Once again we’ve noticed a surge of cheap airfares to fly to Panama City (PTY - Tocumen Airport), the major international airport in Panama City, Panama.

Depending on your dates, you can find a return ticket in the $400 - $800 price range from Los Angeles, New York, Houston, Miami, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris, London and many other cities worldwide. Go here for airlines that fly to Panama AFTER READING WHAT'S HERE BELOW...

It's also worth mentioning two other options to travel to Panama besides flying direct into Panama City. As there are so many flights to neighboring countries Costa Rica and Colombia, you can also book an itinerary passing through them if it turns out cheaper for you.

Not wanting you to miss out on these flight deals, as well as on our Current Offers & Discounts, we’ve put together these tips on how to get the cheapest flight to Panama from anywhere in the world.

1. Use the Best Flight Search Engines

All search engines are not created equal. Some for example inflate price costs in order to make a commission. Thus, it’s important to familiarize yourself with various search engines, including those that show budget airlines. In my own personal experience Skyscanner usually has the best rates, though there doesn’t seem to be a search engine that gets the cheapest flight 100% of the time. Momondo searches all major AND budget airlines, non-English websites, English websites, and everything in between.

A good strategy is to set aside some time to try a few different search engines before booking your deal.

Here are some that you can try (in no particular order):

• Google Flights
• Skyscanner
• AirFare Watchdog
• Momondo
• Cheapoair (U.S., Canada, U.K.)
• ITA Matrix
• Kayak

2. Identify the Cheapest Day to Fly Out

Airline ticket prices vary depending on the day of the week, time of year, and upcoming holidays. Most of the time it's cheaper to fly on a weekday (and to book your flight on a weekday too), though this isn’t always the case. Prices are also cheaper if you fly after a major holiday. Early-morning or late-night flights are cheaper because fewer people want to travel then.

Lots has been said about how far in advance you should book a flight (many studies even contradict each other), but you can form your own opinion by quickly reading a couple of articles (hopefully they won't confuse you even more - try to take away the general ideas and guidelines):

• The Best Time to Book a Plane Ticket, According to A New Study
• How to Find the Best Airfares and Cheapest Flights in 2017
• Here's the best time to buy airline tickets in 2015

In our experience it's generally a safe bet to book your flight 1 to 3 months before your trip, and then paying attention to all the other tips mentioned in the above articles will help you get the best deal (days of the week to fly, to book, to return)... but at the end of the day the flight search engines take the guess work out of the equation if used properly (specially when you can see the trends and historical prices in a monthly calendar - more on that below).

But the truth is, you'll never know for sure. If it's within your budget, then go for it and book your ticket, as we're experiencing an historical low for flights to Panama.

Almost all search engines now allow you to see flights within a three-day time span of your proposed date. This is a powerful tool to ensure that you’re getting the cheapest ticket.

Even better, your best strategy is to get a quick visual of prices for a whole month to see what days are cheapest for your specific route. Here’s an example of how to to scan the process for travel within a specific time-span:

• Step 1. Hop on SkyScanner
• Step 2. Enter your departure & arrival cities
• Step 3. Select “one-way” (even if flying round trip – you’re just determining the cheapest days to fly out first)
• Step 4. Click “Depart” but instead of entering a date, select “Whole Month” so you can see which date is cheapest
• Step 5. Hit “search” and see which date is cheapest

Google Flights works similarly to Skyscanner by aggregating various search results for different flight dates, however, you can’t actually book flights on it as of yet... right now you get sent directly to the airline site.

Bonus tip: just enter your local airport in the "where from" box in Google Flights and then click on the map with prices below and you'll get a visual of cheap fares anywhere in the world. This might not get you to Panama on the cheap, but it could give you some other amazing and affordable holiday ideas.

3. Take Advantage of Student Discounts

Often students and young adults feel too financially constrained to travel. However, few realize that, if you are a student (or under 26), there are programs that can offer you student discounts on flights and accommodations. STA Travel or Flight Centre can help find you a cheap ticket.

4. Book that Error Fare Deal IMMEDIATELY

Flight mistake fares, otherwise known as error fares or airline price glitches, are a HUGELY reduced flight ticket due to a mistake. Often the airline notices the error and corrects it within a few hours. Thus, you have to be ready to book and ask questions later when you see an error fare! Luckily, there are a few websites that track error fares and alert customers immediately:

Secret Flying is the most popular site for worldwide flight pricing errors. Each day, they post current mistake fares (in mysterious ways), and are update subscribers about when tickets sell out or become defunct. You can subscribe via e-mail, or follow on Facebook or Twitter to keep hot deals on your radar. Other great resources for finding mistake fares include The Flight Deal, Fly4Free, Airfare Watchdog, FlyerTalk Mileage Run forums, FareCompare, and SkyScanner.

Don’t worry about the airline canceling your flight if it’s an error fare. Airlines will honor error fairs and the booking price. Furthermore, if you decide to cancel for any reason, airlines are required by the DOT to offer 24-hour free hold or cancellations as long as you are booking your ticket at least 7 days prior to your travel date.

With all this in mind, now you have no excuse not to come down to Panama and learn Spanish! We hope this helps you find a ticket to Panama within your budget, and we're here 7 days a week, to help you make it happen. Go ahead and contact us!

Now, if you're old school and want to do your research airline by airline, then go here where you'll find a list of airlines that fly to Panama. Just remember to clear your computer's cookies, use different browsers after each session and/or do your search from different IP addresses to avoid any specific airline tracking your online behavior and then spiking up the price after figuring out that you're REALLY interested in #Panama =).

FIND MORE ABOUT SPANISH LEARNING VACATIONS IN PANAMA... »

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