When it comes to holidaying abroad, the costs can quickly add up: the hotel, the transport, the spending money, and even the travel insurance can rapidly increase the pennies being spent on your trip away.
So, it’s little wonder that we all like to bag ourselves some deals now and again, especially with flights. Often comprising the bulk of the cost of your holiday, how much you spend on your flights can really make or break your vacation budget.
In order to save you some money for your next holiday, we’ve put together a quick guide to bagging bargain flights.And if things work out well you may even be able to sell your delta skymiles for cash.
Use comparison sites
One of the best ways to find cheap flights is to use price comparison sites such as Momondo, Skyscanner or Kayak.
Comparison sites search hundreds of airline providers for you and display all the prices side by side, so you can easily scan through the list and identify the cheapest flights for your destination and dates.
You can also sign up for price alerts in order to receive notifications when prices rise or fall, meaning you can get the best bargains as soon as they’re on the market.
Plus, many of the sites allow you to scan for whole months, meaning you can find cheap flights on alternative dates if you’ve got the ability to be flexible, and even search with a specific destination, which is perfect if you’re not fussy about where you go!
However, it’s always worth checking a few sites as they tend to have different deals on offer.
Sign up to newsletters
Another great method is to sign up for the newsletters offered by both comparison sites and different airlines.
This allows you to be among the first to know when cheap flights are released and you can take advantage of the deals by booking them ASAP.
Plus, many airlines only announce certain deals via newsletters rather than publicly on the internet, so you need to stay in touch to find out about some of the flights on offer, such as last-minute fare reductions or seasonal sales.
Use an online agent
Another great way to save some money on flights is by using an online agent such as Globehunters.
Online agents do all of the legwork for you, meaning you can find the cheapest flights much quicker than if you were to search yourself. They also have industry connections and good relationships with certain airlines, meaning they can often bag you a better deal than if you were to approach an airline yourself.
Many agents are ATOL protected (and you should definitely choose one which is!), meaning you could have more protection for your holidays than if you were to book it yourself.
Book separately
Another great way to bag bargain flights is to book your flights separately, as some airlines offer great deals on single tickets.
This allows you to use different airlines and even different airports, so you can take advantage of the competitive pricing offered by each airline and reduce your overall return ticket cost.
You can also choose to use connecting flights rather than a direct journey, which can sometimes save you hundreds of pounds on long-haul flights. Although this will add an extra few hours onto your journey, or even an overnight stay, you can use it as an opportunity to explore another destination at the same time!
This post offers some helpful tips on using connecting flights.