Couponing and deal searching changes you a little.  You get a sort of warped sense of how much things cost, or should cost.   So.. when you run into a situation where you can’t find a great deal on something, it really stings.  Airfare, to me, is one of those things.  My husband, as you may know, is Swedish (as in, born and raised there) so all our trips are to Sweden to see his family and friends.  International airfare? Sucks.

Contrary to the title, I’m not going to write about how and where to find the best airplane ticket prices.  I can give you a few hints, perhaps, but nothing that will rock your world, I’m afraid.

  • Be flexible with your dates and enter different variations on several different websites (preferably a couple that actually compare sites for you.)
  • Travel during the week instead of a weekend, or during off-season if you can swing it.  That one has never actually worked for me–I’ve only flown during the summer.
  • Call a travel agent and see if they can find you a better deal–that doesn’t always work, but on at least one occasion, she saved me a couple hundred dollars.
  • Book the trip rather than waiting around–we lost quite a lot of money on that this time.  I didn’t have a confirmation from one of our travelers (we’re taking our niece with us) so I couldn’t actually book anything until we did.  Just a few days later, prices had gone up. They even went up seven dollars per ticket from five o’clock to ten o’clock (when I was able to purchase the tickets.)
  • Popular destinations will probably cost less. Unfortunately, I’ve never had a need to randomly fly somewhere just because the ticket is cheap, so this is perhaps not that useful as a tip.
  • Orbitz has a lowest price guarantee. Theoretically, if someone else books that ticket for less, we’ll get an automatic refund.  I wonder if this is actually something that happens much, but it’s a nice idea.

As far as which site has the cheapest rates… your guess is as good as mine. That’s why it’s so frustrating to buy these tickets. That, and the fact that airfare makes no sense to any human being.

HOWEVER.

Last night, as I gulped aloud and prepared to authorize a charge for $4,055 (for four passengers, $1,013 each), I thought of something that I do automatically these days that everyone probably doesn’t do–click-through and cashback.

I found the right fare via Orbitz.  At that point, I went back to look at my favorite shopping sites (see my post about Ebates) to see if any of them had partnerships with Orbitz.  Ebates did, at 1-3% cashback.  So did Mr. Rebates at 1%.  However, I hit pay dirt when I checked my Discover card.  They had their cashback bonus for travel. It ended March 31 and I hadn’t bothered to sign up for it because I didn’t expect to be traveling. 5%!  I had certainly found which of my cards I wanted to pay with, but I was still looking for which one I should click through.  And then I found it! Discover also has a shopping portal with cashback percentages, and Orbitz was listed there for 5%.  Bingo!

I’m not positive I’ll get both 5%, and I will only get cashback from those clicks on the tickets (not the fees, which amount for about a third of that or more)  but STILL. When you buy something expensive like airplane tickets, that measly 1-5% adds up fast.  I was about an hour and a half under the deadline for the March 5% travel cashback, so I just have to hope they billed immediately. :)  It’s not showing up yet but my credit limit is now (drastically!) reduced so I think they did.

In any case, I am hoping to get back up to $250 just by taking four minutes to research where to click through and which credit card to pay with.  More than a fair return on investments, in my opinion!  Never forget to click through, that’s my point.  :)