Finding the best summer flight deals: How to score cheap airfare, even at the last minute

We are entering the prime time to score the best deals for peak summer travel dates, so it’s time to book your trips.

While some international routes are already getting more expensive, you can still find plenty of deals … even to Europe. Now is the perfect time to book domestic flights, too.

TPG recommends booking one to two months ahead of time for domestic flights and two to five months ahead for international flights.

Related: The best time to book flights for the cheapest airfare

There’s more good news this year as well, as average airfare prices are down year over year, thanks, in part, to softening demand. TPG has launched a data collaboration with Points Path, a free web browser extension that shows points and miles award prices in Google Flights, along with cash fares. After combing through data for the past few years, Points Path found cash prices were down slightly year over year for both domestic and international flights.

All that to say: It’s not too late to score a great deal.

Here are our top tips for finding a cheap flight and hotel, even if you are booking at the last minute.

Google Flights and Google Flights Explore are the two biggest weapons in my deal-hunting arsenal. I’ve written guides to using both services, but in their simplest forms, both tools help you find cheap flights.

Google Flights is my go-to search engine. It’s where I usually start any search. Some of the best features include setting price alerts and tracking price histories.

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Google Flights will tell you if you are getting a good deal and help you understand price trends. My favorite feature is that you can set alerts. Google emails me if the flights or hotels I’m watching get cheaper (or even more expensive).

Google Flights Explore helps me plan trips and find cheap destinations I may not have even been considering.

It has an interactive map that will show you the cheapest destinations, both those far from home and in your backyard.

These are my top two tools for finding deals and tracking flights.

Remember that flexibility is key when it comes to deals

When it comes to finding cheap airfare, being flexible is essential. Changing your arrival or departure date by a single day can save you hundreds of dollars or tens of thousands of points or miles on airfare. This is true for both cash and award rates, so be sure to cast a wide net for the best values.

As you can see in the Google Flights image below, changing dates by just one day can save you a lot of money.

Set up deal alerts, and use deal websites

I’ve also scored a ton of deals by signing up for deal alerts from companies like Going and Thrifty Traveler.

Both companies have basic or premium subscriptions that will flag when good deals come along.

Here’s an example from Going, which sent me a deal alert for round-trip flights to Paris for less than $400.

I was able to find a business-class flight to Paris on Air France thanks to a Thrifty Traveler alert sent last year.

There are plenty more deal alert companies out there. I also recommend following a few on social media. I like the account Find Flights For Me, which sends out regular posts on deals (they go fast). Here’s one it recently found for a points deal to Frankfurt.

TPG also publishes regular deal alerts. You can sign up for alerts on X and subscribe to our daily newsletter for the latest deal news.

And remember, no matter how much you think you know about redeeming points or miles for flights, there are always new tips and tricks for turning those earnings into dream trips. Turn to TPG for guidance on sweet spots for redemptions and sites like ExpertFlyer (owned by TPG’s parent company, Red Ventures) for additional redemption ideas and a look at business-class upgrade inventory.

Related: My beginners blueprint to find the flight awards you want

Sign up for airline emails

Most airlines and hotel programs send out regular emails with information, and they often alert subscribers to deals or special promotions. It’s a great way to keep in touch with your favorite airline or hotel, and you’ll sometimes get advance notice of deals.

I find Alaska Airlines, JetBlue and Southwest Airlines offer regular sales, and they tend to let their subscribers know about them first.

American Airlines is great about informing me of promotions like shortcuts to elite status or opportunities to earn bonus miles. Recently, TPG found out about a flash sale at American via an email sent to subscribers.

Put award search tools to good use

There is a great new crop of award tools out there right now. Among the ones TPG uses the most are Points Path, Seats.aero, Point.me, PointsYeah, Pointhound and Roame.travel. You can read more about each tool in this story.

I’ve had good luck with several of them.

Points Path is one of my personal favorites. The free browser extension displays award pricing alongside cash prices for select airlines in Google Flights. As you can see in the screenshot below, Points Path tells me that I could book from New York to Paris for as few as 57,000 American Airlines AAdvantage miles. In this case, though, paying cash is probably a better deal.

TPG’s Andrea Rotondo just wrote a great guide to finding award flights, but these other tools can really help, too.

Related: How to decide when to use cash or miles for buying airline tickets

Consider vacation packages

One of my favorite hacks is to remind people of airline vacation packages. Sometimes, when you book a hotel stay, a flight and even a rental car or an excursion all together, you can save as much as 40% versus booking each separately.

American Airlines Vacations is the one I’ve used most often. Just one example: I booked American Airlines in business class for two people to Germany with a five-night stay at the glorious Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin. The whole trip cost me just over $2,800. That’s less than the cost of the hotel booked on its own. The airlines will sometimes even throw in bonus miles or extra savings.

All the major airlines sell these types of packages.

The one cautionary note is that these packages are booked via third-party companies, so if something goes wrong, you’ll need to contact that third party rather than talking to the hotel or airline directly. That’s worth the risk, however, when I’m saving 40%.