In our opinion, the above SkyScanner flight search engine is the best tool on the market that will show you an extensive list of cheap flights at your chosen departure and arrival times including connections to and from specific airports!
After all, holiday travel by plane is the fastest and most comfortable means of transport to another country. However, it is different with these cheap air tickets.
In this article, we will dispel doubts and tell where and how best to look for cheap flights and airline tickets!
Let’s start with the fact that now it is probably the third era of cheap flights …
Initially, it was possible to fly to exotic places literally for pennies, but nowadays it’s even hard to find double-digit prices. Really cheap airline tickets sometimes happen to members of specific clubs, or only to given directions.
However, you can still hunt for real bargains on which you can save a lot of money. You just need to know where, when and how to look for the cheapest flights.
How to do it? Let’s see!
How to find a cheap flight ticket?
For a good start, it is worth determining the direction of travel to which you intend to fly, specify the time frame – when and how much you want to fly and when to return, and of course the budget you intend to allocate for such a flight. This will be a good start.
Going forward, where to look for cheap flights?
The most obvious place to look for cheap flights is of course flight search engines. The most popular are also Skyscanner, Momondo, Opodo and Lot. Currently there are a lot of them on the market, and each of them has its pros and cons (about them in a moment).
Flight search engines allow, above all, to set the search by parameters of interest to you, allowing you to choose a specific departure date and if you do not have specific plans just pick “anywhere” and you will be recommended simply where there is a good offer for plane tickets.
In some of them you will also indicate whether you want to fly with transfers or not.
Other flight search engines, in turn, allow you to set the parameter so that it shows flights and their prices also to all nearby airports.
And what about the minuses mentioned earlier?
The downside of flight search engines is, for example, the lack of search for connecting flights (two competing carriers) and the fact that the price of the flight will not always be the current one and that it is not possible to change the return airport to another one.
Flight search engines are not without flaws, however it is probably one of the best methods of searching for cheap flights.
What are the most popular and best flight search engines?
You can also find cheap airfares as follows
A second, much more engaging way is to search through carrier booking systems.
It looks like your first task is to choose the destination airport and check what low cost airlines fly there.
Then on the websites of these carriers you need to search for a convenient time for you and buy a ticket.
It does not always have to be the destination airport, sometimes the carrier can be caught at some popular large airport, e.g. in London or Madrid – arranging a cheap flight between European capitals is not a problem at the moment.
Then you only need to glue such a connecting journey – post the deadline so that the flights follow one after the other and that you won’t be late, because the puzzle will fall apart otherwise.
Where else can you find cheap flight tickets offers?
Cheap flights from Facebook? Why not!
Offers with cheap air tickets can also be found on social media.
Directly at carriers or on Facebook groups. Wizzair often throws one-day discounts (up to 20% cheaper) on all airline tickets.
On the other hand, crazy Wednesdays are known in Polish carrier LOT, where discounts reach up to 50%.
You can also follow portals that deal with the search for price promotions for airline tickets and, by the way, inform you about all kinds of discount actions, not only flights, but also accommodation and trips.
It is also worth subscribing to their newsletters, because of them we will learn about all occasions as soon as possible. Sometimes airlines send different promotional codes, discounts and vouchers in this way.
The discount will also be granted to persons who purchase membership with a given carrier (e.g. wizzair), where the annual card is given after three flights.
When is the best time to look for cheap flights?
There used to be one answer – as soon as possible. Today, the matter is no longer so obvious, and the theory on this subject is even more puzzling.
You can even meet claims that it is best to buy airline tickets the night before the flight … Have you ever met with such a practice?
If you are sure about the trip and its date, then you can be tempted to book the flight even half a year earlier (especially if it will be a trip before Christmas or on vacation).
Then you can really hit a nice price in the so-called first minute.
However, these types of offers are usually very few – literally sometimes there are three or four seats on the plane.
All this to tempt and interest potential customers of a given airline.
Cheap tickets a month before departure? Sure!
Another period when it is worth tracking prices is around the month – two before departure.
However, old stunters claim that currently they get the best prices for airline tickets two weeks before departure – but it’s not guaranteed.
It’s best to buy a good offer without thinking before someone snatches it up from under your hands.
However, buying for the last moment may not be the cheapest.
You can also try to trace prices from previous seasons, which can give a small picture of when and how much they are able to change. There are also flight search engines on the market that show prices from last year and on this basis forecast whether a given price is likely to decrease even more.
How to effectively search for cheap air tickets?
There are a few important things to keep in mind when looking for unique flight tickets.
First of all, it is worth focusing on traveling in the middle of the week (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) – these flights are usually less crowded, which is why carriers try to tempt passengers with a lower ticket price.
Sometimes even departure times are important, for example, Monday morning flights from Berlin to London (usually business trips) are more expensive than those planned only to South Europe.
Low cost airlines also usually have a network of connections at less convenient hours – very early in the morning or late at night. So flying for two or three days to a given place you can lose valuable time, and choosing another option (more expensive) but with convenient departure times, in this case can be much better.
To get cheap flights first of all, avoid high season. It is pre-Christmas time (up to two weeks before and after), New Year’s Eve, Golden Week (May) and the holiday period.
Sometimes ticket prices can be influenced by a concert by a famous artist or a national team match.
Well, demand creates supply.
It is better, then, not to look for cheap flights, because you can get heart palpitations.
Airline tickets straight to email
You can also set up email alerts on various search engines that will inform you of any change in the ticket price to the selected direction. This usually works similar to newsletters, but you have to hurry, because the best offers disappear extremely quickly.
Now a valuable note: Elders also advise you to delete cookies on viewed pages with air tickets.
Apparently, it also affects the displayed prices, because the system sees that you are coming back, so you probably care about the flight.
When searching for the cheapest possible air travel, it’s worth being flexible about the date.
Sometimes one or two days set back and forth have a very large impact on the price of the ticket. Similarly to the possibility of departing from one airport and returning to another. Although you have to be careful, because sometimes you will lose so much time and money on your return from another city that will stop paying off.
What influences the cheaper ticket price?
Low cost airlines fly to smaller and further airports. This is one of the factors that directly affects low ticket prices. It is worth knowing in advance what the transport looks like from such an airport to your destination so as not to fall out of the frying pan into the fire.
Cheap airline tickets with carriers are also associated with many additional fees. For check-in at the airport, for extra luggage, for priority boarding, or for travel insurance.
There is advice for this:
You will do the check-in free of charge at home via the Internet. Luggage is an individual matter – for a few days you will definitely be able to pack only in a suitcase or handbag.
For a longer vacation you will have to pay extra for extra luggage. There is no rush to board, everyone must come and take their seats anyway, only then the plane will take off. Travel insurance is always better to buy than not to have it completely. Usually something bad will happen if you don’t buy it.
What else should you pay attention to?
For flights planned in advance, you can also consider reimbursement insurance in case something does not allow us to fly.
Finally – sometimes finding a nice offer for an inexpensive flight takes some time and effort, but no one claims that something will be served on the tray. Patience and commitment pays off. You cannot give up and you need to regularly browse the pages with offers, and see if anything happens.