A penny saved is a penny earned. Especially when booking a flight tends to be an expensive affair. But if you play your cards right and plan ahead of booking, you may be able to book your flight at low prices. Mentioned here are a few tips that can help you book a cheap flight and make your travel affordable.
Whether it is just booking a flight or planning your whole trip, you can save money on both if you do it smartly. Purchasing a flight ticket at a higher price means you have to compromise on your hotel stay or on other travel-related activities to ensure it fits your overall budget. Check the points mentioned below to know how to book a cheap flight so that you can afford a comfortable and better trip.
- Book Your Flight Early to Get Cheaper Options
If you know your travel dates, being an early bird can save you a considerable amount of money. The flight tickets usually make a jump in pricing when it’s close to the departure date. This can often be as high as 3 to 4 times the initial price of the flight. The best time to book your flight is 3 months to 30 days in advance. This presents you with the cheapest options for your flight, and you may even be able to select your choice of seats.
- Be Flexible With Your Schedule
Travel offers and flight discounts are not consistent. You may find a cheap flight with a departure date that does not coincide with your travel date but is close by. Flying mid-week is usually cheaper than flying on weekends. Showing flexibility with your travel schedule will take you a long way and get you more flight options that fit your budget. Moreover, most via flights are cheaper than direct flights. While they may add to travel hours, they surely can reduce your travel cost significantly, especially for long route international destinations.
- Browse Portals that Show You all the Flight Options
Many travellers often think that booking the flight from an airline’s website directly, would fetch them the best rates since they save on the margins paid to third-party portals or aggregator websites. However, this is not true. These portals contribute to a significant portion of the flight bookings on an airline, thus giving them the benefit of scale, which helps them sometimes get better rates than the one offered, by the airline itself as well. Some of these margins are often passed on to the end consumer by giving them lower-priced tickets. Moreover, booking through multi-carrier portals can help you identify the lowest priced ticket on the intended date of your travel by showcasing all the flight options from various airlines on the route.
- Earn and Redeem Air Miles
Air tickets booking at a low price is much easier if you have the option to earn/redeem miles on your bookings. If you’re part of a travel loyalty program, make sure you don’t lose any opportunity to earn miles. Some programs enable you to earn miles by booking flights and other activities, such as dining at a program’s partner restaurant, filling fuel at a program’s partner gas station, staying at a partner hotel, and more.The miles earned can later be used against booking flight tickets and also for other things like booking a hotel stay apart from other activities. Moreover, these programs grant many other benefits to its members, such as complimentary lounge access (depending on the level you have reached in the program), regular discounts, complimentary in-flight meals, etc.
Keep the following points in mind along to book a cheap flight and save money for the rest of your trip. However, make sure you choose the right flight that helps you save money by offering the right mix of comfort and affordability.
