When vacation time arrives or you need to organize a business trip and you are searching for cheap flights to spend a few days out, you want a good solution. Save time and money is your main goal. Maybe you have to travel to an important event or just to go to meet relatives and friends who live far from you. Well, it doesn’t matter the reason. Purchase a ticket at the last moment can be quite expensive, but if you apply my advice you can save money and fly to your destination for an excellent rate.
Let’s proceed step by step. First of all, I want to focus on last-minute cheap flights so you will be able to leave for your Christmas holidays very fast and without spending all your salary. Then I will give you some advice about the method to find cheap flights in general and I will conclude the post with first-class tickets. Read till the end to know the best way to get low rates.
Last-minute cheap flights
Now you are in a hurry and you expect to pay a huge amount of money to buy your ticket. Don’t worry, you have a chance to find cheap flights also at the very last moment. How? With a few steps online.
Where to look and how to book
At the check-in desk at the airport, there are not anymore deals for you. They ask you for the full rate and the price is very expensive. Too much. What can you do? Switch on your computer first of all. The entire process will be online. I suggest you book always in advance, at least 50 or 60 days before the departure, but if you can’t, pay attention to the next lines. A couple of months earlier guarantee you the best rates.
Once you know your destination go on Skyscanner. It is the best search engine for plane tickets. If in the city there are more airports, choose “any”. For instance, if you go to New York, select “New York any”. In this way, the engine will show you all the connections to the city, in all the local airports. This is the first step to find cheap flights. You can also tick the box to “add nearby airports”. The system will scan all the closest airports. You can do the same research on Kayak.
Book a seat on a charter flight
If you search for last-minute cheap flights the best option isn’t a low-cost airline. Their strategy is to take advantage of the passengers in need. Start to scrap the list of charter flights. Consider that tour operators book entire planes and they need to make it full. There are always excess seats and they sell them reducing the price. You don’t have to buy a holiday package, but only the flight. For this reason, I suggest you check on Thomas Cook and TUI fly if your destinations are Florida and the Caribbean.
Get deals on your mobile
Are you in a hurry but you can wait for a few days? Subscribe to get directly in your email or on your WhatsApp the updated offers. You will be updated on flash sales, new flight launches, and also on last-minute discounts. This helps you to find your cheap flights. Skyscanner, Cheapflights, Travelzoo, and HolidayPirates are the websites that you need to explore to reach the goal. The first three platforms update you via email, meanwhile, the last one sends you the news via WhatsApp. Don’t forget to check the social profiles of these search engines on Twitter and Facebook to find the deals for cheap flights.
Keep yourself free on Tuesday
The last advice to catch cheap flights is to search for them on Tuesday. Buy the ticket on the same day, because the last-minute deals are more convenient. Airlines prefer this day of the week to sell all remaining seats. Especially because at that point they know if the planes are full or empty for the weekend. The sales appear on Monday, but the competitors need one day to set the offers.
These steps will take you to purchase last-minute cheap flights.
Cheap flights: how to find them
Now you know how to find last-minute cheap flights but there are some rules that you need to keep in mind always. Also when you book your ticket in advance. Let’s go to see what you need to do to have the best deal all for you. You can easily save money.
Keep your research secret
Each time you start research on the internet, your data are registered, especially from the engines. So if you type some information about the flight you want and then you do the same research on different websites, the prices will be higher. Why? They already know that you need a certain ticket. Your need becomes their strategy to earn money. To avoid this problem you don’t need to do anything particular. It is enough to keep your research top secret. Browse in incognito.
Don’t worry, it is not a hard issue. If you use Google Chrome or Safari hit the Command (Control for the desktop computer), plus Shift and “N”. If you use Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer instead of “N” press “P”, the other steps of the procedure are the same. In any case in the menu bar, you find the voice private browsing or incognito. Nobody will recognize you and nobody will register your research. You will see the real prices and not the increased ones.
Select the best engines
If you want to book cheap flights, you need to search for them in the proper places. Some platforms show you the highest rates, meanwhile, others propose low prices. Here you can find a list of some good websites to use. If you know others, just add them in the comments.
Google Flights (It doesn’t give you the cheapest prices, but it is really useful to compare the dates)
You should keep in mind that the list of airlines on these websites is not complete. So I suggest you, especially for regional and low-cost companies to go directly to their official pages.
Choose the proper day to book
Generally, there is the cheapest day to fly and it helps you to find the airline tickets best price. If you search on the internet you will find different opinions and mostly the sites indicate Tuesday as the perfect day. Be careful, because it is not true. It is correct that fly during weekdays is more convenient many times, but each company has its policy. So there are deals to travel on Saturday or Sunday as well. So what to do? Don’t worry, there is a solution.
The procedure you must follow to find cheap flights is easy and immediate. Go on the search engine, for instance, Skyscanner. Then type the departure date, don’t consider the return ticket for a while. Select the “one-way” option. Do your research for an entire month. In this way, you will find out what day is the cheapest one to move to. Once you collected the information you can adjust your search. Don’t forget to do the same for the return date so you will know how to manage your round trip.
This tip is valid to find the airline tickets best price. Keep in mind that if you have to add more days to your stay just to have a cheap rate, you will increase the accommodation cost. Is this convenient? The answer is up to you. If you use Kiwi or Hopper you can track the changes in the prices.
Use your miles
As I mentioned in my travel planner guide, if you have in your wallet a loyalty card issued by an airline company or a credit card with a cashback plan, you can travel for free. It depends on the miles present on your account balance. Maybe you will get a discount or you will purchase the ticket without any expense. Also, the main hotel chains propose cards that give you miles to spend on your airline tickets. In this case, check what you have and visit the program’s web pages. Pay attention: the number of miles follows the same policy as the prices, so check the best day to travel. The cheapest flight can be free for you.
Prefer low-cost airlines
For the last-minute tickets, the low-cost airline is not the best choice, but they are if you book in advance. Around the world, many airlines are working with budget deals. They generally propose you very low rates, like almost nothing, but there are some compromises. To reduce the prices they put more seats and you have less space for your legs. Then they don’t give you food and drinks for free on board. You may pay also for the suitcase. To have the better treatment they offer some privileges to those who want to pay more.
The convenience has to be check up to your needs. Anyway, I always suggest checking the low-cost airlines. Because maybe you book a flight for a short trip and you can do some sacrifices to save more money. Last thing about this step. The airport location is most of the time the less close to the destination, so think about the transfer and the time that you will need. You will go straight to cheap flights.
Take advantage of the mistakes
Do you want to find easily and immediately the airline tickets best price? Search online for mistakes. Often the offices of the companies publish online at the wrong rate. There are many reasons, but what is important is the result. If you catch the error and buy at that rate, you have the right to travel without any other costs. They can’t change, as the law says, the price after the ticket is sold. The mistakes are on the official website and they are your luck in the research of cheap flights.
How can you find them? You are thinking to stay 24 hours online without sleep hoping to catch the error… No, you don’t need this. You can just connect to some platforms that search for you. Then you need to be lucky. Visit AirFare Watchdog and Secret Flying. On the first one, the updates are in real-time. Use the same search criteria already described in previous steps.
Slit connecting flights
Are you searching for connecting flights? Maybe to go to your destination it is necessary to change plane e in another airport or country. Never search for all tracks. Split them. If you book each flight, also with a return ticket, you will find better deals. It is also possible to save money just by changing the airline company. If you do this you are freer to choose the best options, according to the price and your convenience. It gives you more chances to find the cheap flights you want.
Keep in mind that you need to work more on hours of arrival and departure. This because you have maybe to move and to catch the connection with a different airline. If you use a low-cost company and a traditional one check the arrival airport. They may use different locations and you have to organize the transfer on time to catch the other flight. You can in case consider also a stopover to see another place.
Choose the destination carefully
To find the airline tickets’ best price you have to focus also on budget companies. As I already wrote they offer you a good rate for different reasons. One of them is the airport used. In the big cities, there are more locations, with different distances between the city and the airport. Anyway, if this looks like a sacrifice, you should consider one more element. There are different tracks to get to your destination for less money. This is an important step in the research of cheap flights.
You are thinking…WHAT?!?! I am going to explain to you two interesting options. The first one is that around the region of your destination there are smaller cities or towns connected with their airports. It can cost less to go there and then to move by car, bus or train to the place where you want to stay. The second aspect is made by the connections.
For instance, if you move from the USA to Italy and you stop in Spain to change flight you have more chances to save money. Airlines have some tracks that they need to promote and they offer good deals. Or simply using different airlines and prefer a longer trip can become an economic benefit for you. It happens especially if you choose airlines without a hub in the departure or arrival countries.
Some risks
In this way, there are always some risks. Be careful because if you book a connecting flight with different companies and you miss the plane to continue your trip, you will lose your money. That is why it is good to prefer dedicated search engines. Some of them help you to use different airlines in combination and to purchase your ticket in the same order. In this case, your money is guaranteed and you can get refunded in case of problems. This because they sold you the deal for the whole trip. When you choose the website read their policies. Otherwise, cheap flights become very expensive.
Prevent the hidden city risk
While people were searching for cheap flights, they discovered the “hidden city” connections. It means that airlines are going to hide the flight connections because they are cheaper than a direct flight. Anyway with the steps described you won’t have problems finding them. The problem concerns the risks and you need to be aware of this.
What are the risks? To not have the luggage checked directly for all flights, so you need to claim it at your arrival and then do again the check-in. You may not be allowed off the plane in case the flight is continuing to its final destination. You may lose the connection without having any assistance from the airline. There is no solution, but that is why I suggest to choose carefully the website and especially to check the conditions.
Book all flights at the same moment
Did you find the cheap flights? Will you use the same company? Buy the tickets altogether. If there is no chance to have a lower rate in splitting the flights, buying each of them separated will cost more. Companies prefer to sell the round trip, otherwise, they propose a higher rate. It doesn’t make sense. Try to research the multi-city flights.
For example, a company can offer more routes together for an interesting rate. In Europe, it is quite common with Turkish Airlines. The same does Virgin Atlantic. Include regional passes, because there is a cooperation between local companies with the big ones and it costs less to mix the flights among them. The same airline will issue the ticket.
Check local airlines
Never forget to check the proposals of the regional airlines. They are small but they have connections and they may propose low rates. Especially in the countries where tourism is now so much developed. It is difficult to know them and to find a complete list, but by searching on Google you will access their web pages. It is also hard to find them in the main cheap flights’ search pages. The small companies can be a surprise, it is good to check every time you need to travel.
Book the trip when you know the date
It is another important rule to follow for those who are searching for cheap flights. When you decide the dater for your travel start immediately to check the flights. Also, purchase as soon as possible the tickets. All the steps will help you to find quickly the best deal but keep always in mind that approaching the departure day the rates will increase in any case. It can be useful, if you don’t have fixed dates, to search for the best one to travel to, the one that has the lower price. So you will let the search engine decide for you. It can be convenient.
Pay attention to the currency
The last tip about how to find easy and immediately concern the currency. Booking from different countries you can see different prices. That is why you should consider checking the different currencies on the same website. Sometimes it is not a simple conversion and also it depends on the conditions apply for certain countries. You can save again a bit of money. Be sure to have a credit card that doesn’t apply fees for transactions in foreign currency. It is part of the steps to find cheap flights.
Cheap flights: first class
Sometimes there are discounted first-class plane tickets, you can fly inside the USA for less than 1,000 USD or internationally for less than 2,000 USD. How can you find the cheapest flights as a first-class traveler? I like luxury and for that reason, I try to search for good deals. Why spend more than enough? Here I want to share an efficient strategy that I learned and applied.
One-way ticket
The first-class cheap flights are usually not many, so if you search for a round trip you will reduce the chances. You can go to your destination with a company and go back with another one. On domestic flights, it is not common to find a ticket that costs more than half of the round trip. Searching for a flight don’t be surprised if the cost is around 100 USD more than a coach seat. Of course on domestic connections.
Deals on your mobile
If you are not in a hurry, I suggest you search for first-class cheap flights on websites able to send you alerts. So you will be among the first to know the deals. The alerts are important because discounts are short living. You can find them also on the Twitter feed of TheFlightDeal. My tip is to check and subscribe to FirstClassFlyer and FlyerTalk.
Pay attention to the small airlines
In recent years also the smallest companies improved their first-class setting. They also propose good deals for cheap flights, so check them. So companies from Norway and Poland, for example, offer very low prices to travel from Europe to the USA. They have often new aircraft with a well-equipped first class. The service is very well organized and complete. I have to confirm anyway that the big companies are doing something more, also because they have to win the competition, especially in first-class.
Become a loyalty card member
Do you want first-class cheap flights? Well, subscribe to the airlines’ loyalty cards. Why? Because some of them are offering discounts on your first-class ticket purchase. For example, British Airways reserve to AARP members 400 USD of discount for business and first-class tickets. Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian, and Brussels Airlines give the cardholders 15% off. If you fly from Europe to South America the discount is up to 30%. Cathay Pacific recognizes the loyalty card members 20% off. Many airlines give discounted prices to their loyal customers.
Check the upgrade cost
Once you bought your economy-class ticket you can purchase your upgrade. Some airlines offer you discounted options. So adding a limited amount of money you can fly in first-class. The American company United does that, meanwhile, Delta lets you switch to a first-class fare on the same itinerary with no change fee. If you see a good first-class fare open up after you book, call and lock it in. Austrian Airlines allows you to make an offer for an upgrade. The best offers are accepted. This means you can change class spending a small amount of money more.
Use your frequent flyer miles
The biggest airlines in the USA give the chance to their frequent flyers to book a one-way ticket for half price using miles. This allows you to save money for a first-class seat. Don’t forget that your miles, for all the airlines in the world let you get discounts, mixing miles and money. Also, you can use your miles, if they are not enough for the entire ticket, for a class upgrade. Your first-class cheap flights are so easy to get.
Conclusions
Now it is time to plan your itinerary. Don’t exclude any option for your travel. Check all the airports close to your destination, because the rates can be different also for the first class. You can fly in first-class spending less money and then adding a cheap coach ticket to reach your destination. This trick allows you to use the best airline benefits, just changing the airport. Of course, it depends on the country where you go.
If you follow these steps you will easily find first-class cheap flights. Now book your seats and enjoy your journey!
I enjoy your work but the ads are overbearing. They make it very difficult to read your blog.
Dear Steven, thanks a lot for your feedback. I am going to ask you just a bit of patience because I am doing some try. I will adjust them soon, removing most of them. I am also learning to position them…
Hi ANASA, once again your content is awesome. I also recommended SKYSCANNER! They are the best search engine for cheap flights.
I have been adding more pics on my blogs, but still don’t have any followers. I also followed your advice. I started sharing on facebook. Any more suggestions?
My dear, thanks a lot for your compliments. You are very kind, but your words make me very happy!
About your blog, I think you will improve step by step. As you know I am not an expert, anyway, I can share my direct experience. I am not using Facebook, but some of my followers and readers shared on their Facebook some of my posts and I increased the visitors. This means that it is a good mean to attract people. I can suggest you follow other bloggers through WordPress Reader, so they will return the favor. Then try to post every day, so you will get more visits and people will follow you. When you publish an article choose carefully the tags and also the title, focus on keywords and use them inside your post. It will be easier for search engines to find your blog and to consider it. Then be patient because it needs time.