Flights

Final Four Flights: Tricks to Find Cheaper Fares

NBC Universal, Inc.

You’ve supported the Huskies all year, so perhaps you’re thinking of heading to the Final Four.

Like any big sports weekend, supply and demand is not in your favor right now to get from UConn territory to Texas.

Going.com’s business is to search for great flight deals.

You may recognize the company under its former name called Scott’s Cheap Flights.

Founder Scott Keyes, who married a UConn alum, has these money saving tips for fans.

One: Don’t just search for round trip fares. Look into one-way flights on different airlines.

Two: Don’t forget Southwest Airlines results don’t show up on search engines, so you have to browse the company’s website directly to find and compare its fares.

Third: Be flexible with travel dates and which airport you fly out of, with nearby options in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York. For your arrival, note that there are two airports in Houston as well.

Also, Keyes says, “Don't put [booking your flight] off until the last minute. The day of expecting a last-minute fare or a standby deal, those are extraordinarily rare nowadays. And typically, the opposite happens, the closer you get to departure, the higher the fare tends to go.”

Ticket prices are changing rapidly. Wednesday afternoon, Keyes found the cheapest ticket from Bradley to Houston for Friday was $800.

If you fly from Boston to Houston, the cheapest ticket was about $375.

NBC CT Responds did some digging and found that you can get a cheaper flight from Bradley into other cities in Texas, like Dallas for about $450, if you don’t mind finding a way to drive four hours to Houston.

And lastly, Keyes says departure trips tend to be the priciest on big weekends like this with lots of folks trying to leave Tuesday after a tournament winner is crowned.

But he says waiting until later in the week to return will save you.

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