Many of us love to travel and explore new places. With so many sights to see and locations to visit, the options for travel are endless. Unfortunately, the high cost of airfare often gets in the way of planning the next great adventure. Don’t let the price of a plane ticket stop you from seeing the world. Below, we’re sharing a few tips for finding dirt cheap flight tickets. Start your search, buy your ticket, and begin exploring!
Know Where to Look
There’s no need to start a blind search for cheap tickets. There are plenty of websites and services available that will automatically offer discounted prices. Start with the well known sites like Travelocity, Expedia, and Orbitz.
There are many other aggregator sites that will search multiple providers for you though such as Hipmunk and CheapoAir, our three personal favourites being Skyscanner, Kayak and Momondo.
These services make it easy to plug in information about where and when you’ll be traveling and get results from several airline options.
While many people are now using these sites, don’t forget to go directly to the source. We usually expect to pay more when purchasing tickets directly from the airline, but that isn’t always the case. Airlines will frequently save some of the best deals to offer exclusively on their sites.
Be sure to take a look and find out if you can get a good deal.
Keep Your Date Options Open
Is it imperative that you leave on Friday night and return on a Saturday? If not, you might be able to save a lot of cash by changing your plans slightly.
It’s always cheaper to fly on a weekday rather than a weekend, with Wednesday being the least expensive day to fly. Most people tend to plan their trips based on arriving and departing on weekends, making weekday flights less in demand.
The same is true for early morning and late night flights. If you’re willing to get up before the sun or fly through the night, you may be able to find a better deal on your tickets.
Consider what time of the year you’ll be traveling as well. Try to avoid flying during any major holidays, as everyone else will be doing the same and airlines will raise prices to match. Traveling during the summer months will always lead to higher prices when the tourism industry is out to make the most money possible from those who are traveling for vacations.
For those visiting Europe, August is a high cost month as many Europeans take their vacations during that month.
Go On an Unexpected Adventure
Obviously, some places are cheaper to fly to than others. If you’re willing to be open when it comes to where you’ll traveling, you may be able to find dirt cheap flights to an exciting new location.
Check out Kayak or the aggregators mentioned above for an easy way to try this strategy for inexpensive traveling. Many have an Explore tool that will allow you to enter your travel dates and how much money you’d like to spend. Then, you’ll be presented with some options of destinations offering plane tickets in your price range.
Another option when it comes to taking a trip to a random destination is to wait until the last minute to find out where there are leftover seats. Airlines would much rather sell a seat at a greatly reduced price than lose out on that money all together.
The cheapest time to buy tickets is on a Tuesday afternoon. Log on to your travel site then and search for tickets for flights in the following few days. Spur of the moment travel can lead to some fantastic stories to tell later.
Be Willing to Take the Long Way
Direct flights will almost always be much more expensive than those trips that involve at least one layover.
If you’re willing to be patient and endure a long day of travel, you’ll be rewarded with dirt cheap flights. This might mean booking flights as a package deal, allowing your travel site to set up your flight schedule for you to get from point A to point B.
However, you can also take matters into your own hands.
Consider booking several flights in one day. Find out the cost to take a direct flight from your starting point to another airport. Then, book another flight from there to the next airport. You may even have to add in another stop before you get to your final destination.
Before you solidify your plans, make sure that all of those ticket costs won’t add up to be more expensive. You’ll also want to pay close attention to timing, to be sure that you’ll have plenty of time to catch each flight.
Join a Frequent Flyer Program
Whether you’re an avid flyer or just taken the occasional trip, why not take advantage of some of the benefits that airlines offer through their frequent flyer programs? Take a look at a few different airlines before becoming a member, to find the one that offers the benefits that will help you out the most.
While there are more restrictions than ever for using frequent flyer miles, if you’re willing to be flexible and jump on the right opportunity, you’ll be able to score a good deal.
A few tips for using frequent flyer miles:
- Keep track of your rewards and be sure that your account is showing all of the miles you’ve earned.
- Pay attention to expiration dates. If your miles are about to expire, find out what your options are for renewing them.
- To use your miles, try to book very early (hundreds of days in advance) or last minute (a week before) to score a seat.
- Don’t be afraid to call for help. The airline’s customer service should be able to answer questions and assist you.
You might also want to consider using a credit card with a rewards program when paying for your flight. Many cards have great rewards that can save you money on travel expenses. When you combine your credit card rewards with the benefits from the frequent flyer program, you can double up and rack up loads of points to be used on future trips.
Know About Discounts
Most airlines will offer discounts for certain demographics. Seniors can often benefit from these discounts. Families can also benefit from discounts, as many airlines will reduce fares for children.
However, the discounts don’t stop there. If you’re under the age of 26 or a student, there are plenty of companies that will help you to secure dirt cheap flight tickets. Look at companies like STA and Student Universe to find out how they can help you to get reduced prices on flights.
Your Cheap Flight Ticket Suggestions
How about you? Have you have any good experiences getting dirt cheap flight tickets? Do you have any further tips, suggestions or useful websites? Let us know in the comments below.
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