How to Book Cheap Flights

So now you have a passport and it’s time to book a flight, it sounds simple enough but it can be time-consuming and often a stressful process. Everyone seems to be able to get all the discounts but you can’t seem to find these same bargains. Well, that is about to change, here are some tips and tricks to be able to book cheap flights which offer great value for your money.

Incognito Browser

When you make a booking your computer will store cookies. This is basically your computer storing the information you enter onto a website and returns this information to the website. Therefore when you keep visiting these sites for the same dates and destination this information is stored and the price, as a result, keeps changing. We would like to believe that this change is for our betterment and wait for the price to drop but actually, all it does is increase the price. It does this because it wants you to believe that there are fewer seats available and therefore force your hand.

One way to stop this from happening is to open up an incognito tab on whatever browser you are using. This ensures that no cookies are stored so every time you visit a site non of the details you have entered is stored on the site. Therefore you get the best rates which are available.

Best Sites

There are various sites which you can use to book flights but these are the ones which I would recommend. They are comparison sites which means that they do all the hard work for you

It saves you from having to visit multiple airlines websites and attempt to price match.

Skyscanner

Sty-scanner does the hard work for you and instantly compares prices from multiple airlines. You can easily choose between return or one-way flights. A few other cool features that it offers include the option of choosing the cheapest month to travel to your destination. Or if you don’t know where to visit you can simply choose everywhere. This is a lovely feature because if you are not picky as to where you want to go you are able to choose the cheapest destination to travel to at the cheapest price.

Website: https://www.skyscanner.net/

Google Flights

Google flights work similar to Skyscanner and are also a comparison flight site, it searches all the flight sites and sources the cheapest flights. You are also able to choose between return or one-way flights.

Website: https://www.google.com/travel/flights

Kiwi

Kiwi works in the same way as both Skyscanner and Google flights and also searches all airlines to find you the best possible flight deals. Like the other two, you are able to search for both return and one-way flights.

Website: https://www.kiwi.com/en/

Something to keep in mind when using these sites, use all three and compare the three to see which one of them managed to source the best flight deals.

Another important tip, make sure to use an incognito browser so that the sites are not tracking your searches and you will be able to score some fantastic bargains.

Booking in advance

When planning and booking a flight, the best practice is to book in advance. This again will depend on when you are preparing for your trip. The ideal time period would be at least three months in advance. But this is not set in stone. However, the earlier you book the better prices you will get. Remember when you yet closer to your date and in an effort to coerce you into making an immediate booking, airlines will hike the prices. So as much as possible try to book in advance.

The converse is also true when flights are closer to departure, and if it isn’t a flight that is in demand, the airline will lower the price in an effort to ensure that the flight is full which makes economic sense for the airlines.

Flexibility

If you are really looking for a bargain then you need t to be flexible with your travels.

Flexibility relates to not only being open to the date and time of your flight but also the destination you want to visit. If the dates you want to travel on are not flexible then you will still be to use the other tips to find your ideal flight.

How long are you prepared to hare a lay-over for or do you prefer a direct flight!

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Capitalizing on discounts

Another way to get discounts or score great flight deals is to subscribe to airlines newsletters and follow airlines on social media. If you subscribe to a newsletter, you are usually part of the audience who enjoys the benefit of receiving discounts before the general public. This is the airline’s way of thanking you for being part of their community. In the same effort and sentiment, they will post deals on their social media platforms. And if you follow them there you will see these discount codes or sales.

Seeing these discounts is one thing, you need to capitalise on the deals. If they are flexible enough and offer various dates for booking with easy changing processes, then take advantage.

Now when you make your next booking, you can use one or more of the tips to find the best deal.

Are there any other tips which you would like to add? Let me know in the comments below.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this post 8 Things to Do on your First Trip in Cape Town