Travelling by plane is one of the most convenient and fastest ways of getting around the world. However, anyone who has ever tried to buy a plane ticket knows how much prices can change – within a few hours they can rise by a few hundred euros, and sometimes drop just as suddenly. No wonder that finding a cheap ticket has become almost an art, and some travellers treat it as a challenge.
Plane ticket prices aren't set at random. Airlines use advanced algorithms that analyse demand, the popularity of the route, seasonality, and even passengers' search history. It often happens that the same route costs differently depending on where we buy the ticket from, on what day of the week or even at what hour we browse the offer. That's precisely why some people pay several times more for the same flight than others.
If you've ever wondered why your friend paid half as much as you for a ticket to New York, or how it's possible that someone found a flight to an exotic country for the price of a restaurant dinner, then this article is for you. I'll share with you my proven tricks, which let me find cheaper flights many times and save thousands on travel. And once you've found a cheap fare, it's worth pairing it with an affordable destination – like in our guide to a cheaper, safer country: Albania.
Forget general advice like "book in advance" – in this article you'll find concrete strategies that are rarely talked about. I'll show you how to take advantage of pricing errors, how to change the location of the ticket purchase, how to use transfers wisely and why it's sometimes worth buying tickets in two different currencies. Ready to discover the secrets of cheap flying? Let's begin!
Booking and travel-planning strategies
If you want to save on plane tickets, hunting for promotions alone is not enough. The key to success is the right strategy – knowing when to buy tickets, where to look for them and how to avoid pricing traps. Even if you're not a fan of meticulous planning, a few simple tricks can mean you'll pay tens of percent less for a flight. In this chapter I reveal the most effective ways to cleverly book tickets and organise travel more cheaply and conveniently.
Book in advance, but not too early
When planning a trip, many people make the same mistake – they either buy tickets at the last moment, hoping for a miracle, or book them too early, thinking that's the best strategy. The truth is that neither solution guarantees the best prices. The key to success is finding the golden mean.
The optimal booking dates depend on the route and the season. For international flights the best moment to buy tickets is usually 2–6 months before the trip, while for domestic flights optimal prices appear 1–3 months before departure. If you're hunting for flights in the holiday or festive season, it's worth booking tickets even 6–8 months earlier.
But why isn't it worth buying tickets a year before departure? Airlines often initially set high prices, testing demand. Only after a few months do they adjust them to the market, which means that early bookers can pay more than those who waited for a better moment. So it's worth observing prices and booking when they reach the optimal level.
Use flight search engines
Want to find the best price for your flight? Forget manually searching through airline websites – instead, use flight search engines. Thanks to them you can compare the prices of various carriers and find the cheapest option in a few seconds.
The most popular search engines are:
- Google Flights – fast, clear and lets you check flexible dates.
- Skyscanner – great for finding cheap flights, especially if you don't have a fixed date.
- Kayak – offers filters and notifications about price drops.
- Momondo – often finds hidden, cheaper options that you won't see in other search engines.
The best strategy is to use several search engines at once and set price alerts. Thanks to them you'll receive a notification when the ticket price on a route that interests you drops – it's a great way to catch a bargain before prices rise again.
Be flexible about dates and times
The biggest mistake you can make when booking tickets? Insisting on specific dates and times. If you have the possibility of adjusting your travel plan, you can save even a few hundred euros.
Here are a few tricks worth knowing:
- The cheapest days to fly – statistically it's cheapest to fly on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Fridays and Sundays, on the other hand, are the most expensive days to travel.
- Unusual hours – flights early in the morning and late at night are usually cheaper than those at peak hours.
- Shifting the date – sometimes changing the flight by one day one way or the other can make a huge difference in price.
If you don't have a rigidly set schedule, it's worth checking the "Cheapest month" option on Skyscanner or "Flexible dates" in Google Flights – these functions let you find the cheapest date in a given period.
Check alternative airports
It's not always worth flying from the largest and most obvious airport. Often cheaper tickets can be found on routes from smaller, less besieged airports nearby.
Here are a few examples:
- Paris – instead of Charles de Gaulle airport (CDG), check prices for flights to Beauvais (BVA).
- London – Heathrow (LHR) is expensive, but Luton (LTN) or Stansted (STN) may offer cheaper connections.
- New York – JFK is not the only option, check prices at Newark (EWR) or LaGuardia (LGA).
If you're flying to a big city, it's worth comparing ticket prices to all available airports. Sometimes the difference in price is large enough that even adding the cost of getting to the centre still makes it more worthwhile to land at a smaller airport.
In some cases it also pays to check flights to neighbouring cities and travel on by train or bus. For example, if you're planning a trip to a major hub, check flights to nearby regional airports – sometimes the difference in the ticket price can cover the cost of transport and you'll still have enough left for a coffee at the airport!
Peli Air travel suitcases
Ways to lower the ticket price at purchase
There's nothing more satisfying than finding a plane ticket at a great price. Sometimes the differences in the cost of the same flight can reach even a few hundred euros – and it all depends on the strategy you adopt when booking. If you want to fly cheaper, it's worth getting to know a few tricks that will let you lower the ticket price and avoid overpaying. Check out how clever travellers find the best deals!
Buy the ticket at the right moment
Many travellers wonder whether there's a "magic hour" for buying plane tickets. Although there's no single golden rule, statistics show that some days and times really do favour better prices.
The best day of the week to buy tickets: There's a popular myth that Tuesdays are the best day to book flights. Is it true? Partly yes! Airlines often update prices on Monday evenings, and on Tuesdays the competition adjusts its offers. As a result you really can come across favourable prices, but it's worth checking Wednesdays and Thursdays too.
The best hour to buy: If you want to find cheaper tickets, book them in the night hours or early in the morning. Then demand is lower, and prices may be more favourable than at peak hours, when everyone is searching through airline websites.
Remember that the final price also depends on the route, the season and promotions – which is why it's always worth tracking tickets for a few days and setting price alerts.
Use incognito mode
If you have the impression that the more times you check a ticket price, the more it rises… it's not just an illusion! Many sites use cookies that save your earlier searches. The algorithm "sees" that you're interested in a given flight and may raise the price to encourage you to buy faster.
How to avoid raised prices?
- Browse offers in incognito mode – in Google Chrome you'll turn it on with the shortcut Ctrl + Shift + N (Windows) or Cmd + Shift + N (Mac).
- Clear cookies or use a VPN to avoid saved data about searches.
- Compare prices on various devices – sometimes the same airline shows different rates on a phone than on a computer.
These are simple tricks, but they can make a big difference if you're looking for the best offer!
Consider buying tickets separately
It seems logical that buying a return ticket should be cheaper than two separate tickets. However, in practice this isn't always the case! In some cases splitting the booking can help save.
When is it worth buying one-way tickets?
- When different airlines offer better prices for the individual legs of the route.
- If flexibility lets you take advantage of a promotion on one direction.
- During travel with transfers – sometimes it's cheaper to buy separate tickets for each leg.
For example, if you're flying from a European hub to Bangkok, instead of buying a direct return flight, it's worth checking a combination of flights, e.g. from your departure city to Dubai with one airline and from Dubai to Bangkok with another – such an option often works out considerably cheaper!
Use loyalty programmes and points
Travelling can be cheaper if you know how to use loyalty programmes well. Airlines offer various ways to collect points, which can be exchanged for free tickets, discounts or an upgrade to a higher class.
The most worthwhile loyalty programmes:
- Wizz Air Discount Club – if you often fly with Wizz Air, membership gives you constant discounts on tickets.
- Ryanair Value Plus – packages including, among others, priority boarding and hand baggage.
- Miles & More (Lufthansa, LOT) – you collect miles for flights and can exchange them for free tickets.
- Flying Blue (Air France, KLM) – points can be used for tickets and upgrades.
Besides airline programmes, it's also worth checking credit cards offering air miles – e.g. some banks let you exchange points from transactions for flights or additional services during travel.
Even if you don't fly often, it's worth signing up to loyalty programmes – points often don't expire for a long time, and even a few collected miles may one day come in handy to lower a ticket price!
Peli check-in travel suitcases
Unusual ways to cheaper flights
Searching for cheap flights is often associated with long searching of the internet, setting price alerts and comparing offers on various sites. However, standard methods don't always guarantee the best price. If you want to really save, it's worth looking at the topic a little more broadly and using less obvious strategies. It turns out that the way you buy a ticket – from the choice of the place of purchase, through the currency of payment, to the route of the flight – can significantly influence its price. In this part I'll share tricks that may open up new travel possibilities for you at a fraction of the standard price.
Check flights with transfers – sometimes it pays to go "the long way round"
Many travellers dream of a direct flight from point A to point B, but that isn't always the best strategy if you care about savings. Sometimes adding a transfer – or even several – can mean you save a few hundred euros on the ticket. It's a particularly useful tactic on intercontinental flights.
For example, a flight from a major hub to Bangkok at the peak of the season may cost 750 €, but if you choose a route with a transfer in Istanbul or Dubai, the price can drop even to 430 €. It's also worth looking for flights consisting of two separate tickets – e.g. to London or Paris with low-cost airlines, and then from a large European hub to the destination country.
Some airlines also offer free stopovers, that is the possibility of spending from a dozen or so hours to a few days in the transfer city without additional costs. Qatar Airways has such a programme in Doha, Turkish Airlines in Istanbul, and Emirates in Dubai. Thanks to this, instead of just sitting at the airport, you can make a mini-trip and tour an additional city.
Track promotions and pricing errors – deals that disappear in a few hours
Some of the best flight offers are the result of errors in carriers' reservation systems – so-called error fares. Sometimes carriers by mistake publish prices tens of percent lower than standard, and travellers who manage to buy a ticket can take advantage of the opportunity. It's important, however, to act quickly – such tickets can disappear within a few hours.
Where to look for them? The best sites for tracking deals are Fly4Free and Secret Flying. It's also worth joining groups on Facebook, where the community of travellers shares the promotions they've found. Some airlines honour such erroneous prices, others sometimes cancel the reservations, so it's worth holding off on additional purchases (e.g. a hotel) for a few days, until the airline confirms the ticket.
Use a VPN and change location – a cheaper ticket in another country
Few people realise that the price of a plane ticket depends not only on the date of purchase or the route, but also on the country from which you make the reservation. Airlines apply various pricing strategies depending on the local market – e.g. in countries with lower incomes prices can be lower.
How to take advantage of this? You can use a VPN, that is a tool for changing your IP location, and check prices in various countries. Sometimes changing your IP to India, Brazil or Malaysia means the flight price suddenly drops by a few hundred euros. This works especially well when booking tickets with Asian carriers, such as AirAsia or Scoot. It's worth comparing prices on the airline's website in various language versions and in various currencies – sometimes the system offers us a "local" deal that we normally wouldn't see.
Buy tickets in the currency of the destination country – savings on currency conversion
Currency conversion is a hidden cost that we often forget about. When buying a ticket, airlines may propose converting the currency to our native one, but that isn't always favourable. Carriers' payment systems often apply unfavourable exchange rates, adding extra margins. That's why it's worth checking the ticket price in the original currency of the country the flight departs from.
For example, a flight to Thailand may be cheaper if you pay for it in Thai baht rather than in your home currency. Similarly, a trip to the United States may cost less if you buy the ticket directly in dollars, rather than converted.
To avoid unnecessary bank fees, it's worth using multi-currency cards, such as Revolut, Wise or Monzo. They let you pay in a foreign currency at a favourable rate, without additional fees for currency conversion. It's a simple trick that can bring savings especially with more expensive intercontinental tickets.
To sum up, it's sometimes worth looking at the topic of buying plane tickets from a different perspective. The shortest and most obvious route isn't always the best – sometimes it's precisely transfers, a change in the place of purchase or other clever ways that let you save a significant sum. And the saved money? You can put it towards your next trip!
Peli cabin suitcases
Alternative ways to travel cheaply
Searching for cheap flights isn't only a matter of booking them in advance or tracking promotions. There are less conventional methods that let you significantly lower travel costs – sometimes even by tens of percent. Many of these tricks aren't widely known, but experienced travellers have been using them for years to tour the world for a fraction of the price. If you're ready for a bit of creative planning and have a flexible approach to travel, these ways can completely change the way you fly!
Use the "skiplagging" technique (a ticket with a hidden transfer)
Sounds mysterious? In reality it's quite a clever way of travelling more cheaply, which consists of booking a ticket to a further destination, but with the intention of getting off earlier – at the transfer. Where does the saving come from? Airlines often set ticket prices in an illogical way, which means flights with a transfer can be cheaper than direct flights.
Example: if you want to fly from a European hub to Paris, the ticket price may be 800 €. However, the same flight, but continued to Madrid (with a transfer in Paris), may cost only 500 €. You just get off in Paris and don't show up for the second leg of the journey – and there you have a cheaper ticket!
Sounds great, right? Unfortunately, this method has its risks. Firstly, if you have checked baggage, it will be sent to the final destination, so "skiplagging" works only when travelling with hand baggage. Secondly, airlines aren't fond of this practice – there have been cases where passengers repeatedly using this method were penalised by carriers (e.g. by invalidating their loyalty programme). That's why it's worth using this technique in moderation. And since it only works cabin-only, it's worth checking first whether you can have two carry-on bags on your airline, so everything fits without a hold bag.
Open-jaw flights – a different arrival and departure port
If you want to see more in one journey and at the same time save on tickets, it's worth taking an interest in open-jaw flights. It's a strategy in which you arrive in one city and return from another, instead of buying a classic return ticket from the same place.
How does it work? Imagine you want to tour Spain and Portugal. Instead of buying tickets there and back to Barcelona, you can arrive in Barcelona and return from Lisbon. As a result you save on additional internal flights and don't lose time on returning to the departure city.
Some open-jaw routes are cheaper than classic tickets, especially if they concern intercontinental flights. Examples of favourable routes:
- Berlin – Bangkok // Kuala Lumpur – Berlin (South-East Asia in one journey!)
- A European hub – New York // Miami – back (touring the US East Coast without additional flights!)
- Prague – Tokyo // Seoul – Prague (two countries of Asia for the price of one flight!)
Open-jaw flights can be found on Skyscanner or Google Flights, by selecting the "multiple cities" option when searching.
Buy tickets for charter flights
Charter flights are an ideal opportunity to get tickets at very attractive prices, especially if you have a flexible travel plan. Travel agencies rent whole planes for their clients, but if they don't sell all the seats, they offer them on the open market at considerably reduced prices.
Where to look for such deals? It's worth checking the websites of travel agencies, such as TUI, which often list free seats on their flights at the last moment. For example, a flight to the Dominican Republic, which normally costs 950 €, may be available on a charter for 350 €.
Charter flights are great if you don't mind flying on specific days of the week, because travel agencies organise them according to their own schedule. You can often also snap up last-minute tickets on returns from exotic destinations – if, e.g., a group of tourists returned earlier, free seats remain for the last days of the package.
Use low-cost airlines as a "transfer"
Low-cost airlines have opened up completely new possibilities for travellers of combining flights and creating their own routes at attractive prices. You can put together budget carriers' connections yourself, to reach places to which traditional airlines offer expensive tickets. Just be sure to learn each carrier's cabin rules first – for example, our guide to Ryanair cabin baggage dimensions and tips will help you avoid surprises at the gate.
How does it work? Instead of buying an expensive direct flight, you can use two or more cheap flights. For example:
- A European hub → London (Wizz Air) + London → New York (Norse Atlantic) = a cheaper flight to the USA
- A regional airport → Milan (Ryanair) + Milan → Dubai (Wizz Air) = a cheap trip to the Emirates
- Berlin → Bangkok (Scoot) + Bangkok → Bali (AirAsia) = an exotic holiday for less!
The only thing you have to watch out for is the time for the transfer. Low-cost airlines don't offer guaranteed connections, so it's worth leaving yourself a few hours (or even a night) to change flights. However, with a well-planned route you can save even a few hundred euros.
If you want to travel more, but not overpay, it's worth looking at flights from a different perspective. Sometimes it's precisely the less obvious strategies, such as "skiplagging," open-jaw flights or charters, that let you discover the world at a lower price. And combining cheap flights is also great fun – the more combinations, the greater the satisfaction from the savings!
Peli cabin hand-baggage cases
Summary and additional advice
Travelling doesn't have to be expensive at all, as long as you know how to look for deals and plan your routes cleverly. We've already discussed many tricks – from cheap flights, through skiplagging, to combining budget carriers. Now it's time for a summary and a few additional tips that will help you avoid costly mistakes and travel even more cheaply.
The most important strategies for cheap travel
If you were to remember only a few key principles, they should be these:
- Flexibility is the key. The cheapest flights often don't fit rigid dates. If you can afford to travel on various dates, you'll save the most.
- Compare prices on various search engines. Skyscanner, Google Flights and Momondo show different options – it's worth checking several sources.
- Experiment with routes. Sometimes flights with a transfer or open-jaw work out considerably cheaper than classic return connections.
- Don't be afraid of low-cost airlines. Ryanair, Wizz Air or easyJet are great ways to travel for peanuts – especially if you're travelling with hand baggage only.
- Track promotions and tariff errors. Sometimes airlines by mistake publish tickets at surprisingly low prices. It's worth tracking sites such as Fly4Free or Secret Flying.
How to combine various ways to maximally lower costs?
The most savings come from combining various methods. For example:
- Use skiplagging if you want to fly more cheaply to a popular city, but remember about travel with hand baggage only.
- Combine charter flights with budget airlines – e.g. fly to the Canary Islands on a charter, and then return to another city in Europe with low-cost airlines.
- Plan open-jaw flights, to tour more for the same ticket price.
- Create your own transfers with low-cost airlines – e.g. instead of an expensive flight to Asia, choose a budget flight to Dubai and from there catch a cheap AirAsia ticket to Thailand.
Travelling cheaply is a bit like assembling a puzzle – the more you combine, the better the deals you'll find.
Avoiding traps and additional costs
Low-cost travel has one drawback – it's easy to fall into hidden costs that can make the saving illusory. Here are a few things to watch out for:
- Baggage – many low-cost airlines have restrictive rules on the dimensions and weight of hand baggage. Check the dimensions before the flight, to avoid unexpected fees at the airport – our guide on the cabin luggage dimension and weight traps covers the most common ones.
- Time for transfers – if you're combining flights yourself, leave yourself a sufficient time buffer. Low-cost airlines don't offer guaranteed transfers, so if one flight is delayed, the second will be lost – it's worth knowing in advance what to do if you miss your flight.
- Card payment fees – some airlines charge additional fees for credit-card bookings. It's worth checking whether payment by another method isn't cheaper.
- Unplanned overnight stays – if your route requires an overnight stay during the journey, include it in the budget. Sometimes a cheap flight with an additional overnight stay can work out more expensive than a more expensive direct flight.
Summary
Cheap travel isn't only a matter of luck, but above all of clever planning and knowledge of the tricks that let you save. Combining various strategies – skiplagging, open-jaw flights, charters and low-cost airlines – will let you travel for a fraction of the standard prices.
If you're only just starting your adventure with budget flying, start with small steps: observe promotions, test various routes and don't be afraid to experiment. Soon you'll catch the bug and discover that the world is open before you – without the need to spend a fortune!
