Finding the best deal on flights is important because they can make up the largest portion of your trip costs. If a flight is too costly, you won’t go anywhere. Today I will show you how to find a low-cost flight. These are exactly the steps I use. These are the exact steps I follow. You’ll never pay more for a ticket on a flight.
First, be aware that there are many reasons why flights can be so expensive. Airlines are now under financial pressure to make profits and can’t lower fares. They also have less competition, making it more difficult for them to reduce fares. In addition, airlines are now flying full-sized planes because they have cut routes and reduced their capacity. A fuller plane means a lower incentive to lower fares. Even though oil prices are down significantly, airlines won’t lower fares because they’re making money for the first time since long. (More: Why is your airfare so expensive.
However, this doesn’t mean that the deck is stacked against your favor. Every day, thousands of deals are available from mislaid cheap fares to regular deals to discounted prices that allow you to compete with other airlines. If you’re able to locate them, there are many cheap fares available.
This is my 13-point guide for finding cheap flights. It’s based on more than ten years of experience and thousands of flights.
13 Steps to Get Cheap Flights
Don’t believe the myths
Many myths exist online about how to find cheap flights.These myths will lead you wrong. Finding a low-cost flight is not easy. There is no secret formula or magic bullet. Let me start by saying that it is not cheaper to fly on Tuesdays, there is no evidence to suggest that searching incognito will lead to better deals, and there is no specific date or time frame in which you can book your flight.
Flexibility is key when it comes to travel dates and times
Prices for airline tickets vary according to the day of week, the time of year and upcoming holidays such as Christmas Eve, Thanksgiving or Fourth of July.August is a popular month to travel around Europe. Everyone wants to travel in the winter, or when their kids are not at school.
You will pay more if you fly at the same time as everyone else. Flexibility is key. If you’re determined to visit Paris, travel to Paris in spring or autumn when there are fewer tourists and the airfares are less expensive.
It’s also cheaper to fly on a weekday than on weekends, as most people travel on weekends, and airlines raise their prices. You can also fly after major holidays for a lower price. Because fewer people are willing to travel that time (who wants to get up early ?!).), prices are lower for late-night or early-morning flights. Savings of hundreds of dollars can be made by a difference of just one day.
This is why I consider this my top tip for finding cheap flights. Flying when everyone else is flying will save you the most money. Although you may long for Paris in summer, everyone else has and the airlines have set prices accordingly. They are able to predict when a holiday, major sporting event, or school break will be happening. They don’t think they are dumb and raise prices accordingly.
Fly flexible and you’ll be a lot more successful than everyone else.
Flexibility is key when choosing your destination
You don’t have to be flexible about where you fly if you aren’t able to.While it’s better to do both, if you want to save money on your flight, at least one of them is a good idea.
It is now much easier to search for the lowest airfare using an airline search engine. Kayak’s “Explore” feature allows you to enter your home airport and view a map with all of the flights. Google Flights has a similar but better feature. These are great tools for planning if you’re flexible about where you want go (i.e. anywhere but your home). This is how it looks:
Step 1: Click the map at Google Flights.
Search Google Flights to find cheap airline tickets
Step 2: Enter your dates and your home airport. Enjoy all your options! Step 2: Enter your dates and home airport, and enjoy all the options!
Google Flights: Finding Cheap Flights
You will find and use the best airfare deals if you are flexible about where you want to travel.
You are bound to one price if you stay in one place. There is no magic or voodoo that can alter this. But if you are flexible, you will find incredible cheap airfare.
Fly with budget airlines
In the past, it was difficult to fly between continents if you didn’t want to use expensive, traditional airlines.This is no longer the case. Many long-haul routes are now available on budget airlines, which makes it easy to travel around the globe for very little money. Norwegian Airlines offers a $250 per-head flight between Europe and Bangkok. WOW Air offers cheap flights from the United States to Europe and Iceland for as low as $99. AirAsia has crazy-low prices on flights to Asia and Australia. Prices start at $100 per way. For $30 USD, you can even find tickets from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur. Cheap flights are available from India and the Middle East to Africa and other subcontinents. A budget airline can take you most of the way around the globe.
There are very few budget airlines in America. In Europe and Asia, however, there are many more budget airlines and the competition has helped to keep prices low. These low-cost airlines often offer no-fare flights – you only pay the taxes.
Budget airlines are a great alternative to “the majors”, if you can. While you get fewer perks than the majors, you can still save big on price.
Be aware of fees. This is how they make their money so you won’t get charged a huge fee if you don’t follow their rules. Checked bags, carry-ons and printing of your boarding pass will be charged by budget airlines. To ensure that your price is less than the larger airline, add the cost of the ticket and the fees.
These airlines are my go-to for long, overnight flights. Southwest, Spirit and Ryanair are the best budget airlines.
(Pro tip: You don’t have to be a junkie and want to know which budget airlines fly where. Visit the website of your destination airport for a list.
Fly direct not always
Flexibility is important for both dates and destinations. You should also be flexible about the route you choose.It can sometimes be cheaper to fly to London, then take a budget airline to Amsterdam. There are many budget airlines around the globe, so taking advantage of a deal to another city and then jumping on a cheap flight to your destination can sometimes be a better option. Once I needed to fly to Paris. The flight cost was $900 USD. However, I could fly to Dublin for $600 to get a $60 flight to Paris. Although it meant I had to fly longer, the $240 saved was well worth it.
This is how I calculate the cost of flying direct to my destination. Next, I open Google Flights. To see prices for nearby airports, I type the destination’s continent into Google Flights. If there is a difference of more than $150, I will look at the cost to travel from my primary destination to the second airport.
You can save lots of money by working with different airlines and special offers. However, this method is not right for everyone. This method is more labor-intensive because you need to check with different airlines and find many different routes. It will save you money and give you more time at your destination.
Search engines are not all created equal
To ensure that you’re not missing any opportunities, you should search as many flight search sites as possible.Because budget airlines are not willing to pay booking commissions, many search engines don’t list them.
You should check several sites before booking. There will be price variations and you don’t want to miss out on a great deal. The best search engines have no connection to any airline. They make their money through advertising and not bookings. However, all websites have weaknesses and may not contain every airline. You won’t find Ryanair, AirAsia or any other budget airlines on major sites such as Orbitz, Expedia or Offingo. The US booking sites don’t often have obscure foreign airlines like those on international sites such as Skyscanner and Momondo. Blind spots are the reason why booking sites don’t offer coverage for every country and every airline.
There is no perfect airline search engine. Every search engine is imperfect. These are my favorites:
- Momondo
- Google Flights (This site is great for searching multiple cities).
- ITA Matrix
- Skyscanner
- Kayak
Momondo is my first choice for all of my search needs. It searches all major and budget airlines, non-English websites as well as English websites. They have strict criteria for who they work with and I have been using them since 2008. Momondo is one the best booking sites, with the lowest prices 99% of all time. It’s also the search engine that most travel professionals use. While the other sites are great and not to be overlooked, Momondo should be your first choice!
Student discounts available
There are many discounts for students and those under 26.There are many student discount codes available. Travel agencies such as STA Travel or Flight Centre will help you find a low-cost ticket.
Register for frequent flyer programs and travel hacks
You can get free tickets, upgrades and companion tickets by signing up for airline rewards programs.You should sign up for the airline reward program, regardless of how often you fly. Because they are part of all major alliances, I prefer US-based airlines. You can also earn miles on partner flights. United Airlines miles can be earned if you fly Singapore Airlines. The same applies to Air France. It’s credited into my Delta Rewards account. So I always earn miles every time I fly. If you’re not from the United States, you can use an airline from your country that is part of one of these alliances.
You can also travel the world by earning points and miles, which is known as “travel hacking”. These programs are simple to use and you can earn miles in many other ways if your goal is not to jet set around the globe all the time.
Keep an eye out for special offers. I subscribe to company newsletters as they often feature offers that are not available on the airline website. You could get triple miles on a specific route, or you might just receive 250 Starwood Preferred Guest points when you sign up for their newsletter. American Airlines gave away 1,000 points once for installing a shopping bar into your browser. Although these bonuses are not worth the cost of many thousands of dollars, you can still get something for a long time by doing very little. These bonuses add up.
You can get a travel reward credit card – This card can be used to earn miles or other perks such as priority boarding and baggage check-free. These cards also come with massive sign-up bonuses, regardless of whether you’re an American or a resident of another country. These bonuses often translate into one round-trip free flight
Use the airline shopping portals – All hotels and airlines have preferred merchants. These companies can partner with special shopping malls of airlines, ranging from clothing stores to sporting goods stores to office supply firms and everything in between.
You can earn additional miles by ordering online from an airline website. For example, I registered for Netflix via American Airlines’ website and received 5,000 more miles. I earned three points for every dollar I spent when shopping online at Chase’s online mall. You can use Evreward and Cash Back Monitor to find the best deals in various programs. It will automatically compile a list with all the bonuses that the different point programs offer at the moment. This allows you to maximize your purchases from the program. Canada has two shopping portals, Shop.ca and The Aeroplan eStore. You can also shop at British Airways eStore if you’re in the UK.
Dining rewards programs – Airlines also offer dining rewards programs, just like shopping portals. Sign up using your frequent flyer number and register your credit card. You will get additional points for dining at participating restaurants within the airline’s network, which rotates throughout the year. You can join any of the Rewards Network programs (they manage all the dining programs), and you’ll get five miles for every dollar you spend once you become a VIP member. This happens after you have eaten 12 times. You’ll get five points for every dollar you spend if you have 12 meals under your belt.
George Clooney’s character in Up in the Air said that he wouldn’t do anything if it didn’t help his miles account. This is how you should think.
Sign up for a mailing list
It’s not something we like to do. However, signing up to the mailing lists of airlines and search engines will allow you to receive updates on any last-minute deals or other special offers that are available.You might miss out on some of the best deals, as many times the cheap flights only last 24 hours. If I hadn’t signed up for American Airlines’ mailing list, I would have missed a $700 round-trip ticket to Japan (normally $1500). They also offer frequent flyer bonuses and have given me business-class flights for free. These websites are great for staying on top of all travel deals.
- Airfarewatchdog
- The Flight Deal
- Holiday Pirates
One person can search for tickets
Do not search for multiple tickets or purchase them all at once.The highest price for a group of tickets is always displayed by airlines. If you have four people and are looking for four seats, an airline will search four seats and then show you the fare based upon the highest ticket price. If seat A costs $200, seat B and C cost $300 and seat D $400 respectively, the airline will charge $400 each for those tickets instead of adding up their individual ticket prices. Always search for tickets as one person. After you have completed the checkout, you will be able to select your seats and ensure that you and your family members are seated together.
You can also search for tickets in other currencies
Search for airfare to a country with a weaker currency if your country’s currency has been strong in comparison to other currencies around the globe.The US dollar is strong, while the New Zealand currency has a weaker currency. A one-way ticket from Australia to NYC was available for $1000 USD. However, the NZ version of this airline offered the exact same ticket for $600 USD. It’s the exact same airline, same flight and same booking class. It was booked in a different currency. Although this tip may not always work, it is worth trying, especially if your currency’s current performance is good.
(Tip: Always use a no-foreign-transaction-fee card to avoid paying a surcharge.)
Price
People try to find the lowest price online but then wait too long or book too early and end up paying too much.While we all know that airline prices fluctuate, many people fail to find the lowest price because they try to wait a bit longer. It is important to determine what you are willing to pay and not what you think you will pay. What is the best price for you? What price do you feel most comfortable paying? Do not wait for the perfect price, instead wait for your price. Don’t be unrealistic. Don’t wait to pay $900 if the lowest price for a flight is $1,000, but the average price is $1,500. If you can find a price that you feel comfortable with, you will not experience buyer’s regret. You can’t expect everyone to pay the same price for a flight, so you have to hope that you are able to get the price you like.
Book early but not too soon
While airline fares will continue to rise, there is a sweet spot where airlines can either decrease or increase their fares depending on the demand.Book as soon as possible, but not too far ahead. If you travel during peak season, the best time to book is between 6-8 weeks and three months in advance.
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Hi there! I’m Sethu, your go-to guy for all things tech, travel, internet, movies, and business tips. I love sharing insights and stories that make life more interesting. Let’s explore the world together, one article at a time!