If you fell victim to booking expensive flights for your spring break trip earlier this, I'm here to tell you to check those flights again.
Typically by this time, you have to resign yourself to paying for high airfare – or settle for a road trip – if you haven't already made your spring break plans. Not this year: Flight prices over the next few months keep dropping, meaning it's not too late to book a spring break trip – or rebook your existing flights and save even more.
Over the last few weeks, we've noticed a trend of airfare dropping for last-minute trips, and so have our Thrifty Traveler Premium members: countless cheap domestic flight deals for March, April, and even May as well as a slew of deeply discounted fares to Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, and Europe, too.
Last year, the airlines bragged about their robust 2024 winter and spring schedules. American, Delta, and United jockeyed for position to be the carrier flying the most seats to the most sunny destinations this spring. Now, with winter shrinking and spring coming fast, they have to sell all those seats…often at a big discount!
It's great news for travelers still hoping for a spring break getaway. But even if you've already booked your trip for the weeks and months ahead, you could still take advantage of this consumer-friendly trend in flight prices.
Here's how to make the most of it.
Read next: Spring Break Flights Too Expensive? How You Can Still Save on a Trip This Year
Go Check Your Booked Flights ASAP
If you booked a standard economy airfare airfare or higher, these plummeting flight prices could put you even further ahead.
Unfortunately, the cheapest (and stingiest) basic economy fares can't be changed – or you'll forfeit some big fees when doing so – which means you can't take advantage if and when prices drop. But because major airlines did away with change fees on almost all flights so long as you book at least a main cabin economy fare, that's your ticket to rebook at the new, lower rate if prices drop.
Follow the steps, and you'll get a travel credit or airline voucher for the difference to put towards another fun trip! We have a full walkthrough on how to rebook flights after prices drop that you should consult. You might be shocked at what you find.
It's one of the best travel hacks you can employ right now and an easy way to save even more on travel. Here's what I do:
- As soon as I book a flight with cash, I set a Google Flights price alert for the exact flight I booked. If I've got some flexibility, I also set a few extra alerts for other flights on the same day, from nearby airports, and for days surrounding that one.
- Every month, I go back through all of my flights and check the prices to see if the price has dropped. This manual process is more important for flights booked with points and miles, but I do it for cash flights, too.
- If prices have dropped on any of my flights, I rebook them right away. If you're flying an airline like Delta or Southwest, an e-credit (or the difference in miles) is typically automatically deposited in your account. On other airlines, you can simply cancel and rebook your fare, which is slightly less convenient but still easy. For other award bookings with miles, you might have to stomach a change fee to make the switch, so it might not always be worth it.
This year alone, I've saved tens of thousands of miles and pocketed hundreds of dollars in additional airline credits because I checked and rebooked my airfare. If you have something booked over the next few months, be sure to do the same. You might be surprised at what you find.
Where are Flights Still Cheap?
Airfare is not a monolith, meaning your searches for flights to Denver and fares to Italy might be a drastically different story. Maybe that Denver rate is way down, but flights to Italy are still sky-high. Pricing trends like this are an overall average, but it never hurts to check.
What I can prove is that we've been finding plenty of examples of cheap flights for our Thrifty Traveler Premium members for travel this spring. Some of these deals have been the impetus for my coworkers to re-check their own flights to see if they can save on their upcoming trips!
These Thrifty Traveler Premium deals can serve as a sort of price alert for you too, giving you the heads up when prices on something you've already booked have taken a nosedive. Let's say, for example, that you have an upcoming trip to Las Vegas on the books. You might be in luck…
This nonstop flight deal to Las Vegas (LAS) included great bargains for travel this spring, which is exactly when you probably want to escape to the desert. And if you live in any of these cities, run – don't walk – to rebook your fares and get a better deal.
Get cheap flight alerts to your inbox with Thrifty Traveler Premium!
If Sin City doesn't sound like a good time to you, the beaches and Mayan ruins of Mexico might. And flight prices to the Tulum on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula are low right now.
This is only about half of the cities that made the cut for this sweet deal flying directly to the brand-new Tulum airport (TQO) this spring.
A little closer to home, you can fly to the U.S. Virgin Islands in the Caribbean (and leave that passport behind) with another incredible sale we unearthed recently.
We heard from Premium members all over the country who nabbed these low fares and if you paid more than that for a flight from your home city recently, here's your sign to look and book again.
Those are just a few examples, but it's been an embarrassment of riches when it comes to cheap flights lately. Here are all the deals we've sent just in the last eight days!
- San Francisco (SFO) under $249
- Guatemala (GUA) under $399
- Lake Tahoe by way of Reno, Nevada (RNO) under $249
- Belize (BZE) under $399
- Premium economy to Munich (MUC), Paris (CDG), Florence (FLR), and more under $999
- Nassau (NAS) in the Bahamas under $399
- Geneva, Switzerland (GVA) under $598
- Chicago (MDW, ORD) under $199
- … and many more!
If any of those places look good to you, the world is your oyster. And if you already have something booked there, go check again!
Better Deals with Your Points & Miles, Too
The savings don't stop with cash flights.
In fact, it's even easier to take advantage of this pricing trend if you have points and miles stashed away, too. Prime example: This Delta SkyMiles flash sale to Cancún (CUN) we sent to our Thrifty Traveler Premium members just a few days ago.
Only Thrifty Traveler Premium members get award alerts to use their points and miles!
Booked these fares for far more miles months ago? Cancel and rebook at the lower rate: You'll get the difference in miles back in your account, so long as you originally booked a main cabin award ticket.
Delta SkyMiles deals have been abundant lately, whether you want to stay close to home for spring break or head across the Pacific on a bucket list trip.
Let's say you booked expensive roundtrip fares to Miami (MIA) for spring break. At rates as low as this, you may even be better off canceling those original flights for an airline credit to put towards a future trip, and burning some SkyMiles (or Amex points!) instead.
Bottom Line
Don't have your trip booked yet? Here's your sign to lock it in … maybe at surprisingly low prices.
Already got your flights locked in? Here's your sign to go double-check the prices, because it's more likely than ever that the price has decreased since you booked.
We've been seeing flight prices dropping left and right. Rebooking your previously purchased flights is one of the best and easiest ways to save on travel right now.
