10 Tips To Find The Best Airfare

Finding the best airfare can be pain. But there are some things you can do to maximise your chances of grabbing that bargain flight to your dream destination. Try these tips next time you are booking a flight and see if you can save some money!

Tips To Find The Best Airfare (from 20+ years of travelling)

Fly out of a hub airport

You can often find cheaper fares out of hub airports.  Part of the hub and spoke system to deliver concentrations of flyers from large local or international flights to their onward smaller destinations. Due to the volume of flights through these airports you can often find a broader range of flight options.

Book early

It’s true what they say, the early bird usually does catch the worm! Airline companies apply day-to-day prices that are based on traveller demand.  For the cheapest tickets, companies do what they call ‘yield management’, which means that once all tickets are sold for each price bracket, the flight price automatically changes category and continues varying until the departure.  Therefore it is often best to buy your tickets as soon as they go on sale.

Fare alerts & error fares

Many services offer flight alerts to allow you to monitor the price of affairs and alert you to when they are most likely to be at their cheapest. They use past rate behaviours to guess when the right time to buy is. I use both Skyscanner and the Hopper app for this service, and it is great if you aren’t in a rush to buy.

Have you ever heard of flight alert sites such as Dollar Flight Club? The Dollar Flight Club is a flight deal alert subscription service that helps people save money on airfares. Subscribers save over $500 USD per international ticket on average. With a premium membership, you can even get text alerts so you never miss a great deal.

Check out my article on my top hotel booking hacks!

Add a connection or stopover

Indirect flights are often cheaper than direct flights.  If you aren’t constrained by time pressures, a connection or stopover can be a nice way to break a journey or to see more of the world.  Also, most national airlines will offer a stopover in their own country free of charge or at a discounted rate in order to drive tourism into the area.

Comparison websites vs. booking direct

Comparison websites are good for checking overall availability and connection options, however be sure to check the airline websites direct, as you may be able to avoid extra booking fees or commission fees. There are a lot of factors that dictate airfare prices, so it is best to look around, and do so in incognito mode on your browser.

Travel off-peak

Travelling on a Tuesday or Wednesday can be considerably cheaper than travelling on or either side of a weekend.  Flight prices around public or school holidays are always more expensive (be sure to check for local holidays too).

Timing is everything

On a commuter route, you might find that the early morning flights are the most expensive. However, on longer flights or non-commuter routes, you might find that the 5:40am flight is considerably cheaper than the 9am flight. Nobody wants to be awake that early, but if it means a cheaper flight, then why not?

Airports on the outskirts

The bigger central airports are more in demand, therefore flights into these will be more expensive.  Try flying into satellite airports – e.g. Beauvais instead of Paris Charles de Gaulle. Yes, these outer airports have longer transfer times, but it can reduce the over all cost.

Loyalty rewards

A great idea to get the jump on the best airfares is to join loyalty schemes and save up reward points.  You also then receive member discounts and sale emails. Alliance carriers will allow you to use connected air miles accounts to gain or use rewards.

Check out how these travel experts (including me) suggest you nab yourself an upgrade – p.s. it has a lot to do with loyalty!

Credit card deals

Many credit cards release air mile reward versions of their products. You can spend money to gain air miles, as well as reach certain points levels to receive extra benefits. Follow people like The Points Guy (US) and Head for Points (UK) for guides on how to maximise your points collecting.

Love travel tips? Have you heard about the Dollar Flight Club? Or would you like to learn how to plan a big road trip?

All photos & content © Hannah Henderson and may not be used without permission (sharing this blog post is fine, though!).