✈️ 15 lifehacks for buying cheap air tickets
Air travel has long gone from being a luxury to a standard way to travel. In a world where time = money, there is no other way. We increasingly travel on wings to the beaches of Egypt and Turkey, behind the Roman Colosseum and the Parisian Louvre, to exotic Cuba and even familiar Moscow. We tell you how to make the flight comfortable not only for you, but also for your wallet, in our top life hacks.
We use super aggregators
Today there are a lot of intermediaries selling air tickets. But manually comparing prices from different operators is a very troublesome task. Super aggregators such as Trip.com, Skyscanner and trip.com will do this for you.
TravelHub
Trip.com is an airline ticket aggregator that offers a user-friendly interface and ease of use. With its help you can quickly find and book tickets at competitive prices. Leave it to artificial intelligence to compare ticket prices from different operators. He will not only offer you the cheapest tickets, but also compare them in terms of comfort and time:
The quick filter system will help you choose tickets for every taste. Tip: If you select flexible dates in your travel date search, this will allow the system to choose the cheapest day to fly for you.
Skyscanner
Skyscanner is a meta-ticket search engine that analyzes offers from agencies in dozens of countries. The fare chart allows users to compare airfare prices to any selected destination throughout the month. You can also find weekend fares for all available destinations by selecting only a specific departure point.
This service is smart and caring. It will warn you about long waits at the airport , a change of air hub, and will highlight the cheapest flight dates on the calendar in green.
Google flights
Google flights will show in real time the current prices for air tickets on the route you are interested in. Are you guided by savings when purchasing? Then all you have to do is choose the date with the cheapest tickets.
Google flights allows you to create a notification about a price reduction for a destination of interest. The main thing is that the user has mail on gmail. He also shares analytics, indicating whether you got cheap tickets compared to standard season prices.
Remember, TravelHub, Skyscanner, and Google flights do not sell tickets. These are aggregators. After selecting a ticket, they will redirect you to the intermediary or airline website.
Play around with countries on the aggregator
Not everyone knows that you can save a lot by changing your country of residence in the aggregator settings. Depending on the specified region, the search engine displays offers from intermediaries from different countries. For example, intermediaries working in the CIS may have more expensive tickets. And these same tickets, but from a Swedish agency, are much cheaper.
Here's a case in point. For a traveler wishing to travel from Stockholm to Sao Paulo, if they indicate their location in Russia, Skyscanner offers the cheapest round-trip tickets for $1,060.
Changed the country to Lithuania (or Sweden). And we see that there are agencies ready to offer flights on the same route at a different price. A couple of mouse clicks and you save $200.
Agency VS airline
Where will the tickets be cheaper, from an intermediary or from the airline? It would seem that the second answer is logical. But not always. Intermediary agencies often buy tickets from airlines in advance and then sell them at their own markup. But the airline also sells tickets more and more expensive as their number decreases. Therefore, when searching for tickets through aggregators, you can see a strange picture as in the screenshot below. A ticket on the route Warsaw – Berlin – Warsaw, operated by Lufthansa, is $24 cheaper from intermediaries than on the Lufthansa website.
When purchasing tickets from intermediaries, be careful. Choose only those who already have a good user rating. Prices on aggregators may no longer be relevant by the time of purchase from an intermediary. This phenomenon is rare, but it does happen.
In addition, intermediaries are trying to offer more paid services. In this regard, the process of purchasing a ticket directly from the airline is easier and faster.
Comfort VS savings
There are several factors that determine a lower ticket price. Let's look into them.
With a transfer or direct?
First, flights with transfers are cheaper than direct flights. Because they belong to a lower comfort category. Such tandems are sold at a reduced rate. The longer the transfer, the lower the fare.
Departure time – an opportunity to save
Second: the less convenient the departure time for you, the cheaper it is. Prime time for air carriers is from eight in the morning until eight in the evening. Extremely uncomfortable night flights are likely to be cheaper. If only for the reason that at this time companies pay low airport taxes. That's why low-cost airlines fly at such inconvenient times.
We are monitoring the docking
Third: if your trip has a connection, try to choose one carrier airline. As a last resort – companies of one airline alliance (there are three of them – Star Alliance, Skyteam and Oneworld). Because it's cheaper due to codeshare agreements. And it’s more reliable. If planes are delayed, the airline takes care of ensuring that the passenger has time for a transfer.
There and back again
Yes, just like the Hobbit on his journey. A comprehensive round-trip ticket is often cheaper than a one-way ticket. Just take a look at Lufthansa. A one-way ticket from Frankfurt to Atlanta on the Lufthansa website costs €1,389. And it costs only 835 euros for a round trip. You take more, you pay less.
In this way, the airline competes with competitors for passengers and is guaranteed to fill the plane without losing money on unsold tickets.
You cannot skip segments of your ticket
Don’t think that you can deceive the airline by buying a cheaper round-trip ticket and simply not showing up for one of the flight segments. This is a direct violation of the terms of the deal: it is prohibited to manipulate tickets without the approval of the airline. Not planning to fly? Warn the carrier, and sometimes refund the difference in price if the package ticket was cheaper than a one-way ticket.
I especially don’t recommend skipping the “there” segment. The airline has every right to cancel your entire ticket if you do not show up for one of the segments.
When is it cheaper to buy tickets?
Conventional wisdom says: buy tickets on weekdays, preferably from Monday to Wednesday. But this is more of a stereotype; I personally haven’t noticed any changes.
More verifiable advice: How long before the trip should you buy a ticket. It is optimal to buy plane tickets one and a half to two months before departure. Then they begin to rise in price day by day.
Another thing has been tested by experience: usually the most expensive tickets depart on Friday-Sunday.
We are following the promotions…
All advice about a good time to buy a ticket is null and void when airlines have a sale. Unfortunately, this is more applicable to low-cost airlines. And reputable carriers such as Air France, Lufthansa, KLM and others rarely spoil us.
But there are exceptions here too. In May, Turkish Airlines was ready to fly from Riga to Sao Paulo and back for $1,000. Two weeks have passed, the celebration of generosity is over, and tickets for the same dates have risen in price by 50%.
…and suggestions
Even outside of promotions, some airlines have nice bonuses that attentive travelers can take advantage of. The most pleasant surprise for travelers with a long layover in Istanbul is offered by Turkish Airlines. If the transfer lasts more than 20 hours, then you have the right to the so-called stopover. The airline will provide a hotel for one night free of charge. You can use the service either on the flight there or on the way back, you cannot do it twice. Read more about the rules and procedure for making such a gift here.
If the transfer lasts from 6 to 24 hours, then Turkish Airlines is ready to please you with a free excursion around Istanbul. Just go to the Touristanbul counter at the airport and choose an excursion.
Stopovers are also offered by other airlines, mainly Asian: Qatar Airways, Emirates, Etihad, Singapore Airlines.