How to Find a Cheap Flight from Tennessee

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I have been asked frequently how to find a cheap flight from Tennessee. After all, I recently booked a trip to Paris in first class for only $5.60. So, I must know a few tricks, right?

If you do not mind putting a little effort into searching for a cheap flight, you can do like me and vacation more often. There really are not any secret tricks or a best day of the week to book airfare.

In this post, I will discuss cheap airfare more concentrated on Tennessee departures, however, a lot of these tricks will work from anywhere. I will explain my step by step approach for finding a cheap flight from Tennessee and some travel hacks I try.

While there are some insanely cheap flights out there, (I will go into detail later on!) I highly advise you to be realistic when finding a flight. Set a price that you would be comfortable paying. These days, the closer to departure, the higher the ticket price will be.

Being flexible with your travel is a great way to find a cheap flight. Unfortunately, many people cannot leave work and travel whenever they want, myself included!

You may get lucky and find an amazing deal on a holiday weekend giving you a few days off. If you can go, jump on it! (Besides, you have 24 hours to cancel if you change your mind. Read fine print!)

One of my favorite tips is to split my long flights up so that I can visit another city. Whenever possible, I choose a long layover in a city that allows me to explore it. For example, on an upcoming return trip from Finland, I will spend the evening exploring Philadelphia. Splitting up the flight allows me to see more than one destination and I am not as jet lagged. A good website to visit that helps finding stopovers is AirWander.com.

Book your next flight at 1230AM on a Tuesday. Wouldn’t that be simple? The thing is, airlines are out to make a profit. If there was a specific time for cheaper flights, then everyone would book on that day.

However, there are certain times in relation to your travel date that will make it cheaper. On major airlines, it is best to book about 6-8 weeks before departure. Prices usually increase considerably after that. (The early bird doesn’t always get the worm! The only time I would buy a ticket sooner is if I HAD to specific time restraints.)

Booking a flight that leaves early in the morning, or late at night, may be cheaper because of flyer inconvenience. Choosing a flight midweek instead of on a weekend is often less expensive. If you can fly a day early or late, you can sometimes say money. Avoid flying around the holidays as this is a busy time and supply/demand raises those prices. Point is, be flexible to find good deals.

The first thing you need to figure out is what airport will you depart from? It may be worth driving a couple hours to another airport to get a better deal. Lucky for me, I live about 1 ½ hours away from 3 different airports and research flights from each of these. The following airports are in Tennessee:

Nashville (BNA): This airport is one of the best airports I have seen. It is clean and well laid out. I never get lost in this airport, even though it is one of the top growing airports in the nation. It was previously a hub for American Airlines so there is still a big presence here. Southwest is another big airline flying from here. Frontier is a newer budget airline that flies from this hub that offers some super cheap flights! Allegiant Air has several flights leaving from Nashville. Fly cheap to Nashville with Sun Country Air which is a budget airline that is a cross between Southwest and Allegiant, in my opinion.
Chattanooga (CHA): Not a very big airport but some major airlines and Allegiant do fly from here.
Tri-Cities Airport (TRI): Allegiant, Delta, and American all fly from here making it a great location for a connecting flight to just about anywhere.
Memphis (MEM): Other than some of the major airlines, Allegiant, Southwest, and Frontier are some of the budget airlines that fly from here.
Knoxville (TYS): Flying from here has never been a problem for me because it is a smaller airport. There are less people in line to get through security. There is only one sit down restaurant here, Ruby Tuesday, but there is a Starbucks, Cinnabon, Uno Express Pizza and Quiznos. I have taken many flights from Allegiant Air without incident.

If you don’t mind all the perks of flying on a major airline (if you call them that), then look into flying a budget airline. Some may fly into your destination’s nearby airport, but at a cheaper price. For example, I can fly into Sanford, Florida and drive 30 minutes to get to Orlando. Sometimes, the airport is closer to your desired destination anyways.

• WestJet- Multiple nonstop destinations, not just in the US, but, also to Canada and the Caribbean.
• Allegiant- Nonstop flights to many destinations in Florida, as well as Vegas, New York City, Savannah, Myrtle Beach, Syracuse, Washington, DC, and, if flying from Memphis, Texas.
• Southwest- One of my favorite airlines to fly because you can bring 2 bags with you for free. This growing airline has destinations to most major cities, as well as, Caribbean destinations.
• Frontier- multiple cities that can be found using Skyscanner or from their website.
• JetBlue- good for east coast destinations and the Caribbean.
• Sun Country- adding multiple destinations in the United States.

• Ryanair offers flights within Europe.
• Norwegian offers one way flights to Europe.
• WOW Air offers flights to Europe, as well as some steals on flights to Iceland!

Tip: It may be more cost effective to fly from the United States to foreign country, THEN fly to your final destination using a budget airline.

Tips:

• While it is best to book later on with major airlines, it is best to book in advance on budget airlines. Waiting for the next big sale that may not happen is discouraged as the price usually increases as the seats fill up.
• Make sure to read the fine print. There may be upcharges for carry on or checked luggage, a specific seat, priority boarding, printing a boarding ticket, and a host of other fees. Add these up and compare to other airlines to make sure you are getting the best deal.

Just saying the word “incognito” sounds kind of fun, right? Like a spy searching for something. When you search for a flight incognito, it clears your cookies so the airlines cannot raise the price. Just last month I tried booking a flight and when I went to pay for it, the price increased $400!!!!! No lie! Like anyone booking a flight with a price change this big, I was shocked. I went to another website to find the original price.
Lesson: Airlines use cookies to monitor your search and will increase the price to scare you into buying the ticket. This scare tactic almost worked for me. Fortunately, I was aware of this trick. I simply “went incognito” and got the price I originally saw.

I ALWAYS search more than one search engine to find the cheapest price. As you will see below in my step by step approach, I start all my flights with Skyscanner because I find it the easiest to use and it searches not just the major airlines, but also the majority of the budget airlines. I use it to find the cheapest day to fly. You can set the date, as seen below, to find the best month, or day of the month, to fly.

Using Skyscanner to find the cheapest day of the month to fly is a good way to find error fares on your own. Just pay attention to the prices that month for one that is a steal of a deal!

Momondo is another search engine similar to Skyscanner with awesome deals. I find it a less user friendly as it is slower and I don’t like the layout of the site.

Kayak- I like to compare flights on Kayak to double check for the best deal. While not always accurate, I prefer the feature to determine if I should buy now or wait. If you find a flight you like, you can have an email sent to you when the price changes.

Kiwi.com is a good website for searching for anywhere anytime flights. They also mix and match airlines to find the cheapest route and guaranteed that if your flight is delayed or cancelled that they will make sure you get to your destination. (I find they may not always be the cheapest.)

Google flights- Not the best way to find a cheap flight from Tennessee, but this website is a good way to find last minute deals to various destinations.

• Start with opening your search engine INCOGNITO. I use Skyscanner since it is the most all-inclusive and user friendly.

• To find a cheap flight from Tennessee, always start by booking one flight at a time. The flight prices will be given at a higher rate the more seats you search for. (I always make sure there are enough seats available in my party before booking.)
• Search one way and then round trip to find out which is cheaper. Usually round trip or multi city trips are cheaper, but this isn’t always the case.

• Compare cost of desired flight with another search engine for the best offer.
• Use the best travel credit card to book your flight. If your flight is on American Airlines, use that credit card, etc.
• If I find that a site, such as Expedia, Travelocity, or Orbitz has the best flight, I will first log in to my Ebates account and then book my flight. This way, I get money back from booking my flight!
• (Extra tip– if I find that I will be using Southwest, I first use my credit card to buy a Southwest gift card from Kroger so that I have the miles from the credit card and the gas points. Of course, if you have the Southwest credit card, use it! Remember, Southwest air has a price guarantee for a credit if you find a cheaper price later on.)

Sign up for the airline’s mailing list for specials on flights. If you can be flexible, this is a great way to save some money. Some other mailing lists I suggest for crazy cheap deals are Scott’s Cheap Flights, Holiday Pirates (great for hotel vacations, too!), The Flight Deal, Airfare Watchdog, Secret Flying, and TravelZoo.

Sign up for the frequent flier program (or enter your frequent flyer number) on every flight. Even if you believe you never will fly with that airline again, do it anyways. When I first started flying I did not do this and missed out on SO many miles. Some miles don’t expire, too! I flew first class from Hawaii and missed out on ALL those Delta miles because I didn’t think I would use them. You don’t know what the future holds!

If you can pay your credit card off monthly to avoid an interest fee (and be responsible), then get a travel reward credit card. A lot of my flights are practically free (plus taxes/fees) from using miles earned by credit card spending. I pay for all utilities, cell phone bill, gas, groceries, medical bills, etc with my credit card, then pay it off at the end of the month. I am spending the money anyways. So, why not put that money aside to your credit card payment.

This credit card earns you 2x the points on restaurant and travel expenses and 1 point for everything else. That can add up pretty quick! Some of my favorite things about this card are:

• You can buy hotels and flights directly from their Ultimate Rewards website.
• You can transfer the earned points to frequent airline programs.
• No foreign exchange fees. (A must when traveling out of the country!)
• Travel insurance if trip is purchased using this credit card.

Chris and I went to Rapid City, South Dakota this past summer to see Mount Rushmore and the Badlands FREE! Using our earned points with this card, our flights and hotel stay were free, minus a small fee from the airline ticket.

Click here to sign up for the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card.

Another credit card with no foreign exchange fees and travel insurance, using this credit card earns you miles on that automatically are transferred into your American Airlines Advantage Program. Another perk of using this airline card is the free baggage and priority boarding.

This is my favorite airline credit card to use in Tennessee because there are a lot of flights available in Nashville on American Airlines.

Similar perks to the AA credit card except for the miles transfer to Delta’s frequent flier program. If you fly a lot from one of Delta’s hubs, this is the card for you!

Click here for my referral link if you are interested in getting this card. (You will be redirected to their website.)

I may have saved the best airline credit card for last! Southwest flies out of Nashville and Memphis and can get you to many of the major cities in the US and the Caribbean. If you fly Southwest airlines a lot (or plan to), then choose this credit card.

I just started using this card this year and scored the companion pass so that someone can fly FREE with me on my trips! If you earn 110,000 points in a calendar year, you get a free companion pass for where ever you fly. You may be thinking that’s a lot of points! But, certain times of the year Chase offers 50,000 bonus points on their personal credit card and 60,000 points on their business credit card. Since sign-up bonuses count, you qualify for the 110,000 points after spending $5,000 in 3 months! The companion pass allows someone to fly with you free for one year.

Don’t have a business? I’m sure there is something you are selling or doing to qualify you as a business account, such as photography, in home sales, etc. Click here to use my referral link!

• I advise booking up to a year in advance when using flier miles if you have to use them a certain date. I have found many flights open up about a month before departure, but this isn’t guaranteed.
• Sometimes, holding an award ticket will help you get a long haul ticket. I recently booked a flight to Paris for $5.60. When I first started looking I could not find the flight I wanted. I searched for flights to CDG that had connections to determine where the stop over cities were. I found one that I liked (Miami baby!) and there was a flight from Miami to Paris open.

Since American Airlines allows you to hold a ticket for 5 days, I booked the flight. The next day, I noticed the full flight from Nashville to Paris was available and I put a hold on it. All I needed was the flight from Nashville to Miami.

Lucky for me, on the 4th day of looking, the flight from Nashville to Miami opened up. I let go of the Miami to Paris flight, prayed, and searched for the whole flight. Fortunately, the flight from Nashville to Paris was available and I booked it.

So, I ended up with 2 tickets from Tennessee to Paris for a total of $11.20 after a little bit of research (and luck!) This may not always work, but it is worth a try since you do not have to pay for the ticket. Did I mention this was a first class ticket to Paris?!

• Credit cards will sometimes offer promotions for joining their email list, shopping using their online portal, or flying a certain destination. If you are shopping online anyways, why not use their portal if you need extra miles? I recently signed up for 1000 miles added each month for 3 months, if I spent $1000 each of those months. So, not only will I get the 3,000 bonus miles, I also get the points from spending.

• I once booked a South Beach Miami hotel using Rocket Miles that allowed me to get 5,000 bonus points into my American Airlines account. Shopping for your hotels using the credit card portal is an easy way to rack up some miles!

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