7 Tips on How to Find Cheap Flights

Airline tickets can be the most expensive part of your holiday. It sometimes is the deciding factor in booking your next dream getaway. If you are a budget traveller it's important to know how to find cheap flight deals, and trust me there are some really good deals out there. Today I'm going to teach you the methods I use to find the cheapest possible price every time I fly.

How to Find Cheap Flights (Content Table)

1. Be Flexible with Dates and Times

2. Consider Other Destinations

3. Fly Budget Airlines

4. Travel with Carry-On Only

5. Talk to A Travel Agent

6. Join a Frequent Flyer Program

7. Compare Search Engines

1. Be Flexible with Dates and Times

Airfares vary a lot depending on the time and day of the week. Generally flying out midweek would be cheaper than on the weekends. Likewise, early morning flights are cheaper than those throughout the rest of the day. Airline companies also hike up their prices during summer and school holidays. But prices will be cheaper if you to fly during the off-peak season or right after a major holiday like Christmas Day or New Year's day as the demand is generally less.

The peak season for Europe starts around mid-June through to August so expect to pay higher prices since there is a greater demand for travel during these periods. If you are determined to visit a particular county why not travel there when its off-peak season.

Websites such as Skyscanner and Kayak have made it easy to search whole months and even recommend the cheapest date to travel between two destinations. This will save you a lot of money.

2. Consider Other Destinations

Be flexible with your choice and there are always deals to destinations around the world. Airline search engines have made it easy to find these cheap deals all year round. Why not consider travelling to Asia or South America which are a lot cheaper compared to holidaying in Europe.

Airline search engines offer greater deals to popular destinations and this is perfect when you want a holiday and cant decide where to go. When selecting a place you can key in your home airport and then choose to explore the map or select "Everywhere" from the drop-down list and the website gives you the cheapest flight on a given day.

One of my personal favourite is Skyscanner because I consistently get cheaper rates compared to other sites. Keep in mind the best deals are generally available for about 24hours and you have to be quick to grab them.

If you know exactly where you want to go, then ideally you should look at purchasing your tickets 4 to 6 months in advance or 4-6 weeks prior to your departure date.

During my time in Europe, I would decide 2 days in advance and fly between counties for less than the cost of a bus ticket. A Ryanair ticket from London to Lisbon or from Berlin to Bucharest for less than 20$ USD. They may not always be your first choice but being flexible with your destination will save you some money for sure.

3. Fly Budget Airlines

Gone are the days when you had no choice but to fly with the major carriers. There are numerous budget airline companies now servicing long haul flights. So you can afford to fly across the world for a lot less.

You can also save money if you decide not to fly direct. For example, a direct flight from New York to Rome might cost more than two separate flights to London and then to Rome.

If you fly with multiple airlines remember to allow 2-3hours between flights for any unforeseen delays and check if you require a visa to enter each of the countries. This way you get to experience another destination and also save money if you decide to have a longer transit.

When you fly on budget airlines keep in mind they may not be as comfortable as the major airlines and you will need to pay extra for premium services like meals, entertainment, and luggage.

Budget airlines make their money on hidden costs such as check-in or excess luggage, credit card fees and even charges you to print your boarding pass. Make sure you add up the cost and check if the price is still lower than the other options.

4. Travel with Carry-On Only

Be smart about the way you travel. I only travel with carry-on whenever possible. It may be unrealistic for some people but the key to saving money on flights is to travel light. Learn to pack your bags wisely and you will be surprised by how much less you actually need on your next holiday.

The freedom you have when travelling with just a backpack is simply amazing. Spending less time at the airport by not having to wait at the baggage carrousels. Or not having to carry your heavy suitcase up a flight of stairs at your hostel. And most of all not having the stress over packing, unpacking and repacking every time you catch a flight.

With many of the budget airline flights across Europe, the cost of checked-in luggage is sometimes more expensive than the air ticket itself. A recent flight from Portugal to Spain was 20$ USD and the check-in luggage cost an extra 35$ USD so it helps to travel light.

5. Talk to A Travel Agent

Before purchasing my ticket online I also check with local travel agents if they can match or beat their competitor's online prices. You will need to provide details of the site and price so that they can cross-check the validity of that ticket.

This has worked many times for me and you could save up to 5% on a flight. This technique normally works with more reputed travel agents who can afford to forgo a fraction of their profit in order to gain a sale. This also gives them an opportunity to up-sell you on other things like travel insurance or other package deals. This can also work in your favour if wish to split your payments and or use a credit card that offers complimentary travel insurance when purchasing airline tickets. Just charge the minimum spend on that card and you got yourself free travel insurance.

Another reason why I would seek a travel agent is to make use of student discounts. You will be surprised to find discounts on standard fares as much as 15% off in some cases.

Travel Exops' are ideal if you know what you want and just looking for a hassle-free deal. Normally these are booked a few months or even a year in advance and you could agree to layby your payments. But they may not be the best deals out there.

6. Sign up for a Frequent Flyer Program

A frequent flier program can be a bit tricky but there are ways that you can make it work in your favour. Currently, several credit-card companies are partnering with major airlines that give you up to 60,000 bonus points when you sign-up for one of their cards. In almost all cases there is an annual fee but its the same with owning any credit card these days.

I use a similar travel money card that lets me accumulate points on every dollar I spend. I use this daily for my grocery shopping, movie tickets, hotel accommodation, utility bills and it all adds up. I almost double my points when I pay for a flight ticket using my rewards card and remember to check-in for that flight using my frequent flyer number. Be sure to use your rewards card wisely and use your points to fly for free.

Another way of staying informed is to signup for a mailing list. You can do this with any airline or to get the best deals I subscribe to a few of the search engines I've mentioned above. Momondo has a setup where you get alerts on a specific flight. For example, you want to fly from New York to Amsterdam, you can set up an email alert for when there is a price drop. So you don't have to constantly be online searching for the best price.

7. Compare Search Engines

Finding the best deal is not always easy and can be stressful at times. However to find the ideal flight you have to compare sites. Travel agent websites don't list budget airlines or choose to omit certain airlines altogether. You are more likely to find a better deal on flight search engines. Below are some of my personal favourites although there are several others to choose from.

Skyscanner: This is a great site and probably the go-to site for most travel experts. An easy site to navigate and allows you to expand on your search criteria. I keep reverting back here because I find the best prices here 90% of the time.

Momondo: Great intuitive site with flight ratings and graphs to show you the cheapest days. I also like exploring the interactive world map that shows you various locations and prices at a glance. This site returns the most number of search results.

Kayak : A good search engine to get a price reference. Focus more on major airlines with direct flights or those with the least layover times.

Google Flights A great search engine if you know exactly where you want to go. I use this in conjunction with the other sites to see if Google was able to pick up any obscure flight that the other sites had missed.

Websites such as Skyscanner let you search by countries and recommends the cheapest airports to fly in and out from. For example, flying out from London Heathrow airport might be convenient but prices from Gatwick or Stansted airports would be much cheaper. This is a definite way to save on airfares.

Another technique I use is changing the region and or currency on the website. You find this on the top or bottom right corner on the homepage. This doesn't always work but there have been few instances where I changed the currency from Euros to USD or AUD the price for that ticket drops, considering the foreign exchange rate.

Conclusion: There is no exact science behind finding the cheapest prices. In some cases you would rather spend the extra few dollars for convenience over the headache of spending hours online searching for the cheapest price. I know I've done that many a time, but the tips I have mentioned above will help you. So go ahead, chase that holiday and find your ideal flight today.