Nowadays, many people are eager about traveling again in a cost-effective manner. Yet, regardless of COVID-19 pandemic, there are times when travel is out of reach due to multiple financial hurdles or hidden costs. What does that mean? If you’re interested in traveling more but are worried about needing more money to pay for airfare, we invite you to keep reading.
We suggest you check out our most valuable tricks to find the cheapest flights, no matter where you’re going. Whether you are flying domestically or internationally, these tips will assist you in finding the best price for your flight.
1. Be aware of airline misconceptions
While many valuable tricks can be found online, a lot of myths are also circulating. What are the most popular ones? First, Tuesday is the most inexpensive weekday to fly, and second, looking for a flight in the “Incognito” mode of Google Chrome (or a similar privacy mode in another browser) will get you better fares. Based on sites such as Travel + Leisure[1], these myths are nothing more than myths.
In addition, airlines tend to offer you apparently legitimate deals, which you must be wary of. For example, your inbox is flooded with discounted airfare offers on Black Friday. In fact, as revealed by Thrifty Traveler[2], even these deals are deceiving: airlines continually change their pricing and only sometimes publicize their cheapest fares.
Other obvious misconceptions, however, contain bits of truth. To give you an example, it’s generally cheaper to travel on Wednesdays or Saturdays, whereas Fridays or Sundays are usually the peak travel days.
“Similarly, you’ll find less expensive prices during January through May all over the U.S., whereas dates that surround holidays such as Thanksgiving or Christmas will cost you much more,” said Christina Wallas, travel agent at CheapOair.
2. Being Flexible With Your Travel Budget
Showing some flexibility regarding your travel plans can help lower your ticket price. It can be helpful if you have flexibility in where and when you intend to travel. So, if you know your traveling dates but need help determining where to fly, check out Google Flights[3].
Just enter the departure airport and your travel dates, but don’t specify the destination. Also, you can fix your maximum price filter for your ticket. Then, you can simply hit the Search button and look for cheap flights to worldwide destinations.
“This option is also ideal if you’re seeking a last-minute trip,” said Wallas.
Alternatively, if you already know where you want to go but are still determining when you want to travel, that can also be an advantage. Visit Momondo’s website[4], which allows you to browse for airfares by city or country. Each search will show you the months with the lowest airfares, which can ensure you get a good deal if you have flexible travel plans.
3. Learn About Stopover Options and Programs
Unlike the widespread belief that non-stop flights would be ideal, don’t dismiss stopover options so quickly. Indeed, layovers are sometimes troublesome, but they also provide significant savings. In fact, on international flights, simply changing planes en route to your desired destination can result in many savings.
Similarly, check out stopover programs, which offer you the opportunity to visit two different cities for one cost. As an alternative to a typical layover of a few hours, stopover programs allow you to stay in a city for several days before heading back to your ultimate destination.
“Airlines typically offer free or advantageous stopover options at their flagship cities, like free entry to nearby attractions and other privileges if you accept them,” said Alize Utteryn, retired travel agent in Washginton.
These programs seek to promote tourism in the vicinity of the air carrier’s home airport and are a great way to add an extra destination to your stay. Visit The Points Guy[5] to browse a list of companies with outstanding stopover programs.
4. Use Flight Alerts to Keep Track of Prices
Should you book a flight? If you prefer to refrain from entering your credit card details, opt for Google Flight’s pricing alert feature. To test it out, go to Google Flights and enter the trip’s departure location, destination and desired dates. Then, once the available flights are displayed, click on the “Track Prices” button, and you’ll receive alerts for each price change.
As an extra, Google Flights will also tell you if it expects prices to increase or decrease over time and how confident they are in its predictions.
As an extra, Google Flights will also tell you if it expects prices to increase or decrease over time, and how confident they are in their predictions. Notably, this can be a great feature for travelers who want to stick to a specific budget before they fly.
In addition to the “Track Prices” button, you’ll also find a “Date Grid” switch worth noting. It will bring up a grid of available days in the period near your desired travel dates, with information about flight prices. Now you don’t have to guess which days are more affordable to hit the skies, and you can end up saving hundreds of dollars and beyond by simply changing your dates by a few days.
Plus, platforms such as Hopper[6] provide comparable services if you like to compare fares or forecasts.
5. Expand the Range of Your Departures and Arrivals
Suppose you have already flown abroad; no need to tell you that it can quickly become costly. How can you save some cash? Plan on flying as inexpensively as possible overseas, although it may be from somewhere other than your hometown airport.
For example, suppose you’re looking to take a flight to London from Washington D.C. Instead of limiting your departure alternatives to D.C. airports, explore finding deals at nearby airports. To illustrate, if getting a flight from New York City, which is within a short train or city bus ride, can result in savings of possibly hundreds of dollars, it may be worthy of making the extra trip.
Similarly, rather than limiting your airport destination to Heathrow, look for the most economical routes to the U.K. It may surprise you how numerous airports are located within the London area and easy driving distance.
Ticket prices to each airport can differ; sometimes the difference isn’t great, but other times it’s definitely worth the extra trip. Keeping your options open and being slightly innovative can significantly lower your airfare costs and still find the cheapest flights.
