Way to find/track best deal on flights?

[SeiterClan]

Hi! I just found out that my nephew is getting married in about 3 months from now in the middle of August in the Washington DC area! My husband & I just got back from there last month & the flight prices/points seem so high for August! Anyone know of a way to find/track the best deal from PHX to IAD or Reagan National airport? We have about 40,000+ points from SW which I thought would be enough since it was for our previous trip but not this time. Any help/advice would be much appreciated! TIA

 

[megster1123]

There's an app called Hopper that tracks flight prices and historical price changes. It'll tell you best time to book or if you should wait. You can also set a travel alert and it'll notify you when it's the time to buy. It worked really well for a Vegas trip this past January.

 

[SeiterClan]

Thank you megster1123 that is exactly what I was looking for! Do you know much about Southwest & summer flights? We hardly ever fly & I wonder if they'll drop or if I should wait...:/

 

[Alexle2007]

You might want to also look at BWI. BWI is a hub for SW. You could hop on the MARC to get to DC or have someone pick you up. It's only an hour away. My in-laws live in PHX and we were out there last year in Aug for a very reasonable rate.

 

[SeiterClan]

You might want to also look at BWI. BWI is a hub for SW. You could hop on the MARC to get to DC or have someone pick you up. It's only an hour away. My in-laws live in PHX and we were out there last year in Aug for a very reasonable rate.

Thank you! I forgot about BWI. :0 Do you happen to know or have an idea how much your in-laws paid last summer for their flights on SW? Just trying to get an idea of what's good! TIA

 

[Alexle2007]

Thank you! I forgot about BWI. :0 Do you happen to know or have an idea how much your in-laws paid last summer for their flights on SW? Just trying to get an idea of what's good! TIA

Looks like I booked the flight on 6/2 and it was $322 round trip. We were flying the opposite direction. From BWI to PHX back to BWI. We were out there 8/24-29.

 

[SeiterClan]

Looks like I booked the flight on 6/2 and it was $322 round trip. We were flying the opposite direction. From BWI to PHX back to BWI. We were out there 8/24-29.

Wow! You paid $322 round trip??? That's a great price. The prices are averaging that for ONE WAY from PHX to BWI for my dates in August. Guess I'll have to keep watching & hope they go down next month! Thanks for the info.

 

[Albort]

There's an app called Hopper that tracks flight prices and historical price changes. It'll tell you best time to book or if you should wait. You can also set a travel alert and it'll notify you when it's the time to buy. It worked really well for a Vegas trip this past January.

hopper is great to keep track, but it sometimes doesnt show all the flights. Google flight is by far where it is, but it doesnt have tracker.

 

[SeiterClan]

hopper is great to keep track, but it sometimes doesnt show all the flights. Google flight is by far where it is, but it doesnt have tracker.

Thanks! I'll look into that one.

 

[DBDiz]

ITA Matrix is powered by Google, and I find it to be incredibly useful for potential trips when dates are not set in stone. You can set the size of your party, preference on stop #'s, and a range of nights you'll be staying at your destination, and it will return results for all of it.

 

[jodybird511]

And Hopper does NOT track Southwest--I was using it to track flights for our trip in 2 weeks, and it steered me wrong, as we were only willing to fly SW.

 

[disnerella]

There is an app/site called Skyscanner that I like because it includes Southwest flights.

You are able to set up alerts but it is not a predictive tool like Hopper.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Also, try adding a day to each end and then both ends of your trip and see if that reduces the price. Usually trips for 1-3 are more expensive than 4+ days. But then you will have more hotel expenses, so it's always a trade off.

 

[SeiterClan]

Also, try adding a day to each end and then both ends of your trip and see if that reduces the price. Usually trips for 1-3 are more expensive than 4+ days. But then you will have more hotel expenses, so it's always a trade off.

That's a good point! I'll mess around with the days some & see if that helps. Thanks!

 

[SeiterClan]

And Hopper does NOT track Southwest--I was using it to track flights for our trip in 2 weeks, and it steered me wrong, as we were only willing to fly SW.

Good to know! I'm really hoping to use SW because we already have quite a few points racked up with them. Thanks!

 

[SeiterClan]

There is an app/site called Skyscanner that I like because it includes Southwest flights.

You are able to set up alerts but it is not a predictive tool like Hopper.

Thank you! I will look into that one since we want to fly SW.

 

[Alexle2007]

If you go on to the Southwest web site and you'll see Flexible Dates (it's under Arrive and to the left of Promotion Code). If you click on that you'll be able to see the lowest pricing for every day in a month. So for PHX to BWI, 8/23 has flights for $179 and 8/27 from BWI to PHX $179. I stalk this calendar when I am looking for flights. It's easier than keep adjusting the dates. And remember to keep checking the pricing even after you purchase your flight. If the price/points decreases you can adjust and get the difference. I ended up with an $80 credit for my upcoming flight to Punta Cana since the price dropped twice.

 

[hollypoast]

There's an app called Hopper that tracks flight prices and historical price changes. It'll tell you best time to book or if you should wait. You can also set a travel alert and it'll notify you when it's the time to buy. It worked really well for a Vegas trip this past January.

Very cool. Thanks!

 

[Halloweenqueen]

I love Google flights!

 

[SunnieRN]

This is strange. When I went to the Skyscanner site, I got a RT price of $268. When I downloaded the app, I got a price of $378?? Not sure what's up with that?