Want to save more on your flights? Follow these three simple strategies to get started:

1) Avoid basic economy tickets like the plague

2) Avoid buying tickets through Online Travel Agencies

3) Avoid booking flights using a combination of money + miles.

Let’s dive deeper into each strategy.

Avoid booking basic economy tickets

Booking basic economy tickets isn’t good for the following reasons:

• You can’t pick seats until getting to the gate. So you usually end up with bad seats
• Need to cancel your flight? You’ll likely lose some or all of the money you paid
• Ticket now selling for $150 less than what you paid? Well, say goodbye to your $150 because Sky Key won’t be able to get your money back as the airlines don’t honor savings on basic economy tickets

What tickets should I book then? We recommend booking any ticket other than basic economy (if you fly Alaska Airlines, book any ticket other than Saver). This means stick to fares like main, economy, premium, comfort, or first to name a few.

Avoid buying tickets through Online Travel Agencies

Online Travel Agencies, also known as OTA’s are websites that sell airline tickets but aren’t the actual airlines themselves. Think of sites like Expedia, Hopper, and Skyscanner. You can also think of bank and credit card travel portals (e.g., Chase Travel, American Express Travel, etc.) as Online Travel Agencies.

Why is booking flights through Online Travel Agencies bad? Because you lose a lot of the benefits of booking through the airlines themselves. Here are some of the ways booking through Online Travel Agencies disadvantage you:

• Canceling your flight is downright painful. Thought going to the DMV was bad?
• You sacrifice building airline loyalty. In other words, when you buy flights through Online Travel Agencies, your hard earned money doesn’t go toward building your airline loyalty, which means you forfeit things like free checked bags and free seat upgrades in the future
• You get locked into the fare you paid. Ticket now selling for $150 less than what you paid? Sky Key unfortunately won’t be able to get your money back because the airlines won’t honor the savings. Why? Again, airlines want you booking through their own websites, not Online Travel Agency websites

Where should I book my flights then? Always book flights directly on the airlines’ websites.

Avoid booking flights using a combination of money + miles

Avoid booking flights using a combination of money + miles. Please. Pretty please.

What bad things happen when you book using money + miles. Several things, including:

• You get a poor redemption rate. When you book using a combination of money + miles, airlines fix redemption rates so that you pay $1 and get 100 miles. How bad is this? On many flights, you can pay $1 and get 200 miles. I definitely prefer getting 200 miles over 100 any day of the week
• You get locked into the original fare you paid. Flight drop by $150? Sky Key won’t be able to get your money back because the airlines won’t honor the savings on flights booked using money + miles

So should I book my flights using money or miles? We recommend booking flights using only money OR only miles. As long as you don’t mix money and miles together, you’re safe.

Start saving today

If you want to maximize your flight savings, just remember on your next flight to: book any ticket, except for basic economy, directly on the airline’s website and either pay entirely with money or entirely with miles. It’s that easy.

And by the way, after you buy your ticket, put it on Sky Key and we will save you money, miles, and credits if the price of your ticket drops after booking.

Happy New Year.

– Billy Bund. Co-Founder @ Sky Key