If you’ve traveled any time recently, you know that finding cheap airline tickets can be a major headache.  Bottom line is: to get cheap tickets, you need to do your research.  Here are five ways I’ve always found helpful to keeping costs down for my plane tickets.

1.  Compare Prices

A few years ago I did a post on How to Save on Flights: Kayak Explore & Google Flights.  These are still awesome booking sites to compare prices of other airlines.  Use a couple of different sites to compare if you want it to be the most comprehensive.  Make sure all of the airlines are being included in the search on these booking sites.

2.  Sign Up For Alerts

Airlines often sent out discounts to customers who are signed up for their alerts.  Don’t sort these emails to spam and maybe you can treat yourself to a spur of the moment vacation.  We also see awesome deals when new airlines start flying out from surrounding cities.  Most recently we’ve seen deals on Frontier Airlines with national flights as low as $19 and Wow Air with international flights for less than $200.

3.  Know When to Buy

CheapAir.com conducted a survey a couple of years ago to show the best time to book the cheapest tickets.  Admittedly, this window is always changing and it’s more of just a good guess.  The solid number their study came up with was 47 days in advance is the best time to book your airline tickets.  More broadly: one to four months out is the booking window you should be aiming for.

4.  Have Flexible Travel Dates

The least desirable days to fly are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.  Usually people fly on Fridays and Sundays to make the most of their vacation days or to revolve around their work week.  If you have a flexible schedule at all, try to fly out on Tuesday, Wednesday or Saturday – even if it’s only once instead of both ways.  This will definitely save you some of that hard-earned money.

5.  Check for Different Airports

Sometimes the more obscure airports in the area can save you money in the long run.  Make sure you add the extra cost of the cab ride or shuttle when you are adding up the savings for the smaller airport.  The perk of the big airport is that it’s almost always more convenient.