Your main costs when traveling tend to be: accommodation, transport, food and entertainment. If you can keep the costs of your flights down, then you’ll have more money for everything else. Reducing the amount your holiday’s going to cost from the start can really help reduce stress and ensure there’s some breathing room in your budget. As someone who’s traveled to over 25 countries, I have figured out a few little hacks that can help you ensure you get the best value flights possible:
Browse for Cheap Flights Online:
Gone are the days of walking into a travel agent or ticket office in an airport to buy flights. You can now buy flights from the comfort of your own home or even your own bed. There are numerous sites that offer cheap fares, but Flybe offer great flight prices as well as hotel and flight combo deals. Whether you’re planning a quick escape to Portugal or traveling somewhere more exotic, Flybe will help you find a great deal. Because you are able to search yourself, you’re not paying someone else a commission which ensures that your flight prices are more affordable.
Travel at Unusual Times:
Peak travel times tend to be the most desirable times to travel, so between 7-10amand 5-8pm. This is because a lot of business men and women tend to fly at these times to make it between destinations. Flights that leave at slightly uncomfortable times, such as before 7am and in the evening tend to run a lot cheaper. Another bonus to flying early in the morning is you are much, much less likely to be delayed and if your flight is cancelled you’ll be more likely found a replacement flight than if you were originally flying at night.
Unfortunately, direct flights tend to come with a cost, especially if you’re flying a long distance. Taking a stop over can mean that you open up more airlines and flights, so you can find a more competitive price. If you have the time, you can spend some time in your stop over destination and visit a whole new place. Some cities, such as Singapore, offer free city tours from the airport so if you’re there for a half a day or so you can still get out and explore. Over long distances flying direct tends to be a lot more expensive, only you can decide whether it’s worth the extra cost.
Buy Two Separate Tickets:
If you want to go somewhere that’s not a major airport, it’ll probably cost you and arm and a leg. It’s often much cheaper to fly into a main airport nearby and then make a connecting flight. For example, if you were flying from New York to Lisbon, Portugal, you might find it considerably cheaper to fly from New York to London and then onto Portugal from London rather than trying to do it all in one step.