Every year, Scott, Going’s Co-Founder and Chief Flight Expert, jumps onto Reddit and answers your burning travel questions. This year was no exception.
If you missed it a couple weeks back, fret not! We’re rounding up some of the questions, and what Scott had to say on the matter, so you can be part of the fun. (You can also check out all the Q&As here.)
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Q: What are your top 3 tips for booking flights? —from u/capetownbrah |
A: If you're hoping to get cheap flights, these are the 3 best things you can do:
(1) For a vacation (where you can go anywhere), the best thing to do is reverse your search. The normal way people search for flights is a 3-step process. Step 1, pick your destination. Step 2, pick your dates. Step 3, pray that flights are cheap.
But if you actually want to get a good deal, take that 3-step process and flip it on its head. Step 1, see where there are cheap flights available from your airport (the Going app is great for this). Step 2, choose one of those destinations. Step 3, choose dates. By setting price not as the last concern but the top concern, you can get 3–4 flights for the same price you used to pay for 1.
(2) For a trip with little flexibility, the most important thing you can do is get the timing of your booking right. The best way to do that is to use this concept of Goldilocks Windows—not too early, not too late, right in the middle. Here are the Goldilocks Windows when cheap fares have the best odds (not guarantee) of popping up:
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Domestic off-peak: 1–3 months in advance
- Domestic peak: 3–6 months
- International off-peak: 2–8 months
- International peak: 4–10 months
- Paying with points/miles: 10–12 months out and 0–4 weeks out
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(3) Take advantage of price drops after booking. Most airlines have gotten rid of change fees on non-basic-economy tickets. If a $200 flight drops to $150 a week after you book, you can call up the airline and have them rebook you the same ticket, with the $50 difference now credited to your account for a future trip. |
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Q: My wife and I are planning a trip to Japan in November for her milestone birthday. If we want a direct business class flight, when should we book? —from u/donut_butt |
A: I just took my folks to Japan in November (also milestone birthdays), and we flew business class. If you're paying cash, 2–8 months in advance is the rule of thumb, so March–September, whenever a good deal pops up.
But the open secret: Most non-multimillionaires flying long-haul business class are doing it with points and miles. For instance, we paid 75k miles per person each way, the equivalent of $750 if you redeemed those points for cash. (A normal one-way business class flight to Japan paid in cash would be $3,000–$5,000.) Those award deals could pop up anytime, but they'll be at their best likelihood in the final two months before travel.
When I went, I booked a great outbound flight in July (four months before travel) and the return flight when we were actually in Japan, a few days prior to coming home.
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Q: How much of deal-hunting is dependent on being local to a major international/hub airport? Are there strategies to get deals anyway? From the limited searching I've done, it is a lot harder to get really good deals if I try to start in Omaha. —from u/Halgy |
A: I love this question because it gets to a long-held belief of mine: While big cities like NYC/LA get the most deals, small cities like Omaha (or my home airport of Dayton, Ohio) get the best deals.
Here's why: Flights from Omaha–Europe typically cost $1,300+ roundtrip. Meanwhile, flights from NYC–Europe are typically $700. When we found a deal last year from Omaha to Barcelona for $483, that saved Nebraskans $817. There's no way for NYers to save $817 on flights to Europe unless the airline gives them a free ticket and $117 straight cash.
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Q: Any tricks for finding good deals when booking last-minute? I often end up paying more booking flights 1–2 weeks before due to scheduling and planning difficulties. —from u/Obvious_Unicorn |
A: This is where points and miles really shine. Last-minute cash flights get jacked up in price, but award flights often get slashed in price. |
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Q: Three questions: Is booking on Tuesday night still the “best time”? How will AI change our travel booking experience? What are your personal travel essentials? —from u/MoreDog |
A: (1) Nope! This was true in the early 2000s when fares first started being sold online, and they would get loaded up once a week at a pre-scheduled time, like say Tuesday at 1pm. If you were one of the first to book, you really could get one of the handful of cheap fares available. Nowadays, airfare is much more complex, and it can change by the hour if not more.
(2) The jury is still out on this one. AI is essential when actually traveling (questions about local customs, language translation, help navigating public transportation, etc), but for the booking part, I'm still not sure how it'll change, if anything.
(3) Noise-canceling headphones. And a million snacks (I have young kids).
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Q: My family of four loves to travel to Asia. We often look for premium economy or business deals. My husband thinks it’s better to pay for an economy ticket and request upgrades with points to get four tickets for the not-so-flexible dates we need. I think we should be more flexible and search for flights using (mostly) just points, though four seats together is hard to come by. Can you help us settle this debate? —from u/Virtual-Brush6792 |
A: I hate to step into marital debates, so I'll politely say that both strategies can work, but I think using points from the outset is a generally more reliable strategy. It's what I use if I'm flying my elderly parents around. |
Check out the rest of Scott’s Reddit AMA here! Still got a question? Submit it here, and one of our travel experts may answer it in an upcoming newsletter. |
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