International LDR all about plane tickets etc

[kittyo9]

Both times I've booked tickets to see my SO, I managed to get them for ~$660, while average "low" prices in July/August are usually $750-800+. Flying on weekdays (T/W/Th) is almost invariably cheaper than flying on a weekend. I always leave the time of day open and pick a couple days to travel to/from my destination. I am fortunate that there are 4 big airports in the NYC area that are easy for me to get to, because I can just type "NYC" in Kayak as my origin airport and it searches all 4 automatically. I tend to hunt for several weeks before finally purchasing so that I can get an idea of what the price trends are and what a "great price" looks like. Most "great" prices, unless they're exceptionally low (like, half of what the average price is), seem to return within a few days if they disappear after you find them.

[kittyxuchiha11]

I've only actually bought one ticket to go see my SO once but i'm constantly looking just out of interest more than anything else. i'm not quite sure how but my ticket to go see her in June cost me £573 (I have a good memory when it comes to important purchases apparently) that is a pretty amazing deal to say it was a flight in june and stuff. i'm kinda confused to how i got it so cheap though because i bought it basically 5 months before and prices aren't supposed to go down (or at least be at their lowest) until 60 days before.
From looking just now though for flights around november/december and for next year it looks like nothing is below £700. i still don't quite understand how they whole booking tickets thing works but i guess the best advice i can give is just check prices every once in a while and just keep your hopes up that you'll find a great deal :3

[Miasmata]

Definitely delete your history or use the icognito mode before looking for tickets. It doesn't always help, but sometimes there is definitely a difference, so it's worth the shot.

Also, location DOES matter - I find different deals depending on whether I set Skyscanner to Germany or the US. For whatever weird reason, there are deals that can only be booked with an American credit card (my European one did not work!), so looking from both sides can help.

Flying on weekends is definitely more expensive, and the same goes for popular vacation times, but you can always get lucky. Be as flexible as possible with dates and play around with them when you search. The same goes for airports, as previously mentioned here. Big airports are usually a safe bet, though again, give all options a look - For instance, flying from Hamburg to London is twice as expensive when I fly into Heathrow in comparision to the two smaller airports around London.

Also, always important to remember - The cheapest airlines will usually save on services and lugguage first, so make absolutely sure to check what's included and what's not! For example, I've stopped booking Germanwings even though they are incredibly cheap, simply because they don't offer rebooking to a different flight for relatively cheap if circumstances make you miss the original one. This option is standard with most airlines, but not so much with Germanwings, which I found out the hard way! Make sure you know what you book!