We say it time and time again: you'll save money if you use a flexible date search. Choose to fly on the days and during the months when the airlines aren't as busy, and they'll give you a bargain. Yes, it's hard to believe that before airline deregulation, there were just 4 classes of fares--Y coach, F first class, YN night coach, and FN first class night--and it didn't matter when you flew. But now, it does matter when you fly, because the airlines are free to practice what they call yield management (charge higher fares for high demand travel dates, low fares for low demand ones). Usually, traveling on a Tuesday or Wednesday will yield the lowest fares (that doesn't mean that buying fares on a Tuesday or Wednesday will save you money.)
So here are some examples. All of these fares were found within a few minutes of each other on the same day and on the same airlines, using Travelocity's flexible date search and Travelocity's exact date search. Exact dates were chosen at random.
To learn more about flexible date search, please see our handy chart.
Example 1: Providence to Las Vegas in August
$236.50 including taxes using flexible date search)
or $369 RT including taxes not using flexible date search
Example 2: Santa Ana/Orange County to Orlando in August
$253.50 RT including taxes using flexible date search
or $356 RT including taxes not using flexible date search
Example 3: Atlanta to Denver in August/September
$286 RT including taxes using flexible date search
or Atlanta to Denver $451 RT including taxes not using flexible date search