Hello, how is your travel style? If you prefer traveling on a budget or spending less on your trip, I can show you some travel hacks for cheap flights. There are plenty of ways I believe you can search online, but these are travel tips that I concluded from my experience. Hopefully, it helps you on your journey!
1. Always Keep Yourself Anonymous
When searching for airline tickets, you better use a browser in incognito mode (with Chrome), and private mode (with Safari). As flight search engines will use the tracking cookies saved on your browser to know your demand, the flight tickets you usually look for will likely increase the price the next time you search. Therefore, you better get the ticket the first time you see it or search the cheap airfare anonymously.
2. Get to Know Different Cheap Airfare Search Engines
There are some search engines that support users looking for cheap flights. Nevertheless, the point is which ones are suitable for your needs, and how to use them for the best deals? Below are some that I usually use:
- I see a lot of people go with Skyscanner. Yes, it is my number 1 choice also. Perhaps it’s convenient with the app. Furthermore, it connects to many search engines, airlines, and even some budget airlines. Hence, you can easily search for airfare anywhere easily. Skyscanner also supports searching for cheap hotels and car rentals.
- If you want to do a quick comparison between flights, you may want to try Google Flights. However, it’s not fully supported everywhere, and it usually doesn’t show cheap flight tickets.
- I just got to know Aviasales nowadays. This search engine supports budget airlines, including the best deals offered by various international flights.
- If you are currently in some Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, you may want to check Traveloka. It’s a new unicorn of search engines for low-cost flights, and hotels, especially in the SEA region, or domestic flights. The platform also supports picking up at airports. In addition, Traveloka offers many flight deals and combo for discount airfare and hotel from which you can save a lot!
- Alongside this, I also want to introduce Kiwi.com. This platform can search for really good airfare deals when you combine multi-flights rather than just 1 flight booking. Also, I really like the map to compare flights around users for the lowest airfare or search destinations based on their travel style.
3. Book Continuous Flights Yourself For Money Hack
If you want to book a flight from point A to C and have a transit at point B, you should consider booking separately from A to B and then B to C. Usually, it gives you a cheaper price using the second way. For this travel tip, you must check the layover time, it’s better to have a tight transit time rather than a long one.
4. Have A Solid Travel Plan
This doesn’t mean that you show your travel plan to the travel agent and they will discount the airfare. It’s just because if you have a solid travel plan, you can book an airline ticket a long time prior to your trip, preferably about 2 months, not too long. This is definitely a way that you can absolutely find cheap flights.
5. Have A Flexible Flying Date
Most search engines support users with their ‘price alerts’ feature. Simply click on it and put in your email, and they will notify you whenever they find good deals or cheap airline tickets that match your desire.
Moreover, when you click on ‘show whole month’ (different called on different platforms), it will lead you to a calendar that shows the dates with the best prices. If your flight date is not fixed, you can easily pick a date with cheaper airfare suggested by the search engine.
6. Lose Yourself From A Rigid Destination
A lot of people just want to go wherever the wind takes them without a plan or an exact destination, why not fly to a place with cheap airfare? I’m not sure if this could be one of my travel tips on a budget flight, or if I’m just showing features of search engines. Anyway, Skyscanner and Kiwi.com have features to show all cheap flights to varied destinations. While Skyscanner sorts out the results based on your departure place, Kiwi.com even shows a map with all the possible cheapest prices of different spots. Moreover, Kiwi.com now even updates the map with travel lifestyle and hobby matching.
7. Leverage The Airline Reward Programs
Many airlines in the world join common alliances to offer their users a better experience and benefits when using their services. Hence, anytime you take an airline, you should ask to join its rewards program. For example, you can earn United Airlines miles if you fly with Singapore Airlines. Similarly, you can join the Delta rewards program if you go with AirFrance. Even budget airline such as Nok Air has their Nok Fan Club. Me, I have joined Asia Miles since my first flight with Cathay Pacific 4 years ago.
Every time you fly, your reward account will be recorded with points awarded from airlines’ programs. Then you can use those points not only to upgrade your tickets, get free flights, access to VIP services, etc. but also to shop for a lot of interesting items.
8. Say ‘Hi’ to Budget Airlines
As the name budget airlines, everything will be served on a budget. The seat is smaller, less space for your leg, no free drinks, no checking luggage, delays sometimes, etc. You have to pay extra to have more services which are always covered in normal airline tickets. As a result, they can offer flights at cheaper prices. Nevertheless, a good thing is that there are still airlines that have some snacks for you such as Nok Air!
Budget airlines usually come with very strict rules which require you to follow absolutely. Hence, you should check those rules carefully. Especially the airport locations, hand baggage allowance, and whether you have to print your ticket or not (some airlines force you to buy a print ticket at their airport reception desk in order to fly if you forget).
Below are some budget airlines that you can check:
United States
. Southwest
. Allegiant Air
. Frontier
. Spirit Airlines
. Sun Country Airlines
. WOW Air (cheap flights to Europe)
. Jetblue
. Porter
Canada
. Flair Airlines
. Swoop
. Jetlines
. Air Canada Rouge
. WOW Air
. Spirit Airlines
. Porter
. Air Transat
Australia
. Jetstar
. Tiger Air
. Scoot
New Zealand
. Jetstar
. Air New Zealand
Asia
. Air Asia
. Tiger Air
. Jeju Air
. Jetstar
. Hong Kong Express
. Scoot
. Peach Air
. Dragon Air
. Spice Jet
. Spring Airlines
. Vietjet Air
. Nok Air
. T’Way Airlines
. Vanilla Air
Europe
. Vueling
. TUI
. Ryanair
. Easyjet
. Aer Lingus
. Aigle Azur
. Wow Air
. Eurowings
. Flybe
. Norwegian Air
. Wizz Air
9. Find Last Minute Cheap Flights?
Arriving at the airport and asking for a standby ticket? That may be a way for you to get cheap last-minute flights. However, it is just for the past few days.
Nowadays, with Skyscanner, or similar apps, you can search directly using its calendar feature associated with a chart for specific pricing comparison. Just open the search engine, pick the departure and arrival destinations, choose the dates, and click “search flights”. On the next screen, you could click on ‘Show whole month’, it then shows you a calendar with the possible cheapest price of the day and a chart for comparison on the next tab.
10. Hidden Technics That People Rumor
Refreshing the search engine usually. You may find a cheap flight right away. If you are lucky enough!
Making the most from the filter. One time I tried to filter as specifically as possible, and the result was amazing. There were some better deals that just appeared with a 20%-30% cut on prices compared to the default filter. You may use this with the incognito/private mode of the browser. The result could be even better.
Buying airline tickets on Tuesday and avoiding Friday has a higher possibility for cheap flights search. Furthermore, Saturday or Sunday is also a good day to figure out the best travel deals. Scott McCartney, the guy who’s in charge of The Wall Street Journal‘s Airlines and Travel Section has revealed this secret! And I always apply these travel tips whenever I’m looking for cheap tickets.
!@#$%^&*
Some people say that travel tips no. 9 & 10 are myths. Additionally, they even say that flight seats are now easily fulfilled by the increasing demand for using airplanes of people, so it’s hard to get cheap last-minute flights. Whether it is or not, I always try to apply those travel hacks for cheap flights research. Who knows, maybe it could help. As a result, it saves my budget a lot. Just do it, at least it costs nothing for the technics to try!
FIND YOUR CHEAP FLIGHT TODAY
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