Almost we all have got tired by repeatedly searching while trying to book the cheapest flight tickets for going to any destination. We did the countless number of searches and we get to see the prices of the flights fluctuating continuously.
Presently there are flight search engines which helps us to book flight tickets in the ease that set up a whole new record. When we think about cheap flight tickets, we tend to search for the cheapest possible deals.
Flights are the convenient ways to reach to the destination. It allows us to reach the place as early as possible within the budget. Now if you are a beginner and you don’t know how to book cheap flight deals then you are in the right place as in this article we have listed some useful tips which will save your both time and money while booking flight tickets.
Check Out 19 Amazing Hacks of Cheap Flights Deals
1. Search as soon as possible
All the airline companies release their tickets almost 11 months before the date of flying. So try to plan in advance so that you can start searching as soon as possible and make sure to check at least once a week.
The flight prices are available live and it keeps on fluctuating depending upon the demand as well as supply ratio. So once you decide your destination, make a budget on the flight expenses that you are ready to pay and start searching.
Yes, there are many cheap flight deals which may cost even less than what you have paid during the last minute but that is not guaranteed. If you want to wait for the last-minute deal, you may end up buying the expensive tickets instead of the cheap flights.
2. When to purchase flight tickets?
There is no such specific timing to purchase domestic and international flight tickets. Having said that there are some trends which everyone needs to be aware of when they are in search of cheap flight deals.
The prices of the flight tickets tend to increase during the holiday weekends and peak seasons. So always make sure to book your tickets during the odd time to get cheap flights.
If you are willing to buy domestic flight tickets then we would advise you to book for 7 weeks in advance. On the other hand, try to purchase international flight tickets 11 to 12 weeks prior to departure.
3. Check the best day to fly
If you are wondering is there any particular day where you can get cheap flight then there are actually some specific days where you can get the cheapest flight tickets.
The best idea would be to fly out on Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday. During these off-peak days the airline companies tend to carry only a few business travellers and you will be getting lower fares along with a maximum number of seats.
If you book tickets on these days, you will be able to book the frequent flyer seats. On the other hand on Fridays and Saturdays, the fares of the tickets tend to increase.
Having said that don’t get confused about the day of booking the ticket and the day of flying. Make sure to fly on the days that we have mentioned above.
You can check the following points for better understanding:
- Domestic flights: We would suggest you depart on Saturday and return on Monday.
- International flights: We would suggest you fly out on Tuesday and return on Wednesday.
4. Be Reasonably Flexible
Travelling the world without any sort of worry in mind gives an advantage. However, you don’t have to be a nomad for scoring a great deal.
While booking flight tickets, come up with multiple destinations. This way you can get the cheap flights.
You can take the help of Google Flight’s flexible price map tool for checking the destinations which are having the cheaper option during a particular time of the year that you are planning to travel.
Give a chance to yourself by searching a couple of weeks earlier of travel to get cheap flights. If you have decided an exact date then it would be a bit challenging for you.
5. Go for budget airlines
No matter how much you filter and sort the flights as per your requirements, it becomes very difficult sometimes to get cheap flights. This is where budget airlines help as they cheaper deals as compared to the bigger airlines.
Having said that you have to make some sacrifices for that because you will not get free food drinks or movies in the budget airlines that the bigger airlines offer. So we advise you to stock up your food in advance.
But before booking the tickets, do some research and read our their terms and conditions. The following table will show you some of the best budget airlines in the world.
Budget Airlines
Canada | United States | Australia |
Porter | JetBlue | JetStar |
Air Transat | Porter | Tiger Air |
Southwest | ||
Allegiant Air | ||
Frontier | ||
Spirit Airlines | ||
New Zealand | Asia | Europe |
Air New Zealand | Air Asia | Ryanair |
JetStar | Tiger Air | Easyjet |
Jetstar | Norwegian Air | |
Scoot | Aer Lingus | |
Dragon Air | Wizz Air | |
Vietnam Airlines | Wow Air | |
Nok Air |
6. Play around the time of day for flying
There are times when we cannot change the date of travel because of some reasons. So in such a situation, the best idea would be to adjust the time of day that you have decided to fly.
This technique will help you to drop the price of the air ticket instantly. For the lower flight fares, travelling in the odd hours like early in the morning will increase the chances of getting the cheapest deals.
You will notice that most of the cheapest flights depart either late at night or early in the morning.
7. Find the cheapest place to fly
Whether you have decided where you are flying or you just want to check the cheapest country to fly, then tools like Kiwi.com will help you to serve both the purposes. You can enjoy your vacation to the fullest and that too by saving big bucks.
Just visit their site and enter your preferred destination city, then choose a date range that you want to fly. You will see the approximate costs appearing more than hundreds of countries from your departure point.
You can also list out the destinations by sorting the price which will allow you to see the most cost-saving place that you can travel.
8. Don’t forget to check the alternate airports
If there is more than one airport near your origin or final destination, make sure to check both of them before booking your final ticket.
If you have multiple options when it comes to travel dates or airports, there are more chances to get better flight deals. We would advise you to go for multicity flights as a budget-saving strategy.
Also, have a look at the accommodation near to the airport or else it may create havoc during your trip.
You will end up paying extra money on bus fare or cab fare to reach your hotel which would cost the same if you book a direct flight.
9. Using multi stops for visiting various destinations
For instance, if you are planning a trip to Bangkok and at the same time you want to spend a day or two in Bali then you must be wondering that booking multi-city flight tickets would be very expensive.
But there are actually some ways where you can book multi-city flights for creating a cheaper itinerary. Have a look at the following points:
- Multi-city hopper: You can add one and two regional destinations in a long duration journey.
- Extended layover: You can book tickets of one or two stop return flights along with a number of major carriers and extend your layover for more than a day so that you can visit the second destination smartly.
- You can also book the local flights of the other country to visit the second destination which will be way cheaper as compared to the international flights.
10. Check the deals for flying
You need to consider this as one of the smartest travel tips on booking the cheap flights to travel anywhere.
All you need to do is just spend a couple of days and weeks in finding the best flight deals instead of selecting a destination. Next step would be to choose a destination that you are comfortable in travel.
Flight search engines like Skyscanner will allow you to enter the departure date, city and other details and finally, the tool will provide you with the list of cheapest flights for travelling anywhere in the world.
Now you can decide where you want to go as per your convenience and play around with the destination.
11. Don’t be late after getting your desired flight deal
Once you find the cheapest flight deals that you were expecting, don’t wait. Just grab the ticket. This is because the flight fares keep on fluctuating and you never know when the ticket fares rise high. So just be quick to book your ticket.
12. Take the help of a travel agent
Many of us tend to believe that travel agents are money hungry and they charge an extra commission from you.
But this perception is wrong as most of the professional travel agencies have a partnership with airlines which will help you in finding the cheaper flight deals that you will not be able to find on your own online.
Having said that we are not saying you to just go to the travel agent straight away without doing any research. Just get a rough idea of the cheapest possible route, destination, date and time, this would allow you to save your time.
Travel agents will not only help you in getting better deals but also you are protected if something goes wrong as you do not have to deal with it yourself.
13. Have a check on the foreign currencies
Before you book a flight ticket, make sure to check the booking option with another currency as sometimes booking with another currency will cost you lesser.
You can also book the ticket by using the currency of the destination that you are heading or departing. Most of the budget airlines will allow its customers to pay in the currency of the country that they are departing but it doesn’t happen always.
When you visit the websites of the airlines there will be an option to change the currency. But before you do that, ensure you are in the incognito mode and also change the location settings on your device.
Also Read: Exchange Money in a Foreign Country
If you don’t follow these instructions then all your efforts will go in vain.
14. Round trips are considerable
One way trip can be cost-consuming sometimes for us. So the best idea to get cheap flights is to book round trip tickets. All you need to do is forfeiting the return leg. Buying in bulk will provide you with a better value on your flight tickets.
But make sure that they are not from the same airline company. For instance, booking a return ticket from Delhi to Kolkata from Spice Jet will be cheaper as compared to 2 one way flight tickets.
15. Flight Points help
This trick is also known as travel hacking. Sometimes you can efficiently use flyer points in purchasing your flight tickets. This will immensely help you in saving extra bucks.
The miles, also known as flyer points are provided by different credit card companies as well as airlines which will help its customers in getting points that are solely based on how much they spend on their card.
Based on their previous flying, the companies offer points which they can use later on to purchase flight tickets.
16. Don’t fly on holidays
Referring to one of the previous points we have listed this tip. This is highly recommended to not to fly during holiday periods if you are particular in searching the cheap flight deals.
Also, ensure that you are not booking tickets 7 days before or prior to the holiday period. Having said that flying on holidays such as Christmas Day will help you in saving an extra penny.
For instance, if you are willing to travel in Kashmir then winter will be the odd season where you can get cheap flights as the weather will be cooler that time and also the less number of tourist will be lined up to see the destination.
However, also ensure that all the accommodation service providers are open in those odd months.
17. Turn on the incognito mode
Most of the times we have noticed that the prices of the flights tend to increase when we view with the same browser again and again. This actually happens when the airline companies come to know that you are interested in.
Technically they do this by keeping tracking of the cookies in the browser that you have browsed and then they adjust the prices by scaring you that the prices will rise even higher if you do delay in booking.
So to get rid of this trick make sure to get a habit of searching the cheap flights in an incognito mode. Both Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome have incognito modes.
18. Use Credit Card Portals
If you want to find cheap flights to travel anywhere and avoid to pay from your pocket then feel free to utilize your cashback rewards which you have been already earning from the credit card portal.
Portals such as Chase Ultimate Rewards or American Express’ Membership will help you in earning cashback which you can use later on while planning a trip. Depending on the type of credit card that you have, you can get an additional boost on your redemption.
Also Read: Best Credit Cards For Travelers
19. Sign Up For Email Notifications
To get the regular update for the budget flight deals, the best idea would be to sign up for the airline newsletter.
They will keep on sending you the emails regarding the discount and promotional fares which are reserved only for their subscribers. It will help you in getting notification even while booking the last minute flight.
So these are are some of the useful tricks through which you can find cheap flights anywhere. Do you have any other exciting technique in mind which will help you in saving extra bucks?
Feel free to let us know in our comment section below.