Guide to Booking Cheap Flights

Sep 16 , 2016 by HomeEscape

Guide to Booking Cheap Flights

We all know how difficult it can be to book the cheapest possible flights to a destination when simultaneously conducting research across multiple travel sites. With endless search engines and continually fluctuating prices, the approach to frugal flight booking is overwhelming. Here are some important tips to help you save time, money, and frustration when booking your next flight.

1. Keep your searches top secret

Price changes do occur after you’ve visited a travel site multiple times – based on the cookies in your browser, flight prices do increase when a particular route is repeatedly searched, as the site wants to scare you into booking the flight quickly before prices get even higher. Always search for flights in incognito or private browsing mode to see the lowest prices.

To enable incognito mode in Google Chrome or Safari, hit Command (or “Control” if using PC), Shift, “P”. This will open a new browser window where your information is not tracked, thus not inflating prices as you search. Note: if you’re using an older version of OS X, open Safari then click “Safari” in the menu bar, and select “Private Browsing”.

Your cookies are reset each time you re-open an incognito window. So, if you want to not be recognized by the travel site, be sure to re-open a new incognito window each time you perform a flight search.

finding cheap flights

2. Use the best flight search engines

All search engines have inflated flight costs as part of taking a cut from the airlines. Some search engines (e.g. Expedia) consistently inflate much higher than others (listed below). It's best to familiarize yourself with sites that offer the best prices.

Cheapest Travel Search Engines:

  • Skyscanner (our #1 choice)
  • AirFare Watchdog (good at finding sale & error fares)
  • Momondo
  • Cheapoair (U.S., Canada, U.K.)
  • JetRadar (includes budget airlines, which many search engines don’t)

Although we’ve listed broad search engines here, note that many do not include budget airlines. If this is what you’re looking for, do an additional search for regional budget airlines

3. Find the cheapest day to fly

There are many theories around the web as to Monday or Tuesday being the cheapest day to fly. However, prices are always fluctuating – which means it is best to get visual prices for the whole month (or week, if you need to be specific) Here’s how:

  1. Get on on SkyScanner.com
  2. Enter your departure & arrival cities
  3. Select “one-way” or "round-trip"
  4. Click “depart” but instead of entering a date, select “Whole Month” so you can see which date is cheapest.
  5. Select "Search Flights" and the Skyscanner calendar will show you which dates within that month are cheapest. You can even check which month is the cheapest to travel. 

find cheap flights

4. Understand budget airlines

Budget airlines offer significantly cheaper tickets, although this may be obvious, it comes with compromises such as less leg room and no “free” food/drink on-board (which is included in your higher price, full-service airline). Some budget airlines charge you just to select a seat or to bring a carry-on bag, so make sure to check all restrictions before booking. 

However, it is important to note the following about budget airlines:

  1. Check where the airport location is.
  2. Make sure you’ve booked & paid for your luggage allowance. Adhere to restrictions on weight, height, and # of bags allowed. Some airlines will charge a hefty fee if you’ve run over (read: Ryan Air).
  3. Make sure to print your ticket ahead of time, as some airlines will charge you extra (read the fine print).  

5. Learn the art of booking long-haul flights

If you’re looking for a long-haul flight deal, then consider breaking your trip into several legs. Instead of booking your international flight non-stop, look for a stop-over. And, we’re not talking about a 2-hour layover here, for the money gains to take effect, you’ll want to intentionally stay in your destination for a few days. Choose a travel destination you will actually enjoy spending time in. Save money by booking a vacation rental without booking fees or processing fees on HomeEscpae. 

You can also use a travel agent to the strategic layover method to spare you the extra effort.

Visit our blog for more tips on how to save money on your travels

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