SAVING money on flights is an art – it’s something that a lot of people claim to be good at, without offering any great solutions.
The truth is, flights are expensive and you’re unlikely to shave hundreds off your trip, regardless of which method you use.
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But there are some pretty reliable ways in which you can make sure you’re at least getting the best deal possible and not spending cash you don’t need to.
In this week’s blog for Sun Online Travel, I’ll talk about a couple of ways in which you can avoid paying more than is necessary when booking flights.
The good news is, although this might sound complicated at first, the solution is generally pretty simple.
I’m going to start by talking about codesharing – and how it can help you cut down your travel.
Codesharing is when airlines share routes with other carriers, so they can claim to offer more destinations to their passengers.
The most famous example of this is the One World Alliance, which includes airlines like Cathay Pacific, British Airways, Qantas, Qatar and a few others.
They will sell each other’s flights via their own websites, so it looks like they’re operating the route, even though passengers will be boarding another airline’s plane when it’s time to fly.
For example, flights to Australia booked via the BA website could actually be operated by Qantas, or flights booked from Qatar to New York could include a changeover at London with a switch to a BA plane for the second leg of the trip.
But both airlines will be selling tickets for those same flights, meaning there’s an opportunity to make a saving.
There will often be a discrepancy between the prices, especially if there’s promotions or sales on, meaning you could literally be booking exactly the same seats on the same plane, but for cheaper.
It’s always worth checking whether or not this option is available to you as it could cut your costs – sometimes by a fair amount too.
It’s never likely to be half price or anything, but I’ve seen people trim £50-60ish off their flights, so it is worth doing.
As I said before, it’s not as complicated as it might seem, or as it once was.
Using websites like Skyscanner, Kayak or Google flights, you can check several websites at once.
Other tips for saving money on flights
Here are some of the best ways you can save money on flights
Mistake Fares
A mistake fare is essentially an error that occurs when airlines or travel agents accidentally list the wrong price for a flight.
It might happen when airline staff accidentally leave out a zero – or two – while listing the cost of a ticket online.
While the odds of airlines making these mistakes are fairly low, such incidents do occur from time to time – and travellers can save hundreds of pounds by just keeping an eye out.
However, they will have to be quick as airlines will remove these prices as soon as they spot the mistake.
Being flexible
Being fussy about where you go on holiday can reduce your options for saving money.
Going on Google Flights and clicking on the map instead of searching for a specific destination will show you the cheapest rates to a number of cities.
That way you can make sure you head to the most affordable destination, or at least choose somewhere with cheap flights.
Avoid pricey luggage additions
Most airlines now charge extra for passengers to check luggage in during their flights and it’s much more affordable to fly with just carry-on.
So practice packing before you fly and make sure you can squash everything into a case or bag that will fit in the airline’s hand luggage rules – it could save you a fair amount.
Those sites do look for these options, taking all the hard work out of your search.
They will show you which websites will have the cheapest tickets available and provide you with links to them to ensure you get the cheapest deals.
However, if you really want to make sure, you can search for which airlines serve the route you want to fly and check each of them for costs.
You might be pleasantly surprised by what you find.
Meanwhile, these 16 rules should be followed before booking any holiday.
And these easy tricks can help you cut holiday costs.
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