Want to Save on Travel? Look for This Type of Flight

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As every traveler knows, flying can be expensive. Keep reading for one way to keep the cost to a minimum. 

Whether you’re a road warrior or only take the occasional trip, you probably want to save money on travel. If so, it’s good to understand how positioning flights work. A positioning flight is a flight you purchase for one purpose: to get to another airport where your “real trip” will start.

Here, we’ll discuss how a positioning flight works, its benefits, and its risks.

How a positioning flight can benefit you

Imagine you’re planning a trip to Frankfurt, Germany. As you check out airfares, you notice that flying from your local airport to Frankfurt will cost you nearly $600 more than flying from Chicago to Frankfurt. What you need is a convenient, inexpensive way to get to Chicago. And that’s where positioning flights come in. Instead of booking a flight to Frankfurt that begins at your local airport, you book the flight from Chicago to Frankfurt. Then, you look for the absolute lowest price you can find from your airport to Chicago.

Let’s say you find a roundtrip deal between your city and Chicago for $200. It’s not on the same airline as you plan to fly from Chicago to Frankfurt, but that’s okay. The goal is to find the lowest rate possible. While you’re spending $200 per passenger for the roundtrip deal to Chicago, you’re saving $600 by booking the direct flight from Chicago to Frankfurt, leaving you with a net savings of $400 per passenger.

Risks of positioning flights

Opting for a positioning flight on a different airline than you plan to take to Frankfurt is not without risks, including:

Missing your connecting flight. Say a storm blows in, and your short flight cannot take off as expected. Regardless of the reason, if you can’t get to Chicago in time to make your flight, neither airline is responsible for issuing you a refund.You’ll have to pick up your luggage twice. Because you’re flying two different carriers, your checked luggage must be picked up and rechecked when switching to your connecting flight. If there’s a luggage fee, you may end up pulling your travel credit card out to pay the fee twice.

How to find the lowest rate on a positioning flight

In its “How to Find Cheap Flights in 2023: The Ultimate Guide,” the deal-finding site Going offers excellent advice to anyone looking for an inexpensive flight.

Look in the right places. Most folks can find what they’re looking for by checking out Google Flights, Priceline, Momondo, or Southwest. You’ll notice that you need to check with Southwest directly, as information regarding Southwest flights is not available through flight search engines.Be flexible. Going points to a feature of Google Flights that is particularly handy: the ability to move your departure date to see if you can find a lower price.Don’t forget to check Southwest. Even if you see some fairly sweet fares on other sites, Going suggests checking Southwest.com for cheap domestic flights. The Southwest Low Fare Calendar quickly shows you which days are cheapest for the route you want to take.

The order in which you book flights is up to you, but continuing with the Chicago to Frankfurt illustration, here’s one way to do it.

Once you’ve found a great fare to Frankfurt, either book it right away or put a pin in it long enough to find a positioning flight. If you do book it, make sure you understand the airline’s cancellation policy, just in case you can’t find a cheap positioning flight.Search for the cheapest flight between your airport and Chicago.Once you’ve found a cheap rate you’re happy with, book it.If you’re concerned about missing your flight out of Chicago, consider arriving much earlier in the day or even the day before. That way, you get a chance to spend a little time in the city, and you can relax about missing your flight.

Most people would love to travel but don’t want to empty their savings accounts to do it. Positioning flights is a good way to see the world without hitting your personal finances too hard.

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The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Dana George has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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