How to Get FREE flights for Your Next Adventure (Or cheap flights!)
/If you’re here, you’re wanting to figure out how to get cheap or FREE flights for your next vacation. And I am here to say - it is absolutely possible.
We used airbnb gift cards we got for christmas and delta airline points for the flight to offset the cost of our trip to costa rica. I have a great guide on what to do in La fortuna with kids
How many times have you found a dream vacation spot, wanted to fly home for the holidays or travel to Hawaii for your best friend’s wedding but when you look up plane tickets, they are outrageously expensive? Probably every time. It can be so frustrating especially when you have to buy 4, 6 or 8 tickets for your family trip.
I have spent the past 9 years delving into the world of Family Travel. I have researched plane tickets on my own, used searching sites and signed up for all the price change e-mail notifications. I have put together 8 ways you can avoid paying full price for your next family adventure!
READ NEXT: Get all of my Tips for Flying with Kids
my husband and i spent a long weekend exploring banff and alberta canada! We used points to get free flights from san fransico to calgary!
1) Staying Flexible: The very first rule to score truly cheap flights; stay flexible. Be flexible in your destination, flexible in your dates, and flexible in the airports you choose. By changing one day or a nearby airport you can save hundreds.
after being alerted by going on an airline sale to hawaii, we booked for cheap! Then we used marriott points to book 7 nights for free at a hotel in kona! We have a really fun 10-Day Guide to the big island
Example 1: Search nearby airports. When flying into Washington D.C. you can input WAS as the Airport code. This will search BWI, IAD, and DCA airports which allow you to see the truly cheapest flight into the area. This works for many cities around the world.
Example 2: Book Separate Tickets instead of a complete trip: On a previous trip where we had set dates and destinations, I was able to save $1700 per person per ticket. My destination was Tirana, Albania – but tickets were about $2400 per person. BUT, I booked flights with Delta from Pensacola to Rome for $618 and then got a one-way ticket from Rome to Tirana, Albania for $50 with a different airline. This meant I got tickets from Pensacola to Albania for about $1700 less per ticket, arriving the same time, and I have the same number of layovers as I would have with a straight through ticket.
I found insanely cheap direct tickets from a local regional airport to st louis. (for under $120 round trip) so, I surprised my daughter with the tickets as a gift for christmas. Read my blog on what to do in saint louis with kids
2) Sign Up for Going: Up front, this is not an advertisement for Going. I found their website years ago when I was searching for tickets to Europe for our 2018 trip. The entire company is based around scouring the internet for ticket sales. Once they find them, they email their subscribers to let them know. Besides instilling some serious wanderlust FOMO, it has given me the heads up for cheap tickets to destinations on our minds. You can sign up for a paid subscription so you get all of their notifications or stick to a free subscription and get most of them!
I was alerted to an airline sale to europe, so I booked individual routes instead of roundtrip tickets to save us $1700 per ticket on a trip to europe from florida. Photo of our time in lake bled, slovenia
3) Google Flights/Skyscanner: If you haven’t used Google Flights or Skyscanner to compare ticket prices yet, you need to. What makes these platforms different than other search engines is that you can type in your dates and leave the destination blank. Then you can see which destinations are the cheapest around the world for the dates you want to travel. I love this feature.
using my southwest points, I was able to get 3 round trip tickets from san fransisco to phoenix for free. We rented a car and drove to tucson to spend several days at the incredible white stallion ranch!
4) Set Up Notifications: Inside of Google Flights and most search engines such as Expedia, you can set up notifications to be e-mailed to you when a flight’s prices drop. I love this tool. I usually look up the dates I want with the destination I want and then I track several of those flights. I love getting price changes e-mailed to me. A note: It will also e-mail you when ticket prices increase, but don’t be discouraged because tickets often rise and fall. Catch it when it’s low!
REAL LIFE EXAMPLE: Patience is a virtue in snagging cheap plane tickets! We recently paid $1044.00 for a single multi-city ticket. The ticket had 4 international legs from Barbados to Panama City to Lima to Panama City and back to Barbados. I tracked the prices and booked when low - these tickets skyrocketed up to $3200 PER TICKET! I bought them at the lowest price because of Google Flight notifications.
I used delta skymiles to get the kids and I free tickets from NYC to Virginia to visit family for an extra 2 weeks. Photo in shenandoa National Park
5) Don’t get burned by cheap airlines: Unless you are fully aware of all of the additional costs, beware of discount airlines. Frontier, Easy Jet, Ryan Air, Allegiant, and Spirit are a few examples.
boarding a frontier flight with both children flying free! We used their kids fly free program to fly from florida to pennsylvania!
YES, you absolutely can get a good deal! Sometimes Spirit offers $1 flights! You may score $25 direct flights! However, you will be charged for your carry on bag, charged for your checked bag, charged to pick a seat, charged to board first, etc. All of the additional charges leave you with a flight that costs exactly the same or more than a full service airline.
NOW, I must also say you can make these airlines work for you and your family. I happen to LOVE Frontier & understand that I am getting a basic no frills ticket.
Allegiant airlines has some incredible perks for Military Families (active duty, reserve, & veterans) with many of their additional charges waived.
Frontier’s Kids Fly Free is an excellent program we have used several times!! Pro Tip: If you book with Frontier, do not pay for seats. Set a timer for 1 minute before the check-in opens and then check in — we have always done this and always been able to get seats together easily at no cost.
I used points together with my annual delta companion pass to get 2 tickets from florida to idaho for the price of half of one regular ticket. and we were upgraded to first class! We spent a week exploring with a friend!
6) Use Miles/Points/Credit Card perks: If you are not using a credit card to earn miles or points that you can use toward travel, you should be. There are many cards out there that offer travel perks without outrageous annual fees.
we have the southwest rapid rewards card and have used points to pay for many flights. I love that you can choose seats as you board — it’s perfect when flying with kids.
Best Travel Credit Cards: In my opinion, the BEST travel credit card is the Chase Sapphire Reserve
Chase Sapphire Reserve: My number 1 favorite travel card. We get so many perks to include a $300 annual travel credit, Priority Pass membership, Global Entry or TSA Precheck Credit, very simple points transfers to hotels and airlines, trip insurance, etc. There is currently a 75,000 point sign up bonus for this card! It does carry a high annual fee of $550, but the perks pay for it. If you are military this annual fee is waived.
Airline Specific Cards: Since Delta and Southwest are the two main carriers at our home airport, we choose to carry the Delta Reserve AMEX and the Southwest MasterCard.
With our Delta Reserve AMEX card we receive an annual companion pass, Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit, access to the Delta Skyclubs + guest passes, 15% off reservations booked through Delta’s website, miles on every purchase and miles bonuses throughout the year. Since we are a U.S. Military Family, the annual fee for our Delta Reserve Card is waived.
When we use our Southwest Rapid Rewards Card we get points on every purchase we make. There is a current 50,000 point sign up bonus for this card! We were able to use the Southwest sign-up bonus miles to claim 2 RT tickets from Florida to Oregon and 2 RT tickets from Florida to Texas, plus one one-way ticket from Virginia to Florida. That’s FIVE trip tickets for free just for using their card.
I just bought 4 tickets from Washington DC to Belize for 60K United Points through a Chase points transfer. And we recently used American Airline Points to buy our son a round trip ticket from Barbados to the USA. We use our points constantly to save money and help us travel more.
another perk of airline branded cards is that you typically get free checked bags. with our delta skymiles card, we get A free checked bag on every flight. with my medallion status, i get 2 free checked bags up to 70lbs each when i fly with delta.
7) Look for Child Fares. I have never found child fares domestically in the United States, but many International flights offer them. Sometimes sites such as Expedia will automatically show you the child fare, but others (Google Flights) will not. I typically call the airline to ask for the difference. The most recent international tickets I booked I paid $618 for the adult tickets and $589 for the child tickets.
we spent 15 days exploring peru and panama. our flights were $1040 for adults, but the childrens fares were only $980.60 USD. I tracked these flights and bought them when they were low (a four-legged international flight: Barbados to panama city to lima to panama city to barbados)
8) Gift Cards. A not so common, but simple way to score cheaper airline tickets is to redeem gift cards and offset the cost. Every Christmas and birthday we ask our family NOT to get us material gifts. We are drowning in stuff, so we ask for experiences and airline gift cards. Airline gift cards start at $50 and go as high as you want.
it’s time to get out there and see the world! don’t break the bank - get your fligths free or for cheap! Check out my tips on flying with a baby
ProTip: You can add Southwest gift cards, UBER, Hotels, and Airbnb gift cards to your Holiday Amazon wish list! You can also purchase these gift cards at Target with a REDCard to get 5% off the purchase, so a $100 gift card is only $95!
Don’t pay full price to travel! Before you book your next trip, take the time to do a little research; it could pay off in a big way.
We’d love to hear how you’ve saved on your trips, so let us know in the comments.
Fly Brave, Travel Often, See Everything,
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