Post pandemic travel is now y'all! As the world opens its borders this summer, there are more and more opportunities to go international! Flight prices are on the up and up, so how do we get the best flight deals, Morgo?! I gotchu boo. I have scored flights as low as $600 round trip to Australia, $300 tickets to Iceland, and I get FREE FLIGHTS on a regular basis. So how do you get on that level? Here are my recommendations on how to score cheap flights in 2022.

The Basics

When it comes down to scoring cheap flights, there are always new secrets and hacks you can find. But there are some basics to know when looking at fare calenders. Most airlines have a low fare calender so take advantage of that. Mondays and Fridays are always more expensive because that's just common sense that those are the most travel heavy days of the week. The perfect time to book plane tickets is normally 2-3 months ahead of time and 5 months ahead of schedule for peak season bookings. And avoid anything after that. Last minute booking prices always sore because airline have figured out the psychology behind the last minute traveler. 

Do your Research

When researching how to score cheap flights in 2021 online, I have a few suggestions for sites that will save you money and make it super easy to predict when prices will drop. My favorite site is Skyscanner. If you are unsure where you wanna go, they have a way to search from your airport to the cheapest destinations by month. Just type in your home airport and chose explore anywhere. You'll be able to visualize where in the world you wanna check off your bucket list destinations first based on cheapest flights!

Second favorite... Google flights. You are able to view a low fare calendar and select the days that are cheapest to fly out on.

And my third fav... Hopper. Hopper is an app that allows you to save your upcoming trips and get notification alerts on when the prices drop. It gives an educated guess to when the fares will change so you can make the best guess on when to buy! I have heard people also like Momondo as well for price matching!

Scott’s Cheap Flights

Signing up for a travel hacker's newsletters could be the ultimate secret to unlocking cheap ass flights. I have been a premium subscriber to Scott's Cheap Flights, an email newsletter that notifies you when there are insane deals going on. This is how I scored those $300 tickets to Iceland! It is free for the basic newsletter with basic deals from anywhere in the USA.

When you subscribe to their premium list, you are able to chose a home airport and they'll only send you deals from your designated departure city. And its only $40 a year! You make your money back theoretically with your first ticket purchase because their average savings per ticket is $550!!!! They also commonly have mistake fares, like flights for $100 when they normally are $1000, but someone effed up. Pretty cool huh?! Click here to sign up! 

Travel Credit Cards

First and foremost, let's talk about free flights. Cause that's the ultimate goal here, right?! If you remain loyal to one airline, it is no secret that you'll accrue points over time to be used to redeem flights in the future. I have used the Southwest Rapid Rewards Chase credit card for years and have not paid for a single domestic flight in forever (besides the taxes and fees).

Chose an airline brand that you like best and snag their credit card. I use mine to pay for gas, groceries, and the daily necessities. You get points for every dollar you spend, so essentially you're getting free flights for shopping! Totally worth it in my opinion. Interested? Check out this link for 40,000 points when you sign up and spend $1,000 in the first three months. That's like 2-4 free flights right there! 

Be Flexible

Dead set on visiting Positano in the summer time?! Get ready to pay out the ass. Have the ability to be a little bit more flexible on dates?! Cha-ching! By keeping an open mind to planning your trips on off seasons at hot tourist destinations, you will always get a better deal. Airlines jack up the prices during peak tourist times for an obvious reason. Research the shoulder seasons in your ideal destination and you'll be sure to save some cash.

Also, split up your flights! Say you want to go to the Maldives... It would probably be around $1,600 round trip on one airline. But if you do a little digging, the Maldives flight might only cost you $300 from London, and its inly $600 to get to London from your home terminal. That is $700 cheaper than booking with just one airline. So diversify and save! 

Insider Tips

I usually don't put these methods into use because the other ways of searching for cheap flights is pretty on point. But you can also look for tickets in other currencies (may be cheaper based on the USD conversion rate at the time), don't search or purchase for the entire family at once (algorithm... boo), and take advantage of student discounts if that applies to you. I always refer back to other travel hackers like Nomadic Matt for any other tips and tricks. There's tons of info out there if you wanna dig into the deep sea of info on the web.

There are my tips on how to score cheap flights in 2021. I am sure you have heard all the hubbub circulating about booking on Tuesdays at a certain time and searching in an incognito window to get cheaper flights. The airlines have become way smarter and have adjusted their algorithms to go off of seasonality, fuel prices and more. So throw out all those outdated myths. I hope these tips and tricks help you book your flight for the cheapest rate possible so you have more in your budget to spend at local eateries and shops on your trip. Happy traveling!