Delta Booking Tip: Book on Mondays

Always books itineraries originating in the USA on Mondays. You have 24 hours to cancel it without penalty and a full refund regardless of the fare you booked.

The reason: Sale fares are released on Tuesdays. Here is an example scenario:

Today is Monday and you need a flight that is 3 or more weeks away from Atlanta to Los Angeles. Today's price is $400 round trip in economy. Not too bad! You book the ticket today.

Tomorrow you check the prices for your same flights again. Delta has loaded their weekly sale fares and you notice the the exact same flights in economy now price out at $320. You feel a little duped. But wait!

You are still within your 24 hour grace period. You can go online, cancel your original fights, and rebook at the new $320 price. A quick flight search and about 15 minutes of your time has just saved you $80!

I do this all the time for myself as well as work flights. You don't always end up finding lower fares but it does happen. There is 0 risk since you can cancel within 24 hours. If the price goes up then you got in at a good time. It's a win-win for air travel.

Booking Flights in Advance: Schedule Changes

A couple months ago I used the rest of my American Airlines miles to book my ticket to Guatemala. I looked at my miles account and noticed there was a schedule change on my flight from Miami to Guatemala. It created a long (4+ hour) layover in Miami that didn't sound pleasant.

I did a search online and found a seat on a later flight leaving Atlanta opened up! This was great since I was on the 7AM flight. I am now on the 8:30AM flight so I can sleep an extra hour and still have a long enough layover to have lunch in Miami. Since there was a schedule change I was able to do this for free.

Knowing the rules of the tickets you book can help you later on. Schedule changes in most cases can get you a free change. Sometimes I will book a flight with multiple connections in hopes one will change. When it does I can call and change to a more direct flight for free. Buy the cheapest that will work and hope you can change later is the strategy.

How to use a United Airlines paper voucher

A friend of mine had some United Airlines paper vouchers, valued at $100 each, that he gave to me in exchange for a flight in the future using my miles. I needed this vouchers to purchase my upcoming flight to Boston for my Boston - San Diego - Boston mileage run.

I did some digging around online and also called United trying to figure out how to use the vouchers. Once I found out the steps it was a relatively simple process. I will explain the process in plain words for all to understand!

First you must call United reservations line. You cannot book tickets from paper vouchers online. I found it was best to find the flights you want online then call. You will be connected to India call center.

Rules:

• Only good for United flights on United planes. No partner airlines' flights. 
• You forfeit any leftover value (In my case the flights were $264 but I sent in $300 in vouchers)
• You must go to the airport within 24 hours or mail the vouchers by the 2 week deadline.
• You can book for flights past the expiration date of the voucher. You only need to book before it expires.

 The agent will hold the reservation for you and you can view it, change seats, etc. online. I played it safe and used priority mail with delivery confirmation. It got there in 2 days and my flight was confirmed paid via email. My only cost was postage!

I must say this is a far cry from Delta where I simply enter in the numbers of my paper vouchers and can book my flight right then and there. It is a lot more efficient this way and I am sure cuts way down on overhead. I am unsure why United makes it so difficult (except that maybe they don't want them redeemed!).

Make sure to use your vouchers! It does not matter whose name is on them as they can be used to book a flight for anyone going anywhere. You can also mix vouchers and cash to pay. When you send in the voucher you have to include a copy of the ID of the person traveling as well as a copy of the ID of the voucher owner. In my case I had to send my ID as well as my friend's ID.

It is a but if paperwork, red tape, and hassle but well worth 30 minutes of my time for a free flight!

Find the cheapest airfare with "The Matrix"

I am not referring to the movie. The Matrix is a website by ITA Software that searches virtually every airline without any ads or other junk and is very fast. You cannot book directly from their site but I normally book directly with the airline so I can save booking fees. It will prompt you for an account but if you click log in as a guest you get all of the same tools a user has.

You can do a normal search, weekend search, or even the entire month to find the cheapest day to travel. This is very handy if you are flexible with your dates. I use this to pick my vacation days based on the airfare cost and book accordingly. Sometimes it is cheaper to fly different airlines for each leg!

I have been using this tool for some time now since I travel for work too. It has definitely saved me hundreds of dollars over the years. Give it a try the next time you need to fly somewhere!