Due to the fact that the costs of flying to a new place is one of the biggest expenses in your travel budget it is essential to consider a few tips and tricks to reduce these costs as much as possible. Finding cheap flights can be a daunting tasks as there are just so many online resources to chose from.
In the following article we will go through our top 5 tricks that we also use to get cheap flights for our travels.
1. Use a Comparison Site
I know this might seem like a no-brainer to many of us but we still see many searching for flights directly on the websites of the airlines. This can be good at some times but usually flight comparison sites are a much easier and better way to find cheap flights. These comparison sites scan the entire database of flights and (usually) spit out the best options for your specific flight needs.
Yet, not all flights comparison sites operate the same and there are some differences between them. Make sure to not always go for the first offers but also filter by ‘best’ and see how flights with stop-overs and mixed airlines can be an even cheaper option. For example, when searching for Berlin to New York or Jeddah to Manila flights, be sure to sort by cheapest and consider the flight differences when adding stop-overs, flight times and airlines mixes.
Also, make sure to do your flight searching in a separate, incognito mode tab in your browser.
2. Be Flexible in Your Time and Destination
Flight prices vary strong between days of the week, time of the year and during holidays. Obviously flights will be the most expensive during holiday seasons such as Christmas, Easter or New Years or during school vacations in the summer. So booking your flight during this time will be probably not be the best option. So whats the solution? Fly off-season and avoid the high demand times during vacations.
Ideally, if you flexible with your flight times it would be even better to be flexible with your flight destination. If you are very fixed on a certain destination then the question of ‘when’ is essential in finding cheap flights. Yet, when you just want to travel and find the next best and cheapest destination to get to you can also use the option of just letting the to: field empty. This will enable you to see a list of destinations ranked by cheapest flights from which you can then chose from. Try it out! Most comparison flights offer this function.
For example, we found cheap flights to Madeira for around EUR 60 from Germany even though we had no idea where to fly to and were flexible with our flight dates. A great trip and beautiful island that we would not have discovered with this option.
3. Book in the Right Time
Finding the perfect time to book your flight is not always easy. There are numerous myths out there in the internet telling you that certain days of the week are better and cheaper to book your flights. Airlines us highly sophisticated algorithms to calculate their prices and its impossible to outsmart them.
Prices usually tend to increase the closer it gets to the flight day. So booking your flight last-minute might not be the best idea and booking your flight a year in advance is also not always cheaper. Yet, based on our experience, the best time time to book your flight is around 5-6 weeks before your departure day. This is a more-or-less time frame.
4. Watch out for Flight Deals
There are times where airlines accidentally produce wrong air fares or simply offer special deals to market certain destinations and or/and specific flights. Most of these flight deals are only available for a short period of time (max 24 hours). There are some websites out there that collect these flights and show them to users such as Secret Flying or Holiday Pirates. Make sure to follow them and if you find a deal be quick!
5. Make use of Miles
There are many airline reward programs that enable you to collect points or miles that you can then redeem in other flights. Depending on which program you join you can have various opportunities to collect miles such as when you shop online, credit card sign-ups etc. It does not really matter if you will actually fly with these airlines but just sign up to the program because these programs are offered throughout their entire airline collaborations. We are signed- in to many different rewards programs and regularly make use of these miles during our trips.
Finding cheap flights is all about you being as flexible as possible and finding the right moments and opportunities. If you follow our above mentioned tips and tricks you should be able to get yourself a cheap flight!