It's almost summer, the season many of us eagerly wait to go on a vacation abroad. Here are a few tips and tricks to help you find cheaper flights and spare some money.
Go incognito and use a travel fare aggregator website
Switch to private (Firefox) or incognito (Chrome) mode. It is not a proven fact that our search history affect flight prices, but we have nothing to lose by using this feature!
There are plenty search engines out there: Skyscanner, Google Flights, Kayak, Momondo... I recommend you book directly through the airline's website (example: British Airways), and not the aggregator - unless it mixes companies and gives you a better deal. You could also download the app Hopper to track prices.
Be flexible
Book in advance. Probably not a year in advance, nor at the last minute. Around 2-3 months in advance, or earlier if you plan to travel around holidays or if your flight is really long up to 6 months.
Avoid flying during the high season or on holidays (Easter, Christmas...).
Check nearby airports but don't forget to take into consideration the transport (train, taxis…) price.
Check different dates and hours. Flying between Friday and Monday is basically more expensive than flying between Tuesday and Thursday.
Other criteria to focus on
Pay attention to the baggage allowance. Some airline companies cut baggage allowance on cheaper tickets. Baggage allowance is the amount of baggage a passenger is allowed. A specific amount of luggage is usually free, and any extra is charged. There are 2 types of baggage: hand or carry-on or cabin baggage, which is allowed on board, and checked or hold baggage that goes into the aircraft hold after being checked-in.
Consider the option of splitting your trip: instead of choosing a direct flight, you could book multiple flights. It might reduce the overall price. Random example: you want to go from New York to Muscat. You fly from New York to Rome, then Rome to Muscat.
If you need to fly one-way, check if a round-trip is cheaper.
Comments
LandRoverDiscovery2
well, i`ll see.
macaronsuki75
Incognito mode isn't good at all because the price can be more expensive... For example, you see cheaper price than average but extra taxes coming... I see nothing special in this article... 90% of people can't be flexible and if you want really cheaper tickets. You can work with Air France and get 90% of discount for you and your family (wife,husband,kids). Or when you are rich and collect some points with the American Express, you can get easily 2 tickets per year (1st class) which cost usually 9000 bucks for free.
Omar15
Nice tips, thank you 😊
Ivonne8747
Gracias
macron
I can't say it's a good idea to use incognito mode. Few weeks ago I used it to search a flight on skyscanner. It drove me to american airlines. Then when I was finally on the page to pay, it told me that there was a problem. This problem was due to incognito mode. So I had to restart everything. The same thing occured with a different company few months ago.
If you wanna use incognito mode, use it just on aggregator, not on the airline website if you want to buy a ticket 😁
Sam_93
Very nice, thank you !
pandatjuh
Nice tips!