How To Find Cheap Airfares: Hacks And Luck

Channel your outrage over skyrocketing flight prices into finding cheap airfares. It’s the only way to survive holiday travel if you, like us, travel a lot to see family.

I knew travel prices have been rising but I never expected finding cheap airfares to be such a holiday challenge! For this story, I tracked New York to San Francisco Thanksgiving air fares from August to November 2025. Holiday fares changed faster than the value of Bitcoin during that time.

Professional travelers like aviation journalist Barbara Peterson feel the frustration of shopping for cheap airfares.

“This is the way it is now,” Ms. Peterson notes. “That’s why it’s so hard to do price comparisons. The airlines change fares constantly so all the old rules are out.”

My Staggeringly High Flight Price Saga

I thought holiday airfares had peaked when I found $1,132 EWR>SFO roundtrip economy tickets in August. (I was upset because we typically pay $350 to $450.) When I refused to buy the “best deal” at $1132 (outrageous!) about 12 weeks in advance, I waited four more weeks for round two of airfare shopping.

I set up airfare price tracking alerts on Google and Kayak with my preferred itinerary. I focused on local airlines JetBlue and United, with lots of nonstop airlift. Plus, I checked out non-stop and direct flights on Alaska, Delta, Southwest and American.

In early October, I found acceptable United tickets at $820.30 each. Since I was able to lock in the United fare for 21 days (more on that below), I did.

I reset the airfare price alerts. A few times a day, my Inbox teased a fare hike or fall, but I waited a week to click on any bait. When I got a flight tracker email about jetBlue prices falling, I jumped on it. Our preferred jetBlue flight times were available. I bought two tickets at $771.96 each.

Ten days later, Delta added flights. Another email alerted me I might score Delta tickets at optimal flight times. I bought two for $526.97 each. I went against my instincts to buy Delta Basic tickets. However, it wasn’t worth the $100 upgrade to Delta Main Classic just to get middle seats (only ones left).

The TL; DR

Over three months, my cross-country ticket options went from an insane high of $3,000 to a final purchase price of $526.97 each.

That’s my story. Here’s a path to scripting your own tale about scoring a cheap airfare.

What Sacrifices Will You Make for a Cheap Airfare?

The first question to ask yourself is am I shopping for the best price or the best schedule?

1. Do I want to deal with a low-cost carrier?

Budget travelers often skip the major airlines for low-cost carriers such as Spirit and Frontier, where fares are typically much, much less. However, the LCCs often have extra fees for carry-on package, meals and WiFi. There are other downsides, like less legroom and a much longer walk from the check-in counter to departure gates. You’ll also have to research which airlines serve your destination since most of the metasearch engines don’t carry all the LCC fares.

2. How flexible am I? Can I fly on any day?

If so, use the fare comparison charts on Google Flights or KAYAK or price prediction on Hopper to determine the cheapest days to fly. If it’s a holiday, how many days before and after the holiday can I fly? (The Sunday and Monday after Thanksgiving are typically the busiest travel days of the year.)

3. Do departure and arrival times matter?

A dawn or red eye (overnight) flight is typically less expensive. In my case, when our kids announced they bought tickets to a basketball game for 6pm the night we were arriving, I knew I had to look for a flight that arrived mid-afternoon.

4. Does travel time / length of flight really matter to me?

Nonstop flights are the most expensive. Flights with tight connections may be substantially less costly, but they can be stressful. Flights with long connections in interesting places are great for interesting layovers, if you have the time and energy.

Samantha Brown suggests booking early-in-the-day flights. The always calm travel expert and Emmy-winning Host of PBS’ Places to Love says it’s her strategy to cope with challenges like air traffic delays caused by weather — or the next government shutdown.

5. How comfortable a seat do I need on this flight?

“For going out to the coast, I do care a lot about not being stuck in the middle seat,” Peterson comments. “But I am outraged by seat assignment fees. If I don’t pay that now, what are they going to do? Put me in the lavatory?”

Remember, flexibility is the key to saving money on airline tickets. Don’t rely on Flyer’s Rights, however. They’re gone. The Trump administration rescinded them. While some airlines still honor consumer protections, others don’t. You must read the fine print.

My Tools For Finding Bargain Flights

Once you understand your needs, it’s time to start shopping for cheap holiday airfares. Although I wasn’t successful using AI to search fares, PhocusWright reports that it is on the increase. (Please share your AI tips in the Comments section below!)

Travelers with limited time and flexibility can use some of my favorite tools.

Be ready to pay a Hold Fee.

Hopper sells a Flight Freeze option, and a few other airlines have similar fare freeze options, for some flights. If you’re interested in the hunt, it provides a window of relaxation to keep searching for a cheaper fare, more optimal schedule, or preferred airline. I used Farelock, a program that United Airlines has run for the past few years. It allows you to hold your preferred flights for 3, 7 or 14 days for a nominal fee, locking in the price.

I liked taking the gamble (and I was writing this story), so for about a dollar a day per ticket, I bought a three-week lock.

Consumer-Friendly Cancellation Fees

Another tool is flexible cancellation fees. jetBlue has great options to change flights without a fee. Or, just cancel and bank the money in an online Travel Wallet. If you fly frequently and can afford to store funds, do it.

If not, buy that “refundable” ticket so you can change your mind if you find a better fare.

Forget Old News! Think Seat Maps!

Peterson says don’t wait to book holiday airfares. Shop three to six months ahead for international tickets and six to eight weeks for domestic flights. Plan ahead if you’re using mileage award points as well. Her biggest caveat is that Thanksgiving is really the worst time to delay flight purchase, followed closely by the December holidays.

Peterson urges her own daughters to check seat maps online as they shop for airfares. Those maps reveal how full the flight already is and how many seats / what premium seats are left. That’s a good predictor of how volatile the prices will be. If the flight looks close to empty, the odds are good that your flight might be the first to be cancelled because it didn’t sell well.

Some Computer Hacks to Uncover Cheaper Flights

Use a VPN. A Virtual Private Network, or private browsing service, provides security by routing public WiFi signals through other servers. It also lets you set your network IP address to other countries. This is a boon for travelers. For my cheap holiday airfare search, I set my VPN alternatively to Mexico City or to Atlanta, both origin points that produced better fares than New York.

I also alternated between searching airfares with Chrome, Firefox and Safari browsers. I cleared the cache (removed the ‘history’) daily to to remove past airfare searches, so competition from my own shopping activity didn’t drive up fares. Lastly, I didn’t sign into any of the sites so I could remain an anonymous shopper.

(Another tip, maybe urban legend? Some studies claim that airlines show higher airfares to shoppers using cellphones, so I never shop through an airline’s app.)

Wild Cards:  Government Shutdowns, Weather, Flight Prices

During my shopping spree, the government shut down Oct. 1, 2025. Air traffic controllers took sick days rather than work without pay. Flight cancellations mounted daily. I eliminated the option of flights with stopovers so we wouldn’t miss the turkey.

Now that the shutdown has ended, it will take weeks more to unscramble the damage done to the airlines’ standard operating schedules. And until more air traffic controllers are trained and on duty, we will continue to have flight delays and cancellations.

Will the travel insurance policy I hope you bought cover the costs of flight delays? Typically, they do not cover “known circumstances” so you’re out of luck if you bought a ticket after a shut down or hurricane is announced. But, travel insurance is a lifesaver in many situations.

Price Isn’t the Only Value When Looking for Cheap Airfares

It’s takeoff minus 10 days. The reality is flights are full. Travel is difficult. The airlines are not incentivized to provide cheap airfares or even good customer service. And yes, fares continue to go up and down, changing an average $100 per ticket twice each day.

At United, I cancelled those Farelock tickets for a full refund. I cancelled the jetBlue flights and put the $1500+ credit in my easy-to-use Travel Bank.

“It’s natural, asking yourself did I really miss the great deal,” Peterson adds gently. “But these days, especially if you’re going over a holiday — that is really, really hard to know.”

Okay. We have airfares we can live with even if our seatmates scored a better deal.

And, I’ve reassured the family that we will arrive in time for Thanksgiving.

That’s priceless.