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Flights are probably the most expensive part of travel, especially if you are a budget traveler trying to backpack around the world. Although airlines, oil prices and other factors will always make flights expensive, there are many ways to save money and get the cheapest flight that you can. Here are some tips on finding cheap flights.
Book in advance
If you leave it until the last minute then your chances of getting cheap flights are minimal. The further in advance that you can start looking at flights, the better. Airlines will often have sale seats when they first put a flight on sale, meaning that you can get in and grab a seat at a discounted price. This is so that they can sell a few seats straight away, then the rest of the passengers will have to buy the more expensive seats.
Be flexible with your dates
This is very important when looking for cheap flights. If you have specific dates that you have set then you are limiting your choices. Sometimes just one day can save you hundreds of dollars. Weekend flights are usually more expensive, so try a day during the week. Also some airlines might only fly to your destination on certain days, you might be missing out on a cheaper airline because they don’t fly on the day that you have selected.
Shop around
Look everywhere you can. Try several different flight search engines like Expedia, Kayak and Skyscanner and compare their prices. If you see a good price, go check out the airline’s website. Sometimes their price will be cheaper because of the commission added on by the search engine.
Read more: Flight Search Engines: Which One Should I Use?
Try alternative routes
Sometimes you can find cheap flights if you have a different connection location. Maybe flying to a nearby city will give you more airline options, or maybe a city might have a secondary airport that budget carriers flight out of.
Frequent flier programs
This is an obvious one if you fly often and like a certain airline alliance. Some alliances have many different airlines in them so you still have a lot of options, and each flight then gives you points towards another flight, ultimately saving you a lot of money in the long run.
Flights are an expensive part of travel, but if you do a little bit of research, you can find cheap flights and save yourself a lot of money. Money that you can spend on your actual trip!
