Airfare takes the biggest chunk out of the travel budget.
I want to share with you how I find cheap flights, sometimes extremely cheap!
In average I pay $45 a way for continental flights, while for intercontinental flights I'm able to cut prices by half.
The key is in keeping an open mind, a flexible attitude, and choose a destination based on price.
I fly wherever I find cheap tickets. 🙂
From my experience, best places to find your cheap flight are flexible search engines that have an option to look up flights based on price, without any specific dates or destinations.
Skyscanner
Select 'Everywhere' as a destination and find the cheapest flights available from any airport.
Due to the ever changing nature of airfare, prices shown don't always reflect the actual prices at the time of your search. For a correct quote see sites of airlines Skyscanner directs you to.
Try to search Skyscanner here.
A complete guide on looking for cheap flights using Skyscanner – see here.
KIWI
Is a search engine offering maximum flexibility.
Look up flights from or to several different airports together – define your radius.
Define date range and flights anywhere.
Kiwi is also able to combine low-cost airlines to reduce prices.
It is a search engine and virtual travel agency combined, meaning booking flights is done on the site itself and kiwi have a great customer support.
Find your flight on kiwi here.
kayak
A very good and flexible search engine. Start with destinations' prices set on the map – Try it here!
By now you probably got a good picture of prices out there, let's compare them using other sites:
CheapOair – offers excellent prices!
momondo – well known good old site.
Jetradar – wonderful search engine to find chap flights.
Vayama – find great International flight deals.
TripAdvisor Cheap Flights – scans the majority of big travel agencies.
Did you find a suitable flight? Awesome!
It's time to plan the rest of your trip – continue here.
Secure purchase online:
When purchasing flight tickets do so using a credit card or PayPal. Avoid bank transfers, even if you're offered a big discount, because if it turns out to be a scam you won't have the option to get your money back.
Important! Get a travel insurance after buying the tickets.
Why? See this article for full details.
Frequently Asked Questions:
I couldn't find a cheap flight, what can I do?
At this point it's your call whether to buy at the available price or wait.
Your choice is personal and subjective, there's no way to know today what prices will be like in future. If you decided to wait, come back and look at flights every few days so hopefully a better deal will come.
More options:
1. Use a weekly/monthly calendar view of flights – many times you'll find a considerably cheaper flight a day or two before or after the dates selected.
2. Change to a destination available at a cheaper rate.
3. Change your dates of travel.
4. Wait for last-minute deals.
5. Search for flights and hotel packages – it may turn out cheaper than booking each one separately.
6. Look for connection flights instead of going direct.
7. Wait for special offers.
Can you find a flight for me?
No… I'm sorry. It is self-service here. 😉
When is it best to book a flight: in advance or at the last minute?
Now that's the million dollar question… There's no definite answer, it's up to you –
How flexible are you? Do you need to travel on set dates to a specific place?
As there's no way to know what way the prices will go, only you can decide to buy or hold.
My method is following the market and buying tickets once they are sold cheap. I'm ready to take the risk of not flying at all if I don't find the right price.
Not everyone is prepared to play the game the way I do, and that's totally fine!
There are people who need to know their trip is booked ahead, or they simply must go on specific dates to particular destination. Either way, my advice will help you find the best tickets to suit your circumstances.
Even if you bought tickets ahead and the rates went down later, keep smiling, there was no way for you to foresee this. The prices could have gone up just as well. So just go on vacation and have a good time. 🙂
