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  Airfare Booking Strategies

If the price for your ticket drops after you make your reservation, you may be able to save money by rebooking your tickets.

When you can take advantage of price drops

Since most airfares are non-changeable and non-refundable, it may seem impossible to take advantage of any price drops. That is mostly true.  However, there are still times where you have an opportunity to improve your pricing by rebooking.

• Southwest Airlines. You can always rebook Southwest airlines flights if a lower price becomes available. Refund webapge.
• JetBlue. If your ticket drops in price, you can get a refund of the difference during the the first 5 days after you buy (and not for Basic Blue tickets). You'll need to call.
• United. According to View From The Wing and other bloggers, United has an unofficial policy where you can receive a credit for fare drops during the first 30 days (minus a $50 processing fee); and it may be possible to have the fee waived or extend the eligibility window.
• Elite status. One of the benefits of higher-level elite status with some airlines is the ability to cancel or change flights with no penalty fees. If you have elite status, check the details with your airline. If you are entitled to this benefit, it is always worthwhile to track your ticket prices, and rebook if prices drop.
• Decreases that are larger than the change fees. If the price of your airplane tickets drops significantly, it may make sense to rebook, even if you need to pay a $75-200 rebooking fee. For example, if you purchased a $1,000 international airfare ticket and the price drops to $700, you can still save $100 even after accounting for a $200 change fee.
• Within the first 24 hours. For most flights that leaves from a US airport, and for many other flights booked on travel booking flights, there is a free 24 hour cancellation window. If you find a lower price, on the same or different flight, within the first 24 hours, you can book the new tickets and cancel your existing reservation.

Tracking fare changes

The easiest way to track your fares is with a website called Yapta, If the price of your ticket drops enough to make a change worthwhile, you'll receive an alert.

Because of Southwest's policies, Yapta can't track the prices of Southwest flights. It also isn't worthwhile to take the time to track less expensive tickets, where the cancellation penalty would outweigh any potential price savings.

You can also easily set up a price alert for a specific flight search with Google Flights and be notified whenever the price drops.

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