Airfare can be the most expensive thing about planning any trip. Costly tickets mean that you could be forced to book a flight to a less desirable destination to stay within budget.
Here are some tips for booking a cheaper flight
Be Flexible
You can save money if you are flexible in your travel plans. You can find incredibly cheap flights if you book on the actual day of the holiday or midweek. You should also consider flying through a different airport instead of going to the one closest to you. To lower your airfare costs further, you should be more flexible.
Book Earlier
Usually, the price of plane tickets increases in the final three weeks before departure. To ensure that you get the cheapest price possible, you should book as soon as possible. If you book at least three months in advance, you will get the best prices.
You should consider using a search engine such as Google Flights to predict the price of a ticket because they use algorithms. However, you should know that these predictions are not accurate and they might decrease, increase, or stay the same. You should also book early if you want to get the best seat during peak season. If you wait too long to book a flight, you might end up paying more for a premium seat.
Book a Connecting Flight
If you are not in any hurry to get to your destination, you should consider a connecting flight, which might be cheaper than choosing a nonstop flight. Search engines might allow you to filter your results to get nonstop flights if that is what you want. However, you can also filter two or more stops if you want to book a connecting flight to save money.
Set Price Alerts
You should start looking for flights early; because the prices will only go up the longer you wait. If you are not ready to purchase a ticket right now, you should set up a price alert. When you do this, you will receive an alert whenever the prices increase or decrease.
Because flight prices fluctuate daily, you might end up saving more money if you set up a price alert. If you are buying tickets for the whole family, even a small decrease in cost could save you lots of money.
Browse for Specials
If you are going to wait until the last minute to book a flight, you can find some great deals by going directly to the carrier. However, this option is not reliable because it all depends on how badly the carrier wants to get rid of the empty seats. You do not have to fly on the redeye to save money with these specials.
Use Several Travel Portals
Before you go directly to the carrier to book a flight, you should use a third party site to compare the prices. You never know, you might find a better deal on a third party website. You should choose a third party site that analyses many different flight prices.
Use Award Miles
If you want to use miles instead of cash, you should go for it because miles have more value when redeemed for cash flights. You can combine your points using a co-branded miles card, which allows you to put all your points together. You can redeem your points by transferring them to a loyalty program.
If you have spare cash, you should consider approaching a private jet charter company such as Stratos Jets to charter a plane. This way, you can pick your arrival and departure times without going through security and waiting at crowded airports.
