Are you lucky enough to live in a big city, with lots of airports nearby?

I say “lucky” because that means more options, and more options means better deals. For example, those near metropolitan New York area have a choice of LaGuardia, JFK and Newark; in Chicago, there’s O’Hare and Midway; and Angelenos can choose from LAX, Burbank, Long Beach, and even John Wayne in Orange County (they’re used to traveling distances there).

Don’t live in a big city? Well, maybe you live, oh — say, right on the Ohio/ Pennsylvania border – you could use smaller airports, but your best bet might be between Cleveland and Pittsburgh (bigger usually means cheaper – though not always).

Keep reading for my simple steps to money-saving airport shopping…

Remember, the best deals usually depend on your degree of flexibility. Ask yourself the following:

• How far are you willing to drive to get to an airport?
• Will a distant airport be accessible to you in bad weather?
• Can you shift departure/return dates to use an airport with a better deal?

Now here’s how to work it:

TWITTER: If you follow FareCompare’s deals “from your airport” on Twitter, be sure to set it up so you get the instant deals for every airport you could possibly use. Sign up is quick and easy. Just click here, and you’re on your way.

EMAIL: You’re probably familiar with FareCompare’s real-time email alerts – but maybe you’ve only set it up for a single airport. Go ahead, click here to quickly set up more airport alerts, and get that working for you.

DEAL FINDER: One of my favorite tools ever – but if you only search from one airport on FareCompare’s deal finder, you may not be getting the most out of it. Do a couple of different airport searches at the same time on multiple browser windows – then, compare and save.

Remember, too – there is the “convenience” factor – and the “time-is-money” factor. But if neither one of these is an obstacle for you, you can save more.