Choosing the right destination, the top attractions and things to do of the destination, the right travel company, the right backpack and the right places to stay – all are important, but there is certainly something more important. Guess? Yes, it’s getting cheap flight tickets.
Since air reservation takes away the biggest chunk of your vacation budget, you can’t take it for granted. Here are travel tips on how to find cheap flights, if not dirt cheap then at least a below-average airfare.
1. Be flexible with your travel dаtеѕ and tіmеѕ
The airfare fluctuates by the day, week, month or year of flight departure. Upcoming holidays, (such аѕ Chrіѕtmаѕ, Nеw Yеаr’ѕ Eve, Thаnkѕgіvіng, оr thе Fоurth оf Julу), summer or spring break times, sports event, or a drastic change in weather conditions like the recent hurricane Dorian on coasts of Florida, Georgina and South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia – are some of the key factors that trigger the demand for airline tickets. The management of airlines are not dumb, they knew it very well how to monetize a given situation or trend, and they accordingly increase or decrease the fare. If you skip these times, however, in certain cases it’s beyond your control, you can save big on your
flight ticket.
2. Be flexible with your destination
If you are thinking of a holiday, look for airfares to multiple destinations depending upon the kind of experience you want to have. For instance, for beach lovers, there are many beach destinations: Bondi Beach (Sydney), Elwood Beach (Melbourne), Noosa Main Beach (Sunshine Coast), and so on. If you are one of those, look for flights from your city to
Sydney,
Melbourne, Main Beach or any other Australian city with beaches accordingly. If you are open to exploring the world, you will have more options. Look for the cheapest flight and embark on a great experience at an affordable budget.
3. Fly budget carriers
Today budget airlines operate on most of the
domestic as well as
international flight routes. If you are traveling with a budget airline, you should understand how these airlines make a profit. In less space, they try to put as many seats as possible. While boarding you might feel passengers being crammed inside the aircraft – the legroom (seat pitch) and seat width are lesser than what you would expect in business class. They also eliminate some on-the-ground and in-flight services. However, considering the one-third or one-fourth fares, in many cases, they charge for the economy ticket, that is acceptable. Besides, budget carriers may put restrictions on advance seat assignment, departure date changes, or cancellation. Most of the times they permit ticket change or cancellation at a cost. Popular US-based low-cost carriers are Spirit, Southwest, Frontier, JetBlue Airways and Virgin American.
4. Don’t аlwауѕ fly dіrесt
Breaking a flight route, sometimes pays off. For instance, if you are flying to Amsterdam (AMS) from New York’s JFK, you can break the flight into two parts – JFK to IST (Istanbul) or Brussels (ZYR), and IST or ZYR to Amsterdam. If your travel plan allows you, instead of flying nonstop or direct, you may opt for JFK to AMS with a connecting flight. Check airfares under both nonstop and connecting options, and bet for what is right. What causes connecting flights to go cheaper? This is a valid question. Three arguments go in its favor. First, there are not many takers for connecting flights. Second, aircrafts operating on a short route has more turnaround times, which means more business. Third, connecting flights often go more occupied, as carriers have the opportunity to get passengers from the layover airport as well.
5. Depart to or from nearby airports
When flying to or from cities with multiple airports, you have more flight routes. For example, from JFK to London, where both cities have multiple airports, you can have route choices as JFK to LHR, EWR (nearby airport) to LHR, JFK to LGW, EWR to LGW, and so on. Use our flight booking engine to see what more flight choices are from New York to London. When you stay flexible with your departure or arrival airport, the probability of finding a cheap flight increases. It may demand some road traveling as all airports may not be equidistant. However, if it helps you to save some bucks, there is no harm in taking some pain.
