Flights can represent the highest cost of your trips. Learning how to book the cheapest flights can significantly increase your budget for other experiences at your destination. Here’s a detailed guide on the best tactics to find cheap flights to anywhere.
There is an overwhelming amount of search engines to find a cheap flight, and the prices are constantly fluctuating.
Booking the cheapest flight requires knowledge, research, and strategy. But don’t worry! With this guide, you’ll learn the exact steps to save time and money when booking a flight.
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Table of Contents
How to Book the Cheapest Flight to Anywhere
The first section of the article will outline actions to take at the time of booking a flight in order to secure the best deal.
The second portion will provide suggestions for things to consider regularly and actions to take before purchasing a ticket, even when you haven’t planned for a trip in the immediate future.
Let’s get into it!
DURING YOUR PURCHASE…
Use the Best Flight Search Engines
Using an airfare search engine is easy and can help you find the cheapest flights. There is no one-and-only search engine that will get you the cheapest rates 100% of the time. You need to search on a bunch of them to get a pretty good idea of the prices.
However, some of them have overall better results. These are my favourites:
Kiwi – Allows multi-city search and includes a guarantee for your money in case you miss a connection between different airlines!
Skyscanner – Always a good tool. You can search for flights to “anywhere” and for the cheapest month.
Momondo – Presents very good deals, especially around Europe.
Google Flights – Easy to navigate to find the cheapest days. The map can also give you alternative routes.
A lot of low-cost airlines appear on the results of these search engines. However, that’s not the case with all of them. Continue to the next tip to learn why it is important to find them.
Look Into Low-Cost Airlines
Low-cost airlines are very convenient, especially for short-haul flights. Sometimes the prices are extremely different from a normal airline, and you save big time.
However, always read the fine print. Many budget airlines will add extra costs if you have checked luggage (instead of just a carry-on), book your seat or do not bring your boarding pass printed. They usually do not include food, so you need to bring your own or pay a ridiculous price while flying.
The amount of money you save is sometimes worth it anyway. They don’t always appear on search engines, so you may need to check on their own websites. Here is a list of low-cost airlines and “cheap” airlines (when there are no real low-cost airlines in the region):
I’m sure there must be more low-cost airlines than these. If you know of one that is missing here, please mention it in the comments so I can add it!
Budget airlines are frequently offering great promotions, so check on them regularly.
Search in Incognito Mode
Your web browser stores its cookies whenever you search for flights on an airline’s website.
Many airlines use this to know you’ve been watching a specific route before and then raise the price the next time you check it. This way, they pressure you into buying because, hey, prices are getting higher.
It’s easy to avoid this by activating the incognito mode in your browser. In Chrome or Safari, incognito is enabled by hitting Control (or Command in a Mac), Shift, and “N”. In other browsers, hit Control (or Command in a Mac), Shift, and “P”. This will open a new window that doesn’t track your information (so prices remain the same).
Be flexible with your dates
The easier you can adapt your travel dates, the better. Airfares can fluctuate significantly from one day to another.
The best way to know the cheapest day is by doing a general search for the month(s) when you want to travel.
Skyscanner has the easiest way to do this. Just follow these simple steps:
1 – Enter your departure and arrival cities.
2- Select “One-way”, even if you have a round trip. It’s easier to understand which dates are the cheapest.
3- Click “Depart” and then “Whole month”. Click on “Cheapest month”. Then, hit “Search flights”. Skyscanner will automatically show you the best rates for the upcoming months.
Repeat the same process for your return flight. You can also do it by searching for a round trip, but looking for the flights separately gives you a better idea of the prices for each day.
Kiwi, Google Flights, and Momondo also show charts and maps with a preview of the prices.
Book Connecting Tickets Separately
Buying tickets separately has saved me a serious amount of money for flying long distances.
For example, let’s say you are in New York and want to fly to Marrakesh. A quick flight search from NYC to Marrakesh will give you this:
775 USD for flying from NYC to Marrakesh. Now, what if you try going somewhere else and then connecting to Marrakesh? Madrid sounds like a good option. Let’s see:
368 USD for the flight from NYC to Madrid.
Now, let’s see how much it will cost to get to Marrakesh from Madrid.
81 USD going from Madrid to Marrakesh. That is a total of 449 USD. You just saved 326 USD! You can even stay for a day or 2 in Madrid, and you would still spend less AND get to visit a different city.
If you buy flights this way, you should remember that you need around 5 hours at least between each flight so you can pick up your checked luggage, go through migration control, and then check in again for the new flight. I prefer to stay at least one night to avoid problems in case of delays.
Since you might be flying with different airlines, the other airline won’t be responsible if one has a delay. Kiwi offers a guarantee in case this happens.
Another great tool for looking for stopovers (+24 hours) or long layovers is AirWander. AirWander
is a search engine that gives you flight routes with long connections with the best prices. This way, you can spend a day or an afternoon somewhere in the world before reaching your destination.
Book Your Trip for One Person at a Time
Some months ago, I booked a few flights for my boyfriend and me. I realized by accident that when I looked for “2 passengers”, the prices were higher than when searching for each separately.
Why? I don’t know why, but since then, I’ve tried it several times and confirmed it. Not 100% of the time, but it frequently happens that the price is higher when searching for two passengers simultaneously instead of one by one.
In short, when travelling with two or more people, book the flights individually.
Convert to Other Currencies
Booking the cheapest flight might require you to check the price in a different currency. Sometimes, when the airline’s site converts the flight cost, the exchange might add extra money.
Just make sure that your credit card is free of foreign transaction fees. Otherwise, your bank will make its own conversion, which might cost you even more than before.
Para este tipo de compras, uso mi tarjeta de Revolut. No importa la moneda ni el país de la website, siempre hace la conversión al cambio del día sin costos extras.
So far, these tips have been helpful for the moment you want to purchase. Now, let’s get into how to find cheap flights BEFORE you wish to buy.
Apply to Flyer Programs and Travel Hack
Have you heard of Travel Hacking? It is a great way to earn miles while having your usual everyday expenses (like buying groceries, for example) and exchanging them for free flights or upgrades.
Banks everywhere offer credit cards that allow you to accumulate miles. I’d say USA banks have taken this to the next level, and their offer has many advantages. I’m not based in the USA, so I haven’t dived into it, but here’s a detailed guide to credit cards for travellers in the USA.
If you are from another country, you probably at least have a couple of options for the most prominent airline groups (like Star Alliance or Oneworld). You only need to research which airline and credit card are most convenient for you. Then, signup for their Flyer Program and to the card, and have your usual expenses.
This method doesn’t get you in debt! You can always pay all your expenses immediately. That way, you won’t have added interest.
I know travel hacking may seem confusing and overwhelming initially, but believe me, once you understand how it works, it gets super easy! I’ve only purchased more than ten flights with miles in the last few years. It is worth it.
Keep an eye on sales fares
There are many websites featuring insane flight discounts. Sometimes they are intended, and sometimes they are airlines errors. In any case, you always benefit.
Check these websites regularly by following their social media or setting up email alerts for your wished destination. These sites can let you know whenever the prices drop.
You can find many search engines offering sales fares. Still, the following are my favourites because they are easy to use, offer discounts departing from almost everywhere, and have accurate information.
Check Your Wished Destination Regularly
Booking a cheap flight can seem complicated because of the ever-fluctuating prices of aeroplane tickets. When you find a ticket with a reasonable price, how can you know if you should purchase it? Maybe it will be cheaper next week, right?
Well, the best way to know if you are in front of a good deal is to follow the prices over +4 months. Prices rise during the high season, but what happens the rest of the year? If you have a few places you want to see, check the prices every couple of weeks. Once you are ready to buy, you will know if you need to purchase or wait longer.
Join the Airline Newsletter
Another way to keep up to date with special discounts is by signing up for an airline’s newsletter. You can sign up to as many airlines as you want and send their email to a designated folder (on Gmail or Outlook). This way, they won’t clutter your inbox.
Sometimes, airlines have amazing discounts accessible from their website and newsletter, but you don’t see them anywhere else. You will never miss their deals if you join their mailing list.
Buy ASAP Unless You Still Have Time
If you know you will have a trip one month from now, but you don’t know if the price is reasonable or not, chances are you should buy the ticket as soon as possible. The closest you are to the departure date, the more expensive tickets tend to get.
If there are still months ahead, you can observe prices for some weeks and then decide. Usually, prices won’t get cheaper after 6 to 8 weeks from the departure date.
When it comes to miles, buying ASAP will always get you better deals. Last month I bought a ticket from Sao Paulo to Lima for 9K miles. Now, the same flight is only available for 45K miles!
Don’t Lose Your Time With Urban Legends
While flying on Tuesdays is usually cheaper than on Fridays, it is not written in stone. There are many rumours about how to find cheap flights, but the truth is there is no magic formula.
I remember one time, many years ago, refreshing my browser every few minutes because I read somewhere that airlines drop their prices at 12am. I was so confused because I didn’t know what time zone this was, so I was trying all day LOL.
Please don’t go to the airport without buying a ticket, hoping the airline will desperately sell you a seat for half the price because they didn’t sell enough. Ignore urban legends. There’s no exact day, month, time or secret macumba to get cheap flights.
Instead, save this post to learn the best tactics 🙂
Do you have some other techniques to save on flights? Are any low-cost airlines missing here? Share the article to make flights more affordable for your friends!
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