8 Ways To Book The Cheapest Flights

If you are a frequent traveller, chances are you have experienced the tiresome, repeated searching when trying to book the cheapest possible flights to any given destination.

Airfare can easily be the largest expense of your trip but if the idea of booking cheap flights sounds appealing to you, these tips will help your air travel become more reasonable.

Book early for cheap flights

Booking your flight as early as possible is one of the easiest ways to ensure you get the lowest prices. If you book within three months to 30 days from departure, you are likely to get a good deal. Another reason to book early is to ensure you get the seat you want, especially for peak season flights.

Test the 24-hour rule

After you book, check the next morning to see if the price of your airfare fell. If it did, give the airline a call to cancel your flight and often you can rebook without penalty.

Set price alerts

You can set up a price alert notification to let you know when ticket prices increase or decrease as it fluctuates on a daily basis. Even a small drop can result in a large saving if you need to buy a ticket for each member of your family.

Airlines are known to cut prices when they can’t fill planes for an upcoming weekend trip. They can send out offer emails during the week to alert customers of a fare drop.

Passengers leave Brussels national airport in Zaventem, on the outskirts of the Belgium capital, on February 13, 2019, during a national general strike. – Belgian airspace was to be closed to all flights below 8,000 metres on February 13 as a national strike threatened to bring the European country to a standstill. (Photo by THIERRY ROGE / BELGA / AFP) / Belgium OUT

Book a connecting flight

If you aren’t in a hurry to get to your final destination, booking a connecting flight can be cheaper than a non-stop flight. The search engines will let you filter flight itineraries by non-stop, 1 stop, and 2+ stops. Even flying mixed carriers might be able to save you some cash as well.

Check social media

Airlines have been experimenting with blasting fares via social media but you have to be fast: some deals can be gone within hours.

Use more than one travel portal

Before you book directly from the carrier, you should also compare prices with at least one third-party booking site. Sometimes, the better deal can be found from a third-party site. Relying on only one site to give you the low-down for low-cost airfare is silly.

Browse airline specials

If you’re going to wait until the final weeks to book, you might be able to find some last-minute deals directly from the carrier. This option can be hit or miss as it depends on how badly the carrier wants to sell any remaining seats.