There’s a simple solution to finding cheap airfare and knowing how to track flight prices: signing up for fare alerts.
Fare alerts let you know (via email, typically) when the flight you want drops in price, helping you find cheap domestic flights as well as how to find cheap long haul flights.
Flight prices can change dramatically, so you should aim to book your flights at their lowest published price.
Sites like Google Flights, Momondo, and Skyscanner allow you to set alerts, helping you decide when to book your flight to ensure you get the best deal. In this guide, you’ll learn how to track flight prices by setting up fare alerts, when and why flight prices drop, and how signing up with Dollar Flight Club can ensure you get the best possible deals from your home airport.
Read also: The Ultimate Guide to Finding Cheap Flights
When do flight prices drop?
Airline prices change often, so knowing when flight prices drop can be tricky. However, fare alerts make it easier to track and lock in a low fare for your trip!
Airline pricing can be unpredictable, generally following demand. Busier travel dates, like the week of Thanksgiving, are more expensive due to increased demand. In contrast, you can often find cheap domestic flights to popular destinations in the off-season. However, finding cheap flights isn’t as simple as just traveling during the off-season; fare alerts can help you catch flash sales, midweek price dips, and occasional discounts even during peak season.
After years of studying cheap flights, I’ve noticed that prices can drop anytime, sometimes without notice. So, how can you make sure you book after the price drops? Services like Google Flights show historical data, indicating whether or not flight prices are likely to rise or drop.
Here’s a graph that demonstrates data for roundtrip flights from Chicago to Seattle in mid-November.
While prices are currently low, the graph shows prices were below $100 about five days ago. At the top, Google alerts us that prices may go up in the next three days. For this flight, we may have missed the lowest price, which likely bottomed out at around $100 and will increase as the flight date approaches.
Skyscanner’s Savings Generator is another great tool to help you know when flight prices are at their lowest.
This tool for how to track flight prices uses data to let you know the best time to book your flights. For example, if you’re planning a trip from Chicago to Seoul, Skyscanner suggests booking 22 weeks in advance. Data from other flights and past years indicate that prices will drop significantly 22 weeks before departure, then gradually increase.
While many people plan trips last minute, this data shows the importance of booking early—in this case, five months out.
Using fare alerts along with this tool from Skyscanner, you can feel confident you’re getting the best possible price for your upcoming flight.
How to track flight prices by setting up fare alerts
Using tools like Skyscanner’s Savings Generator, along with free fare alerts from Google Flights and Momondo, can help you spot when flight prices drop and allow you to secure cheap airfare. Here’s how to use each effectively.
Google Flights
Google Flights offers one of the simplest fare alert options. To set it up, search for a flight, then click the toggle below the flight options.
Momondo
Momondo is a lesser-known fare alert service that lets you set alerts for the cheapest flights in a given month to a specific destination. This can be especially useful if your dates for travel are flexible.
After you search for a flight, a box will appear in the top left corner. Here, you can get insights into when to book your flight and set up email alerts to track prices.
Additionally, Momondo offers a “Flight Insights” feature. Click on the arrow on the top right-hand corner of your screen labeled “Flight Insights for (origin) to (destination)” to access more detailed data than Google Flights provides. Use this data to make informed decisions on when flight prices drop so you can get the best possible deals!
Which fare alert service is best?
Google Flights and Momondo are great services, but unfortunately, if you rely on them, you will miss many of the best deals from your home airport. Why? The best deals aren’t always where you want to go.
Are you dreaming of the Caribbean and set up a fare alert on Google to Turks & Caicos? You might see a deal, but you could easily miss flash sales and deals to other islands like St. Kitt’s, Barbados, or St. Lucia.
This is where Dollar Flight Club shines.
Dollar Flight Club sends you alerts about the very best deals from your home airport, helping you find cheap domestic flights and cheap long-haul flights alike.
Instead of seeing the best deals for specific dates to a specific location, you’ll be sent the very best possible deals to destinations all over the world. Travelers who are flexible on dates and destinations will score the best deals.
Attempting to set 50-plus fare alerts to simulate what you receive from Dollar Flight Club will be extremely tedious and confusing. Let DFC do the work for you and ensure you’re getting the best possible flight deals.
A bonus? If you’re lucky, you might see a mistake fare.
If you’re serious about how to track flight prices, you should be using fare alerts to find the best deals. If you want to save time (and a lot of money), Dollar Flight Club can have the lowest fares sent right to your inbox.
