Traveling far doesn’t have to mean spending a fortune on flights. With the right tools and a few good habits, you can save a lot. So it’s time for us to share our tips for cheap flight tickets!
In this article, we share our best techniques and the websites we actually use on our own trips to find the lowest fares. Based on our experience, we’ve put together 10 tips to help you pay less for your plane tickets!
Before we get into the details, keep in mind that to get the best price, we almost always book our flights on Trip.com. About 90% of the time, we find better prices there than on other websites or even on the airlines’ own sites. The website is also very well designed, and we’ve never had a bad surprise. We’ll come back to it later in the article.
1. Plan Ahead and Book at the Right Time
Timing matters more than anything else:
- Book in advance (but not too early): Tickets are generally cheaper when booked 3 to 6 months before departure. That said, it’s not a hard rule: sometimes, last-minute bookings can turn out to be cheaper too.
- Travel in the off-season: Avoid school breaks and holiday seasons, when prices are at their highest.
- Book mid-week: Tuesdays and Wednesdays are often the best days to find deals.
- Book early in the morning or at night: Prices can be lower early in the morning and during the night between 1am and 5am (it’s true!)
These last two tips aren’t guaranteed, but some travelers swear by them, and they’ve worked for me a few times too, so they’re worth a try!
2. Use Flight Comparison Sites to Find Cheap Flight Tickets
As we mentioned in the introduction, flight comparison sites are the easiest way to find low fares, and one of the best tips for cheap flight tickets.
For a long time, we used Skyscanner. That’s how we discovered Trip.com, which very often showed the best prices. But a few times, I ended up with hidden fees after booking a deal found on Skyscanner, so we stopped using it. Today, we go straight to Trip.com. For example, I paid only €310 for a one-way flight from Paris to São Paulo there, while the same ticket cost over €400 on the airline’s website and on other sites like GoToGate.
> Get the best prices on flights
We also really love Google Flights. It’s a great tool for comparing prices, following fare trends and finding flexible dates or destinations, as you’ll see below. It also shows Trip.com prices, so we often use it to compare offers before booking.
London to Seoul round trip for just €523: a great deal spotted on Google Flights.
3. Be Flexible with Your Dates
Flexibility helps you find better prices by spotting the dates when fares are lowest for your destination:
- Use flexible search tools: For example, on Trip.com, the price calendar shows fares for each day around your chosen dates, so you can quickly spot the cheapest ones. Google Flights offers a date grid and a price graph that show how fares change over several weeks, so you can see the best time to fly at a glance.
4. Be Flexible with Your Destination
If you don’t have your heart set on a specific destination, you can save a lot of money:
- Explore destinations with an open search: Google Flights has an “Explore” map where you enter your departure airport and leave the destination open. You’ll see prices for destinations all over the world on your selected dates, so you can easily spot the cheapest getaway.
- Take advantage of last-minute deals: Airlines sometimes drop the price of unsold seats at the last minute. Check the airlines’ websites and look at their offers. You might get lucky!
Google Flights Explore map: a great way to find cheap flight tickets
5. Set Up Price Alerts, Another Tip for Cheap Flight Tickets
With price alerts, you’ll never miss the best deals:
- Trip.com: The platform lets you track price changes and buy your ticket at the best moment. Once you’ve created an alert, you get real-time notifications by email or through its mobile app.
- Kayak & Google Flights: Create alerts to be notified as soon as prices drop on your favorite route. No need to check prices every day.
Price alert available on Trip.com
6. Book on Trusted Websites
Another important tip for cheap flight tickets is to book on reliable websites. You’ll avoid hidden fees and get proper customer service if something goes wrong. We mainly use two sites (with a preference for the first one these days):
- Trip.com: A platform where you can buy your plane tickets safely. Its two main strengths: a very user-friendly interface and great deals! It also offers good prices on hotels and trains. Another example: I booked my flights for my 3-week trip to Thailand on this platform and, even just one month in advance, I managed to get good prices.
- Booking.com: Best known for hotel bookings, Booking.com also offers flights with handy search options.
Both sites are very reliable for booking your flights. It’s up to you to compare, but most of the time, our first pick wins the best-price game!
Read also: Our Travel Tips page
7. Use a VPN, Clear Your Cookies and Browse in Private Mode
Flight prices can vary depending on your location and your previous searches. Three tips can really help you pay less:
- Use a VPN: Prices are sometimes cheaper when viewed from another region or country. NordVPN is the one I use to book my flights, and I find it works quite well. The subscription costs between €10 and €13 per month, or €5 to €7 per month with an annual plan.
- Clear your browser cookies: Booking sites track your searches and may raise prices accordingly. Make a habit of clearing your cookies, especially right before you book.
- Use private browsing: A private window doesn’t carry over your previous searches, so you see prices as a new visitor, without any increase linked to your browsing history.
8. Consider Alternative Airports
Choosing a different airport can be cheaper, especially in big cities served by several airports:
- Flying to or from an airport close to your main destination can lower costs. Just make sure to factor in the extra transportation costs to reach your final destination.
- London is a great example: besides Heathrow, the city is served by Gatwick, Stansted, Luton and Southend. Stansted and Luton are hubs for low-cost airlines like Ryanair, easyJet and Wizz Air, so fares are often much lower than at Heathrow. Both are well connected to central London by train or bus, but remember to include that journey in your budget.
- Same thing in New York: besides JFK, the city is served by Newark (in New Jersey) and LaGuardia. Fares can vary a lot from one airport to another for the same trip, so always compare all three. Newark is easy to reach from Manhattan by AirTrain and NJ Transit, and JFK by AirTrain and subway.
9. Make the Most of Loyalty Programs and Credit Cards
Few people think about it, but points and miles add up fast and can save you a lot in the long run:
- Airline loyalty programs: Sign up for loyalty programs to earn points on every flight.
- Credit cards with travel perks: Use credit cards that offer points or miles, welcome bonuses and other travel benefits. This can really reduce the cost of your flights.
10. Last Tip for Cheap Flight Tickets: Look for Special Deals and Promotions
Airlines and booking sites regularly run special offers:
- Follow airlines on social media: They often post exclusive promotions on their pages.
- Sign up for newsletters: Sites like Expedia, Booking.com and Kayak send deals and discount codes to their subscribers.
- Check out TravelPirates: it’s a go-to website for travel deals, with mistake fares and airline promotions spotted every day. If you’re flying from the US, Going is also worth a look for fare alerts.
Our Tips for Cheap Flight Tickets
Booking a cheaper flight takes a mix of flexibility, the right tools and good habits. Stick to them, and you’ll spend less on flights and more on the trip itself. We hope our 10 tips for cheap flight tickets have helped you with your bookings!
As for us, we almost always use Trip.com to book our flights. We love that the platform is intuitive and secure. Above all, it ends up saving us a lot of money compared to other options on the market (booking platforms and airline websites).
Have a great trip, and don’t forget to share your own tips and experiences in the comments! We can’t wait to hear about your adventures 🙂
