Are you someone who books their flights and then don't really think about it again until it's time for your trip? Well, I have a tip just for you so keep reading below!

I was actually that person who would forget about my flight after I booked it. I recently just discovered this travel tip by accident. I've been fortunate to be able to travel for free (or practically free) because I've accumulated a lot of points through travel hacking (more details about travel hacking in a future post) that can be redeemed towards flights. So I would generally book my flights with the points and don't really think about it again until the trip. However, the other day I was looking at flights to book for my next trip and I stumbled upon the same exact flight that I had already booked and noticed that the points needed to book that flight was LESS than the points that I originally used to book that flight. I rebooked that flight -- which is basically just changing the flight to the exact same flight -- and the airline gave me back the difference in points. 

I originally booked this flight for 14,521 points.

I rebooked the same flight for 8,713 points instead.

The airline refunded me the difference, which was 5,808 points.

The airline I used to book this flight was Southwest Airlines and they're known to have no change fees so double check with your airline as they might charge you a fee to change your flight even if it's the exact same flight. 

This works for both flights booked using points or cash. So if you paid for your flight in cash (as in didn't use points), you can get the difference refunded as well. With Southwest Airlines, they issue the refund as a travel voucher so you can use the funds towards another flight.

My boyfriend originally booked the same flight for $199.

He rebooked the same exact flight for $129 instead.

Southwest refunded my boyfriend the difference of $70 in travel funds.

It's fairly common for prices to go down after you book your flight but it's not a guarantee. I highly recommend checking your flight from time to time before your trip to see if the price went down. You can track the flight using Google Flights, which is what I do for flights not with Southwest Airlines because Southwest Airlines don't use any third-party booking apps (I'll do a post about using Google Flights soon) but you can also manually track it through the airline's website.

This easy travel tip can ultimately save you money if you're willing to put in some time to do your research on prices. To put things in perspective, you can book a one way trip from San Diego to any city in California, Arizona, Nevada, Washington or Oregon for under $70 with Southwest Airlines (disclaimer: *time of year and date of travel varies) so definitely don't sleep on this tip! 

Several flights from San Diego to Seattle for under $70! As you can see from the calendar above, Southwest Airlines offers several flights for under $70 from San Diego to Seattle. Travel dates and times do vary but this shows that by saving money from a flight that you already booked can lead to you to booking two flights for the price of one!  *Disclaimer: All views expressed on this post are my own and do not represent the opinions of any entity whatsoever with which I have been, am now, or will be affiliated.

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I hope you enjoyed my first Travel Tip. I'll be adding on to this series weekly so stay tuned and follow along as I share different travel tips to help you save money and even travel for free! :)