We now know that booking 9 months in advance on Tuesday is not necessarily the cheapest way to get a plane ticket. Also, deleting your cookies wouldn’t help. However, flying is becoming increasingly expensive, partly due to taxes. How do you still get an affordable flight?
Arithmetic tricks and algorithms
There are few things as mysterious as the prices of airplane seats. All kinds of smart calculation tricks and algorithms are also used to ensure that people who book expensive seats (often quite last minute) compensate for people who book cheap tickets. At the same time, there are also many wild stories going around about the best time to book and what tricks airlines use to avoid giving you the cheapest price. Of course, it’s smart to know those tricks, like the fact that many tickets are very stripped down and often involve service fees and baggage fees, plus the cost of choosing a seat.
It can be quite stressful to book a plane ticket: so much so that you sometimes throw your desire to fly cheaply out the window. After all, it can be quite a study in which all kinds of comparisons have to be made and choices have to be made and that is already happening when you travel alone, let alone when you travel with several people. Sometimes you say ‘okay, we’ll do it’ too quickly, because you just want to secure your seat. While you actually think it could be cheaper or better. Hopefully, with the tips below, you can still buy a plane ticket without too much pressure and the price will make you happy.
1. Consider another destination
Suppose you want to travel to Cannes: is it really necessary to fly to Nice? Maybe it is much cheaper to go to Marseille. It is a little further away, but perhaps there is a bus or rental car that can easily take you to Nice. In fact, who knows, you might be able to fly cheaper to Marseille, and your rental car will also be cheaper because that place is bigger and offers more options. Your final destination does not have to change, but your flight destination may.
2. Book two one-way tickets
It is of course faster to put together a return, but in many cases two one-way trips are often cheaper. It may even be cheaper to fly with one airline and back with another. It is always worth at least trying: to see if there is a difference in price between the return and the one-way tickets. That first cocktail you drink when you arrive tastes a lot better if you know that you pay for it by simply making a comparison.
3. Use a ticket scanner
For a flight to London, you can of course first go to KLM and then check with Transavia or Easyjet to see if they fly to London, but that can be easier. You can use a website that compares tickets from all kinds of different airlines for you. This way you can quickly see which airline is going to London at the right time, but also what costs are involved. You don’t have to make that comparison yourself, it will be done for you.
4. Set a Flight Alert
Do you already know where you want to go and when, but don’t feel like logging in every day to see if the price has gone down? Let computers do their work. By a Flight Alert You will automatically receive a notification if a flight has a price that makes your mouth curl up. This is how it works: you choose your destination, you choose the maximum price for the flight and you enter your email address, where you will then receive the notification. So if an airline lowers its prices, you will know much faster than if you look yourself.
5. Check the Error Fares
On a website like flynaar.nl for example, there is something called Error Fares. These are deals that seem too good to be true, but are not. These are often package tours that certain travel companies have to get rid of, so they offer them at a rock-bottom price. Such an Error Fare detail ensures that you can book a ticket deal or package tour for a very low price. You know, a deal where you tell people on birthdays how low it was, where jaws drop in amazement and everyone immediately wants to know how and where you bought something like that. Do your own research now! Good luck with booking, and have a good trip.
