There are a number of ways to purchase airfare for cheap, but this tutorial will cover my favorite (largely because of how little time it requires). Domestic deals are out there, but the "holy shit" fares are international (i.e. round trip from Los Angeles to Stockholm for $183).
Get your passport
Only 35 percent of Americans have passports , that means that 65 percent of Americans have never left the country. The world is too beautiful to be in the latter camp. It's a painless process, they cost next to nothing , and they last for ten years. Get one.
Signup to newsletters
There are a menagerie of publications that find and publish cheap flights. Whether the airline has made a mistake or is just offering a great sale to bolster sales, these publications find the best of them and email you with instructions on how to book your tickets. While there are paid membership options, most operate on an affiliate model and will only earn a commission once you purchase tickets. I recommend subscribing to the ones below and seeing how you like them before jumping to purchase a premium membership.
- Scott's Cheap Flights, scottscheapflights.com
- Airfare Spot, airfarespot.com
- I Know The Pilot, iknowthepilot.com
- Fly Almost Free, flyalmostfree.com
Filter for departure city
Most of these newsletters will bombard you with emails and the notifications will quickly become overwhelming. By utilizing a simple Gmail filter, you can filter out all emails that don't mention your departure city and thus ignore all deals that don't appeal to you. (See: Gmail Filter Rules)
Here's what my filter looks like (in Settings > Filters and Blocked Addresses)
Matches: from:(@scottscheapflights.com OR @airfarespot.com OR @iknowthepilot.com OR @flyalmostfree.com) -{"los angeles" OR "LAX"}
Do this: Mark as readSet Text alerts
The tutorial thus far will enable you to impulse purchase international adventures based on the cost of the ticket, but if you want to go somewhere specific there's just one extra step. If you've got a particular destination in mind, simply setup an alert. This requires two steps.
First, create a Gmail Filter to apply a label to the emails you're waiting for.
Matches: from:(@scottscheapflights.com OR @airfarespot.com OR @iknowthepilot.com OR @flyalmostfree.com) (australia OR sydney)
-{"los angeles" OR "LAX"}
Do this: Apply label "australia"Second, 📝IFTTT (If This Then That) alert that will text you when new emails are labeled.
If new email in inbox labeled australia,
then send a notification from the IFTTT appSee: Receive A Text When Your Friend Sends You An Email
The above process where what was needed to compel the founder of an e-commerce conference to fly me to Australia for a speaking engagement. When he said that paying for my ticket was out of his budget I setup an alert and waited for the price to drop, three weeks later it was 50% off and he jumped to snag it... and I made sure to extend my trip ;)