Here at ActivityBreaks.com we don’t include flights in any of our packages. This is because we find it is easier better-suited and cheaper for travellers to source their own flights. If you ask us for help with finding flights, chances are we’ll recommend you to skyscanner.net. This isn’t anything other than personal preference, and I say this from experience having used it to book a transatlantic trip for myself with no problems aside from somehow ending up with kosher meals on the departing flight! But aside from using skyscanner, what tips do we have for helping to find the cheapest or most convenient flights for your next holiday?
1. Flexibility is key when it comes to trying to find the best deal with flights for your next holiday. This is why if you are willing to sacrifice efficiency for cost, then perhaps taking a look at indirect flights might be an option. While this might seem like something that could be worth it, we recommend really taking some time to consider the pros and cons. If you don’t like sitting around for any length of time, then a couple of hours in a totally random country might end up putting a dampener on your break. Alternatively, with long enough stop overs you can add in a few hours to explore another city during your travels.
2. While leaving from your nearest airport is always nice to remove the hassle of adding to your journey and letting you be home quickly when you get back to the UK, sometimes it can be cheaper to shop around and compare a few other nearby airports. For example, being based in Belfast, although the two airports are far more convenient, Dublin airport offers us far more options and often with better fares for an extra 1hr drive.
3. Unless you’re restricted by time off work, it’s also useful to be flexible on dates of travel. If possible, try to avoid travelling over weekends. As well as accommodation costs increasing over weekends, airlines also tend to hike the prices up due to increased demand for weekend flights. One tip for finding the cheapest days to fly is using skyscanner. For your planned route e.g. London Stansted – Pisa, check one-way only and instead of choosing a date in the calendar, view whole month for easy comparison of prices for travel dates in that direction.
4. If you’re comparing airlines, a sneaky hint to remember is to delete your cookies! You might notice that if you go back to the same website, prices have increased since your last visit. This is because the site has used cookies to identify that you had previously visited, and exactly what you had been searching for. By deleting these, it will start afresh and treat you as a unique visitor.
5. Don’t wait! While there are rumours abound that Tuesdays are the cheapest days to book flights, and some of 60days before your travel as being the cheapest, these have yet to be substantiated. If you choose to fly with budget airlines especially, prices will be set at a low rate and therefore will only increase as it gets nearer to the date of travel (supply & demand!).