How to book cheap flights – save money and travel cheap
How to find and book cheap flights
Travel is expensive and flight tickets are one of the biggest cost factors.
Therefore, you should pay attention to some tips right at the planning stage to invest your money either directly in food, other flights and accommodations. It's not that difficult to catch a flight from Frankfurt to Miami or New York for 400 € or to fly to Indonesia or South America for 500 €.
I'll tell you my tricks for cheap flights and my favorite search engines on the Internet:
1. Plan your trips and your flights early
When planning your trip, you should always look for cheap flights early and research the right season for your destination.
Low season flights are much cheaper and you can save on your hotel bookings as well.
Make sure to avoid flights on weekends or public holidays.
In my experience, you should book your flights between three and four months in advance and the cheapest flights may start on mondays and tuesdays.
2. Be flexible in your flight data and travel times
Be as flexible as possible when you're planning your travel time, airports and stopovers.
Sometimes it can make a big difference to fly from Frankfurt instead of Stuttgart etc. Therefore, I always search for areas such as "Germany West".
4. Use flight search engines and price comparisons
I like to search for flights with so-called "price calendars". You can find them at Momondo, Swoodoo & Co.
Enter your dates and see the cheapest flights in a specific timeframe.
It's the best way to use several search engines and get a "feeling" for prices and airlines.
The flight search engines get their prices from travel agencies and airlines. That's way they're often up to date.
Here is an overview of the best flight search engines:
SWOODOO
SKYSCANNER
MOMONDO
KAYAK
4. Book stopovers and open jaw flights
Stopovers and open jaw flights are a perfect way to experience different cities on your journey.
For example, if you're flying to Bali, it is possible to book a stopver in Singapore, Dubai or Kuala Lumpur.
The so-called stop-overs are free and it's possible to visit the city or book an overnight stay. Then you can change to a local airline and save for the next flights to your dream destination.
The journey itself is getting much longer, but you can see more and pay less at the same moment. It's worth it!
5. Book on airlines' official websites
If you found your flight, you should book it directly on the airline's website.
There you can pay via Paypal, bank transfer or credit card and select special requests. You can easily change the booking or cancel your flight.
momondo.de / skyscanner.de / kayak.de
6. Pay attention to fees and special notes
If you have booked a flight with a domestic or a low-cost airline, you have to read the fine print.
Cheap airlines often charge fees for seat reservation, food on board and for luggage. Furthermore the rebooking fees are outrageously high. Mostley you have to pay a fee of 100-200 € or you evem have to book the flight again.
You always should pay attention to the maximum size of the hand luggage and the suitcase, if you are traveling with more than two airlines!
7. Book cheap flights using my travel tips
If you follow my hints and tips, it's easy to save money when booking flights online. From time to time you also have the chance to access error fares.
These are always short-term offers and unfortunately tey do not always fit into year travel period.
In order to be up to date, it is worth subscribing to airline newsletters.
You can also sign up for the price alert of the flight search engines. Get those infos in your mails.
What are your personal booking tips? Let me know in the comments!
