How to Book the Cheapest Flights
Book the Cheapest Flights: Booking a flight can be tiresome and a continuous process. Repeated searches are required to find the cheapest possible options to fly to any destination. With limitless search engines and unstable prices continuously fluctuating, the task for ticket booking becomes very puzzling. We often are not aware of the price fluctuations and therefore often miss out the best options. Here are some key tips that will help you to book your flights easily. This will save time, money and frustrations when you book your next flights.
Go Incognito
Based on the cookies in your browser, flight prices do increase when a particular route is frequently searched, as the site indirectly forces you into booking the flight fast before prices even go higher. To see the lowest prices, look for flights in incognito or private browsing mode. Your cookies are reset every time you open an incognito window. So if you want to start with a fresh flight search (so your previous searches aren’t “remembered”, potentially inflating costs), close all your incognito windows, open a new one, and then perform your flight search. In Google Chrome or Safari, incognito is enabled by hitting ‘Control’ and Shift, “N”. For Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer, hit “Control” and Shift, “P” to go incognito. This will open a new browser window where your information is not tracked. Th3erefore inflating prices will not be shown and you can start your fresh search.
Best Flight Search Engine
All search engines have inflated flight costs that includes their share from the airlines. Some search engines (e.g. Expedia) consistently inflate much higher than others. Use ‘Skyscanner’, ‘AirFare Watchdog’, ‘Momondo’,’ Kiwi.com’, ‘Cheapoair’ and ‘JetRadar’ to get assistance for cheap flight booking.
Identify the Cheap Days for Flights
‘Skyscanner’ claims that the best day to book a flight is on Monday and the cheapest day to fly is Friday. However, it is always better to have a real check rather than those based on assumptions. On ‘Skyscanner’, you can check the price fares of flights of the entire month at one go that will help you to compare the rates. ‘One way’ flights are cheaper options than ‘Round Trips.’
Budget Airlines
They offer significantly cheaper tickets. But, it is obvious that it comes with few compromises like ‘leg-space’ is lesser in budget flights and no option for free food and drinks. Do your research and be adjustable and adaptable.
Connecting Flights
Suppose, you are required to travel to Mumbai from Kolkata. Instead of travelling directly to Mumbai you can fly to Mumbai via Delhi. Though, this will take up more time but it will save money. Connecting flights are always cheaper. But make sure that if you book both the legs of the journey separately, i.e Kolkata to Delhi and then Delhi to Kolkata by two separate flights, do not book the layovers that are hours apart from each other. That will include too much hassle and may prove to be tiresome also.
Buy Flights in Bulk
You are sure to get more value on your flight tickets if you book more at the same time. The multi-city search function on ‘Skyscanner’ will help you to save money. Another way to book flights in bulk for less amount is with round-the-world tickets and regional passes. These are special tickets offered by airline alliances that let you go around the world, a continent, or a country at a discounted rate.
These six procedures are rarely known to many. People do not even realize that booking flights can have a cheaper alternative. Following these steps will assist you in booking flights with cheaper rates.
Pro Tips
Here are some pro tips for booking the cheapest flights:
- Timing is key: Book flights during off-peak times, such as midweek and overnight, to get the best deals.
- Be flexible with your itinerary: Consider connecting flights or open-jaw tickets, which allow you to fly into one airport and out of another, to save money.
- Use rewards programs: Join airline loyalty programs and credit card rewards programs to earn points or miles that can be redeemed for discounts or free flights.
- Search for hidden city tickets: Hidden city ticketing involves booking a flight with a layover in your desired destination, instead of flying directly to it, to get a cheaper fare.
- Book one-way tickets instead of round-trip: Sometimes, booking two one-way tickets can be cheaper than booking a round-trip ticket.
- Keep an eye on error fares: Error fares are temporary pricing errors that can result in incredibly low prices. Keep an eye out for these by subscribing to fare alerts and following travel blogs.
By following these pro tips, you can maximize your savings and find the cheapest flights possible.
