If you are planning on going on holiday with your family over the next year, you might have already started saving up. After all, going away on vacation is no cheap feat anymore. Flight and accommodation prices seem to be on the rise year after year and this is pricing many families out of going on holiday. In fact, most families are now passing on an annual trip abroad and are instead opting for cheaper staycations.
But does the increased cost of foreign travel mean that you really need to ditch your family holiday this year? Thankfully, you might not have to do anything that drastic just yet. There are a few things that you can do to help bring down the overall cost of your next vacation. For starters, you should start looking for some cheap and discounted flights. Here are some ways you can do that.
Don’t Book Via The Airline
Lots of people believe that they will get the best possible prices for flights if they book them directly through the airline. However, that is rarely the case. Instead of heading straight to the airline’s official website to check prices, you should instead check the prices that are currently being offered by online travel agencies. Websites like Expedia and Skyscanner are also really useful places to check as they track the current prices of flights and will flag up your most affordable options.
Know When To Book
It’s also important to try and figure out when the best time to book your flights is. Generally speaking, when flights are first released, they are very expensive. So, booking too early can be very expensive. Some flights close to the date of the flight can also greatly increase in price. However, there are some ways you can find an affordable last-minute deal. The best way is to check specialist travel agencies that operate with last-minute deals. If you have plenty of time before you need to book, you should track flights to your chosen destination and see if you notice any patterns. For instance, you might realize that flights to the country are cheaper two to three months before the date of travel.
Book Cheap Flights to #Asmara #Eritrea from just £443.13. pic.twitter.com/OLavLcsSNz
— Horizon Travels (@AskHorizon) April 3, 2018
Sign Up For Air Miles
If you aren’t already a member of an airline’s frequent flyer loyalty scheme, you should really consider signing up for an account. That’s because you could use all of your air miles or bonus points to pay for your flights once you have managed to accumulate enough. Just take a look at Erin Miller and her partner’s story to see an example of the kind of bargains you could get. They managed to book some very expensive business-class travel for only $2,000! As you can see, then becoming an air miles member could be very much worth it! And that is especially the case if you also use a credit card for regular payments. Many credit card providers also offer bonus points to loyal customers. These will build up over time the more you use your card and, in some cases, can be transferred over to your air miles account and used to pay for flights!
Look For Mistake Fares
Have you ever heard about “mistake fares”? I hadn’t until quite recently! These are flights that are displayed online with an incorrect airfare. More often than not, the mistakes mean that the flights are on sale for a lot cheaper than what they would usually be sold for. This is often the result of a glitch with the website and online system. The good news for you is that if you do book a mistake fare, you won’t have to pay the extra to make it up to the price it should have been. Even if the mistake is corrected after you have made your purchase, you won’t need to pay the difference. After all, you weren’t the one that made the mistake! There are usually a couple of mistakes made on flight prices each month and are only usually displayed for a few hours before someone corrects them. So, if you know when the prices for your flight and dates are released, get ready to check them as soon as possible before anyone else notices!
Don’t Fly Direct
Lots of people usually mention this point and there’s one very good reason for that – it always works! Flying indirectly is always a lot cheaper than taking a direct flight. This is especially the case when flying into popular countries, such as the United States and United Kingdom. These are very busy countries to fly in and out of and, as a result, all direct flights to these destinations will be very expensive. You will find that taking an indirect route and connecting at another airport can work out a lot more affordable. Just remember to factor in the extra time it will take as you don’t want your travel to eat into your vacation time.
Hide Your Searches
Have you ever checked the prices for a flight on two separate days and noticed that it was a lot more expensive the second time you checked? Don’t panic; you’re not going mad! It really is jumping up in price even in such a short period of time. This is because the website knows you have searched for the flight before – it wants to scare you into booking sooner rather than later so will show you a higher price in the hope that you book before it jumps again. To prevent this from happening, you should always research flight prices in an incognito browser. That way, the website won’t be able to tell who you are and, when you visit it again, it won’t know to try and fool you with a higher price!
There are lots of ways you can bring down the cost of your flights and make your next foreign family trip a lot more affordable. Hopefully, some of the advice in this blog post will help you. Have a great vacation!
