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Kick off a brand new year with my favorite resolution: Never pay a penny more than you have to for airfare. And to help you keep this resolution – and save – check out the following five best times to fly in 2013.

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5 Best Times to Fly in 2013

The key to finding the best flights during these periods is, as always, flexibility. Consider vacationing during one of these off-peak travel times.

1. January

This is one of the major dead zones of the year, meaning no one wants to fly so prices are cheap. Wait until seven days in to begin a trip so you don’t hit the last of the higher-priced New Year’s flights.

Note: We are seeing higher airfares on some flights to the Washington, D.C., area immediately before and after Jan. 20 due to the presidential inauguration.

2. First half of February

This month can be cheap until Spring Break kicks in, but you may have to skip travel to New Orleans early on thanks to the Super Bowl (Feb. 3) which almost always means higher airfare. The same can be true for Las Vegas since is so often unofficial party headquarters for game day celebrations.

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3. Springtime for Europe

This is a good time for travel to Europe because you can often save hundreds in airfare before the peak-summer rates kick in. Higher ticket prices usually start cropping up from mid to late May and can rise again in late June.

4. Summer holidays

You may have heard me talk about finding decent holiday deals by flying on Thanksgiving Day or Christmas Day – and this can also work for Memorial Day, July 4^th and Labor Day. The days before and after these holidays will be more expensive.

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5. Dead zones of November and December

Traffic is typically slow before the major holidays, which is why the first two weeks in November and the first couple of weeks after Thanksgiving are cheap dead zones. Avoid the most popular holiday travel dates and chances are you’ll find a very good deal.