Cheap flights to
Palm Springs (PSP)

Although there doesn’t appear to be much rhyme or reason to the ever-changing cost of airline tickets, there are some trends we’ve found that can help travelers save money. There’s a period of time before a flight when the best deals are usually found: 1-3 months before a domestic flight, and 2-8 months before an international one. We call this the Goldilocks Window, since it’s all about booking when the timing is “just right.”

There are a few situations when booking in the Goldilocks Window would actually be too late, however. If you’re flying over a major holiday or during peak season, you should add a few months to the ranges above. The same is true if you don’t have any wiggle room on the days that you need to fly. It’s also worth mentioning that last-minute bargain fares are incredibly uncommon, and, in fact, airlines nearly always raise prices on tickets as departure nears—usually 21, 14, and 7 days before a flight is scheduled. Book before then if you can.

Sometimes the best deal on a flight happens to be from your home airport. And sometimes, there’s a better deal that departs from a completely different airport—and if you’re only checking the flights from your usual departure point, you could end up overpaying for a ticket. We see surprisingly low fares all the time from airports of all sizes, so it’s always worth a look around before you click the buy button.

Palm Springs is a smaller airport, but it’s such a popular tourist destination that there are 25 U.S. airports with nonstop flights into PSP. But even if there’s a direct flight from the airport nearest you, it’s a good idea to look around at other potential departure points to see if there’s some kind of amazing fare deal to be had. Flights from Boston to Palm Springs may be as much as $600 roundtrip, but from JFK a flight is less than $300. That kind of savings may even make adding a $140 roundtrip flight from Boston to JFK worth it.

You may already know that scheduling flexibility is one of the best ways to save money when you travel. Planning a trip during a destination's shoulder season or even off-season can mean enormous savings on flights, hotels, and attractions. Summer is the high season for lots of popular destinations, not least because it’s when kids are out of school, and families can travel more easily. In Palm Springs, though, summer is the off-season because it can get searingly hot. If you can take the heat, you can actually fly for less in the summer than during Palm Springs’ high season (January-April).

Even if you’re planning a high-season trip to Palm Springs, though, you can often save a little bit by being strategic about the days you fly. Fridays and Sundays are among the most expensive days of the week to fly. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays are among the cheapest, so aim for those if you can.

You can put technology to work for you, potentially saving yourself time and money with airfare alerts. Simply plug in a trip you’re hoping to take, and you’ll be notified via email when the cost of a ticket drops. If you’re considering multiple trips or dates, you’ll have to set up multiple alerts, but this is an excellent way to find good airfare deals. Or, you can sign up for Going and let us put our expertise and resources to good use.

Palm Springs International Airport (PSP) is considered a medium-sized airport. There are 25 airports around the country with direct flights into Palm Springs, though some of these are only offered seasonally, and there are also nonstop flights into PSP from several cities in Canada. Twelve airlines serve Palm Springs. Southwest and Alaska each have six routes to PSP, and American and United each have five. Even if you can’t get a direct flight from your home airport, PSP has nonstop service from big hub airports around the US, so you should be able to get to Palm Springs with no more than one layover.