christmas and New Year's Eve

 Want to shake up your Thanksgiving plans? Turkey Day is a great time to travel internationally at low prices.

 Don't wait until the last minute to book! It's a common misconception, but last-minute fares are mostly a thing of the past. Always book at least 30-45 days in advance whenever possible. For international flights, plan even farther ahead.

 Most people don't have all day, every day to be searching for hidden flight deals, unadvertised flash sales, and mistake fares.

 Sign up for Thrifty Traveler Flight Deals and you'll get some of the best international and domestic flight deals we find each day right to your inbox.

 Once you sign up for alerts for cheap flights, consider upgrading to Thrifty Traveler Premium+ to get 90% more flight deals. Premium members get domestic and international deals, as well as award alerts to use points and miles plus business and first class deals tailored to your home airport so you only see the flight deals from your hometown.

 We're not the only flight deal service out there (though we're a bit biased!) We recommend checking out other flight deal websites like The Flight Deal to keep your eyes peeled for awesome deals.

 There are dozens of sites out there promising to help you find cheap flights. Ignore them all and start every search with Google Flights.

 Google Flights is hands-down the best flight deal search engine out there: it's one of the main tools we use to find affordable flights deals every day! You should start each and every search for cheap airfare with Google Flights. It's packed with powerful features that other search engines simply don't have.

 If you're new to using Google Flights, don't worry. We're happy to share what we know on how to get cheap airline tickets. And if you couldn't already tell, we are a little obsessed and have written about nearly every tool and feature it has to offer.

 Not sure where you want to go? Use the Google Flights Explore feature to search for the cheapest destinations around the world

 OTA stands for Online Travel Agency. Think KAYAK, Priceline, Expedia, Orbitz, and many others. Some of the most popular sites and smartphone apps out there for finding cheaper flights are OTAs.

Cheap Flights

 These sites purchase fares from airlines and then sell them to travelers, sometimes at a mark-up … and sometimes even cheaper than you can get them directly from the airlines. And then there are even more popular platforms like Skyscanner and Momondo, which act as OTAs of OTAs. They aggregate the cheapest flight deals from tons of small online travel agencies.

 Because of the way these sites operate, online travel agencies can save you money – and sometimes a lot of money. They're worth checking out, though we still recommend starting any search with Google Flights before you check with some of these sites to see if you can save even more.

 And most importantly, these savings from third-party sites can come at a cost. There are tradeoffs to booking through an OTA. Chiefly, you're using a middleman to book your flights. If you book with Expedia then need to change or cancel your trip, you have to go through Expedia to do so – not the airline you're flying with. Some major sites may have the customer service to handle your request, but many smaller sites (with the biggest savings) do not.

 And in this day and age, booking directly with the airline is more important than ever. So do the mental math and make sure those savings are worth it.

 The U.S. government has a federal law that requires airlines to provide a full, 100% refund for any flight that touches U.S. soil if you cancel within 24 hours of booking. It doesn't matter if you're flying a U.S. carrier like American or Delta or a foreign airline like Lufthansa or Copa: If your flight departs from or arrives in the U.S., you're covered.

 U.S. regulations require airlines to offer either a 24-hour refund policy or the option to lock or hold a flight at the current price – but not necessarily both.

 It may not work last-minute: Airlines are only required to offer a free cancellation window for flights booked at least seven days before departure.

 It may not work last-minute: Airlines are only required to offer a free cancellation window for flights booked at least seven days before departure.

 Some of the major online travel agencies (OTAs) like Expedia honor the 24-hour rule, but many smaller sites do not.

 Put it all together, and you can use the 24-hour rule to book an insanely cheap flight the moment you find it. After that, do the legwork to make sure you can get the vacation time or your favorite travel buddy can come with. Not going to work out? Just cancel within 24 hours of booking and get your money back.

 We like to focus on finding cheap flights through deals on the major, full-service carriers. These are the big airlines with names you know like Delta, American, and United or big foreign carriers like Lufthansa, SWISS, Japan Airlines, and Emirates.

 But there's no question that budget airlines have their place for travelers looking to save. Whether you're flying within the U.S. or down to the Caribbean, criss-crossing your way through Europe, or heading all the way over to Asia, there are a ton of low-cost carriers (or even ultra-low cost carriers) that pride themselves on offering low fares.

 But be warned: These cheap fares can be a mirage. These airlines survive by nickel and diming passengers for everything imaginable, with high fees to check a bag, bring a carry-on, pick a seat, and buy food onboard. Some of these airlines even charge an extra fee for printing purchasing tickets online – a fee you can avoid by buying your tickets from the airport.

 So if you're content traveling with just a backpack, you can often come out way ahead on these fares. But for anything else, you'll want to do the math and make sure you're actually saving once you've added up all those “extra” costs that may come free with a spendier ticket.

 Not seeing cheap deals from your airport? Think you're stuck paying $1,000-plus to fly to Europe or Asia? Think again.

 Positioning flights can be a game changer to save hundreds on international travel. These are short domestic flights from your hometown airport to a second hub in order to hop on a cheaper fare. You can score huge savings by booking an international flight from major airports like Los Angeles (LAX), San Francisco (SFO), Boston (BOS), New York City (JFK), or Chicago-O'Hare (ORD), then book your positioning flight to get there.

 If you've got international travel on the brain, broaden your search to some bigger airports that are relatively cheap to fly (or drive) to. Just be sure to give yourself enough time between these flights in case things go wrong. And consider packing in a carry-on bag to simplify your connections.