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It often feels like the JFKs, LAXs, and ORDs of the world get all of the love when it comes to cheap flights. A couple weeks ago we announced the top airports and airlines for flight deals based on the past year of Going data, and yes, these airports topped many of those lists (peep the rankings here if you haven't already). 

But not everyone lives near a major airport, and even if you do, sometimes you just can't be bothered to schlep through LAX when Long Beach has exactly what you're looking for. To that we say: Small airports deserve some love, too. 

While the deals may not come around as often, they are there. You just have to know how, when, and where to find them.

Why are flights from smaller airports more expensive? 

A number of factors influence flight pricing, but competition is the single largest factor. The more airlines operating on a certain route, the cheaper those fares are. That's why we see more deals out of LAX than ATL, for example. Want to get to Europe? From LAX, you can choose from about two dozen airlines, while from Atlanta there are only a half dozen. 

If you have a small home airport, you're naturally going to see fewer deals. It's not your fault, nor ours. It's on the airlines. If more airlines add routes from your airport, it'd drive down prices. 

That said, there are tactics you can use to unlock deals from your airport (or an airport not too far away). Here are 11 of our favorite tricks.

When airlines add a new destination from your airport, they'll often advertise these routes to determine whether it's worth making it a permanent destination. During the promotional period, the flight cost may be temporarily discounted, or the airline may offer things like wider availability, nonstop routing, or unlimited changes if you book the new route. 

Note: When airlines run these promotions, the best deals drop right when the sale begins and they go lightning fast. The best and quickest places to learn about new routes at your airport are through your local news stations and airlines' social media pages.

Airlines use fare buckets to price seats, and when you search for multiple tickets, they'll only show you the price for seats that are available in the same bucket.

Say there's one seat left for $200, but you need two tickets. If you search for two tickets, the airline will skip that $200 seat and offer you a higher price for both. If you book the $200 ticket first and get the second ticket in the next lowest tier at $300, you've saved $100 across the two. 

Does this work every time? No. But if you're traveling with a group, it's worth checking if fares are cheaper by buying tickets individually. The more tickets you buy, the greater the chance there won't be enough seats for you all in the cheapest available fare bucket.

If you're able to successfully use this strategy, call the airline after you book and ask them to link your itineraries. If there are any changes to your flight, the whole group stays together.

Airline schedules can change. When they do, that presents an opportunity. Under federal law, if an airline cancels or significantly changes your itinerary, you're eligible for a full cash refund. Airlines would rather just move you to a different flight, and that can be lucrative for you.

Say you originally bought a 6am nonstop flight because it was the cheapest. If the airline decided to make it a one-stop flight, you could switch to a more convenient time for free. If you had a connecting flight and the airline changed the time, you could try switching to a nonstop. And if it's a trip you no longer want to take, schedule changes let you get a full cash refund.

Read more about the hidden loophole that gets you better flights at no extra cost.

Now that we've highlighted some juicy tricks, we'd be remiss not to point out some of our tried and true ways to get a decent deal on a flight. One of the single best ways to ensure you're getting a great price (not just a good one) is by setting a price alert. 

Set one in the Going app, where we can tell you the current price and, more importantly, whether you should book now or wait. Set one on Google Flights. Set one on five different sites. Doesn't matter. Setting price alerts means the experts monitor the prices for you and tell you exactly when to book for the best possible price, and you can stop guessing when that is.

Staying flexible with where and when you travel is another good way to snag a great deal. 

Rather than deciding where you want to go first, flip the approach and see what deals are available in your desired price range out of your airport. Once you have a short list of places that fit your budget, choose the destination you're most excited to visit. 

Also, remember peak seasons (summer and winter holidays) are the most expensive times to travel, so if you have flexibility, travel during shoulder seasons or the off-season for lower prices.

Airfare is set by complex algorithms that account for hundreds of ever-shifting factors, including but not limited to consumer demand and competitors' prices. At one point, airfare changed weekly, but now it changes daily, hourly, or even by the minute. 

The good news: Cheap flights pop up all the time. The time that you're most likely to find a good deal is during what we call the Goldilocks Window.

For domestic flights, that's 1-3 months before departure. For international trips, it's 2-8 months. If your trip is during a peak season (Christmas, summer, St. Patrick's Day in Dublin), add a couple months to those windows, so you end up booking in the opposite season (summer for a winter trip and vice versa). 

If you're traveling during low season it's more likely cheap fares will pop up closer to departure, but prices tend to jump in the last month or two, so don't cut it too close. 

Also, pay attention to times when airfare reliably rises. That's usually 21, 14, and 7 days before departure. Airlines know leisure travelers tend to book flights early and business travelers late. They want to milk as much money as possible from business travelers, as their companies often pay, so they increase fares on tickets business travelers tend to buy, like last-minute ones.

It's called the Greek Islands Trick because it helps you get to the islands cheaply, but it works just about anywhere. Find the cheapest long-haul that gets you close to where you want to go, then use cheap regional flights (or a train, bus, car, or ferry) to close the gap. 

In the case of the Greek Islands, it'd mean instead of booking one ticket that gets you from Memphis to Santorini for $1,500, you look for the cheapest flight you can find to Athens, then buy a separate ticket on a European carrier or ferry to get you from Athens to the island (often less that $100 roundtrip, saving you a chunk of change). 

This is especially pertinent for small airports because good deals are fewer and further between. When one pops up, you have to snag it quickly, then work out the rest of your itinerary to get you where you'd like to go.

If you fly out of a small airport, chances are you have relatively few options when it comes to airlines, so you may find yourself flying the same airline repeatedly. In that case, it could make sense to sign up for an airline co-branded credit card so you can passively earn points and miles and other perks that bring down flight costs. 

Airline co-branded credit cards definitely aren't for everyone, so you should examine your travel habits, most frequently used airlines, loyalty and points systems, and the airline perks most useful to you before deciding whether to open one. 

Read more about the pros and cons of getting an airline co-branded credit card.

There are a handful of low-cost and ultra-low-cost carriers that offer dirt-cheap base fares for flights. And while we don't typically send out deals on these airlines (think Sun Country and Frontier), budget airlines can be the ticket to locking in the cheapest fares. 

Budget airlines achieve low base fares because they skimp on the luxuries, like carry-ons and seat selection (instead they're offered at an extra cost). But that doesn't always mean the onboard experience is low quality. 

Flying with a budget airline won't be for every traveler, but if your main airport is a small one, you're price conscious, in-flight services aren't as important to you, and you aren't traveling for long (and can therefore get by with less luggage), a budget airline might make sense for you.

An open-jaw flight is a roundtrip itinerary that arrives in one city and departs from another (e.g., Boise to London, Paris to Boise). Open-jaw flights allow travelers to see two destinations in one trip without backtracking to the initial destination to catch their flight home, hence saving you money on an extra plane or train ticket in-destination. 

A common misconception is that open-jaw fares are more expensive than roundtrip tickets. In most cases, they're about the same price, though they can actually be cheaper if you play with the routing and time of travel. If you're traveling internationally and plan to visit more than one city, booking an open-jaw ticket would definitely be cheaper than booking two one-way flights. 

Read more about how to book open-jaw flights to save you time and money.

If all else fails, get yourself to an airport with better deals, whether you drive, take a bus, train, or even short flight.

For example, if you live in Upstate New York, it could make sense to reposition yourself to take advantage of flight deals from NYC's JFK, LaGuardia, or even Newark. In a more dramatic scenario, you may snag a mistake fare (like one we recently sent from Toronto to Ireland over the summer for $317 roundtrip), in which case it'd probably be worth your time and money to take a short drive, train, or flight over the border to Toronto to snag the deal. 

With repositioning flights, there's unfortunately a risk. As you have to book repositioning flights separately from your primary flight, airlines won't see the two as connected, and they're not obligated to rebook you for free if a delay on the first flight causes you to miss the second. Instead, you might have to buy a new flight all together.

To mitigate this risk, book a repositioning flight that arrives several hours (or even a day or two) before the long-haul flight departs. Bonus: It's a great way to add another city to your trip.

Read more about why you'd want to take a repositioning flight, the risks involved, and how to book one.

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