Use Price Alerts Like a Pro to Save on Flights

Whether you’re scouting flight deals, timing your purchase, or planning to rebook after a price drop, price alerts are a powerful tool for keeping travel costs under control. Depending on your specific needs, you can choose different tools to track fares at different levels of granularity. Here is how to use them to your advantage.

Price alerts to find cheap flights

If you are a flexible traveler seeking travel inspiration, you will be looking at general fare alerts. At the highest level, you have various blogs and newsletter services (Google "cheap flight from ..." and they will all show up). Going is a popular one, claiming to spot lower-than-average tickets sooner than other tools. These services might help in finding certain rare deals (say a New York - Tokyo roundtrip for $300), provided you have the flexibility to travel when these massive discounts apply.

Unless you particularly like having flight alerts sent to your mailbox, you can generally get a good idea of cheap flight opportunities simply using the Google Flight Explore map. It shows you all the cheapest flights over any time range from your origin city (or several cities if needed).

If you don't have that type of flexibility but often travel to the same places, or if you are contemplating specific destinations while still deciding when to fly, you can use fly alerts for specific routes. Here again you can use Google Flight: search any one-way or roundtrip flight, and you will have the option to track the route for "Any dates". You can even include filters, such as non-stop, specific airline, etc.

This approach works great at finding really cheap flights during off-peak season. Say you travel from Europe to New York twice per year to visit friends or family. Setting a broad price alert for that route can help you get a really low fare. Bonus tip: book when the really good deal comes up and use the free 1-day cancellation policy window to confirm that the dates work (mandatory for any flight from or to the US).

Price alerts to decide when to buy

On the other hand, you might have specific travel plans for which you need to buy tickets. Google Flights excels here with its average price indicators, showing whether current fares are high, low, or typical. For more nuanced insights, Hopper offers predictive analytics, advising you on the likelihood of prices dropping or rising. This added layer of intelligence is valuable if you are trying to time the market.

Don't rely on general advice about the best time to book a flight. While not infallible, these tools remain your most reliable source of information to decide on when to book - far superior to outdated rules of thumb or debunked travel myths.

If you are tracking offers for a specific search, Google Flight only supports alerts for one-way and roundtrip itineraries. However, if you want to track the price of a specific flight, you can set up alerts for any itinerary type, including multicity.

Price alerts to rebook if price drops

Once you've purchased your ticket, you may disable the alert thinking you don't need them anymore, or to avoid the frustration of seeing the price drop lower.

However, many US airlines have reduced or eliminated rebooking fees since the pandemic. This allows you to rebook your flight at a lower fare if prices drop. With airlines like Delta and United, you can easily rebook through their apps, which typically display the net price, including any rebooking fees, to help you decide if it's worthwhile.

This use of price alerts is often overlooked but highly effective for saving money and avoiding the stress of timing the market. If your ticket permits, set a price alert for every purchase.

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