Last Updated on February 12, 2024 by Travelationship
Are you looking for a way to shave another $10-50 per person off your next flight out of the country? Using currency conversion might be the answer you have been looking for. By changing the location you purchase the ticket from, for example, if you’re in the U.S. using Air France’s website and selecting France as your location, you can take advantage of this hack.
A crucial component for this travel hack to work is to have a credit card that does not charge you any foreign transaction or conversion fees; typically, travel cards do this, but if you are unsure double check with your credit card company first. (If you need a card, I will recommend some near the bottom of the article.)
Save Money on Airfare Using Currency Conversion
The process takes a little leg work because not every flight is cheaper, but I will break down my procedure for checking. Let’s say you wanted to go from NYC to Paris in May.
Step One: Find a Flight
1) First, I would run a Kayak search to get an idea of what airline is currently giving the best price.
Step Two: Head to the Carriers Website
2) In this case, we find that Air France provided the best price, so I would go to their website and run the search as if I were in France, giving me the cost in Euro.
Step Three: Check Conversion Rates
3) Then over to Google for a quick currency conversion search and see if there are any savings.
Step Four: Double Check Your Work
4) to be sure it’s not just a discrepancy on Kayak’s part, I open a new tab and head back to Air France, but this time run it as if I were in the U.S. and then double-check all the numbers I am given. If everything checks out, BAM, I purchase the tickets and pocket the savings.
Currency Conversion Conclusion
As I said above, a mandatory component of this hack is to have a credit card that is free from fees. Another critical key is to have an airline website that allows you to change your location and gives you language options. Sometimes you can overcome the language by enabling Google to translate the page for you so that one is not a deal breaker. If you need a fee-free card, below are 2 top choices with excellent sign-up benefits.
–Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is another great card with a similar reward package. Apply Here.
–Chase Sapphire Preferred Card is another fan favorite, although its reward earning rate is lower than the previous two. Apply Here.