How to Save From $50 to $600 (or More) on Airfare Costs

— -- Before you ding your credit card for your next trip, there are some easy ways to cut your costs.

The figures I cite can vary depending on your departure and destination cities, as well as your choice of airline and other factors, but chances are you will save something, so give it a try.

Save $50 or More

Baggage: This can be real easy; on most airlines, a carry-on is free while a checked bag is $50 round-trip. Opt for hand luggage and bingo, you’ve just save d $50.

Exceptions: People thought I was crazy back in 2009 when I predicted in this column that some airlines would start charging for carry-ons, but of course it happened: Allegiant, Frontier and Spirit all do now. If that’s the case on your flight, you can still get a freebie on Spirit by using a small bag that fits under a seat. If you opt for something larger, check the fees carefully; in cases where airlines charge for all bags, sometimes the checked bag is less expensive.

Save $60 or More

Always compare airfares: I checked a fare comparison search site for cross-country flights in October (Los Angeles-New York) and found a price just under $280 on both JetBlue and Virgin America. On the other hand, if your favorite airline is Southwest and you go only to that site (and it’s important to note it’s the only airline that doesn’t share fare data), you would have seen fares at similar times of day for $60 more. If you were going to check a bag (free on Southwest), the difference in prices is negligible, but if you were going to use a carry-on, it’s more significant. By the way, this is no knock against Southwest; sometimes they are far and away the cheapest airline. The point is you won’t know unless you compare fares.

Save $90 or More

Fly cheaper days: For this round of savings, I compared fares for Chicago-Los Angeles, and found deals for Friday to Sunday weekend getaways running about $230. Then I looked at Wednesday to Wednesday flights and got a quote of about $140. If you can be flexible, that’s $90 you can put back in your wallet.

Save $42 to $135 or More

Use a cheaper airport: Cheaper usually means bigger when it comes to airports, especially massive hubs like JFK, O’Hare and LAX, but sometimes, similar-sized airports have different prices, too. I looked at fares to Seattle from Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, and the latter was $42 cheaper (and these airports are only about 25 miles apart). There was a much bigger difference in fares from the greater LA area to Kansas City; a flight from Burbank cost $224 while one from LA was a steal for just $89. I’m sure you could put that extra $135 to good use.

Save $600+ (or More)

Add a stop: Let’s move to international flights, specifically Chicago to Rome; the non-stop price for a week-long flight in October (Wednesday to Wednesday) cost $1,243 but if you add a single stop, the fare plunges to $567. Now that’s what I call incredible savings.

Remember, always compare fares, and compare for days of the week, airports and routes. You might not save as much as these examples; then again, you might save even more.

Rick Seaney is the CEO of FareCompare, a website that curates the best deals on flights from around the world. Any opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author.