Scoring Airline Tickets This Cheap Should Be Illegal
Al Capone. Pablo Escobar. Now you. Join the list of criminal masterminds by following these pointers to help reduce the price of airfare to a level that might as well be stealing.
A domestic round-trip flight at the end of last year averaged $366, according to Airlines for America, the trade association for the largest airlines. If you travel as a family of four, that means you’re out over $1,400 without even factoring in the cost of baggage fees or transportation to and from the airport.
However, there are some ways to cut costs without sacrificing your next vacation. A group of people dedicated to scouring insider blogs and scoping airlines’ social media feeds, today’s travel experts offer the not-so-frequent flyer tips on scoring the best deals.
Click to find ways to cut costs on your next plane fare. Just know that you might feel a little bit like this just has to be criminal when all is said and done.
1. Know the Right Sites
Few “insiders” are really looking for flight deals on Expedia, Orbitz or Kayak anymore. The rule seems to be that the more people know about a site, the less likely it is to offer rock-bottom prices.
If you want to look for flights outside of the airlines’ websites, experts say you are better off heading to lesser-known options to get big savings. These include Skyscanner, Momondo and Airfarewatchdog.
Other good sites include View from the Wing, The Flight Deal, ExpertFlyer and FlyerTalk’s forums. So, if you’re looking for the “black market” for flights, these options will all feel pretty illicit when you see how much you’re saving.
2. Work Those Credit Card Sign-Up Bonuses
Credit card sign-up bonuses are “the easiest way to rack up miles quickly,” said Sam Huang, founder of Top Miles. And you should be able to find plenty of travel credit card deals.
Many major credit cards offer 50,000 miles or more when you sign up. How valuable are such miles? You can fly Singapore Airlines’ hotel-room-in-the-sky suites from New York to Frankfurt one way for under 60,000 miles, Huang said.
Be warned, though: You typically need good-to-excellent credit to qualify for these kinds of offers. In addition, the cards might come with fees. And if you are not responsible with your credit — meaning you do not pay off your monthly bills in full at the end of each billing cycle — your interest payments might wind up erasing your savings.
3. Get Bumped
Sometimes to save money on travel, someone needs to get bumped off … a flight, that is.
“Getting a free ticket via getting bumped is arguably more common today than it was five to 10 years ago since airplanes are flying regularly at full capacity now, making the need to bump greater,” said Scott Keyes, founder of Scott’s Cheap Flights.
Keyes has done this dozens of times and has a clear, five-step method for getting bumped, scoring a free ticket and keeping the cost of a vacation low.
Figure out your odds of getting bumped. Look at a seat map when checking in at the airport. If there are just a few or no extra seats, your chances are good.
Be in the gate area early. Keyes recommended arriving 30 to 45 minutes before boarding.
Sit as close to the agent desk as possible. Keep your eyes and ears open. “On multiple occasions, I’ve beat out other potential volunteers by sitting closer and jumping earlier,” Keyes said.
Know when to pull the trigger. Keyes said airlines usually start offers at $250 and then ratchet up by $50 every five minutes until they get enough volunteers. “I typically pull the trigger early — usually the first offer,” Keyes said. However, he also requests to have his offer upgraded to match any final offers the airline grants to other volunteers later in the boarding process. “Most of the time they’ll agree,” Keyes said.
Leverage your offer. Recent FAA rule changes force airlines that bump passengers involuntarily to give out up to $1,350 in compensation, depending on the length of your delay. Airlines want to avoid this fine, so you can make some demands, such as a more direct route or a first-class seat. For a full look at your rights when getting bumped, read the federal government’s rules.
4. Sniff Out Wacky Promotions
You can also score a free airline ticket by exploiting wacky — borderline illegal — promotions. Gilbert Ott, founder of God Save the Points, said he once took a free private jet from Boston to Washington, D.C., by finding a coupon code that offered a free flight credit.
“It was intended for people who became members of a really expensive membership program, but the code was accepted in the app, and we booked successfully without paying a dime,” he said.
While the experts admit that scoring tickets this way is pretty rare, if you know a guy who knows a guy — who searches online for free flight credit coupons or promo codes and follows major airlines’ social platforms for promotional giveaways — you might just get lucky.
5. Make a Mileage Run
In all fairness, this method does involve buying a ticket to get a free ticket. But if you are free-spirited, flexible and love to travel, it can be worthwhile.
The idea is to watch out for routes that earn double or triple miles and book a cheap flight just to earn them. These offers typically arise when airlines open a new route and want to promote it. Thus, they create opportunities to earn heavy miles.
Find the right balance of fare cost and miles earned, and you can wind up with what amounts to a great buy one, get one free deal without actually having to break the law.
Read: American Airlines Credit Card Comparison
6. Time Your Big Purchases
Exploiting your credit card-offered miles takes some expert timing. Jason Moore of Zero To Travel wrote that he once got a free ticket by simply opening up a new credit card and then using it to pay his taxes. The combination of the sign-up bonus miles and the number of miles earned on this large “purchase” meant he earned a free ticket in less than 15 minutes.
Consider following this course with computers, televisions, major appliances or even home repairs with a contractor who accepts credit cards. These big ticket items or costly services — paid back immediately from your checking account, of course — can mean instant free flights with some offers.
Obviously, this doesn’t mean buying things you do not need, but the miles earned might help you turn a great deal on the new stereo you were already going to buy into a free flight as well, maximizing what you’re getting for your money.
Read More: How to Travel the World (Practically) for Free
7. Shop Through the Airlines
One of Ott’s favorite ways to find great travel deals is to make online purchases through airline shopping portals. Essentially, you log in to your frequent flyer account on an airline website, go to the airline shopping portal and earn miles just for making purchases from your favorite retailer.
“It’s kind of like a referral program,” Ott said. And certain retailers will offer 25 or more miles per dollar. “If you buy a laptop from your favorite online store, it might be enough for a free flight. It’s so easy and can mean thousands of miles and endless free flights if you shop online.”
Like the previous tip, you will have to spend money to earn a ticket. But when it is stuff you need anyway, you might as well earn the miles.
8. Take Advantage of ‘Mistake Fares’
In the flight-hacking world, mistake fares — or error fares, as they also are known — are fares so low they seem like a mistake because they often are. They happen more often than you think, said Janice Waugh of Solo Traveler.
Both Waugh and Huang recommend searching the website Secret Flying, which specializes in digging up these kinds of fares. Like a mileage run, this method is also something of a buy one, get one free situation and means taking long-haul flights in coach.
“For example, I am scheduled to fly from Taipei to San Jose, which will net me at least 11,000 miles round trip, for $165,” Huang said. He noted that 12,500 miles is enough for a one-way ticket within the United States.
Related: Free Hotel Upgrades That You’re Missing Out On
9. Rig a ‘Fuel Dump’ Ticket
An airline charges for fuel separately — you will see this charge itemized when you purchase tickets. Sometimes, that charge is the most expensive part of the ticket.
So, a fuel-dump ticket is one for which the airline has dumped the fuel charge thanks to some magical combination of flights, such as adding a third leg to the end of a round-trip ticket, even though you have no intention of taking this final flight. Ott explains this “Wild West” method of flying at God Save the Points.
This is where sites like FlyerTalk are your friend, because these types of tickets are not advertised, and the airlines allegedly monitor the internet looking for the fares so they can eliminate them.
Click to see money-saving travel tips from flight attendants.
10. Get a Checking Account That Earns Miles
Some banks will give you miles for opening a checking account, said Huang. For example, BankDirect offers AAdvantage miles to members who deposit a certain amount in a Mileage Checking With Interest account or a Mileage Money Market Account, as well as to members who purchase certain Mileage Certificates of Deposit.
So take all that money you saved on cheap flights and put them to work earning interest so you can get even more miles.
Click to see air travel mistakes that are costing you hundreds.
Joel Anderson contributed to the reporting for this article.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Scoring Airline Tickets This Cheap Should Be Illegal
