The gargantuan and only barrier which presents itself whenever we plan a trip is the estimate of flight ticket fare that scares us to our last penny. Airline companies apply all sorts of shenanigans to catch us off-guard and shake us down by increasing prices when we most need to travel. On the quest to book cheap flight tickets, it always ends up not taking the trip ultimately. Well, this was your story until you haven’t read this article.
We will tell you 15 different ways to book cheap flight tickets that work in the real world. And all your hassles will be gone for eternity.
Book in Advance
Booking right at the time of the trip is probably why you lose all your finances and aren’t able to book cheap flight tickets. As the departure date grows close, the tickets skyrocket and flight tickets become elusive. The remedy here is to start researching and planning your trips in advance. Practically, 2-3 months is the sweet spot for booking cheap flight tickets. Make use of the algorithms airline companies use to inflate prices near departure dates and deflate them 2-3 months prior. Early bird catches the worm, doesn’t it?
Compare multiple booking websites
Before ordering food, we always check for prices on both Swiggy and Zomato. Also, when getting things delivered, we check on both Amazon and Flipkart. The same strategy needs to be applied to booking cheap flight tickets too. One must compare all available websites and search engines before booking to nab those cheap flight tickets. Every site has its own promotional offers going on which can be very beneficial for you and can help in booking flight tickets. So, make it a practice to always check multiple sites before booking so you always have the upper hand on these airlines and bag those coveted cheap flight tickets.
Incognito Mode
Another underrated feature that airline websites use is the previous search history of booking and inflating prices of routes that you might have booked earlier. A great workaround is that you can use the incognito mode to go private and grab those cheap flight tickets. If a similar route is searched time and again, it can go into directories of companies and they purposely increase ticket prices. Thus, the incognito mode is a blessing in literal disguise and can get you those flight tickets easily.
Search for an Individual
Airline companies have this tendency to increase prices when you’re searching for a group which indirectly means there is going to be a bulk of tickets. This can be avoided by searching for cheap flight tickets for an individual person only and avoiding searches for groups. Not a lot of people are aware of this algorithm and end up paying high prices or end up canceling the trip altogether, just because of these usurious prices. So, next time, search for an individual ticket and bag those flight tickets.
Look for seasonal pricing
Seasonal prices are a big thing to consider when booking cheap flight tickets. Different destinations have mushroomed pricing methods for in-season times and these same destinations nose-dive their prices when off-season. So, it is always wise to choose your destination accordingly and visit it preferably, off-season so you can book those flight tickets and bring your budget under control. Visiting off-season does not mean going in bad climate months, it just means that you stay clear of on-season when all the people flock to these places and drive high demand. So, it is always wise and frugal to be on the lookout and visit these places off-season.
Be on the lookout for student discounts
Want cheap flight tickets? Student discounts are your answer. What youngsters fail to realize is how simple and budget-friendly traveling can be, just by availing the student discounts. Be it a school-going kid or a student finishing his/her graduation. Student discounts are a boon for school/college-going people. The amount of money they can save is worthwhile. Student discounts can be availed by one and all as long as you have a student id on you. This is literally a gold standard to get cheap flight tickets and take advantage of your student status at least once in your life.
Social Media is your friend
Probably, every other time, social media won’t be that beneficial but when it comes to booking cheap flight tickets, it is a wonderful tool. Airline companies post about promotional offers and discounts on their social media handles all the time, you just have to be on the lookout. Be it Facebook, Instagram, or any other source, keep an eye open for attractive discounts and coupon codes that can assist you in bagging those flight tickets. Follow your favorite airlines on their respective handles and save a fortune in discounts.
Flyer Miles and Points
Looking for cheap flight tickets? Flyer miles and airline loyalty points are your best bet. Collecting loyalty points can help you get amazing deals and great discounts on your next flight tickets. All airlines offer these sort of deals to increase customer retention and satisfaction. This is the easy and time-proven method of bagging cheap flight tickets. Look for tickets from the same airline most of the time and you have yourself a big corpus of loyalty points, which can help you save big on flight tickets, which you can use on other meaningful purchases.
Opt for Budget airlines
Selecting every medium of opulence offered by the airline for just 3-4 hours is unnecessary at best. These superfluous luxuries are good but one can surely do without them and save a lot on flight tickets. Cheap flight tickets offer minimum amenities but they are more than enough for a brief period for which you’re on the flight. You can opt for as much regalia as possible when you’re at your destination but can do away with some of them while you’re on flight. It’s the same case as ordering food inside the cinema hall which is stupidly overpriced.
Set fare alerts
Want those cheap flight tickets? Well, one way is to set fare alerts on different websites that notify you when the price of a particular airline for a particular route goes down and suddenly becomes affordable and within your budget. All kinds of different airlines have this feature of setting fare alerts for your favourite routes that notifies you instantly when the price drops. Never miss out on those exclusive discounts and attractive deals when you have fare alerts turned on and always be lucky in getting those flight tickets. Money when saved on flight tickets can be judiciously spent on other important stuff. Happy savings!
Avoid booking on weekends
Want those cheap flight tickets? A golden rule is to never book on weekends because both Saturday and Sunday have the most foot traffic on websites which drives the prices of these tickets into space. Booking on weekends is the worst possible strategy that you can adopt in your quest for cheap flight tickets. instead, you can book flight tickets on weekdays which experience relatively lesser traffic on websites and therefore results in relatively less prices. The money you save here can be put to better use for other expenses of your trip which are considerably more important than a brief two-hour flight.
Currency Matters
If possible, book in a currency that has a lower value than your native currency. Airlines offer different prices for different currencies, and they are lower for lesser-valued currencies. If you’re willing to go the extra mile for cheap flight tickets, well this is the hack to practice. Many people get surprisingly low prices by changing the booking currency. You can also exploit this technique and satisfy the frugal individual in you.
Connecting flights are the hack
Flying direct might not be the best idea nowadays. Direct flights are way overpriced than connecting flights which at the price of a small layover, cost a lot less and therefore bring that entire trip inside your budget boundaries. You can always bag those cheap flight tickets by choosing connecting flights and saving a fortune on flight tickets. The layover can also be interesting as it is mostly at important cities and countries that are worth visiting and therefore it’s a win-win. Thinking of cheap flight tickets? Think connecting flights.
The first booking hack
You must have got a discount when you first booked a ticket from a website as the first booking is always on discount, so why end there? There are endless websites and booking sites, book every time from different ones and bag those cheap flight tickets time and time again. This is an underrated trick that is not exploited by amateur travelers but is a sine qua non in the arsenal of veteran wanderers. So, always be on the prey for new booking websites to grab that first booking and ultimately, cheap flight tickets.
Flexibility with dates
The more flexible you are with your travel dates, the higher the chance of you getting those cheap flight tickets. Many flights are cheap for a particular time period and they are usurious for some periods. So one has to be on the lookout and be flexible with travel dates, so you can book a trip when the prices are at their lowest. If you’re flexible with your dates, you will always get those premium flight tickets and be on the saving side of the circle.
