Cheap flight tickets: Ultimate guide
We all know airfare is one of the biggest expenses on a trip, and can reach more than 80% of the total cost.
An expensive ticket may prevent your vacation to happen.
So finding a cheapest ticket can make your trip possible and does not break your budget.
There are lots of people promising the world and the “ways to get tickets at 20 or 30 dollars, but usually are tricks, which in my opinion are illegal, or at least unethical.
Here I will show ways to get as cheap as possible, or at least you can save a lot on your travels.
These are tips I use often and each of these tips will take you to a discount and the combination of them can lead to a reduction of up to 80% in the cost of flight tickets, this without hurting any law or norm and being ethical.
You may ask what it is to be ethical. For me this is a great definition of what ethics is to be.
Ethics is a set of moral values and principles which guide their conduct in society, creating a balance and good social functioning, allowing no one to suffer.
Every day, airlines change prices according to their needs and strategies, to compete with other airlines. Cheap rates are available so it’s depende on you to know how to find them.
1 – Review some "concepts" about cheap flight tickets.
These concepts may have been true at some point, but not today, because with all new systems, applications and Artificial Intelligence they are no longer true.
The best day to buy an air ticket is Tuesday: Can be or not, but it sure is cheaper than Friday.
The earlier you buy, the cheaper: There is a limit to this, depending on each case, but there are also many last minute deals.
Clear the browser cookie: The intelligences of the systems, behind prices, are more “smart” than that.
Roundtrip tickets are cheaper: Nowadays with all the offers and possibilities, this is no longer absolute truth.
These are some concepts that are not worth more, but if you have any other questions or want to confirm any concept you have just send me an email or comment this post below and I will be glade to reply.
Now with these concepts out and no more hindering, let’s put into practice the tips and find the cheapest ticket idela for your trip.
How to plan your trip around the world of your dreams.
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- Total freedom of choice.
- Lower cost because you do not have to pay anyone to do it for you.
- You can change your plans at any time and for any reason.
- You can cancel, change and simply do not pay fines or penalties.
2 – Be Flexible: Regarding destination, day and trip time.
This is the tip that will best influence on ticket volume discount. It depends on more than 70% of its economy.
Airfare prices vary widely depending on the day of the week, travel time, seasons (summer, winter, etc.).
Whether or not in high season holidays, special holidays or Carnival, etc.
Basically, if you travel to where, the same time and day that everyone is traveling, you will surely pay a lot more.
If you do exactly the opposite you will have great savings opportunities.
what is the ideal combination:
- Travel outside of the season.
- Go in the middle of the week.
- For destinations unlike the vast majority.
- Use alternative airports.
- If they are going to the beach, go to the countryside.
- If they’re leaving town. Stay.
- They are going at the end of the day, go in the middle or at dawn.
Doing a price search will verify that changing your dates in just a few days can make a big difference in prices.
Also check out times. Example A flight to Rio de Janeiro on Mondays 7:00 AM is much more expensive than the same flight on Wednesday afternoon.
Flexible when the date, see the table below: Air ticket to London, only one way in April / 19.
The cheapest airfare is on April 19 for $ 198 and the most expensive on day 4 for $ 386.00 difference of $ 188.00, that is, 49% discount.
Breaking the concept, Tuesday has the best price, as here Wednesday has it, and in addition the cheapest is on day 15 or 22.
If you leave on the 23rd, you will pay $ 328.00, but a day before it will be for $ 198.00. A super-economic of $ 130.00 just for changing one day. In addition, if you change the month you can change the values completely.
Flexible when the destination, see the table below: several destinations on the same date.
As you can see in google flights, if you are flexible about the destination, you can go to Lima, Peru or Ushuaia in Argentina for as little as US $ 350.
Up to US $ 600 you can go to Paris, Moscow, Los Angeles , Johannesburg, New York.
Paris being the cheapest of them with price of $ 497.00.
3 – Travel in a low cost company.
Today, we have many airlines with low cost. For shorter flights, up to 6 hours, they are a great cost / benefit option.
Just have to be attentive to their rules that are generally:
- It does not have any type of meal, included in the ticket, but they sell on the plane.
- Usually does not have checked baggage, inclued on the price.
- Some will not have a seat reservation.
- Many use alternative airports. This may generate cost on your arrival, but the economy usually pays off.
But the prices are incredible.
You can go from Paris to Iceland for $ 90.00 or Oslo to Bangkok for only $ 185.90.
Asia has many low cost companies.
List of some low cost companies in the world.
North America
I flew Vancouver / Whitehouse round trip for $ 200.00 with Air canada rouge.
Bangkok to Hong Kong for $ 80.00 by Air Asia.
Cairns, in Australia, to Bali (Indonesia) for $ 110.00 with luggage, by JetStar.
I will make another post with more details of each company and where to fly to be easier to chosse.
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4 – Plan in advance
The best way to take advantage of the tips is to be prepared to take advantage of the opportunities.
So it is great to have several plans ready, so when the opportunity appears, you can grab it.
See this post How to plan your trip in 5 simple steps.
5 – Use the search tools correctly.
Everyone knows, there are several search tools and each one has its ways of working.
So the most important is to learn how to use the ones you like most, but always be consulting at least 3 of them to ensure you get the best price.
They have their own portfolio and display rules to show best prices, also not all airlines are on all search engines and of course some deals are exclusive.
Skyscanner – I use a lot because its interface is user friendly and has the vast majority of airlines in the portfolio
Momondo – I have used in recent times and I have found great options. It also has an interface for searching the cost of a lot of destinations at the same time, with several options that facilitates an overview.
Google Flights – I use more with a general search source. Great search engine that allows you to see prices for various destinations and dates.
6 – Keep an eye on promotions.
It certainly gives a bit of work, but you can get a bigger discount.
After using all the above tips and not finding the deal value, you have the option to wait for the promotions.
Several websites, airways, and others have mechanism for you to subscribe and I receive the promotions.
I believe that most do not have the time to research the prices every day, and the best ones can appear when you are not online.
So just set the parameters you want and wait to receive the best deal, just waiting and taking advantage of the best deals.
I got a ticket from London to Sao Paulo for $ 450.00 on promotion.
In addition to setting up your preferred airline site, the Skyscanner, Momondo, should also use other tools like :
Like I said, it’s going to be a bit of work, but the saves will be worth it.
