When planning a vacation or business travel, you can be sure that airfare will definitely be the most significant expense of the trip. So, even though you may have mastered finding cheap accommodation, you, and probably many other people, still need to learn how to find cheap flights and lower the trip expenses as much as possible. Of course, the price of the tickets and the flights primarily depend on many different factors, from the airline fuel prices, class and luxury of the seats, to the season in which you are to fly. However, there are many ways you can avoid being that one person who paid way too much for a ticket, so, if you are looking for some tips and tricks on getting tickets for cheap, you’re in the right place.
Cheap Tickets Require Flexibility
In case you’re traveling to a specific location at a particular time, it is hard to be flexible, of course, but here’s what you can do:
- Look for earlier flights
- To find cheap flights, fly mid-week or the day of the actual holiday, since many people travel before the holiday
- Travel on road to a different airport to save some bucks
Getting those cheap flights requires flexibility in travel plans, so make sure to consider different options, like flying earlier or on the actual date of a holiday or other special occasion. This way you will definitely look into lower expenses. Even though flexibility might not be an option for the majority reading this article, at least you can try the alternate airports or travel dates, as they are the easiest ways to save money and still make it home for holidays.
Use Flight Search Engines
According to ThriftyNomads, all search engines offer higher flight costs as a part of taking a cut from the airlines. This is a typical practice, and therefore you need to use trusted sources. Some flight search engines, like Expedia, Priceline or Orbitz, all offer ‘great deals’, but actually inflate their prices much higher than other flight search engines do. Here’s a list of trusted flight search engines you can use to get the cheapest tickets out there:
- Skyscanner: offers cheap flight deals, hotels, accommodation and transportation
- Airfare Watchdog: offers sale and error fares
- Momondo: a broader search engine that sometimes provides better deals than Skyscanner
- Kiwi.com: combines all airlines in order to create routes that are ultimately cheaper than 1-airline flight
- AirWander: provided a choice to extend layovers into stopovers to visit two destinations with one trip
- JetRadar: includes budget airlines, like WizzAir
- Google Flight: offers a quick comparison between flight dates, but doesn’t provide lowest prices
One more thing: when checking the flight prices, make sure to do it in incognito mode on Google Chrome. This way, your computer won’t keep track of your history, so the flight search engines won’t raise their prices in order to keep the competition out.
Last- Minute Deals And 24-Hour Cancellation Policies
There are many ways to keep track of the last-minute deals, but Twitter seems to be the best one. By following accounts like @SecretFlying, you can be sure to run into some great deals they post regularly. They post some of the cheapest fares, and they keep their account and posts updated daily, which is excellent for people who travel a lot.
Moreover, if you don’t want to miss out on a good ticket and flight deal elsewhere outside Twitter, make sure to take advantage of the 24-hour cancellation policies. Many flight search engines offer these policies, which have turned out to be super useful for those who travel last-minute. However, when embarking on such a short-due journey, make sure to book your flight on Friday, so that you have the whole weekend to prepare or even cancel the trip on Monday.
Book a Connecting Flight
In case you’re not in a hurry to reach the final destination, or you’re merely looking for an adventure, try booking a connecting flight. A connecting flight, according to Forbes, can be much cheaper than a regular, non-stop flight. You can always look for this option on the flight search engines as they will let you filter flight itineraries by non-stop, one-stop or 2+ stops per flight.
However, before booking a connecting flight, or return, make sure to check the single fares first. The reason for this is the possibility of getting a discount if you book a round trip in one go. This may not always be the case though, so make sure to look into both of the options before reaching a final decision. Buying singles with different airlines individually, or purchasing flight separately can save money but also be much more flexible regarding airports and flight dates.
Fly for Free by Gaining Points.
So, forget about getting the cheapest tickets; it is time to look into the phenomenon of a ‘free flight.’ The easiest way to fly for free is with points; acquiring points would require signing up for just one travel reward credit card and hitting the minimum spend. This can get you some major points bonus, and in many cases, a completely free flight.
Again, according to ThriftyNomads, you can sign up for an airline rewards card that can earn you points with a particular airline. You can also sign up for a more general travel reward card that allows you to use the points across a variety of different airlines. If you’re new to this phenomenon, make sure to start with the most popular beginner card, the Chase Sapphire Preferred. For this card, the annual fee is renounced, and you can earn up to 50,000 points once you spend the first $4,000 in the first three months after the account opening. The 50,000 points are worth $625 when redeemed through the Chase Ultimate Rewards, which is more than enough for a flight.
BIO: Eveline Heston is a skilled freelance writer who has a great experience in dissertation writing services uk, as well as journalism. She is educated on a wide variety of topics, such as psychology, literature, education, travel, and many more. Eveline majored in pre-school education and English language and literature, which helps her during her researches and guides.