Let’s say I’d like to fly to London sometime in the next year. The when is not super important, and I am able to make the decision on, oh, a week’s notice.
What’s the best way to find/track ticket prices, or learn about cheap flights?
I’ve found some great deals through the weekly emails from Travelzoo. In 2011, I went to Iceland from Chicago for $500 roundtrip, though they also included London and Copenhagen in the deal.
Kayak is pretty good sometimes, as is Skyscanner. I like to use the price analysis tools over at Bing Travel quite a bit, as well. ITA Matrix can help you choose a day by showing you prices over a length of time.
Yeah, I do this all the time. The best and most consistent results come from Travelzoo and Kayak. Travelzoo is good for discounted packages that include flights, hotels and/or a car. They have a weekly Top 20 e-mail that has some very good deals if it matches your plans. Kayak is an aggregating website that scans many other travel sites for the best deals. Both offer e-mail services for price hikes and drops. With a year to work with, I would just sign up for both of them and check every few days for a while to figure out the baseline prices.
When a good deal pops up, have a credit card in hand and be ready to jump on it within minutes because the best deals go fast. You should be able to get a good deal if you have a year to work with and you pay attention. It doesn’t take much effort other than signing up and paying attention for what is a good deal and what isn’t.