Last month, I paid $87 for a round-trip flight from Orlando to LA. No, I didn’t sell my kidney or hack into an airline’s booking system. I just knew when to look, where to click, and honestly, got a little lucky with timing.

Let me tell you, the Orlando to Los Angeles route is one of those flights that can either destroy your travel budget or leave you with extra cash for tacos in Silver Lake. I’ve flown this route maybe a dozen times over the past few years—visiting friends, catching connecting flights, and once for a totally impulsive weekend trip to see a concert. And I’ve learned that the price difference between doing it right and doing it wrong is kind of insane. We’re talking anywhere from $59 one-way to $400, depending on how you play it.

The thing is, most people approach booking this flight like they’re shopping for groceries—they need to go on specific dates, so they just pay whatever shows up on Google Flights and move on with their lives. But if you’ve got even a tiny bit of flexibility (and I mean like, two or three days), you can pretty much guarantee you’ll find something under $150 round-trip. Sometimes way under.

Why This Route Is Actually Perfect for Budget Travelers

Here’s what I love about the Orlando-LA flight situation: it’s competitive as hell. You’ve got Spirit, Frontier, Southwest, JetBlue, Delta, United, and American all fighting for customers on this route. When airlines compete, we win. Simple as that.

I remember back in 2019, I was trying to get to LA for a friend’s wedding and was prepared to drop like $300 on a ticket. Then Spirit announced they were adding more flights on this route, and suddenly everyone else started dropping their prices to compete. I ended up paying $112 for a nonstop on JetBlue during peak summer travel season. It was one of those moments where I literally did a little victory dance in my apartment.

The distance is about 2,200 miles, which means you’re looking at roughly 5 to 5.5 hours in the air for nonstop flights. That’s long enough that you’ll want to bring snacks and entertainment, but short enough that you won’t lose an entire day to travel. And honestly, I’ve found that even the ultra-low-cost carriers are totally manageable for this duration if you pack smart.

Timing Is Everything (But Not How You Think)

Okay, so everyone always says “book on Tuesday at 3pm” or whatever, and that’s mostly garbage. What actually matters is booking far enough in advance and avoiding the absolutely worst travel days. But here’s the twist—sometimes booking too far in advance bites you in the ass.

I typically start monitoring prices about 2 to 3 months before I want to travel. That’s my sweet spot. I’ll set up price alerts on Google Flights and Going (formerly Scott’s Cheap Flights—still getting used to the name change). Then I watch. And I wait. And I try not to panic-book at the first decent price I see, which is harder than it sounds.

The best prices I’ve found are usually for flights departing on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Saturdays. Thursdays and Sundays are when everyone’s trying to travel, so prices spike. Fridays are hit or miss—sometimes good because it’s technically a weekday, sometimes terrible because people are starting their weekends.

Last October, I found a $59 one-way on Spirit for a Wednesday morning departure. The catch? It left at 6:40am, which meant I had to be at MCO at like 5am. Was it brutal? Yeah. Did I look like a zombie at LAX? Absolutely. Would I do it again to save $100? You bet.

The Airlines That Actually Make This Route Affordable

Let me break down what I’ve learned about each carrier on this route, because they’re all pretty different in terms of what you’re getting for your money.

Spirit and Frontier are your absolute cheapest options, and I’ve flown both multiple times on this route. If you can travel with just a personal item (which fits under the seat), you can sometimes get these flights for under $100 round-trip. No joke. But you need to be smart about it—don’t get suckered into buying their overpriced seat selections or insurance add-ons during booking. Pack light, bring your own snacks, and download some Netflix shows before you go.

I had this one Spirit flight where the guy next to me spent $85 on his base fare and then probably another $100 on bags, seat selection, and onboard snacks. He ended up paying more than I would’ve paid on Southwest, and he was cramped in a middle seat while I was happily in my free random assignment with my backpack under the seat. Sometimes cheap isn’t cheap if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Southwest is my go-to when I need flexibility. They still offer two free checked bags (which is pretty much unheard of anymore), and you can cancel or change flights without fees. Their prices on this route usually hover around $150-200 round-trip, which isn’t the absolute cheapest, but the value is there. Plus, their Rapid Rewards program is actually useful, unlike some airline miles that expire before you can ever use them.

JetBlue is kind of the sweet spot when they have sales. You get decent legroom, free Wi-Fi for messaging, and usually a better overall experience than the ultra-low-cost carriers. I’ve snagged JetBlue flights on this route for around $140 round-trip during their flash sales, and it felt like winning the lottery.

The Secret Weapon: Positioning Flights and Mistake Fares

This is where things get interesting, and honestly, where I’ve saved the most money over the years. Sometimes the cheapest way to get from Orlando to LA isn’t a direct Orlando-to-LA flight at all.

I’ve booked positioning flights from Orlando to Fort Lauderdale or Tampa (like $40 on Spirit), and then found absolutely insane deals from those airports to LA. It sounds crazy, but hear me out. Sometimes there are crazy fare wars or mistake fares that only apply to certain origin cities. If you’re willing to add a little extra travel time, you can save serious cash.

Last year, there was this glitch fare from Tampa to LA for $78 round-trip on American Airlines. I was checking prices from Orlando and everything was like $250+. So I booked a separate $29 Spirit flight from Orlando to Tampa, timed it with a 3-hour layover (which I spent working from the Tampa airport—not glamorous but whatever), and saved almost $150 total. The whole thing took an extra 2 hours compared to a direct flight, but I brought my laptop and just treated the Tampa airport as a weird office for the afternoon.

The key with this strategy is making sure you book these as separate tickets and give yourself plenty of buffer time. If you miss your connection because of a delay, that’s on you, not the airline. I usually give myself at least 4 hours between flights when I do this, which yes, is a lot of sitting around, but I’m cheap and I don’t mind it.

Apps and Tools That Actually Work

I’m not going to recommend a million different apps because honestly, you only need a few good ones. Google Flights is my starting point for pretty much every flight search. It’s fast, the calendar view is amazing for seeing price trends, and the price tracking actually works.

Going (the Scott’s Cheap Flights rebrand) is worth the free subscription if you’re flexible with your dates. They send out deals multiple times a week, and I’d say about 30% of them are actually good. The premium version is $50/year, and I’ll be honest—it’s paid for itself several times over for me, but only because I travel a lot. If you’re just looking for one or two trips a year, the free version is probably fine.

Hopper is hit or miss. Their price predictions are interesting, but I don’t base my booking decisions on them. I use it more as a secondary opinion. Like, if Hopper says “prices are likely to go up” and Google Flights shows a decent fare, I’ll probably just book it instead of waiting.

One thing I learned the hard way: don’t use those meta-search sites that make you complete the booking on some random third-party website. I once saved $20 booking through one of those sites, and then when my flight got cancelled, it took me literally 6 hours on hold to get rebooked instead of the 20 minutes it would’ve taken directly through the airline. That $20 savings cost me half a day of my life. Not worth it.

What I Pack (Because It Makes Cheap Flights Cheaper)

This probably seems random, but how you pack directly impacts whether that $75 Spirit flight stays $75 or balloons to $150.

I’ve got this 40-liter backpack that’s my personal item on every budget airline flight. It fits under the seat on Spirit and Frontier, and I can pack enough for a week-long trip if I plan it right. Clothes, toiletries, laptop, chargers, snacks—everything. The key is rolling your clothes instead of folding them and wearing your bulkiest shoes on the plane.

For food, I always pack a sandwich, some nuts, and a couple protein bars. Airport food is expensive, and airplane food on budget carriers is even worse. I’ve seen people pay $12 for a sad sandwich on Spirit when they could’ve just brought one from home. That’s the price of a whole other flight somewhere if you add it up over time.

Bring your own entertainment too. Download shows, bring a book, load up some podcasts. Spirit and Frontier don’t have seatback screens, and their Wi-Fi is both expensive and unreliable. I learned this on my first Spirit flight when I assumed I’d just stream Netflix and ended up staring at the seat in front of me for 5 hours. Not my finest moment.

When Cheap Flights Aren’t Actually Cheap

Look, I’m all about saving money, but sometimes the cheapest option isn’t actually the best value. Let me share a cautionary tale.

I once booked a flight with two layovers to save $80 compared to a nonstop. On paper, great deal. In reality? The first flight got delayed, I missed my connection, spent 8 hours sleeping on the floor in Phoenix, and arrived in LA 14 hours later than planned. I basically lost an entire day of my trip and felt like garbage when I finally arrived. Would I pay $80 to avoid that experience? Absolutely.

So here’s my rule: if a direct flight is less than $100 more than a connecting flight, I’ll usually just pay for the direct. My time is worth something, and there’s a limit to how much inconvenience I’m willing to tolerate for savings.

Also, watch out for those early morning and late-night flights. Yeah, they’re cheaper, but you might end up spending money on a hotel near the airport or an expensive rideshare at odd hours. I’ve definitely saved $60 on a flight and then spent $80 on an Uber at 5am because public transit wasn’t running yet. Do the math on the total trip cost, not just the airfare.

The Flexibility Factor Changes Everything

The absolute cheapest flights I’ve ever found on this route came from being genuinely flexible about my dates. Like, “I want to visit LA sometime in March” flexible, not “I need to be there March 15-18” inflexible.

When you search on Google Flights, use that calendar grid view instead of searching specific dates. You’ll see prices for the entire month, and sometimes you’ll find that flying out on Tuesday instead of Monday saves you $90. Or that coming back on Thursday instead of Sunday cuts your costs in half.

I get it though—most people don’t have unlimited flexibility. You’ve got work, commitments, life stuff. But if you can even shift your dates by 48 hours in either direction, you’ll usually find better deals. And if you’re planning far enough in advance, you might be able to request specific days off work to align with cheaper flights.

The most extreme version of this is what I call “reverse planning,” where I literally search for the cheapest flights first and then plan my trip around those dates. It’s not for everyone, but I’ve gotten some absolutely stupid-cheap flights this way. Last spring, I found a $67 round-trip from Orlando to LA, but it was for random dates in April that I hadn’t been planning to travel. I cleared my schedule, booked it, and had an amazing week exploring LA for way less than I would’ve spent on a “convenient” weekend trip.

Making It Happen

Here’s the thing about finding cheap flights—it requires a little patience and a willingness to be slightly opportunistic. You’re not going to find a $75 round-trip every single time you search, but if you know these strategies and you’re willing to be somewhat flexible, you’ll consistently find decent deals.

Start monitoring prices now, even if you’re not ready to book yet. Get a feel for what’s normal, what’s a good deal, and what’s an amazing deal. Set those price alerts. Sign up for Going’s free emails. Check Google Flights once or twice a week when you’re bored.

And when you do find a great fare, don’t overthink it. I used to agonize over whether to book or wait for prices to drop further, and I probably missed out on dozens of good deals because of that. Now, if I see a price that’s noticeably below average and it works for my schedule, I book it. The peace of mind is worth it.

Trust me, there’s nothing quite like telling your friends you paid $89 to fly across the country while they dropped $300+ for the same trip. It’s a small victory, but it’s one that adds up over time and makes this whole budget travel thing feel totally worth it.

---

---