How to Find Cheap Airfare for Mother’s Day

At first glance, the idea of traveling for Mother’s Day might seem a bit odd. That’s supposed to be the day, after all, when the kids bring Mom breakfast in bed – right? Well, just in case Mom’s interested in something other than scrambled eggs and toast at the crack of dawn this year, we present some ideas for Mother’s Day travel.

There are basically two reasons why you’d travel for Mother’s Day. One is that you’re going home to visit your mother, maybe to surprise her for Mother’s Day because you haven’t seen her in awhile, or maybe because it’s an annual thing that everyone gathers at Mom’s house for the holiday (so she can relive what it’s like to cook and clean for a crowd). The other reason you’d travel for Mother’s Day is that you’re a Mom and you’re treating yourself (or you’re lucky enough to have someone treat you!) to a quick getaway to relieve you from your motherly duties for a weekend.

No matter what the reason is behind your travels for Mother’s Day, it makes sense to look for a good deal on flights. Airfare is typically the biggest expenditure in a travel budget, and the more money saved on your flight means you’ve got more leftover to splurge on things like gifts for Mom.

Here are some tips to help you find a good deal on airfare over Mother’s Day weekend.

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Be Flexible

You’ll see this tip repeatedly when you read about getting deals on airfare, but that doesn’t make it any less valuable. Because there are fluctuations in the price of every airline ticket throughout a week and even throughout each day, if you limit yourself to only looking at the schedules on one day or (worse yet) a few hours on one day that means you might miss out on a much cheaper fare. Use sites that have a “my dates are flexible” option and you stand a better chance of getting results that include a wider range of prices on tickets, usually spanning 3-4 days around your target date.

Learn When Flights are Cheaper

As mentioned above, there are fluctuations in the cost of air tickets during each week and each day. They’re not set in stone (that would be too easy), but there are trends that you can use to help target what days and times you use as your starting points for travel dates. Generally speaking, the cheaper days to fly are Wednesday, Tuesday, or Saturday; the cheaper times to fly are the first flights of each morning and late-night departures (like red eye flights).

Check Out Budget Carriers

For anyone who’s not used to searching on several different sites to find the best fares, it’s easy to overlook some airlines that routinely offer great deals because those budget airlines are often regional. Perhaps there isn’t a budget carrier that flies directly from your departure airport to the airport you want to fly into, but if you need to change planes at some point along the way anyway it never hurts to find out whether there’s a budget carrier that can cover part of that distance. Keep in mind that some budget airlines don’t allow their fares to be shown on major search sites – you have to go to the airline’s websites to find them.

Look at All Area Airports

Not all cities have more than one airport to choose from, but if you’re going to a destination that has two or more airports within a reasonable driving distance that means you’ve got more of a chance of finding a good deal on airfare. Sometimes the biggest airport in the area has the best deals simply because there are so many flights coming in and out all day, and sometimes they charge high enough lease rates to airlines that it’s the smaller airports that offer better deals. You don’t know without checking, so look at all area airports to find the best prices on airfare.

photo by Loozrboy