11 Golden rules to get Cheap Flights

Friday, July 5, 2019

Getting cheap flights is not a matter of luck, but rather a lot of patience and knowing how to dig in the right place. It also helps to have a “strategy”, some flexibility in the dates, and following these 12 rules to find authentic bargains.

Image by skeeze from Pixabay

  1. Subscribe to the news bulletins of the airlines that interest you. If your next goal is Japan, for example, look for companies with flights to this destination and sign up to be aware of their news. So, you’ll be among the first people to know when they advertise discounts or special promotions.
  2. Follow the websites and social networks of companies specialised in locating authentic bargains, such as Fly4Free, HolidayGuru and HolidayPirates. For example, if you are looking for United Airlines cheap flights, you can opt for United Airlines special offers.In addition to getting cheap flights, you can get to know very good offers for hotels, excursions or tour packages.
  3. Use flight search engines like Skyscanner, Momondo, Kayak or Kiwi. Most allow you to see which is the cheapest day or route. Sign up for price alerts and even check the prediction of rates for the next few days, among other facilities. Once you become familiar with these sites, you will take full advantage of their features, especially the price comparison between several booking pages and online travel agencies. There are many benefits of the search engines, and the following are some of them. We can put several departure airports and several arrival airports in the same search. It is possible to create price alerts if you have booked a flight for your trip and want to know if it has been lowered (or raised) in price. You can look for tickets for a wide range of dates; you do not need to have specific days in which you are going and returning. Many of them have a simple interface and the possibility of creating multiple destinations with the best prices. Combine flights, in case there are stops to give you the best price.
  4. Use Google Flights to plan a trip with multiple destinations. If you have one of the best general information search engines, you could not expect less from this tool. It is ideal to know which airlines cover the possible routes and approximate rates. Once you have this information, you can return the flight search engines to get the lowest price.
  5. Have the card always at hand (or your PayPal password). That’s right; you have to be prepared because sometimes when you least expect it, you find a price too good to let it escape and the best deals “fly” quickly. (Additional tip: we recommend you open an account in PayPal and link it to a credit card, this way it will not only be easier and faster to pay but also safer).
  6. You need to show some patience. As they say, patience is the greatest virtue, and I agree. Doing things fast and hurriedly does not get us anywhere and on the subject of finding cheap flights it just doesn’t work. Take your time, search and compare, it will be easier to find flight tickets.
  7. Search in incognito mode. This trick applies to everything related to purchases on the Internet; rental of vehicles, purchase of products, flights, hotel reservation etc. The pages where these types of products/services are offered use cookies with which they track your behaviour. They know what you’re looking for, the times you’ve done it, where you’re from and where you’re going. They’re a little scary, right! What happens is that when you search for a flight for the first time, they offer you a price, but if you go and return, or go to another page to look for the same, then they show you a higher price. So let’s hide as much as possible, so that the search engines with which we find our travel offers does not track the times we searched for them or when we stopped looking for them. If you use Google Chrome, go to the upper right corner and click on the three vertical points. A drop-down will open. Select “new incognito window”.You can also access through the combination of the keys: CTRL + SHIFT + N for PC or ⌘ + SHIFT + N if you use Mac.
  8. Being flexible is one of the good decisions that you can make. If you want to fly as cheaply as possible, having flexibility in terms of dates and destinations is the key. If you do not have that flexibility and have a vacation period, you can still buy cheap flights for the dates you are looking for or the place you want, and that you can also benefit from some other bargain and other travel offers. In this case, it is very good to anticipate at least eight weeks to the date of the flight to get the best prices. If you like to take a risk, you can also wait at the last moment, and you may find a last minute offer. It is very risky, and you may run out of seats, or the price is sky high, and you regret not having bought the ticket before.
  9. Layovers and stopovers can be your friends if getting the cheapest flights with a good low-cost traveller is your main goal, and losing a few hours at a connecting airport is not a problem. Again, it comes to flexibility. So we recommend that in the options or filters in the search engines, you allow them to show the flights with stopovers or layovers. There will always be the option to choose later whether you are interested or not. Many times, flights with stopovers are cheaper than direct flights. Do not miss that opportunity; you may even have time to see the city, buy some things in the free zone or read a book quietly sitting in an armchair.
  10. Minimalise your luggage. Nowadays, it is difficult to find cheap flights that offer to check your suitcase for free. Normally, you will have to pay a supplement on the price of the ticket that will depend basically on the company with which you fly and on whether the flight is national or international. The average price to check the suitcase on an international trip is usually over 50$ (for about 20kg per suitcase). Our recommendation is to fly at the lowest price and take everything in your carry-on bag. Surely you do not need all the clothes you want to wear. Think carefully about what you are going to wear and leave the others ‘for yourself’ at home. Another trick is just the opposite of what we have talked earlier. A low-cost traveller’s trick to avoid losing weight in the hand luggage and having to pay to check in is to put on several items of clothing, put the camera in a jacket pocket or hang it over the shoulder. You may die of heat for a while, but then you can change once you are on the plane.
  11. Look for discount coupons. Again, this trick to find cheap flights also applies in other areas; whenever you buy something online, you will have an option to put a discount code. Put in the search engine “Discount Coupon for XXXX” where XXXX is the company/website where you are going to buy. Many websites will be offering coupons, and you will have to try several until you find one that works.

We hope that now you are in charge of finding the cheap flights and tell others too how to do it like a boss.

Amit Chauhan  is an Entrepreneur and a vivid Traveller who knows everything about the travelling hiccups and aims to eliminate all those with his workable efforts. Keeping the passion for travelling, the doyen launched a highly designed product Faremart, which intends to serve the commuters in the best possible way and help them ease their Air Travel. With his former successful accomplishments, Mr. Chuhan continues to excel in his business endeavours providing better travelling experiences to the people.