Introduction to Finding Cheap Flights to New York
New York is known to be one of the most famous US cities and is a stunning cosmopolitan that welcomes 50 million visitors and migrants each year. Statistically speaking, it is the most visited US city by international tourists. Department of Tourism reports suggest that New York is welcoming a whopping 13.5 million international visitors per year. Well being such a prominent travel destination, it makes sense to look for cheap flights to New York and cheap hotels in New York. We hope you enjoy your visit to New York.
Why Choose New York for Your Next Trip
Looking for cheap air flights to New York for your next trip? Here’s why you should consider the big apple as your next destination: New York is an international metropolis, amazing culinary opportunities, culture and the arts, and natural beauty all converge along its intriguing city streets. The city and its diverse boroughs also hold many lesser-known gems, many of which happen to be quite inexpensive. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find another U.S. city that offers so much off-the-beaten-path wonderment for so little! Your biggest dilemma will be where to start. So leave the luxurious hotels and five-star restaurants to the likes of Beyoncé and Jay-Z. Hook up with our local explorers and discover a different side of New York City for half the price.
When to Book Cheap Flights to New York
Finding cheap flights to New York can be a delicate business, as air travel is an unpredictable beast at the best of times. But, for the record, early spring and early autumn are usually the best times to find cheap flights to New York, both going out and coming back. Generally, the cheapest flights to New York are available for travel months in advance, but few people are able to commit to plans that far in advance. Autumn and early winter also tend to see cheap flights to New York. To find cheap flights to New York City and its two major airports flying from anywhere in the world is fairly simple. Start by knowing which of its three New York City airports your arrival flight is going to: John F. Kennedy (JFK), LaGuardia (LGA), or Newark (EWR). Depending on the New York airport, one airline will be the cheapest. And once you are having the best chance to have a cheap flight to New York, you can search by your travel dates.
Best Websites to Find Cheap Flights to New York
Comparison websites, such as Skyscanner, Google Flights and Kayak, are excellent tools for evaluating fares from multiple airlines to New York. From there, you can grab fares from airlines’ sites and book directly with them. You can also use these sites to find alternate airports near your home, or, in the case of Google Flights, to explore fares to many places around the world by entering “Everywhere” in the destination field.
How to Use Flight Comparison Tools
Using flight comparison tools may seem complicated, but it really isn’t. Follow these steps to find cheap flights to New York: Pick a flight comparison tool. Make sure you get to the right section. Input your departure city, destination, travel dates. Don’t forget to specify if you want the dates to be flexible! Click on a button with something like “Search flights” or “Find flights”, and wait a few seconds to see results. Filter your search by the following categories, if you’d like: number of stops, baggage type, time, layover length, price, partner airlines and preferred airlines. Sort your results as best for you. Pick the option you like best.
Tips for Booking Cheap Flights to New York
Finding cheap flights to New York City is getting easier the more time goes on. Budget carriers have drastically increased supply, and though flying to New York City can cost more than other destinations, there are still ways to grab cheap flights. What follows are a handful of tips that might help you snag cheap flights to New York City.
Cheap Flights to New York: The Best Times to Travel
Hunting down great deals on cheap flights to New York requires knowing when to book your trip and, more importantly, when to travel. Through New York City Travel & Tourism, we have found that most major airlines run three-to-four roundtrip flights between Charlotte and New York City every day of the week. Flights take about three hours, costing between $73 RT on Aiviati and US Air, depending on which airline you choose (ask for frequent flier miles) on a midweek travel day. Fares go much higher on weekends. The cost of cheap flights to New York City peaks in July and August according to Hotwire.com. Winter occurrences (December, January and February) run 10 to 15 percent less than in summer. Nonetheless, winter occurrences have peaks and valleys, with the real high from the holidays. Much of January is slow, as there aren’t any really strong attractions other than the festivities for New Year’s. The dates sold out can indicate good deals to the city. High travel weekends for New York include: Labor Day weekend (first Monday of September), Columbus Day (second Monday in October), Thanksgiving and Easter or Passover, especially if they coincide with school break weeks in December and February. Other busy travel weekends for New York include July 3, July 4 and Martin Luther King Jr. Day (third Monday in January).
Airlines That Offer Cheap Flights to New York
New York is located between America and a whole month’s worth of space to the south of the North Pole. In case you were wondering, its geographical coordinates are 40 degrees north, 74 degrees west. Because of its unprecedented European-style influence, its value as an international shipping center, its progressive approach to the problems of mutual fear and misunderstanding in what is often described as a “post-modern” world, and its benefits to American capitalists, New York has become a key thought-leader on all things globe-sized. Its natural attractions and geographic location are well-known, and the State of New York benefits from an annual influx of over 60 million visitors from all around this world. Everyone is welcome to watch the progress of New York City’s cultural epicenter, but unlike the other NYC boroughs, as the tens of millions of tourists experience in Manhattan—mostly the attractions of the Manhattan cityscape and Manhattan’s concentrated commercialism—the competition experienced from many of these tourists is largely absent.
Understanding Hidden Costs and Fees
The cost of buying a cheap airline ticket is rarely the end of your expenses. Often, an airline’s base fare is just the start of what you may be required to pay for ancillary services, such as baggage and other fees. These can add hundreds of dollars to the final expense. Depending on your travel itinerary, these “add-ons” can easily double, triple or even quadruple the price of your airline ticket. To avoid those “gotchas,” travelers are best served by being aware of all of the potential costs involved when booking a flight.
How to Leverage Rewards Programs for Cheap Flights
I’m not saying you can’t keep a few eyeballs on your boarding pass; I’m just saying this is where stiff drinks come in handy. Kick back and relax instead of haranguing the airline station agent to misplace misplaced luggage. Then, instead of relying on the agent’s dubious and volatile information, just find out if your bag made it on time by checking your flight’s status on the airlines’ websites that you are linked to below (you will need flight number and date). But an airline spokesperson cannot guarantee your bag’s arrival on another flight with 100 percent accuracy. Last month my friend Khristina flew on Frontier Airlines out of Vegas to her home in Denver and her bag got on a flight to Port au Prince, Haiti. It was only because she checked her bag’s status on the flight’s arrival at that point in time, that she could track its errant path down south. “I was told honestly, we really don’t know for sure where your bag is going,” she said the gate agent remarked. Not the response you want to hear before Christmas! Instead, with a direct connection to a flight in the same airline, a question before leaving the bag drop area would have been, “When will that bag be here?” A better answer is out of our hands, generally it can arrive the same day if the forecast looks good. The success of lost luggage delays usually aligns dramatically with bad weather or lack of a help desk contact with your airline, but fluctuations really depend on your own intermittent ability to track it. The saga had a happy ending; my friend got her bag in a few hours at her hotel that evening, and she only had to pay for a taxi delivery fee; and the airlines reimbursed her directly for it when she picked up her bag from her delivery man.
Utilizing Alerts for Cheap Flight Deals
After you’ve picked your destinations and travel dates, you’ll want to stay on top of any cheap flight deals that crop up. The best way to do this is to set alerts on the flight search engines of your choice. These alerts will send you email notices whenever fares change, so you can keep an eye on fare fluctuations. Once fares go below your price threshold, you can click on the email and book your ticket directly. Note that many flight search engines offer many different types of alerts. Some search engines like Google Flights allow you to set alerts for multi-city searches, while others may send alerts for one-way or round-trip fares only. Some send alerts via email, while others send only text alerts. Experiment with the various options then choose a few search engines to regularly monitor fares, using each of them to book when you see a good deal.
Alternative Airports Near New York for Cheaper Flights
Cheap flight to New York The Ultimate Guide to Finding Cheap Flights to New York Airports | The Ultimate Guide to Finding Cheap Flights to New York Alternative Airports Near New York for Cheaper Flights Finding Cheap Flights to New York Almost every traveler to New York City arrives at one of three major airports: JFK, LaGuardia, or Newark. If a traveler is willing to take the subway or another form of public transportation into the city, they can save by flying into one of New York’s alternative airports: Westchester County, Long Island MacArthur in Islip, or Stewart International about an hour north of the city in New Windsor. JetBlue and Southwest serve all five of New York City’s airports, while American, United, and Delta also serve JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark. When looking for cheap airfare to New York City, keep in mind that one-way tickets are usually just half of round-trip prices. So it’s wise to check your departure city round-trip fares, and then compare your one-way fare back home to what these airlines are selling for return tickets. Flying on weekdays, especially Tuesdays or Wednesdays, or during slower travel months like December (except for the holidays) or late January through early March will be your best bet to finding cheap flights to New York City. Budget-conscious travelers can save even more by avoiding the winter holiday weeks of December 18 to January 2. Booking two to three months in advance may keep the price reasonable, but optimal dates for low-cost fares are often released only within the two weeks before departure. Alert-based fare tracking sites can help travelers find these fares. Tapping your intuitions toward finding cheap flights to New York City is also worthwhile. With airfares and airline fees fluctuating wildly these days, chances are that your gut feeling for when a fair price is might be correct. A phone call or two to your destination based travel agent will help you hone in on ranges you should be looking for when selling these tickets to friends. Keep in mind that your friend may be involuntarily paying more for this ticket than you have to. Airfare aggregator sites flying to New York sometimes miss the cheap airfares sold by individual carriers. A smart strategy, especially if you want to leave your options open to flights arriving and departing on the same day, is to visit each airline’s website separately and compare the fares they are selling against the fares offered by aggregators.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Booking Cheap Flights
Below are common mistakes travelers make when searching for cheap flights and how to avoid them:
Not Comparing Prices on Other Sites: • Read reviews: Check out review sites to find certain travel sites that make their customers happy. • Compare prices: If you found cheap flights to New York, bring them to the website you usually book with. If the price is lower on another site, book it there. Otherwise, pay for the convenience of launching your favorite site. • Test out at least three sites: Before you learn how to find cheap flights, test out a few different sites so you know which get you the best prices.
Ignoring “hidden” charges: Be sure to read the fine print on all booking sites and airlines to see if you incur a fee for figuring out your own price. Additional fees can add significantly to the price of your ticket.
Forgetting to look for connecting flights: Passengers typically think of cheap flights to New York City as a direct flight but airlines often slash prices on tickets with layovers. Try both one-stop and two-stop itineraries. Of course, take a good look at layover times and airports.
Not taking advantage of email alerts: A few airlines and travel sites provide fare alerts that help. But it helps to sign up for both. You’ll just have to check an email to know somebody out there wants to sell you a ticket cheap.
For booking night flights: Flying overnight from California to New York eliminates the need for a hotel. As we try to avoid the hassle of layovers, this tip only works to New York with a direct flight.
Ignoring alternative airports: Fly into or out of Newark International for flights to New York City from most cities. It saves a lot of taxi fare into Manhattan—and you may even find cheaper airline prices coming from Illinois, Colorado and others.
Not Searching for Student Deals: Places like Student Universe and Cheapoair offer special rates for college students. Of course, they may also require you to show a valid student ID.
Not Leaving from Close Airports: Flights may be cheaper from Vienna than to its own airport. But it doesn’t make sense to buy a cheap flight from Vienna if you have to take additional transportation costs to get to Hungary.
Not Really Going Low Budget: Many travelers hear the term low cost and think it means cheap flights. However, while budget airlines like Spirit and Ryanair offer cheap flights to New York, they don’t fly on traditional routes. Use a travel site like Skyscanner or Hopper to find your best deal. All you have to do is click the low cost option—or check the budget airlines site separately.
Conclusion: Making the Most of Your Cheap Flight to New York
When you land at New York’s JFK Airport, what’s the first thing you do? You get on the AirTrain, which also runs from JFK to New York’s subway system, transport to the airport’s more expensive options, as well as taxis and limousines. This handy little service runs every seven minutes and gets you to either Howard Beach station on the A Line or Jamaica station on the E Line in about 10 minutes with connections to the New York subway system. A one-way ticket from air train to subway costs $5. The big question then lies in which airline to choose. New York flight fares can vary greatly depending on the time of year, day of travel, time of departure, and how far in advance your ticket purchase, so there’s no hard-and-fast rule on which airline to choose. However, some carriers — like American Airlines, United, and Delta Airlines — do offer great service, not to mention multiple daily flights from smaller cities to New York.