There are around 30,000 flights soaring very high up in the US skies every single day, creating an intricate, invisible highway system miles above our heads. That’s quite a lot of airplanes and even more passengers—over two million people daily, in fact. This constant aerial ballet is powered by a complex system of dynamic pricing, where the cost of a ticket can change multiple times a day. In fact, you would be surprised to find out that people who are sitting next to each other on a plane have all paid a different price for their flights, sometimes with a variance of hundreds of dollars for the exact same seat and service.
Do you want to be the one with the best deal, smugly sipping your complimentary drink while knowing you paid the lowest price in your row? Then, we have some tips for you. Besides being flexible with your travel dates, taking into consideration the closest alternative airports, and buying your flights well in advance—which are foundational strategies that can only take you so far—we also want to show you a couple of other powerful tips and hacks. These techniques, used by seasoned travel experts, will help you save even more when you’re flying domestically in the USA and unlock a new level of savvy travel.
Search for the “hacker fare”
When you need a round-trip flight ticket, your first instinct is likely to search for that exact option on an airline or travel agency website. However, there are specific things you should do to outsmart the system. For instance, try to search for two one-way tickets on different airlines instead. This simple change in your search strategy can dramatically expand your options. Then, your search results page will get much longer AND better, and only because you will be able to book combinations you otherwise couldn’t have, such as flying out on Delta and returning on American Airlines or another pair of competing airlines.
Here’s the thing: airlines can only sell round-trip tickets with their own or partner airline’s flights due to interline agreements. This basically means that the wide majority of the competing airlines with whom they do not have any kind of agreement will not show up in your search, even if their return flight might could be a lot cheaper. Many flight aggregators like Google Flights or Kayak now automatically show these “hacker” or “mix-and-match” fares, but it’s always a good practice to manually search for two separate one-ways to ensure you’re seeing every possible combination and price point. Be mindful of differing baggage policies between carriers, as this could add unexpected costs.
Check out Southwest.com
Especially if you plan a shopping trip or are traveling with family, Southwest should be one of your first stops. The airline will instantly give you two bags to check in for no additional costs—a policy that is almost unheard of with other major U.S. carriers. When others are charging $30-$40 for a single checked bag each way, this perk alone can save a family of four over $240 on a round trip. You won’t have to worry about extra fees for checked baggage, laptop bags, using the toilet or even breathing in the airliner.
On top of that, the best part is that it might depend on how you look at it, because Southwest doesn’t come up on meta-search engines like Expedia, Orbitz, or Kayak. And that’s mainly because they don’t want to; it’s a deliberate business strategy to drive all customers directly to their own website, giving them full control over pricing and customer relations. You can combine this tip with the first one to yield the best results by booking a one-way flight on Southwest and another one-way on a different carrier. Also, you might want to check out their legendary “Companion Pass”, which basically entitles a companion of your choice to fly with you for zero costs (plus taxes and fees) for up to two years. It’s one of the most valuable perks in the travel industry.
Take advantage of free cancellation if the price drops
As a general rule, you can cancel any purchase from an airline or any other major online travel agency (OTA) in the United States within 24 hours of making it, provided you booked at least seven days before departure. This isn’t just a courtesy; it’s a mandate from the U.S. Department of Transportation. I know everyone would think that people already know about it, but actually, most consumers are unaware of this powerful consumer protection. This regulation empowers you to lock in a decent fare without the risk of immediate buyer’s remorse.
The secret is to treat your booking as a placeholder and check flight ticket prices again before that 24-hour deadline has passed. Set a reminder on your phone for 23 hours after you book. Then, run the exact same search. If you get lucky and the price drops, you can book the new, cheaper flight and then immediately cancel your original, more expensive ticket for a full refund. Luckily, Southwest takes it even further with its own generous policy; you can get a travel credit for the fare difference if the price of your flight drops any time up to the day of the departure, with no change fees.
Sign up for newsletters
If you are willing and have the capacity to make your travel decisions fast, then airline and other online travel agency newsletters are also something worth signing up for. To avoid cluttering your primary inbox, consider creating a separate email address just for travel deals. It’s true that most of the time you might have the usual marketing talk and generic offers, but more often than not, there could be something better in them, like exclusive discount codes or early access to major sales.
For instance, let’s take flash sales. The booking window on those is generally quite short: from a couple of days to a week. These sales are designed to fill seats on less popular routes or during shoulder seasons. Even so, the savings you might get for acting fast might help you save 50% or more. It might also happen that the campaign can apply when you bundle up flights with a hotel or even a rental car, offering even deeper discounts. So, not everything is actually spam if you know how to filter for the genuinely good deals.
Pro tip: hidden city ticketing
If you are quite a rookie when it comes to airline lingo, then this could sound quite mysterious and even a bit sneaky to you. However, hidden city ticketing is definitely something that’s real and used quite often by seasoned travelers to find incredible deals. The trick here is quite simple. For example, let’s say that you have to get from New York City to Atlanta, a major airline hub.
You start searching for flights and the outlook isn’t all that nice, with fares being prohibitively high. However, if you search for flights to a smaller, less popular destination like Miami, going through Atlanta as a layover, then the picture might be a bit brighter. Sometimes, the longer flight with a connection is cheaper than the direct flight to the hub city. You book the flight from NYC to Miami, but you’re also walking out of the airport in Atlanta because you don’t need to fly to Miami, effectively throwing away the last leg of your ticket.
However, bear in mind that this can only be done with carry-on luggage, as any checked bags will be sent to your ticket’s final destination (Miami, in our example). You also shouldn’t do it too often with the same airline, because they don’t like it—it’s against their contract of carriage—and could even close your frequent flyer account, forfeit your miles, or in rare cases, ban you from flying with them. It is a high-risk, high-reward strategy that should be used sparingly and with full awareness of the potential consequences.
Book one passenger at a time
Let’s take another scenario: you are carefully planning a getaway with your friends or even a family holiday. There are six of you in that group. As you are searching for your flights, you obviously put in the complete number of people in the group into the search engine. That’s great for simplicity, but hold on just a minute, as this common practice could be costing you a lot of money.
Try this instead: write the total down and calculate the per-person cost you might get when you buy those six tickets there and then. Then, go back to the beginning of the search process and proceed to look for flights for one, two, three, and so on number of people. It’s a bit more work, but the potential savings are worth the effort.
Every single time, check what the price per person is. Chances are that by buying your tickets in smaller groups of 2-4 or 3-3, you might be able to save on your total costs. The secret is that airlines sell tickets in different price levels, known as “fare buckets.” If you search for six seats, but there are only four left in the cheapest $150 fare bucket, the airline’s booking engine will usually price all six tickets at the next available, more expensive bucket, say $210. By booking four tickets first, and then the remaining two separately, you could secure four at $150 and two at $210, for a significant overall saving. The only potential downside is that your group may not be seated together, but this can often be fixed with seat selection after booking or by asking a gate agent for help.
Upgrade to cheap First Class
If you are flying on any major US carriers like American, Delta, or United, and you need to have more than one piece of checked luggage with you, then it could be a good idea to look into first-class fares before you book that standard economy ticket. Counterintuitively, a premium cabin can sometimes be the more economical choice. In some instances, they could be a lot more reasonable and cost-efficient than actually paying a lot of money for checking in your luggage and still getting a place in coach.
For example, a main cabin ticket might be $250, while a first-class ticket is $400. If you have two checked bags, they could cost $40 for the first and $50 for the second each way, adding $180 to your round-trip coach ticket. The final cost would be $430, making the $400 first-class ticket—which includes two free checked bags, priority services, and a much more comfortable seat—the cheaper and better option.
Book your last-minute flights with miles
The airline business doesn’t actually operate as others do when it comes to pricing. They don’t really believe in last-minute discounts to fill empty seats; in fact, they do the opposite. Prices skyrocket in the days leading up to departure to capitalize on business travelers and emergencies. However, life gets in our way and we sometimes need to buy tickets a couple of days, or maybe only some hours before departure.
When cash prices are astronomical, it would make all the sense to check out what you could get for your frequent flyer miles. While a last-minute cash fare can exceed $500, the same seat might be available for a standard award level, like 12,500 miles plus $5.60 in taxes. You can even end up paying much less with your miles for a last-minute trip than in real cash, getting exceptional value for your points. That’s just one of the reasons why you should always be collecting those frequent flyer miles, even from short domestic hops, as they can be incredibly valuable in a pinch.
Check for student or youth discounts
If, by any chance, you are a qualifying student or even a young adult under 26 years old, then you should never book a flight without first searching for specific student and youth fares. Many people are unaware that these discounts exist. You should search for different student travel agencies online, such as StudentUniverse. They tend to specialize on international flights, but sometimes have the best discounts and exclusive deals for domestic flights as well.
Additionally, some airlines offer their own direct programs. United Airlines, for example, has a dedicated booking portal for travelers aged 18 to 23 that can offer significant savings. To qualify, you typically need to verify your status with a .edu email address or a valid student ID, but the extra step can lead to substantial price reductions.
Hire a professional travel hacker
If you don’t have enough time, patience, or interest in implementing these tricks yourself, or if you’re planning a particularly complex multi-city itinerary, then you should consider hiring a travel hacker. These are professionals who live and breathe flight booking nuances. For instance, services like Flystein’s travel experts might be able to apply every single trick in their book—and some you’ve never even heard of—to get you the best possible flight out there. They understand complex routing rules, airline alliances, and award chart sweet spots on a deep level.
These services usually charge a small fee, but they are confident they will save you far more than their cost. For complicated or expensive trips, the return on investment can be immense, saving you not only money but also hours of stressful research. It’s a perfect solution for those who value their time and want an expert to guarantee the lowest fare.
Mastering these techniques can transform you from a casual traveler into a savvy flight shopper. While not every trick will work for every trip, having this toolkit at your disposal ensures you’re always positioned to find the best possible deal. Happy travels, and may your fares always be low!
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