Benefits of Traveling and How To Get Cheap Flights

Introduction

This can be explained by the benefits that flying brings and the limitations and restrictions. we had in the last 2 years. The freedom that was taken from us made us value more the possibility of having now the possibility to choose where to go.

Related to this, the first thing we know is that experiences are better than possessions. With the millennials, we have been an increasing prioritization of these experiences over possessions such as houses or cars.

The trip of our dreams is something that we look forward to and our goals is how to fly more and how to find good deals when looking for these trips. It’s something we include in the wishes for the next year.

Although some useless governments are now with the idea of reducing the number of flights or other nonsense regulations, who cares about what they say? Although topics such as pollution or energy management are constant problems, maybe they should be the first ones to apply these rules and avoid their usual useless trips.

Therefore, why not benefit from more and affordable trips during the year? In order to achieve this, there are some steps that we need to consider.

They are not complex at all, but these are some tricks in order to help you with your next trip.

Planning

The first phase is the initial planning phase. It does not require a big effort but leaving everything unplanned or for the last minute will generate unnecessary stress that may ruin our trip. If planned accordingly, this will solve different situations and will get you a better price, flight and stay. In this case, one suggestion would be to start looking for flights some months before the trip. This will ensure that you can analyze the different options and mitigate possible risks.

One of the most heard questions is whether is better to spend 1 month in a location or have 3 trips in different locations.

Although I prefer in general quality over quality, when it comes to trips it is just the opposite. I’m in favor of having more than one. This can be achieved by carefully selecting affordable options. Picking 3 flights of 300 instead of 1 of 1,000 will in my opinion a better choice.

However, this opinion is not based on the price aspect, but also on diversification. For example, if you go to one destination for 1 month and for whatever reason you don’t like it, the weather is very bad, etc. the single trip for the year is ruined. With more options, you diversify more and if you travel 3 or 4 times per year, it’s not likely that all of them will be a bad choice.

Adapt to the options

If you are looking for an exact destination and you suddenly come with a super cheap price, It may look the best thing in the world. However, this will not be always the case.

As we can see in the list of tools, having additional technological support is a must for our search

Despite this may be what we are aiming to achieve, ff you try to hit in the middle of the bullseye, you may be a lifetime waiting for it. Flexibility is the currency that you may use to get more trips with better prices.

It’s just the opposite. The piece of advice here should be starting to look for cheap affordable locations. From that list, you will probably find several destinations that may be attractive to you.

You may start by selecting different price ranges within your budget. Out of all destinations, you may select the ones with the lowest prices and from there you can start selecting which destinations may fit more. Even if some of them may not be very attractive, this can be a good opportunity to discover the next gem.

It’s often where we see that people go to the same destinations: Paris, Madrid, London, etc. These places are normally overcrowded, and it’s likely that you have already visited. Why not looking something less mainstream?

As said before, being flexible is the attribute that will open more doors and get you better deals. First: direct flights may be more expensive. In this case, there are different options such as different flights, companies, dates or even alternative transport methods.

When it comes to short flights, one alternative could be going by car/train/bus to a close airport. You may have the option of the parking, staying at some friend’s place or even visiting another city before the flight.

In some countries, the train will be quite cheap if booked in advance and, if you are looking for an international flight, another possibility would be to use 2 companies and go first to the connection point. There, you can visit the city (1 day trip). Normally, these cities have many inhabitants, and you may know someone who you can visit or even he may let you stay for the night.

The trick in these cases is to have a good margin between the first and second flight. If for some reason, there is no time left to leave the airport for a short visit to the city, another advice is to get some accessories that will make your trip much easier:

Battery charger, eBook or book, and headphones. Another trick is that without or bad connection to use the laptop to work on work or personal project. If you don’t have Internet connection, you will not get disturbed by constants notifications.

In the last 21 days, prices will skyrocket. You may have seen too many The Simpsons episodes (e.g., when they go to Japan), but it is unlikely that you will get a last-minute deal. These prices are high because are more focused on business travelers who don’t have any other alternative and they (the company) will pay the ticket fare.

Some tools

When it comes to additional help, there are hundreds of tools on the Internet that can be used to keep track the different offers. For example: Kayak, Skyscanner, Google Trips or your own tools.

For example, in my case using Python and MongoDB I have created a tool that checks flights with multiple destination and dates combinations and will store the best option (duration and price) for each combination on each day. The cheapest option on each day is stored and the moment the price goes down, it sends you an alert. Playing with alerts on the service you may use is off the essence.

Since we were discussing the flexibility, I have found that Google Flights allows including many origin and destination airports on the same search. With this useful feature, you can get the best deals with one single search. You can also add notifications. The disadvantage with Google Flights is that some flights may not appear.

This is the basic application that just collects the flight information such as the price, duration, destination and origin. Once there is a decrease in the price, it sends an email to inform about the change.

Another trick is to book on those airline companies that offer free cancellation. This way you make sure that the highest price you will pay in your search will be the one you already had and everything you get below that is your gain.

Other tricks

Saving in flights means that your budget for doing other trips, restaurants. Instead of going to a 4-start restaurant, you may end up in a 5-star hotel and go to Michelin-starred restaurants. Therefore, you should invest in planning and flexibility because this way you can spend the money in more important things.

Although it may sound strange to you with the recent surge in travel tickets due to inflation, strikes and gas prices, prices are each year lower. This is due to big competition in the airline industry. It’s a regulated sector with several years of history and since World War II prices have been decreasing – after adjusting the price considering inflations –

Then, how do airlines make money? While flying was a premium some years ago, luckily it has been accessible to more and more people. The revenue sources have changed too. As opposed to some decades ago, we that revenues do not come mainly from the ticket, but from other extras such as baggage fees, seat fees, other products, bundles, business trips, etc.

Another question you may have seen is on which day to book the flight. How does this algorithm work?

There is no specific day or hour when you may find the best price. Although you may have heard different opinions based on different sources, there is no specific time when you will get the best price.

However, one thing is to consider. Mondays and Fridays are normally the most expensive days because these are the days when business trips take place. People will get on the plane to a specific destination and come back on Friday. For short trips, this is also the best time in order to spend the whole weekend abroad.

Excluding these days, the best days are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Again, this does not mean that they will be always the cheapest flights.

When it comes to months, August is traditionally the most expensive month (some people don’t have any choice for holidays) and Christmas. Therefore, selecting the correct dates may also be a relevant factor.

TABLE OF DAYS

The rules above are quite general and there is no written rule. It may be that one day a flight ticket from Net York to Amsterdam is 600 and the day after is 300 EUR. For this reason, it’s important to benefit from technology and your favorite tool and get noticed as soon as this change occurs.

Key takeaways

Plan and plan

Don’t leave things for the last minute. Have a good planning will have benefits on both the stress and the price you will end paying for the tickets or any other service you may need.

Start looking in advance is also key. Depending on the type of flight, you should start looking between 2 and 8 months in advance.

Booking at the earliest date does not always mean the cheapest price but waiting for the last minute will always mean a high price.

Flexibility

If you want to travel as much as possible during the year, be flexible. Don’t start looking for one single destination. Open your mind and look for affordable places you may not even know they exist. Learn about them. As mentioned above, it’s key to plan accordingly. Once you have investigated if you would like to go to one of the placed that popped up, see if this is the place where you would like to stay. In many cases, because of the low expectations, these can be a total surprise, and you may want to come the year after again.

Tools

Use technology with some many tools available, we can really benefit of instant notifications when we find a good deal. In some cases, it may be difficult to configure some alerts, but it's something we will learn the more we use this feature.

Practice

What’s I the right price? How should I risk? When should I pull the trigger? These questions require practice and knowing the different routes or companies. Even if I have no plans to fly, what I normally do is also setting up some alerts where I can see the different prices and the price evolution. Remember that time is against you, so the moment you find a good deal after having performed the different steps, just go for it.