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With all the \u201cbeautiful people\u201d posting selfies in exotic locations you start to wonder \u201cWhat the hell are they doing to afford this and why can\u2019t I?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Before we start let\u2019s dispel the myth of all the people posting travel photos and writing about exotic locations. <\/a>Many, including myself, are invited to locations to write about and publicize to our audience about destinations and venues. Some pay for their own travel but many get their travel expenses provided as part of the working agreement.<\/span><\/p>\n 1. Go Incognito<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n If you are going to do a search for airfares on any booking site do so from an \u201cincognito\u201d window. In Chrome click on the 3 little dots in the top right hand corner, select \u201cNew incognito window\u201d and do a search from there. Other browsers also allow this. You can also go to the website\u00a0duckduckgo.com<\/a>\u00a0where you can search incognito. By doing this the booking sites won\u2019t retain your IP address and hike the airfares each time you search.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Although industry execs say that searching incognito doesn\u2019t help, Travel and Leisure<\/a> stated that Dynamic Pricing is not only real and airlines track your ip address but they also look at previous airfare search habits and show you prices based your previous search and booking history. <\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n 2. Take Advantage Of Your Groups<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0Remember those clubs, groups and associations you belong to? Most likely they offer travel discounts. Unfortunately, a lot of people forget about that until after they booked the trip and then remember they should have at least checked.<\/span><\/p>\n Places like:<\/span><\/p>\n Military.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n AAA TRAVEL<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n USAA<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n COSTCO<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Industry organizations, senior discounts, student discounts, alumni organizations and even\u00a0Groupon.com. <\/a><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/u><\/span><\/p>\n Check them out and see what kind of deals are being offered.\u00a0You can score some significant savings just by using the memberships you already have.<\/span><\/p>\n 3. Search for\u00a0airline error and sale fares and be flexible<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Airlines occasionally make mistakes with airfares. This can happen for various reasons \u2013 currency conversion mishaps, technical glitches, or human error. If you know where to find airline error fares, you can save big bucks on a ticket.<\/span><\/p>\n There are two sites that will email error fares and deals to you.<\/span><\/p>\n Scott\u2019s Cheap Flights<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Secretflying.com<\/a>\u00a0both have email newsletters you can subscribe to that will send you some great deals.<\/span><\/p>\n Scotts Cheap Flights recently showed Dallas to Belize round trip for $274, They not only show you the fare, they give you detailed instructions on how to book the ticket.<\/span><\/p>\n Secret Flying recently had a round trip deal for New York to Hawaii for $324<\/span><\/p>\n Cheap Fly Club <\/a>is another site where you can receive airfare deals like their recent one of Chicago to London for $208<\/span><\/p>\n Some other sites to get notified of airfare deals are:<\/span><\/p>\n The Fare Deal Alert<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Fare Compare<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Airfare Watchdog<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Hopper <\/a>is an app for both Apple and Android that offer \u201csecret airfares\u201d. They have partnered with several airlines to show fares up to 35% off other sites for long haul flights.<\/span><\/p>\n One thing to consider is the possibility the airline won\u2019t honor the mistake fare. This occasionally happens but it\u2019s not common. Consumer protections in the United States, and particularly in Europe, often prevent airlines from reneging on mistake fares. To be safe though you should wait at least a week before booking any non-refundable hotels or activities.<\/span><\/p>\n Also, do a search from nearby departure airports. Flying out of Newark instead of JFK can sometimes save you money.<\/span><\/p>\n 4. Best Booking Sites<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n While many use Expedia or TripAdvisor, those are the worst sites in which to book a flight. Some of the best booking sites are:<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n SkyScanner<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Skyscanner<\/a> searches multiple sites to find the best deals. You can search using specific dates or target the entire month to find the cheapest fares. One recent search showed Houston to London departing on a Sunday for $612 but if you waited until Wednesday it was $447. Sky Scanner also has an explore feature which allows you to choose your departure city and search for fares anywhere for certain months. If you have some time off and just want to go somewhere it is a great feature.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Momondo<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Momondo <\/a>has similar features and sometimes shows better prices than SkyScanner. A recent search showed New York to Bangkok for $494<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Kiwi<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Kiwi<\/a> is another site that allows you to search for flights anywhere using by selecting anytime dates and anywhere destination.<\/span><\/p>\n It is good to search using all three to find the best airfares.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n AirWander<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Airwander <\/a>allows you to search for flights with multiple cities or long layovers. Say you want to travel somewhere but might like to spend a day in another city. Airwander searches those so you can fly from Denver to China with a day spent in Japan exploring the sites.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n JetRadar<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n JetRadar <\/a>has one thing going for it. It searches a lot of budget airlines that the other sites don\u2019t search.<\/span><\/p>\n Yapta<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Yapta is mainly for corporate travel but also has search for individual travelers. It searches out low cost deals from your selected departure city.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Google Flights<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n While you may not find the best airfares, Google Flights is a good site to compare flight dates to see which are the best\/cheapest days to fly.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n ITA Matrix<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Google purchased ITA Matrix in 2010 and although it shows a lot of similar things to Google Flights it is a useful tool. You can perform in depth searches using the interactive calendar and Geo search functions and it can help in finding hidden options the other search engines miss.<\/span><\/p>\n 5. Hidden city ticketing<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n What is hidden city ticketing? Let\u2019s say you want to travel from New York to Denver. It might be cheaper to book a flight from New York to Los Angeles that connects in Denver. You just get off in Denver and not use the last leg of the ticket. Airlines don\u2019t like it and there are downsides.<\/span><\/p>\n If you are not switching planes at the connecting airport you might not be let off the plane.<\/span><\/p>\n If you check any baggage it is going to the final destination so you can only have carry on bags.<\/span><\/p>\n You should only do this with one-way tickets since if you miss your flight to the final destination the airlines might cancel the entire reservation leaving you with no return ticket.<\/span><\/p>\n Never use your frequent flyer miles or list the number on your reservation since the airlines might confiscate all your miles for breaking their rules.<\/span><\/p>\n If you still want to try it then head over to Skiplagged<\/a> which shows hidden city fares. Just take into account the risks and do your research.<\/span><\/p>\n 6. Book connecting flights yourself for less<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Sometimes by booking using two destinations you might save money over booking a round trip fare from one place to another. It takes some work but you find significant savings. For example, a ticket from Houston To Las Vegas and one from Las Vegas to Los Angeles costs $254 round trip, while a round trip from Houston to Los Angeles on the same dates cost $507.<\/span><\/p>\n 7. Don’t forget about Regional and Low Cost Airlines<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n A lot of the search engines listed don\u2019t always cover the small regional airlines. You can do a Google search for local airlines to find a lot of these. While some like Mesa Airlines contract out to major airlines like United Air Express or American Eagle, some operate independently.<\/span><\/p>\n Remember this when looking at this list. Airlines fly both ways which means you might score a deal from Europe to The Middle East using a Middle east Carrier or using a Latin American carrier to fly from <\/em>the US to Latin America. So, checkout a few and see what destinations they service.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n In the United States\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n SunCountry Airlines<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Porter Airlines<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Allegiant Air<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Canada<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Jetlines<\/a> <\/strong>billed as Canada\u2019s first Ultra Low Cost Airline<\/span><\/p>\n Porter Airlines<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Flair Airlines<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Swoop Airlines<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Air Canada Rouge<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Air Transat<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Europe<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Norweigan Air \u00a0<\/strong><\/a>great fares from North America to Europe<\/span><\/p>\n