{"id":636,"date":"2019-11-07T13:59:31","date_gmt":"2019-11-07T13:59:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/?p=636"},"modified":"2019-11-07T13:59:31","modified_gmt":"2019-11-07T13:59:31","slug":"mistakes-to-avoid-when-booking-a-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/mistakes-to-avoid-when-booking-a-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"Mistakes to Avoid When Booking a Flight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sometimes there is nothing you can do to <a href=\"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/the-best-black-friday-and-cyber-monday-deals-for-travelers\/\">avoid paying more<\/a> than you\u2019d like for airfare, but there are a few things you can try to keep from paying more than you should. To help you sidestep the most common errors that even sophisticated travelers make, here are the most common flight booking mistakes to avoid before your next trip.<\/p>\n<h2>Don\u2019t Forget About Alternate Airports<\/h2>\n<p>Many major cities have more than one good-sized airport, but by searching only on a specific one, you won\u2019t see potentially better fares to other nearby gateways. A couple of classic U.S. examples are Newark vs. JFK vs. LaGuardia, or Long Beach vs. LAX; overseas a good example is Gatwick vs. Heathrow in London.<\/p>\n<p>To get these airports into the mix, choose the \u201cAll Airports\u201d option shown on many airline and\u00a0flight booking sites\u00a0that includes a city code instead of an airport code. So when traveling to or from New York, sites like\u00a0Expedia\u00a0allow you to use NYC instead of JFK or EWR, and will return fares from all area airports. In Los Angeles, the code for all airports is QLA (instead of the more limited LAX).<\/p>\n<p>In the case of densely populated areas, you can sometimes fly into an entirely different city altogether. For example, San Diego is about a two-hour drive from Los Angeles (depending on traffic, of course); that makes it a somewhat reasonable alternative to Los Angeles, especially if your trip takes you to areas south of L.A. like Newport Beach, San Clemente, and the like. Similarly, Chicago and Milwaukee are about 90 miles apart, and Tampa and Orlando are separated by about 85 miles.<\/p>\n<p>If your booking site does not allow this (for example,\u00a0CheapFlights.com\u00a0seems to accept NYC, but not QLA), or you\u2019re not sure what your other options are, another way to discover nearby airports is to do a search on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kayak.ie\/?ispredir=true\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kayak<\/a>\u00a0and select the \u201cInclude nearby\u201d option, which will show results for other airports within 70 miles of the one you entered. You can also consult\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.johnnyjet.com\/united-states-alternate-airports\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">this cool chart<\/a>\u00a0from Johnny Jet that lists nearby airports in the U.S. by miles from your departure or destination airport.<\/p>\n<h2>Don\u2019t Forget to Try Searching on an Incognito Browser<\/h2>\n<p>It\u2019s long been suspected that airlines and booking engines may show higher fares on routes that you have previously searched. If you are researching an upcoming trip from Chicago to Paris, for example, and have checked airfares on the route frequently in recent days or weeks, the site \u201cknows\u201d you really want these fares, and \u201cguesses\u201d that you might be willing to pay a bit more for them.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/millionmilesecrets.com\/guides\/are-airlines-raising-your-ticket-price-based-on-browser-history\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">A recent study<\/a>\u00a0found that fares do differ on occasion, but you\u2019re actually more likely to see lower fares if you\u2019re logged into a given booking site rather than searching on a browser with no previous history of researching that route.<\/p>\n<p>Because of this uncertainty, it\u2019s worth trying your search both ways\u2014on your normal browser (preferably while logged into your favorite booking site) and on an incognito browser where your searches aren\u2019t tracked.<\/p>\n<h2>Don\u2019t Book on Days When Prices Are Higher<\/h2>\n<p>Unless you are booking travel for work, it is obviously most convenient to shop for and purchase airfares over the weekend, when you have more free time. However, Airfarewatchdog reports that\u00a0many airlines release sales early in the week, making Tuesday and Wednesday a good time to catch low fares. FareCompare narrows it down even further, reporting that the best time to book U.S. domestic flights is\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.farecompare.com\/travel-advice\/tips-from-air-travel-insiders\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tuesday at 3 p.m. Eastern<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This varies somewhat for international flights, as might be expected with airlines based in a variety of countries with different fare updating patterns, so you will want to be a bit more vigilant for international fares.<\/p>\n<h2>Don\u2019t Fly on Friday or Sunday<\/h2>\n<p>Airlines tend to jack up airfares for Friday and Sunday flights for the simple reason that these are the most likely days leisure travelers and vacationers are going to travel. The number of travelers also gets pushed up on Fridays by business travelers racing home, so this can be a particularly pricey day. Mondays can also be pricey thanks to their popularity with business travelers.<\/p>\n<p>The cheapest days to fly tend to be Tuesdays and Wednesdays, with Thursdays and Saturdays costing a little more. That means that if your departure or return flight falls on a Monday, Friday, or Sunday, you\u2019re likely paying more than you need to. It may take some creative use of your vacation time\u2014such as a trip that runs Tuesday to Tuesday rather than Sunday to Sunday\u2014but what you lose in flexibility you more than make up for in savings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sometimes there is nothing you can do to avoid paying more than you\u2019d like for airfare, but there are a few things you can try to keep from paying more than you should. To help you sidestep the most common errors that even sophisticated travelers make, here are the most common flight booking mistakes to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":637,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tips"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Mistakes to Avoid When Booking a Flight - VookBook Blog | Travel everywhere<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"To help you sidestep the most common errors, here are the most common flight booking mistakes to avoid before your next trip.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/mistakes-to-avoid-when-booking-a-flight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mistakes to Avoid When Booking a Flight - VookBook Blog | Travel everywhere\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"To help you sidestep the most common errors, here are the most common flight booking mistakes to avoid before your next trip.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/mistakes-to-avoid-when-booking-a-flight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"VookBook Blog | Travel everywhere\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-11-07T13:59:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/airplane-wing-towards-clouds-731217.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1224\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1633\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vookbook.com\\\/blog\\\/mistakes-to-avoid-when-booking-a-flight\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vookbook.com\\\/blog\\\/mistakes-to-avoid-when-booking-a-flight\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Mistakes to Avoid When Booking a Flight\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-11-07T13:59:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vookbook.com\\\/blog\\\/mistakes-to-avoid-when-booking-a-flight\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":803,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vookbook.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vookbook.com\\\/blog\\\/mistakes-to-avoid-when-booking-a-flight\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vookbook.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/airplane-wing-towards-clouds-731217.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Tips\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vookbook.com\\\/blog\\\/mistakes-to-avoid-when-booking-a-flight\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vookbook.com\\\/blog\\\/mistakes-to-avoid-when-booking-a-flight\\\/\",\"name\":\"Mistakes to Avoid When Booking a Flight - VookBook Blog | Travel everywhere\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vookbook.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vookbook.com\\\/blog\\\/mistakes-to-avoid-when-booking-a-flight\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vookbook.com\\\/blog\\\/mistakes-to-avoid-when-booking-a-flight\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vookbook.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/airplane-wing-towards-clouds-731217.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-11-07T13:59:31+00:00\",\"description\":\"To help you sidestep the most common errors, here are the most common flight booking mistakes to avoid before your next trip.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vookbook.com\\\/blog\\\/mistakes-to-avoid-when-booking-a-flight\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/vookbook.com\\\/blog\\\/mistakes-to-avoid-when-booking-a-flight\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vookbook.com\\\/blog\\\/mistakes-to-avoid-when-booking-a-flight\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vookbook.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/airplane-wing-towards-clouds-731217.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vookbook.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/airplane-wing-towards-clouds-731217.jpg\",\"width\":1224,\"height\":1633,\"caption\":\"flight booking mistakes airplane\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vookbook.com\\\/blog\\\/mistakes-to-avoid-when-booking-a-flight\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vookbook.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mistakes to Avoid When Booking a Flight\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vookbook.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vookbook.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"VookBook Blog | Travel everywhere\",\"description\":\"Travel tips and tricks that could help you make your next destination booking easier\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vookbook.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vookbook.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vookbook.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Vookbook\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vookbook.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vookbook.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vookbook.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/vookbook-logo-2-180.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vookbook.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/vookbook-logo-2-180.png\",\"width\":180,\"height\":180,\"caption\":\"Vookbook\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vookbook.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/vookbook.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mistakes to Avoid When Booking a Flight - VookBook Blog | Travel everywhere","description":"To help you sidestep the most common errors, here are the most common flight booking mistakes to avoid before your next trip.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/mistakes-to-avoid-when-booking-a-flight\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mistakes to Avoid When Booking a Flight - VookBook Blog | Travel everywhere","og_description":"To help you sidestep the most common errors, here are the most common flight booking mistakes to avoid before your next trip.","og_url":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/mistakes-to-avoid-when-booking-a-flight\/","og_site_name":"VookBook Blog | Travel everywhere","article_published_time":"2019-11-07T13:59:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1224,"height":1633,"url":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/airplane-wing-towards-clouds-731217.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/mistakes-to-avoid-when-booking-a-flight\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/mistakes-to-avoid-when-booking-a-flight\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Mistakes to Avoid When Booking a Flight","datePublished":"2019-11-07T13:59:31+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/mistakes-to-avoid-when-booking-a-flight\/"},"wordCount":803,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/mistakes-to-avoid-when-booking-a-flight\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/airplane-wing-towards-clouds-731217.jpg","articleSection":["Tips"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/mistakes-to-avoid-when-booking-a-flight\/","url":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/mistakes-to-avoid-when-booking-a-flight\/","name":"Mistakes to Avoid When Booking a Flight - VookBook Blog | Travel everywhere","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/mistakes-to-avoid-when-booking-a-flight\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/mistakes-to-avoid-when-booking-a-flight\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/airplane-wing-towards-clouds-731217.jpg","datePublished":"2019-11-07T13:59:31+00:00","description":"To help you sidestep the most common errors, here are the most common flight booking mistakes to avoid before your next trip.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/mistakes-to-avoid-when-booking-a-flight\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/mistakes-to-avoid-when-booking-a-flight\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/mistakes-to-avoid-when-booking-a-flight\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/airplane-wing-towards-clouds-731217.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/airplane-wing-towards-clouds-731217.jpg","width":1224,"height":1633,"caption":"flight booking mistakes airplane"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/mistakes-to-avoid-when-booking-a-flight\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mistakes to Avoid When Booking a Flight"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/","name":"VookBook Blog | Travel everywhere","description":"Travel tips and tricks that could help you make your next destination booking easier","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Vookbook","url":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/vookbook-logo-2-180.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/vookbook-logo-2-180.png","width":180,"height":180,"caption":"Vookbook"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/author\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vookbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}