x
Breaking News
More () »

This trick could save your family more than $100 on airfare

Online, we found a roundtrip ticket from Indy to Denver in early August for $209. When we asked for the price at the counter, it was $163.

There are a variety of ways to save money on flights.

Future passengers can plan ahead, use technology or show up to the ticket counter in person.

Electronic Fees

Yep, buying tickets at the airport can save you money on airfare with certain budget airlines.

Spirit, Allegiant and Frontier charge people a fee to book online, and each company calls it something different.

Spirit charges customers up to $22.99 for its passenger usage fee. 

Allegiant charges up to $22 for its electronic carrier fee. 

Frontier charges up to $23.

If your ticket is roundtrip, you are charged this fee twice for each segment of the trip.

How much can I save? 

To see what the savings could look like, WTHR tested this trick out. 

Online, we found a roundtrip ticket from Indy to Denver in early August for $209. When we asked for the price at the counter, it was $163.

For a family of four, that's a $184 savings.

Clint Henderson, with The Points Guy, said it is a way to make a budget trip even cheaper.

"This is a favorite hack for people who are really into low-cost carriers," Henderson said.

Before driving to the ticket counter, make sure it is open. Counters are usually staffed within two hours of a flight departure. 

There is also a charge to park your car in the airport garage.

How else can I save money? 

Henderson said his new favorite way to save is to bundle services. 

"Go to the airline website vacation pages. So AA Vacations, Delta Vacations, JetBlue Vacations, even Hawaiian Airlines has a vacations package. When you buy flight and hotel combined, you can save as much as 40% to 70%," Henderson said.

There are also apps that track flight prices like Google Flights and Hopper.

They can send you alerts to let you know when to buy and when prices are about to go up.

Before You Leave, Check This Out