5 Money-Saving Tricks to Find the Cheapest Flights Online
I am someone who travels a lot. I have been to more than 50 countries and 6 continents. And people always ask me how I manage to do that without emptying my bank account. But before I answer that, I must tell you about a post-pandemic trend. Air travel has become quite expensive, especially for a family with 2 kids. But do you know that if you're traveling in a group, you should never, I repeat, never search for multiple passengers in a single purchase?
You see, the airlines have different fare classes, and when you book for more people, they will club all the seats together in the highest class. So always search for single-person tickets, and at later stages of the booking process, you can add more members to your search or just book individual tickets. There are some secret hacks like this that the airline industry doesn't want us to know. So, in this post, I will show you how to book the cheapest flight to your next destination. It doesn't matter if you are an avid traveler or take only one flight a year during the Christmas vacation; this will save you money.
The main reason why I manage to travel a lot without breaking the bank is that I do my research. There are deals everywhere. You can see the world for next to nothing if you know where and how to look. And I have been doing this for enough time to know exactly that. So first I will give you five tips to grab those cheap tickets. And later I will take you through my step-by-step booking process.
Book Early
Most people make this huge mistake when they plan their travel. They wait till the last minute to book the flight tickets, thinking the fares will get cheaper. DON'T DO IT. It's a myth! Very rarely do flights get cheaper closer to the departure date. If anything, they are likely to get more expensive. But then how early should we book? Now, there are a lot of theories floating around about this. According to this report on Google Flights, the ideal booking window for domestic travel ranges from 21 days to about 60 days.
For international flights, it is between two to 6 months before departure.
But don't stress about this too much. If your dates and destination are fixed, and you see a reasonable fare, just pull that trigger. But what I am going to tell you next may be the most important thing you can do to save money on flight tickets.
Be Flexible
Being flexible about when you fly, where you fly, and the time you fly can save you money. So do some research and plan your travel during the off-peak months. Business travelers often travel on Monday and Friday, and Tourists fly on Friday and Sunday for weekend or week-long trips. So that leaves us with Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays for less rush and cheaper fares.
If you don't mind adding a few hours to your travel, then check if there are cheaper fares to a nearby airport than the main one. For long international flights, this may be worth it.
The cheapest flight you can book is a free flight, and there is no better way to do that than to use reward miles. Many airlines appreciate Loyalty and offer frequent flyer programs that allow you to earn miles for every flight you take. You can later redeem these points or miles for various rewards, such as free flights, upgrades, lounge access, and more. Similarly, certain credit cards also offer travel rewards or points that can be used towards flight bookings. I use the Amex Gold card and have made a video about it. I earn points through my purchases that I can convert to airline miles.
I booked a to-and-fro flight from Germany to India with Qatar Airways during Christmas vacation for just 350 euros and paid the rest with miles. Also, if you can, try to stick to one airline alliance. There are three major ones: One World, Star Alliance, and Sky Team, with Star Alliance having the largest number of airlines in its portfolio. They all share their rewards programs with their members. So do your research and find the best option that suits you. Here also, don't be blind to Loyalty. If you find a better deal outside, then go for it.
Find The Deals
Flight deals come all the time, even when you are not searching. So what if we can hire someone to monitor the deals and inform us now and then? There are services that do exactly that. They scour the Internet for cheap flight deals and compile them for you! Basically, they do all the hard work. Again, your travel plan must be flexible to take full advantage of the deals they send. Scotts Cheap Flights, now renamed going, is a popular service, but they offer only deals in the US. Secret Flying is a free and good option. There are others, such as Airfare Watchdog, Dollar Flight Club, etc. Find one that caters to your region, list your favorite airports, and let the deals flow to your inbox.
Travel Light
Travel Light also means travel cheap. I know it's not always possible, but I suggest investing in a good travel bag that fits the cabin baggage restrictions and can carry all your stuff.
I own a travel bag from Peak Design, and it's just great. It has all the space for my gear and more. I don't think I will ever have to pay anything for checked bags again.So keep these points in mind before your next flight booking. And now let's go and book some cheap flights.
Go Incognito
Tell me if you have had this experience at least once. You were searching for flights. You saw a good deal, returned after 5 minutes with a coffee and your credit card, did a refresh, and boom, it's $50 more. I don't think I have to explain to you that the moment you open that browser, you are being tracked. Airlines do that, too. They check your browsing history and cookies and use that information to increase prices. So, always start with a clean slate before each search. How can we do that?
Open your browser, go to settings or preferences, find the option to clear cookies, and then switch to incognito or private browsing mode. Most browsers support this, and it ensures that your browsing history, cookies, and other session data are not stored on your device. Some say that it doesn't matter. But it will take less than a minute and won't cost you anything. So just do it anyway. Now, once our browser is ready, let's search for flights. Most people probably will have their favorite search engine where they check for flights. I have, too. But not one, three.
Use Search Engines
I know there are a lot more than 4 search engines out there. But these 4 are the best, with each having their strong points.
Skyscanner:
This is my go-to favorite. I start all my searches with Skyscanner because it searches all major and budget airlines and shows the lowest prices 99% of the time. But the best feature of Skyscanner is that it lets you see an overview of fares for an entire month on your specific route. Here's how: Enter your departing airport and destination. Instead of entering a specific date, select "Whole Month." Those with magnifying glasses have no prices, so they will likely be more expensive. If you are flexible with your dates, you can also search for the cheapest month to fly. If you are flexible with your destination, there is also an "Everywhere" feature to discover great flight deals worldwide.
Kayak:
The Kayak interface is great to use, just like Skyscanner. But it's easier in Kayak to search with different options, such as the duration of your flight and the number of stopovers, etc. However, the most important reason why I use Kayak is that it gives me the option to include nearby airports in my search. This aligns with the point we discussed earlier about being flexible with your plans. Some airports near your destination must be cheaper than the main ones. Once I get a feel of the prices from Skyscanner and Kayak, I head to Google Flights.
Google Flights:
This is a super reliable option for finding cheap airfares. Like in Skyscanner, you can get the calendar view and immediately see the cheapest days to fly within a two-month window. But the most important feature of Google Flights is the Price Alert. You can set trackers for your chosen travel dates, and Google will send you a notification via email whenever there is a price drop. But then there is one more search engine we have to talk about.
Momondo:
Once I have narrowed down my approximate flying dates on other search engines, I always check the price against Momondo. This site searches hundreds of smaller travel websites, so it can sometimes find lower prices than what you'll find on other sites.
Change Your Currency or Country
The price for a Netflix subscription in India is cheaper than that in Europe or the US. You probably know that, right? Do you know that this is also applicable to flights? When you book a flight, most airline websites show the fares based on where they think you are. However, this may not always be the best or cheapest option. So first, do a normal search, know the fare, and then try doing a search after changing it to the country and the currency where that airline is based.
Also, if you are flying to or inside a lower-income country but booking from your home country, try changing the country to a lower-income one. For example, if you want to book local flights in Argentina from Germany, the fare will be shown in euros by default. So try changing the country to Argentina and the currency to Peso and you may see reduced fares. This may not always work, but it's worth trying. However, some airline websites can still find your location based on your device's IP and show you higher prices.
Your best bet there is to use a VPN. A VPN allows you to essentially "fake" your online location. And finally, all this will only work if you have a credit card that doesn't charge foreign transaction fees.
Don’t Fly
Sometimes, traveling by air may not be the cheapest or best option. I am someone who enjoys train rides, especially in Europe, where the trains are fast and not very expensive. And I can avoid travel to the airport and reach the city center directly without waiting hours at the airport. So, a great place to search for alternatives is Rome2rio. It gives you all the information you need about the fastest or cheapest routes, including different modes of transportation and driving options for getting from Point A to Point B.
