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You’ve picked a destination for your next amazing holiday but need to get there. Follow these easy tips to book the most affordable flights.
TRAVEL TIP 1: Try Alternative Airports
People often forget to look at second or third airports within a city when booking flights. Some airports offer cheaper flights than others within the same city. For example, when leaving from Johannesburg, flights from Lanseria Airport can often be cheaper than O.R. Thambo International.
TRAVEL TIP 2: Get Rid of Pesky Cookies
Recent articles have shed some light onto the use of travel sites using cookies to tailor your search and potentially increase the airfares shown in your search. Websites use cookies to identify you and they track your Internet actions such as remembering when you add items to a cart on a shopping site without signing in. The site would essentially guess that you would be willing to pay higher prices if the stored cookies show you have been doing research on a particular route over the past few days or weeks. Read more about this here: http://usat.ly/1hSGjDH Get around this by comparing prices shown on your cell phone to your computer. Alternatively, you can search in two different browsers to see if there is any change.
TRAVEL TIP 3: Make Night Owl Bookings
Airlines often let flight prices drift upwards during the week but the best time to book a flight for airfares on sale is late on a Sunday night and early Monday morning. Prices increase during the day on Monday and then the fares that didn’t sell well may drop down again on Monday night to early Tuesday morning.
TRAVEL TIP 4: Avoid Friday and Sunday Flights
Knowing leisure travellers, vacationers, and businessmen mostly travel on these days, the prices of flights can get quite high. High demand for these days allows the airlines to increase prices seeing people will still buy the flights. You should always try avoid these days for flying if you can.
TRAVEL TIP 5: Pick the Best In-Flight Experience
If you are left choosing between two fares that are quite similar in price, make the in-flight experience the deciding factor. A number of small features can make your trip much nicer, such as entertainment options, more leg room, reclining seats, or better meals.
TRAVEL TIP 6: Always Remember Other Costs
Choosing the cheapest may not be the most affordable in the long run if you don’t take into account airport taxes or having to stay in a hotel to make a very early flight. You may have higher baggage fees or more restrictions on your luggage. Don’t forget about the human costs involved of a lift from a friend to the airport at very early times, especially if it makes them late for work. Try keep these factors in mind when booking a flight.
TRAVEL TIP 7: Fly Two Different Airlines
In some cases, the return trip you book with one airline can be more expensive compared to getting two flights from different airlines. You may also find departure and arrival times to be more convenient by booking two different airlines. If you have frequent flyer miles, try book flights within the airline alliance so you won’t miss out.
©Diane Moalem for Compare Guru
