Planning a Holiday?Tips to Grab Cheap Air-tickets

Planning a Holiday?
Tips to Grab Cheap Air-tickets

Looking forward to buying cheap flight tickets?

Traveling can be an enriching experience and is the best stress-buster in today’s busy life. Not only does it help us to relax, but also we create lifetime memories. However, let us face it, after the COVID era, flight tickets have become expensive, and many families find it hard to enjoy quality time while worrying about overspending. Searching and booking cheap flight tickets can be a frustrating thing. However, you can actually save big on flight tickets if you try some tips. This article aims to provide the best insider solution for getting cheap flight tickets and making your travel planning easier than ever.

1. Try to Book Ticket in advance – It is advisable to plan your trip around 35 to 40 days in advance during off-peak season and 60 to 90 days before peak season to get the best deal. The airline revenue system works in a way that it divides the fare into fare categories differentiated by a single-letter code such as Y stands for full fare, B, M, and Q for discounted fare, whereas L, G, and U (vary for different airline) stands for super discounted fare for economy cabin, where each fare category has got some seat reserved and when the date of travel is far, airline releases the super discounted fare first. Hence, passenger planning their trip in advance can get cheap tickets. However, the set of super discounted fares is the smallest, and as the time comes nearer to the departure date the discounted fare gets closed depending upon the demand forecast, and people booking at the last moment end up paying the full fare which is almost 5 times higher than what they would have paid for the same seat if they would have booked it in advance.

2. Avoid traveling on weekends – If you are looking for the cheapest fare at the last minute or just a week before your travel date, then avoid flying on weekends when there is a high demand. Try to plan your trip on Tuesday or Wednesday as one can witness a surprising difference in the fare. Also, the timing of the flight plays an important role in getting deal fare. Usually, mid-nights (also called red-eye flights) or early morning flights that depart around 5 am or 6 am are cheaper than the other flights flying around decent hours of the day.

3. Avoid to Book during School Holidays – One should skip booking during school holidays and festival time as those are the super peak season for flight booking. It is advisable to book your flight ticket just a week before the school holidays start or a week after the school holidays end, as the fares touch the sky and all the discounted fares are closed during the school holiday season. However, for parents who are traveling with kids and are left with no other option, in that case, either one needs to plan their flight 3 months in advance or choose a multiple connection flight. A direct flight fare will be always higher than a connecting flight. Moreover, one can choose a connecting flight via the non-busiest routes like the Gulf or other eastern European routes which are less busy than the famous routes via UAE, Qatar, or East Asia – Singapore and Hong Kong. Furthermore, one can choose a low-budget airline to get cheap tickets or code-shared flights.

4. Consider Alternate Airports – It is wise to check alternate airports to get the cheapest flight deal before booking your flight, as some cities have more than one airport. For example, if a traveller is planning to travel from New York, he can check international flight options from JFK (John .F. Kennedy) or Lau Guardian (LGA), or even New Jersey (EWR) international airport and grab the cheapest deal as the different airline has a hub at different airport of the same city and one can choose the best fare by searching for all airline departing from different airport of the same city or the nearby ones.

5. Always book for Round-trip fare – Airline has constructed round trip fare in a way that the outbound segment consist of 70% of the total round-trip fare whereas the return fare values up to 30% . When a traveller book one-way fare, they pay more base fare, taxes and fees and ends up paying more. Whereas if they book roundtrip, their return flight is booked in super discounted fare category. For example, if a passenger is thinking to book a one-way trip to Delhi from San Francisco with any direct airline, it may cost them above $650, however if they book round trip they get complete trip for around $800 (approx.)

6. Go for Restricted Air-tickets – Booking a restricted airline ticket, such as a non-refundable, are actually cheaper than the refundable ones. If you are sure about your travel dates then book a non-refundable ticket, it will help to save you some money. There are other categories of restricted fare like super lite fare, where one cannot select seat at the time of booking , however, you can always select free seats within 24 hours of your flight departure when airline opens the window for web-check-in.

7. Always Enrol for Frequent Flyer Program – Each time you travel, remember to enrol with the frequent flyer program of the airline as loyalty can go a long way and offer several benefits. A frequent flyer program works in such a manner that every time when a traveller picks a particular airline, points are added to your account which can be redeemed to avail the benefits like upgrading to the Business class cabin or upgrade to premium seats with more leg room, priority check-in, free-airline tickets etc. Moreover, some credit card companies have tie-up with airlines and if a traveller book through it they get points that further benefits like lounge access, discounts on air-tickets and on-board shopping, upgrades and free-tickets.