April 30, 2018 • 5 mins
Travel app Hopper analyzes billions of airline searches daily to help you find the right flights at the best prices. Here are 5 of the biggest booking mistakes they see and how you can avoid them.Watch the TV segment here:http://ktla.com/2018/04/30/dont-make-these-5-big-airfare-booking-mistakes/Listen to Rich filling in for Leo Laporte on The Tech Guy Radio Show!http://techguylabs.com/episodes/1483Follow Rich on Social Media:Facebook: http://facebook.com/RichOnTechTwitter: http://twitter.com/richdemuroInstagram: http://instagram.com/richontechNEW! You can add the Rich on Tech Daily Update to your Alexa Flash Briefing! Just search for the "Rich on Tech" skill in your Alexa app and add it to your briefing! You'll get a daily dose of tech news each day and a longer show on the weekends!
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Get full access to Rich on Tech at richontech.tv/subscribe
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Get full access to Rich on Tech at richontech.tv/subscribe
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
How to avoid the most common airfare booking mistakes.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I'm Rich Demiro. This is Rich on Tech Daily.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Happy Monday to you. Just got back.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
From San Francisco, more specifically Petaluma. If you didn't hear
over the weekend, I was filling in for Leo Laporte
on his Tech Guy radio show, which is on a
bunch of radio stations nationwide. Got to go up to
the Twit studios to do that and it was a blast.
So if you didn't hear that over the weekend, I'll
post the audio.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
From the show in today's show notes.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
All Right, now, let's talk about travel.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
This is one of my favorite topics booking airfare because
I'm always searching for a fair whether it's to go
home back to New Jersey where I'm from, somewhere on
vacation or just dreaming most of the time, or somewhere
for business.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
And Hopper is one of the tools that I love
to use.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
This is an app that kind of analyzes billions of
daily flight searches fifteen billion, they say a day, and
they analyze all this stuff to help give you the
best information when it comes to booking airfare.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
And what they really do is give you perspective.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
On an airfare. So let's say you're traveling to Hawaii.
You find an airfare of five hundred dollars, they're going
to tell you if that's a good deal based on
the dates and times you're going, because sometimes airfares are
just more expensive, and they have that historical data to
let you know.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
So they say they looked at all this stuff.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
And found the most common booking mistakes, and you could
be losing out as much as five hundred and seventy
one dollars on domestic trips wow, and a whopping nineteen
hundred and sixty one dollars on international trips.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
So here are their costliest mistakes.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Number one, you're an impulse bier. Average cost forty six
dollars on domestic one thirty nine on international. Hopper found
that two out of three ticket prices will drop at
some point within twenty four hours of the original search
or booking, so they say it pays to wait, which
is interesting because most of the time, when you find
a fair, you think that it's going to go up
(01:56):
immediately because you just found it and it's in your browser.
But apparently that's not the case, and Hopper also says
keep in mind, most major carriers in the US allow
you to cancel your booking within twenty four hours of
purchase for free. Now, yes, that is true, but I
will tell you my experience with United Airlines because I
did take advantage of that one time.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
And here's what happened.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
They canceled the flight, but they did not automatically refund
me the fair so it kind of stayed in the
system as a credit and I was like, no, no, no,
I want my money back, and so I had to
call and get that back.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
So just keep that in mind.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Your experience could vary depending on the airline that you're using.
But I'm just telling you that so you know, all right.
Number two costliest mistake. You're not checking alternate airports. Average
costs thirty two bucks domestic, ninety nine dollars international. So
they say, if there's an alternate airport, you can save
an average of ten percent.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
And let's just look at the LA Area.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
You've got Lax, you've got Burbank, you've got Ontario, you've
got Long Beach, lots of different airports that you can
fly into, and depending on where you live, one of
these might even be more convenient. But again, if you're
open to these things, you could save some cash. Number three,
you're not being.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Flexible with dates.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
They say sixty five dollars on domestic, one ninety eight
on international, and that is true. In general, Flying on
Friday is going to cost you twenty percent more than
flying on the cheapest day. In general, Saturday night days
are going to cost you four percent more. And let's
face it, if you're going on a weekend trip, everyone
wants to go on Friday.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Return on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Tuesday usually the cheapest day to fly, not necessarily the
cheapest day of book though, so keep that in mind.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
You have to be flexible with your dates. And I've
run into this all the time.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Your kids have certain dates off for spring break, or
a couple days off during the week because of a
school program or the teachers are out, and those are
the best days to fly for you personally. But if
you extend it a day on either side, you might
save a lot more money.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
All right. Number four, you're booking too late.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Average cost one hundred and thirty nine dollars on domestic,
five twenty nine on international. Hopper says, gone are the
days when you could land a last minute deal because
the airline discus they had spare seats.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Now this is all done by.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Computers, so clearly algorithms are at play here. They're making
sure that every plane is sold out or even over sold.
This really comes into play whether you're looking at business
or leisure routes. So for instance, business routes, the best
time to buy is three months before departure. When it
comes to consumer routes, it's actually better to buy about
a month in advance of departure. And finally, number five,
(04:25):
you're booking too early. So again you don't want a
book too late, but you don't want to book too early.
So airlines put their flights on sale eleven months before departure.
But according to Hopper's research, you don't really find any
deals until about one hundred and fifty days prior to
take off. That's about five months before departure. So if
(04:45):
you book more than six months ahead, that can actually
cost you. Because the airlines are setting their prices conservatively,
all those people that are booking early, they're sort of
paying the most. And I will just tell you from
what I've noticed in tracking prices, they go up and
down almost every day and for instance, a flight I
was tracking from Lax to Newark to go home, it
was five p sixty, then three eighty the next day,
(05:08):
then four forty two, then five forty seven.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
So it goes up and down.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
And that's the beauty of having an app like Hopper
or using something like Google Flights to track your prices
is that you can see, look, okay, this is a
comfortable price for me. I'm just gonna go ahead and
book it. So again, Hopper is a great app. Definitely
check it out. Download it. Just go to my website
richontech dot tv for the link.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
If you like this podcast, please rate and review it.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
I love the ratings, but the written reviews really help
in getting more people on Apple podcasts to discover rich
on tech.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Thanks so much for listening. I'm Rich Demiro. I'll talk
to you real soon.
How to avoid the most common airfare booking mistakes.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I'm Rich Demiro. This is Rich on Tech Daily.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Happy Monday to you. Just got back.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
From San Francisco, more specifically Petaluma. If you didn't hear
over the weekend, I was filling in for Leo Laporte
on his Tech Guy radio show, which is on a
bunch of radio stations nationwide. Got to go up to
the Twit studios to do that and it was a blast.
So if you didn't hear that over the weekend, I'll
post the audio.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
From the show in today's show notes.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
All Right, now, let's talk about travel.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
This is one of my favorite topics booking airfare because
I'm always searching for a fair whether it's to go
home back to New Jersey where I'm from, somewhere on
vacation or just dreaming most of the time, or somewhere
for business.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
And Hopper is one of the tools that I love
to use.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
This is an app that kind of analyzes billions of
daily flight searches fifteen billion, they say a day, and
they analyze all this stuff to help give you the
best information when it comes to booking airfare.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
And what they really do is give you perspective.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
On an airfare. So let's say you're traveling to Hawaii.
You find an airfare of five hundred dollars, they're going
to tell you if that's a good deal based on
the dates and times you're going, because sometimes airfares are
just more expensive, and they have that historical data to
let you know.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
So they say they looked at all this stuff.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
And found the most common booking mistakes, and you could
be losing out as much as five hundred and seventy
one dollars on domestic trips wow, and a whopping nineteen
hundred and sixty one dollars on international trips.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
So here are their costliest mistakes.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Number one, you're an impulse bier. Average cost forty six
dollars on domestic one thirty nine on international. Hopper found
that two out of three ticket prices will drop at
some point within twenty four hours of the original search
or booking, so they say it pays to wait, which
is interesting because most of the time, when you find
a fair, you think that it's going to go up
(01:56):
immediately because you just found it and it's in your browser.
But apparently that's not the case, and Hopper also says
keep in mind, most major carriers in the US allow
you to cancel your booking within twenty four hours of
purchase for free. Now, yes, that is true, but I
will tell you my experience with United Airlines because I
did take advantage of that one time.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
And here's what happened.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
They canceled the flight, but they did not automatically refund
me the fair so it kind of stayed in the
system as a credit and I was like, no, no, no,
I want my money back, and so I had to
call and get that back.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
So just keep that in mind.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Your experience could vary depending on the airline that you're using.
But I'm just telling you that so you know, all right.
Number two costliest mistake. You're not checking alternate airports. Average
costs thirty two bucks domestic, ninety nine dollars international. So
they say, if there's an alternate airport, you can save
an average of ten percent.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
And let's just look at the LA Area.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
You've got Lax, you've got Burbank, you've got Ontario, you've
got Long Beach, lots of different airports that you can
fly into, and depending on where you live, one of
these might even be more convenient. But again, if you're
open to these things, you could save some cash. Number three,
you're not being.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Flexible with dates.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
They say sixty five dollars on domestic, one ninety eight
on international, and that is true. In general, Flying on
Friday is going to cost you twenty percent more than
flying on the cheapest day. In general, Saturday night days
are going to cost you four percent more. And let's
face it, if you're going on a weekend trip, everyone
wants to go on Friday.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Return on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Tuesday usually the cheapest day to fly, not necessarily the
cheapest day of book though, so keep that in mind.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
You have to be flexible with your dates. And I've
run into this all the time.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Your kids have certain dates off for spring break, or
a couple days off during the week because of a
school program or the teachers are out, and those are
the best days to fly for you personally. But if
you extend it a day on either side, you might
save a lot more money.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
All right. Number four, you're booking too late.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Average cost one hundred and thirty nine dollars on domestic,
five twenty nine on international. Hopper says, gone are the
days when you could land a last minute deal because
the airline discus they had spare seats.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Now this is all done by.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Computers, so clearly algorithms are at play here. They're making
sure that every plane is sold out or even over sold.
This really comes into play whether you're looking at business
or leisure routes. So for instance, business routes, the best
time to buy is three months before departure. When it
comes to consumer routes, it's actually better to buy about
a month in advance of departure. And finally, number five,
(04:25):
you're booking too early. So again you don't want a
book too late, but you don't want to book too early.
So airlines put their flights on sale eleven months before departure.
But according to Hopper's research, you don't really find any
deals until about one hundred and fifty days prior to
take off. That's about five months before departure. So if
(04:45):
you book more than six months ahead, that can actually
cost you. Because the airlines are setting their prices conservatively,
all those people that are booking early, they're sort of
paying the most. And I will just tell you from
what I've noticed in tracking prices, they go up and
down almost every day and for instance, a flight I
was tracking from Lax to Newark to go home, it
was five p sixty, then three eighty the next day,
(05:08):
then four forty two, then five forty seven.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
So it goes up and down.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
And that's the beauty of having an app like Hopper
or using something like Google Flights to track your prices
is that you can see, look, okay, this is a
comfortable price for me. I'm just gonna go ahead and
book it. So again, Hopper is a great app. Definitely
check it out. Download it. Just go to my website
richontech dot tv for the link.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
If you like this podcast, please rate and review it.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
I love the ratings, but the written reviews really help
in getting more people on Apple podcasts to discover rich
on tech.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Thanks so much for listening. I'm Rich Demiro. I'll talk
to you real soon.
Host
Rich DeMuro
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
True Crime Tonight
If you eat, sleep, and breathe true crime, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT is serving up your nightly fix. Five nights a week, KT STUDIOS & iHEART RADIO invite listeners to pull up a seat for an unfiltered look at the biggest cases making headlines, celebrity scandals, and the trials everyone is watching. With a mix of expert analysis, hot takes, and listener call-ins, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT goes beyond the headlines to uncover the twists, turns, and unanswered questions that keep us all obsessed—because, at TRUE CRIME TONIGHT, there’s a seat for everyone. Whether breaking down crime scene forensics, scrutinizing serial killers, or debating the most binge-worthy true crime docs, True Crime Tonight is the fresh, fast-paced, and slightly addictive home for true crime lovers.