Whether you are an expat working away from your home and loved ones, frequent holiday maker flying to your favourite overseas holiday destination, or a businessman traveling often for business reasons? No doubt you will always be looking for dirt cheap flights, and often will find this process a daunting task. Sometime you would have had to pay more than the normal fare even after looking for discounted tickets in the internet. Travelling with short notice can cost you a lot of money. Have a look at the following tips in planning your trip and research for cheap flights. Most airlines sell their discounted tickets well in advance, sometimes even 6-7 months ahead. You can take advantage of this opportunity, if you plan your travel itinerary a few months ahead. Business travellers may find it difficult to cash in as their business meetings are generally scheduled at short notice. However if you are flexible in travel dates, you can take advantage of paying less for airlines whose flights are less likely to be full and sold out on a particular day.
Traditionally airlines offer discounted fares during the mid week in domestic sectors, but prices of international flights could vary from day to day. Comparison of air fares from different airlines flying over the same sector could save you money. Within Australia, you may be able to fly cheaper with budget airlines such as Tiger airways, Jetstar or Virgin Blue rather than flying with Qantas. Similarly for domestic travellers within India, there are so many budget airlines such as Kingfisher, Jetlight etc offering dirt cheap flights. Note of caution however when travelling budget airlines is that you need to check if quoted price includes all taxes, carry on luggage, seat allocation and in-flight meals etc, as traditional airlines do not charge extra for these services. There are travel companies such as Go Holiday (in conjunction with Air Asia) offering travel packages from Australia to many holiday destinations in Malaysia. All these packages can be booked via internet (airasia.com). Internet booking needs attention to details though, making sure you click the correct date, destination etc.
The slightest mistake can cost you money as no refunds are given once the booking order goes through. Travelling during off peak period also saves significantly, as airlines and hotels offer cheap rates during off peak periods. It will be expensive to travel during school holidays too. Simply avoid travelling during school vacations if you do not have to travel with your children. Basically if you choose not to travel at a time when everyone else travels, you can save money. Every airline does not fly every day of the week, and often these airlines could be the ones who have got cheapest fares. So before deciding date of travel, check the airline flight schedule. Some airlines offer cheap rates during certain time windows such as after midnight. As an example Virgin Blue’s “happy hour” window offers cheap fares Australian EST. The above various ways to find dirt cheap flights may look a bit messy at times, with so many constraints when planning to travel. Therefore one must strive to look for other avenues which may yield better results. Finding short-cuts which reveals more secrets in looking for better deals will definitely pay off in the end.
