How to save money by changing your travel strategy

SEATTLE — Airline ticket prices are skyrocketing and finding a good deal can be tricky.

KIRO 7′s Niku Kazori talked with a travel expert about how to save money by changing your travel strategy.

Airline ticket prices vary depending on the day of the week, time of year and upcoming holidays. If you’re going to fly when everyone else is flying, of course your ticket is going to cost more.

But the number one thing experts say can save you some cash is being flexible on dates, times and even destinations.

Look up when the most popular times to visit destinations are and try to avoid going during those months. It’s also cheaper to fly during the middle of the week than on the weekend when most people are traveling.

Another tip: don’t always fly direct. Sometimes it costs less to take a budget airline to a different city, then take a regular airline to your destination.

The best websites for finding travel deals are meta search engines like Hopper, Trivago and Google Flights, which shows results from your home airport to multiple destinations, so you don’t have to keep searching different cities and dates to find the best time to fly.

According to TripIt Concur travel expert Ralph Colunga, prices have been on the rise for multiple reasons.

“We’ve kind of had this perfect storm happening with regards to inflation, fuel costs and labor shortage, and all of these things are going to make it a little more difficult for any destination to be less expensive than others. Certainly, avoiding the big cities is a wise move obviously. It’s price and demand honestly,” said Colunga.

Despite everything going on right now, you can still find affordable getaways.

According to Thrifty Traveler, you can find great deals on flights to Anchorage, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, Phoenix and Las Vegas.

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