How often do we find ourselves in a situation that flight ticket is way out of our budget? We cancel our trips or postpone them, some of us compromise of hotel quality to accommodate higher ticket price. most recently we had to cancel Las Vegas trip due to the same reason. In this post putting down some of the ways to keep your flight ticket cost in check
Traveling by plane may be the most convenient means of transportation, but it’s definitely far from being the cheapest. If you want to see the world without spending enormous amounts of money on plane tickets, keep reading and take notes.
Buy tickets in advance
The earlier you book the tickets, the bigger are your chances to save money. Usually plane tickets get on sale 330 days before the flight date. However, the best date for buying cheapest ticket is 45 days before the flight date. And here is why: airlines can’t count relevant prices before the 45 day period, so they predict them using data from the previous year.
It means that if last year a certain flight was busy, then this year it’s going to be expensive. But in reality this flight might not be that popular this year, so booking tickets earlier than 45 days before the flight date, you risk paying more.
Choose the right day
In many airline companies Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays are ‘cheap’ days, since most flights, except for business ones, are almost empty, therefore the tickets are a lot cheaper.
Play with the flight dates
When choosing the flight date, many reservation systems let you set the exact days as well as +/- 3 to 5 days. If you opt for variable dates, the price of the ticket may drop quite a bit.
Look for special offers
Often airlines announce special offers on certain flights, which mark down the prices by a feasible rate. Special offers usually last only a couple of days, so if you don’t want to miss out on them, make sure you subscribe to an airline company’s mail list or track them via special websites or apps.
Fly with low cost airlines
Low cost airlines cut down the services offered to their passengers, like food and entertainment on board, insurance etc., but instead you get lower ticket prices. You can still get extra services by paying extra money.
As a rule, low cost airlines use only one type of airplanes, they don’t divide passengers into different classes and offer short (under 4 hours) and direct flights. ‘Budget’ airplanes are often delayed and will only suit those who wouldn’t mind spending a couple of extra hours in an airport.
Last, but not least, use IT lifehacks
When you see a ticket for the first time and you have found it randomly through a whole range of different websites, often the price of this ticket is great, and you want to buy it immediately. But you are a reasonable person, so, of course, you want to compare this price with the ones offered by other airline companies.
Then you come back, and when you are almost ready to press the BUY button, you realize that the price has got higher. And the more you study different reservation offers, the higher it gets. You see, your system saves you web history and is sure that you are very likely to buy the ticket.
But once you switch your browser into the Incognito mode, you’ll see that the price has got down again. So choose tickets carefully and pick the best offer, but purchase them in the Incognito mode, or better still on a different computer.
Great tips! Getting tickets in advance can really save a person a lot of money if he or she is going with friends or family.
Planning ahead when buying plane tickets is so important! You also have to be willing to just buy it when you see the price drop. I’ve missed out on many opportunities because I thought maybe it would drop more, and it really skyrockets.