Finding the Deals

As I try to figure out where to begin on travel tips and must-visits in the world, I keep struggling with what’s the first place to share about. Which is why, instead, I figured I’d start off with some tips on getting cheap flights. This has been the biggest enabler to allow me all my travel experiences. While there is no true secret nor one answer fits all in determining how to find cheap flights. There are some things you, as the traveler booking, can take to ensure you are getting the best value for your money.

Here is the list of tips to get you started:

Be flexible in departing and arrival locations!

While sometimes you have to be selective on where you leave from and arrive into, if there is a bigger airport closer by, even if it’s further than the local one, opt for it. Chances are there are more flight options, including direct flights, and the prices will be lower.

I know growing up in Indiana I always found better deals flying from Chicago than from Indianapolis. Even if that meant a 3 hour journey to and from the airport, the cost drastically outweighed the additional time.

Be open to departing and returning dates!

As you can see flexibility is a big factor when it comes to traveling at an affordable price, and dates is one of the factors relating to price in this regard.

From my own experience I tend to find flights leaving on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Saturday to be the cheapest. Of course this can be difficult if you are trying to work around a work schedule. And at that, I would say at least try to leave on a Thursday evening or early Friday morning then. As while these flights tend to be more than if it was a Monday, Tuesday, or Saturday, they also tend to be better priced then leaving late on a Friday. And the opposite can be said for returns. Try to plan your return for the red eye flights (overnight or early morning). This is late Sunday evenings or early (before 8am flights) on Monday. Plus, if you take these type of flights it gives you more time to enjoy the place you are visiting.

Check out different sites!

While most of the time sites only slightly vary in price, it never hurts to shop around for options. I personally use both Kayak and Google Flights. They seem to offer the most options, including budget airline. Looking at different sites can offer you lots of options. This is especially true if you are open to having a layover. Some sites will show you layover options that other sites might not share. In particular this is true for budget airlines, such as RyanAir and EasyJet in Europe and Frontier and Spirit in the US.

I have found many of times shopping around shows you different layover locations, shorter and longer layover times, and even some flexibility with your departure times.

Also, some sites now offer what they call “mix flights”, which is simply flights on two different, non-partnering, airlines where you buy two one-way tickets as oppose to buying round-trip with the same airline. This usually allows for the cheapest rate when you are wanting affordable direct flights.

One Ways, aren’t they more?

This leads me to my next point, look into one-way options. While it is still true one-ways can be more expensive than a round-trip on the same airline, this is becoming less and less true. And sometimes the combo price of flying, let’s say United the way there and British Airways the way back, come out cheaper than the total cost of flying only BA both there and back. This does take a little bit of research to see if in fact that’s a better deal. To check this you must enter the trip as both a one way and a roundtrip and see what comes out as a better price. But, if you can save money and get good flight options, it’s worth this extra step. As mentioned in the point above, it is getting easier to search these options in one lump search, as sites are now showing these combo flights.

Layover... are they really worth the cheapness?

Over the years I’ve started to try and avoid layovers at all costs. And when they seem almost impossible to avoid I look at making something out of the layover, which I’ll touch on in the next point. However, sometime layovers are avoidable, but the cost difference between the direct and indirect flights are so different that it’s hard not to think about it.

Regarding layovers, I think there’s a few things to consider if you are between taking a layover for the cheaper cost or paying the extra to fly direct.

1. How long is the layover. I try to avoid layovers longer than 2/2.5 hours in length. That gives me enough time to get to the airport and transfer over, while not sitting around all day. On the flip side if a longer layover is the only option, I opt for layovers over 10 hours, giving me time to leave the airport and come back. I will discuss this second type down below.

2. Is the difference going to break the bank? While some options are as drastic as $100 (£75/€85) and up, sometimes the difference is as little as $25 (£18/€21). In those scenarios, I look at the time to cost ratio. If the flight is stopping in route to the destination, I would consider the layover. But if it’s going to a place way far out of the way and I can afford the extra cost, then I opt for the direct flight.

3. It’s your decision! Ultimately, it’s your decision if you want to take the layovers or not. I would say jot down all the options, including total costs and flight times. This can help decide if those layovers are worth the cost or not.

Layovers... two for one!

Another point regarding layovers, sometimes they can actually be worth the stop, especially if the cost is drastically less than the direct flights and you can visit the city or surround area. Several companies are now offering this idea of a two for one, such as TAP Airlines and Icelandic Airlines. They offer you a long layover ranging from a day to three days before moving on to your final destination.

I have used this options a few times to spend a day in Madrid and in Lisboa before returning to the states. This could be a great way to explore multiple locations and save some money in the process. At the same time, if cost is the main driver to book these tickets, remember you will have housing and food that will need to be covered for those extra days.

Multi-Stop Trips

Sometimes your trip involves flying to several locations within proximity of each other, or you are planning a long backpacking trip and want to hit several different countries and locations. Using a multi-stop tool on sites can be of great way to get the best deal for all the flights/stops involves. While sometimes flight costs don’t change by using this tool, and would just be easier to buy a bunch of one-ways. It never hurts to check out this options and compare times and prices.

I recently booked a trip where layovers were going to be required no matter, so I decided to make them long layovers and book multiple flights. It ended up being about $60 (£45/€50) cheaper to use the multi-stop tool then to buy one ways or even buy two round trips (one to the final destination and one returning back from the layover city).

So, checking out the tool and experimenting with options can help to find both good flight times and the best price.

While this is a lot of information to take in, the biggest takeaway I can say is do research and write all possible options out before decided which to take. While it might seem annoying at first to spend a few hours to figure out the best flight options, this will allow you to get the best deal for you, flight flexibility, some extra spending money or time at your final destination, and maybe even an additional place to visit within route.