How to find cheap flights?
--- 5 basic rules to follow ---
Let’s admit it – the damn flight tickets are the biggest expense when it comes to budget traveling. We will not lie to you, it is time consuming to search for the best price, but it is easy and definitely worth it. Last time we traveled Prague → Istanbul → Bangkok and back Tashkent → Istanbul → Vienna, with short layovers and it cost us just 350 USD! We have made a list of five basic rules, so you can find cheap flights too and spend the extra cash on gifts for people you ♥
Follow the deals
It is quite smart to find webpages and apps with flight deals, so you don’t miss the cheapest and mistake fares. You can use any webpage offering the flight deals close to your hometown. For example:
- secretflying.com - worldwide
- fly4free.com – Europe, USA, Asia, Australia
- airfarewatchdog.com - worldwide
- theflightdeal.com - USA
- iwantthatflight.com.au - Australia
- farecompare.com - worldwide
Use different search engines
Search engines usually give you much better deals than regular airline websites. Different engines are connected to a different set of airlines, so it is better to check more of them at the same time. We use often these:
- skyscanner.net
- kiwi.com
- momondo.com
- kayak.com
- tiket.com - Southeast Asia
- finn.no (norwegian)
Don’t stick to an exact date
If you search for an exact date, prices are usually sky high. If it is possible, try to avoid that. Test different days and weeks. Weekdays are usually cheaper than weekends. Sometimes you can tick option ± 3 days or even week/month.
No direct flights and multicity
The direct flight is not always the cheapest option. It doesn’t really make much sense to fly through Latvia if you wanna get from France to Norway, but that’s how it works and it is often cheaper than fly direct Paris → Oslo.
Use also multicity option in search engines. It means you fly from a different city then you arrived to. It is extremely useful if you travel a lot in the destination so you don’t need to return to the place you started. Let’s say you fly London → Bangkok and back home Phnom Penh → London.
Be open for other destinations and times
We know from our experience that after buying tickets to Vienna for Christmas, you are almost broke for the whole holiday. If you decide to go places where everyone wants to go at a certain time, you can’t do much about the price. Try to be more flexible with the time. Travel in low season if you can. It will be less crowded and you get lower prices for food and accomodation as well.
We bought tickets to Corfu in early April in 2013. The sea was maybe cold for a longer swim, but we didn‘t meet almost any tourists and the prices were extremly low. We enjoyed awesome hike in the mountains in a pleasant temperature where everything was green and all the flowers in bloom.
Be open with destinations too. Sometimes you can end up in an awesome country that you for some reason never had thought of before...just because of the ticket price. Plus it is always fun to call your friends at 2 am asking them if they wanna join you on the trip to Indonesia in six days...
