Cheap air tickets

Tip 1. Plan your future travel in advance

The first well-known rule of cheap flights is to buy air tickets in advance. It's better to do it in six months. Air tickets for summer vacation are cheaper to buy in winter and vice versa. If six months is too long, you can buy cheap flights in 50-60 days. Plane tickets usually get more expensive closer to the departure date. However, in the last days before departure, airlines reduce prices as much as possible in order to sell as many vacant seats as possible to earn some money. But there is a chance that there will be no more places left, especially on popular destinations of the season. With the help of the TripHearts website you can plan your trip in advance on an interactive map with a detailed route and travel notes.

Tip 2. Buy round-trip tickets

The second well-known rule is to buy at once cheap round-trip tickets. Often the price of these tickets is lower than of separate ones. Sometimes (it is rather strange), the price of round-trip tickets is lower than in one of the directions. Some people use it when they need only a one-way ticket. They check the prices of round-trip air tickets in order to use only one ticket.

Tip 3. Look for tickets at a certain time.

Flight prices can change several times a day. You can find the cheapest tickets early in the morning or late in the evening. Do not buy tickets online on Friday afternoon, as it is the peak time for booking both tourist and business trips. The main rule is to buy a plane ticket when "there's low level of traffic congestion".

Tip 4. Choose weekday air tickets

Tickets for the period from Tuesday to Thursday are usually the cheapest. Accordingly, the most expensive tickets are for weekends, especially Saturdays and holidays. The higher the demand for the day of departure, the higher the flight price. You're probably also interested in getting the departure dates for the weekend, aren't you? So is everyone else! Therefore try to plan a vacation or adjust your schedule so that all flights fall on weekdays. Perhaps you are planning to visit several cities.Then schedule your stopovers for weekend, so that you could go to the next city from Tuesday or Monday night.

Tip 5. Use connections and stopovers.

Direct flights are often more expensive than connecting flights in several cities. And the more uncomfortable and long flights are, the cheaper the air ticket is. So unfair! There is an interesting method when something seems like a flaw or a problem. Do you think it doesn't work when you need to find really cheap flight tickets? Then try intentionally to make stopovers and connections at intermediate cities. And instead of travelling only to Norway, stop in Prague and Copenhagen for couple of days. The flight prices will be lower and the trip will be extremely saturated.

Tip 6.Get enough sleep at the airport

The more inconvenient the flight is, the lower the price is. What can be more inconvenient than the flight at 3 a.m.? Except for the flight at 4 p.m.! In this case, you can sleep either in the daytime or already at the airport. But you can save very well - the cheapest tickets are for night flights. It's not that hard. It's even really romantic. Nights at airports and luminous city lights in the window of a plane taking-off.

Tip 7. Keep track of special offers and sales

Airlines regularly arrange special offers and sales of tickets at discount prices.Special offers can be given in honor of the occasions, and sales are held when a new route is launched. Moreover, many airlines provide discounts for certain categories of passengers, such as students or senior citizens. We advise you to choose several airlines and subscribe to the newsletter to get information about new ticket sales and special offers. To check discounts and flight sales for today, please use our Discoveries service. We deliberately track the best offers from airlines so that you can find discounts and sales on flights for all popular destinations.

Tip 8. Earn airline miles

Airline miles are used as the encouragement of passenger loyalty. Put simply, miles are just like the usual bonuses in supermarkets and shops that you can accumulate for future purchases. Accumulated miles, like the bonuses, can have an expiration date during which they can be spent or they just disappear. Most airlines are united into one alliance so that passengers can accumulate common miles for flights from any airline in the alliance. Nowadays there are three biggest airline alliances - Start Alliance, Sky Team and OneWorld. If you travel a lot, it is worth taking part in loyalty programs to save on flights.

Tip 9. Choose between different airports

If there are several airports in the city, look for cheap tickets at each airport simultaneously. Or if you' re looking for an airport, set up an entire city instead of a specific airport. This is a very simple and good way to find cheap airline tickets. But don't forget to take into account the price of the transfer to the airport.

Tip 10. Choose low-cost airline

Low-cost airlines sell online tickets at prices several times cheaper. Low price is achieved not because of deterioration of the safety in flight or the quality of the aircraft, but because of many secondary factors. The cost is mainly reduced by reducing additional services, such as quality of service, flight time, baggage allowance and other privileges. There are several low-cost airlines: RyanAir, Wizz Air, Air Baltic, EasyJet, Norwegian Air, Transavia, UIA, Ernest, Pobeda Airlines and so on.

Tip 11. Save on Baggage Fees

Always check the weight limits and baggage allowances in your ticket. It is better to spend a few minutes checking your baggage at home than worrying at the airport and paying for excess baggage. Usually the price for excess limits is quite high, especially at low-cost airlines.

Tip 12. Demand compensation for flight delay

Airlines should provide refunds for flight delay or cancellation, which occurred due to their fault. For instance, bad weather or natural disasters are not the fault of the airline. The amount and type of compensation depends on the flight delay time. It can range from serving ordinary drinks to offering a hotel room and paying for your expenses that have been incurred due to flight cancellation or delay. You can apply for compensation if you have been affected by a flight cancellation or delay in the last 3 years. Most passengers don't even know about it. You should know your rights. An air ticket is an agreement between you and the airline.

Tip 13. Subscribe to cheap flight notifications

Checking for discounts and sales takes a lot of time and you can easily miss out on something really interesting. We suggest you to subscribe to our newsletter regarding cheap tickets and advantageous tourist offers. We will notify you of all interesting offers and events in the travel world.

Tip 14. Check out the charter flights

Charter flights are special flights ordered by a travel agency from the airline. All seats on a plane are distributed by the travel agency. In essence, a travel agency just rents an aircraft and airline services. Charter flights fly to cities where regular flights are rare or at a high price. For example, there are not many regular flights to Egypt and buying air tickets is often more expensive than a full package tour. And it can and should be used, often it's better to buy a tour and fly a charter flight.

Tip 15. Choose an inaccurate dates

Tickets for the adjacent dates can be much cheaper. Take advantage of inaccurate dates. This option is usually called "+/- 3 days" in the air ticket search. The ticket search will be extended for several days. And the results will include adjacent dates and prices will probably be lower. The airline ticket price calendar is another great tool. It shows the lowest airfares for every day. Just select the cities of departure and arrival and prices will be shown on all days and months. It's very convenient.

Tip 16. Choose a flight from a city nearby

You can plan a route with the departure from the nearby cities. It is reasonable when the cost of air tickets from another city is lower, taking into account the transfer price. Besides, this is another opportunity to learn more about the country. For example, you are currently in Wroclaw (Poland) looking for a ticket to Portugal. Try to find a ticket from Katowice. Possibly, with transfer to another city, the total cost will be significantly lower.On TripHearts you can create a detailed travel itinerary with notes on the transfers and connections on the map.

Tip 17. Test the mode "Incognito"

It is believed that some air ticket search or sales sites show different airfares depending on the location of the user and the device from which they accessed the Internet. For instance, for a user from Europe with an iPhone ticket price will be a slightly more expensive. We've never encountered such sites, they may actually exist. So, just in case, you can check the price of your air ticket in Incognito mode in your browser.

Tip 18. Travel during the off-season

The highest airfares occur during the tourist season, which is attached to certain dates rather than the real weather or the atmosphere of the place. To save money, fly during the off-season, just after it or before the tourist season starts. Frequently the weather at these times is good and the atmosphere is magical, as there are still few tourists.

Tip 19. Solve the task of the "traveling salesman"

The task is quite simple - to visit several cities by the cheapest route. For example, you want to visit Amsterdam, Lisbon, Prague and Paris. No matter in what sequence. The main thing is to make your travel cheaper. It goes without saying, the price of all tickets will vary depending on the sequence of cities. You have to take advantage of it! Find the cheapest sequence. You can do it yourself or with the Pilgrim service on TrippHarts.

Tip 20. Be careful buying a ticket

We tried to show you all the working methods to buy cheap air tickets and to economize on flights. The last tip is the easiest, but most important. You should be careful when buying air tickets. Pay attention to the website address where you make the purchase. Often the sites of searching and buying tickets are divergent. After the purchase is made, the website on which the buy was made should provide you support. Make sure you do not "accidentally" get extra services or taxes in your ticket price. Is it possible to return the ticket or change the departure date? Simple attentiveness saves money better than any tricky way.