The hardest and usually most unreasonably expensive part of traveling is the flight. It’s hard for a few reasons. One, once you buy the ticket, you’ve committed to going which some people just can’t bring themselves to do. Two, buying a ticket at the right moment is crucial and difficult. Third, a lot of times you are at the mercy of the airlines, whether you like it or not. So I am going to try and break down a few tips and tricks I’ve come across, and share my system for booking flights.

First off, a highly recommend everyone have a reward credit card. I personally like my discover card, however, the card I have, discover no longer offers. No annual fee and high percentage rewards on things you buy often are the top things you want to look for. As long as you pay your balance off every month, they reward you with 100% free money, off money you would have spent either way (ie groceries, gas, utilities etc). Also, airline companies can sometimes offer phenomenal sign up rewards. SouthWest recently had the best special I’ve ever seen. For signing up you received 50,000 points, which is enough for TWO roundtrip flights. That offer was incredible, and you will continue earning points for every dollar spent after that. Delta, American and several other airlines offer points for initial sign up as well.

(TIP: Lowest fares are usually posted on Tuesdays, and traveling mid week is usually cheaper than traveling on peak days like weekends. Summer is usually always the most expensive time to travel, so accept that if you really must go during those months, or try to bump your travels to Spring or Fall)

Secondly, when traveling, although sometimes its unavoidable, if you are leisure traveling, flexibility is the number one best way to save money. My absolute number one first step is going to itasoftware its powered by google and creates an Airfare Calendar comparable to the one SouthWest has.

For International flights, if departing from a country other than the US, be sure to select USD from the Currency drop down, for ease of use, and to not get your hopes up for an insanely cheap flight, only to realize its in a diff currency. (I speak from experience on that one)

Play with the months and number of nights you are staying, even different airports you are willing to travel to/from to get to your ultimate destination. Sometimes adding your own connection can save you a lot of money also. For instance, I will be traveling to Europe soon and my ultimate destination was Germany, to fly into Frankfurt would have been $1300. Instead I bought a flight to Dublin, Ireland for $675 and purchased a connecting flight from RyanAir that was only $30 one way. For that much savings, I certainly don’t mind the extra connection. Once I find the cheapest days to fly, if I am flexible with time of day I am traveling I will go to Priceline and play around with their Name Your Own Price feature.

Be sure to read every line of the fine print. It’s a great deal, but comes at a price. You usually depart very early in the morning with long layovers. Once you enter your bid, if it’s accepted, there is no turning back.

It has saved me up to $150 on international flights per round trip. This system has worked very very well for me over the years. When using Name Your Own Price, be sure to low ball your early bids and creep up slowly to make sure you get the best deal. Once you hit submit, if they accept your offer, its a done deal. No going back, no refunds transfers or exchanges.

(TIP: Active Duty Military can usually receive discounts on air fare, not always, for instance around holidays. These discounts are ONLY available by phone. I have had the most luck with this from SouthWest (1-800-435-9792) and American (1-800-882-8880). In my experience if one was not offering a military fare, the other will not be offering one either but it is always worth a shot. With American I am usually on hold for at least half an hour, SouthWest is usually straight to a representative. Also, Active Duty usually always receive free checked baggage (except with airlines like Spirit), SouthWest offers 2 free checked bags to all customers which can be a huge savings. And a lot of airlines offer a free in flight alcoholic beverage that certainly makes for a smoother flight)

CONUS discount airlines to look at are Spirit, JetBlue (Military:be aware of baggage fees for both of these airlines, they offer no free military baggage) and Frontier, these airlines are more of West Coast or sporadic destination airlines so don’t be disappointed if you can’t find a flight to accommodate you (or, be disappointed and cuss your laptop like I do).

Great European discount airlines that I use religiously are RyanAir and EasyJet. Keep in mind you get one carry-on bag, but checked bags have fees. These airlines typically go to smaller, not exactly the specific destination you were shooting for, but for a fraction of the price they will get you in the ball park. For instance, I took a flight to Paris, but it wasn’t actually IN Paris, I had to take a 15 euro hour long bus ride to actually get to the city. But even with the bus the price was substantially cheaper than flying a main airline. RyanAir is typically the cheapest EasyJet is slightly more expensive, but both have you packed into the plane like sardines. But it is well worth the discomfort, I promise.