Danette O'Neal, PhD

1. SEARCH FOR FLIGHTS USING A PRIVATE BROWSER
Airlines track your search history, meaning that every time you search for a specific flight, the airlines remember it and you are less likely to see a cheaper price. However, you can get around this by setting your internet browser to Private. Every browser is a little different, but in Safari you can choose from the Safari drop down at the top of your screen and choose “Private Browsing” or in Google Chrome click on the File drop down and choose “New Incognito Window.” You can also clear your cookies before every search, which helps to clear your search history.
2. DON’T JUST RELY ON MAJOR BOOKING SITES TO SEARCH FOR FLIGHTS
There are also many airlines that do not participate in major booking sites, such as Southwest, so you’ll want to go directly to those sites as well to check for up to date pricing. If you are traveling abroad, you’ll want to do a search for local airlines in that country/city. For example, when I was looking for flights between cities in Australia, I was able to find 2 local airlines – Tiger Air and JetStar, neither one that shows up on search engines. All I did was Google “Australia local and domestic airlines.” If I had relied solely on booking sites, I would have paid $150pp for a flight from Sydney to Cairns on a major airline like Air New Zealand, but instead I paid $34pp on one of the local airlines. See what a little research can save you?
3. START TRACKING PRICES
You’ll want to track the prices you find early on – usually 4-6 months ahead of time if you can. I put together a simple spreadsheet that shows the day I searched, what airline and the price, that way I have an idea when I find a cheap flight or not. Tuesdays and Thursdays are generally known as the days that the lowest prices are posted. I usually check on prices twice a week for 1-2 months; this gives me a great feel for the flight cost and I’ll easily know when I find a great price. You can sign up for automatic flight tracking on sites like Kayak, Airfare Watchdog and Fare Compare and receive email alerts when prices change or make any changes. **When you find a great deal, book it immediately! There’s always a chance that it could get lower, but that chance is usually slim. Don’t gamble with flight prices, they usually only go up!
4. SIGN UP FOR EMAIL UPDATES FOR SPECIFIC AIRLINES AND TRAVEL SITES
If you have an idea for what airlines you’ll want to fly, sign up for their email updates. For example, when I was looking into flying to New Zealand, I signed up for email updates on Air New Zealand so that if a great deal came up I would know about it. If you don’t have a specific airline in mind, sign up for a few that you know go to your destination. I have a special email address that I use for these types of emails (not my main one) so that it’s all in one spot and doesn’t clog up my inbox. It would look something like “AimeeTravelEmails@gmail.com” You can also follow specific travel bloggers and websites like Travelzoo on Twitter and Facebook so you can get up to the minute deals straight to your mobile phone.
5. BE FLEXIBLE – TRAVEL MID WEEK AND CHECK NEARBY AIRPORTS
Finally, get creative for where you fly in and out of and when. The cheapest days to fly on are Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Kayak and many airline websites allow you to look at prices over a month period so you can find the cheapest days to travel. You also want to check various airports, if you have the flexibility to do so. Most major cities have more than one airport within an hour’s drive and can sometimes mean savings of hundreds of dollars.
RESOURCE: http://www.typeatrips.com/blog/20155-tips-to-cheap-flights-the-smart-way-to-compare-prices?pp=1