Having a bad case of wanderlust like me? Or do you just wanna go on a small vacation? We all want to save money on flights and here’s some quick tips on how to find the cheapest flight tickets:
1. Flight tickets are cheaper on Tuesdays
Sounds weird. I know. But it’s true. The majority of flight tickets across sales channels decreases in price on Tuesday. I don’t really think anyone knows why. This can of course change, but it’ll always be cheaper to fly out early in the week. It’s mainly cheapest to fly out on a wednesday. So book on a Tuesday and fly on a Wednesday for the cheapest price.
2. Use the right search engines
Everyone knows Momondo, and they’re quite good! But have you ever tried Skyscanner or Kayak? Kayak is definitely my favorite, but it’s better if you don’t have a specific time or dates for your travel. Their “Explore” tool makes it really easy to scout for cheap flights from your location to anywhere in the world. Skyscanner is also really good, since it seems to always find the same flights as the other search engines – but just cheaper. Sometimes Momondo matches the price, but for the majority of times Skyscanner is cheaper.
This is how Kayak’s Explore tool looks like – amazing right?
3. Join Membership Clubs
Most airline companies has membership clubs or rewards. So if you fly a lot with the same airline, make sure to sign up to get a ton of benefits and discounts! Since I fly back and forth between Denmark and Spain a lot, I’ve signed up with both Miles&More from multiple airlines, and Norwegian Reward with Norwegian. I don’t use Miles&More that much because you need to save up a lot of point before you can get a flight. So I fly with Norwegian everytime I fly to Denmark and Spain, both because it’s usually cheapest but also best. And because I’ve signed up with their Rewards program, I get like every 4th trip almost free because of the points I earn. So it definitely pays off joining these clubs!
With Miles&More you get a fancy card
4. Clear your cache and cookies
Most of you probably knows this little trick. The search engines store your information of what flights and dates you’ve been looking at before. So they’re programmed to jam up the price according to how many times you visit the site. So make sure to clear your cache and cookies to avoid the price going up. Or simply use an Incognito browser.
5. Book on the right dates
Like the tickets being cheaper on Tuesdays, they’re also cheapest at a certain time before the journey. It’s cheapest to book tickets 6 weeks before the trip.
6. Avoid search engines and go straight to the airline
I also do this a lot. Simply because in my logic, of course the prices are higher on the search engines – as they charge commission or fees for booking through them. They might be hidden, so you’d just think it’s the actual price. But then if you go check the airlines own website, you’ll sometimes find the same tickets for a cheaper price.
7. Check for possible layovers (the “hidden city” trick)
Sometimes (and I know this sounds ridiculous), it’s cheaper to book a longer trip, where your actual destination is actually the layover. For example if you’re going from London to Singapore, it can sometimes be cheaper to book a flight that goes: London – Singapore – Ho Chi Mihn. So that Singapore is the layover and then you just “get off” there. Singapore is here the “hidden city”.
If you use this trick, please remember to consider the following:
If you have checked in luggage, it will NOT end up in the end destination - if you have more than 24 hours layover. If it's less, your luggage might be stored at the airport, but remember to check as it can change between airlines.
8. Sign up for newsletters
Sign up for the airlines newsletters and get great discounts! I’m currently signed up at all low price carriers in Europe, such as Ryanair, Vueling and of course Norwegian. This way I’ll be the first to know when they release cheap tickets or if they have a special offer. This was actually how I managed to get to Ibiza for 20€ with Ryanair. And also how I can go to Morocco for just 26€ next week (also with Ryanair). Amazing right?
9. Don’t book connecting flights
Now, it’s not as it sounds! But if you’re gonna have a layover in an interesting city, why not book the flights separately? Then you could also add a couple of days between the flights, giving you some days to explore another destination. For example, if you’re flying from London to Ho Chi Mihn, but you have a layover in Singapore. Why not see if it’s cheaper to book the flights separately and take a few days in Singapore? That wouldn’t be too bad now would it?
10. Sign up for price alerts
If you know when and where you wanna go, sign up for price alerts! This can be done at pretty much all search engines and airlines. So whenever the price for your specific dates and destination drops, you’ll get an email!
Most websites will let you create a price alert (picture is from Kayak)
11. Check cancelled bookings and last minute flights
Most travel agencies has a list of cancelled bookings and last minute flights. This means that other customers that has already booked and paid for a trip has had to cancel. So now the travel agency sells the trip for close to nothing. This is especially good if you don’t have any destination preferences. But sometimes if you want something really cheap it can mean that you’ll have to fly out next day – so make sure to be prepared.
12. Check other airports
Make sure to check the prices if you fly out or back to another airport that’s close to your own. For example here in Barcelona, it’s always cheaper to fly from Girona. It’s a smaller airport located a bit up the coast. Same with Malmö and Copenhagen, and Florence and Pisa, for example. But remember to check if it still pays off when you include the prices for a train/car and in relation to the time you’ll spend.
13. Don’t wait to book
If you know when and where you’re going – don’t wait to book. This is especially if you’re flying in Europe or Australia, since it seems to be the pattern of their low price airlines to increase the prices. They will often start selling the flight tickets at the lowest price, and then the remaining tickets will just keep increasing in price. So don’t wait for a sale (sometimes they can happen though, but mostly they won’t), just book it. This is more likely to save you money than waiting.
14. Always check multiple sites
Never just book the first time you search for a flight and on the first site you visit. It might be cheap on Skyscanner, but you should check Momondo, Kayak or the airlines own website first. You never know if it could be cheaper – and it would be a shame to pay more just because it seems cheap right?
15. Travel light
In most airlines, especially the low price ones, you have to pay to add luggage. So to save money, consider if you’ll be able to just travel with carry-on. Just remember that the different airlines have restrictions on weight and sizes of carry-on as well.
These are all my tips to find cheaper flights! Remember: don’t be choosy, if you care about the price! If you can find cheap flights to Barcelona, feel free to visit and I’ll show you what to do in Barcelona 😉
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