If you’re considering a vacation in London or round the world, here’s a guide to get cheap flights. By implementing these strategies, you can make significant savings without sacrificing your preferences.
How to get cheap flights
If you’re interested, carefully explore all the recommendations, as they will help you attain your objective to get cheap flights.
Try Price Search Engines
Just like with any purchase you do online, exploring various options and conducting thorough research is the most effective approach to uncovering fantastic bargains.
Fortunately, numerous websites streamline the process of comparing flight prices, making it quicker and simpler.
Consider utilizing platforms like Expedia, Google Flights to search for attractive package deals (combining flights and hotel stays, for instance). Prioritize this step before visiting individual airline websites to determine if booking separately might be more cost-effective.
Google Flights
Due to its quickness and user-friendly interface, the search engine may not be your initial choice for booking vacations, but Google Flights competes well against platforms like Kayak and Momondo. Upon selecting a route, it promptly displays the price fluctuations based on your chosen travel dates.
Momondo
When it comes to gathering flight information, we prefer Momondo for its handy feature that highlights the most affordable and costly dates for your flight, along with useful insights like the least expensive airports for departure and arrival. While it doesn’t cover every destination, it includes many major ones in its list.
Kayak
When it comes to comparing options that include baggage, this platform offers a good selection of easy-to-use filters. For instance, you can indicate at the beginning of your search whether you intend to check in bags, enabling you to compare costs more precisely.
Other Websites:
You may check other websites like Expedia, Skyscanner, fly.com and travelsupermarket.
Set Fare Alert notifications and Track Prices
You can setup alert notifications for particular flight, Dates and track prices. By following data and trend you can make decision. You may setup mutiple alerts and unsubscribe when you don’t need.
Google Flights provide this feature and can send you alert. After searching flights in Google Flights you need to see Track prices section and then tap on related options as shown below.
Find Cheapest Days
Opting to travel during the weekdays typically offers cheaper fares compared to weekends.
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays often present opportunities for savings as they are generally less popular days for travel.
Many airline websites now facilitate the identification of budget-friendly travel days. Keep an eye out for booking systems featuring ‘calendar view’ option, allowing you to assess prices across the entire week you’re considering.
Google Flights offers a calendar view function displaying precise prices for available dates to get cheap flights.
Similarly, Skyscanner has enhanced this functionality by presenting flight prices in a convenient graph format, making it easy to identify the cheapest days to fly.
Additionally, consider the timing of your flight. While opting for a midnight to 6 AM flight might be cheaper, assess whether you can reach the airport in time. Public transport may not be operational, and the likelihood of securing a ride could be minimal.
Also Read – Cheap train tickets – How to save money on train tickets UK?
Delete Browser Cookies
Flight prices are subject to fluctuation based on demand. Airlines analyze data regarding the volume of searches and purchases to determine pricing strategies.
Therefore, you may notice that the price of a particular flight increases after repeated searches. The airline recognizes your interest and attempts to capitalize on it by raising the fare.
To counteract this, consider clearing your search cookies to reset the browsing history. Monitor how the price changes after deleting your browsing data.
Try browser’s private/ incognito feature for flight search
Being Anonymous while searching for flight tickets is a crucial strategy for securing cheap flights.
You may utilize an incognito browser for your searches. This feature conceals your location and identity from airlines, potentially preventing any influence on the displayed prices.
Chrome broswer incognito feature
In Chrome broswer you can do via Ctrl + Shift + N or Click on 3 dots in right side top corner and then click on “New incognito window”.
Firefox broswer incognito / private feature
Incognito is referred as “Private Window” In FireFox. Use Ctrl + Shift + P or Click on 3 lines in right side top corner and then click on “New private window”.
Microsoft Edge broswer incognito / private feature
Incognito is referred as “InPrivate Window” In Microsoft Edge browser. Use Ctrl + Shift + N or Click on 3 lines in right side top corner and then click on “New InPrivate window”.
Book Early, Dont’ wait for last minute deals
The notion that last minute deals are consistently inexpensive is often exaggerated, if not inaccurate.
The prudent approach is to book well in advance – perhaps even up to a year ahead to get cheap flights.
Typically, flight seats are more economical when initially released, which can be as early as about a year before the scheduled departure, sometimes even sooner. Therefore, it’s advisable to go online promptly once flights become available for booking.
This advice holds particularly true if your travel plans coincide with school holidays or major events in your destination area. Prices tend to escalate rapidly in such instances, so it’s wise to secure your booking before demand peaks.
While costs might experience a temporary decline before rising again in the days leading up to departure, it’s not necessarily a risk worth taking. There’s a possibility that prices may not decrease at all, particularly for popular flights, or that seats could sell out before you secure your ticket.
Be Flexible and ‘Explore Everywhere’
Keep in mind that peak season in the UK might not align with peak seasons in other parts of the world. Flight prices can vary based on your destination.
If you’re open to various destinations, consider this money-saving technique:
- Visit Skyscanner.
- Enter your departure airport.
- Click on the destination field as if you’re going to type something.
- A menu should appear with an ‘Everywhere’ option.
- Choose this option, select your travel dates, and click search.
- You’ll receive a list of all flights departing from your selected airport on that date, sorted from cheapest to most expensive.
This approach is ideal if you’re unable to adjust your travel dates but are open to exploring entirely new destinations.
Cheap is not always good – Be Extra cautions with Budget Airlines
When booking flights, especially with budget airlines, it’s important not to be misled by seemingly ultra-low prices.
Many advertised rates come with undisclosed expenses, which can be quite unwelcome surprises.
These additional costs may include air taxes, baggage fees, or seat selection charges, among others.
Keep in mind that air taxes often constitute a significant portion of the total ticket price.
Always ensure that you carefully review what is included in your purchase before finalizing your booking. Check if there are any unnecessary add-ons included in your ticket, and if so, consider opting for a more suitable and cheap flights option.
Try Connecting Flights
When arranging long-haul flights, opting for a route with a layover typically offers a more economical option compared to booking a direct flight. Although this may extend your travel duration, it often results in cost savings and help in getting cheap flights.
Consider deselecting the ‘direct flights only’ option on comparison websites to explore potentially cheaper alternatives.
However, it’s important to acknowledge the associated risks. If any of your initial flights are delayed, there’s a possibility of missing your connecting flight.
To mitigate this risk, always aim to book flights with the same airline. For example – if you are making booking from Delhi to London and see options for Etihad Airlines. Try to book with Etihad only and do not opt for individual airlines.
Try search by country rather than city
Searching by country on comparison websites instead of cities is a wise approach.
Major city airports often have higher prices, while peripheral airports typically cater to budget airlines. Expanding your search to include these alternatives could lead to cost savings on flights.
If you are opting this please do check distance from airport to your destination.
Return Flights vs 2 single Flight
Purchasing a round-trip ticket has typically been more cost-effective for long-haul flights, even if you only utilize one leg of the journey.
However, for short-haul flights, particularly with budget airlines, booking two separate one-way fares is often more economical—and you might find additional savings by utilizing different airlines for your itinerary.
You may check which is the best option to get cheap flights.
Check layover if possible
If you’re not pressed for time to reach your destination, it could be beneficial to consider a layover to reduce costs and book cheap flights.
Explore the option of searching for connecting flights separately to determine if it would be more economical to spend a day or two elsewhere during your journey.
Keep in mind that you may need a transit visa for this, so please proceed with caution.
Pay with Credit Card and Get protected
Credit cards provide Section 75 protection in the UK. This implies that if you make a purchase between £100 and £30,000 and encounter an issue on the seller’s end, you can request a refund.
Debit cards offer less extensive protection in comparison. Therefore, utilizing a credit card for booking holidays could be advantageous, provided you can pay off the balance in full and on time.
Furthermore, certain credit cards offer air miles rewards, and many provide cashback on flight purchases. Thus, spending a bit more on your flight could potentially yield returns.
Try this this as per your issuing country / credit card company.
Try Flight + Accommodation
Package booking Flight + Hotel may sometime provide you cheap flights.
Holiday companies secure significant discounts due to booking in large quantities. Occasionally, you can obtain an entire holiday package for a price lower than that of a standard flight alone and may get cheap flights.
Opting for a package holiday typically entails discounts not only on flights but also on accommodation, airport transfers, and local activities such as bus tours.
Join loyalty program
Airlines retain customers through rewards, discounts, and special incentives. When booking flights, effectively utilize your loyalty by joining frequent flyer programs.
To try this, choose specific airlines, points, and holiday packages through your account. In exchange, you earn reward points, which you can redeem once accumulated.
Additionally, consider credit card partnerships when searching for flights, as they can provide extra points.
Try Student Discount if applicable
Utilizing student discounts is an excellent strategy for securing cheap flight bookings. You can approach your university or travel agencies to inquire about these discounts to book cheap flights.
By taking advantage of these offers, you can receive approximately 10-20% off standard flight fares. Additionally, you may also benefit from special baggage allowances, contributing to substantial savings.
Track Airlines on Social Media
Social media has provided consumers with various benefits and may help you to get cheap flights. As a result, individuals planning to travel or book flights can follow best airlines on different social media platforms like Facebook, X (Twitter) and on instagram. This tactic will enable you to gain insights into several last-minute promotional deals offered by airlines and get cheap flights.
Try different currency options if you can
Sometimes different currency options may give you good money savings and get cheap flights due to currency conversion rates.
Consider a scenario – You are living in UK and try to book ch flights for India.
In this case you may check options in both currencies i.e. GBP and INR. Due to conversion rates you may get cheap flights rate in either side.
Other than this, If you seek cheap flights for memorable vacations, consider flying to cities with weaker currencies.
Try Travel Agent
Certain travel agents have unique partnerships with specific airlines and can provide better prices compared to publicly available options and can help you to get cheap flights.
Subscriber Newsletter
Subscribing to newsletters from travel companies may not seem very exciting, but it’s often the most effective method for uncovering great deals. Travel companies and airlines frequently offer special rewards and discounts to their newsletter subscribers.
Airlines do send notifications or mails during Sale period and you can follow the trend or may get good deal to get cheap flights.
