Four Favorite Flight Deal Finders

People constantly ask how I can afford to travel so much, knowing that I'm living that non-profit life (#1 - don't hate). One of the main reasons is knowing where to look. Here's a little insight into my travel "secrets" for #WanderlustWednesday:

1. The Flight Deal - www.theflightdeal.com | @theflightdeal on Facebook, Twitter, & Google+
I love this site because of usability, value, and update frequency. Their definition of a great deal? Flight fares that meet a simple criterion of 6 cents per mile or less. They also list error fares and flights they call "The Shorthaul" -- deals under $200 and 3,000 miles roundtrip. If you're busy during the day and don't have time to check for updates, look out for the 6PM (or 8PM on Tuesdays) daily deal summary.

2. Secret Flying - www.secretflying.com | @secretflying on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
Secret Flying's tagline is: "Save up to 80% on flights around the world." And it's true. Secret Flying and a Facebook tag from a fellow caring, nomadic friend are how I found out about that infamous Etihad error fare (read: best Christmas present to myself ever) and fulfilled a dream of going to South Africa to hang out with beach penguins, elephants, great white sharks, and amazing bottles of wine. The actual website is easy to navigate, and they do one of the best jobs of including departure flights from all parts of the world, not just the U.S.

3. Airfare Spot - www.airfarespot.com | @airfarespot on Facebook, Twitter, & Tumblr
Airfare Spot consolidates deals from the following US cities (Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Orlando, Phoenix, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.), as well as Canada, Exotic (i.e. Seychelles, Maldives, South Pacific, etc.), and Around the World (typically multiple city itineraries across the globe for under $1500, though it usually leaves out South America and Africa). They also provide information on hotel deals and selecting the best travel credit card for you.

4. Airfarewatchdog - www.airfarewatchdog.com | @airfarewatchdog on Facebook, Twitter, & Google+
​Another airfare and hotel deal finding site, you can sign up for low fare alerts from your departure city. Their team includes expert analysts who research fares to make sure they are actually good deals, and they include many unpublished sales and airlines like Southwest that might not show up in other searches.

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Now you know where to look, but how do you keep track of all their finds? Here are a few suggestions, including for those who aren't so into social media:
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• For those who prefer traditional email subscriptions, start by creating an email account for the sole purpose of travel. Use it to consolidate all of your deal finding sites, airline miles, hotel points, travel resources, etc. It helps to declutter your regular or work emails by giving you a one stop shop for all things travel-related!

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• For the Facebook fiends, once you like the page, opt to have its posts show first in your newsfeed so the latest updates are always at the top. Not sure how to do that? Hover your mouse over the blue down arrow on the "Like" button and choose the "See first" in your newsfeed section. You can also choose to get notifications for its posts, but you will most likely get bombarded with the frequency at which these sites update.

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• ​And finally, for those who love Twitter, create a separate list and add all of the deal finders as list members. I've also done the work for you so if you want to skip a couple steps, feel free to subscribe to my list below! 

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Have any other favorites? Feel free to comment below, and happy travels!

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A Twitter List by awavetravels